Dear Matt,
Love your work and I gotta quick question for you. Do you say or write positive affirmations? I’ve listened to Theatre of the Mind several times, it’s awesome by the way, and you don’t seem to advocate using them.
Raj
Dear Raj,
I do not use positive affirmations. I do as Dr. Maltz suggested in Psycho-Cybernetics. I use mental imagery. I picture something I have already accomplished that gives me the feel-good juice all over again. Then I picture what I want. Then I observe where I am in relation to what I want. Then I get moving.
When I write down a goal, I keep it as simple as possible; one to three words is usually enough.
Some goals I don’t write down at all. I see what I want in my mind’s eye, I imagine it, and then I jump into action. Mental imagery is predominant. Then action follows.
If you want to use affirmations, I suggest you do not write them in the personal, positive and present tense, as though they have already happened. Picture them as though they are finished, but back them up with the fact that you haven’t accomplished them yet.
In short, tell the truth.
It’s similar to reading the box scores and looking at the team standings in sports. Every day the media tells you the current win-loss record of every team. They also give you the current statistics, even in categories you never thought of tracking. The box scores and statistics tell the truth.
When players are asked about their goals, what do they say?
They say, “I want to…” “I am going to…” “We’re going to…” “I will….” “We will…”
Imagine a player answering a question with, “I am now the world heavyweight champion,” before the fight takes place. It would sound ridiculous, wouldn’t it?
And so it is with the universe, multiverse and every rhyme and verse.
The Creator laughs when you use positive affirmations. But when you use positive questions and positive imagery, and you take action, the Creator smiles because you GET IT.
Instead of affirming, “I AM this, that and the other,” how about asking…
“What do I want to accomplish today?”
And when you answer, instead of “I AM NOW blankety blank,” you say or write…
“I want to…”
As you re-read Psycho-Cybernetics, make a note that there are no lists of positive affirmations, there are no instructions about what to say or what to write or how you should say it or write it.
And why is that?
Because your brain and nervous system work with mental imagery and feeling.
As for self-talk, once again, it is not “I AM.”
It is, “I WANT TO” and “I WILL.”
Simple. And simple gets the job done.
Matt Furey
