The Issues With Positive Affirmations

[Christian]

I have recently realized that positive affirmations might not be as positive as they May seem: 

I mean they take one out of the beauty of the present moment like thoughts do and create a self image. And the self image now needs to be defended so now you take action to do that. And I can see an issue there. 

When the self image needs to be defended, the activies that do that feel like an obligation and looses most of its flavor - at least that is my experience.

You are not doing the activity for the joy only, but also to serve the self image and that is selfish action which creates suffering.

Also, Leo said in "10 things you want, but don't know that you want" that you want to be a nobody - a blank. You have no intellectual position to defend. 

And that directly goes against affirmations because they make you a somebody. A person with certain characteristics like:

"I am a millionaire"

"I am smart"

"I am a songwriter"

Or whatever else alting the same lines.

And in the video called: Awareness alone is curative - how to stop any unwanted behaviours, Leo said that if you want a deep change in the system of beliefs, build up your awareness.

So: 

Should one focus on just awareness in this case?

Would love to hear your opinions on this and positive affirmations in general  

 

[Christian]

There are still upsides to them: 

They influence the subconscious mind greatly which is very POWERFUL as it creates 95% if not more of all results in your life and change your ego (concept of self) maybe not as deeply as awareness but still.

They help you take more action and improve your results. 

they are still useful... Please do not use my reasons above as a justification why not to do them. They are important and I already know that because they can still be used to achieve an outsource. And those results might give you the freedom to no longer be in need to do them anymore..

So it is a Grey area. There are upsides and downsides... 

This is just my view. 

I am however still interessted in hearing what you think about them.

What have you accomplished by using them?

 

[Frogfucius]

Right... As mentioned above, it's a gray area. It works really well for some people, and maybe not so well for others. It just depends. Me personally, I try and shy away from exclaiming situations that aren't true. I have a neurotic tendency to suffer and panic if my subconscious mind and conscious mind aren't aligned on what is and isn't true.

[Consept]

If they work for people that's good but personally I've not really liked them. It kind of feels like coming from a baseline of lack, so if you say 'I'm great' over and over then the initial assumption is you aren't great. For any kind of thinking like that to work you really have to believe whatever it is deep down, not do affirmations as a way to make up for that lack of belief.

I think having a general positive outlook is good as in seeing the positive side of things rather than the negative, that's a choice that we make. 

If you think negative or worry a lot then affirmations are a good alternative to that as thinking negative is just doing negative affirmations 

[Leo Gura]

@Christian Do both!

Affirmations can easily be misused. Or they can be used well.

[electroBeam]

@Christian

Why not focus less on the ego then you do?

replace your affirmations with

"millions of dollars are present"

"my mind is intelligent"

"a songwriter is present within me"

Edited July 28, 2016 by electroBeam

[bowie]

Hey, everybody!
Folks who practice affirmation, please share your thoughts on this:
Besides a goal of being a great guitarist I want to become an awesome singer, but have issues with pitch and especially with muscle tension in the neck and body, also lack of confidence due to negative attitude of parents to my goals. What sould my affirmations sound like if I want to focus on specific issues listed above? "Singing well is easy for me, it comes naturally for me, I have great pitch and my vocal muscles are relaxed" - sounds too long and doesn't go to my identity directly as Leo said in the video. Should I just use something like "I'm amazing singer\I'm rockstar" instead? I just don't feel it adresses the actual issues in comparison with the 1st example. Or should it work?
And one more thing - if I want to work on erasing my ego, should I use affirmations somehow differently, like "There's amazing voice within me" or it's better not to think about getting rid of ego so much if I want to handle my career at first? Is there a practical way to do both? Maybe some video\article? Thank you guys for help in advance!

[PetarKa]

I've used the following affirmations for 100 days (not day-after-day though):

1.I am naturally confident.

2.I am completely detached from the positive or the negative opinions of others.

I got these from Leo's videos, but with a bit of a twist from me. And I really do feel like they've worked a lot. I used to be very shy and would run away from any kind of pressure in social situations and I used to get bossed around or swayed by other people. Now, I see how others treat me- with more respect, I can feel that they see me as a confident guy! I also feel and look at myself as a truly confident person. I'm not a chick magnet (yet), but in general-I'm much much better with other people, friends, girls etc. It's amazing!  

[Eelco1981]

@Christian I see affirmations as vitamins and supplements. There's so much written about it; that is works and that it doesn't work. I take vitamins and supplements because it doesn't harm me and it might even make me more healthy. But I also realize I might be only making very expensive urine... So I also do affirmations. It is very hard to tell if I am healthy and successful because of the vitamins and affirmations, or through other things I also do.