Self Improvement
Things To Think About
- Education or Indoctrination,
- Which do we have?Has the education system in the US failed in its mission?
What's Up With Ming
"Did you ever feel like an alien who somehow became stranded on a planet called Earth where nothing seemed to make any sense?" A quote from "Ming The Merciless"
Civilization Rehab
Recovering from civilization can be brutal but neccessary if we are to become truly free from it's influence. Kick the civilization habit here!
Being Human
The Condition Of Our ConditionArticles on the Human condition and how we might improve it.
The Real Power Behind Affirmations By R.E. Darby
Using the self change and behavior modification technique of positive affirmations can have a real impact on your life if they are done correctly. Just what is the real secret behind this self improvement techinque? How can affirmations be enhanced to produce maximum results in minimum time?
Turning Our Powers Against Ourselves
There are probably many reasons why self awareness and self realization are not high on our list of priorities. But one of the big reasons is about our need to deceive ourselves. Unfortunately we have been deceiving ourselves for so long, that it has become a habit that we are comfortable with, and so, no longer notice that we are doing it. Self awareness does not allow such behavior to be sustained for long.
Irronically, the very powers that we use to accomplish our self deceptions are those that are neccessary to develop self awareness and implement all tasks that have to do with self change of any kind. For example; we manipulate ourselves in subtle ways such as misusing language like 'giving lip service' or making 'token gestures' regarding some neccessary action or thinking. We simply say the words or make half hearted efforts that are designed to convince ourselves that we actually did anything real or meaningful.
In the self change and personal development arena this kind of behavior is used to convince ourselves that we are really doing something to improve ourselves, but ultimately, the results reveal the truth. Only we don't pay any attention to that because we never really made any real decision or committment to change in the first place! To realize any real results in the area of self improvement, a genuine committment is neccessary.
The Power and Energy
Lip service and token gestures are only a couple of examples of the mechanisms we Humans use to deceive ourselves. They are intellectually sterile and have no real power to manifest anything but the illusion of progress. There is much talk about the power of thought these days and I agree with that, but thought without the power of emotional and spiritual energy behind it has no power to manifest anything in the material reality. Affirmations are a good example of this.
Affirmations are positive statements of a desired realtiy or condition as if it already exists. But affirmations without the power of strong will and intention are not likely to communicate to the subconscious mind and therefore unlikely to be effective. Strong will is related to strong desire and desire springs from our emotional domain. Our emotions are not so much about the desire itself, but rather the intensity behind that desire that give our thoughts the neccessary power to implement change. But even this is not the entire equation.
The Undiscovered Frontier
While I am a strong supporter of space exploration, I believe that it is more important now to explore the frontiers within. We as a species have neglected the development of our conscious mind, our subconscious mind, our emotional domain and most importantly our spiritual domain and the enormous potential that these uniquely Human powers represent.
When we are working with affirmations, it is sometimes difficult to bring emotional intensity to the task. But to bring our spiritual power into the mix is like working with tools we can't see. Whereas our emotions are relatively accessible and can be felt and therefore experienced, the spiritual domain requires a great deal of courage, because now we are talking about having faith in that which we cannot touch, see, feel, hear or taste. And yet, we can know it's real.
Faith in what? Faith in the harmony and rhythme of life. This fills out the rest of the equation neccessary to give our affirmations the power to create lasting results because this brings conviction and confidence to the table. We need to have faith in our power to change our beliefs, our perceptions and our perspectives. Remember, affirmations are positive statements of a desired reality or condition as if it already exists!
Faith brings conviction and confidence to the table. We need to have faith in our power to change our beliefs, our perceptions and our perspectives. Remember, affirmations are positive statements of a desired reality or condition as if it already exists!
The Bottom Line
Here is what I have done with great success. I either create or purchase a list of many affirmations targeted to a particular problem area, and then I upload a few at a time to my iPod shuffle and do a special meditation session. I listen to them and then say each one out loud. But I only say them when I can see it, feel it, smell it, and taste it. That is; I must be living in it as real as I can. I feel the desire, the intensity, the committment, the determination and everything as if it was already real.
If you bring all you can to your affirmations and all your self change tools, they will not only manifest sooner, but will last a lifetime.
Here is a link to a high powered version of affirmations.Good luck out there,