My intention for this piece is to look at affirmations and determine whether they are a useful tool in allowing those who practice them to create a more prosperous life. Affirmations are guiding or empowering statements that when routinely repeated are thought to change behaviour or one’s self-concept to better reflect a desired state of being. An example of such a statement could be, ‘everything I do either helps or hurts my prospects of success’. The purpose of such an affirmation would be to remind the person reciting it that each of their behaviours are consequential in creating a life that leads them either closer towards a desired outcome or further away from it. I must admit, when I was younger, I used to recite affirmations quite frequently as a part of my self-improvement regimen, but as I have gotten older and more foundationally aligned with the guiding purpose of my life, I have moved away from practicing them, principally because I have a more solid understanding of who I now am and how I should be orienting myself in the world. Despite this, I sometimes wonder whether I would be served by reintegrating them into my routine, so my hope here is that this examination will provide some clarity on whether I should do just that.
In what can often be a very shallow and opaque self-help environment, people can be led to believe that affirmations work like magic, and that if we put certain messages out into the universe, that an energy that is resonant with those messages will be returned to improve the quality of our life. I am not a subscriber to this kind of belief that was popularised by movies like ‘The Secret’. Where I think that affirmations are most useful is as an anchoring force towards an aspirational future state that we can effect by our own efforts. So in the example affirmation that I have stated above, when a person recites it, they are reminded that ultimately they are responsible for their actions, and that these actions have both positive and negative implications in the short and long term periods of their life. Centring them further in this reality as the affirmation is repeated, they are also led to become more aware and present to this locus of control that exists within, but is so often eschewed by the imposition of external forces which can convince the person that they are an impotent victim of circumstance.
For those of us who are inclined towards the self-help space, there exists a recognition of an ever present gap between where we currently are in our development and where we aspire to be at a future time after having worked on ourselves. Like the setting of goals that orient us towards those future points, affirmations serve a similar function but with less of the end in mind (depending of course on what the substance of the affirmation is). Being more concerned with the processual elements of who we need to become in order to reach those goals and beyond, they are perhaps more important in being able to ensure our sustained success towards that end. In my own experience, the affirmations that are most effective in altering our self-concept for the better are those that incorporate the first person ‘I’ into their wording. These types of affirmations also avoid the pitfall of relating to things that we have very little control over. For example, an affirmation like ‘others respond to me with enthusiasm and engagement’ puts the cart before the horse of what we can practically control through our own behaviour. While we can’t make others respond to us in this intended way because that is something that they exclusively have control over, we can affirm to ourselves that we are filled with the enthusiasm that engages us in something meaningful which others might want to follow if we are being congruous in feeling that enthusiasm.
Words are just that, words, but for affirmations to be given effect, they must be capable of being embodied. This is why they must be realistic and not pie in the sky or akin to a wish. An affirmation that would seek to have us win the lotto lacks the causative factor that is necessary to make it a reality. Yes, we can buy a number of lottery tickets as we go about affirming this desire, but too much remains beyond our limited control for this to materialise. Even if we were to adopt such an affirmation and somehow win the lotto, it wouldn’t bring us any feeling of fulfilment in what we have found because we would know that luck has played more of a pivotal part in something that we haven’t earned by our own efforts.
But, by contrast, with the ‘I’ centred affirmations described above, these require the cultivation of character or other deep seated virtues that are their own reward for the journey that the genuine embodiment of the substance of those affirmations enables us to take. These are the real, but often overlooked ‘riches’ that are more valuable than the end points that we seek out, often at the ego’s prompting (for the desired end state of winning the lotto, this can hardly be said to be motivated by benevolent purposes such as giving the money to charity or the advancement of other worthy causes – typically, this philanthropy is undertaken by those who have earned their money through entrepreneurial ventures or by other diligent means that have required sacrifice on their part). One form of these riches that affirmations can cultivate is the moving from a state of doubt to conviction in a domain such as the living of our life purpose or calling.
Maybe an affirmation that centres on our vocation reads as follows, ‘I serve and enrich others as I teach them about the importance of holistic (mental, physical and spiritual) health and well-being’. When you started out using the affirmation (or a more relevant variant of it), it was likely adopted because of a disconnect that you felt between your work and the meaning that it held for you. Engendering in you a sense of doubt that you were on purpose in your life, the initial benefit of articulating the affirmation in words is that it clarifies the ‘why’ component of your calling that constitutes a fundamental building block of belief as you resolve to recite the affirmation on a ritualistic basis. Whereas before you may have gone about your work without a conscious recognition of how your efforts were serving the needs of those others, by keeping a reminder of your daily impacts before your eyes, you gain a stronger faith in the difference you are making to their lives. Improving the qualitative experience of your lived calling, this manifests not only in greater levels of fulfilment as you go about your work, but also in better outcomes for those you serve and enrich. Begetting even greater faith in the necessity of your inspired work, the bridge to conviction won’t long be crossed to where you harbour no doubts about the path you are on and the capacity for positive transformation that it has in the world.
As with most things, affirmations can be adopted to serve shallow or substantive purposes. What I hope to have established here is their utility in serving the latter which enhances not only the individual life of the affirmer but also the conditions of the external world which our personal flourishing can’t help but permeate. For these reasons, I think that affirmations can be a valuable tool for future manifestation of a desired state of being if they are authentic to the person and animate them with the internal resources that are needed to actualise the higher version of themselves that is envisioned.
Dr. L. Christian Duperouzel 