Affirmations & Suggestions

[Louisa]

Has anyone ever used suggestions in your environment, in a more flexible, open to interpretation way to let your subconscious and conscious mind gradually solve a problem and achieve your goals?

I've used affirmations before to affirm goals and behaviors I wanted to enact, and I think it can be very effective. But sometimes, if I wasn't really 100% sure I wanted to do what I was affirming, I felt like I was trying to brainwash myself, and maybe stifle my subconscious mind and other possible paths that might be as good or better than the one I was trying to affirm to myself to follow. I feel a little torn, because affirmations and visualizations are very useful for getting results, but I have often ended up reverting back away from the path that I affirmed myself onto, because of some kind of deep-seated discomfort, with something I was affirming. Like, some part of my subconscious or my desires weren't really aligned with what I was trying to achieve, because things aren't as simplistic as my goals and values would paint them out to be, you know, and so I end up compromising some other part of my creativity, needs, or desires.

Lately I have been thinking maybe suggestions could be more useful sometimes for me - to immerse myself in books, music, mantras, etc. that have different suggestions of things that might help me achieve what I want, without hammering it in so directly, and rigidly, "I WILL do this" kind of approach, that I think affirmations take. So to just expose myself to different views which aren't too opinionated or dogmatic, but contain suggestions of things I think I would like to do, or think I might like to do, different viewpoints, different angles to the same kind of issue I am trying to deal with. After surrounding myself with those suggestions for a while, hopefully my subconsciuos and conscious mind would select the best (or at least a good) solution for me and then prompt me to act on it impulsively.

Has anyone ever tried something like this? What do you think the pros and cons of varied suggestions vs. specific affirmations? Or have you used open-ended affirmations, that leave many possible paths for how the result might be achieved? If so, how did that work?

[John32241]

Hi,

I do agree that considering the pros and cons of varied suggestions is more productive than specific affirmations.

The idea to consider is that the logical mind is confined to physical reality and has a very short range of perceptions. The heart itself is much more multidimensional in its nature and connects to the imagination where the intuition lives.

I just finish reading a book about Quantum Thinking.
http://diannecollins.com/

One of the principals represented is coming from a place of "not knowing". It seems that very few of us humans are able to appreciate that the mind does not know what we need to understand about our life. The inner self at a deeper level than the logical mind has a rich field of vision beyond our physical conditioning. It knows the soul in us.

So yes most of us want to intend or affirm this or that. Very few of us look for the deeper perspective that actually holds the best answers for us.

John

[Louisa]

Originally Posted by John32241
I do agree that considering the pros and cons of varied suggestions is more productive than specific affirmations.

Yeah, I like to try to find all kinds of messages that I think are positive, even if they suggest different, contradicting paths. I think it works best if these "suggestions" are short, succint, and something I don't dwell on or try to analyze and work at directly, but they just serve as a reminder of something that I tend to think is positive or wise. Then I immerse myself in the messages. These can be short daily meditations or short little passages from books, poems, art or songs with positive messages. Sometimes I try to make the messages about something particular that I'm dealing with. Often, they're just general affirmations about spiritual beliefs or personal truths or values that I might aspire to.

Sometimes it is better even still if I can just let my mind kind of glance over the message, in the background of what I'm doing, like background music throughout the day or art and things I will see around me. Then my subconscious mind can take it in without too much interference of linear thinking, and sometimes my intuition seems to give me a nudge or pull me toward a certain message, saying "yes, this is what you need to do now", or I'll suddenly see the message in a different light that is very relevant and helpful to me at the time.

I haven't perfected my method for this, and I only use it some of the time, but I'm thinking if I used it consistently, it might be as helpful as affirmations to me, or more so, because the thing with specific, decisive affirmations is they don't consider every condition, all the opposing difficulties and drawbacks. I usually find that if I have strong resistance to doing something, an affirmation only works a little while, because the strong resistance has a reason for being there, and sometimes it is a valid reason, even if it's not what most people would approve of.

Originally Posted by John32241
The idea to consider is that the logical mind is confined to physical reality and has a very short range of perceptions. The heart itself is much more multidimensional in its nature and connects to the imagination where the intuition lives.

I like this thought and think I need to try to learn to apply it to my life, because my mind keeps winning and telling me it has all the answers or the best possible answers. I need to remind myself repeatedly how very limited rational understanding is in many ways, and then be willing to let go of control. Now that's an affirmation/suggestion I need to really frequently repeat to myself, I think. lol

That sounds like an interesting book and ideas. Funny thing, I just was reading a book that mentioned that book. lol And I'd never before heard of it. Maybe I will check it out.

[John32241]

Hi,

I like the way you think and how you work out the various insights for yourself.

In a way, you are already Quantum Thinking, ha ha.

John

[neptune13]

A Repetition Of A Continuous Affirmation,Affirmation,Affirmation, helps one achieve their Goals.:)

[Louisa]

I'm not sure how well each method (affirmations and suggestions) has worked for me. I like affirmations when I'm sure I know what I want, and believe I can achieve it. Only that happens rarely. So I generally prefer just to keep my options open and then sometimes I find what I'm looking for, by surrounding myself with possibilities. But sometimes I just seem to drift around and can't decide. But I just can't seem to live by rigid rules, even my own rules

I think I need to work on improving my suggestions, find things more specific, compelling, and actionable, but still keeping it succinct. It's easy to find things that are a little vague, truisms. Beyond the generalized ideals I can find specific paths tailored to my real situation. It might be harder to find simple suggestions that fit that bill, but maybe I can write my own instead of using art, songs, poems, passages from others' works. Its so much more inspiring when its well written or beautiful, but maybe it will help me practice my writing and artistic skills.

They say with affirmations, to make them specific and detailed, perhaps with the suggestions that would be good as well. I will give it a try, see how it works, when I have time, maybe post my results, and/or examples of the affirmations and suggestions here later.

[RevDella]

Louisa -
When I am working on affirmations for a new idea, I will use words that seem appropriate at the time. I have found that as I work with them, I usually add to or change specific words. So my affirmations are evolving until they feel right. I don't struggle to find the perfect words at the beginning.

Also, one of the ways that I deal with resistance from my subconscious mind when I am working with a very big idea, is to use affirmations in the 3rd person. For example,

Della is now the consciousness of experiencing greater abundance than ever before.

When I do this (which is almost always), I find that my negative self-talk about the affirmation is less active.

Rev Della

[Louisa]

Those sound like good ideas.

Interesting thought about saying the affirmation in third person. I'll give that a try if I do affirmations again. It seems like it might help to defuse the emotions, habits, and personal drama of the ego and go straight to the more logical part of the mind, maybe? There is truth to the limitations and patterns of the self, but I have been surprised how much I can change and grow when I am forced or strongly impelled to by some dramatic, inspiring or threatening situation in my life.

Now I just want to learn how to change at will, with no threatening or impelling circumstances, just for the sheer joy of learning, change and experience. Because, to be honest, I don't know what the best or even what a "good" thing for me to do is much of the time. I mean, I have personal truths and values I aspire to, but there are so many possible ways to try to achieve them, and many roundabout paths that may not "succeed", or might help me learn or accomplish far more than the more predictable and secure paths, so... I rarely feel sure about what to do. But that's when I need to release control and just stop trying to figure it all out, I suppose. I just need to change and grow and try in order to learn and not stagnate. But that's what I'm aiming for lately, and following impulse and intuition, surrounding myself with suggestion and possibility, seems to be helping me toward that direction, at least.

So I might integrate both suggestions and affirmations, for different purposes, into my practice, and see how that works.