Select Learning Projects: Hidden Words Affirmations

Creative Project:

Affirmations for The Hidden Words (Arabic)

by Carmen Mathenge

[Presented as a homework assignment for the "Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh" Course, year one: January 1998.]

This is a second Learning Project for The Hidden Words. The theory of affirmations is that by using them we can replace those old negative tapes that we play over and over in our minds. You know, the ones that say "You are selfish." "You never do anything right." "You are not smart enough, not good looking enough, not kind enough, not clean enough." "You are ugly and dumb and you can't do anything so don't try." "You can't sing/dance/draw/do math/go to college/learn to ski/or whatever. . . " "If that were really a good idea, somebody else would already have done it," etc., etc.

Someone suggested that the Hidden Words are full of affirmations, and I thought it would be an interesting project to create one or more affirmations based on each Hidden Word and then practice repeating them. I find it helpful to write the affirmation several times in the morning and several times at night and like to use colored marking pens. You may find that at first you tend to feel resistance: "I can't say that, it isn't true." (I used to feel that way about "I will be a happy and joyful being" in the prayer for spiritual qualities until someone said to me, "If it isn't true now, then ask God to make it true.") It is also helpful to change from the first person (I) to the second person (You), and the third person (He/she). This is because those old tapes come from things you have repeated over and over to yourself, things other people have repeated TO you, and things you have heard others say ABOUT you. (We all know what happens to children who hear a teacher say "Susan can't draw" or "Don't let David sing, he's absolutely tone deaf.") Writing with the nondominant hand is a technique that may help to bring up resistance from the unconscious, and once conscious, simply repeating the affirmation will gradually eliminate the resistance. For instance,

AFFIRMATION (Insert your own name in the blank) DIALOGUE OF RESISTANCE

It's really amazing 1) that affirmations really DO work--it's so simple; and 2) that given that they do work, more people don't use them. If you do not have time to write the affirmations, you can say them, preferably out loud, while driving perhaps, or while waiting for something. Looking in the mirror and saying them is good too.

I have personally been using the first affirmation since the last Feast (planning to do each one over a Bahá'í month). I have noticed quite a few changes in my attitude as a result. I also felt impelled to create additional affirmations dealing with some specific behaviors and situations which I wanted to prevail in my life (diet, posture, even overcoming resistance to the idea of buying a house) and so far I feel that the affirmations have been quite helpful. When I am feeling negative, just sitting down and writing out the affirmations a few times tends to dispel the negative feelings and give me a feeling of expecting positive results (is that radiant acquiescence?).

Anyway, here are the affirmations I wrote, and of course, you may prefer to write your own.

AFFIRMATION (Insert your own name in the blank) FOR HIDDEN WORDS
#1
I _________ possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart, and I am empowered to carry out the will of God in my life.
#2
I _________ accept God's gift of Justice; I see with my own eyes and do whatever is within my power to ensure that everyone is treated justly, including myself.
#3
I _________ am created in the image of God; I am beautiful, lovable, and valuable.
#4
I _________ love Bahá'u'lláh, and He remembers my name and fills my soul with the spirit of life.
#5
By focusing on my love for Bahá'u'lláh, I _________ establish the connection through which I, in turn, receive His love.
#6
By focusing on my love for Bahá'u'lláh, I _________ am with Him now.
#7
I _________ choose to forget myself and turn wholly towards God.
#8
I _________ put my trust in God and love Him alone.
#9
I _________ am safe and secure at all times in God's love.
#10
Whenever I speak the name of Bahá'u'lláh, I _______ find myself in His presence.
#11
I _______ reflect the light of God and am thankful for the bounties which He has showered upon me.
#12
God created me to reflect His light, and I _________ am content with His work and obedient to His command.
#13
I _________ am created rich; I accept God's bounties and allow them to flow through me to others.
I _________ am created noble; I joyfully accept my own nobility and act accordingly.
I _________ am loved unconditionally; the more I love God, the more I receive His love and radiate love to others.
#14
I _________ feel no fear; I am a part of God's light and abide in His love.
#15
I _________ turn my face to God, renounce all save Him, and seek only Him.
#16
I _________ am a child of God's light; when I pray, I forget all save Him and commune with His spirit.
#17
I _________ am content with God and seek no one but Him.
#18
I _________ am content with what God has ordained for me; I know He ordains nothing but that which profiteth me.
#19
I _________ am a child of the wondrous vision! I am whole and content.
#20
In me, _________, God's grace, love, and light are manifested!
#21
I _________ accept for myself those "choicest fruits" with which God has endowed me.
#22
I _________ believe in myself and accept my own nobility.
#23
I _________ am a child of the Supreme! I cling to God's desire for me and do not turn away.
#24
I _________ acknowledge God's might and power and do not transgress the limits which He has set for me.
#25
I _________ do not consider myself better than the person who has less material wealth, for that person is also a spiritual being, and is under God's guidance.
#26
I ________ remember my own faults and do not concern myself with the faults of others.
#27
I _________ refuse to discuss the faults of those around me.
#28
I _________ do not tell others how to behave because I am not perfect myself.
#29
I _________ do not say anything about others which I would not like them to say about me.
#30
I _________ do not deny others when they sincerely need my assistance, for in serving them I am serving God.
#31
I _______ bring myself to account each day and consider what I have done well and where I need to improve.
#32
I _________ accept death when it comes to those I love and do not prolong grief unduly, for I know that they are in God's light.
#33
I _________ rejoice, for knowing that I am always in the court of holiness, I live in peace.
#34
I _________ allow myself to be led by the light of His countenance.
#35
I _________ rejoice that I am daily drawing nearer to God.
#36
I _________ rejoice that by turning the mirror of my heart towards God, I reflect His beauty.
#37
I _________ remember that God's love is my protection and His teachings my source of life.
#38
I _________ am a child of God and I am obedient to His commands.
#39
I _________ obey God's commandments and remember His counsels so that I may attain His good pleasure.
#40
I _________ find peace in submission to God's commands and humbly accept whatever He sends.
#41
I _________ magnify God's cause that He may reveal to me the mystery of His greatness.
#42
I _________ humble myself before God, accept the grace of His presence, and arise for the triumph of His cause.
#43
I _________ make mention of God and know that He remembers me.
#44
I _________ see myself with God's sight and accept my exalted station as His creation.
#45
I _________ am content with the pleasure of God and thankful for whatever He has ordained.
#46
I _________ reflect upon what sacrifice I can make so as to become the manifestation of God's command and the revealer of His light.
#47
I _________ am willing to allow God to use me in whatever way He finds best.
#48
I _________ accept God's trials with patience and fortitude as a sign of my love for Him.
#49
I _________ beseech God to increase my love for Him so that I may yearn for tribulation in His path.
#50
I _________ accept trials and adversities as opportunities to show my acceptance of God's will.
#51
I _________ ask God to help me grow through the tests that He sends me.
#52
I _________ am detached from the need for wealth and from the fear of failure.
#53
I _________ am detached from the need for material wealth, for God is the Lord of wealth and all things belong to Him.
#54
I _________ turn my heart toward the spiritual world, knowing that it does not perish.
#55
I _________ do not busy myself with the material world, for the desire for things is one of God's tests.
#56
I _________ accept that God sometimes says no to the things I ask for because it is better for me not to have them.
#57
I _________ share my material wealth with those who have less, and ask God to accept the use in His service of the gifts and talents which He has given me.
#58
I _________ ask God to cleanse my heart of all anxieties and attachments, that He may abide therein.
#59
I _________ ask God to sanctify my heart for His descent and cleanse my spirit for His manifestation.
#60
I _________ ask God to make me aware of His radiance and resplendence.
#61
I ________ ask God to help me become closer to Him, so that I may obtain the joy of reunion.
#62
I _________ no longer occupy myself with fancies and idle imaginings.
#63
I _________ free myself from the veils of idle fancies and focus on drawing nearer to God.
#64
I _________ remember that God has created eternity for me; therefore, I have patience; unity is God's handiwork, therefore by living in unity I can help others to know Him.
#65
I _________ accept God's gift of majesty and grandeur; therefore I need never feel less-than or not enough.
#66
I _________ continue to make mention of God even at times when I am hindered or perturbed by adverse conditions.
#67
I _________ remember that I am a child of beauty and reflect God's attribute of beauty.
#68
I _________ remember to practice detachment and not to exalt myself over anyone.
#69
I _________ contain in myself the pearls of God's mysteries and the gems of His knowledge.
#70
I _________ am content with God's pleasure and thankful unto Him.
#71
I _________ strive to make my life a sign of God, as something written is a sign of the writer.