How to Use Affirmations
The key to a successful affirmation is it must ring true. If you can't get behind it on some level,
your counter-intention is so strong it will cancel it out. That doesn't mean you have to believe it 100% - we are trying
to rewrite negative tapes so obviously there is some resistance to this truth, but we must accept it as truth on some level.
For instance, if I want to create a more loving attitude toward myself, I could use the simple affirmation
I love myself. While this may not always feel true, I know on some level it is true, at least intellectually.
I agree with the affirmation. This is fundamental. The reason why negative thoughts work to create negative results
is that we agree with them. So to shift out of negative thoughts, we have to let the negative thoughts be there
without attaching or agreeing with them. Then, at the same time, we agree with and attach to the positive thoughts.
Do not resist negative thoughts or "negative affirmations".
Your mind (if it's like most minds), spends a lot of time criticizing itself. If the thought comes up I'm so ugly,
and you start arguing with it, or resisting it, you are just investing more energy in that thought system. Let
that thought be there - it doesn't mean a thing about you. You are not your thoughts, you are not your mind. And your
beauty does not depend on what happens to be running through your mind at the moment. So let your mind have its fun - it is only
doing what it is programmed to do.
What you resist persists.
If someone came up to you and said 'You're a purple elephant', you would probably not get insulted, because there
is no agreement that you have that goes 'I believe that I might be a purple elephant and that is a bad thing.'
On the other hand, if someone comes up and says You would look better if you lost 15 lbs and got rid of that double-chin
you would might get very upset. In fact, you might after reading that feel a little jab like "they're right, I do have kind
of a double-chin, I should really get rid of that.". That's because somewhere in your mind you have an agreement that
(a) you might have a double-chin and (b) having a double-chin is a very bad thing to have. So when someone points that out, or
you see an advertisment with a 120-lb model, your mind comes up with "I'm ugly" and you agree with it. So the key is to
stop agreeing with your negative thoughts. This doesn't mean arguing with them or resisting them though. If someone
said "You're a purple elephant" you wouldn't argue about how you really aren't and how even purple elephants have feelings -
you would just shrug and say "OK, whatever". You would have no charge on it. That is the attitude to cultivate with your
negative feelings and thoughts - a mental shrug. "Ok, that's what my mind is doing, whatever."
Stay alert and focused.
You want to be very focused and alert while doing affirmations - you will be bringing up unconscious thoughts and feelings
to be cleared and your mind will want to go to sleep as a way to avoid uncovering these. Your mind is in survival of
your existing thoughts and feelings - that is its job.
Let's get started
Ok, so lets say you are want to create more love in your life. You start with the affirmation:
Then, notice what comes up. You will probably get some sort of negative response. Just write that down,
or say it out loud, whichever way you are doing your affirmations. So you might come up with:
| | Truth | | Response |
| | I love myself. | | That's not true, I really hate myself. |
Acknowledge your response - there is pain in there that wants to be heard. A feeling fully experienced dissipates - it has served its purpose. Accept the part of yourself that hates, that feels unworthy, and is in pain. Care for it and nurture it as if it were a child. Then, gently bring your attention back to how I love myself is true.
For instance, depending on your beliefs you
could say I believe everyone deserves love, so I love myself or I am a child of God and if God can love me, I can too
or As a Divine being, I created and chose this incarnation, so I must love it. Think of yourself as your higher Self, your
Divine spark, or your Being - not just your mind and body.
Really come back to the truth of your affirmation, and keep going.
| | Truth | | Response |
| | I love myself. | | There's just something wrong with me. |
If your response is an especially strong one, you might want to make
a new affirmation out of it, like I am a Divine creation, and therefore perfect or I am right where I need to be on my path.
Keep going with your affirmation until you no longer have an emotional response come up that counteracts your affirmation.
You are now complete with that affirmation - you have absorbed it into your consciousness.
