basic beliefs about the nature of our world and of ourselves, and because of this, they can be one of the most powerful tools we have that help us discover a short path to success and fulfillment of our dreams.
I used to believe what many people still believe: Life is basically a struggle. It’s hard to succeed. It takes hard work, and a great deal of luck. So few people actually succeed — and those who do are usually miserable anyway. Be realistic: The chances of succeeding are slim — especially for you, with all your problems and shortcomings.
Then somewhere along the way I became aware that these deep beliefs are not necessarily true in themselves — there are many people, after all, with completely different sets of beliefs — but these beliefs become true in our experience if we believe them. Our beliefs are self-fulfilling. Fortunately, they are pliable, and can and do change.
Affirmations help us to intentionally,
consciously, change our beliefs.
Affirm you live in an abundant world, and see what happens. Affirm that you can succeed — as you choose to define success — and even live the life of your dreams, in an easy and relaxed manner, a healthy and positive way, and see what happens. You don’t even have to believe in affirmations — just try them, and you’ll notice some remarkable changes that happen quickly, even magically.
I’ve seen my deep, underlying beliefs change dramatically over the years — and I know it was because of the affirmations I kept repeating. My life and in fact the entire world I live in have both changed completely. I now live in an abundant world, where there is no shortage of good.
For years, I struggled with money issues because I believed I was a fool with money, out of control. I just didn’t have whatever it takes to be successful. Once I was able to clearly see this belief and express it in those simple words, I was able to come up with an affirmation that completely contradicted it:
I am sensible and in control of my finances; I am creating total success, in an easy and relaxed manner, a healthy and positive way.
I wanted to keep these words in sight, so I wrote the affirmation down in big letters and posted it on the wall in several different places in my home and office. I put a copy of it in my billfold, and another copy by my phone on my desk. I said it a few thousand times over the next few years, and in an effortless, magical way, it became true in my life.
There are a limitless number of affirmations. The best ones are the ones you come up with yourself. Keep adding and changing the words as you see fit.
Affirmations work. A vast number of practices from a vast number of traditions work. Prayer works. Declarations work. Mantras work. Summoning works. Creative visualization works. Positive thinking works. Unfortunately, negative thinking also works, and has the power to undermine and destroy our affirmations, prayers, and dreams.
It’s as if the whole universe in some mysterious way says “Yes!” to every thought we have. When we affirm something, the universe says “Yes!” — and then starts whispering to us, showing us exactly the next obvious steps to take.
But if our next thought is, “Oh, but it’s so hard to succeed, so few people succeed…,” the universe says, “Yes, it’s hard for you with those thoughts” — and, sure enough, things are hard. It’s a struggle. It’s tough. It’s (to quote a horrible negative affirmation) “one damn thing after another.”
T. Harv Eker has a good analogy: It’s as if there is a vast universal warehouse, filled with everything our hearts can possibly desire. When we affirm or pray or declare that we are now receiving the things we desire, those words become an order that the universe sets about fulfilling. We will receive the things we’re asking for, unless our next thoughts are negative or limiting thoughts, doubts and fears, that cancel our order.
We make an order, then cancel it, then make it again, then cancel it again. Our affirmations and prayers come to nothing.
It’s worth repeating:
Affirmations work.
Prayer works. Declarations work. Summoning works.
Creative visualization works. Positive thinking works.
Unfortunately, negative thinking also works,
and has the power to undermine and destroy
our affirmations, prayers, and dreams.
But there’s hope for every one of us: We can overcome a huge amount of doubt and fear by simply returning to our affirmations, over and over. Post them on your wall, where you’ll keep seeing them. Carry some around with you. Read them over and over. Implant them deeply in your mind. And prepare yourself for some inevitable results.
I’ve heard countless stories over the years that illustrate the power of the spoken word, affirmations, and mantras. I’m sure you have too, when you think about it.
Just a few weeks ago, I reconnected with an old friend from our back-to-the-land experiment. I hadn’t seen her in over forty years, and wanted to hear the story of her life: what she’d been through, where she was now, and where she dreamed of going.
She said she had wandered around through her twenties, much like I had, searching for something or other that seemed to elude her. Then in her early thirties, she read Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain, and she started repeating an affirmation, over and over, through the months and years that followed. These were the words that ended up changing her life:
I do wonderful work
in a wonderful way
with wonderful people
for wonderful pay.
After chanting this for a while, some creative ideas, some possibilities, came floating along. She had several ideas she played with, and then one of them started to become much more concrete — more and more details kept coming to mind — until she was able to make a clear, simple plan that felt completely doable. She ended up setting up her own retail store, featuring all of the strange and unusual and wonderful things she loved.
She made a plan and went for it, repeating her affirmation often throughout the day, and for thirty years she had her own business where she did wonderful work in a wonderful way with wonderful people for wonderful pay.
I heard another miracle story recently: Several years ago, a woman was facing bankruptcy and foreclosure on her home; her real-estate career was earning almost nothing after the crash. She had bought her home at the peak of the real-estate bubble, and it was completely underwater — worth far less than the loan. She took one of my seminars and made a list of goals as affirmations in a notebook. Every morning, as she worked out for half an hour on a treadmill or StairMaster, she read her affirmations to herself, over and over.
She affirmed she was paying off her home completely, in an easy and relaxed manner, a healthy and positive way, and she had a million dollars in liquid assets.
Within a few days, she started getting creative ideas. She played with several possibilities that came to mind, but couldn’t see how they could work. Within a few weeks, she got an idea that she acted on: working directly with the banks to help refinance homes like hers that were underwater. Within two years, her home was completely paid off, and she had substantial savings — a comfortable nest egg.
She knows that the repeated affirmations had an effect, causing the creative ideas to surface in her mind.
There’s nothing you have to believe in to make any of this work — just try it, and see what happens.