Six Affirmations that Guide My Life

Back in the mid-1980s, I was a trainer for a company called Omega Seminars -- founded by a man named John Boyle. The program ran for two days, and was largely based on the positive power of "affirmations" in our lives -- as a way of programming our superconscious mind. Of course, there is no substitute for taking the entire program, but (as a response to yesterday's blog), I would like to summarize the essence of it. Twenty years later, I am still using these six, basic affirmations -- and I find them very helpful in my life:

Affirmation One
I really enjoy the way that I love myself unconditionally. I love myself no matter what anyone else does or says or thinks or feels. I love myself no matter what I do or say or think or feel.

Affirmation Two
I really enjoy the way that I am easily able to monitor my own stream of consciousness, replacing all negative thoughts with positive affirmations.

Affirmation Three
I really enjoy the way that I have warm, positive regard for all people at all times.

Affirmation Four
I really enjoy how, every day and with every affirmation, I am feeling greater health and wellness in both mind and body.

Affirmation Five
I really enjoy the way that I am completely self-directed -- and I enjoy the fact that I allow all other people the same right.

Affirmation Six
I really enjoy the way that I assume full responsibility for all of my actions.

Initially, in working with these affirmations, I had a rather involved process -- putting them on a tape cassette, with special music, that I listened to every day. I also combined this with beautiful mental images (as represented by the National Geographic photo I have included above). Now, they seem like second nature to me. Although I find that it is always useful to return to them periodically. The affirmations work, based upon the power of suggestion. They can be amplified through the use of a mildly altered state of consciousness.

The truth is, whether or not you consciously practice the discipline of affirmations, you are using them all of the time -- anyway. This is because every thought we have is, in effect, an affirmation -- and, as such, serves to "program" the subconscious and superconscious minds. The discipline of using affirmations is a way of making this process conscious.

In my blog of March 22, I discussed my link with the great American psychologist William James on an archetypal or reincarnational level. William James is particularly relevant to our understanding of the psychology of affirmations. This method developed in the context of the American "New Thought" movement, of which James was a participant. He, himself, used these methods to cure himself of a debilitating case of psychological depression. He believed that the greatest discovery of his generation was that people had the power to control the thoughts that pass through their stream of awareness.