The Essential Louise Hay Collection

The above shows how we are culturally taught to fight the negative mentally—thinking that if we do so, the positive will automatically come to us. It doesn’t work that way.

How often have you lamented about what you didn’t want? Did it ever bring you what you really wanted? Fighting the negative is a total waste of time if you really want to make changes in your life. The more you dwell on what you don’t want, the more of it you create. The things about yourself or your life that you have always disliked are probably still with you.

What you put your attention on grows and becomes permanent in your life. Move away from the negative, and put your attention on what it is that you really do want to be or have. Let’s turn the above negative affirmations into positive affirmations.

Learn to think in positive affirmations. Affirmations can be any statement you make. Too often we think in negative affirmations. Negative affirmations only create more of what you say you don’t want. Saying, “I hate my job,” will get you nowhere. Declaring, “I now accept a wonderful new job,” will open the channels in your consciousness to create that.

Continually make positive statements about how you want your life to be. However, there is one point that is very important in this: Always make your statement in the PRESENT TENSE, such as “I am” or “I have.” Your subconscious mind is such an obedient servant that if you declare in the future tense, “I want,” or “I will have,” then that is where that idea will always stay—just out of your reach in the future!

As I have said before, no matter what the problem, the main issue to work on is LOVING THE SELF. This is the “magic wand” that dissolves problems. Remember the times when you have felt good about yourself and how well your life was going? Remember the times when you were in love and for those periods you seemed to have no problems? Well, loving yourself is going to bring such a surge of good feelings and good fortune to you that you will be dancing on air. LOVING YOURSELF MAKES YOU FEEL GOOD.

It is impossible to really love yourself unless you have self-approval and self-acceptance. This means no criticism whatsoever. I can hear all the objections right now.

Self-criticism such as that illustrated above is just the mind going on with old chatter. See how you have trained your mind to berate you and be resistant to change? Ignore those thoughts and get on with the important work at hand!

Let’s go back to an exercise we did earlier. Look into the mirror again, and say, “I love and approve of myself exactly as I am.”

How does that feel now? Is it a little easier after the forgiveness work we have done? This is still the main issue. Self-approval and self-acceptance are the keys to positive changes.

In the days when my own self-denial was so prevalent, I would occasionally slap my own face. I didn’t know the meaning of self-acceptance. My belief in my own lacks and limitations was stronger than anything anyone else could say to the contrary. If someone told me I was loved, my immediate reaction was, “Why? What could anyone possibly see in me?” Or the classic thought, “If they only knew what I was really like inside, they wouldn’t love me.”

I was not aware that all good begins with accepting that which is within one’s self, and loving that self which is you. It took quite a while to develop a peaceful, loving relationship with myself.

First, I used to hunt for the little things about myself that I thought were “good qualities.” Even this helped, and my own health began to improve. Good health begins with loving the self. So do prosperity and love and creative self-expression. Later I learned to love and approve of all of me, even those qualities I thought were “not good enough.” That was when I really began to make progress.

I have given this exercise to hundreds of people, and the results are phenomenal. For the next month, say over and over to yourself, “I APPROVE OF MYSELF.”

Do this three or four hundred times a day, at least. No, it’s not too many times. When you are worrying, you go over your problem at least that many times. Let “I approve of myself” become a walking mantra, something you just say over and over and over to yourself, almost nonstop.

Saying “I approve of myself” is a guaranteed way to bring up everything buried in your consciousness that is in opposition.

When negative thoughts come up, such as, “How can I approve of myself when I am fat?” or “It’s silly to think this can do any good,” or “I am no good,” or whatever your negative babble will be, this is the time to take mental control. Give these thoughts no importance. Just see them for what they are—another way to keep you stuck in the past. Gently say to these thoughts, “I let you go; I approve of myself.”

Even considering doing this exercise can bring up a lot of stuff, like “It feels silly,” “It doesn’t feel true,” “It’s a lie,” “It sounds stuck up,” or “How can I approve of myself when I do that?”

Let all these thoughts just pass through. These are only resistance thoughts. They have no power over you unless you choose to believe them.

“I approve of myself, I approve of myself, I approve of myself.” No matter what happens, no matter who says what to you, no matter who does what to you, just keep it going. In fact, when you can say that to yourself when someone is doing something you don’t approve of, you will know you are growing and changing.

Thoughts have no power over us unless we give in to them. Thoughts are only words strung together. They have NO MEANING WHATSOEVER. Only we give meaning to them. Let us choose to think thoughts that nourish and support us.

Part of self-acceptance is releasing other people’s opinions. If I were with you and kept telling you, “You are a purple pig, you are a purple pig.” You would either laugh at me, or get annoyed with me and think I was crazy. It would be most unlikely that you would think it was true. Yet many of the things we have chosen to believe about ourselves are just as far out and untrue. To believe that your self-worth is dependent on the shape of your body is your version of believing that “You are a purple pig.”

Often what we think of as the things “wrong” with us are only our expressions of our own individuality. This is our uniqueness and what is special about us. Nature never repeats itself. Since time began on this planet, there have never been two snowflakes alike or two raindrops the same. And every daisy is different from every other daisy. Our fingerprints are different, and we are different. We are meant to be different. When we can accept this, then there is no competition and no comparison. To try to be like another is to shrivel our soul. We have come to this planet to express who we are.

I didn’t even know who I was until I began to learn to love myself as I am in this moment.

Think thoughts that make you happy. Do things that make you feel good. Be with people who make you feel good. Eat things that make your body feel good. Go at a pace that makes you feel good.

Think for a moment of a tomato plant. A healthy plant can have over a hundred tomatoes on it. In order to get this tomato plant with all these tomatoes on it, we need to start with a small dried seed. That seed doesn’t look like a tomato plant. It sure doesn’t taste like a tomato plant. If you didn’t know for sure, you would not even believe it could be a tomato plant. However, let’s say you plant this seed in fertile soil, and you water it and let the sun shine on it.

When the first little tiny shoot comes up, you don’t stomp on it and say, “That’s not a tomato plant.” Rather, you look at it and say, “Oh boy! Here it comes,” and you watch it grow with delight. In time, if you continue to water it and give it lots of sunshine and pull away any weeds, you might have a tomato plant with more than a hundred luscious tomatoes. It all began with that one tiny seed.

It is the same with creating a new experience for yourself. The soil you plant in is your subconscious mind. The seed is the new affirmation. The whole new experience is in this tiny seed. You water it with affirmations. You let the sunshine of positive thoughts beam on it. You weed the garden by pulling out the negative thoughts that come up. And when you first see the tiniest little evidence, you don’t stomp on it and say, “That’s not enough!” Instead, you look at this first breakthrough and exclaim with glee, “Oh boy! Here it comes! It’s working!”

Now is the time to take your list of things that are wrong with you and turn them into positive affirmations. Or you can list all the changes you want to make and have and do. Then select three from this list and turn them into positive affirmations.

Out of this group of affirmations will come all the things you want to change on your list. Loving and approving of yourself, creating a space of safety, trusting and deserving and accepting, will enable your body weight to normalize. They will create organization in your mind, create loving relationships in your life, attract a new job and a new place to live. It is miraculous the way a tomato plant grows. It is miraculous the way we can demonstrate our desires.

Do you believe that you deserve to have your desire? If you don’t, you won’t allow yourself to have it. Circumstances beyond your control will crop up to frustrate you.

Look in your mirror again, and say, “I deserve to have or be ___________, and I accept it now.” Say it two or three times.

How do you feel? Always pay attention to your feelings, to what is going on in your body. Does it feel true, or do you still feel unworthy?

If you have any negative feelings in your body, then go back to affirming, “I release the pattern in my consciousness that is creating resistance to my good.” “I deserve ___________.”

Repeat this until you get the acceptance feelings, even if you have to do it several days in a row.

In our approach to Building the New, we want to use a holistic approach. The holistic philosophy is to nurture and nourish the entire being—the Body, the Mind, and the Spirit. If we ignore any of these areas, we are incomplete; we lack wholeness. It doesn’t matter where we start as long as we also include the other areas.

If we begin with the body, we would want to work with nutrition, to learn the relationship between our choice of food and beverages, and how they affect the way we feel. We want to make the best choices for our body. There are herbs and vitamins, homeopathy and Bach Flower Remedies. We might explore colonics.

We would want to find a form of exercise that appeals to us. Exercise is something that strengthens our bones and keeps our bodies young. In addition to sports and swimming, consider dancing, Tai-Chi, martial arts, and yoga. I love my trampoline and use it daily. My slant board enhances my periods of relaxation.

We might want to explore some form of body work such as Rolfing, Heller Work or Trager. Massage, foot reflexology, acupuncture, or chiropractic work are all beneficial, as well. There is also the Alexander Method, Bioenergetics, Feldenkrais, Touch for Health, and Reiki forms of body work.

With the mind, we could explore visualization techniques, guided imagery, and affirmations. There are lots of psychological techniques: Gestalt, hypnosis, rebirthing, psychodrama, past-life regressions, art therapy, and even dream work.

Meditation in any of its forms is a wonderful way to quiet the mind and allow your own “knowingness” to come to the surface. I usually just sit with my eyes closed and say, “What is it I need to know?” and then I wait quietly for an answer. If the answer comes, fine; if it doesn’t, fine. It will come another day.

There are groups that do workshops for all different tastes such as Insight, Loving Relationships Training, Advocate Experience, the Ken Keyes group, Actualizations, and many more. Many of these groups do weekend workshops. These weekends give you a chance to see a whole new viewpoint about life. No one workshop will totally clear up ALL your problems forever. However, they can assist you in changing your life in the here and now.

In the Spiritual Realm, there is prayer, there is meditation, and becoming connected with your Higher Source. For me, practicing forgiveness and unconditional love are spiritual practices.

There are many spiritual groups. In addition to the Christian churches, there are metaphysical churches, such as Religious Science and Unity. There is the Self-Realization Fellowship, M.S.I.A., Transcendental Meditation, the Siddha Foundation, and so on.

I want you to know that there are many, many avenues you can explore. If one way doesn’t work for you, try another. All these suggestions have proved to be beneficial. I cannot say which one is right for you. That is something you will have to discover for yourself. No one method or one person or one group has all the answers for everyone. I don’t have all the answers for everyone. I am just one more stepping stone on the pathway to holistic health.

In the infinity of life where I am,

all is perfect, whole, and complete. My life is ever new.

Each moment of my life is new and fresh and vital.

I use my affirmative thinking to create exactly what I want.

This is a new day. I am a new me.

I think differently. I speak differently. I act differently.

Others treat me differently.

My new world is a reflection of my new thinking.

It is a joy and a delight to plant new seeds,

for I know these seeds will become my new experiences.

All is well in my world.