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I received a letter from an InnerGoddess member this morning that concerned me. I'm sharing it with you today because it's a perfect illustration of how affirmations can be used for "evil".

"I've been using mantra meditations for a while with little results," Goddess S writes.

I intuitively knew what was coming next, but regardless, I continued to read about her difficult journey through unfulfilling jobs and a queasy feeling that there must be "more" to life. Then, I celebrated with her as she described her breakthrough due to her overwhelming desire to take her search for her inner self deeper.

"I began classes to earn my GED and went on to earn my AA Degree. I'm graduating from WSU this Saturday. I can hardly believe that I will have a BA in English, something I never dreamed possible and with a 3.85 GPA," she sings.

But then comes the clanger. The "evil" part of her affirmative thinking. The sting in the scorpion's tail that I call the "Affirmation Back-Ender"... She writes:

"The problem now is that I have huge student loan debts, two children, and husband to support and I can't possibly imagine what I going to do to earn enough money to make the loan payments and my mortgage payments. To be the writer of the next great American novel is a somewhat far-fetched dream. As I said before, I'm terribly impatient and I am easily stressed out over finances."

OK, so straight away I understood why she has been getting little results with her mantra meditations. The key to a truly successful affirmation (the type we use for "good"), lies within the thoughts that go through your mind after you've said your affirmation. In other words, what you hear in your head after you’ve said your affirmation is the real affirmation.

For example, if you decide that you are tired of looking in the mirror and seeing a worn-out, frumpy old hag in it, you might decide to make your affirmation, “I am beautiful.” This way you’ll begin to notice your sparkling eyes, knock-em-out smile and the years of wisdom that lie beneath the layers of wrinkles. Right?

But what really happens when you look yourself in the eye and say, "I am beautiful"?

If this little voice is laughing, scoffing or challenging your affirmation, it is overriding your positive intentions. It’s working to trash your success as it’s this negative message you’ll end up acting upon. In short, it’s this Back-Ender that is really setting the tone for your success. And in this vein, your affirmation is "evil".

If you’re good at self-trashing, then you probably won’t even hear the back-enders at first. To hear them it’s just a matter of listening for them – if you’re an expert at self-trashing, your back-enders will be yelling at you at a deafening roar. In fact, they’ll be turned up to "11" on the Spinal Tap scale. The self-talk might go something like this:

You: I am beautiful

Your back-ender: NO YOU’RE NOT! Who do you think you are? Can’t you see the saggy skin? Try some chestnut jelly on for thighs. And the Chinese phone directory called – they want all their chins back.

The idea is to retrain your back-enders to sing a positive tune. Consciously instruct your self-talk to follow protocol to agree with your affirmation. For example,

You: I am beautiful

Your back-ender: Yeah, I see it! My eyes are flecked with magic, my dimples are deeper than ever, and I am totally beauty-FULL!

And so, I say to Goddess S (and the thousands of others who say their affirmations daily with little success), watch out for the scorpion's tail. Harness the power of the Back-Ender and use its powers for good. Oh, and congratulations on your graduation!

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Anita Revel is the creatrix of igoddess.com, a resource portal for women's wellbeing. You can click here to read more of her columns with United Press International. © copyright 2008 by Anita Revel.
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