Affirmations
Creating your own reality

When I first began reading Arthurian legends, I knew that I didn't want to be King Arthur. I wanted to be Merlin. The power of his vision and his magical use of words held me spellbound. When this guy spoke a commanding word the desired object would appear, the malady would be healed, the dead brought back to life, the land covered in dragon's breath.

King Solomon, a great and wise leader of ancient Israel, said, "As a man thinks, so he is." In other words, your thoughts-the things you say to yourself, the pictures you make in your mind-create your reality. Now, is this magical or what? You doubt Solomon's wisdom?

What happens to someone who consistently tells themselves and the world around them that they "can't"? that they are not "enough"? that they were born to be a C-Team player? What happens is that they get to be a prophet whose words will come true. Tragically, if they would have changed their beliefs and professions they could have prophesied good fortune-and had that prophecy come true.

Most of our belief systems were installed in us by the words and actions of our parents, family members, teachers and culture. The question for us now is, how many of our present beliefs were consciously adopted after much study, reflection and consideration?

A child is told that he is a genius, that he can easily learn anything he wants to, and that he has all the resources he needs for a successful life. His parents, with utter conviction and congruency, communicate these beliefs to him or her on a daily basis. If they hear the young man whining about not being smart, if they hear her complaining about not being as bright as someone else, they gently and firmly correct the child until, when he or she is in their teens, the youngster believes they have whatever it takes to lead a successful life and that they are competent to decide what "success" will mean to them.

"But, Monte, my parents and teachers raised me to see myself as a victim of a world full of people who are more powerful…more intelligent…more fortunate. In fact, in the past, whenever I think I may be able to break out and do something new, I can still hear their voices-'Who do you think you are, getting all uppity like this?'"

Hey, you can get rid of those voices right now. (Yes, I said RIGHT NOW!)

Do you have a voice inside your head that yells at you or tells you that you are a loser or some other such nonsense? Where do you hear the voice? Is it behind you or a few inches away from your left ear? Listen carefully: does it sound like anyone you know? Maybe it's the voice of your dad or mom or…your own voice?

Now. Go ahead and listen to that voice. What does it say…precisely?

Okay. I want you to change that voice to that of your favorite cartoon character. R-e-a-l-l-y do this, NOW. Have the cartoon character (Bugs Bunny?) tell you whatever it was the voice has been telling you about yourself. R-i-g-h-t n-o-w. Make certain that the cartoon character says exactly what the other voice was saying and that the voice is in the same location. Do it over and over again until you are laughing.

Talking to Yourself

Take the next few days and focus on listening to the people around you: what are they saying about themselves and others? Typically it is all quite negative and cynical.

Imagine listening to a recording of your private thoughts from the last 24 hours. Classifying every thought into three categories--neutral, positive and negative--what percentage do you imagine would fall into the negative column? What is it about us humans that waste so much energy on worrying over baseless fears, feeding on bitterness, arrogantly judging things and people or constantly tearing ourselves down? How many people do you know that constantly hypnotize themselves to believe the worse about everything and everyone?

Go back over the above affirmations about self, life, work, others and think about what sort of reality these professions will create. Read these declarations as prophecies. Read these assertions as statements of faith that will create a specific reality. And when it happens-when the prophecy comes true, when reality is manifested-what do many of us think? Rather than taking responsibility for it, we say," Well, this is just the way my life is."

How do you change your thought patterns? How do you get the voices in your head to say things that are inspirational and helpful?

Feed Your Brain Good "Stuff"

To begin with, you must feed your brain with good stuff "brain food". Read biographies of people who changed the world for good. Listen to music that makes you want to work harder or dance longer. Watch movies and plays that exalt goodness, truth, nobility, courage, beauty and the magnificent gift of life. Steer conversations to constructive topics. Get a life.

Get a life? Sure. Too many people have way too much time on their hands. They have nothing better to do than sit around and worry, whine or complain. If they worked more, if they studied more, if they spent more time with their family and friends, they would notice a major change in the content of their thoughts, as well as in the quality of their life.

Affirm What You Want

Another thing you can do to change your thought patterns is the proactive use of affirmations. I know that many people have used affirmations and say they didn't work. But if we look closely at how their affirmations were crafted it is no wonder things did not go as well as they wished.

Here is an affirmation that I have actually heard people use for kicking a nicotine habit. "I do not smoke because it is not healthy."

Quick. I do not want you to think of smoking. What happened when you read the previous sentence? You had to think of smoking in order to not think of it. Consequently, the above affirmation only focuses the mind on smoking! (This is why the Say No to Drugs campaign-as well meaning as it was-was such a flop.)

"I will no longer lose my temper."

What is happening here? Rather than affirming how They intend to behave from now on, the person is affirming how they wish to no longer behave. Again, they will end up focusing on the less-than resourceful behavior and, consequently, get more of what they say they no longer want!

Affirm what you intend to produce:

"I am a person who consistently makes choices that increase my health."

"I am a calm and confident person."

Once you craft your affirmation, you then need to spend time writing down as many reasons as possible for why this affirmation is your reality. If you craft an affirmation that declares you can learn anything you wish quickly and easily, then begin to go back in your history and think of all the times you learned something easily and relatively quickly. You learned to speak a language before you were three. You learned to ride a bicycle in a matter of days, tie your shoes in minutes. See the picture here?

Developing New Realities

What if the affirmation is a new reality-one you wish to create? What if, up until now, you have not been such a person as this affirmations declares? Then write out all sorts of new ways such an affirmation will inspire you to behave in the future. When you make the affirmation, see in your mind's eye this new desired behavior being acted out.

I suggest that you craft three sets of affirmations. Write out three affirmations about your career and related matters. Write out three affirmations regarding who you are as a person. Write out three more affirmations about how your life is to unfold. Place each set of affirmations on a 3 x 5 card. From the time you awake until lunch, consistently profess one set of affirmations. From lunch until you get home from work, affirm another set of beliefs you will see turn into reality. Then, for the rest of the evening, do the same with the final set of affirmations. Do this for 30 days. Prepare for a new reality!

For instance, your affirmation gift may look like this:

When you declare these affirmations, feel the words filling your mind and body. Feel the sound of your words turning into a light that permeates your whole person. See the light emanating from your body, bathing the world around you.

The Power of Reframing