A psychologist has revealed some easy affirmations you can use when you need to keep a clear head at work.
Dr Audrey Tang is a writer, broadcaster and psychologist. She appeared as the resident psychologist on Channel 4‘s Don’t Diet Lose Weight, as well as featuring on other television and radio shows as a commentator.
She also creates videos on TikTok, where she uses the handle @draudreyt, and makes videos on a range of mental health topics.
A series of videos created by the chartered psychologist tackles how you can create a better professional life, covering topics like how to create boundaries at work.
The fourth installment of the series was titled How to keep clear head at work, and in it, Dr Tang shared what she described as ‘healthy affirmations’.
Psychologist, writer and broadcaster Dr Audrey Tang (pictured) shared affirmations that may help you keep a clear head in the work place
Speaking in the video, sharing the first affirmation, Dr Tang said: ‘I cannot save people from themselves.’
Moving onto her next affirmation, she said: ‘Even if I cannot control anything else, I can control my breathing.’
Her third and final affirmation centred on people’s opinions of you – and how important they should be.
Sharing the affirmation, she said: ‘I do not need to heed the opinion of somebody from whom I would not ask advice.’
When it comes to how to use the affirmations, she recommended giving any of them a try, suggesting you say them ‘ideally all in one breath as you breathe out’.
Dr Tang added that this is ‘a great way of finding headspace without telling yourself to calm down’.
Research released earlier this year suggested that speaking kindly to yourself for even less than a minute a day (for example, via affirmations) can boost your mental health.
Researchers from the University of California Berkeley recruited more than 100 people to test if self-compassionate touch, which involves placing your hands on your chest, could improve mental health.
There is some research supporting the idea that compassionate self talk (like the affirmations shared by Dr Tang, pictured) may help improve mental health
This also included repeating statements like ‘How can I be a friend to myself at this moment’ to banish fear and self-doubt.
Eli Susman, study author, described the exercise as ‘a practice of being a caring friend to yourself when 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 one month.
Results showed those who did had greater self-compassion, emotional well-being, and reduced stress compared to those who did not.
The researchers said their ‘findings are the first to our knowledge to show that daily self-compassionate touch can increase self-compassion.’
They found that those who did daily positive affirmations had greater self-compassion, emotional well-being, and reduced stress compared to those who did not.
And mental health improved even greater the more often participants practiced self-compassionate speak and touch.
There has been accumulated evidence that high self-compassion is associated with multiple positive outcomes, including better mood and reduced stress, the study said.
However, the researchers acknowledged the study’s limitations, including that the team did not tell people how many times to do the affirmations beyond the minimum, and that it had a small number of participants all drawn from a college.