Affirming Wholeness

In this week’s installment of the “Courage to Connect” blog series, Licensed Unity Teacher Nana Harrison shares her experiences working with the power of affirmations in her life. In her debut article for the UCOH blog, Nana takes her cues from foundational Unity teachers Myrtle Fillmore and Emilie Cady, giving us a glimpse into her experiences working with Unity teachings. Through the retelling of a personal experience working with affirmations, Nana reveals how affirming wholeness saved her from a potentially serious accidental injury.

Affirming Wholeness

Written by Nana Harrison, LUT

In Emilie Cady’s Lessons in Truth, she writes, “To affirm anything is to assert positively that it is so, even in the face of all contrary evidence.” Some might call that wishful thinking. But to Emilie Cady, practicing affirmations and affirmative prayer is absolutely key to successfully living Unity teachings in our life. She understood that we might have doubts about the practical power of simply affirming something into existence. Still, she teaches us to do them anyway.

In a sense, affirmations are how we express our faith. As our perceiving power, faith allows us to see the potential of something before that something comes into reality. Just because we are unable to see how a thing may get done does not mean it is impossible. Cady tells us to “compel ourselves to cease all futile quibbling” about whether, or how, affirmation will work. Instead, she teaches that we simply “go to work to prove the rule.”

Proving The Rule of Affirmative Power

In Job 22:28, we read, “You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you.” This speaks directly to the affirmative creative power available to us in our lives. As stated, Job 22:23 is not only an affirmation of faith, it is also an expression of the power of will. To decide is an act of will. Backed by the power of an affirmative faith, it can do miracles.

One of my favorite affirmations is: “I am whole.” When I speak or write this affirmation, I feel centered in the truth of my being. My thoughts align with truth, and truth replaces my fears. As I more deeply align with the truth that “I am whole,” I experience wholeness in conscious connection with God and the Christ Presence within me. As I connect with the truth within, I feel more deeply connected with the natural world around me.

On one occasion a couple of years ago, this simple yet powerful affirmation led me through a profound, real life experience. In the instant of a potential accident, affirming that I am whole, helped me to have an experience of my connected Oneness with all that is, and also saved me from a potentially serious injury.

A Short Cut To Enlightenment

I still remember the date. It was Monday, February 29, 2016, Leap Year Day. It was also the first day of a Spiritual Education and Enrichment Week at Unity Church of the Hills. I had arrived at church that morning at 8:30 to help with set up. I was also enrolled in several classes, so it was going to be a long, full day.

Around 8:00 p.m. that evening, while on break from Mark Hicks’s class, I walked out of Unity Oaks Building to retrieve a book from my car.  It was dark, and the cool crisp air felt refreshing to my senses. I was just walking along, enjoying the moment and stating my affirmation to myself. I am whole.

My car was parked near the bridge at the far end of the building, and I was enjoying the simple pleasure of the walk to my car. Just ahead of me, I noticed the bike rack, perhaps for the first time ever. As the concrete slab of the bike rack came into view, I instinctively headed towards it. I remember thinking I had never noticed the bike rack before that moment. Before I knew it, I had cut across the bike rack slab thinking it was a short cut to the parking lot closer to where my car was parked. I was about to learn that it was not a short cut.

Thank God For Soft Landings

As I stepped off the slab thinking I was stepping into the parking lot, I felt my left foot falling. In an instant, I became aware that I was falling, and I spoke my affirmation. I am whole. I held the word whole a little longer. Suddenly, I began to feel like I was floating down, rather than falling. While in midair, I felt my right foot join the left, then I landed ever so gently on the ground with both feet side by side.

I landed in the small ditch as soft as a feather. My body did not jar, and I stood there with both feet firmly on the ground. It was the softest landing imaginable. Mere seconds in time, maybe less. Yet, it also seemed I was suspended in time.  For a moment, I felt myself as pure energy. I experienced my body as an energetic vibration with no physical form. Then, just as suddenly as I had fallen off the slab, I realized I was now standing in the ditch, perfectly safe.

An All-Encompassing Magnificent Sensation of Love

In her book, Healing Letters, Myrtle Fillmore writes: “Let us rejoice that our good is in the realm of Mind, where it is instantly available and responsive to our thought and word and need.” As I reflect back on that experience, I realize more deeply the truth in Myrtle’s words. Standing there in that ditch on my own two feet, I remember feeling an all-encompassing magnificent sensation of love. I am whole. Once again, I held onto the word whole just a little longer for affirmative emphasis. I am whole.

Still, there I was standing in a ditch about two feet below the surface of the parking lot. I noticed a thought beginning to form in my mind. Then suddenly, I felt as if I were being lifted up out of the ditch and set down on the grass at parking lot level. I felt an overwhelming sense of deep gratitude flooding into my consciousness, as the thought “Thank you God, I am whole” repeated over and over in my head.

Connected With The Oneness Of All That Is

As I walked on to my car to retrieve the book I had set out for in the first place, my mind began playing the “what ifs” with me. What if I had fallen and not landed so gracefully? What if I had not been saying my affirmation? What if I had been seriously injured?  It could have ended much differently.

What I do know is that I sustained no injuries whatsoever. I am whole. In the space of a few short moments, I experienced the real, creative power of affirmations. I felt safe and connected with the Oneness of all that is. As I returned to my class, I continued holding the affirmation in mind. I slid back into my seat, but I was not able to focus on anything else. Fortunately it was near the end of that long day, and soon I was back home with my husband, Stan. “Wait till you hear what happened to me!”