The Essential Louise Hay Collection Read online

  There was one client who seemed to me to be so bright and intelligent. Her mind was unusually clever and quick, and she had a great sense of humor. Yet she could not get her act together. She was overweight, broke, frustrated in her career, and without a romance for many years. She could accept all the metaphysical concepts quickly; they made a lot of sense to her. Yet she was too clever, too quick. She found it difficult to slow herself down enough to practice over a meaningful period of time the ideas she could grasp so quickly on a moment-by-moment basis.

  Daily meditation helped her enormously. We began with only 5 minutes a day and very gradually worked up to 15 or 20 minutes.

  Exercise: Daily Affirmations

  Take one or two affirmations and write them 10 or 20 times a day. Read them aloud with enthusiasm. Make a song out of your affirmations and sing them with joy. Let your mind go over these affirmations all day long. Affirmations that are used consistently become beliefs and will always produce results, sometimes in ways that we cannot even imagine.

  One of my beliefs is that I always have good relationships with my landlord. My last landlord in New York City was a man known to be extremely difficult, and all the tenants complained. In the five years I lived there, I saw him only three times. When I decided to move to California, I wanted to sell all my possessions and start fresh and unencumbered by the past. I began to do affirmations such as:

  “All my possessions are sold easily and quickly.”

  “The move is very simple to do.”

  “Everything is working in Divine Right Order.”

  “All is well.”

  I did not think about how difficult it would be to sell things or where I would sleep the last few nights or any other negative ideas. I just kept doing my affirmations. Well, my clients and students quickly bought all the little stuff and most of the books. I informed my landlord in a letter that I would not be renewing my lease, and to my surprise, I received a phone call from him expressing his dismay at my leaving. He offered to write a letter of recommendation to my new landlord in California and asked if he could please buy the furniture, as he had decided to rent that apartment furnished.

  My Higher Consciousness had put the two beliefs together in a way I could not have conceived of: “I always have good relationships with my landlord,” and “Everything will sell easily and quickly.” To the other tenants’ amazement, I was able to sleep in my own bed in a comfortable furnished apartment until the last moment, AND BE PAID FOR IT! I walked out with a few clothes, my juicer, my blender, my hair dryer, and my typewriter, plus a large check, and I leisurely took the train to Los Angeles.

  Do Not Believe in Limitations

  Upon arriving in California, it was necessary for me to buy a car. Not having owned a car before nor having made a major purchase before, I did not have any established credit. The banks would not give me credit. Being a woman and self-employed did not help my case any. I did not want to spend all my savings to buy a new car. Establishing credit became a Catch-22.

  I refused to have any negative thoughts about the situation or about the banks. I rented a car and kept affirming that, “I have a beautiful new car, and it comes to me easily.”

  I also told everybody I met that I wanted to buy a new car and had not been able to establish credit so far. In about three months’ time, I met a businesswoman who instantly liked me. When I told her my story about the car, she said, “Oh, well, I will take care of that.”

  She called a friend at the bank who owed her a favor, and told her that I was an “old” friend, and gave me the highest references. Within three days, I drove off a car dealer’s lot with a beautiful new car.

  I was not excited so much as I was “in awe of the process.” I believe the reason it took me three months to manifest the car was that I had never committed myself to monthly payments before, and the little kid in me was scared and needed time to get up the courage to make the step.

  Exercise: I Love Myself

  I assume you are already saying, “I approve of myself” almost nonstop. This is a powerful foundation. Keep it up for at least a month.

  Now take a pad of paper and at the top write, “I LOVE MYSELF; THEREFORE…”

  Finish this sentence in as many ways as you can. Read it over daily, and add to it as you think of new things.

  If you can work with a partner, do so. Hold hands and alternate saying, “I love myself; therefore…” The biggest benefit of doing this exercise is that you learn it is almost impossible to belittle yourself when you say you love yourself.

  Exercise: Claim the New

  Visualize or imagine yourself having or doing or being what you are working toward. Fill in all the details. Feel, see, taste, touch, hear. Notice other people’s reactions to your new state. Make it all okay with you no matter what their reactions are.

  Exercise: Expand Your Knowledge

  Read everything you can to expand your awareness and understanding of how the mind works. There is so much knowledge out there for you. This book is only ONE STEP on your pathway! Get other viewpoints. Hear other people say it in a different way. Study with a group for a while until you go beyond them.

  This is a life work. The more you learn, the more you know, the more you practice and apply, the better you get to feel, and the more wonderful your life will be. Doing this work makes YOU FEEL GOOD!

  Begin to Demonstrate Results

  By practicing as many of these methods as you can, you will begin to demonstrate your results of this work. You will see the little miracles occur in your life. The things you are ready to eliminate will go of their own accord. The things and events you want will pop up in your life seemingly out of the blue. You will get bonuses you never imagined!

  I was so surprised and delighted when after a few months of doing mental work, I began to look younger. Today I look ten years younger than I did ten years ago!

  Love who and what you are and what you do. Laugh at yourself and at life, and nothing can touch you. It’s all temporary anyway. Next lifetime you will do it differently anyway, so why not do it differently right now?

  You could read one of Norman Cousins’ books. He cured himself of a fatal dis-ease with laughter. Unfortunately, he didn’t change the mental patterns that created that dis-ease, and so just created another one. However, he also laughed himself to health on that one, too!

  There are so many ways you can approach your healing. Try them all, and then use the ones that appeal to you the most.

  When you go to bed at night, close your eyes and again be thankful for all the good in your life. It will bring more good in.

  Please do not listen to the news or watch it on TV the last thing at night. The news is only a list of disasters, and you don’t want to take that into your dream state. Much clearing work is done in the dream state, and you can ask your dreams for help with anything you are working on. You will often find an answer by morning.

  Go to sleep peacefully. Trust the process of life to be on your side and take care of everything for your highest good and greatest joy.

  There is no need to make drudgery out of what you are doing. It can be fun. It can be a game. It can be a joy. It’s up to you! Even practicing forgiveness and releasing resentment can be fun, if you want to make it so. Again, make up a little song about that person or situation that is so hard to release. When you sing a ditty, it lightens up the whole procedure. When I work with clients privately, I bring laughter into the procedure as soon as I can. The quicker we can laugh about the whole thing, the easier it is to let it go.

  If you saw your problems on a stage in a play by Neil Simon, you would laugh yourself right out of the chair. Tragedy and comedy are the same thing. It just depends on your viewpoint! “Oh, what fools we mortals be.”

  Do whatever you can to make your transformational change a joy and a pleasure. Have fun!

  In the infinity of life where I am,

  all is perfect, whole, and complete.

  I support myself,
and life supports me.

  I see evidence of The Law working all around me

  and in every area of my life.

  I reinforce that which I learn in joyous ways.

  My day begins with gratitude and joy.

  I look forward with enthusiasm to the adventures of the day,

  knowing that in my life, “All is good.”

  I love who I am and all that I do.

  I am the living, loving, joyous expression of life.

  All is well in my world.

  Part III

  PUTTING THESE

  IDEAS TO WORK

  Chapter Ten

  RELATIONSHIPS

  “All my relationships are harmonious.”

  It seems all of life is relationships. We have relationships with everything. You are even having a relationship now with the book you are reading and with me and my concepts.

  The relationships you have with objects and foods and weather and transportation and with people all reflect the relationship you have with yourself. The relationship you have with yourself is highly influenced by the relationships you had with the adults around you as a child. The way the adults reacted to us then is often the way we react toward ourselves now, both positively and negatively.

  Think for a moment of the words you use when you are scolding yourself. Aren’t they the same words your parents used when they were scolding you? What words did they use when they praised you? I’m sure you use the same words to praise yourself.

  Perhaps they never praised you, so then you have no idea how to praise yourself and probably think you have nothing to praise. I am not blaming our parents, because we are all victims of victims. They could not possibly teach you anything they did not know.

  Sondra Ray, the great rebirther who has done so much work with relationships, claims that every major relationship we have is a reflection of the relationship we had with one of our parents. She also claims that until we clean up that first one, we will never be free to create exactly what we want in relationships.

  Relationships are mirrors of ourselves. What we attract always mirrors either qualities we have or beliefs we have about relationships. This is true whether it is a boss, a co-worker, an employee, a friend, a lover, a spouse, or child. The things you don’t like about these people are either what you yourself do or would not do, or what you believe. You could not attract them or have them in your life if the way they are didn’t somehow complement your own life.

  Exercise: Us Versus Them

  Look for a moment at someone in your life who bothers you. Describe three things about this person that you don’t like, things that you want him or her to change.

  Now, look deeply inside of you and ask yourself, “Where am I like that, and when do I do the same things?”

  Close your eyes and give yourself the time to do this.

  Then ask yourself if you ARE WILLING TO CHANGE. When you remove these patterns, habits, and beliefs from your thinking and behavior, either the other person will change or he or she will leave your life.

  If you have a boss who is critical and impossible to please, look within. Either you do that on some level or you have a belief that “bosses are always critical and impossible to please.”

  If you have an employee who won’t obey or doesn’t follow through, look to see where you do that and clean it up. Firing someone is too easy; it doesn’t clear your pattern.

  If there is a co-worker who won’t cooperate and be part of the team, look to see how you could have attracted this. Where are you noncooperative?

  If you have a friend who is undependable and lets you down, turn within. Where in your life are you undependable, and when do you let others down? Is that your belief?

  If you have a lover who is cold and seems unloving, look to see if there is a belief within you that came from watching your parents in your childhood that says, “Love is cold and undemonstrative.”

  If you have a spouse who is nagging and nonsupportive, again look to your childhood beliefs. Did you have a parent who was nagging and nonsupportive? Are you that way?

  If you have a child who has habits that irritate you, I will guarantee that they are your habits. Children learn only by imitating the adults around them. Clear it within you, and you’ll find that they change automatically.

  This is the only way to change others—change ourselves first. Change your patterns, and you will find that “they” are different, too.

  Blame is useless. Blaming only gives away our power. Keep your power. Without power, we cannot make changes. The helpless victim cannot see a way out.

  Attracting Love

  Love comes when we least expect it, when we are not looking for it. Hunting for love never brings the right partner. It only creates longing and unhappiness. Love is never outside ourselves; love is within us.

  Don’t insist that love come immediately. Perhaps you are not ready for it, or you are not developed enough to attract the love you want.

  Don’t settle for anybody just to have someone. Set your standards. What kind of love do you want to attract? List the qualities in yourself, and you will attract a person who has them.

  You might examine what may be keeping love away. Could it be criticism? Feelings of unworthiness? Unreasonable standards? Movie star images? Fear of intimacy? A belief that you are unlovable?

  Be ready for love when it does come. Prepare the field and be ready to nourish love. Be loving, and you will be lovable. Be open and receptive to love.

  In the infinity of life where I am,

  all is perfect, whole, and complete.

  I live in harmony and balance with everyone I know.

  Deep at the center of my being, there is an infinite well of love.

  I now allow this love to flow to the surface.

  It fills my heart, my body, my mind, my consciousness,

  my very being, and radiates out from me in all directions

  and returns to me multiplied.

  The more love I use and give, the more I have to give.

  The supply is endless.

  The use of love makes me feel good;

  it is an expression of my inner joy. I love myself;

  therefore, I take loving care of my body.

  I lovingly feed it nourishing foods and beverages,

  I lovingly groom it and dress it, and my body lovingly

  responds to me with vibrant health and energy.

  I love myself; therefore, I provide for myself a comfortable home,

  one that fills all my needs and is a pleasure to be in.

  I fill the rooms with the vibration of love

  so that all who enter, myself included, will feel this love

  and be nourished by it.

  I love myself; therefore, I work at a job I truly enjoy doing,

  one that uses my creative talents and abilities,

  working with and for people I love and who love me,

  and earning a good income.

  I love myself; therefore, I behave and think in a loving way

  to all people for I know that which I give out

  returns to me multiplied.

  I only attract loving people in my world,

  for they are a mirror of what I am.

  I love myself; therefore, I forgive and totally release the past

  and all past experiences, and I am free.

  I love myself; therefore, I live totally in the now,

  experiencing each moment as good and knowing that my future

  is bright and joyous and secure,

  for I am a beloved child of the Universe,

  and the Universe lovingly takes care of me

  now and forever more. All is well in my world.

  Chapter Eleven

  WORK

  “I am deeply fulfilled by all that I do.”

  Wouldn’t you love to have the above affirmation be true for you? Perhaps you have been limiting yourself by thinking some of these thoughts:

  I can’t s
tand this job.

  I hate my boss.

  I don’t earn enough money.

  They don’t appreciate me at work.

  I can’t get along with the people at work.

  I don’t know what I want to do.

  This is negative, defensive thinking. What kind of good position do you think this will get you? It is approaching the subject from the wrong end.

  If you are in a job you don’t care for, if you want to change your position, if you are having problems at work, or if you are out of work, the best way to handle it is this:

  Begin by blessing your current position with love. Realize that this is only a stepping stone on your pathway. You are where you are because of your own thinking patterns. If “they” are not treating you the way you would like to be treated, then there is a pattern in your consciousness that is attracting such behavior. So, in your mind, look around your current job or the job you had last, and begin to bless everything with love—the building, the elevators or stairs, the rooms, the furniture and equipment, the people you work for and the people you work with—and each and every customer.

  Begin to affirm for yourself that, “I always work for the most wonderful bosses.” “My boss always treats me with respect and courtesy,” and, “My boss is generous and easy to work for.” This will carry forward with you all your life, and if you become a boss, then you will be like that, too.

  A young man was about to start a new job and was nervous. I remember saying, “Why wouldn’t you do well? Of course you will be successful. Open your heart and let your talents flow out of you. Bless the establishment, all of the people you work with, and the people you work for, and each and every customer with love, and all will go well.”

  He did just that and was a great success.

  If you want to leave your job, then begin to affirm that you release your current job with love to the next person who will be delighted to have it. Know that there are people out there looking for exactly what you have to offer, and that you are being brought together on the checkerboard of life even now.