Delta Affirmations

[schrödinger's cat]

New theory:

Delta hates affirmations. (You know the kind - "I AM BEAUTIFUL BEYOND MEASURE AND LIFE IS FULL OF SUNSHINY GOODNESS AT ALL TIMES!")

Can we confirm or disprove this? If you use affirmations, do you consciously tone them down? And given that IEEs are negativists, would negativist affirmations work for you (instead of saying "I'm an excellent writer!" you'd say "I'm not a bad writer")?

Also, can we have fun with this? I'd suggest the following Delta-compatible affirmations.

"Life doesn't suck all the time."
"The world is full of idiots. Luckily they're asleep or busy elsewhere sometimes and don't get in our way 24/7." (That one is for SLIs.)
"No day is entirely bad if there's coffee in it."
"Every day more, I'm learning to fail in ways that will later on make a funny story to tell my friends."

So what about you? Affirmations and positive thinking: yes/no?

[Reficulris]

New theory:

Delta hates affirmations. (You know the kind - "I AM BEAUTIFUL BEYOND MEASURE AND LIFE IS FULL OF SUNSHINY GOODNESS AT ALL TIMES!")

Can we confirm or disprove this? If you use affirmations, do you consciously tone them down? And given that IEEs are negativists, would negativist affirmations work for you (instead of saying "I'm an excellent writer!" you'd say "I'm not a bad writer")?

Also, can we have fun with this? I'd suggest the following Delta-compatible affirmations.

"Life doesn't suck all the time."
"The world is full of idiots. Luckily they're asleep or busy elsewhere sometimes and don't get in our way 24/7." (That one is for SLIs.)
"No day is entirely bad if there's coffee in it."
"Every day more, I'm learning to fail in ways that will later on make a funny story to tell my friends."

So what about you? Affirmations and positive thinking: yes/no?

I find them distastefull but use them habitually. Esp framing them positively is kinda a hassle and always feels problematic, but according to "the theory" negatives are filtered out so don't fall might be heard as "fall!" so... idk, they're a tool.

Your delta affirmations remind me of the demotivational posters, they're fun http://memebase.cheezburger.com/verydemotivational

[anndelise]

Having studied hypnotherapy, I have conflicting views on affirmations. They are worthless if they're nothing but words. But can be powerful if one can bring up enough emotion and mental imagery to fully believe it at that moment. Unfortunately, I've never really been able to do that.

I also think most affirmations might be more of a rational approach than a perceiving approach. Someone who regularly tells themselves what/how they should be thinking and then tries to change their perceptions to match.

The affirmations I've had the most success on were ones that were more of reminders of an insight that I "discovered". The affirmation can bring up the emotions at the time of the "discovery". Such as the "I AM" affirmation (and those related to it). But, since I don't regularly remind myself of past insights, I tend to lose a lot of them, making room for new ones. Win-win.

As for delta aspirations...
I've always liked the song 'to everything there is a season, and time for every purpose'. Yeah, i know it's scripture, but even as a kid it reminded me of even if things are bad, some good can be found, and even if things are good, some bad can be found. That to focus oneself on only the positive removes a whole other half of the world, and of what it means to be human. But I guess this fits with the "Life doesn't suck all the time" one that you posted. And hey, even if it's sucking now, there's a story to laugh about it later. (Which fits your last one. Sigh...so I guess I didn't add anything new to your idea.)

(Btw, good to see you again. Sorry that you'll be trapped here again.)

[schrödinger's cat]

Thanks for the link, reficulris. The strange thing is, anything that expresses precisely how I feel is liberating and uplifting. That's why I love those demotivational posters. They somehow make my world a sunshinier place.

I also think most affirmations might be more of a rational approach than a perceiving approach. Someone who regularly tells themselves what/how they should be thinking and then tries to change their perceptions to match.

Good point. I'm resistant when it comes to affirmations, but didn't quite know why. That's a part of it, definitely. Anyone goes: "...and here's what you ought to be feeling!", and something inside of me goes "hisssss".

I like that verse too. It puts things in perspective.

I guess I didn't add anything new to your idea.

Oh, you told me you agree with me. I can jiiiust about bear that. And thanks for the welcome. I was glad to see that you're still here, I remember that quite a few times I found your posts really helpful in understanding some concept or other.

[Reficulris]

Having studied hypnotherapy, I have conflicting views on affirmations. They are worthless if they're nothing but words. But can be powerful if one can bring up enough emotion and mental imagery to fully believe it at that moment. Unfortunately, I've never really been able to do that.

I also think most affirmations might be more of a rational approach than a perceiving approach. Someone who regularly tells themselves what/how they should be thinking and then tries to change their perceptions to match.

The affirmations I've had the most success on were ones that were more of reminders of an insight that I "discovered". The affirmation can bring up the emotions at the time of the "discovery". Such as the "I AM" affirmation (and those related to it). But, since I don't regularly remind myself of past insights, I tend to lose a lot of them, making room for new ones. Win-win.

As for delta aspirations...
I've always liked the song 'to everything there is a season, and time for every purpose'. Yeah, i know it's scripture, but even as a kid it reminded me of even if things are bad, some good can be found, and even if things are good, some bad can be found. That to focus oneself on only the positive removes a whole other half of the world, and of what it means to be human. But I guess this fits with the "Life doesn't suck all the time" one that you posted. And hey, even if it's sucking now, there's a story to laugh about it later. (Which fits your last one. Sigh...so I guess I didn't add anything new to your idea.)

(Btw, good to see you again. Sorry that you'll be trapped here again.)

Derail, but still, can you link me good hypnosis literature? I've read a lot of nlp stuff and general hypnosis books, mostly the phobia related stuff and some more "trick" based hypnosis (stage hypnotism). It's one of my lasting interests ever since my sceptical me got hypnoticed in the opening week of college and I basically found out i'm stupidly suggestible and go into a trance as soon as someone hints at suspencion of disbelieve.

Oh and yes, purely repeating affirmations is senseless, you need to anchor some kind of experience to it or it won't really work. I usually fail on the "repeat dayly" part and stuff just fades quickly.

[Reficulris]

Thanks for the link, reficulris. The strange thing is, anything that expresses precisely how I feel is liberating and uplifting. That's why I love those demotivational posters. They somehow make my world a sunshinier place.

ahahahah yes, i love them too, I actually thought affirmations where like typically gamma/delta because of the focus on..idk work and stuff. I think the demotivational posters are usually spot on and at the very least make me laugh, which in and of itself is MOTIVATIONAL

There is one with "viking funerals, know that nothing you do in live will ever be cool enough to warent such a good bye" with a cool picture of a burning ship full of goodies above it. I die with laughter everytime i find a way to bring it up in conversation (which is kinda wierd, cuz it looks like me smirking while my upper body shocks with contained laughter, so it basically looks like i'm stroking and am in need of a viking funeral).

Good point. I'm resistant when it comes to affirmations, but didn't quite know why. That's a part of it, definitely. Anyone goes: "...and here's what you ought to be feeling!", and something inside of me goes "hisssss".

I like that verse too. It puts things in perspective.

Always make your own ones, always self hypnotise some good experiences feelings and concepts to it. It's more of an anchor that you can fire to relive a certain experience than powerfull in and of itself.

About affirmations/deaffirmations;

My general attitude is often described by my family as being "preacher" oriented (the book, do you call it preacher? We call it "prediker".). It's the book with "everything is naught but chasing wind" (i'm literally translating my dutch faulty knowledge of the bible book so it's gonna be different) and "to everything there is a season, a season to sow and a season to reap a season to laugh etc etc etc" is also from that book (or maaaybe proverbs? idk).

Basically the idea of affirmations go against my general fatalism, although i also have a "perfect yourself" attitude. Those are always conflicting, so one thing i have to do when working on affirmations is managing my critical side that's screaming bloody murder over the magical thinking i'm doing.

[SyrupDeGem]

Ummm, actually I believe in affirmations if the person saying them has belief in them. That is to say that we are the masters of our own destiny but may only be aware of a small portion of it on the surface, much deeper we carry our own intentions and ability at affecting outcomes/paths to take.

Affirmations can be very powerful in attracting the changes you want to happen, or accepting things you have hitherto been unhappy with and etc. I also believe they can help you with your health. Psychology & physiology are inextricably linked in this context imo.

[anndelise]

Derail, but still, can you link me good hypnosis literature? I've read a lot of nlp stuff and general hypnosis books, mostly the phobia related stuff and some more "trick" based hypnosis (stage hypnotism). It's one of my lasting interests ever since my sceptical me got hypnoticed in the opening week of college and I basically found out i'm stupidly suggestible and go into a trance as soon as someone hints at suspencion of disbelieve.

Oh and yes, purely repeating affirmations is senseless, you need to anchor some kind of experience to it or it won't really work. I usually fail on the "repeat dayly" part and stuff just fades quickly.

My interest was hypnotherapy, but the mechanics are the same, even if you have to adjust for the different expectations of the hypnotee. Dylan Morgan in the UK takes a systems approach which I loved.
Hypnosis for Beginners: http://www.dylanmorgan.org/BookHypnosisForBeginners.htm
Principles of hypnotherapy: http://bscw.rediris.es/pub/bscw.cgi/...pnotherapy.pdf
He has other books free online too.

I'll edit this post to add the self hypnosis book that I thought was excellent. (Not dylan morgan.) The principles in it are used in the author's other books, but the self hypnosis book was his cleanest editorial-wise.
(Edited to add: http://www.amazon.com/Master-Power-S...3300829&sr=1-5 he has an updated version i havent seen, and i cant stand his other books. But this was the best self-hypnosis one I found. It has a good section on creating affirmations, too, for those interested.)

I've gotten rid of my hypnosis related books except for printouts of Dylan's books and the following:

www. syque.com has good psychology/personality stuff, too. Available for free, and covers combinations of psychology, nlp, personality theories, etc. I bought his book "Changing Minds", even though the info was free on his site.

"Transformations: nlp and the structure of hypnosis" by grinder and bandler is the only book of theirs I kept.

"Words that Change Minds: mastering the language of influence" by shelle rose charvet I kept too. Also nlp based, but I found it easy enough to use it as a guide when structuring a hypnotherapy session for someone else's mental language.

[schrödinger's cat]

It's one of my lasting interests ever since my sceptical me got hypnoticed in the opening week of college and I basically found out i'm stupidly suggestible and go into a trance as soon as someone hints at suspencion of disbelieve.

I was similarly sceptical about this kind of systemic therapy thing where you're supposed to write a dialogue with aspects of yourself. The only reason I tried that was so I could disprove it. It sounded so ridiculous. But fancy that, it worked.

My general attitude is often described by my family as being "preacher" oriented (the book, do you call it preacher? We call it "prediker".). It's the book with "everything is naught but chasing wind" (i'm literally translating my dutch faulty knowledge of the bible book so it's gonna be different) and "to everything there is a season, a season to sow and a season to reap a season to laugh etc etc etc" is also from that book (or maaaybe proverbs? idk).

Oh hey, we're neighbours! I'm from the D-word country East of you, from a part where lots and lots of Dutch people go on holiday. It's Prediger hereabouts, and Ecclesiastes in English. I love that book. It's what a SLI would write. "Ah well, it's not gonna work anyway, so how about we just go and enjoy the here and now with the one we love the best?"

...one thing i have to do when working on affirmations is managing my critical side that's screaming bloody murder over the magical thinking i'm doing.

Same here.

I've tried affirmations several times, but whenever I say one to myself, a part of me goes: "...yeah, right." The problem is, English-language affirmations sound gushing if you translate them into the obscure dialect I speak. We tend towards understatement, irony, and dark humour. Some of the uplifting-ness just doesn't carry over into my language.

[Reficulris]

I was similarly sceptical about this kind of systemic therapy thing where you're supposed to write a dialogue with aspects of yourself. The only reason I tried that was so I could disprove it. It sounded so ridiculous. But fancy that, it worked.

Yes yes yes i've done similar things but than in "psychodrama". With actual people playing out rules...very uncomfortable, very effective.

Oh hey, we're neighbours! I'm from the D-word country East of you, from a part where lots and lots of Dutch people go on holiday. It's Prediger hereabouts, and Ecclesiastes in English. I love that book. It's what a SLI would write. "Ah well, it's not gonna work anyway, so how about we just go and enjoy the here and now with the one we love the best?"

hahaha yes! It's exactly what SLI's would write

Same here.

I've tried affirmations several times, but whenever I say one to myself, a part of me goes: "...yeah, right." The problem is, English-language affirmations sound gushing if you translate them into the obscure dialect I speak. We tend towards understatement, irony, and dark humour. Some of the uplifting-ness just doesn't carry over into my language.

Yeah, i only do them in english cuz if i translate them to dutch i want to drown myself. I actually have found that i'm probably more open in english (because of language deficiency) then in my own language, finding dutch hypnotic tapes to be extremely lame, but comfortably listingen to the english stuff. I'm quite certain my unconsciousness speaks english so I should be good
@anndelise

Thank you for those links! I'm going to coughdownloadcough them!
Have you ever read mindlines? The book is shit (in the sense that it's badly edited and almost unreadable) but the theory is golden! It is kinda the thing i use to emulate people/though systems within hp thinking so it's not just hp thinking but hp thinking within hp thinking, so to speak, there's always a meta level set of thoughts that can be tweaked. LOVED IT! (people arround me hated it, i kept fucking with their minds).

[schrödinger's cat]

Yeah, i only do them in english cuz if i translate them to dutch i want to drown myself. I actually have found that i'm probably more open in english (because of language deficiency) then in my own language, finding dutch hypnotic tapes to be extremely lame, but comfortably listingen to the english stuff. I'm quite certain my unconsciousness speaks english so I should be good

Yes, for some reason it's just easier to do feelings-stuff in English. If it's written in English, it sounds like poetry. If you translate it into my dialect, it sounds like someone's high or unhinged. I'm lucky that I studied English. If I only ever read things in my language, I'd probably have been less open to things like socionics or systemic therapy or putting oneself in a trance.

[Not A Communist Shill]

I think if I do this, it is because to do otherwise would be to give an entirely wrong impression. Far better to be more nuanced and be better understood. Perhaps also if your perspective is in a state of flux but you haven't decided one way or another, it feels more natural to not be definitively one way.

There are times however when I can be alien to this thinking due to not wanting to dwell on the most negative aspects that I believe are not necessary for my state of mind or forward progression...but even in those cases, I am still along the lines of "I am not responsible for my defects!", "If I don't try, I will be damned!", "I will do this or fail!" etc.

[Not A Communist Shill]

[Eliza Thomason]

New theory:

Delta hates affirmations. (You know the kind - "I AM BEAUTIFUL BEYOND MEASURE AND LIFE IS FULL OF SUNSHINY GOODNESS AT ALL TIMES!")

Yeah, I hate these.

...And given that IEEs are negativists, would negativist affirmations work for you (instead of saying "I'm an excellent writer!" you'd say "I'm not a bad writer")?[/QUOTE] Yeah, that'd work for me!

"Life doesn't suck all the time."[/QUOTE] Good one!


So what about you? Affirmations and positive thinking: yes/no?[/QUOTE] Just seems too contrived to me. However, words have meaning and telling yourself everything is awful does become a self-fulfilling prophesy. So I compromise. I say a lot of "This is the day the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it". And "Jesus I love You and ask you to stay, close by me forever and love me I pray."

[schrödinger's cat]

Same thing in my language. All the poetry goes pffffft.

Consentingadult, thanks for the link. Does that man even breathe while he's talking?

Interesting point about social pressure. I hadn't looked at it like that before, but I can see what you mean.