Affirmations are a great way to solidify baby steps toward our goals. Posting signs around the house or repeating an inner mantra starts the process moving forward.
One of the most notable writers on affirming and manifesting goals is Louise Hay.
Louise Hay was born in 1926. In her early years she endured sexual and physical abuse as well as a life of poverty. She dropped out of high school and gave up a child for adoption around the time she was 15.
Determined to live a better life, Louise left home at a young age.
Things fared better for Louise some years after. She held a career as a fashion model and married a prominent businessman. This seemingly better life took her into a new class and interesting set of experiences.
Louise’s life took many more twists and turns. She would later divorce, become a minister in a church dedicated to the New Thought Movement, and come down with cervical cancer. Louise felt that her cervical cancer was caused by resentment toward her prior abuse. Determined to cure her self of the cancer through non-traditional methods, Louise changed her diet, practiced reflexology and stopped her negative thinking. Within 6 months, Hay claims her cancer was gone.
Even before her Cancer, Louise had written a pamphlet about healing one’s body and the mental connection to health troubles. She believed all ailments were caused by specific thoughts.
In the 1980’s Louise began support groups for people suffering from HIV and AIDS. Her work with and acceptance of AIDS patients when most of the medical community was baffled by the disease led her to television and speaking engagements, including Oprah and Phil Donohue.
The little pamphlet on healing the body eventually became a book in 1984 entitled You Can Heal Your Life. You Can Heal Your Life remained on the New York Times best seller list for 13 consecutive weeks. She later began Hay House Publishing, continued to write numerous books, and developed You Can Heal Your Life into a film.
Paraphrasing Louise’s reminder that affirmations in whatever form do work, she says:
“Most people do affirmations for a few days and then stop, claiming that they don’t work. When the first little shoot comes up that closely resembles what we want, we stomp on it because it isn’t a million dollars. We have to give things a chance to grow.”
