The History of Affirmations

Contrary to popular belief, the use of affirmations is not a new concept, they can actually be traced back to ancient eastern religions, originally known as mantras they were used mostly by Buddhists. Mantras are religious, poems or sayings that are chanted over and over again during meditation.

Affirmations as we know them today, have a long history in the concept of self-help. They are believed to originate in the work of French psychotherapist Emile Coue. His affirmation “Every day, in every way, I’m getting better and better” was given to his patients to repeat at the beginning and end of every day in order to change their unconscious thoughts.

From Emile Coue, we can trace the use of affirmations to The New Thought Movement, which was a spiritual movement founded in the USA in the early 19th century. This was the turning point in the popularity of affirmations and lead to many books on self-help being written.

The New Thought Movement also had a member that has become our inspiration for Dollars Want Me: The New Millennium Edition…. Henry Harrison Brown!

The movement was something that many people had not ever been in contact with, but its popularity soon spread all around the USA with non-religious and religious groups based on new thought springing up everywhere.

Although we use affirmations in a similar way in modern times, the thought behind them has change slightly. With the introduction and popularity of the Law of Attraction and the book “The Secret”, affirmations are now quite often used to ask the universe for something that we want. It is thought that positive affirmations not only help to change our mind-set and create habits, but if said to the universe the law of attraction will be at work to provide everything that we desire.

Although the Law of attraction does not actually work 100% because people are too busy focussing on what they want as opposed to what wants them!