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Join our Instagram Challenge: Daily Affirmations for Healthy Living!
A healthy outside starts with a healthy inside. When aiming to lead a healthy life, it is important to find ways to remind yourself – in a positive manner – to not give up on your goals. The Philly Powered website is an online resource that any Philadelphian can use to find free or low-cost physical activity, a place where you can find healthy activities and tools to help you stay on track. Now, we want to go further – to inspire you everyday, so that you can make a healthier lifestyle, your reality. This is something new we’re trying. It comes in the form of daily affirmations, to encourage you to stay true to your health goals.
Join our Daily Affirmations For Healthy Living challenge, starting Monday, August 5th through Friday, August 16th on our Instagram: @GetHealthyPhilly. To participate in this challenge:
- Check our Instagram every morning to find an affirmation to say to yourself. Yes, say it OUT LOUD. You can even repeat it a few times if you need the intention to hit home a little more.
- Respond to our daily story with an inspiring message or another intention you are setting for the day, and we will share your response!
- Get ready because over the next two weeks, our Instagram story will send a lot of positive energy and good vibes your way.
Why daily affirmations?
The purpose of this challenge is to use affirmations to motivate your continued journey towards achieving your greatest level of health, while showing self compassion. According to articles featured in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, studies show self affirmations have many positive effects on a person’s performance – from getting good grades in schools to eating healthy foods, to even quitting smoking. For example, studies show that people who used self affirmations showed a higher desire to quit smoking over those who were not self affirmed [1]. Another study shows the effect that self affirmations have on academic performance. When two groups were given a task, the group that incorporated self affirmations received higher grades than the group that did not use self affirmations [2]. The power of self affirmations can increase your follow-through, it builds your confidence and helps reassure you that you can achieve the things you want to.
So, do people actually use daily affirmations?
Now, you might be thinking to yourself, this daily affirmation thing sounds great, but does anyone actually do this? (The short answer is, yes!) And if so, how do I actually do it? Well, apart from checking our Instagram every morning for the positive phrases you can say out loud to yourself, you can also learn from others who use daily affirmations to build purpose and confidence in their lives. To learn from others, we decided to find someone to interview about how they use affirmations in their daily life. Check out this interview below to learn how Crystal, an everyday Philadelphian, uses affirmations everyday to stay positively active.
Crystal at a garden pop shop “Farm for the city,” in Thomas Paine Plaza.
An Interview with Crystal:
- How do you stay active daily?
I stay active by making sure I get outside and do something hands on. Sometimes that looks like tending to the gardens, building and stretching/yoga. - Why do you stay active and what keeps you motivated?
Gardening helps me organize my mind as well as the fields. Building helps me with focusing and teamwork. Stretching and yoga helps me heal my body and connect with my inner emotions. - Do you agree self affirmations help keep you active? If so, is there any you say to yourself?
I practice self affirmations because they keep me focused on the person I’m working to become. I have a journal where I set my daily intentions and a daily affirmation to help keep my attitude optimistic. Some affirmations I use are ‘I am becoming more open,’ ‘I deserve to be healthy and happy,’ ‘I create my experiences,’ and ‘I feel better when I take care of myself.’ - What advice would you give to someone trying to get active and live a healthier lifestyle?
Be open to change and trying new things. Don’t be afraid to tweak things to make them more fun for you and be resilient.
- Is there anyone you would like to give a shout out to?
I would like to give a shout out to One Art Community Center. I help build tiny houses which is so cool, because the house itself is made of old tires, bamboo and glass bottles. I really love how the space brings the black and brown community together.
So now that you’ve read what affirmations are, how they can help you reach your goals and learned how an everyday person uses affirmations, let’s get ready to start our mornings with good vibes. Get Healthy Philly encourages you to join us in our Daily Affirmations for Healthy Living Challenge from August 5th to August 16th on our Instagram: @GetHealthyPhilly. Developing a good sense of self along with positive thinking can increase your chances of maintaining a healthier lifestyle. Remember, a healthy outside starts with a healthy inside.
Citations
1. Sandra Graham, Race and Academic Motivation, Editor(s): James D. Wright, International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (Second Edition), Elsevier, 2015, Pages 790-795, ISBN 9780080970875, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.26080-7.(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780080970868260807)
2. B. Schüz, R. Cooke, N. Schüz, G.M. van Koningsbruggen, Chapter 5 – Self-Affirmation Interventions to Change Health Behaviors, Editor(s): Linda Little, Elizabeth Sillence, Adam Joinson, Behavior Change Research and Theory, Academic Press, 2017, Pages 87-114, ISBN 9780128026908, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-802690-8.00006-2.
