Ascension Shenanigans – Epsiode XVI: When and how to use Affirmations
William Blake - Red Dragon
There is a big mass of spiritual tools that I am not the biggest fan of, not because they are in and of themselves wrong or useless, but rather because of their indiscriminate usage. I cannot generalise the following enough: to use something (food, drugs, a spiritual tool, medicine, patterns of behavior) indiscriminately, that is without taking into account ALL of yourself and ALL of your situation in as far as is possible or needed, is almost always BAD. It is the OPPOSITE of holistic. There is this funny preconception that certain types of healing methods are in and of themselves holistic. This is not really the case. A healing concept can have a holistic approach, like Aryuveda, and still be (ab)used in a none holistic way. In fact, this is what happens a lot of the time, not least because our Western cultures are suckers for simplification. If it can’t be turned into an app that could be used by a five year old, we are not doing it. Obviously, I am exaggerating, but I hope it gets the point across.
Keeping this in mind, I would like to talk about affirmations. I will start by stating some dangers or possible abuses,to then move on to some examples of where to use them to great advantage. I would like you to pay attention to the underlying concept rather than to the examples and get creative on that.
There is a general problem to the entire approach of influencing your reality through affirmations. General in the sense of it being innate to human nature. I am talking about the fact that we are made up of many, many layers of self, parts of personality, light and dark, the lot. To a highly traumatised inner child, your affirmations about abundance may sound nothing short of sarcastic. This has the effect that part of you might feel abused or lied to or neglected by affirmations that are feeling wonderful and fulfilling to the more aligned aspects of your Self. The idea that keeping up the affirmations and ignoring the unhappy parts will eventually make them come round is not something I have found to occur in reality. Well, it creates more contrast, and creating more contrast will force alignment in the long run (look at the state of the world right now), but I very much doubt that this is the sort of Ascension you would choose. What typically does happen is that people start pingponging between the happy aspects and the increasingly unhappy ones. This is often seen and also happens as a side effect of healing. The difference is that in healing you do create resolve and integration for the none-aligned parts, so that they are no longer cut off from the energy you consciously are choosing to move towards. The bottom line of this goes: Avoid affirmations that are not the authentic truth of all of you.
For those who are very conscious of their shadows, this might as well spell: don’t use them at all. But I would not go that far. One area where I find them helpful is in the field of intention setting. This is rather different from just assuming my reality is already “A”. It is a lovely way of steering both personal and collective intention, provided you are not doing it all alone in your cellar. I love Solara An Ra’s guides affirmation of intention for Love, Kindness and Cooperation on Earth and therefore it regularly comes up in my thoughts, prayers, channelling and group work. ‘Abundance for all Beings’ is another intention that cannot be set too often.
On the personal level too, affirmations can be used with care and deliberation. Particularly when you are in the process of healing certain aspects and want to give them a new outlook, direction and purpose. Connecting this with an affirmation that holds their new role in your life can help to keep them pointing in the right direction. For instance, after working with aspects that feel worthless, introducing them to the idea of their own abundance through an affirmation that they can get behind, would be very helpful.
The well known Hawaiian prayer “I’m sorry, please forgive me, thank you, I love you” can be used to great advantage wherever you notice that you have been bulldozing parts of yourself through lifestyle, relationships, occupation or, indeed, affirmations. Try to feel these parts and repeat the chant until you feel relief in this area. Obviously, a full healing might also be in order. Where you have already done much healing work, such affirmations may serve as a short cut into new layers.
Make a list of affirmations that you think you are 100% percent behind, like a list of talents you know you have, actual proof of your abundance etc. to help you get into a better place, when necessary. Though, if you know me, you will be aware that I would always first get to the bottom of what is bothering you to find resolve …
With much love in the light of YéShéT’A!
Namaste!
Amerasul