The Most Powerful Affirmation Ever

Did you know what the most powerful affirmation in the universe is?  Were you even aware that most of you reading this article practice almost every single day, perhaps unintentionally and perhaps without the faintest idea of what it can lead to?  In fact, the practice is so common that even those who have absolutely no clue what an affirmation is, also practice it with unfailing regularity and possibly guaranteed outcomes.

The New Age Wikipedia states that “Affirmations in New Thought and New Age 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."  What it perhaps fails to mention is that owing to the fact that affirmations is merely the assertion that something exists or is true, it is not just positive thoughts, but also negative thoughts that can be affirmed. 

Affirmations become powerful when –

1. One visualizes the outcome

2. Feels in one’s physiology as if it were happening now

3. Ponders in a manner where it were congruent in the present

Affirmations (which are suggestions and commands to your subconscious mind) are maximum in Theta, optimal in Alpha and relatively ineffective in Beta. 

Now, here is the kicker!  Eager to know what the most powerful affirmation is, which many of us indulge in every single day?  Worrying.

Worrying is one activity that keeps you busy reaching nowhere.  And many of us indulge in it, or even revel in it (pardon my English) every single day!  And a few paragraphs below, allow me to explain why so many of us have the propensity to turn worry into reality!

“Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy.” – Leo F. Buscaglia. 

“Our fatigue is often caused not by work, but by worry, frustration and resentment.” – Dale Carnegie

“Worry is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.” – Arthur Somers Roche

“Worry is like a rocking chair: it gives you something to do but never gets you anywhere” – Erma Bombeck

“A day of worry is more exhausting than a day of work.” – John Lubbock

Now spend a little time re-reading the above article with respect to affirmations, when and how they gain power and about worry as an activity.  Uptil now, you have no clue what we are doing to ourselves!  And also make sure, before you proceed further, that you have read the previous post on this blog, just so you understand every little bit of what I am expounding right below.

Before you proceed, presuming you have at least now read the previous post on this blog, you also need to familiarize yourself with two fancy technical terms, viz., Hypnopompic and Hypnagogic Peridos.

These two periods basically refer to the shot period when you wake up in the morning and fall asleep at night.  When you fall asleep, you go from Beta to Delta through Alpha and Theta and when you awaken, you go from Delta to Beta through Theta and Alpha states.  Twice each day, you are unintentionally connected to your subconscious mind, which is the seat and reservoir of all the programming you do.

So, at least twice each day, even if you were not a practitioner of Nirmiti Nidra or meditation, you have an irrevocable opportunity to program your subconscious mind whilst in the Alpha or Theta State. 

Now, contemplate on what you do when you go to bed worrying or when you wake up in the morning worrying!

You SUCCEED!

At -

1. Fulfilling the criteria for connecting with your subconscious (unintentionally) optimally by being in the Theta or Alpha state of mind.

2.  Programming it with your worries (thoughts) becoming affirmations (positive or negative)

3.  Empowering the Affirmations further by visualizing and feeling the emotions and adding fuel to the fire, by imagining as if it were in the present.

Is it a wonder then that most of your fears come true?  I have also had people feeling proud of the fact that their apprehensions actually fructified.  Really!

Worrying is a waste of time (irrespective of what nomenclature you use to describe the phenomenon).  Planning, however, is a necessity to alleviate future anxiety.  Stop worrying! Start living!  And, remember you can never displace thoughts, only replace them.   

“According to Vedanta, there are only two symptoms of enlightenment, just two indications that a transformation is taking place within you toward a higher consciousness. The first symptom is that you stop worrying. Things don't bother you anymore. You become light-hearted and full of joy. The second symptom is that you encounter more and more meaningful coincidences in your life, more and more synchronicities. And this accelerates to the point where you actually experience the miraculous. (quoted by Carol Lynn Pearson in Consider the Butterfly)”  ― Deepak Chopra, Synchrodestiny: Harnessing the Infinite Power of Coincidence to Create Miracles

The author, Rajesh Seshadri, is an internationally recognized Certified Leadership Coach, Certified Success Coach and Certified Life Coach.  He is also a NLP Master Practitioner, facilitator and therapist.  The basket of therapies is holistic and integrative adopting techniques from Psychotherapy, NLP, Silva, Gestalt, Hypnosis and Silva UltraMind. Additionally, he is a seasoned corporate professional who continues to serve as a whole-time Director and Board Member. You can contact him here.

How to Power Your Imagination and Visualization

Our imagination and powers of visualization reside in the subconscious. Our willpower resides in the conscious brain. Your conscious brain represents one-sixth of your brain's thinking power. Our subconscious brain represents five-sixths of your brain's thinking power.

It is therefore quite easy to determine which part of our brain is more important to control?  The subconscious has five times the power of our conscious mind.  Therefore, anytime there is a conflict between willpower, which functions in the conscious mind (1/6), and imagination, which functions in the subconscious mind (5/6), the winner is the subconscious! Vsualization and imagination  trumps will power every time!

There is another scientific principle involved here. The mind sees only in pictures. If I were to ask you to close your eyes and remember what you did first thing after you got up this morning, you would see this in pictures. You would not see this written on a page of notebook paper in your mind!  Because you are aware of what you think consciously, your conscious mind can see things and think things through and filter out negative pictures and give thoughts (mind-pictures) true meaning or perception. However, the negatives from the subconscious thoughts cannot be filtered out because we are not even aware of what that thinking (or picture) is!

So when we say to ourselves, "I will not overeat!" our conscious mind (1/6) can give this true meaning, but the subconscious mind (5/6) sees a picture of, "Overeat!" "Overeat" (and lots of food)!  And our subconscious is an excellent listener and obeys us perfectly! It is not at all uncommon for people who want to lose weight to actually gain weight!  Have you ever said to your younger children, "Whatever you do, don't spill the milk!"? Five/Sixth of their brain, sees a perfect picture of what? That's right! "Spill the milk!" Most young children who listened well always spilled the milk.

Knowing the scientific basis, the solution is obvious!  Obviously, we have to access the subconscious mind and even more obviously, use the imaginative faculties to visualize all the positive benefits of reducing weight and becoming healthier.    In the above example, we can visualize doing all the things we are able to do after reducing weight, we can visualize the benefit of that goal.  Then the whole brain (1/6 + 5/6) is working in the same direction!  Willpower isn’t required anymore!

Willpower is overrated but, it's still important. The initial decision to change requires willpower. But once that decision to change is made with willpower, visualization and imagination is all that you will ever need! Procrastination slowly recedes, persistence and success and achievement take its place. You are programmed for success, automatically.

It takes about 21 to 30 days to create a neural pathway.  After about thirty days of imagining and visualizing, focused learning of new information or situations we are exposed to in our subconscious mind, the brain will have created a different neural pathway - neurons linking together in new ways - so that it will automatically take the steps necessary to reach your goals.  These new pathways become stronger the more they are used, causing the likelihood of new long-term connections and memories.   To know more about neuroplasticity, visit http://www.whatisneuroplasticity.com/pathways.php

Easier said than done?  Well it is not too difficult and definitely not impossible.  It does however require desire, dedication and practice.  And it does require a few minutes of your daily time, amidst all the routines.  Nirmiti Nidra ™ makes it easier to access the subconscious levels of your mind and by doing that, POWERS your imagination and visualization to greater heights.  It helps you to retain your focus on only those things that you want to achieve during those few minutes that you dedicate to yourself.

How to Create An All-Powerful Force That Will Inevitably Lead You to Success

Let us say we place a wooden plank approximately 2 feet wide and 100 metres long on the ground.  You are now required to walk on this plank – one foot in front of the other – without placing your foot on the ground.  With ease and with some effort at concentrating on your task, you can easily achieve this. 

Now, imagine that this same plank was placed between two buildings at a height of 100 or 200 feet from the ground.  Walking on this is no different from what you did earlier.  Place one foot in front of the other and you are home!  Even as you think of this, what takes over?  Your imagination!  Fear that was absent earlier now rears its awful face.  What was child’s play earlier now becomes near impossible. 

Exert all the willpower you can muster and you will still find this task to be near impossible.  Why?  Because imagination always trumps willpower.  We have always been taught that willpower will helps us to achieve everything, but I guess we never looked at the fact that willpower is weak in the face of imagination, just as our subconscious mind is umpteen times more powerful than our conscious mind.

If I were to ask what was the most important characteristic for overcoming procrastination, for persistence, and long-term achievement, most would answer by saying willpower. That would not be an unusual answer, but it would be wrong. Willpower is vastly overrated as the leading trait used by success-minded achievers. If we keep this discussion on a scientific level, willpower cannot be responsible for more than one-sixth of anyone's success. The real secret to success is your imagination and your ability to visualize success. This powerful trait is responsible for five-sixths of every great achievement.

Suppose that you have set a goal to lose 10 pounds. You are absolutely determined to be 10 pounds lighter by next month! You are using your willpower to prove that you are stronger and more powerful than those extra cookies and calories. So you say to yourself, "I will not overeat... I will not overeat... You repeat this to yourself over and over again, using your willpower. But all the time you are consciously saying this, your imagination is visualizing how great those cookies (or pizza or vada pav) smell, and telling you how great those cookies (or pizza or vada pav) taste. Sooner or later you will grab those cookies or extra calories and chug them down. Why?

Whenever you have a conflict between willpower and your imagination, whenever they are pulling in opposite directions, your imagination will ALWAYS win! But if your willpower and imagination are working together, pulling toward the SAME goal, this will create an all-powerful force that is impossible to overcome, and success is always the automatic, inevitable result.

Nirmiti Nidra ™ is all about using your imagination!