"Sacred Love
I am blessed by sacred relationships. From the day I was born, I have given and received love in sacred relationships. My parents cared fro me with tenderness and I responded with smiles. Now I see my loved ones through the eyes of God and generously return their affection. I find joy in the deep love we share.
I commit to maintaining healthy and happy relationships. I am present for special occasions. I listen attentively and accept my loved ones as they are. I release any perceived differences to the guidance of Spirit. My beloved and I grow as we support and encourage each other.
I thank God for the unique bonds in which I share my sacred qualities.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you -- 2 Corinthians 13:13
The Daily Word is a subscription of daily affirmations which can be obtained on line on the Internet, or one can download an app on their smartphone or on an Ipad. It cost $1.50/month.
What does this word, affirmation, mean? Of course there is a legal definition whereby a person makes a true statement or asserts that a statement is true. The word originates in the Latin affirmare, to assert. But another use of the word, affirmation, means a form of self-forced meditation or repetition, almost an autosuggestion. It is this use of the word that we are discussing regarding those various sites online, in print, and even on our smartphones where a few words of positivity can be repeated and meditated on to achieve some personal transformation. The Daily Word is an example of a Christian based subscription of such daily positive statements. There are many such sources of daily affirmations.
Louise Hay is a big afficianado of affirmations. She started life as a model but was dealt some life blows in her marriage and in her health. She then began to believe first in the healing ability of positive thinking and later even in the ability of positive thinking to create financial wealth. She has authored several New Thought self-help books and is the author of many affirmations which can be found attractively presented at this website:
http://www.louisehay.com/affirmations/
Louise Hay later founded Hay Publishing which has published several books of Deepak Chopra and Dwayne Dyer, among other authors.
Such affirmation statements may be used as a mantra. They can just be a nice start to your day. But do they really work? And how helpful are they to people? After all affirmations are just words and words can be either good or bad. Repeating and concentrating on such affirmations certainly could have a positive effect. Certain kinds of affirmations could be more like an aspiration. For example, the prayer: "Lord make me an instrument of thy peace," really is more like an aspiration. One is saying what one would like to achieve or become. In addition, affirmations could become inspirations, and a vehicle for change. In some ways, affirmations may be more like programming. hopefully in a positive direction. Studies have shown that positive thinking and general optimism does boost the immune system. And positive thinking seems to produce calm and peaceful feelings. However, these types of affects are hard to measure scientifically.
In some cases affirmations may seem too positive. They may seem somewhat like a pollyanna. The presence of positive views in spite of the most adverse of life conditions can seem overbearing, or can seem naive, simplistic, or foolish. In this view, the positive thinking is not realistic nor believable. One would seem to have to believe in the affirmation for it to have some effect.
Psychology and science have looked at the use of affirmations to some degree. There is some controversy about their usefulness in this realm as well. It was reported in 2009 that a study had found positive affirmation to have a detrimental effect on those who need it the most, because people with low self-esteem will perceive the affirmation as so unbelievable that it strengthens their negative mindset. Those who already have high self-esteem feel slightly better, and those who don't will feel worse than if they had been allowed negative thoughts. When people with high self esteem use positive affirmation it acts as a buffer for constructive criticism that goes against the self-perception, and when people with low self-esteem use positive affirmation, it rings untrue and therefore brings to mind exactly how they are not successful, loved, etc. However, a 2014 article from Stanford University finds many positive results from the affirmation process. Here are links to these two articles.
.https://www.psychologicalscience.org/media/releases/2009/wood.cfm
https://ed.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/annurev-psych-psychology_of_change_final_e2.pdf
There may be some negatives to the use of affirmations. In Zen tradition, dividing things into the good and the bad is also a bad thing; it doesn't serve any purpose. The main idea is that there should be no judgement. But that is also ridiculous. We are humans and we can't take judgement out of it. With thinking, we have judgement. Non-judgement is impossible. Rather one should try to achieve mindfulness of judgement. It is important to know that we do have judgement and we need to be aware of it. This is what the Dali Lama is talking about when he suggesst and practices equanimity.
Equanimity means letting go, allowing for more acceptance. I accept my future the way it may work out. "I really do believe I can be an instrument of my peace." We are all able to conduct things for ourselves and we are aware of the options. We are telling ourselves our narrative and there is a choice.
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