Prayer, Affirmation, Hypnosis and Visualization
abracad, · Categories: self help, spiritualityWhat are prayer, affirmation, visualization and hypnosis? What do they have in common? And most important how can they each help you be the very best you can?
Prayer is traditionally thought of as kneeling before God, perhaps in a sanctified place of worship, giving praise and thanks to the Great One. More accurately, prayer is any form of communication with a power greater than those found in the physical realm.
Prayer can happen any time, any place, anywhere; I usually pray walking by the sea near my home. It can take any form the pray-er wishes, including giving thanks and praise, but also asking for help with the world's troubles, healing where it's needed and also making requests at a material level.
Some have become disillusioned with prayer after finding requests made most earnestly were not fulfilled. Be safe in the certainty that every prayer is heard by the supreme ultimate, and every prayer is answered. But the response is sometime different to that envisaged by the pray-er, and it is always the response that best enables the pray-er to fulfill their particular purpose.
Affirmations (also known as auto-suggestion) are statements repeated over and over to oneself with a view to (re)programming the subconscious mind in order to set it working on some desired ideal. A classic example being Emile Coue's "Every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better". The subconscious is the powerful driving force or autopilot behind all we do, but often it seems to work in ignorance of our conscious goals. Affirmations allow us to influence it and change the direction in which it guides us. For some excellent affirmations, see The Wisdom of Florence Scovel Shinn, though the power is magnified if you modify them to suit your particular situation.
As with prayer, affirmations verbalize our wishes. The difference is the former is addressed externally while the latter is targeted within.
Hypnosis, like affirmation, is concerned with programming the subconscious to better serve our chosen purpose and ideals. Unlike affirmations, which work better the more you repeat them regardless of what you're doing at the time, hypnosis takes place in an altered state of consciousness - somewhere between full alertness and sleep. In the movies this is reached by gazing at a pendulum swinging back and forth, though in reality a state of contented relaxation should work fine.
Hypnosis can be carried out by a professional hypnotist, but self-hypnosis is also highly effective. There are numerous tapes and CDs on the market offering hypnoses for anything from quitting smoking to becoming a millionaire. Many of these are very good, but most effective is to produce your own session to suit your particular needs. The pattern is to first to create a relaxed state, then to deliver the messages for the subconscious, and finally to gently return to wakefulness.
You'll often drop off to sleep during a self-hypnosis session. That's fine, as even when you're asleep your body continues to monitor external stimuli and will pick up the messages being played.
Visualization is creating within your mind's eye a picture of the reality you would like to bring about. Like the aforementioned techniques, it too tends to program our inner engine to create the conditions most favorable for the realization of our dreams.
Visualization can take a number of forms. It can be sitting in a meditative state, picturing that which you would like to be. But it can also be making detailed plans in full consciousness. The stronger and more detailed the visualization and the greater the certainty of its realization, the greater the likelihood of its manifestation.
One of the greatest benefits of visualization is the specificity it forces upon us. Too often people dissipate their energies on too many ultimately meaningless pursuits simply because they haven't discovered/defined their true purpose in life. Visualization can be a mental laboratory in which various choices are tested and either developed further or discarded, with the true pathway finally being mapped out with such scientific precision it cannot possibly fail.
The distinction between sending one's message to a higher power or the inner self is illusory. We are each a part of that higher power. What is sent within is heard without, and what is sent externally cannot help but shape what lies deep inside our Spiritual self.
The techniques aren't necessarily magic. To be most effective they need to be accompanied by action, eg there's little point repeating an affirmation for wealth if you don't active seek out and exploit opportunities to make money. However, used alongside conscious effort they powerfully leverage that effort.
Which technique(s) are employed are a matter for the individual;Â a case of seeing what works for you. The benefits of employing at least one are immeasurable.
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Filed in: self help, spirituality
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