AFFIRMATIONS: REALITIES OF YOUR EXISTENCE
I FEEL WARM AND LOVING TOWARD MYSELF...
(Excerpted from L.S. Barksdale, Building Self Esteem, PDF copy)
Affirmations are powerful tools for programming the mind. I, myself, have achieved remarkable results and have also observed how exceptionally others have benefited from them. Some have found affirming only the "basic affirmation" to be amazingly helpful in increasing their self-esteem, especially when they identified with it and acted "as if' the affirmation were already an actuality.
Feel free to formulate your own affirmations or change these to suit your own personal needs or taste. The more comfortable you feel with an affirmation, the better it will work.
Basic Affirmation: I feel warm and loving toward myself, for I am a unique and precious being, ever doing the best my current awareness permits. (Memorize!)
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Group No. 1
1. I am solely responsible for my own life and well-being. (If I am not happy and at peace with myself, it is up to me, and me alone, to discover the causes and take appropriate action.)
2. I have the innate authority to take full charge of my own life—to think, say and do anything I choose.
3. There is a price exacted for everything I do. It is up to me to determine the price and intelligently decide whether or not I am able and willing to pay it.
4. I am inescapably responsible for everything I do, refuse or neglect to do, for I inevitably benefit or suffer according to the consequences.
5. I have the right and freedom to make mistakes, to be defeated, to fail, for I can do only as well as my prevailing awareness permits.
Group No. 2
6. My every act is a response to a personal need.
7. Both my needs and their intensity are determined by my prevailing awareness.
8. My awareness is how clearly I see, understand and evaluate, both consciously and non-consciously, everything that affects my life.
9. I have no cause for either pride or shame for my awareness, for it is but the automatic product of my heredity, Inner Knowing, and total life experience, none of which factors I
can change on demand.
10. I can do anything I want, but what I want is determined by my awareness.
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Group No. 3
11. My fundamental motivation is to "feel good," mentally, physically and emotionally—to experience a sense of inner peace and well-being.
12. My exercise of "free will" is limited by my current awareness, for I can do only what my awareness permits me to do.
13. My prevailing awareness literally dictates my every action and decision, for I can do only what my current awareness motivates me to do.
14. "Will power" is nothing more nor less than intense motivation. (I can attempt no new endeavor without sufficient motivation to give up what I am currently doing or planning
to do.)
15. All "oughts," "shoulds" and "musts" are irrelevant and meaningless, for I can do only what my prevailing awareness determines I would rather do than not do.
Group No. 4
16. I am not my actions; I am the one who acts. My actions are but the means my awareness selects to fulfill my needs.
17. Since I am not my actions, I cannot possibly "prove my worth" by my actions. I am not "bad" if I act "bad."
18. I invariably do the best I can possibly do at the time.
19. There is no valid justification for condemnation. I am free of any shame, blame, guilt or remorse.
20. There is no rational justification for punishment or reward, for credit, pride or adulation. (The reward is in the "feel good" of the act, the punishment in the "feel bad.")
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Group No. 5
21. Since I can do only what my awareness permits, my acts are simply "wise" or "unwise."
22. There is no "good" or "evil," only "wise" and "unwise" behavior.
23. Although I am never to blame for my actions, I am inescapably responsible, for I receive the consequences.
24. There is no valid basis for resistance to anything I cannot change. (Such resistance causes only turmoil and resentment.)
25. It is foolish to resent others' actions or behavior, for they can do only what their current awareness dictates.
Group No. 6
26. I can act only as harmoniously and effectively as my current awareness permits. (If I am to act "better," I must first undergo a change in my awareness.)
27. I cannot deliberately increase my awareness unless I am consciously motivated to improve it.
28. "Right" and "wrong," "fair" and "unfair" are but descriptive terms reflecting one's current awareness.
29. I have empathy and compassion for social outcasts and criminals, for everyone "has to do" what his current awareness dictates, regardless of the consequences.
30. Worry, resistance and resentment are both futile and destructive to my well-being.
Group No. 7
31. I am the center of my universe; my world revolves around me.
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32. I am the most important, interesting and challenging person in my life.
33. The meaning and purpose of my life is the expansion of my awareness. (All my experience is but a means to this end.)
34. My fundamental responsibility in life is to increase my awareness.
35. I am a genuine "success" to the degree that I feel warm and loving toward myself.
Group No. 8
36. No one in the entire world is one iota more or less worthy than I am.
37. I have no need to "prove" myself since my very existence proves my innate worth and importance.
38. I am no less worthy or important than one with a much higher degree of awareness than I.
39. My mistakes contribute to my learning and growth. (They cannot make me feel ashamed, guilty or "less than.")
40. I can be limited only by my degree of awareness.
Group No. 9
41. No one can possibly put himself in another's place as a valid point of reference, for no one else in the entire world has the same degree of awareness.
42. Comparing myself with another's personality, conduct or accomplishments as a gauge of my worth is absolutely meaningless. (No two people have had the same heredity, Inner Knowing, and total life experience.)
43. To be motivated I must perceive desirable benefits arising from the proposed action.
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44. To be wisely motivated I must determine my real need, the anticipated benefits of available alternatives, the total price demanded for each, and whether or not I am able and willing to pay it.
45. My physical well-being is of critical importance to my emotional well-being. (Otherwise I would not have the energy to support my motivation, however wise it may be.)
Group No. 10
46. I am not my awareness—I am that which is aware.
47. I am not my mind—my mind is but the human computer that receives and evaluates the data of my five senses, my instincts and intuition.
48. I am not my body—my body is but the instrument or vehicle through which I express in this material phase of my existence.
49. I am not my actions—I am that which acts. My actions are but the means I choose to fulfill my needs.
50. I am a nonphysical essence—a unique and precious being, inviolable, invincible and eternal, ever doing the best I can, ever growing in wisdom and love.
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