Come the New Year, we frequently resolve to change our behavior for the better, to make a new start. We make affirmations, causative intentions. Here are some interesting points about the limitations and potential power of affirmations:

Affirmations always work. Yes, whatever you positively think or visualise, you will attain and have or be or do. For example: 'I don't want to be poor.'

Maybe this should be re-phrased in the positive? For example: 'I want to be rich.'

So we have learnt it is better to phrase in the present, not future. Don't use want and similar words. Perhaps this makes a better affirmation: 'I am rich'?

Hmmm. There's got to be a better way...

How about: 'Suppose I am rich'? Suppose you have everything that being rich means to you. Imagine that this is happening. See yourself in that situation. Then slip into that image of yourself and see and hear and feel what it is experiencing and hear yourself thinking and saying, 'I am rich.'

So now you are rich, aren't you? At least in your imagination, but you have learnt what it is like to be in that wealthy identity and that is a resource you can apply. You've changed your frame of mind and your view of the world has altered for the better. When you have a positive vision that is real to you and genuinely something that you want and identify with, then creative energies naturally flow towards that vision. This is powerful stuff!

Hidden Affirmations
Everything in our lives is created newly every time we experience it. Even if it is something we barely notice. Yet we are not aware of making these creative affirmations. There are so many of them that we would be overwhelmed if we had to think of them all. If we wish to break down a wall with a sledge hammer, then we need to create the wall as well as the force to knock it down. We are creating a resistant wall and at the same time creating an opposing force. This may not be the wisest way to do things!

Using this as an analogy, when we are affirming something, even when we do so focussing on ability and being honest, we are making many other affirmations at the same time without being aware of them. Some of these affirmations might be like creating a resistant wall and at the same time a strong force to knock it down. We create a problem and try to create a strong enough force to overcome that problem! We make an affirmation and we make barriers to that affirmation. If we have never had or been the result of the affirmation, then we might have been creating the opposing force for a long time.

This opposing force is probably something which we thought in the past was a means to keep us safe, or otherwise make our lives better. It might even be a simple negative thought which we decided at a time of stress and keep thinking unconsciously. Such counter-intentions could be ideas that our parents or our culture bombarded us with as a child and then these became habitual and out of our awareness.

Dealing with hidden affirmations
One way is to write down counter-intentions when you are affirming a positive intention. If some items strike you then you can use further questions to analyze what it is you are doing. Otherwise, screw up the list and throw it in the waste bin.

Regarding the following questions, it is important that you perceive the positive intention (affirmation) as an outflowing creation that meets barriers (hidden affirmations), rather than as something that is resisting an incoming opposing force.

For each answer from question 1:

Why not try this out next time you affirm an intention?

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One Man's Affirmation is Another Man's Denial

By Thomas Lomax, Jr.

When I began my quest for abundance by using the power of my mind, I came across many different types of affirmations. One of them was put together by motivational speaker Anthony Robbins. He claims the following affirmation, which he called an incantation, helped him to become a millionaire in less than a year:

What a great affirmation, huh? So, I immediately began to repeat it... last thing at night, first thing in the morning, and, all throughout the day. I mean, it worked for him, right? But, I noticed that, within myself, something wasn't quite right.

Also, my research had taught me that you should begin to see some kind of indication that an affirmation is working within 7-10 days. If nothing's happening, it could be that you've chosen the wrong affirmation. That seemed to be what my intuition was telling me was true here. So, I decided to break it down and see what it was I was really saying.

First, here's what Tony Robbins probably heard in his subconscious:

Wow! That's really powerful, isn't it? No wonder he got rich pretty quick. However, when I said this same affirmation, here's what my subconscious heard: That's a very different affirmation, isn't it? Is it any wonder I didn't feel like riches were coming my way after saying that? So, what I learned was, when you say an affirmation, you have 2 options if you want to be successful with it:

1. The words you say must resonate, on some level, with what you already believe, or can easily come to believe. You have to find a way to state your goals and desires so as to create very little, if any, disagreement with ideas you hold to be true. This, needless to say, is quite an art.

2. Your beliefs need to be changed so as to be compatible with your new goals. This, ironically, is one of the reasons people take up affirmations. They want to use them to re-program themselves. Other options are hypnosis or some form of therapy (talk, energy, or body-centered).

It's important to understand this because affirmations, when properly constructed, naturally and automatically lead to visualization, a necessary component in reality creation. It's also important because one of the main reasons affirmations fail to work as desired is that they create some kind of internal conflict. As soon as you say something, an objection to it arises. So, what you really end up affirming is the objection, which is usually related to a deep-seated belief that has prohibited what you're affirming from manifesting in the first place.

So, have patience and practice wording your affirmations in ways that will bring you want you want, and, at the same time, not raise any argument from your ever vigilant subconscious mind.

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