Family gatherings can often be far more uncomfortable than we’d hope. Our families are the ones who mold and raise us, so we naturally come to the table with certain baggage. It’s all too easy to jump in with heavy expectations and find yourself disappointed at every turn. Conversely, if our expectations are too low, our family interactions can fill our hearts with tangled knots of anxiety and dread. How can we manage these expectations while also carrying a torch of hope and optimism for the people we love? 

“An affirmation opens the door. It’s a beginning point on the path to change.” – Louise Hay

How Can Affirmations Help Me With My Family? 

Affirmations are positive statements that can help you to challenge and overcome self-sabotaging and negative thoughts. Affirmations can help us get into the right mindset for anything, including our potentially difficult families. When you’ve repeated them enough that you have begun to believe them, then you can work past your cynicism, and let go of the anxiety that can sometimes sabotage your important relationships. These affirmations can help you get in the right mindset for positive interactions with your family: 

• I am cultivating an attitude of acceptance. 
• I have control over myself, but not anybody else, and that’s okay. 
• If things get awkward, I will have the tools to deal with it. 
• I radiate love into the atmosphere, permeating myself and those around me. 
• No matter what happens, I know that I was there to provide affection and care for the people I love. 
• Just as there are reasons to be anxious, there are reasons to be hopeful as well.

What Are Positive Affirmations About Family? 

Positive affirmations about your family (chosen or otherwise) that reinforce the love, unity, and bond that you share with your family. They can help you to appreciate your family as they are, rather than how you wish them to be. By repeating these positive affirmations about your family, you can open up your heart to warmer experiences with them. 

• I appreciate the lessons and experiences my family has given me. 
• I am a beacon of love for my family. When I lead the way, others will follow my example.
• We are not perfect. We do not have to be perfect to be a loving family. 
• We have made mistakes. These mistakes are not prescriptions for our future. 
• The past can be forgiven without forgetting. 
• I arrive comfortably in the present. I leave the past in the past. I let the future sort itself out. 

What Are Gratitude Affirmations For Family? 

These affirmations can help remind you of the good in your family, even when times get tough. Staying conscious of the things our family has provided for us can help us stay motivated, grounded, and hopeful for our interactions with them. Next time you’re dwelling on the potential disasters that an encounter with your family could bring, try repeating a few of these: 

• I am grateful for the love and care that my family does provide. 
• I am thankful for the precious moments I share with my loved ones. 
• My family is a source of inspiration for who I have become, by lesson and by example. 
• Spending time with my family grants me insight into the person I was, and why I am the person I have become. 
• I am similar to my family, and they are similar to me. When I accept my family, I give myself permission to accept myself. 
• My family is not perfect. My family has made mistakes. When I forgive my family, I give myself permission to forgive myself. 

“I am in the right place at the right time, doing the right thing.” – Louise Hay

How Do You Manifest A Happy Family? 

It’s easier to say these things than for them to become true. Often, it might take years of hope before that hope transmutes into something you can hang your hope upon. These affirmations are intended to help you keep that hope alive for as long as it takes to infect the people you love with a similar hopeful optimism. The art of intention takes a lifetime to master, but you have the rest of your life to work on it, and you have every reason to be hopeful. 

• Intentions For Anxiety. When we’re anxious, sometimes it takes a comforting voice to set us straight. With the right affirmations, you can be that comforting voice for yourself. Setting intentions can help us manage our own feelings when it feels like they might take us off the rails. 

• Intentions For Every Stage of the Journey. No matter where you are on your journey, we’ve collected intentions to help you along your path. 

• Authentically Survive Your Next Family Gathering. Planning an encounter with your family but unsure of how to handle it? This article is full of tips to help you stay in touch with your family and your highest self at the same time. 

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Sunny Ebsary is a writer and singer-songwriter from Tampa, FL. When he’s not sing-songwriting or just regular writing, he’s probably drinking water with a lot of ice, having a staring contest with his cat, or giving people great ideas. You can listen to Sunny’s music here.