Hello everyone and welcome to this first episode of Heal With Affirmations. I’m Layla, and some of you might know me through my divination channel, the Lenormand Reader.
I’ve been wanting to share my work and experience with affirmations for a while, so I’m really excited to get started.
Doing affirmations is a wonderful practice and discovering the power of affirmations is priceless. I really want to share with you all that I have and know about affirmations so that you too can benefit from this amazing practice, and change your life in ways you never thought possible.
Doing affirmations completely changed my life and healed just about everything that was ailing me. Every time I start an affirmation cycle, I find so much good unfolds and I think to myself, gosh, I really need to tell others about this.
So in this first episode I want to give you a broad overview of affirmations, what they are, what it means to practice affirmations, and how they work.
WHAT ARE AFFIRMATIONS
So, what are affirmations?
There are many ways to define and explain what an affirmation is and we can define it from different angles. But let’s start with a broad understanding.
As Louise Hay puts it, an affirmation is anything we say or do. Affirmations can come as thoughts, as feelings, or as actions. And I totally agree with this broader definition, because anything we say or do affirms something about us, and the universe will respond in kind.
I will refer to Louise Hay every so often in this podcast because her work on affirmations is groundbreaking and the most practical. It was the main driver for my own practice and my success with affirmations.
I find that our surroundings can express some pretty powerful affirmations as well, because they mirror our mind and consciousness. For example, a messy home reflects certain states of mind and emotions, typically negative ones. But a vibrant work environment is a positive affirmation. This is why I love the Feng Shui practice. I practice Feng Shui as well, and my personal take on it is to understand the affirmations that our spaces express as a way to understand ourselves and our issues.
In this sense, anything in the world can be considered an affirmation because it is expressing something.
But when we’re talking about affirmations as a practice, an affirmation is more specifically a positive statement. And “doing affirmations” means repeating positive statements over and over.
When we use the word “Affirmations” by itself, by default we mean positive affirmations. To talk about negative affirmations, we normally add the word “negative” and say “negative affirmations” to be more specific.
So when it comes to the practice of doing affirmations, an affirmation is a positive statement about something.
WHY CARE ABOUT AFFIRMATIONS
So, why do we care about affirmations? Because our affirmations become our life experiences.
This isn’t to say that anything we think manifests into our reality, but enough repetition of a thought will materialize into an experience. Repeated thoughts and beliefs become patterns of mind that can create our reality. The key is to discover this for ourselves.
When we make this powerful realization, we become aware of our thoughts, what we are taking in from the world, and what we are exposing ourselves to. We develop an intimate understanding of what our thoughts are doing to us and how they create our experiences. And as a result, we become more sensitized to our surroundings, to the people in our life, and to the information we take in, because we know how they affect us. And of course, we become way smarter about the thoughts we choose to thinking.
But let me say this from the get-go. Doing affirmations is not about avoiding the world, it is about attracting a positive world through the thoughts we think - this is an interesting topic that we will take up another time.
When we are aware of our thoughts, and when we consciously choose our thinking, we take control to of our mind and make sharp decisions about how we spend our time in the world. This way we take charge of our life in much deeper ways, and we’re able to produce the results we say we want for ourselves.
And the think about doing affirmations is that it is a totally non-magical non-superstitious practice. It does not require any belief in god, any belief in a mythology, any spiritual paradigm. It does not even need you to believe in science or some funky theory about what’s out there in the universe.
Doing affirmations is simply repeating positive statements that express something that you want. That’s all. This simplicity is very powerful. It does not need experts or gurus, and this is a topic we’ll also get into another time.
So why do affirmations? To change our mindset.
And what does changing our mindset do? It changes your experiences.
So in a nutshell, doing affirmations is a way to feel better, do better, and get better. The idea is that with affirmations, we can be-do-have anything we want.
Now of course, it doesn’t happen just like that. It’s not like you’re not rubbing a genie in a lamp. The reason that affirmations don’t materialize all that quickly, especially when you’re first getting started, is because changing your mind is deep psycho-spiritual work.
You must have heard of people who pick up the manifestation work and decide they want more money, so they go out and spend and then they’re surprised when they’re broke.
Doing affirmations is not a shallow and superstitious practice. Such people were only looking for an excuse to spend more, they haven’t come near doing the work, and such shallowness is a formula for failure, and in fact, has no place in the affirmations practice.
Please do not come to my work if you’re looking to get rich quick with affirmations. Doing affirmations is a process of personal transformation, not a process of asking the tooth fairy for a present.
It is not because repeating affirmations sounds simple that you will manifest your good overnight.It is a personal evolution that needs to unfold. And in the process you will most likely have to get a lot of stuff, or a lot of garbage out of the way.
So let me set your expectations from the get-go. Doing affirmations can bring up a lot of issues. And often, this can be a pretty painful process. Truly, this work can be demanding, but as a result, it can be life-changing.
We can call it healing, we can call it enlightenment, we can call it turning base metals into gold, and we can call it getting and becoming what you want to be-do-have.
Doing affirmations can be nothing short of experiencing the miracle. But a superstitious attitude is not what delivers this.
WHY AFFIRMATIONS WORK
So how do affirmations work?
Before answering this question, I want to make it very clear that the how’s and why’s of affirmations are just theoretical ideas.
Neuroscientists propose their ideas. Religious people propose their ideas. And all sorts of people and schools of thought and spiritual schools, have a theory as to how and why affirmations work.
But let me tell you this. Theories are just explanations for why something works. They do not - I repeat they DO NOT - make a difference to the fact that affirmation works.
We can theorize about the invisible and spiritual worlds to no end. We can come up with a million different explanations for why something works. But the bottom line is, it doesn’t matter.
There is no amount of theoretical discussions that can substitute for your affirmations practice. It is not theorizing about the how’s and why’s of affirmations that produces results. What delivers results is practicing your chosen affirmation consistently.
I appreciate that metaphysical and physical theories are amazingly interesting topics - I studied philosophy and I have a Master’s degree in the philosophy of mind, so I know exactly how fascinating these topics can be.
But it is also because of my strong academic foundation in these areas that I can state, categorically and with overconfidence, that theoretical explanations are not the same as observable results. And that theoretical explanations for why something works does not make a difference to the fact that it works.
Yes it is fun to think about how and why affirmations work, and I will tell you more about the law of attraction and how and why I think affirmations work in later episodes. But these are no substitute for practice.
Plus, only people who have firsthand experience with affirmations and the results they bring are in a position to theorize soundly about how and why affirmations work.
I can tell from miles away when someone talks about this stuff without having real experience with it. Many quote-unquote experts out there have zero experience with practicing affirmations and yet they want to try to explain it to us with some funky scientific theory as though we need their green light before we can try practicing affirmations. These are often the priests and gurus and scientists who want followers more than anything else - another topic for another day.
The gifts of affirmations and the gift of enlightenment that comes from this work are reserved for people who practice, people who want tangible change in their lives, and those who are open-minded enough to give this practice a chance.
It is not for people who just want to sound smart by theorizing about the mysteries of the universe.
So again, let me insist:
Why something works makes no difference to the fact that it works.
I want you to keep this very important statement in mind, because often enough people confuse the explanation or the theory with the facts - but they are very different.
Go after results and what is observable, not theories. As they say, some folks are busy analyzing the roots, while others are enjoying the fruit.
With this important caveat out of the way, let me tell you briefly about how affirmations work.
They work because of the law of attraction. Meaning like attracts like… Meaning we get results that match the balance of our thoughts. So broadly speaking, positive thoughts attract positive experiences, and negative thoughts attract negative experiences.
But keep in mind that the law of attraction is a theory. It is a very good theory, and we have lots of reasons to believe it is true because we can observe its effects. In fact, doing affirmations is one way we can see that there seems to be a law of attraction. But again, this law is just a theory of how the universe works.
And, why does the law of attraction work? Well, it’s an ancient mystery because it boils down to establishing the connection between the body and the mind - or the physical and spiritual worlds, or the unseen and manifest world.
I will have more to say about this but let me tell you from the get-go that the connection between the body and mind has never been established. It is an ancient philosophical problem that still holds today - and no science has not resolved it. The scientists who propose to have resolved have stipulated a specific definition of the mind, in fact one that serves their narrow purpose, and this is actually a logical error of circularity.
Yes, I can make this statement with all confidence, but let’s leave this topic here and move closer to enjoying the fruits of affirmations.
HOW TO DO AFFIRMATIONS
So what does it mean to do affirmations?
We said that, broadly speaking, an affirmation is anything we say or do, and that an affirmation can also be spoken, written, symbolized, or somehow expressed in the world.
But as we said, when we talk about doing affirmations, or practicing affirmations, we are talking about repeating positive statements over and over.
The key is repetition. Repeating positive statements over and over is what changes our mindset. The positive statement gradually pushes out the unhelpful thought, and soon enough becomes our normal mindset.
When you have enough positive thoughts in your mind and in your consciousness, the balance tips and you begin attracting and creating more positive experiences. And then your life as a whole begins to improve. Stick with it long enough, and you can find yourself in a new mind and a new life.
For example, if you worry a lot or have a lot of anxiety, you might choose an affirmation for peace of mind. As you repeat your affirmation, your mindset begins to shift. And soon enough you could become a person who doesn’t worry unnecessarily anymore.
The idea behind repetition is that it creates a critical mass of positive thinking that overwhelms and replaces negative thoughts. You need to affirm often enough so that the positive thought becomes dominant.
And changing our thoughts changes our life experiences. We change, and so we begin to interact differently in the world.
Yes, it is that simple, although it does take time.
I will always invite you to try, but I can never take that first step for you. There is a good reason for this, and this too is another topic we’ll talk about soon. So stay tuned.
WHY AFFIRMATIONS ARE POWERFUL
So why are affirmations so powerful?
Doing affirmations seems like a really simple practice. Is it truly possible that they can be life-changing?
Affirmations have several characteristics that make them uniquely powerful.
The first one is that you are entirely responsible for your affirmations. There is no one to tell you what affirmations you should do, how you speak them, or how often you repeat them. And no one can do your affirmations for you, instead of you.
I can give you tips and teach you techniques and explain to you what you might be going through when you’re doing affirmations, but only you can do your affirmations for yourself.
As soon as you decide to do affirmations, you are engaging your will in a powerful way, and this unleashes a lot of force into your consciousness and your life.
Doing affirmations is in and of itself an affirmation of empowerment. It is a statement that affirms to your subconscious mind that you are willing to change, and that you are willing to take control of the changes you want to create for yourself and in your life.
So this first step of deciding to do affirmations ignites a spark and unleashes our potential in ways we might have not known we have.
It’s powerful stuff. This is going from victim ideas like “life is happening to me” to empowering ones like “I make my life happen.”
In my personal life, these ideas affect how I read cards with Lenormand. Because I don’t do readings to find out what is going to happen to me, I do readings to engage my aspirations about how I might like to approach things in my life.
So the first reason why affirmations are so powerful is that they are a deliberate act of will power.
The second reason affirmations are so powerful is that they are very simple. So simple in fact that they’ve invited a whole lot of criticism and skepticism from the so-called experts who want to spend their lives trying to figure out why affirmations work instead of actually practicing them and to reap their rewards firsthand.
Like I said, only people who have firsthand experience with affirmations sound credible when they try to explain how and why affirmations work.
People have been taught to have complicated minds. For some reason, things need to be hard and complex for them to be credible. What a strange affirmation! It is simply not true. You will know that it isn’t true when you practice your affirmations.
The enlightened mind is a decomplicated mind.
Genuine spiritual work involves a process of decomplication - decomplicating the mind from how things should or shouldn’t work, from these convoluted theories about the world that often create a barrier between us and the plain observable facts of life, facts that you can know for yourself firsthand, but just looking and experiencing for yourself.
I encourage you to bypass complicated ideas and just do your affirmations. Discover for yourself what you can heal, how you can change, and what you can become.
Real knowledge is firsthand knowledge. Everything else is pretty much a theory.
So the second reason why doing affirmations is so powerful is that it is a very simple practice, and accepting this begins an important process of decomplication.
And the third reason why doing affirmations is a powerful practice is because of its tangible results.
Doing affirmations can change your life in ways you might have not imagined. I am not exaggerating, but I also appreciate that I cannot really convince you of this.
And here’s what, let me be clear about this from the beginning. I am not interested in converting you to believing in affirmations. I am not in the business of recruiting believers. And I will not try to convince you to start an affirmations practice.
Your affirmations practice is your responsibility and stems out of your willingness to try. And trying to change others doesn’t work - yet another topic I'll have more to say about later.
If you are not willing to do affirmations, no one can get you to start, no one can get you to stick with repeating your affirmations, and no one can do your affirmations for you. And no, it is no one’s responsibility to prop you up so you can do your affirmations.
Yes, affirmations can heal and deliver powerful results. But this is not about making guarantees and selling you an idea. I want to share with you how to do this powerful practice, and the rest is up to you.
When you start to do affirmations, you will start to discover amazing things happening in your life - big and small. Your awareness will change and you will open up to life in ways you haven’t before. There is no substitute for your first hand experience. It is the secret!
These experiences are very real - but it’s up to you to discover them.
HOW TO DO AFFIRMATIONS
So how do we go about doing affirmations?
Remember we said that while pretty much everything around us is an affirmation of some kind, when we are practicing affirmations, we are referring to the practice of repeating positive statements.
So what are those positive statements about?
They are simple statements that make a positive declaration about something you want for yourself or your life.
Here are some examples:
I am at peace.
I am safe and free.
I always have everything I need.
Everything happens at the perfect time and in the perfect place for me.
I know what to do.
I am surrounded by wonderful people in every area of my life.
Can you come up with a few affirmations of your own?
Let’s talk about how to design an affirmation statement effectively because it is important. It is also covered in one of my guides. You can find the links in the description.
For the most part, affirmations are stated in the first person pronoun “I” like I am willing, I am happy, I know etc.
But some affirmations don’t use the first person pronoun, like the one “Everything happens at the perfect time and in the perfect place”.
Not every affirmation makes a direct statement about you, but when it does, then use the pronoun “I”.
Next, affirmations must use the present tense. This is vital, because statements that are made in the present affirm the power of the present moment, aka the power of now.
I believe there are metaphysical reasons for this that we can get into another day, but the main reason the present tense is used is because it brings our focus into the now, which is where we are right now. Again, no need for fantastical theories about the universe.
And the third key to designing an effective affirmation is to make it positive. Meaning a statement that affirms something that we want - as opposed to stating what you do not want.
To say something like “I do not have any enemies in my life.” is not a good affirmation because it brings into focus the idea of enemies - even if your statement says you don’t want them.
It’s like saying “don’t think of pink elephants”. What are you thinking about? Pink elephants.
Apart from the fact that the statement brings these words into awareness, the metaphysical explanation for this is that the subconscious mind does not negate pink elephants even if the statement negates them.
Your subconscious mind - and I would say all of the mind conscious and subconscious - has to think of pink elephants because it is mentioned in the sentence regardless of the negation element in the grammar. See how it works?
So instead of saying “I do not have any enemies in my life,” say something like, “I am surrounded by wonderful people.”
Affirming the positive declares to the universe what you do want to see materialize in your life. Affirming what you do not want creates confusing results, and in fact, creates what you say you do not want. Feel free to experiment!
It’s a bit like prescribing a diet. You can say cut fats, cut salt, don’t eat this and don’t eat that. But the question is so what do you eat?
Yes, it helps to know what you shouldn’t do, and when you do affirmations there is a removal process that unfolds - which is connected to the process of de-complication that I mentioned earlier as well as to the process of forgiveness - but the affirmation helps you change into what you want to be by claiming what you want to see manifest in your life.
In other words, you don’t turn off the darkness, you just turn on the light!
So now that you have designed your affirmation statement, here’s what you do, you repeat it often. That’s right, like a parrot.
I have come across authors who don’t emphasize this point strongly enough. I feel they shy away from sounding silly because you’re just sitting there repeating this affirmation over and over.
Well sorry, but that’s how affirmations work. You need to flood your mind and your consciousness with a positive thought so that it overwhelms the negative ones, and the way to do this is by making that thought take up your attention and consciousness intensely by repeating it over and over.
Of course, the question that then comes up is: Well for how long do you keep repeating these affirmations?
The answer is it varies, but the more you repeat it, the better, and then there is a point when you feel you want to let go of the affirmation. At some point, while you’re still doing your affirmation or after you’ve let it go, changes materialize in your life. Again, up to you to discover.
THE MASTER PRINCIPLE BEHIND AFFIRMATIONS
We covered a lot about affirmations in this introduction, but before we close this first episode, I want to tell you about the master principle behind doing affirmations.
The key principle behind affirmations is that we claim something before we have it. The idea is to declare the affirmation as though we already have it, so that it can materialize.
The metaphysical principle behind this is that for anything to manifest it must first start as an idea.
This is why we say “As above, so below.” This is why we say, “In the beginning there was the word.”
The above is associated with intention, and the below is associated with manifestation. And the word is the vehicle for creative power.
And yes, when you do affirmations, you are unlocking some pretty powerful universal dynamics.
But remember, there is no amount of theorizing and wondering about this amazing universe that substitutes for your practice or repeating affirmations.
So let’s close this episode here. I suggest that you take a few notes and create a few affirmations using the guidelines I described. And then see if you can start repeating them.
You can explore the guides I have for you to get started.
Until next time, remember that you are perfect exactly as you are, right here and right now. Affirm this always.