“Every Day In Every Way…”

The first affirmation I ever heard was the classic “Every day in every way I’m getting better and better.”

And frankly, some of the most successful people in the world LOVE this affirmation. And it is fascinating how reliably unsuccessful, unhappy people hate it.

My mother had little to offer but love, food, and shelter…and philosophy. And that’s all I needed. I remember being so poor that she would cut dandelions off the lawn so we’d have vegetables. But we didn’t FEEL poor. My sister and I had library cards. Mom sold World Book Encyclopedia so we’d have new copies every year. And she exposed us to comparative religions and philosophies.

And WOW, did she ever hit us with “Think And Grow Rich” and “The Power of Positive Thinking” and “Psycho-Cybernetics” and “The Golden Key” and “Message to Garcia” and “Acres of Diamonds” and…

Well, you get it. And one of them was the saying coined by a Frenchman named Emile Coué: “Every Day In Every Way I’m Getting Better And Better.”

I wanted to offer a few thoughts about this saying.

##

I think that we can agree that if your self-talk is NEGATIVE: “I can’t. I’m ugly. I’m worthless” and so forth, it is likely to diminish the efficiency of our actions. But is it reasonable to think that the opposite, POSITIVE self-talk, INCREASES the efficiency of our actions?

Well…I say yes, with caveats.

1. You have to believe it. That means that…