I never was a particular fan of “affirmations.”  They seemed forced and insincere to me, perhaps from past experience watching Saturday Night Live’s character Stuart Smalley tell himself, “I’m good enough, smart enough,…” as his daily affirmation.   But after years of teaching quit smoking and weight management classes, I learned directly from my students that certain types of meaningful self-statements can be quite helpful.  (Besides, what did I know, the SNL actor Al Franken went on to be a Senator).

At the end of each six week health education  series, I would ask my class, “If you have one suggestion for the next group of people coming in, what would it be?”  Frequently I heard them talk about having a “mantra” that helped them at times when they needed to stay on course with a healthy habit.  Saying this certain mantra over and over helped reinforce their motivation and gave them a voice that could respond automatically to their “temptation” thoughts.  For example, one man thought of his cigarettes as the devil trying to tempt him.  When he had the urge to smoke, or thoughts such as “just one won’t hurt,” he would repeat, even out loud sometimes, “I’m not dancing with that devil!”  He told us it really helped to keep him on track.  Other people reported phrases such as “I want to breathe!” or “I want to live!” to be inspiring.   “Food is not family” is what one young woman said to herself after realizing she often ate when she was lonely and missed her parents.

As opposed to what I thought of as empty affirmations, what useful mantras seemed to have was a true meaning to the person using it, representing a way to quickly get in touch with their goals and deep desires.  It also reminded them of the hard work they had put into the effort toward change and how tempting thoughts were just that, thoughts that didn’t need to lead to action.  Self-statements worked best if they were positive, brief, and truly believed.