Early on in the process of seeking change, we come across the notion of using affirmations to effect change. The basic idea is that if we tell ourselves the same thing over and over: it will change us; change our attitude; change our world view; or attract the “right kind” of positifve energy and manifestation into our life.
One only has to look at the sales figures for the Secret to see that this idea is a perennial favorite in the self-help, self-growth movement.
My observation of over 35 years of working on my self and watching others work on themselves is that affirmations generally don’t work. There are a lot who will disagree and argue and throw out all kinds of examples, but we’re talking apple and oranges.
One reason affirmations usually don’t work is that affirmations engage the neo-cortex of the brain in an effort to influence the limbic center of the brain or even deeper to the brain stem. This involves the theory of humans being a triune brain animal. This is an impossible scenario as it involves trying to use a later evolutionary part of the brain to affect an earlier one.
Another way to look at it is in terms of ego structure. You have the ego (external consciousness) trying to influence the id (the unconscious). Again, generally a losing proposition because most of us don’t want to look very far into the dark corners of our psyche.
To put the crux of the problem in layman terms – we try to tell (convince) ourselves that we are different than our unconscious beliefs about ourself. The unconscious has much more power than the conscious and can resist this process for a lifetime or two or three.
Here’s another rub, (and many will argue with this, too) – engaging in affirmations begins with rejecting our experience in the moment.
All of this adds to conflict already abiding in the psyche.
This post is probably too much for some. It’s certainly not extensive enough to do much more than confuse or stir the pot. The Theory of Holes is a good place to start.
Next post – Affirmations, Why They Work