Is there anything unChristian about reciting daily affirmations?

So I've started a practice of doing daily affirmations based on some recent neuroscience research. I'm learning a person is most susceptible to suggestion first thing in the morning, apparently before the subconscious hijacks your brain and informs your perceptions, so to speak. So i started with productivity affirmations saying things like 'Today I am productive, today Im focused. Today I'm observant. ' And WOW!! more than three weeks into this and I am transformed and all expectations were exceeded.. I can't even really relax until I find new ways to be productive.
So more recently I'm applying this to more Christian ends e.g . "Today I will be patient, Today I will love my neighbor. Today I will not feel guilty.' Just like the productivity affirmations the emotional affirmations also seem to be working. toward the intended purpose. I saw a Christian themed moved called ' As A Man Thinketh' which was inspired by a 19th Century self help book which seems to promote this exact practice. (They seem to be alluding to the 'As a man thinketh' proverb23:7 out of context since it doesn't seem to have anything to do with the development of character or habits.) Anyway the affirmations also work apparently if recited as you fall asleep. Success seems to depend on doing the affirmations when the brain wave state at the time the affirmations are recited. I imagine this is similar to self- hypnosis. I may be wrong but I imagine self- hypnosis requires one to put oneself in that susceptible brain wave state whereas this break of day affirmations technique just exploits the natural wave state upon waking or drifting off.

I've now seen the results and know this works, at least in the short term. This just seems a little too easy and I'm wondering when the other shoe will drop. Who am I to tell myself whether or not I should feel guilty, for example, or charitable?

aiki said:

Is loving your neighbor or being patient an end in itself? What's a moral, holy life for, exactly?

Click to expand...

The intent is to achieve various short term and long term goals. For example, the Bible instructs us to work hard for our employers. My employer happens to insist on a high level of productivity. They deliberately set the bar just out of reach. (What else is new, right?) I'm drowning at work, but there is a difference between drowning a mile off shore or ten feet. So if I can focus I can be more productive at work, which means I can continue to put food on the table. Aren't those Godly imperatives too?

bèlla said:

You’ll see similar behaviors from adherents of The Law of Attraction.

Click to expand...

Yeah I did see the parallels. Just sticking to the affirmations seems less new agey. They seem to think you can manipulate external reality by though alone with no deference to God.. That seems that should be more in God's domain.

tturt said:

God wants us to rely on Him. Do you consider it self help by saying Scripture?

Rewording it such as "But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it." Deut 30 becomes - God your word is near me. It is in my mouth and my heart so I can do it

Click to expand...

I once heard a comedian say something like 'The Bible is a really really old, really really weird, self- help book. ' I agree but more respectfully of course than that comedian. Some of the OT figures were a little weird

bèlla said:

Many people have ideas they never pursue. It lives in their head. I believe in working in accordance to the capacity God bestowed. Not what’s comfortable or easy. That’s my standard.

I pay for training and services to help me improve and meet others like myself. We’re on the same page. They’ll encourage me when necessary and keep me accountable when I’m lax. We’re bettered through our acquaintance.

Click to expand...

bèlla said:

If doing is your aim, you need to connect with like-minded people.

Click to expand...

I think this is great advice. I'm pretty reliable in terms of completing short term goals, like power washing the house, or replacing the bedroom carpet. It's the long term, multi stage, high risk and high reward potential projects that end up getting shelved. (I'm mostly really only risking wasting time anyway.) But that's all going to change starting yesterday.

aiki said:

There is, as I don't doubt you realize, a danger, though, in resorting primarily or first of all to such things in being spiritually transformed - especially when one's affirmations are not in line with God's will and truth.

Click to expand...

Thanks, yeah that was my concern. The affirmations, or at least the way I'm doing them, are more effective than I anticipated or believed possible. I think it's more akin to self- hypnosis. I made the mistake a few days ago of doing creativity affirmations on a work day. That's not an appropriate mindset when focus is needed and imagination and daydreaming are distractions. I tried meditation, and the Christian opinions on that subject range from 'Highly Beneficial' to 'Invitation for Demonic Possession.' I guess both points of view can be true in different circumstances depending on the practitioner and the meditation methods employed.

aiki said:

I would urge you to take God's view of your life, not the World's. You weren't made for time but for eternity. The "Big Show" starts after your fleeting existence on this globe. And so, we read in God's word the following:

Colossians 3:1-4 (NASB)
1 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.
3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

Matthew 6:19-21 (NASB)
19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
20 "But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;
21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

James 1:9-11 (NASB)
9 But the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position;
10 and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away.
11 For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away.

Matthew 6:31-33 (NASB)
31 "Do not worry then, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear for clothing?'
32 "For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
33 "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

1 Corinthians 10:31 (NASB)
31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

And so on.

I'm not suggesting you should be unproductive, just sitting on your hands waiting for heaven. But God's view of a "successful life" and the World's are very different. Who is at the center of your pursuits? Who orders your life decisions? In what are you making an investment of your "treasure" (time, energy, money)? The passages above indicate that God and His kingdom should be your first priority wherever you are and in whatever you're doing. And you are truly, eternally successful when you live this way. My Mom puts it this way,

"Only one life;
'twill soon be past.
Only what's done for Christ will last."



This is, I think, is the truth that leads to really successful living - the living for which God made you and me.

Click to expand...

Great advice. You're right of course. The problem with being obsessed with a pursuit for so long is that failing to see it to fruition feels like a tragic waste of precious time. Imagine if that inventor Dyson who claimed to have made 5127 vacuum prototypes never brought one to market. Not that his contribution is any greater than anyone elses in God's eyes.

bèlla said:

That’s an important observation. The solution is two-fold. Play offense against your weaknesses. If you struggle to accomplish long-term goals develop connections with people who excel in that area. They’ll rub off on you.

Reframe your concept of time and possibilities. I recommend The Magic of Thinking Big for mindset and The 12 Week Year for implementation.

Goal = X desire - Y distraction

That’s the formula for success.

Yours in His Service,

~bella

Click to expand...

Thanks for the book advice. I like the idea of reframing the concept of time and possibilities. I remember one of Mark Zuckerberg's claims was that he basically coded the original Facebook in two weeks! Ill check out your book suggestions.