Do affirmations really work?
There are many spiritual teachings that speak of the power of positive affirmations in one’s life as a force for transformation. Basically if we keep telling ourselves that something is true long enough - like we are only love for example - the hope is that we begin to fully believe it and manifest that reality in our lives. But does it work?...

As anyone can, I can only offer my own view based on my life experience. I have paid much attention to this over the course of my lifetime and what I can offer is a resounding NO!!! They do not work - at least in my truth.

I should qualify this statement and say they can work temporarily and some people appear to have success with them - at least for a while. So why do they sometimes work in the beginning but fail the test of time?

The answer is quite simple really. Whenever you make a statement about yourself “I am love” for example, you create an internal identity around the affirmation. There becomes a ‘someone’ inside trying to manifest a reality on the outside.

In doing this you are of course defining yourself. But that which you are - the all of it - is beyond definition. A definition that something is ‘this’ needs the presence of ‘that’ and so immediately you create love inside of yourself, you also create that which is not love.

The illusionary self you have just created relates to the interplay of the two states of beingness. If your will is strong, you may radiate love for a while but it will always wane eventually. You may be able to sweep the ‘not love’ bit under the proverbial carpet for a while but sooner or later it will reappear and ‘bite you in the ass’ when you probably least need it! Why is that?

This is because there is but one purpose of the universe. That is to realise yourself as what you truly are - the absolute, through all experiences identified with none of them. So when you make a statement like “I am”, you summon the whole power of the universe to test you on that belief. No matter how successful you may initially appear to be, it will ALWAYS fail in the end because there will always be more darkness - the relative universe is continually expanding at the speed of our thought.

So how can we be a positive force for upliftment and change? Why is is that enlightened masters such as the Buddha have spoken of the inner fire that melts all darkness in its path?

It is because the fire is arising from the absolute. It is the fire of compassion for all those who are still caught up in the illusion that there is ‘someone’ inside of themselves. The inner fire is the experience of release from that illusionary universe. When burning brightly, it transforms all in its path.

"Be a lamp unto yourself.
Don't search for light anywhere else;
the light is already there, the fire is already there.
Just probe a little deeper into your being, enquire.
Maybe much ash has gathered around the fire...
Just probe deep inside, and you will find the spark again.
And once you have found a single spark inside you,
you will become a flame, soon you will be a fire...
a fire that purifies, a fire that transforms,
a fire that gives you a new birth and a new being.
Be a lamp unto yourself."
Last words of Gautama, the Buddha

To facilitate the arising of this inner flame, we have to still the mind, go inwards and connect with the truth of what we are being. We become the witnesser of ourselves identifying with nothing that arises from within whether ‘good’ or ‘bad’.

Over time, the ‘ash’ is blown away and the spark of light grows and grows. At Openhand, we use breathing to fan the inner flame and what begins as a little flicker in the chakras becomes a burning sensation throughout the whole body.

Tibetan monks generate this experience to overcome extreme cold. It is what the deathless saint Babaji referred to as the 'fire of transformation'.

Chris

Thank God! At last, someone with something sensible to say about affirmations!

I have created, manipulated, teased and transformed the world around me, my circumstances. I have manifested financial wealth, and thought I have been certain of who I was, but it means nothing, if we are denying our true self (which cannot be shaped by thoughts, IMO). We can, in an illusionary sense be whatever we choose to be. But everything changes, without exception, except the absolute that flows through it all.

Why would we choose to be any less than what we are? I know that I don't always get it right, but I choose to refrain from building up layers of false identity around myself. I mean, it has been challenging enough as it is to chip away at the thick layers that have encased my true self, without adding to them further. No thanks! Why keep reaffirming the illusion? Instead why not just be the beautiful beings that we are an accept ourselves totally for who we are right now!

Love
Ana

Another great thread! I've also read a few of the positive affirmation "manifest your own reality" books. I think it's a related issue to that of NLP which was discussed on another thread here.

Our ambition to manifest a different reality occurs because we have been unwilling to accept the nature of our life journey so far, and because we have identified with false images projected by the media.

I agree that "manifesting" may work for a while: but The Universe will in due course provide a "counter-manifestation" which will simply oblige you to learn yet another lesson, the hard way.

We need to completely accept what has happened to us, and where we are now. This isn't always easy, and sometimes a therapy of one sort or another may help a lot to clear the burden of the past. Further, recognize the illusions in the media, TV and magazines in particular.

Then, one should go forward in complete acceptance of what one simply is. When we are fully aligned with the unfolding of the Universe, life just flows and the suffering we construct for ourself fades away.

Love to all

It is as easy as a cup of tea...if you were shown how to make a good cup of tea in the first place. Sometimes people are just waiting for you to come and show them a few times and then they get it. We all know the cup of tea does not appear on the table but takes preparation and several steps to the process. Worst of all some people are shown how to make a cup of tea and the teacher was terrible so they make a bad cup of tea and it takes a good tea maker a long time to make them into a good tea maker.

Affirmations are an essential part of the process to creating reality...I am teaching my 11 yr old son to create his reality..affirmation, principals, positive thinking, planning, vision and intuition mixed with good old fashion fun, play and work...

Take responsibility for someone less fortunate, treat all children as precious saplings, give it away to someone who needs it if you no longer need it, look after the land and nurture your own family before you feel the need to nurture the world...naumai

Hi Naumai,

Yes I agree with you "affirmations are an essential part of creating reality" but whose reality?

As you undoubtedly agree, every thought we have is creative, and since we are all interlinked, every thought we have effects everyone and everthing else. So with over six billion people on the planet, that's a lot of thoughts!

In these circumstances, how can you possibly know the impact your affirmation is going to have on all those thoughts? It would be like trying to manipulate an immense rubiks cube.

Also, in manipulating your reality you are in effect manipulating all those people. Is that right? Would you like to be so manipulated? Who decides what is the right outcome for us all? Is that you?

There is a natural flow behind all events in the universe and it is drawing us back to unity, to ever higher harmonics of unconditional love. When we surrender individual desires - the route cause of affirmations - then inner tightness is released and our consciousness expands. We reunite with the guiding 'unity consciousness' of the universe and we become aware of right action through, thought, feeling and intuition.

Affirmations serve only to separate us from this process. They create an internal identity - an ego - which in turn causes inner tension and tightness. We cannot feel what is our destined pathway - the one of abundant unconditional love.

"Desire is a judgment of the moment,
saying 'I judge that outcome is better than this one'.
It is caused by fear and ignorance,
not trusting what the universe is unfolding,
it is like applying the hand brake to a moving car,
it leads to fate rather than destiny.
Desire requires effort...
enlightenment requires lack of all effort."
Openhand

I agree that positive thinking can be very helpful but it depends on where the inspiration came from? If the inspiration came from the heart, then we can use mind as a tool for allowing the creation to flourish. However beginning with the affirmation is like the tail wagging the dog!

To me, that's why our planet is in such a mess in the first place. I'm inclined to agree with Jesus - "Father let thy will be done not my own".

Chris

The typical understanding of the word 'affirmation' and the way it is mostly applied in today's popular spiritual teachings is to use the power of thought to create the reality we might want.

As already addressed in this thread, the philosophy of Openhand is to live in the truth of what is, rather than to create illusionary realities of our own - the bubble will always burst at some point.

However, does that mean that affirmations don't work at all?

Far from it, many people report success and so there appears to be a conflict going on. To me, the conflict lies in our understanding of the word 'affirmation' itself. If you check out the meaning in 'dictionary.com' you get the following:

"the confirmation that something exists or is true"

So if you take this literal meaning it places a whole new slant on the process of affirmation.

In my truth, it means that we bring into being what we ALREADY know to be true. So it is the act of acceptance of reality.

However, accepting reality is not always as simple as it may seem. I experience that in the ebb and flow of the universe, guiding consciousness configures the possibility of 'right action' - events that should unfold like stepping stones in front of us.

However 'right action' does not always happen - our collective 'ideal reality' gets distorted by our desires as we express them through thought.

So as people are busily efforting to manifest a reality they want, they are inadvertantly disrupting the harmony for all of us - the orchestra doesn't sound too good with everyone trying to be a soloist!

In my experience therefore, because of all the efforting that goes on, unadulterated 'right action' seldom happens as it is meant to.

However that does not prevent the universe continually reshaping to provide us other opportunities to harmonise with the grand plan - it is doing it in EVERY moment and its awesome organising capability is beyond human imagination.

Therefore in my view, we should NEVER give up flowing with what we perceive to be 'right action' in the moment.

So how can we assist the process of continually shaping universal right action?

Ghandi is quoted as saying:

"Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well. Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed.

If we first purify our thoughts of our own limited and egotisical desires, then we can harmonise with the universe of greater good and assist in the process of right action by focussing our thoughts, words and deeds.

In this way, we are CONFIRMING what higher guidance knows to be best for us all rather than AFFIRMING an individualist and grossly limited perspective.

So in essence, in each moment, seek to read what the energy of the universe is inviting you to do, then harmonise every thought, word and deed around that truth expelling all doubt and disbelief in the tremendous organising capability of the universe.

We then become a glorious channel for right action - an abundance far greater than we could have dreamed of.

Perhaps then, we should be talking about CONFIRMATION not AFFIRMATION?

Chris

And how earth shatteringly beautiful the symphony would sound if we all began to take notice and guidance from the ever present and all knowing conductor directing the divine orchestra!

At the moment the world sounds like one hell of a din to me. There are some I see surrendered to what IS. Yet they are drowned out by the din of everyone trying to create something different and individual, instead of allowing their individuality to be expressed within the divine angelic chorus.

I grew out of affirmations when I realised that they were nothing more that a side shuffle along the illusion of life, keeping us rooted into self limiting ideas, thoughts and beliefs. Who wants that! I'd rather watch miracles form as a natural flow thank-you.

Now, every day, every minute, all I see is miracles! But I didn't begin to truly see it until I gave up my own ideas and embraced those that were 'given' by my higher guidance.

In Love and Light
Trin

I had a boyfriend once, a master manifester, who sorely wanted us to be together, and tried with all his might to keep me locked into the relationship. He believed that he could manifest what ever he wanted with (his idea of) positive affirmations, even to have me, a particular woman, regardless of what was appropriate for me, him or anyone else in the equation.

Manifestation, affirmations of the individual selfish needs, preferences and wishes (I consider anything that is not inspired by source, selfish) are all asking for trouble is you ask me. How are we supposed to find our trueselves if we keep making it up as we go along?

Love
Ana

Are denial and affirmation two sides of the same coin?

To me denial and affirmations (as in seeking to manifest a reality we would want rather than accepting what IS) are two extremes of the same expression, or opposites sides of the same coin if you like. They are always pulling against each other, whereby one side or the other is always winning, for they cannot both win simultaneously.

Denial offers itself to the lower vibration of an act, whilst affirmation tries to align itself to a higher vibration. Herein lies the attraction of affirmations. They feel 'good'. However both denial and affirmations negate what actually IS i.e. the fact that we are complete and whole within ourselves RIGHT NOW. Who can blame anyone for wishing to only focus on the positive? However if this is done so in denial of arising thoughts, feelings or typical behaviour patterns these will come back to 'haunt' us.

They are like supressed virulant weeds which no matter how much you chop the tops off, unless you dig up the roots they will always grow back again.

Quoted from Chris "So when you make a statement like “I am”, you summon the whole power of the universe to test you on that belief."

I have been caused to question the validity of the popular spiritual statement "I am". It's like a definite statement that confines us to a form or a temporary limited self.

Angel

Yes I believe you've hit on something really profound here Angel.

Many popular spiritual books and writings today advocate using the 'I am' statement. I loved the "Conversations with God" trilogy of books and found them deeply transcending. However Neale (the author) keeps repeating the statement 'choose who you now want to be' and it seems to have become a trend in many spiritual circles.

It was the one key thing that I had difficulty accepting when I read the books. However for a while, I did apply myself to that concept. Indeed initially it even seemed to work. I had an idea of what my true self really was and applied intention through meditations and my general way of being to seek to radiate that beingness through everything I did.

The 'I am' statement was very much in my consciousness. However, I didn't notice that over time I was building internal efforting trying to be a certain way in all of my daily interactions - I didn't notice the contradiction of feelings that were arising inside as a result of the efforting.

My spiritual awakening had been very rapid, brought on by a life threatening car crash in which I thought I would certainly die. In the smashed wreckage, I was caused to completely surrender and entered a state of profound bliss which stayed with me for many months.

When I started to apply the 'I am' teachings, they felt good at first because it seemed like I was being a positive influence on my environment. However trying to uplift others became a doctrine (although I wouldn't have called it this at the time) until finally I noticed I had lost the sense of liberation and absolute "okayness" following the crash. The 'life energy' was being strangled from me by my own internal efforting.

As soon as I realised this, I just completely let go once more and didn't try to 'be' anything. It was then that I really found my way forward in society's matrix of conditioning. That is to be awesomely okay with whatever is arising within us and trust that it has a deeper purpose.

So if you feel angry, BE ANGRY, if you feel upset, 'BE UPSET', if you feel mean 'BE MEAN'. However seek to be in the place of the observer of yourself in it and don't judge yourself for it - after all you chose exactly these circumstances to self realise.

If you don't judge yourself and stay as the observer, then all the negativity is released and then you transcend internal identity all together - there is no 'I am' inside at all.

When you do this, you become the all of it - beyond definition. In other words you become the absolute - the God that you already are.

Then 'right action' flows spontaneously in the moment in response to the natural energetic flow of the universe and your destined part in this - it is what we at Openhand call the 'true self'.

Rather than using the 'I am' statement, I found that if I ever lost my way, I would apply a process which I came to know as 'Openhand Way'. That is to always come from a place of 'open mind' and 'open heart'. In doing this, you receive the energy of the universe in truth ('receiving hand’).

In other words you see through the distortions of how the mind wants reality to be and instead connect with what is truly happening. Then it becomes clear what is your destined part to play in that moment and we can give ourselves to our highest truth (giving hand).

Then we find our destined state of beingness arises naturally without having to hold any idea about it at all. With this comes true liberation, consciousness expands and we become a naturally positive influence on our environment without having to 'do' anything.

So in my experience, when you create 'I am', all you really end up creating is 'I am not'!

Chris

PS, if you would like to know more about 'Openhand Way' and how to apply it......click here. It is taught on our course 'Way of the Heart'. If you would like to come on the course, check our events section for when the next one is happening.

It struck me this morning that the statement "I Am" is in a sense a half truth, and we should pick this phrase apart.

The first word is the problem one, as when we use "I" we are well on the way to setting ourselves up as a distinct identity separate from others, with firm boundaries we will define and uphold.

On the other hand, the word "Am" does seem to express well the "is-ness" of our true reality, emerging continually and spontaneously into the beauty of the now.

So, forgiving the grammatical imperfection, could you just affirm "Am"?

Great idea Liberation!

That resonates strongly with me. Interesting that "Am" is very similar in resonance to "Om" - the sound of the universe.

If you try humming "Om" - especially into the chakras - it most definitely does bring us (over time) into harmony with the universe.

Chris

This is a favourite song of mine and higher consciousness played it for me frequently when contemplating affirmations. I thought I'd share it with you here:

"There’s only so much I can take
And I just got to let go
And who knows I might feel better, yeah
If I don’t try and I don’t hope

What can I say to make you feel this?
What can I do to get you there?

No more waiting, no more, aching
No more fighting, no more, trying...
Maybe there’s nothing more to say

And in a funny way I’m calm
Because the power is not mine
I’m just going to let it fly...”
The Corrs