Don't bother changing your thoughts

Have you been taught to see your thoughts as "enemies"?  As a bad habit you need to "fix", as the source of illness and imbalance, poverty and unhappiness?  Do you bore yourself repeating positive affirmations so you can develop positive thought habits that eventually can cancel the "bad" ones? 

Stop right now.  (What a relief, eh?)  Read on.

First of all, for several reasons, affirmations don't often work, and I rarely use or recommend them.  One issue is that they are like steering a horse by its tail.  (Believe me, it doesn't work well!) 

My main point is that by seeing your thoughts and feelings as "bad", you polarize yourself against yourself. You lock yourself into a neverending mind battle that limits your personal potential and distracts you from empowering and healing yourself and others.  

Making your mind and its thoughts your enemy LIMITS you living life to the fullest!!!  Bottom line: it can be a form of resistance to your spiritual path.  (And that means resistance to success as a healer.)

Here's why:  Thoughts are a natural byproduct of your logical mind.  It is your mind's job to produce thoughts, as it is your lungs' job to breathe.  Do you watch every single breath to make sure you're breathing "right"?  No, though you may do breathwork periodically for health, and good for you.   

Likewise, to live a good healthy spiritual life full of healing, you don't have to correct and adjust every thought or OUTPUT your mind thinks.

You have to adjust the INPUTS.

What are you inputting into your mind?  Actions based on fear and worries?  Pleasing your internalized parent or teacher instead of honoring your heart?  Maintaining a relationship or job that's not supporting you exploring your full potential?  A long string of fascinating healing classes that help you avoid figuring out what you are meant to DO with them? 

Do you regularly nurture your soul in quiet meditation, contemplation, or prayer?  Do you connect with truly loved ones, nurture your body, love and advocate for yourself, share your unique gifts freely, have fun, enjoy life, get what fulfills you and makes you divinely happy? 

If not, then try this experiement.  Go do that.  Change those inputs.  Reach for fulfilling your life's purpose, your life's healing mission.  And then tell me what happens to your thought patterns after a few months. 

If you need help, the Int'l Institute for Practitioners of Genuine Healing is here to support you in your spiritual journey towards your greatest potential, that of being a conduit and receiver of Genuine Healing. 

I love you.  Go heal.

Comments

[Tony Vowles]

Affirmations are very much 'forcing the issue' aren't they. They can work as you say but its not an altogether natural process. I like your comments and you're spot on about the inputs. Another blogger wrote recently (on a zen blog I think it was) about having a vision - when you have a vision that you keep foremost in your mind it can help to filter out the inputs - differentiate from the ones that won't take you to that vision and the ones that will. Seems a much better approach to me. Thanks for the post!

[Daria Boissonnas]

They can feel very forced, yes. Here's something few people seem to have noticed about affirmations: they only exercise or "tone" your energy system. They don't "fix" it.

Affirmations work best when the energy system is not broken or malfunctioning when you think those thoughts, just underutilized. So if you DO know inside that you are a brilliant and good-looking person but you don't often think that way, then by repeating that to yourself, it will exercise that underused energetic "muscle" and strengthen your awareness of that indisputable fact. :)

If an affirmation stresses you, however, then it will not get you to your goal of changing how you think. It may cause more damage than good.

Most people who get affirmations to work successfully either fall into the first category, or they actually (accidentally) do something slightly different that works very much more effectively.

That's the method I teach to my coaching clients and in my Law of Unity/One Law of Yes program, which is currently scheduled to start in February 2010. Make sure you're on our mailing list (sign up to the upper right), and I'll see you there. ;)

[Quiet]

Beautiful post. So simple. You said something I needed to hear today. Thank you.

[Patty]

Oh I sooooooooooooooooo needed to hear this. I've been so focused on watching my thoughts they are are just what you said enemies! What a wake up call!!!!!!!!!!!! And on doing affirmations - I do them and do them but here I am still having this battle. So thank you once again Daria! I am printing this out to read over and over and going out and doing!!!!!!!
You're the best!
Patty