Affirmations in
New Thought and
New Age
New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars consi ...
terminology refer primarily to the practice of positive thinking and self-empowerment—fostering a belief that "a positive mental attitude supported by affirmations will achieve success in anything." More specifically, an affirmation is a carefully formatted statement that should be repeated to one's self and written down frequently. For affirmations to be effective, it is said that they need to be present tense, positive, personal and specific.
New Thought
The
New Thought movement is not part of New Age but does share certain practices. This concept has grown popular due to
Rhonda Byrne
Rhonda Byrne ( ; née Izon; born 1951, Melbourne, Australia) is an Australian television writer and producer. Her book '' The Secret'' is based on the belief of the pseudoscientific law of attraction, which claims that thoughts can change a p ...
's ''
The Secret'' (also a
2006 film) These books and teachers express similar ideas to
Napoleon Hill
Oliver Napoleon Hill (October 26, 1883 – November 8, 1970) was an American self-help author. He is best known for his book ''Think and Grow Rich'' (1937), which is among the best-selling self-help books of all time. Hill's works insisted th ...
's book ''
Think and Grow Rich
''Think and Grow Rich'' is a book written by Napoleon Hill in 1937 and promoted as a personal development and self-improvement book. He claimed to be inspired by a suggestion from business magnate and later-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.
Firs ...
''.
Byrne was inspired in particular by
Wallace D. Wattles' 1910 book ''
The Science of Getting Rich''. Affirmations are also referred to in
Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP),
Neuro Associative Conditioning "NAC" as popularized by
Anthony Robbins, and
hypnosis
Hypnosis is a human condition involving focused attention (the selective attention/selective inattention hypothesis, SASI), reduced peripheral awareness, and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion.In 2015, the American Psychologica ...
.
A related belief is that a certain critical mass of people with a highly spiritual consciousness will bring about a sudden change in the whole population.
And that humans have a responsibility to take part in positive creative activity and to work to heal ourselves, each other and the
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
.
In 1984
Louise Hay a
Religious Science
The Religious Science movement, or Science of Mind, was established in 1927 by Ernest Holmes (1887–1960) and is a spiritual, philosophical and metaphysical religious movement within the New Thought movement. In general, the term "Scie ...
Practitioner published ''
You Can Heal Your Life'', a guide to changing thoughts and beliefs. Hay's affirmations are designed to help the user re-program their thought patterns, the intention being that harmful underlying beliefs which Hay believes psychologically support illness will be replaced with healing beliefs, and thus remove a barrier to healing.
New Age
Esther Hicks, author of the
''Law of Attraction'' series, advocates using affirmations when one is already in a state of happiness and peace.
New-Age affirmations come in different forms:
* spiritual talks
* lectures
* classes
* affirmative images,
* affirmative words
* affirmative videos
*
mantra
A mantra ( Pali: ''manta'') or mantram (मन्त्रम्) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words in Sanskrit, Pali and other languages believed by practitioners to have religious, ...
chants
Proponents of New-Age affirmations say that with our thoughts, desires and emotions, we create our world.
According to
Brendan Baker, founder of
The Start of Happiness, affirmations work best when they encompass three elements:
# visualisation of the affirmation in one's
life
Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...
# feeling the affirmation in one's physiology
# vocalizing the affirmation in a way that one is already congruent with that affirmation.
Rhonda Britten
According to
Rhonda Britten, affirmations work best when combined with acknowledgements because the acknowledgements build up a backlog of results in one's mind to prove that one can do what one is affirming. For example, the acknowledgement "I bought a good pair of sneakers and some gym clothes" could complement the affirmation "I can reach my goal of losing 20 pounds." The goal is to focus on steps one has taken toward accomplishing one's goals rather than criticizing oneself for what one has not yet accomplished, or could theoretically have accomplished but did not.
Scientific research
A 2009 study found that present tense positive affirmation had a positive effect on people with high self-esteem, but a detrimental effect on those with low self esteem. Individuals with low self-esteem who made present tense (e.g. "I am") positive affirmations felt worse than individuals who made positive statements but were allowed to consider ways in which the statements were false. Individuals with low self-esteem who made future tense affirmations (e.g. "I will") saw positive effects.
Some studies have found that
self-affirmation
Self-affirmation theory is a psychological theory that focuses on how individuals adapt to information or experiences that are threatening to their self-concept. Claude Steele originally popularized self-affirmation theory in the late 1980s,St ...
s, which involve writing about one's core values rather than repeating a positive self-statement, can improve performance under stress.
An fMRI study in 2016 demonstrated the role of two reward and valuation brain regions (ventral striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex) as primary pathways associated with self-affirmation. Self-related processing and prospection associated regions in the brain were further associated with objectively measured positive behavioral changes following future-oriented self-affirmations.
See also
*
Affirmative prayer
Affirmative prayer is a form of prayer or a metaphysical technique that is focused on a positive outcome rather than a negative situation. For instance, a person who is experiencing some form of illness would focus the prayer on the desired state o ...
*
Autogenic training
Autogenic training is a desensitization-relaxation technique developed by the German psychiatrist Johannes Heinrich Schultz by which a psychophysiologically determined relaxation response is obtained. The technique was first published in 1932. St ...
*
Cosmic ordering
*
Creative visualization
Creative visualization is the cognitive process of purposefully generating visual mental imagery, with eyes open or closed, simulating or recreating visual perception, in order to maintain, inspect, and transform those images, consequently modi ...
*
Gratitude
Gratitude, thankfulness, or gratefulness is from the Latin word ''gratus,'' which means "pleasing" or "thankful." Is regarded as a feeling of appreciation (or similar positive response) by a recipient of another's kindness. This can be gifts, h ...
*
Law of Attraction
*
Rationality
*
Self-esteem
References
{{Reflist
New Age
New Thought beliefs