(This is Part 6 of a series. Go back to Part 5.)
Affirmations tend to lead naturally into visualizations. The river of affirmations goes like this: Affirmations lead to Visualizations lead to Feelings lead to Reality.
We can begin anywhere of course. We can work on producing the desired feelings, or we can do direct visualizations; for that matter, we can work on reality directly without using the inner at all.
However, the farther back in the river we go the farther "upstream" we're going, and thus the closer to the source. In turn, the closer to the source we are, the easier it is to powerfully influence what goes on downstream.
Downstream is reality. Upstream are our thoughts about it.
Whatever thoughts we focus on, that is what will tend to "show up" in reality. How could it be otherwise, since our reality is what we perceive it to be?
The inner is senior to the outer.
But left to its own devices, the mind tends to go to the negative. It has been programmed by eons of evolution to focus on threats to survival before it focuses on any "positive" aspects of reality.
In the modern world, with its focus on information, this tendency to focus on threats to survival easily becomes a tendency to focus on negative thoughts.
The ultimate outcome of logic alone, therefore, tends to be cynicism and despair. Only when logic is leavened with love and becomes the servant of the heart does it begin to soar into the heavens.
The river can be described more generally like this:
Thoughts lead to Pictures lead to Feelings lead to Reality.
Thus, whether our habitual thoughts are primarily positive or primarily negative has an intense and profound effect downstream, where our feelings are, and even further downstream, on how we experience reality.
This being so, the best and easiest place to intervene is with our thoughts. This is where something like The Work of Byron Katie can be so useful, because it helps us to question the validitiy of those thoughts that are stressful.
Here, too, is where affirmations can be so helpful. The mind likes something to crunch on. It doesn't particularly care what it is, so long as it can crunch on something. Thus the mind will focus on whatever foods, whatever seeds, are given to it.
As mentioned above, left to itself the mind will tend to focus on its negative habituations. But if given a different sort of mental seed, it will happily focus on that. And that leads to a different set of pictures, a different group of feelings and a different reality.
It is very helpful to visualize, or picture in our minds, what we would like to see. Part of the great value of affirmations is that it tends to focus our mind in such a way that a certain set of pictures tends to come into view, and the progression of the river continues from there.
Since affirmations lead to visualizations, it is important to use phrases that are positive, since whatever we mention is what will form in the mind's eye.
So if we affirm "I am free of over-eating," what the mind will picture is "over-eating." If we affirm instead that "I enjoy eating the perfect amount of food for me" the mind will now picture us eating the "perfect" amount of food.
This is why we want to phrase affirmations positively. Instead of saying "i am healed of my poverty" it's much more helpful to say "I am a magnet for abundance and prosperity." In the former case the mind tends to picture poverty; in the latter, abundance and prosperity.
It's also a good idea to phrase affirmations in the present tense. All else being equal, it's better to say "I am a wonderful ballet dancer" than "I am going to become a wonderful ballet dancer." The inherent visualization will also then be more "present."
Once we have our list, we just repeat each item a few times in the morning and a few times in the evening. It need not be a big deal at all. The idea is just to plant some mental seeds and to keep on watering them until they begin to flower in consciousness—flowing down the river towards reality.
Applying the principle of building on small successes, we create some affirmations that are easily fulfilled. As these "small" affirmations come to fruition we get a sense of momentum that helps in manifesting larger items.
A special kind of affirmation list can be used if you are having a troublesome relationship with someone. In that case, make a list of ten things you can appreciate about that person.
As you recite the list over a few times each day, you'll gradually see the person in a new, more favorable light. As you do, your comments to and about them will also take on a more favorable tone.
As your attitude & comments become more appreciative, you'll find—it's like magic—that they begin to appreciate you more too. Where once a downward spiral existed, now an upward spiral has begun.
Be aware that there is always a lag time involved; they won't respond right away. It takes time for them to see you in a new light. The idea is just to do your part to water the seed each day—and let it grow at its own pace.
For that matter, there is usually a time lag involved in all affirmations. It's quite important not to keep judging our progress, but just keep on watering those seeds each day in great trust.
By the way, the trust is not that we'll get what we want. The trust is that existence will go the way it's supposed to go, which may or may not include "me" getting my preferences.
The ice cream store may have chocolate or it may not. But that has nothing to do with our happiness. Actually, our happiness is born of the trust itself. Our trust in existence is the very thing that brings the butterfly of peace fluttering in our meadow.
That is why we hold it all lightly, all of our interesting preferences, because we realize that where life "should" go is exactly the same as where it actually does go. Thus we can play with the energy of our preferences, like children in a sandbox, without getting caught up in them.
In this technology of getting what we want, we ultimately come to see that our true happiness has nothing to do with getting what we want. How ironic. Rather, our true happiness is an internal love affair, a trust in existence that allows the eyes of the infinite to peek out at itself.
—jim sloman, 6.17.04 for Dec 3
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