The Power of Affirmation Cards – A Simple Ritual to Connect to Your Soul.
I have always heard experts of spiritual and mental health say, "intentions, intentions, intentions." But I remember sitting there thinking—I don’t even know how to set one. What does that even mean? Do I just wake up and write something vague in a journal like, “Today I’ll be calm” and expect magic?
At the time, I genuinely didn’t know how to start. So I decided to do something simple—I grabbed a pack of affirmation cards. I thought maybe if I had a visual, something concrete, I could turn it into a sort of guided intention challenge. Nothing complicated. Just one card a day. Let’s see how it goes, I told myself. Let’s just try.
I’d heard this on a podcast—the idea that you manifest your reality through intention. I kept hearing that from different places: neuroscience says it, spiritual guides say it. What you focus on becomes your experience.
But from where I stood—as a busy mother, a professional, someone constantly juggling too much—it felt like a fairytale. I’d ask myself, What intention? Why even bother setting one? It felt useless. A waste of mental energy. I’d try and then spiral into, This is silly. Nothing’s going to change.
But then a small part of my brain—the curious part—whispered, What if you’re wrong? I didn’t go into it convinced. I approached it more like an experiment. Like: okay, what’s the worst that can happen? Maybe this “intention” thing will surprise me.
These weren’t just quotes. They became prompts. Mini challenges. One card said, “Fake courage and real courage feel the same.” That made me check in with myself: What do I need to be brave about today? Even something small—like speaking up in a conversation I’d usually avoid. That tiny shift helped me see the whole day through a different lens.
Another card reminded me: “You alone are responsible for what you think and feel.” So I tried to slow down and actually observe what triggered my emotional reactions. Instead of spiraling, I paused. Just that: pause.
I stuck the card of the day on my fridge. Some days I’d carry it with me, or jot it into my journal. I needed repetition. This was like building a new muscle. And honestly, on the days I didn’t do this? My day often felt scattered. More chaotic.
Then I remembered something Mel Robbins said on a podcast—something about looking for heart shapes throughout your day. That if you set that intention, your brain would start spotting them everywhere. And it was true. It happened to me. Suddenly I was seeing heart shapes all over. It was like my brain said, Okay. You want to see something? I’ll show you.
And that’s exactly what the affirmation cards were doing. Tiny nuggets that gave my brain a direction. A challenge. A curiosity to follow. And when I leaned into it from that place—not trying to force it to work, but just exploring—it started to feel like my brain was lighting up in a new way.
Here’s one moment I still can’t explain. One day I had an important Zoom meeting scheduled and decided to take it at our old apartment. But on the way there, I realized: all the chairs were gone. In storage. My stress spiked—this wasn’t a meeting I could take sitting on the floor or awkwardly perched somewhere. I was about to panic.
But when I got there, I kid you not—an office chair was sitting right outside the apartment. Out of nowhere. My spouse hadn’t put it there. No one claimed it. It was just… there. Waiting. I sat down and laughed. It felt like the universe saying, You asked. I heard you. It was a small thing. But it felt like a miracle.
And there were other changes too. I used to hate traffic jams—especially the long 45-minute commute into the city. It drained me before my day even began. But once I started practicing daily intention, something shifted. I swapped scrolling or stressing in the car for motivating podcasts or audiobooks. Suddenly, my commute felt like me time. The traffic didn’t bother me as much. I wasn’t upset about the rain or gray skies anymore either. Instead, I started noticing the beauty—the mist, the early light, the way the trees moved. It was like I was seeing the weather again through the eyes of my childhood. Like every shift in light or sky was a little miracle.
And even at work, the energy shifted. The conversations around me changed. Before, everyone would complain about the traffic or the weather—as if that were the default script. But I found myself saying things like, "Actually, my drive felt really peaceful today,” or "Did you see the way the sky looked this morning?" And without trying, that energy rippled. People started sharing more calm and positive moments too. Like our collective energy was aligning to the tone I was setting inside myself.
It reminded me of something I read when I was 11 in a Greek magazine—a translation of a Paulo Coelho column. It said something like: “The warrior of light doesn’t see things as curses or blessings, but as challenges.” That quote never left me. And this practice? It became my challenge. My portal. My way of saying: I want to meet life halfway.
I wasn’t trying to manifest the perfect life. I was just finally doing something I’d always dismissed. The first step wasn’t hard—it was just… unfamiliar. And I started feeling more confident. More grounded. More capable of actually creating my day, not just surviving it.
I realized that it takes less than three minutes. Just pull a card. Breathe. Write it down if you want. That’s it. Who doesn’t have three minutes for themselves?
Some days I forgot. Some days I needed to go back to the fridge, or to my journal, to remind myself. But even then, that returning—that anchoring—was part of the magic.
It’s not about chasing happiness or pretending everything is perfect. I don’t think life has to feel like a constant struggle either. We used to dream big when we were young—believing we could fly, believing the world was ours. Then somehow, as adults, our path starts to feel like only sacrifice and responsibility.
And so much of what I’ve learned came not from answers I found online, but from my own inner research. From experimenting on myself. From asking, What if? I needed help to start. And maybe you do too.
Because yes—life is full. Time slips away. But this? This small daily step can create a ripple effect. It can help you reclaim some of that space in your mind and your spirit. Suddenly your day isn’t just happening to you. It’s becoming something you’re co-creating.
It’s like… when all the windows in your brain were foggy, and then one by one, they begin to clear. A little puff here. A little light there. Until the sparkle returns. That’s what this practice did for me.
Start small. Be curious. And give yourself a simple tool to remember who you are, what you want, and how you can show up today.
Takeaways (from my own messy and curious experiment)
You don’t have to “believe” in intention for it to start working—just be curious. Curiosity opens doors belief can’t.
Building the muscle of intention takes less time than brushing your teeth. But it can shift the whole tone of your day.
My car rides went from stress traps to sacred space. I didn’t change the traffic—I changed how I met it.
People feel your energy. Your intention becomes an invitation for better interactions, calmer mornings, deeper presence.
Little miracles show up when your brain is trained to expect them—even an office chair in the middle of nowhere.
I used this affirmation card deck to get started. It gave me something visual and simple to center myself each morning.
Path to Reflection
Where in your daily routine do you feel most out of control or reactive?
What if your day began with curiosity instead of pressure? If you treated your life like an experiment instead of a test, what would you be more willing to try, without needing proof or perfection?
What "tiny miracle" has life already offered you—something you may have dismissed or overlooked?