I Think I Can

In Robertson Davies novel, Fifth Business, the protagonist Dunstan Ramsay was invited to dinner at his childhood friend, Boy Staunton’s home and a discussion arose about Boy’s efforts to train his wife to become a  more suitable partner, fit for the lifestyle of a man with political ambitions, who was making a fortune in the sugar business. Boy and his wife grew up in a small village, Deptford, Ontario and as he prospered, he dropped his parochial values, but his wife was not able to keep up with the sophistication of the society that they now enjoyed. Boy had discovered Dr. Emile Coue who had great success with the auto-suggestion, “Every day in every way, I am getting better and better,” to effect a cure for his patients whether their ailments were physical, mental, emotional or spiritual: “Best of all it provided ‘moral energy’ and Boy Staunton was a great believer in energy of all kinds… He wanted Leola to acquire moral energy, after which social grace, wit and an air of easy breeding would surely follow.”

Leola obediently repeated the formula as often as she could, every night for six weeks, but nothing much seemed to be happening. Boy suggested that she was not trying hard enough. Dunstan thought that she might be trying too hard, to which Boy countered that one can never try too hard at anything one does. Dunstan referred to the Law of Reversed Effort, “The harder you try, the more likely you are to miss the mark.” He quoted Dr. Coue, “Don’t clench your teeth and push for success, or everything will work against you.” Dunstan suggested that Boy should read Baudouin’s Suggestion and Auto-Suggestion to get things right. The argument continued and Dunstan told Boy. “I don’t suppose  it does work for you. You don’t need it. Every day in every way you do get better and better, in whatever sense you understand the word, ‘better,’ because that’s the kind of person you are. You’ve got ingrained success.” Boy insisted that Dunstan should bring his book by Baudouin and help Leola to understand it, which he did; “Poor Leola did not get better and better because she had no idea of what betterness was. She couldn’t conceive what Boy wanted her to be. I don’t think I ever met such a stupid nice woman. So Dr Coue failed for her, as he did for many others, for which I lay no blame on him. His system was really a form of secularized self-seeking prayer, without the human dignity that even the most modest prayer evokes. And like all attempts to command success for the chronicallly unsuccessful, it petered out.”

Robertson Davies touched on a most interesting subject, that affirmations work for people who are already successful in imbibing the message of their auto-suggestion and fail to manifest suitable results for others not so inclined. For example, people who use affirmations to improve their material wealth and have an outlook of abundance, generally tend to generate more material wealth and emotional well-being. Those who repeat their affirmations but have an attitude of scarcity and lack are less successful at acquiring the outcome they desire.

I believe that in order to use affirmations successfully, one must first understand the truth of who we really are. If we believe that we are inadequate and life is burdensome and abundance is only for a lucky few, then no amount of verbal repetitions and visualizations would change our basic assumptions. The awareness of our truth that we are already whole, infinitely wise and destined for the fruition of our highest potential if we are courageous enough to do so, is the first step towards success at employing affirmations to empower the change we want in our lives.

In her book, A Return to Love, Marianne Williamson said, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”