Personal Growth Partial Truths: Affirmations 🗣️

Affirmations are easy to criticize. They evoke magical thinking and can (ironically) widen the gap between our aspirations and reality. But words are symbols of symbols, and affirmations help motivate and inspire a bunch of people. So how can we connect with the underlying decision for wellness, rather than separate ourselves by poking fun?

The affirmations I like tend to be mystical statements that invite a shift into oneness rather than reify a self. They’re prayers of gratitude and wonder. They’re statements of reality that we can immediately feel are already true, like Snoop Dogg’s. They gently suggest relinquishing control and often traverse beyond the "I" and "my" to encompass "you", "we", and "it".

Examples are abundant in religious texts like Jesus's "The kingdom of God is within you" and occasionally in New Age writers like Florence Scovel Shinn—eg: "There are no lost opportunities in Divine Mind, as one door shuts another door is opened". I was recently surprised by Richard Dotts, who, despite New Age book titles like “Manifest As You Read”, invites readers to rest as pure awareness and let “no mind” dissolve all of their thoughts and emotions.

With love, Jordan