Every single thought you think has power. Power to bring you towards health or towards disease. Towards peace of mind or mental anguish. In order to achieve health, you must first understand, and admit to, your power to create disease. Accepting personal responsibility for your life is paramount to making change.
Vedic Philosophy teaches that your world is a reflection your own thoughts. Thoughts are the building blocks of your experience of the world. They literally motivate the forces of the universe and shape your experiences. Learning to take control of the process of how you create your world allows you to heal as well as to create any other life experience you wish.
Think of your mind as a garden. What grows in your garden? Flowers and organic vegetables, or weeds that crowd out the flowers and vegetables? Affirmations are a powerful tool for planting seeds in your garden. Simply by repeating affirmations to yourself on a regular basis, you are changing the very landscape of your being. You are sowing seeds of health which will crowd out the weeds.
The subconscious mind is very literal; even though at first you may not actually believe the beautiful meanings of your affirmations, by continuing to repeat them anyway, your subconscious will eventually accept them as truth – and thus they are free to manifest in your life, and flower into a peace-filled, healthy, harmonious existence.
I find affirmations to be integral to my own personal spiritual journey. Affirmations can be written on little notes and plastered everywhere – on the refrigerator, bathroom mirror, at your desk, kitchen window, dashboard of your car, etc. Anywhere and everywhere! I’ve even recently started using modern technology to help me in my quest to be constantly reminded of my affirmations; I use the reminder app on my cell phone. About once an hour, day after day, affirmation messages pop up on my phone. Every time this happens I pause a moment, repeat the affirmation to myself, absorb the lesson, and go about my day, a baby step closer to my goal of living a life of peace, harmony and optimal health.
Options for affirmations are limitless. The important thing is to state them as if they are already true, because as stated previously, the subconscious mind is very literal. In other words, if you say “I hope to feel peaceful someday” that is exactly what you get – an experience that remains out of reach. Instead, state it in the NOW as if it were already true. For this is how it becomes true! Below are some of my own personal affirmations. Be creative, keep them brief, and create your own:
“This moment is perfect and magical” (This affirmation has helped me tremendously. Every moment is in fact perfect, regardless of what the ego may think. Apply this affirmation indiscriminately)
“There is a blessing in everything that happens”
“I fully embrace what is”
“My ego does not control my life”
“I have perfect health in body and mind”
“Every day brings me greater awakening”
“Breathe out illusion, breathe in infinite Love”
At the beginning of each day: “Today I am going to live in a meditative state”
And at the end of each day: “This day was perfect. I did my best. Tomorrow will be even better because I will be even more present.”
By Dr. Marisa Jackson-Kinman, C.A.S., P.K.S., A.Y.T., Faculty at the California College of Ayurveda