As singers, we all deal with critical, negative thoughts about our singing. If we aren't careful in how we manage these thoughts, we can become in danger of self-sabotage. As Suzy Kassem famously said, "Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will." 

One of the best ways I know to put our critical side in its place is to use daily affirmations about our singing to put things in perspective!

Listed below are the affirmations I give to all of my singers when they sign up for an IHMV program. These phrases can be used in various effective ways in your singing and in your life.

DIRECTIONS

Spend 10 minutes and write down the beliefs that resonate with you. Once you’ve written them down, say them out loud! Without stopping to think, write, and talk about this, you will not get the benefit of the exercise. Studies show that when you write things down, you are 42% more likely to apply it!

-Affirm them: make them into wonderful positive affirmations for you

-Write them down: carry them with you in your phone, pocket, purse, wallet, glove compartment, gig bag, …

-Put them on your mirror(s), on your file cabinets, on your fridge, on your practice mic stand, on your CD player, at your desk 

AFFIRMATIONS

A.  My voice is relaxed, toned, resilient, balanced

B.  My voice is expressive and emotive

C.  My voice expresses me from my core

D.  My voice shares me wonderfully

E.  My voice is balanced and expressive

F.  My throat and voice are open and toned and balanced

G.  My voice is the wonderful expression of me

H.  My voice expresses everything in my soul

I.  My high notes are effortless and ringing

J.  My low notes are effortless and resonant

K.  I use my airflow with ease and balance through all of my range

L.  My voice comes through with easy, resilient, balanced use of my airflow

M.  My voice and I are working together in balance as a great team, everyday

N.  I release and balance my use of my vocal muscles and nerves to enjoy my singing and voice use

O.  I allow myself to sing spherically in balance with all my parts and feelings

P.  I love my singing and allow myself to shine onstage

Q.  I love performing and sharing myself and my feelings with others

R.  The sound of my voice is not my worth as a person – it’s just expressive air…

S.  I deserve to enjoy my voice, my singing, and my performing

T.  I welcome my opportunities to share myself through my voice and my singing

U.  I choose to enjoy myself singing and performing

V.  I know I am good enough

W.  I know my voice shares wonderful things about me

X.  I can become my best supporter, my best fan, now

Y.  I can choose to love myself and my voice and my performing

Z.  I choose to value myself and my voice and my singing, now

AA.  I choose to believe in myself as a good singer and performer

BB.  I choose to share myself creatively with others through my expressive voice and singing

CC.  I choose to feel and be expressive with others as I sing and perform

DD.  I choose to express myself through my full range of emotions and feelings

EE.  I choose to show myself openly through my voice — speaking and singing

FF.  I choose to be profoundly appreciative of what I am learning through my work with myself, my voice, and my singing

GG.  I choose to build strength and power in my singing through resilient, balanced muscles and body

HH.  I choose to trust in my body, mind, and voice for my great singing

II.  Caring for myself – body, mind, and voice – is now feeling good and loving

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1.)  Even though people around me have complained about my voice, I deeply and completely love and accept myself

2.)  Even though adults around me who loved me, made fun of my voice when I was young, I deeply and profoundly love and accept myself, and I Choose to love myself and my voice

3.)  Even though I sound like a little child, I deeply and completely love and accept myself, and I choose for my voice to share me wonderfully

4.)  Even though my voice makes me sound ‘too old’/’too young’, I deeply and completely love and accept myself as I am, and I choose to express myself as I am

5.)  Even though I might sound ‘bad’, I deeply and completely love and accept myself, and I choose to know my voice is improving and expressing me

6.)  Even though I might be loud, I deeply and completely love and accept myself, and I choose to know I am evolving as the singer of my soul

7.)  Even though someone might hear me, I utterly and profoundly love and accept myself and my singing

8.)  Even though I don’t sing every note perfectly, I deeply and completely love and accept myself and my singing

9.)  Even though once in awhile I might sound ‘bad’, I deeply and completely love and accept myself, my voice, and my singing

10.)  Even though, as a performer, I may have memory blanks and stop and start and ‘make a fool of myself’, I totally and utterly love, appreciate, and accept myself and my performing

11.)  Even though my performance may be disappointing, I like myself

12.)  Even though I stuff up and crack notes, I still rock!

13.)  Even though I fear being judged by others, I deeply and profoundly love and accept myself

14.)  Even though I fear letting myself down, I deeply and completely love and accept myself

15.)  Even though I fear making mistakes, I deeply and completely love and accept myself in all ways

16.)  Even though I feel this need to be perfect, I utterly and profoundly love and accept myself in all ways, always

17.)  Even though I fear making a mistake and then ‘losing it’, I deeply and completely love, accept, and trust myself in all ways, always

18.)  Even though I worry about this hard bar of music, I deeply and completely love, trust, and accept myself and my performing

19.)  Even though this part makes me nervous, I deeply and completely love, trust, and accept myself and my performing

20.)  Even though I ‘want to get this part right’, I deeply and completely love, trust, and accept myself, my voice, and my performing

21.)  Even though I am afraid of not being good enough and that others will judge me, I deeply and completely love and accept myself

22.)  Even though I am afraid of disappointing myself, and I’m the one who thinks I’m not good enough, I utterly and profoundly love and accept myself, my voice, and my performance

23.)  Even though I am projecting my self-judgment onto others, thinking they are judging me, I deeply and completely love and accept myself

24.)  Even though I am afraid of disappointing myself because I am not good enough, I utterly and profoundly love, trust, and accept myself and my performing

25.)  Even though my mother [or someone else…] was jealous of me when I would sing and express myself, I deeply and completely love and accept myself and my creative expression

26.)  Even though I felt like I was doing something wrong and was going to be ‘put down’ for it, I utterly and profoundly love, trust, and accept myself

27.)  Even though I shouldn’t have that much fun and just feel so good, I deeply and completely love and accept myself and my creative expression

28.)  Even though I really liked to sing and perform and my mother [or someone else…] didn’t like it, I deeply and completely love and accept myself and my performing

29.)  Even though I may be taking myself too seriously and feeling ‘significant’ or important about myself and my voice, I deeply and completely love, trust, and accept myself, my voice, and my singing

30.)  Even though I am getting nervous and that takes all the fun out of singing and performing, I utterly and profoundly love, trust, and accept myself and my singing

31.)  Even though I’m afraid I can’t just get up there and have a good time, I deeply and completely love and accept myself, and I CHOOSE to feel good about my performing NOW

32.)  Even though a part of me thinks I have to apologize for performing and pretend that I don’t know I’m a good singer, I utterly and profoundly love and accept myself and the good performer I know myself to be

33.)  Even though a part of me thinks I don’t deserve to have a good time singing and performing, I deeply love and accept myself, and I CHOOSE to believe in myself as a good performer

34.)  Even though I might not know who I am if I totally enjoy myself while performing, I deeply and completely love and accept myself and my singing

35.)  Even though I am so angry that I felt I needed to repress myself and my voice, I now deeply love and completely accept myself and my voice

36.)  Even though I am so angry and sad that I felt so restricted, I deeply and completely love and accept myself, and I choose to feel released and free in myself and my voice

37.)  Even though I felt I wasn’t allowed to be myself and show my full range, and that makes me so angry, I know that I am lovable the way I am

38.)  Even though I am so sad that I restricted myself and my voice in order to be accepted, I choose to forgive myself and anyone who might have contributed to this restriction

39.)  Even though I am so sad that I have been hiding a huge part of myself to be loved and it still shows in my voice, I choose to forgive myself and anyone who contributed to this hiding

40.)  Even though I am so sad, so frustrated, that I didn’t trust that they would accept me if I show the full range of who I am, I now choose to let go of this hiding as I deeply and completely love and accept myself

41.)  Even though I am blowing too much air with a lot of excessive effort when singing, especially in my [higher or lower] range, I deeply love and accept myself, my voice, and my body the way it is

42.)  Even though I feel I need so much effort to get my voice to come out and be heard, I love, accept, and trust my voice — speaking and singing

43.)  Even though I feel I need this effort to express myself when I sing, my voice and I are working together better every day

44.)  Even though I feel intimidated to sing in front of others, I utterly and profoundly love and accept myself and my singing

45.)  Even though I don’t forgive myself for not sounding the way I would like to, I deeply and completely love and accept myself now, and CHOOSE to forgive and trust myself and my way

46.)  Even though I have not allowed myself to shine onstage, I deeply and completely love and accept myself, and CHOOSE to sing and shine now

47.)  Even though I have overpressured and misused my voice production muscles, I deeply and completely love, trust, and accept myself and my voice, now and forever

48.)  Even though I have not allowed myself to feel confident in my vocal production, I deeply and completely love and accept myself, and choose to trust my inner self to know how to lead me through my healthy and balanced voice use

49.)  Even though I have not always felt free to address my emotional and vocal issues, I utterly and profoundly love and accept myself, and CHOOSE to balance myself and my voice from now on

50.)  Even though I have often thought I needed to force my voice and my body for loud, powerful singing, I choose to know that my body, mind, and voice know how to work in balance for my best, most expressive singing

51.)  Even though I am afraid of having to miss things I love in my life in order to healthfully care for myself and my voice, I now choose to love what is good and balanced for me and for my body, mind, and voice

52.)  Even though I didn’t realize I have to ‘act’ to be a good, expressive singer onstage, I utterly and profoundly love and accept myself and I CHOOSE to be able to act and share the feeling and meaning in my songs and performing

53.)  Even though practicing may sound silly or strange, I utterly and profoundly love and accept myself and my voice as I progress through the stages to becoming the singer I love