Affirmations and Prayers
What’s the difference between an affirmation and a prayer?
Prayers and mantras have been around for thousands of years. Modern-day affirmations may have become popular thanks to French psychologist Emile Coue (1857-1926). He encouraged his clients to repeat, “Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better” as many as 20 times a day. The attention to self-positive statements has grown of late. Enter “affirmations” in Google and see these top returns:
- Affirmations That Will Change Your Life | HuffPost
- 101 Positive Affirmations to Practice Daily
- 19 Positive Affirmations That Will Change the Way You Think
- The Only 100 Positive Affirmations You Will Ever Need
- 25 morning affirmations to kick-start your day
I attach the hyperlinks to quell your curiosity, not because I recommend any of the 245 totaled there. In fact, I’m still chuckling at “101 Positive Affirmations to Practice Daily”. Who has the time?
For me affirming who I am is praying to myself. A statement I believe and seek to believe even more, to know as truth because it is. So, for me, the secret is to write my own affirmations. Among the lists above I may find one or twenty that “fits”. However, the truest fits are the ones I write myself.
Here’s my process:
- Who/what I am: I am a writer.
- What I do: I write every day.
- What makes it work:
- I write with commitment
- I write with energy
- I write with joy
- I write with enthusiasm
- Who/what I am, for emphasis: I am a writer.
Then I follow Coue’s pattern of 20 (or more) repetitions a day.
Does it work? Got me back to Prayerful Life. Has me working on two short stories. And several poems.
An Affirmation Prayer
Loving Spirit,
you give us gifts in so many ways,
so many forms.
We affirm our gratitude by praying thanks to you.
We pray to ourselves as we affirm what we will be.
As we determine what we will become,
you remind us we have power
to send our minds’ beliefs into our hearts
to live as truth.
Thank you, Great Friend, that we know prayer
to you and to ourselves.
And so we affirm it is. Amen.
Love and Blessings,
31 May 2017
In: Affirmation, Prayer, Praying · Tagged with: Affirmations, Prayer, praying