A psychologist has revealed some easy affirmations you can use when you need to keep a clear mind at work.
Dr Audrey Tang is a writer, presenter and psychologist. She appeared as the resident psychologist on Channel 4’s Don’t Diet Lose Weight, as well as appearing as a commentator on other radio and television programmes.
She also creates videos on TikTok, where she uses the username @draudreyt, and makes videos about a variety of mental health topics.
A series of videos created by the chartered psychologist addresses how to create a better professional life, covering topics such as how to create boundaries at work.
The fourth installment of the series was titled How to Keep a Clear Mind at Work, and in it, Dr. Tang shared what she described as “healthy affirmations.”
Psychologist, writer and presenter Dr Audrey Tang (pictured) shared affirmations that can help you stay clear-headed in the workplace.
In the video, sharing the first statement, Dr. Tang said, “I can’t save people from themselves.”
Moving on to his next statement, he said, “Even if I can’t control anything else, I can control my breathing.”
Your third and final statement focused on people’s opinions of you and how important they should be.
Sharing the statement, she said, ‘I don’t need to pay attention to the opinion of someone I wouldn’t ask for advice from.’
As for how to use affirmations, she recommended trying any of them, suggesting saying them “ideally all in one breath as you exhale.”
Dr. Tang added that this is “a great way to find calm without having to tell yourself to calm down.”
Research published earlier this year suggested that speaking kindly to yourself for even less than a minute a day (for example, through affirmations) can improve mental health.
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, recruited more than 100 people to test whether self-compassionate touch, which involves placing one’s hands on one’s chest, could improve mental health.
There is some research to support the idea that compassionate self-talk (like the affirmations shared by Dr. Tang, pictured) can help improve mental health.
This also included repeating affirmations like, “How can I be my friend right now?” to banish fear and self-doubt.
Eli Susman, the study’s author, described the exercise as “a practice of being a loving friend to yourself by reflecting on moments that evoke being hard on yourself.”
One group of participants was asked to practice the exercises for at least 20 seconds every day for a month.
The results showed that those who did so had greater self-compassion, emotional well-being and lower stress compared to those who did not.
The researchers said their “findings are the first to our knowledge to demonstrate that daily self-compassionate contact can increase self-compassion.”
They found that those who made positive affirmations daily had greater self-compassion, emotional well-being, and lower stress compared to those who did not.
And mental health improved even more the more often participants practiced self-compassionate language and touch.
Evidence has accumulated that high self-compassion is associated with multiple positive outcomes, including improved mood and reduced stress, the study found.
However, the researchers acknowledged limitations of the study, including that the team did not tell people how many times they should say the affirmations beyond the minimum, and that it had a small number of participants, all from one university.
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