Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Turbo Charge Your Positive Affirmations with Waterfall Images

I wanted to share one of the tricks I use to turbo charge my daily, positive affirmations. It's simple, really. I use a picture.

I mentioned before that it can be helpful to combine tools like images and sound when you are doing affirmations. Feng shui experts teach us that having positive images in our home and work space can be powerful cues that enhance positive energy.

And they're right!

I have photos of different waterfalls that I use as a screen saver on my computer. So every time I boot up, those waterfalls are there, bringing in positive energy and reminding me to open up and receive all of the wonderful things the universe has to offer. I also have a poster of a waterfall on my bulletin board in my office.

Waterfalls are powerful conductors of "chi" or life force, so having photos of them in your home or on your computer can really turbo charge your meditations and positive affirmations.

AllPosters.com has a gorgeous selection of dozens of different waterfall posters. These are all photographs of real waterfalls from all over the world.

When selecting a waterfall image, it's best to choose one where the water is rushing towards you. This is because you want energy to be flowing your way. So be sure to choose an image that you feel a positive response to and make sure that it has water rushing towards you as you look at the photo.

The energy of waterfalls is very sacred. There is a male deva in charge of each waterfall; he helps circulate the intense chi generated by the waterfall. I visited a waterfall in the Lake Placid area last fall, and I couldn't really stand over top of it on the walkway built there because I could feel the intense force of all of that chi blasting me, practically knocking me over. I couldn't keep my balance! So I had to stand off a bit and admire it from farther away.

While I was there I talked with the male deva in charge of that waterfall, a very beautiful and powerful being.

When you look at a photo of a real waterfall, you are accessing the energy of that sacred spot and all of the spiritual helpers who are guardians of that waterfall. As you set this image in your home or workplace, it creates a nice burst of good energy in the background.

Then you can tap into that energy to make your affirmations extra positive, because you'll be feeling better as you do your affirmations.

So that's my secret tip for the day - surround yourself with inspiring waterfall images!

AllPosters.com has dozens of gorgeous waterfall posters. You can check out their site through the link in my sidebar.

Here's to making your affirmations positive, powerful, and creative!

Tags:
  

Monday, October 16, 2006

Using Color and Imagery with Affirmations

Using Color and Imagery with Affirmations

When you want to create something new in your life, this creation first begins as a thought. Within that thought, you have words – like “I affirm abundance.”

You also have emotions – the emotional charge that you carry as you think about your affirmation

And you can also employ visualizations. The visual element can be really helpful, serving as a “cue” that triggers the right emotion and the right energy when you are affirming something.

Some people like to take a photograph or image that, to them, represents the affirmation and put this on their computer desktop to look at every day while they do work. This can be a really great way to keep the energy building with your affirmation. You can also post an image on a bulletin board or post-it board above your desk. Every time you see the image, you will be thinking about your affirmation.

If you’re affirming abundance, you should find images that feel abundant to you. You could use images of gold coins, hundred dollar bills, expensive jewelry, or even a luxury car.

Or you could use an image from nature that makes you feel good. One of the principles of the ancient Chinese art of feng shui states that the image of a waterfall is very powerful. If you want to post an image of a waterfall in your home or workplace, this can be a great trigger for your subconscious mind to receive more abundance. The waterfall should be flowing TOWARDS you in the photo. The water rushing towards you represents all the good things and the abundance that are flowing your way.

I find that my most successful affirmations, the ones that end up manifesting things fast, are ones where I’m using a combination of tools – images, words, ideas, and even sound.

Recently I was surprised to find a tool that makes this process easier for me. There's a wonderful brain researcher from Australia named Jeff Staniforth who has spent years developing a special software program that incorporates all these things. It's a desktop application that allows you to schedule ten minute increments where you display a positive image of your choice on your computer, play peaceful sounds that you select, and work with typing in and looking at various affirmations. You can choose to focus on any area of your life that needs work and the software will guide you through a ten day "mini-program" where you will focus on that particular area of your life, using affirmations to shift your consciousness around that thing. It's powerful stuff.

If you're a geek like me and you enjoy doing stuff on the computer, you'll love it. If you're a bit less tech-friendly and don't like being in front of your computer much, this might not be the best tool to aid you with learning more about affirmations. But you can read about it and see some of the cool testimonials and articles at Jeff's site.

One part of the software that I particularly like allows you to type your affirmations and to also keep track of any contradicting or “negative” phrases you are trying to release surrounding that thing. By just spending ten minutes a day using a simple self-coaching system within this software you can clear out a lot of negative self-talk and release internal programming that is keeping those positive affirmations from taking root.

And the software has lots of other cool things you can play with, too. You can set up inspirational images to look at each day that help you focus on your affirmation. And there are even very specific, high vibrational sounds you can listen to for a few minutes at a time to help anchor your creations as pure energy.

This software has so many bells and whistles, it’s really amazing. One woman told me that she worked with the software as recommended for just ten minutes a day, using it to help her focus on a particular affirmation she’d been having troubles with. And within seven days the thing she was affirming manifested! She was looking for a certain type of apartment within a specific (low) price range, which everybody in her urban area told her was IMPOSSIBLE to find. Within seven days a friend of a friend happened to mention this amazing apartment in the bottom floor of a gorgeous Victorian home, and the price was EXACTLY what she could afford to pay. Not only that, but the landlord agreed to a month-to-month lease, so she didn’t have to commit to putting down money for a full year in case she wanted to move up ahead.

I’ve heard several success stories like this from people who have purchased this software. Some people work with one affirmation for a couple of weeks and then work with the software to focus on a second affirmation, and so on. So you can use it whenever you want, however you want, to aid you in your affirmations.

You can listen to an interview with Jeff at his site where he talks about his inspiration for creating this software and how affirmations helped him to manifest ownership in a piece of real estate – in a “miraculous” way, because he had very little money at the time! And you can read dozens of testimonials from people who have had great experiences after they began using this software to aid their work with affirmations.

And if you’re like me, and you have a fascination with all things and people Australian, you’ll definitely want to listen to the interview! Jeff’s voice is a lot of fun to listen to!

Sculptor3 - Powerful Affirmation Software to Change Your Life



Tags:
,,

Thursday, October 12, 2006

What to Do When You Experience Resistance During Affirmations

What to Do When You Experience Resistance During Your Affirmations

Some people have asked me why it’s so hard to avoid thinking about negative stuff when you really, really want to focus on the positive.

Case in point. One woman was working on daily affirmations about peace. Mostly she was hoping to manifest greater feelings of peace in her life since she was going through a challenging relationship situation.

She would sit there affirming peace and find her mind obsessing about everything that WASN’T peaceful. The Middle East. Darfur. Inner cities in the US. Images of all the places where there was a LACK of peace kept shooting through her head, sabotaging her affirmations for peace.

What should we do when our mind is the enemy and it is fixated on the antithesis of our affirmations?

In her case, she was affirming peace, but all she could think about was war zones.

Many people find that when they are affirming weight loss and health, they become preoccupied with fantasies about doughnuts and other tempting junk food.

Some folks try to affirm financial abundance and are suddenly plagued with fear about how little they have in the bank. They WANT to feel optimistic about money, but they’re not there yet. They just haven’t hit that vibration of feeling “plenty.”

That’s understandable. When you’re dealing with a difficult situation, it can be pretty hard to successfully affirm its opposite.

So if you’re feeling unhealthy, it can be hard to psych yourself up into feeling healthy.

If you’re depressed, it can be difficult or fake if you tell yourself “I’m so happy!” Yeah, right.

I find that when a polar opposite is setting in, and you find yourself fixated on the exact opposite condition that you want to be in, sometimes you need to work at setting affirmations in a different way.

Sometimes we need to avoid a polarized affirmation – that is, affirming the exact opposition situation to what we’re experiencing right then. It’s not realistic to go from feeling really bad to feeling really great in five minutes if you’ve been feeling bad for a while.

If you’ve been living in poverty, to affirm extreme financial wealth to yourself isn’t going to work right away, either. There will be too much resistance in your subconscious.

You see, that’s what was happening with this woman I was talking about who was trying to affirm peace. She was in the middle of a very unpeaceful situation at home, so to affirm peace when what she was really feeling was danger most of the time kicked up huge amounts of resistance within her. No wonder she was preoccupied with visions of war zones. She was living in one herself, where she didn’t really feel safe.

In her situation, she would have been better off affirming something a little less extreme. Instead of affirming complete peace, which sounded “bogus” as she spoke the words to herself, she could have been affirming mental clarity or wisdom to help her deal with situations in her relationship that she needed to change.

I advised her to try some affirmations like these:

“I am calm in the midst of change. I have mental clarity and emotional strength as I handle transition.”

“I gather my energy to respond quickly and do what needs to be done.”

“I have faith in the Universe to guide me in the situation. I am receiving wisdom and guidance at all times.”

Do you see how these affirmations worked around the EDGES of her situation to give her extra assistance, helping her to navigate through a difficult situation? But they weren’t some fake-sounding words affirming a peace that couldn’t realistically exist yet in her life.

When you have something challenging to deal with, it can be best to start affirming strength, mental clarity, emotional balance and spiritual faith to help get you THROUGH the challenge. Then, on the other side of things, after you have dealt with the challenge, you can start affirming peace. Because you will have made the changes in your life that were necessary before you could begin to experience peace.

So if you are encountering strong resistance to something you’re trying to manifest, you might be affirming something that you’re not prepared to receive yet in your life. You might need to work around the edges of the situation, affirming slight improvements and gradual shifts, freeing yourself up and making room in your life.

Then, when things are a bit more in balance, you can start affirming greater amounts of peace, health, well-being, financial abundance, etc.

Resistance encountered during affirmations is usually a signal that we need to tweak our affirmations to be a little less extreme, a little less polarized. Make them more gradual, use affirmations to affirm mental and emotional clarity and personal strength, and then use those things to propel yourself forward over the next hurdle.

Once you’re over that hurdle, try your original affirmations again. Do you feel less resistance now?

The woman I was telling you about later went through a change in residence and was no longer living under the same conditions. She felt a lot more restful and safe. Now when she worked on her affirmations of peace, she felt them “stick.” And she didn’t have her mind flitting around thinking about images of war zones. She was more able to receive peace at all levels of her being because she had made physical changes on the earth plane and navigated into a reality of greater peace, anyway.

If you experience resistance to something you’re affirming, you might need to make changes in your daily life that will allow you to align yourself with that happier vibration. To create greater well-being in our lives, we need to hit things from both levels – the spiritual plane and the physical plane.


Affirmations Today


Tags:
,

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Affirming the Positive – A Decision We Make Every Day

Affirming the Positive – A Decision We Make Every Day

The author of the following story is unknown. This arrived in my email box today as one of those chain letters. I’ll spare you the bit at the bottom where it says you have to forward it on to other people. I detest those fear-inducing aspects that are too often added in at the bottom of otherwise inspiring chain letters.

With the silly chain letter rigamarole removed from the bottom, it makes for a cool and interesting tale about how we each decide, every day, whether we will focus on the positive or the negative. Here is the story:

John was the kind of guy you love to hate. He was always in a good mood and always had something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!"

He was a natural motivator.

If an employee was having a bad day, John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, "I don't get it!

“You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?"

He replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, ‘You have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or ... you can choose to be in a bad mood.’”

“I choose to be in a good mood."

“Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or...I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it.”

“Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or... I can point out the positive side of life! I choose the positive side of life.”

"Yeah, right. It's not that easy," I protested.

"Yes, it is," he said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood.”

“You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live your life."

I reflected on what he said. Soon thereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that John was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower.

After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back.

I saw him about six months after the accident.

When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins...Wanna see my scars?"

I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place.

"The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter," he replied. "Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or...I could choose to die. I chose to live."

"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked.

He continued, "The paramedics were great.”

“They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read 'He's a dead man'. I knew I needed to take action."

"What did you do?" I asked.

"Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said John. "She asked if I was allergic to anything. 'Yes,’ I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Gravity'."

Over their laughter, I told them, "I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."

He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully.

Attitude, after all, is everything .

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34.

After all, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.



Affirmations Today

Tags:
,

Sunday, October 08, 2006

The Most Effective Affirmation is a Simple One

The Most Effective Affirmation is a Simple One

I learned some time ago that it’s best to keep affirmations extremely simple. When you add too many things into the equation, your mind can get caught up in twists and loops.

When you first start out experimenting with affirmations, it’s best to stick to simple sentences with one or two main concepts in them. Later on you can gradually work your way up to more complex affirmations.

If you’re asking for too many things in your affirmation, you can pollute the waters and send a message of confusion to your subconscious mind. And when it comes to improving your energy and your life, the last thing you need is to be affirming more confusion!

I’m a big fan of what is perhaps the most famous affirmation in the world. It was created by a French psychotherapist and pharmacist named Emile Coué. In 1920 he began teaching people to repeat the phrase, “Day by day, in every way, I am getting better and better" (Tous les jours à tous points de vue je vais de mieux en mieux)

His patients had an incredible rate of recovery from a variety of ailments. To this day Coué is considered the father of autosuggestion, and his particular type of self-hypnosis is called Couéism.

Over the years some of his detractors started the rumor that Coue ended up killing himself, but he actually died of pneumonia.

People have famously adapted his affirmation. You’ve probably heard it stated like this:

“Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better.”

I like that this affirmation operates on two levels. First, it gives you a specific time frame in which to envision improvement – you’re clearly stating that this is happening EVERY DAY. Second, it gives you a clear scope or scale of the situation you are affirming – “in every way.” And third, it is both general and specific at the same time. “I am getting better and better.” You’re affirming MORE goodness, MORE of the best things that life can offer you. And yet it leaves you open to the power of the Universe to define just how this process of getting better and better might manifest.

Some people use this classic mantra to focus on increasing their energy levels and physical health. It works great for that.

Some people tend to be thinking more about improving their overall financial situation. It works really well for that, too.

Others who are more preoccupied with troublesome personal relationships enjoy using the affirmation to clear out feelings of heaviness in those relationships. That works, too.

“Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better.”

Who isn’t open to that? I know I am!


Affirmations Today

Tags:
,

Thursday, October 05, 2006

How to Do Affirmations When Going Through a Tough Time

How to Do Affirmations When Going Through a Hard Time

A lot of skeptical types look at affirmations and go, “Well, you’re just being delusional. Why affirm that things are positive when sometimes life sucks?”

We all have unpleasant things happen, but doing affirmations isn’t the same thing as entering into self-denial.

This week one of the dear dogs who lived here on the farm was put to sleep, the lovable black lab guardian dog Rosie. This was very sad and certainly shook us up. Although he was an old doggie, getting up there in years, somehow we didn’t expect him to be . . .gone.

I think such times of sorrow are actually the BEST times for doing affirmations. It can help you to get control over your emotions and put a healthier tone on any sadness or mourning you are going through.

One of my favorite affirmations during hard times is this one:

“The Light of Spirit guides my every move, uplifts my heart, and enhances my wisdom.”

Sometimes when something bad has happened, the only control you have over the situation is in your reaction. How will you respond to the situation in a way that is authentic and of the moment without going down a “dark” path of intense despair or hopelessness?

I was struck by the sweetness and grace of Terri Irwin, wife of Steve Irwin. Steve Irwin was famous throughout the world as The Crocodile Hunter. He recently died in a tragic accident involving a stingray. In the midst of his wife's sorrow, she talked about how she has never lost faith and truly believes that things happen for a reason. And she expressed gratitude for having her two daughters, who were keeping her grounded during this difficult time.

When tragedy strikes, it’s more important than ever to keep your heart open and keep working at connecting with feelings of love and hope. Because if you don’t do this, your heart chakra can get shut down, bitterness sets in, and in a few months, you’ve forgotten how to love. And when we forget to love, we lose our connection to God/Goddess/Great Spirit, who is all love.

So during a difficult time you need to focus on keeping your heart open, even as the tears flow, even as you mourn. Because an open heart is the one tool that keeps your soul vital and alive. And if you close it, you lose a great deal.

The affirmation I shared above is one that works for me when I’m going through tough times. Here it is again:

“The Light of Spirit guides my every move, uplifts my heart, and enhances my wisdom.”

It helps me see how God’s love for us doesn’t stop, even when we are going through difficulties. If anything, He/She/It loves us MORE during those times, and there is great strength and nurturing available to us then if we reach out and grab it.

Affirmations are a powerful tool for keeping us on the spiritual path, even when we are confused, shocked, angry, or sad. Doing affirmations at those times is a kind of applied faith that allows us to keep focused on the incredible creative power of the universe – a power which we both possess as individuals and a power that we can also tap into, from a source greater and stronger than ourselves.



Affirmations Today

Monday, October 02, 2006

Another Affirmations Success Tip

Another Affirmations Success Tip

Do you remember the Disney movie Cinderella? At one point in the movie Cinderella sings this song to her animal friends:

A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes

A dream is a wish your heart makes,
When you're fast asleep.
In dreams you lose your heartaches.
Whatever you wish for, you keep.
Have faith in your dreams and someday
Your rainbow will come smiling through.
No matter how your heart is grieving,
If you keep on believing,
The dream that you wish will come true.

Sometimes when we’re having a happy dream, and everything in the dream is buoyant and filled with light, that’s a snapshot from our Higher Self reminding us about what is possible. Hang on to those feelings as you come out of a happy dream, because they can guide you as you’re doing affirmations.

When you are doing affirmations, which are really a form of power prayer or an act of applied faith, it’s important to remember that prayer is a feeling state. A prayer is about entering into a vibration of peace and well-being with such conviction and power that all of reality rearranges itself to align with that vibration. That’s how miracles happen, when we learn to step into the power of being fully happy in the NOW and we confidently direct that energy out into our environment.

Our dreams can also tell us what isn’t working and remind us about what we don’t want. Nightmares reveal our greatest fears. Instead of being afraid of nightmares, you can use them as a spiritual tool. Your nightmare is reminding you that you still have a way to go before your affirmations fully penetrate into your subconscious mind, and there are still some shadows and anxieties lurking about.

Our fears can highlight inner resistance that is getting in the way of our affirmations. Instead of going to battle with these fears, it’s best to have a “chat” with them and acknowledge them. Shine a light on them, get to grips with them, learn about them.

Dreams can serve as powerful cues that remind us about energies we want to embrace – and energies we want to avoid bringing into manifestation. Pay attention to your dreams.

And when you have one of those beautiful, happy, Cinderella dreams, don’t dismiss them as fairy tales. They are messages from your Higher Self reminding you of how miraculous and joyful life is meant to be, so you can align yourself with this potential and shift your reality in a happier direction.



Affirmations Today