Beyond the Power of Your Subconscious Mind (10 page)

We create our personal reality through our conscious belief about ourselves, others, and the world . . . We are not at the mercy of the subconscious, or helpless before forces that we cannot understand. The conscious mind directs unconscious activity and has at its command all of the powers of the inner self. These are activated according to our ideas about reality. . . .”

If you do not like your experience, then you must change the nature of your conscious thought and expectations. You must alter the kind of messages that you are sending through your thoughts to your own body, to friends and associates.

The Nature of Personal Reality*
by Jane Roberts

And now we move on to the “
tools
.”

8

Affirmations and Affirmation Techniques

In Chapter 2, Dr. Murphy introduced the term “auto suggestion” and how people under hypnosis can be given powerful suggestions, which when believed to be true, cause the subject under hypnosis to perform in extraordinary ways. The word “extraordinary” used here is a literal description of the person’s behavior when the subconscious picture of what is “ordinary” is temporarily suspended and “ordinary limitations” are replaced with commands and suggestions that cause the hypnotized subject to perform at levels substantially higher than when that person is not under hypnosis.

Most of us have been “hypnotized” by authority figures into believing things about ourselves and their accompanying limitations that are simply not true. But, believing they are true, we act and behave in ways to validate such “truths.”

Hypnotherapist Lee Pulos, Ph.D., has told me that his greatest challenge in working with traumatized adult patients is helping them become
de-hypnotized
to the erroneous data given to them when they were small children and the continuous repetition of such data that led to their traumatized conditions.

Let’s now examine how the constructive use of affirmations can help reprogram our subconscious with updated, relevant and truthful data that is consistent with who and what we want to be today, not who we
used to be!
Dr. Murphy stated another term for auto suggestion is
affirmation
.

Earlier we defined an affirmation as “a statement of fact or belief (positive or negative) that tends to lead you toward the end result you expect.” The statement of “fact” or belief may or may not be TRUE, but we believe it to be true and act accordingly. Also, the “end result you expect” may not be the end result you want. But, believing “I have never been good at
________
,” you resign yourself to that limiting “truth” and program your subconscious with consistent data regarding your limitation so that the subconscious insures your behavior will consistently act in such a way as to support your belief.

You and I have been using affirmations our entire lives. Any statement we make to ourselves or others that follows “I am” or “I” is an affirmation. The following are all affirmations:

•
I am a great spouse.

•
I am a lousy spouse.

•
I am a very loving and patient parent.

•
I always lose my temper around my kids. I guess I’m just not a good parent.

•
I am very efficient and well organized.

•
I am sloppy and can never find a thing.

•
I am a great public speaker.

•
I always get nervous and screw up when I am in front of a group.

Remember, we said an affirmation is a statement of fact or belief (positive or negative). In other words, it may not be TRUE (in reality), it is only “true” as we perceive it.

We were not born well organized or poorly organized. We were not born with poor or great public speaking skills. Our attitudes, opinions, and self concept about any of these things (positive or negative) were developed. We were given “factual” data (which may not have been true) at very young ages by authority figures which we interpreted to be true. Over many years these attitudes, opinions, and beliefs were ingrained into us until we believed what we believed, which then became an unalterable “TRUTH” in our personal reality. In fact, the beliefs became so “true” that in extreme cases we were willing to die for them.

Do you realize, for example, that more people have been killed in the history of civilization defending their religious beliefs than any other single or collective cause of death? How can sane people run around the world today killing each other because of differences in their religious beliefs? This is crazy!

I only use this example to illustrate that affirmations work (positive or negative). We did not genetically come into the world with any thoughts or attitudes about religion, or God, or anything else for that matter. But by having certain doctrines repeated to us over and over, and then with our own self talk repeating them over and over, we shaped, in this example, our religious beliefs
for life
(usually). This was all achieved by the process of affirmations. “I believe
_______
,” “I can
_______
,” and so on. This process also created our self concept.

So, we know affirmations work.

Therefore, why don’t we use this same process to alter our behavior and bring about constructive changes in our lives? In the balance of this chapter, I am going to share with you how to do this.

My first exposure to the formal teachings of affirmation techniques was in 1969 when I attended the Omega Seminar taught by its founder, the late John Boyle (see Introduction).

When I first started using affirmations, I was somewhat skeptical that by simply creating a new sentence to describe how I wanted to be or become, I could achieve such a change. Others attending Omega, who had been through the seminar previously and who had been using affirmations for a period of time, raved about the success they had achieved. There seemed to be no limits to the areas of their lives that were affected (positively) through the deliberate use of affirmations.

Relationships, parenting, health issues, business and financial issues, all seemed to enjoy positive benefits or improvements in the lives of the people giving testimony to their own use of affirmations. I thought if it can work for them, why can’t it work for me?

Forty years later I am still using affirmations. This is not to suggest I have not experienced setbacks or failures along the way. But it is to say that the quality of my thinking has been positively affected, which has resulted in a greatly improved quality of how I have chosen to live my life. I once heard, “We teach that which we need to learn the most,” and I certainly have lots of room for further growth and development, which I enthusiastically embrace.

Now to the how-to part of writing and using affirmations.

Presuming you have a list of goals or needs you want to achieve, you can now use affirmations as a supplemental technique to assist you in their attainment. Through daily repetition of your affirmations, combined with visualization and strong emotional feelings, you condition or recondition your subconscious to help you achieve your goals.

When you write an affirmation you construct the sentence in first person, present tense, describing the end result you desire as if it were true today.

In other words, you don’t say, “My relationship with
________
will get better,” or, “My business will improve” (i.e., hope for something better in the future). Rather, you write the affirmation, “I enjoy an excellent relationship with
________
and it gets stronger every day,” or, “I am a very successful businessperson and find ways to improve my business each day.”

Let’s say you want to use affirmations to achieve a health goal. Let’s use losing weight as an example. If getting on the scale today reports that your “current reality” is that you weigh 225 pounds and you develop a new goal to weigh 195 pounds, you would develop an affirmation that reads, “I look good and feel good at 195 pounds.” This is written in the first person, present tense as though it were true today. You would not write the affirmation, “I am not overweight.” The emphasis there is on being overweight, which is exactly the picture you don’t want to create.

You may also develop a couple of supportive affirmations such as, “I eat only enough to maintain my perfect weight of 195 pounds,” or “I enjoy exercising every day and never miss a day.”

Remember, our affirmations are intended to bring about a change in our behavior. The affirmation “I look good and feel good at
___
pounds” does not give us permission to move our bed next to the refrigerator!

It is important that you write an affirmation that lends itself to support visualizations that form the picture of success in your mind that you would like it to be. For example, when you say to yourself, “I enjoy an excellent relationship with
_____
,” you picture yourself and that person together in a setting where you are enjoying each other’s company and really having “an excellent relationship.” It can be a mental picture from a past experience you enjoyed together or an imaginary picture you simply create to support your affirmation. Either picture (whether actual or imaginary) records in the subconscious mind as though it actually happened provided the picture is supported with strong, positive emotional feelings.

This last step, emotional support, is very important. When people experience age regression hypnosis, for example, they not only recall vividly a visual experience from the past, but they re-experience the emotions associated with that experience. If it was a happy event, they might start laughing whereas a sad event may bring about tears, all under hypnosis. It is important to understand that the purpose of language (words) is to create or access an image. It is this image (not the words) that records in the subconscious along with the feelings and emotions associated with that image. This is why the imagery or picture(s) that support the words, accompanied by feelings and emotions, is so important. We will expand on this in the following chapter.

In summary, the affirmation process consists of three steps:

1. Read the affirmation to yourself.

2. Visually experience a past or future event or an imaginary one that supports your affirmation.

3. Inject positive and pleasurable feeling (emotion) into your visualization.

Each affirmation should last 10–15 seconds and should be repeated three to five times. Like goals, it is usually best to not have more than 15 affirmations at a given time.

Our minds are most receptive to receiving affirmations when we first awake in the morning and at night before we go to bed. I know many people who have their affirmations written on 3 x 5 cards or handheld devices which they keep next to their bed. Jumping ahead for a moment, in Chapter 14 of this book, Dr. Murphy writes:

You avoid all conflict between your desires and imagination by entering into a drowsy, sleepy state which brings all effort to a minimum. The conscious mind is submerged to a great extent when in a sleepy state. The best time to impregnate your subconscious is prior to sleep. The reason for this is that the highest degree of outcropping of the subconscious occurs prior to sleep and just after we awaken. In this state the negative thoughts and imagery which tend to neutralize your desire and so prevent acceptance by your subconscious mind no longer present themselves. When you imagine the reality of the fulfilled desire and feel the thrill of accomplishment, your subconscious brings about the realization of your desire.

The daily practice of affirmations can bring about almost miraculous changes in one’s life. But like anything else, knowing how to do them and doing them are two separate issues. Daily repetition of practicing your affirmations will become a habit. And like all other habits, you will feel “cheated” on the days you don’t do them.

I, personally, affirm to do my affirmations daily. I have a written statement which precedes my affirmations which reads:

I enjoy reading my affirmations the first thing each morning and the last thing in the evening. My daily practice of affirmations, combined with supportive visualization and strong emotional feelings, imprint into my subconscious mind the values, goals, and attitudes I deem important in the enrichment of my life.

We have the choice to eliminate negative beliefs. Quoting from
The Nature of Personal Reality.
*

Here is a more specific list of . . . beliefs, any of which you may have about yourself.

1. I am sickly, and always have been.

2. There is something wrong with money. People who have it are greedy, less spiritual than those who are poor. They are unhappier and snobs.

3. I am not creative. I have no imagination.

4. I can never do what I want to do.

5. People dislike me.

6. I am fat.

7. I always have bad luck.

These are all beliefs held by many people. Those who have them will meet them in experience. Physical data will always seem to reinforce the beliefs, therefore, but the beliefs formed the reality. . . . you must realize that no one can change your beliefs for you, nor can they be forced upon you from without. You can indeed change them for yourself, however, with knowledge and application.

Hopefully, from your reading thus far you have gained, and will continue to gain, the knowledge and the theory behind
Beyond the Power of Your Subconscious Mind
. And from the chapter you have just read, you now have the “applications,” i.e., the tools.

Continuing, we will now see the power of directed visualization and the importance of creating and holding in consciousness clearly defined pictures of the end results we desire and expect.

9

Intentionality: The Hidden Power
Within Directed Visualization