Self-help and spiritual communities have long known what science is just starting to understand: that a positive mindset can dramatically improve your physical and mental health. There are many ways to harness the power of positivity, but affirmations are widely regarded as an easy and effective method to get started.

Do you remember 2004’s self help phenomenon ‘The Secret’? Its main teaching was that with enough positive thinking you could have and achieve whatever you want. They really played it up too — someone in the movie literally said positivity is “like having the universe as your catalogue”, just believe and it’s yours! In the age of life hacks and quick fixes it’s easy to see why this took off, making over $300 million and at its height being touted by celebrities like Oprah and Will Smith. Of course the fervor settled a few years later when, surprise, most people hadn’t become rich and famous.