Affirmations for Healing

A few weeks ago, I set up a booth at a public expo. People who stopped by my booth were offered their pick from any of 5 affirmation cards to take home. Some people were delighted! In fact, a few asked if they could have one of each. Others were puzzled. They didn't really know what the cards were for or how an affirmation might support their goals. Let's consider how an affirmation might promote healing. The word "affirmation" literally means "to make firm." An affirmation statement creates matter, in a round-about way, out of the words it contains. If you are somewhat skeptical about this claim, please let me reassure you that I'm not implying that the words have any particular kind of magic. Thank goodness our language isn't quite that powerful! It would be a very lonely planet if anyone who had ever been the object of a careless "I wish so-and-so were dead" thought had indeed keeled over on the spot! Surely you would not be reading this article, as I myself would no doubt be long gone. Here's how it does work. You habitually hold certain thoughts in your mind. If you stop to notice, you'll probably find that you repeat particular thought patterns over and over. For most of us, unless you've put some conscious order to your thoughts, they'll most likely be disempowering. This is because at some point or another in your life, something happened. You took it personally. And now you blame yourself. Stop reading for a moment and notice the thoughts that are in your mind right now. If this idea is new to you, perhaps your thoughts have this kind of tone, "Yeah, well when you've had the kind of life I've had, what else would you think? Every time I look up, life is right there to beat me down." Now let's consider the kinds of choices a person would make when they consistently operate from those instructions. Chances are they wouldn't step up to the plate very often on the their own behalf. Why bother? Anything they do is doomed to failure anyway. You won't very likely trip over a person with this mindset at the gym at 7 am. For one thing, he probably doesn't have the energy to drag himself over there! But then again, he might. Some of us, despite our discouragement, keep trying. We just sabotage everything we do. We'll show up and ride the exercise bike for a half hour. We'll start off on the right track, and then sabotage it later with an ice cream or a big order of fries. You see, a person with this mindset cannot succeed, no matter how hard she tries. Success conflicts with a core belief! Until he changes his thinking, this guy absolutely has to fail! You wanna talk about frustration! So let's change it up. This isn't going to happen by accident. The most efficient, effective way to change the conversation going on in the back of your mind is to choose a different one. Plan out in advance something constructive to listen to. Whenever you get the chance, change the channel. That's what we call an affirmation! nnAffirmation: a planned positive message. Let's say the fellow we eavesdropped on a few minutes ago wants a better life. Easy. All he has to do is "pre-record" a message like this one: "My life gets better every day!" Whenever he gets the chance, he reminds himself of that fact. And before you know it, he's making different choices. When you choose from possibility, you make different choices than when you choose from "it'll never work." Those choices form the material basis of your words, your language, your affirmation. It's not magic. Yet it might seem that way, given how simple this plan really is. Why not give it a try?