My mom got me into them recently. Just a quick wiki tidbit for those that don't know.
Affirmations (New Age) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
They are kind of new-agey as the article implies. Not sure about the current scientific validity of these. I've always believed that the universe will give you what you ask for, or respond to positive and negative thoughts. (Perhaps this was my upbringing.)
What do you guys think?
Quacky? Out there? A ploy to make money from the vulnerable? Or amazing up and coming discovery?
Arguing the case for the existence of the effectiveness of affirmations is a very difficult one. I've been thinking about this for a while from an existential perspective. This phenomena exists at least in one iteration.
The thing about affirmations is not about submitting an order to the universe. As if you wanted the awesome life combo #2 with fries and a milk shake. The reason why this will not work is because the correct emotional content isn't there. For these affirmations to work, you must internally experience that result which you seek. Asking for rain will never work. Feeling the mud squish between your toes and hearing the drops his the ground is the emotional content that is necessary.
The second part of this is that after you have this subjective imaginary experience, it still doesn't summon the universe to rearrange itself around you to fulfill the order. What is actually does, is it alters your own world view and subjective experience to be ready or to be opportunistic to that result.
The real mechanics of this is simply one's preconception or perspective is altered. If you perceive a bad date, then you will probably have a bad date. If you perceive a quirky one, then you will probably have that too. When your mind is primed, or oriented in a certain way, you will pick up on these things and act upon them.
This is part of creating meaning for oneself. A human without any meaning whatsoever, is a dead duck. This meaning is essential to every human and it's created in two ways. One way is for the self to create these meaning via affirmations/habits, belief systems etc. The other way is for others to tell you what you are. Thomas Szasz is correct in saying "in the animal kingdom, the rule is to eat or be eaten. In the human kingdom, to define to be defined". Part this definition is meaning in life to which these affirmations helps not only to create, but also to flip the coin in favor of the self. For the self to define itself, not to be defined by external factors.
So then why do these affirmations need to have this emotional content? Because you won't remember anything if it had absolutely zero emotional impact on you. Did you notice that car blinker blinks at 60 blinks per minute? you saw, but you couldn't care less hence you don't remember it: it has fallen outside of your perception. Emotions are essential to memory as they are the filters between everything we sense, to what we remember. Emotions are also essential for long term memory.
Again, affirmations are not inputs for the universe to output. It's simply a very effective way to change your own perspective to be receptive to a desired result. Does it work? yes. Can I prove it to you? no and the reason why is that we cannot exchange or communicate our subjective experiences verbatim. We can only do it through virtual means like text and language.
The only way you'll every know if it works for you, is to try it for yourself. Make up your own damned mind, but don't knock it until you try it. Just like food. This is quanta and perhaps spirituality.
refs:
neuroplasticity
viktor frankl (man's search for meaning)
freud's talking cure
CBT/REBT Albert ellis
thomas szasz
sartre/nietche/heidigger/camus etc
buddist meditation, christian prayers
brian tracey's work
steven covey's work (7 habits book)
schopenhauer
philosophers on guilt (I forget the names)
Ramachandran on consciousness
various articles about amygdala and hippocampus changes under stress and depression
PTSD studies
heisenburg (his principle of observations alter results)
dabrowski's positive disintegration
neurological/fmri studies in emotive memory
MIT papers on AI based on emotive memory
harvard business review
few world banc studies in economics
fed reserve studies in incentives
various studies on lucky people/psychology
duncker's candle problem studies
prison experiments and studies
Think and Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill
personal experiences
EDIT:
This affirmation phenomena is part of human existence. I'm sure everyone of us has experienced this sort of thing before to some degree. It's only a matter of leveraging this thing. The systems created around this phenomena is the source of religion and quacks. Chakras, crystals, purple colors, candle readings etc are all systems around this core idea to help people grasp onto something while working with this idea. Some people miss the point entirely believing that buying quakery will product these results, but a sucker is born every minute. don't need to buy anything, just for shits and giggles, try it out. It's good for at least a laugh.