Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ Beyond Human What makes affirmations work and why people who try dont succeed?

I have been studying New thought or personal development books that say your thoughts create your reality. I have been reading for a long time on affirmations, visualization, and the subconscious mind.

So, far from my reading it says to make affirmations work it says about having faith and trust. like you have to really believe that it works and can't doubt it. Doubt it at all.

I dont know if it said you have to be in a relaxed state.

It says negative thoughts will kill it all together. Like you cant be angry, doubtfull, fearful, want revenge or be vengeful, superstitious, greedy or jealous. If you have any of this than your affirmations or you wont be successful.

I remember it also saying you cant test to see if it is working. I remember reading examples you dont dig up the ground to see if the seed is growing. I am guessing that you have to trust that it is working.

I also read the more vivid your visualization the more likely whatever you are trying to visualize will come true.

I remember reading in Parmahansa Yogananda's(The guy who wrote Autobiography of a Yogi and created the Self Realization Fellowship which teaches Kriya yoga) book Scientific Healing Affirmations said that deep concentration cuts the grooves of the brain and change can happen instantly with deep concentration.

I was wondering what you guys think makes affirmations work and why many people who do affirmations don't experience change or get what they are trying to manifest. I realize we have to be realistic.

Could it be people are creatures of habit and they can't help but think negative thoughts? Or they inadvertantly end up thinking when is this going to happen?

I wonder if paraliminal tapes makes it easier for people to do affirmations and remove negative thoughts such as distrust and lack of faith? Does Eldon Taylor's tape also try to make it easier for people to do affirmations or influence their subconscious minds?

Do Paraliminals or subliminals help with the issues that prevent affirmations from manifesting?

Sorry if I am asking too many questions or writing too many threads.

sjaykum1

As far as the power of positive affirmations - yes, I absolutely do believe they work. Years ago, I used positive affirmations to overcome suicidal depression. Yes, it took about six months, but I haven't been depressed a day since - and that's considering I spent the two decades before that in a constant state of depression. I created my positive affirmations with the help of my therapist, and said them to myself ten times - minimum - every single time a negative thought entered my head. Anti-depressants didn't work for me - but this did.

I didn't believe for the first few months that it would work, but I thought, what the @#@!!, it can't hurt, so why not. Relaxed state? Are you kidding? I had no idea what a relaxed state was.

As for why it worked - I'm a fairly stubborn, obstinate, pigheaded, and, oh yeah, did I mention stubborn? kind of person (although I try to use my powers for good ). I stuck with it for no good reason other than just because and not because I saw results immediately.

I love positive affirmations. They literally saved my life.

I am thinking affirmations do work but they may take a very long time. So, I am convinced that affirmations do work but longer than most people's patience.

I am wondering if products like Eldon Taylor's Inner Talk(www.innertalk.com) make it a lot easier to influence the subconscious mind. Also the same thing with paraliminals and certain subliminals and right and left brain tapes? Or how about Sedona's method and Holosync?

I am just wondering if there quicker ways to make affirmations work.

sjaykum1

[QUOTE]Originally posted by quidscribis:
[B] Yes, it took about six months, but I haven't been depressed a day since - and that's considering I spent the two decades before that in a constant state of depression. .

I didn't believe for the first few months that it would work, but I thought, what the @#@!!, it can't hurt, so why not. Relaxed state? Are you kidding? I had no idea what a relaxed state was.

As for why it worked - I'm a fairly stubborn, obstinate, pigheaded, and, oh yeah, did I mention stubborn? kind of person (although I try to use my powers for good ). I stuck with it for no good reason other than just because and not because I saw results immediately.

This reminds of when Anthony Robbins saying about change can happen in an instant. I remember Parmahansa Yogananda saying "with deep concentration change can happen in a second or right away".

sjaykum1

I can't help noticing that you are into everything and nothing. Affirmations do work whether you know it or not affirmations are part of your belief system.

If you want to make headway in the self improvement area of your life I suggest you pick one thing and only one thing and get started on that. Once you've get going on that it becomes easier to get started on the other self improvment projects.

Paraliminals - each one has a general purpose that can help you in chosen areas of your life. They help you towards your goals once you have defined them. In many cases one listening will get you moving toward your goal. (Use for each goal and each aspect of a goal). You'll find that even if you have only one paraliminal a bit of creative thinking about your goal and the paraliminal can be adapted. Personal Genius can just as easily be used for weight loss, relationship and prosperity... as can the prosperity tape be used for Genius, relationships etc. It only depends on your stated goal prior to listening.

Subliminal - such as the inner talk tape can also help you in specific areas of your life. Unlike the paraliminals they probably require more listening to see results. (use daily for a month for long term changes)

Sedona Method - Getting control of your emotions - is a techniques for getting out of your own way and getting out of others way and empowering yourself by letting go of limitations you place upon yourself through your expectation. (once learnt becomes a part of your life. Empowering in that things stop bugging you as much as they used to.)

Holosync - mediation technique that causes you to make adjustments in your life through overwhelm and being to the surface the redundancies in your life (use daily for life)

Silva Method - also known as Dynamic mediation self enhancing does much of what tape courses - on a 'do it yourself basis'. Can be used to enhance any area of your life... particularly useful for handling working life and enhancing intuition.

NLP - better taught by a trained professional once learnt allows you to adopt patterns that empower the self and can motivate you into action.

Affirmations - need to be believable, achievable stated in the present tense and stated in the direction you want to go. Often fail because people make the mistake of creating their affirmations in the negative sense. E.g. I will lose x amount of weight by y date. (to lose something implies that you want it back now one ever likes to lose anything.) I won't fail the test. Affirmations work best when they are brought into play with any or all of the other above mentioned methods.

Again I suggest you pick an area in your life, pick a technique and get started on it. The more time you spend looking for the perfect technique the longer it will take for you to achieve your goals.

Off hand the paraliminal Get Around To It is a great start - it will motivate you towards any goal and help you start taking the appropriate action to get going. Also helpful when you find yourself procastinating.

If you are uncertain about courses offered check out the companies return policy. With so many options available it pays to try on for size. Check e-bay for the product you are looking for. The number of people reselling the product would give an indication of how useful they find the product. (No one is in a hurry to get rid of something that worked for them) If you want the benefit of the refund guarantee... buy from the supplier (in the case of courses you will be assured you get the entire course, support when it's offered and the ability to return the course if it failed to meet up to your expectations)

Good luck
Alex

sjaykum1, what is it you want, ultimately?

Alex, I just started by ordering the Keen Vison course www.innertalk.com by Eldon Taylor. I am thinking about maybe ordering a paraliminal. You are right about starting something.

Kaiden: You ask what is that I ultimately want? I think I have asked that question to myself for years. I ended up saying that I dont know what I really want. Maybe I do but it is hidden in me where I can not find it or grasp it?

The other thing that I was thinking is probably I want to many things. Maybe the things that I want are fantastical or impractical or unrealistic? I know I would like prosperity. Be in an ideal business or business opportunity. I would like to have great abs or better abs or a flat stomach. I would like to be in great physical condition. Like have a killer body. I think this would help me out a lot-be able to make decisions very rapidly. Listen to my intuition. I would like to get my vision back to normal. Improving my vision even a little bit would be more encouraging. I would like to work great mentors and trainers. I would like to be better at computers such as networking and troubleshooting desktops, web site development, and Microsoft Office and maybe data recovery. I would like to be recognized as good at what I do especially at the work place.

I would like to know how to make a lot of money in real estate. Kind of the stuff they talk about www.creonline.come and www.dealmakerscafe.com. I am thinking one of the things I enjoy is taking my money to the credit union. I think I would like to have a good business mind and be able to recognize opportunity everywhere and capitalize on it. I thought at one time the web and mail order were good businesses. I think I would like the business feel or the feel for doing business well.

I have thought at one time I would like to do sales and be good at it. And the same thing with bartending.

Right now I am thinking I would like to be better at learning and remembering. Like right now I have the Mega Memory course I got from the library. I am thinking being able to photoread, take good notes and I dont know about mind mapping.

I would like to help others make a lot of money and have a life that is more of their own liking or do what they desire rather than be a slave to wages I guess.

I am thinking I would like to be more lucky or to create luck in my life through my mental powers. I play the lotto frequently and I have not given up on my dreams since college.

I think I would love to have mental powers so I can heal myself more quickly of things like colds and flu and have a great immune system.
I would also like to be more confident and better with the opposite sex. I would also like to increase my personal magnetism. I know the book the Art and Science of Raja Yoga by Donald Walters talks about Magnetism and so does Paramahansa Yogananda.

I think it would be cool for me to be a good or great public speaker and give funny speeches as well as be funny.

Kaiden, I told you a bunch of things. How much of this would you say is practical and achievable and how much of this is whimsical, fanciful and unrealistic. I think I told you all Kaiden.

Kaiden, this reminds me of the Army Slogan "Be All You can Be" and also Air Force's "Aim High". But Kaiden, I think from all that I told you maybe I might be aiming too high.

sjaykum1

sjaykum1, I think the person that knows what he wants is a very lucky person. For several decades my want/goal was to be happy. It sounds good, modest, and achievable. After loosing much of it, it took a long time for me to learn that it's not a goal, it's much more of an attitude.

Anyways I started this post with the idea of passing along, at least part of an excerise I got from an Anthony Robbins course. Goal setting. To find out what you want and want to do, first write a list. A big list, and exhaustive list. One that is not limited by reality. One that not limited by rules or values. One that contains all of your desires WITHOUT limits. You right them all done. Every last one of them. You don't worry if they are good or bad, possible or impossible, if they can just exist your fantasies. You write them all down. You don't care if they are general or if they are specific or if they overlap. You write, and write and write until you can't come up with anymore.

The second step is to select five that you ARE going to work at achieving this year. You can rephrase them, maybe make up new ones that occur to you, but just five. However, not you have to worry about reality, since you have to work on them. You have to make sure your desires (goals) are in alignment with your values system. If they are not in alignment, then you will work against yourself and prevent yourself from achieving them....

There is more to this excerise, but that is the goal selection portion. I found it helpful, but I felt like you do, namely:

" Kaiden: You ask what is that I ultimately want? I think I have asked that question to myself for years. I ended up saying that I dont know what I really want. Maybe I do but it is hidden in me where I can not find it or grasp it?"

Good luck, Iam2

Oh and AlexK, thanks for the description of the "techniques" that keep rolling across these forums.

I'd be worried about the inner mind's ability to properly parse the affirmations. What would happen if the inner mind confused the affirmations "I exercise my eyes. I care for my eyes. I rest my eyes." with "I eat properly." Would one eat his eyes?

OK, enough sillyness.

The "rules" for affirmations you mention bring me pause. I can understand certain reasonings, but it reminds me of why I am given pause by Chaos Magic, which says for one's spell to work, one must forget the object of one's spell. Thus, one only remembers one has cast the spell after it has occured. If one remembers casting the spell before its outcome, then that alone is enough to negate its effectiveness. I would distrust anyone who told me that the reason my affirmations were not successful was because I was looking for success. I may as well say that any who disagree with me are a priori imbeciles and any who attack my positions prove themselves such simply by stating things contrary to what I say.

I would recommend you find and procure books on Quantum Psychology. My intuition is that you want promises and gaurentees. The book "The Tree of Lies" by Christopher Hyatt, PhD, deals with all manner of psychological problems by going to the root of them - the human need for guarentees and promises. The book works its magic (figuratively speaking of course) by applying the Western methods of modern psychology to the Eastern principles that ego and identity are illusions, and that happiness lies in casting off these illusions. As such, the catch-phrase of this book is "Become Who You Are, There Are No Gaurentees."