How to talk yourself into a good mood

As a species we have an in-built ‘negativity bias': a propensity to remember, cling to, and learn from negative experiences more readily than positive ones, according to neurology research.

It made sense that our earliest ancestors should be risk averse, but nowadays that bias is completely out of step with modern life. When a bad experience is highly unlikely to be life-threatening, a propensity to constantly rake up bad memories, see ourselves through a negative prism or belittle ourselves in a way we would never dream of doing to a friend can cause us to become unnecessarily fearful and depressed.

Affirmations challenge our negative self-talk and negative self-image. Positive thoughts have also been shown to help us respond better to stressful situations by regulating the stress hormone cortisol. Basically, the more positive our outlook, the less likely our brains are to go into fight-or-flight mode when we encounter a stressful situation. Which means we have to talk ourselves up.

But it’s not as easy as looking in the mirror and chanting a mantra; if you don’t really believe what you’re saying, the whole process can do more harm than good.

Affirmations need to be realistic, otherwise, your brain rushes in to try and disprove them.