My Introduction to Affirmations
I will admit that my whole perspective on life and the struggles I was going through, was transformed when in 1994 I read the classic self-help book The Power of Your Subconscious Mind by Dr Joseph Murphy. The concept of the mind comprising the conscious and the subconscious opened up a whole new world to me. All of a sudden I felt like I had the keys to bring control to my life through the establishment of positive beliefs in the subconscious mind. Affirmations were the key.
Faith Teaching
My interest in self-help and spirituality led me to become a Christian in 1995. I didn’t really take it seriously at first though. I was aware of the stigma surrounding Christianity, which many people did not really take it seriously when it came to success and inner transformation. It was only in 1998 when I had a profound spiritual experience – I finally became a lot more serious about Christianity. It was around that time that I began reading the faith teaching of Kenneth E. Hagin. Hagin’s advocated the approach of finding Bible verses that supported your need and then confessing that you have them already. This is based mainly on Mark 11:23, which is the main faith verse of the Bible and is often quoted in various self-help and spiritual books that recommended the use of affirmations, such as The Power of Your Subconscious Mind by Dr Joseph Murphy. I would say that Hagin’s teaching is somewhat like a Christian version of The Secret and The Law of Attraction.
Disappointment with Affirmations
I’ve dabbled with various forms of self-help, Christianity and New Age in the past. But I would say that nothing influenced me more than the concept of being able to literally re-program the subconscious mind with positive thoughts. However, I found that the affirmations I did manage to use, did not make a lot of difference to my life. In fact, I would say that they just exacerbated my anxiety. I would feel guilty and annoyed with myself for not making greater efforts to use affirmations. I would get confused as to what to actually affirm; constantly re-hashing my affirmations list. Going to church during this time did not help as I became convinced that the blessings did not come to me because there was sin in my life, and so on.
When a certain practice, be it self-help, spiritual or otherwise, is not spontaneous, enjoyable, convincing and enduring – you really do have to question whether or not there is any credibility to it. I personally believe in God and that He has a plan for my life. Other people may or may not believe in God, but they do believe in destiny. You have to consider the fact that if affirmations are that powerful and they are something you really need to do – surely there would be something stirring you on the inside to keep going with it? Affirmations, for me, have become like the weights set that are gathering dust in the spare bedroom.
As I look back in retrospect it would seem that all those things I did, learned and experienced - have led me to the point that I am at today. It is difficult sometimes to not feel disappointed about some of the spiritual and self-help practices that I engaged in; those things that seemed to promise so much, but delivered so little. I am reminded of some of the more wacky New Age practices of carrying or wearing certain crystals or colours that are supposed to attract certain special properties. But at least you know not to do those things again in the future. It seems that experience is indeed the best teacher.
Releasing Using the Sedona Method
I think it was around the summer of 2008 when I started using the The Sedona Method. The Sedona Method in turn led me to The Work around the end of 2008. The concept of releasing demonstrated by the Sedona Method was something totally new to me. Well, it wasn’t totally new to me as I had experienced releasing to some degree through a new method of Christian approach to prayer created by Liberty Savard known as “loosing and binding”.
But nothing I ever experienced before came close to the sheer simplicity and power of this method of releasing. It was just so spontaneous and practical. Rather than having to create positive affirmations to make changes to your life – all you had to do was to release on the emotions and their underlying wants, in the moment. The great thing about the Sedona Method is that at its core is a simple, yet profound, concept of three basic wants, which give rise to negative emotions and the entire struggle that we experience in life. The great thing is that we can let go of these wants straight away, just by asking a short, simple releasing question.
The Sedona Method employs a large array of various methods or “tools” to facilitate releasing. These “tools” range from basic to rather advance. As you progress with releasing you can try the various “tools” for yourself and find which ones suit you the most; which ones seem to work best in given situations.
For more information on releasing, please visit the following official websites:
Inquiry through the Work
I came into The Work through the chat on a Sedona Method forum I was following at the time; this was around the end of 2008. The Work seemed to have a very similar goal to the Sedona Method, in that it wasn’t about attracting or claiming things – it was all about finding peace of mind. This peace of mind was to be attained using The Work, through a process of inquiry which questions anxious thoughts as they arise in the moment:
- Is it true?
- Can you know for certain it is true?
- Who are you and how do you react with that thought?
- Who would you be without that thought?
These four questions naturally lead a person towards the finale of inquiry – the turnaround. The turnaround is firstly the direct opposite: “Jane should love me more” becomes, “Jane should not love me more.” There are other turnarounds, such as the self, “I should love Jane more.” Or, “I should love me more.” Then there is the other, “I should love Jane more.”
As a person begins to question their anxious thoughts, their beliefs, the attachment to that thought weakens to the point whereby they find freedom from that thought – as the thought lets go of you. It is pointless to try to force the thought out of your mind, as recommend by the positive thinking branch of self-help.
The great thing about The Work is that you don’t have to perform Psychoanalysis on past beliefs and experiences. There is no need to probe painful memories from the past and to try to figure out how they affect you today or why you even did those things. Inquiry does not even utilise various “tools” and methods as seen in releasing. Although these “tools” are simple and practical – it can sometimes be confusing as to what tools are right for a given situation.
Inquiry uses the same system every time for each session, comprising the four questions and turnaround. As with the Sedona Method, there is not an emphasis on learning spiritual principles or rules to follow. However, as you do the Work for yourself and hear others doing it – you do pick-up certain spiritual concepts. But these spiritual concepts are the consequence of performing releasing and/or inquiry for yourself – they are not taught by a teacher or guru – they are experienced. In this way, you get to know what is true and what is not, through your own experience, through the interaction and questioning of your own heart. The problem with most self-help and spiritual “teaching” is that they just give you a whole load of concepts and principles, that someone else has conjured-up or experienced in their own life, and then expect you to just accept it as true.
For more information on The Work, please visit the following official website: http://thework.com
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