Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ Abundance for Life, Effortless Success Affirmations: some observations

I have known the importance and power of working with affirmations for decades (at least two!), however there has been a gap between the intention to do them and actively/consistently doing them.

Since starting ES I have managed to keep my focus on affirmations. My active focus has manifested a will/ability to produce a pleasing set of affirmations that I take pleasure in repeating for an hour per day (whilst Holosyncing). For me, this is further evidence that what you think about is what you get. Initially I thought a lot about affirmations - while lacking the actual text and will to do them - and that focus has delivered a fine crop of deeply satisfing affirmations that motivate me to say them.

I wouldn't consider myself an expert or a specialist yet. Nonetheless, I want to share a couple of observations on my affirmation experiences.

* Initially I wanted my affirmations to be 'perfect' or as good as I could get. By aiming too high, I couldn't trust myself to come up with the right ones. Consequently I came up with nothing and thus couldn't even begin the process. For me, the trick was to start small. Just get started and embroider them more and more over time.

* I 'borrowed' this affirmation from Nap. Hill: "I'm getting better and better every day in every way". I always start with this one because it uplifts me, and highlights that there are endless ways in which I can be better and better. "in every way" opens the door to my imagination. So I spend a few seconds finding new ways I'd enjoy being better and better at.

* At this point saying my affirmations almost feels like praying (not that I have much experience of prayer). I have goals in the following main life arenas: mental/body/soul health-fitness; financial freedom; relationships; life work (for me living in my genius zone); spending more and more of my time feeling joy and bliss. I have a clear concept/vision of each goal and I just articulate the concepts as it feels right. So I am no longer 'stuck' on the wording. I alter it each time I find a way of expressing the goal in a more uplifting, bliss-inducing, creative way.

* My second affirmation runs something like this: "I am joyful (and I picture myself whooping with joy, throwing my arms wide, grinning etc. etc), and blissful (again I picture myself in pure bliss using which ever pictures fit that particular session) and successful (+ visioning + feeling it) and financially independent (you should see my current reperatoire of what it is like to be financially independent - this is an exciting, uplifting fantasy) ..... etc.

* One of my favourite affirmations for relationships is: "I inspire and uplift those I come in contact with as they do me(simultaneously generating strong pictures/feelings)". While affirming this today, I was prompted that this affirmation has manifested. Over the past weeks, individuals on this forum have supplied me with oodles of inspiration, love, support, reaching out. This week I was asked to inspire and uplift Successful while he/she does the same for me. See, the affirmation works!

* Final observation. It isn't only important to say/feel ones affirmations in order to manifest what one wants to be/have/feel. As the example above highlights, if I didn't have a set of goals articulated as affirmations, I wouldn't be in a position to recognise when I'm getting what I want. I am quite sure that if I hadn't been affirming my desire to uplift and inspire and be uplifted and inspired by others, the gift I have received of uplifting/inspiring forum partners would have remained beyond my realm of consciousness. I either would have taken it for granted (it just happened for no specific reason, or it would have gone unnoticed as the special gift it is).

I write this in a spirit of utter gratefulness. ES is working for me.
May all your affirmations be sweet!
Adieu,
French Claire

Hi French Claire, et. al.,

I've been experimenting with a new twist on the affirmations approach to manifesting life changes. It comes from a success coach/teacher/speaker named Noah St. John. Noah's stuff is endorsed by Jack Canfield. In fact, Jack helped Noah get his first book published. After attending one of Jack's seminars, Noah simply handed Jack a manuscript of his book and asked him if he would check it out. Jack looked it over and said, "Yes, this looks good. Here's the number for my publisher". The moral of the story - ASK.

Anyway, Noah is the most innovative thinkers I have come across in the self-improvement field. One of his neatest innovations is what he calls AFFORMATIONS. An afformation is much like an affirmation, except that it's a question (typically beginning with the word "why").

For example, if I have a goal to make a career change (and I do) I might affirm: I have manifested a brand new, exciting, fulfilling and lucrative career. Instead, my afformation would say: Why have I managed to manifest this brand new, exciting, fulfilling and lucrative career?

The idea behind afformations is that the way the brain actually operates is through a perpetual cycle of generating and answering questions. The questions you ask yourself determine what your mind focus on. So, if you're habitually asking yourself (consciously or not), "Why can't I lose this weight?", guess what your mind focuses on? That's right, it focuses on NOT losing weight. Yes, the mind also spits out endless assertions, as well - "I'm too fat." "I have no discipline." "I'll never be thin again", etc. But it is the questions that act as the operating system for the computer that is your brain (this is my explanation, at least).

So I've been working with afformations for a couple weeks now, and I've worked my way up to at least an hour a day. I've recorded them onto a Dictaphone (or personal recording device, if you prefer) in my own voice, and I listen to them when I'm doing things that don't require a lot of mental concentration. Today I took an hour bike ride and just spontaneously started making up afformations for whatever showed up as an interest, desire, or concern. When I move, thoughts and ideas come out of me that are often quite surprising, and it was truly fun to make up afforming questions, based on whatever showed up. I got off the bike feeling way less fatigued and way more energized than I usually do.

Noah's claim is that afformations work twice as fast as affirmations in half the time. I don't know what he's basing that claim on, but I can say that for me, the first time I converted my affirmations to afformations the shift in energy was instantaneous palpable. I can feel it in my brain and my body, and the effect on my overall disposition has been undeniable. And there have been some remarkable reckonings, emotional exorcisms, and quite stunning shifts in relationships with people and within myself, in a very short time. I have not focused so much on specific, tangible goals (more on qualities like happiness, ease, confidence, etc.), but I suspect I will be doing that not too far down the road.

I am, quite honesty, blown away with what I have been experiencing. Like you, French Claire, I have known about affirmations for a very long time, and I have used them intermittently and with very little success. I figured I just haven't done them enough times, with enough visualization, over a long enough period to get the results I was seeking. Now I'm wondering if there might be more to it than that.

Stay tuned!

Stevers

Stevers, good post! I read one of Noah's books some time ago, and I really think his "afformations" DO work better than the regular type. I've never had much luck with regular affirmations, but have had some success with afformations. For me, it's almost as though, by asking the question in the positive as he suggests, my mind believes the desired outcome is already present, and then the LOA kicks in.

I'm one of those "lucky" people anyway, but sometimes it's fun to attract more of it, so after reading his book, I went around saying things like "I don't know why I'm so lucky, I just am" and so forth, and entered a little local drawing--where I won the grand prize of a $300 gift certificate at a local store.

Good stuff, those afformations!

That said, I don't do it as regularly as you do. I "afform" in the spirit of fun--any time it becomes work, my OTC just turns off and pays no attention. I also suspect that if it's become forced and overly repetitious, at least for me, I'm attracting tedious, forced, and routine things. Feelings count as much as words. Maybe more.

I seem to have better results from ANY technique, in fact, if I'm coming from a place of joy, happiness and love. I think this is what Marci Shimoff's Happiness for No Reason (course and book) is about, and earlier, the book "Feel it Real" by Denise Coates was talking about. Before those, many "New Thought" writers from the early 20th century touched on this idea.

Hi
Thank you all for starting this thread! Yesterday I was questioning what it was that was 'missing'. I just had the feeling that I was on the verge of something, but couldn't quite see what it was, or what I needed to do for the next step. Reading French Claire's post made me realize that I had been neglecting my affirmations- and Stevers- Thank-you so much for your post. I think that the 'afformations' are exactly what I need right now. And it makes total sense- if you ask your subconcious a question- it will work until it finds the answer. And in my experience, it provides a much better answer than my mind -and it's limited logic- can supply. I have ordered Noah's book- and am starting today with the afformations he has on his website.

Brenda

Jeanne,

Thanks for the reminder about afforming in the spirit of fun. I do find doing afformations fun (even an hour or more a day). It also is a bit like prayer for me, as French Claire has alluded. Sacred fun.

Today I rode my bike for a couple hours. For the first half of the ride I made up afformations as I rode. For the second half I listen to the ones I had composed and recorded. It's been kind of like doing the Mirror Exercise from the ES Course, in that I am consciously talking to myself, giving my mind things to focus on that feel good. Doing afformations feels good to me, so it hasn't felt "forced" or seemed like hard work.

But again, I appreciate the reminder to not fall back into an old habit of "grim determination".

Stevers


Brenda,

I am assuming you've ordered Noah's new book The Success Code. Although I am still in touch with ES principles and practices my attention has shifted to doing the exercises in Noah's book. I think he's made some key distinctions that others, Jack Canfield and Paul Scheele included, have missed. Not to trash Jack and Paul - I totally appreciate what they teach. I'm just so thrilled about what Noah is saying, because it so eloquently accounts for why I have personally have so little to show for the 25 plus years I've been in the self-improvement/success game.

Let us know what you think.

Stevers again

Hi Stevers
I am eagerly awaiting The Success Code- it does sound like he has a 'different' angle. I have been pursuing the personal development aspect of my life for many years- I find each teacher leaves the door open for the next-and I have gained more insight from some, and none from others. The great teachers all express the same Truth- from their own understanding. As I evolve, my understanding either resonates, or discards their teachings. I think ES is an amazing course- as it helps me to develop daily habits, and a framework for my life that allows me to fit my further growth in.

I have to comment on your statement that you have 'little to show' for your investment of time & energy- you might not realize the cumulative effect on your life- but from your posts I can see that you have many great insights, and deep wisdom about life- which evolves from 'the inner work'. You may not have yet found the way to open all the doors you are meant to open for yourself and others, but you seem to be living at a level of awareness that many people are not even aware of. At least that is my impression.

Brenda

Brenda,

Yes, for me, too, it comes down to whether something "resonates" or not. That word gets tossed around a lot, at least within the circles that I travel, but for me it's something that happens in my body, a palpable quickening of energy. I find one of the most useful questions to ask myself is this: "Is it dead or alive?" In other words, is this experience I'm having (reading this book, meeting this person, having this conversation, etc.) enlivening or deadening to me? You would think this would be obvious, but it seems to me that many people (myself included) have actually been conditioned to tune this information/feedback out. Regaining that sensitivity has been an important part of my own process.

Thank you for the feedback about my "little to show" comment (and the nice complements!) I think when you read Noah's book, it will give you a bit more of a context for where my statement comes from. To sum it up, I have had a lot of unconscious (thought based) obstacles in the way of my being outwardly "successful" (by my culture's standard as well as my own - although it's sometimes hard to tell them apart!), despite whatever talent, intelligence, education, and wisdom I may possess. To call myself an "underachiever" has, at times, just been another way of beating myself up. These days I use "little to show" and "underachiever" as short hand for the recognition that those unconscious obstacles have been largely having their way with me for most of my life. Saying it has more to do with accountability and truthfulness than it does self-flagellation.

Stevers

Hi Stevers
For me resonates=vibrates. I am working on & becoming more aware of what touches my body & heart vs the logical mind. For too long I was 'mind' centered, and now I am shifting to 'heart' centered. I suspect true greatness is a harmonizing of both. I find the Qigong course a great benefit in this area.

I look forward to discussing Noah's book with you.

Brenda

I ordered Noah's book on Afformations a few days ago. Shall hold my fire until I've read it. It was terrifically well reviewed on Amazon, plus your comments.... well any process that makes manifestation and change more effective is welcome indeed.
Adieu,
French Claire

Which book did you buy? He has more than one.