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Jeanie: This approach works with any situation -- physical disease, problems at work, soured relationships, transitions of all kinds, confusion, money concerns, etc. Anything! We all have our own dramas and unique experiences, but the process is essentially the same. The way in to messes is the way out of messes: through our thoughts and feelings and desires.

Joel: I know you work a lot with affirmations. What is an affirmation?

Jeanie: An affirmation is a statement that reflects thoughts and feelings and beliefs. It is something we say or think which we hold to be true. "The sky is blue" is an affirmation.

The kinds of affirmations I work with are, of course, different from "the sky is blue." We might more accurately identify these as "intentional affirmations" or "transformational affirmations". That is, these are statements that we develop and work with intentionally in order to transform or maintain something (for example, joy, career, health, relationships, attitude). Many folks work with affirmations intentionally for a variety of reasons. Intention is the key. The affirmation is the vehicle. We get the two together for movement.

I didn't set out to use affirmations in my practice. Rather, my use of affirmations emerged from a skill I have, called "clairaudience". That is, I have the ability to hear what's inaudible to the physical ear. So I can hear what people say to themselves. This is a very powerful skill, which by the way, I never abuse -- I only listen to these internal messages when given permission to do so, as in a personal consulting session. Although some internal messages do shout so loudly that I can't stop myself from hearing sometimes!

Joel: Can you give us an example?

Jeanie: I might hear a client say out loud, "I really want that promotion. It's the perfect job for me." You can, of course, recognize this is an affirmation. It's a statement that contains desires and thoughts and beliefs and wishes, etc. I listen clairaudiently to determine if internal messages support or oppose the verbal statement and the intention. Here are some examples of disempowering messages that might accompany this verbal statement: "Except you won't get it." Or, "So who do you think you are to get the perfect job??!!" Or, "I'm not good enough, though." The internal message can be in the first person (I) or the second person (you), in the person's own voice or the voice of another. The messages may be like a chorus with the voices in unison or may be like an angry committee meeting! The voice or voices can come from the right side or the left, be loud or soft, near or far, etc. I hear all that stuff.

In close consultation with the client, I can remove these internal messages energetically and insert new phrases that are in greater alignment with the person's life mission and spiritual journey. I have consistently received confirmation from clients that the messages I hear clairaudiently are precisely the words said repeatedly in childhood or are the essence of the internal messages already known to the client. Occasionally the words I report are unfamiliar, yet confirmation comes with an exclamation like "Oh, so that's why I've been stuck for so long, I've been telling myself I'm a 'stick in the mud', or whatever."

Many popular affirmations are beautiful, indeed, they are quite extraordinary! However, if you don't believe them, they're useless or even counterproductive. If you say an affirmation you don't believe, saying it repeatedly won't necessarily make you believe it. Sometimes that approach works, but from my experience, it rarely works. Actually, the repetition can build up greater resistance to believing it.

Joel: What other issues will affirmations work with?

Jeanie: Here's another example: Sally feels inadequate. She has had many experiences she can tell you about (and probably does!) that illustrate her inadequacy. For example, she heard from a teacher she couldn't draw or spell, flunked out of college, was fired from her first job. etc. Saying "I am powerful" is unlikely to erase her feelings of inadequacy and more likely to prompt an emphatic reaction, such as, "Oh, no, I'm not!" If Sally doesn't deal with the resistance, she carries it with her.

Actually, I sometimes use an affirmation such as, "I am powerful" to uncover the reaction. This tells me where and how to work. Different reactions ("No, I'm not!" "Not in my life time!" "I'm ready for that!" "Yes, yes!" "Right now!") reflect different levels of consciousness and different approaches to enhance a person's life.

Joel: So, do affirmations really work?

Jeanie: Some affirmations are more effective than others. The "I am powerful" affirmation is potent when believed, and ineffective or even counter-productive if not believed. What achieves results for one person one time will not necessarily work for another person or even that same person at another time.

When intention is clear and high, an affirmation achieves results if the words and ideas resonate with the person saying the affirmation. Everything must be in alignment. Mere repetition is not the key; intention is the key. Clumsy words with clear intention achieve desired results; lofty words with fuzzy intention are unlikely to achieve desired results.

Joel: And how do affirmations work?

Jeanie: Affirmations work primarily in the mental body. That is, they work with the part of us that organizes information. Affirmations use words; words represent ideas and thoughts and feelings. Thoughts and feelings are the energies of creation, so if we select the words that most appropriately represent the thoughts and feelings that are associated with what we want to create we find that affirmations support us in manifesting what we truly desire. As I've said before, intention is the key -- a concept that is worth saying repeatedly.

Using affirmations is a technique. We want to be very careful that we do not give our power away to a technique. I see people doing this often with all sorts of techniques. The power is not in the technique -- it is in us.

Remember, if we affirm our powerlessness, that manifests results also! If we have a morning routine of saying "I am powerful" ten times standing in front of the mirror then live the rest of the day talking and thinking about and believing in our powerlessness.... guess what!?! The powerless thoughts and beliefs and affirmations generate situations of powerlessness and the affirmation "I am powerful" does little or nothing. This is one of the reasons that many persons put down using affirmations and say they "don't work." From my point of view, this dynamic proves quite conclusively that they do work!

Joel: Please give a few examples of how you help people use affirmations.

Jeanie: Specific, individualized affirmations that seem intensely personal can also be universal. So I looked for affirmations that many persons can relate to and have built a process which I have written a book about. Here's the process:

1. Start by writing an over-arching intention about an idea (like Love or Peace or Joy). For example, "To know joy in every moment." Or "To see peace everywhere."
   
   
2. Take an idea (like Love or Peace or Joy) and empty out anything that opposes that idea. For example, hatred and fear oppose love. An example of an affirmation that releases and cleanses non-joy is: "I give myself permission to release pain from every level of my energy field, easily and effortlessly."
   
   
3. Continue with the chosen idea and open to receiving and accepting it. Readying ourselves for what we say we want is important. An example of an affirmation that helps us to receive and accept love: "I allow the energy of unconditional love to flow through me."
   
   
4. Continue with the chosen idea by embracing its essence and your own mission. An example of an affirmation that supports our intention and helps us to be clear about our purpose: "My mission is to see love everywhere."
   
   
5. Continue with the chosen idea by powerfully expressing actions. These are the kinds of affirmations that tend to be popular these days. I call them "acting/claiming" affirmations. Here's an example: "I speak and act with unconditional love in my heart and in my words."
   
   
6. Integrate the chosen theme. Here's an example of an Integrating/Embodying Affirmation: "I breathe love into every aspect of my life."

Joel: Over what period of time do you work with this process you've just outlined?

Jeanie: In the book I have written, I present the above process for the period of a month. Each month has a theme. Each of the above five types of affirmations follows the weeks of the month. That is, the (1) Releasing/Cleansing affirmations are worked with during the first week. The (2) Receiving/Accepting Affirmations, during the second week. The (3) Being/Intending during the third week. Acting/Claiming (4) during the fourth week. Integrating/Embodying (5) are for the remaining days of the month past twenty-eight.

Joel: I know that these affirmations are also available by email. Can you tell us how people can subscribe and how much this costs?

Jeanie: I offer this email affirmation service free of charge to the Internet community, Joel. All that is required is an email address and a willingness to grow spiritually. I actually have two lists: a daily and a weekly. The daily list sends an email message each day with the daily affirmation, plus comments about the affirmation and suggestions for to enhance the subscriber's use of the affirmation. The weekly list sends four messages per month with all the daily affirmations for the period covered plus comments about the affirmations and suggestions for the subscriber's personal growth.

Joel: What suggestions could you give to readers who may not feel acute and intense powerlessness, but know that they have much to learn about their own power? We all know there is a well of energetic oomph in us, that seeps out with scattered thoughts, fears, desires, and a host of other static.

Jeanie: My focus is on empowerment rather than powerlessness. I consider that it is our birthright to be consciously aware of our enormous power and use it to create beauty and peace and grandeur on this planet -- constantly, all the time! Now, please don't misinterpret what I've said. I am not saying we "should be consciously aware of our enormous power and use it to create beauty and peace and grandeur on this planet" -- that little word "should" tends to evoke blame and guilt. What I am saying is that we are born to be powerful, creative beings. We may feel and experience quite the opposite. I honor honest feelings and authentic experiences. I don't say that anyone "should" be any place other than where he or she is. We are where we are.

I present this picture of my perception of our birthright to provide a gauge for personal power. So, here's the question: How powerful do you desire to be and how powerful do you perceive yourself to be? The question is about being powerful, please note, not having power. If we have power, then someone can take it from us; if we be powerful, it is who we are.

If we perceive our power to be situational, then we are allowing the outer circumstances or the other person to determine who we are rather than accessing our power from within. An example of situational power is to feel powerful when working with Mr. Z and powerless when working with Mr. Y. Here, we have given our power away to Mr. Y! The power I help people to realize is from inside, not outside and not situational.

Here's a suggestion for learning about being empowered: regularly dip into the consciousness of this inner power. For frequency, it may begin once a day, they two or three times a day, then once an hour, then every minute. Then constantly! There are lots of ways to dip in.

Joel: How?

Jeanie: Meditation is perhaps the best way. Meditation is the realization of a power higher than the human: Spirit, God, The Infinite Power. We can meditate cross-legged on a mountaintop or in a subway riding to work or in our morning shower. Meditation is about consciousness, not position or method. Learning a specific technique initially from one who has experience is a helpful starting place for many. As consciousness lifts, though, the technique is irrelevant, perhaps even cumbersome.

Joel: What tools can help us learn our power?

Jeanie: Journaling is another approach. That is, writing thoughts and feelings and ideas. As with meditation, there is a wide variety of techniques. The principle here is to allow something to flow from one dimension (the dimensions of thoughts and feelings and ideas) to another dimension (the third dimension reality of the paper or computer screen). Realizations happen as we write or after we have written enough to see patterns. We might journal about a particular issue over a period of time or just write to see what happens.

Joel: Do you have more suggestions?

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