Being & Beyond: Affirmations

Anytime we experience any type of healing or transformation, resistance will come up in our system. We are neurologically wired this way, to find safety in things remaining the same. This is why we develop habits, why we find satisfaction in routine, and why programming and beliefs, however unsupportive or misaligned, continue unless we intentionally choose otherwise. This neurological disposition is based in survival, and was obviously very supportive in another time when our ancestors were often in danger from wild animals and natural elements. At this place in space and time, most of us are afforded the awesome privilege of having the power to take our power back from autopilot.

We can meet the resistance that comes from embarking on transformation, and use it as a road marker toward our destination, instead of seeing it as a dead end or insurmountable hurdle.

When doing affirmation work or mindset work in general, it is so important that we have cultivated a sense of internal safety first, and then take inventory of the resistance that comes up. This is especially important for highly aware beings at this place in space and time, as we are the ones who struggle most with energetic regulation, because we are big absorbers of the energies around us. And it’s not necessary to say but I will - there are so many chaotic energies weaving in the world today. New Earth frequencies, which are higher frequencies than Earth has ever experienced, are marinating in with the old. When high frequencies of light hit dense energies, there is a certain backlash or resistance that occurs. This can maybe speak some understanding into the chaos unfolding in our world today.

The importance of cultivating an internal sense of safety in regard to transformation, or affirmation work for example, is this: resistance will come up regardless of what the shift is - whether the shift is more supportive for us or not. As we are wired to find safety in the familiar, this also means that we can be exposed to turmoil and pain and become comfortable with it over time simply because it’s recognizable. When the resistance comes up, and it will, your system will seek out safety. If your system is operating on autopilot, this safety will look like the old, outdated way of finding comfort, which again may not actually be supportive or safe for you. It will look like your journey of transformation stalling or ending completely, rerunning the same cycle. If you are consciously and intentionally cultivating an aligned and aware sense of safety from within, the journey of transformation can march on, at the appropriate timing for you.

Recognizing resistance is also paramount in allowing transformation to continue. In fact, resistance is a sure-fire sign that things are shifting internally. Resistance wouldn’t come up unless your old way of doing things felt threatened at losing control. Love the resistance. Honor it. See it, without judgement! Resistance or constriction will feel like self-sabotage. Negative self-talk. Tightening in the body. Numbness. Emotional overwhelm. It’ll feel like a fight or a block or a pressure. Expansion, on the other hand, will feel opening and light. It might feel uncomfortable at times, but it will feel right.

As it pertains to affirmation work, take this example for recognizing resistance and using it to your benefit: You might be interested in building your wealth. You may try to use the affirmation, “I am rich” reciting it often, being disciplined with enforcing it. You might write it over and over, to no avail. You might see no shifting or progress, and might feel as though it’s not doing anything for you. In this case, I’d encourage you to check in with your awareness. Does “I am rich” feel like too big of a jump? Further, does it feel so discordant with your system’s autopilot beliefs and programming that it triggers a sense of danger in your system? If there is resistance, I’d encourage you to start with an affirmation like, “I am willing to release scarcity mindset. I am willing to release lack mentality. I am willing to release any money blocks. I am willing to see what else is possible for me in wealth.”

How would this feel? And as you enforce and reinforce these softer affirmations, in time you might notice a shift in your system that says, “I am ready for the next level. I AM rich!”

Here’s a personal story from my own experience with affirmation work:

I have long struggled with biting my nails. I felt entirely ashamed of it, embarrassed by it, and yet totally out of control to it. It was an addiction, self-harm, and absolutely disguising repressed emotions. For as long as I can remember in my life, this habit was there with me, and so was the shame. It felt like a physical manifestation of my sense of unworthiness, my insecurity, my belief that I couldn’t be taken seriously. I battled the habit for a long time - and I say battled because I felt we were enemies, my conscious mind and my biting addiction.

About six months ago, I had the awareness suddenly come over me that sometime in the near future, I would release the habit. Gone! That version of me cried at the awareness, and still didn’t fully believe it because I couldn’t imagine.

Recently, I met that moment of release that had been foretold to me. My husband, Johannes, and I were compassionately talking about the behavior. He questioned, “Morgan, what would have to be happening in your day for you to not feel the need to bite?” I quickly answered, “I would need to be with my friends. The ones who have seen all of me and still love me. The ones I don’t have to wear any masks for. I can show up as I am, and then even more, because they encourage me to be big and joyful and goofy and exactly as I am. That’s when I wouldn’t need to bite.” So I decided that I would try to build this feeling when I had the impulse to bite. I began one random day and had great success until the evening. When I had a moment to finally sit down, pause, and reflect on my day, a nefarious and strong intrusive thought hit me.

Your friends don’t value you, the way that you value them. You aren’t important to your friends, the way that they’re important to you. In fact, they are mad at you. In fact, they don’t even like you. They tolerate you.

I caught this thought and and watched it grow, watched it move through my body. It made my stomach stick, it knocked me off balance. But I shared it with Johannes immediately, and as I spoke it out loud, we had the same understanding:

My beautiful brain, in an effort to keep me safe because it sensed real transformation unfolding, went behind the scenes to discretely sabotage my mechanism for transformation. Because it was successful so far and my brain thought that meant I was in danger.

I was startled by this. I felt like there was someone else inside my body, inside my head. It creeped me out. I also considered how this mind manipulation, in the name of keeping me safe, has been happening my entire life. And still is in other situations, I’m entirely sure.

This was a powerful awareness, and I’m grateful for it. I took it forward with me as I continued my battle with nail biting. The habit won again a few days later, which led to another breakdown.. and then… the awareness that acted like the magic spell that broke the habit.

As an energy worker, hypnotist, and highly aware being on my own human journey, I know the energetics of judgement. Still, judgement is one of the most human experiences that I would wager no one is exempt from. Judgement still saturates aspects of my personality, it’s all over wounds I still carry, it comes up in everyday experiences, and of course I’m not even fully aware of all of the judgement that stirs within me still. But judgement, energetically, is a solidifier. The moment we judge something, whether ourselves or the world around us (though both are the same), we make it heavier, denser, more solid. And when energy becomes more solid, it moves slower or doesn’t move at all. My favorite example is when we have judgement on our body and try to lose weight. The judgement of our body as the catalyst for wanting to lose weight makes the process of losing weight much harder. We might find that it takes us a long time and hard work to lose weight, if we lose any weight at all. We might even put ON weight. In contrast, when we aren’t focused on how our body looks, we might notice that we lose or gain weight easier, depending on what your preference is. You might notice that you feel much more confident in your body - without the weight of judgement!

I applied this awareness of judgement to my nail biting behavior, coupled with powerful wisdom from the late great Louise Hay. In You Can Heal Your Life, my bible, she encourages the use of the affirmation, “I am willing to release ______ or I am willing to see ______.” Instead of continuing to entertain the shame cycle of trying my hardest not to bite and then punishing myself for doing so, I met myself exactly where I was and said:

I see you. I see you, the part of me that finds comfort in biting.

I am willing to see the nail biting. I am willing to see it. I am willing to see what’s beneath the nail biting. I am willing to see what’s really going on. I am willing to see beneath this behavior, and beyond it.

Since I found this affirmation, met the judgement face to face and allowed it to flow with true compassion and witnessing, I haven’t felt the impulse to bite my nails.

In fact, more awarenesses continue to float to the surface of my conscious mind, as though the continued release of that judgement is allowing so much more to be seen.

So take it from me - prioritize playing with your awareness, honoring it, building that self-trust, and cultivating an aligned, unique sense of internal safety. And above all, have compassion for wherever you’re at - that it the master key that can unlock any lock.