Question: Do you have any inspiration on how to deal with fears I’ve been encountering that have been around for a long time?

Answer: This may sound surface, but I love what the letters of FEAR spell out – “False Evidence/Education Appearing Real.” Because fear really is a false concept. Fear is simply the opposite side of faith. Fear means you’re confident that what you fear will happen.

But to deal with the old ones means you need to access them. Recognize that they served you in the past, but you’ve outgrown the need for them. It can be scary, because they’ve limited you for so long that they’ve gotten to be a comfortable, ratty old blanket. And they can give you the excuse not to move forward and risk.

What I’ve discovered is that when you face your fears, step out and begin to do what you fear, many times the fear evaporates because it realizes that you don’t need it anymore.

Sometimes, when I do begin to confront and go beyond the fear, it begins to fight back, because it thinks I still need it. In that case, I find out what the core issue is. Once, it was a belief that I had to struggle in life to avoid others’ criticisms.

What is it that you’re truly afraid of? Meditate on that, and see what might come up. You may find that it’s simply a hollow habititual way of thinking.

Also, you might meditate to find out how the fear is serving you now, in present day. For instance, my need to struggle kept me from fully expressing myself, and kept me safe. I may have been criticized, but as long as I was struggling, no one could complain I wasn’t working. And my results, which never happened, couldn’t be criticized.

Once I decided that it was safe to move on, and who cares if someone doesn’t like what I’m doing, the struggle issue let go.

Copyright 2003, 2012 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

empowerment · meditation · personal development · personal growth · self-help · self-improvement

Question: I realize that we have to go through various experiences to grow and learn a particular lesson and then move on, but what happens if we do not know what the lesson was supposed to be?

Answer: It doesn’t matter if we consciously know what the lesson is or not. Subconsciously we do, and so does our Higher Mind. When you have a challenging experience, you do the best you can with it. (Hopefully you’ve also been able to stay in alignment with your principles.)

Most of the time, you’ll have the same lesson appear over and over again, in different aspects. It’s to “help” you explore different ways to deal with it, and/or to give you an opportunity to master it. In the mastery of it, you may get to experience all sorts of different sides of the issue.

For instance, a person might have a lot of critical people in his/her life. The challenge would be to deal with the criticism in a way that would emotionally support him/herself. But s/he might not know that. All s/he knows is that people are always picking at him/her.

Once s/he begins to stand up for him/herself, the critical people begin to either fade away or change their attitudes. One of his/her issues would be to realize that the critics are simply echoing what is already going on in his/her mind.

In AA, they say that if a partner of an alcoholic doesn’t heal what attracted the alcoholic in the first place, that the partner will continue to attract alcoholics, even if they leave the original one.

If you’re wondering what the lesson could be, assess how you felt during it. Think about other challenges in your life. Is there anything similar about the feelings, or the thoughts you had during it that you’ve had before? With life lessons, there will always be some sort of pattern. The situations may be different, but the feelings will likely be the same.

Copyright 2002, 2011 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

attitude · beliefs · consciousness · expectation · personal development · personal growth · problem solving · self-help · subconscious

Question: If we are 100% responsible, then are miracles, as some Spiritual paths suggest, only a natural out picturing of Universal law when we really let go?

Answer: Miracles are the natural flow of the Universe. As someone once said (paraphrased) “If you aren’t experiencing them, you’re using your busy mind to create difficulties.”

God isn’t a white knight on a horse waiting to swoop down and save you from yourself. I sometimes wish it were so. When a person prays or affirms help or healing, they’re actually changing their own mind. Not God’s. God is always directing, guiding, inspiring, helping us. God is health, and healing is the process of allowing God as health in.

When a person prays or affirms, they’re acknowledging the truth of the situation. As soon as they convince themselves of it, then it manifests. It’s simple, but not easy.

Copyright 2002, 2011 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

beliefs · change · expectation · spiritual

Question: How do we discern if a situation is the result of really deep subconscious negative thoughts/beliefs OR simply the ‘process’ we are in as the Universe brings us that which we have asked for?

Answer: Lots of things could be happening with it. If you’ve been doing a lot of intense releasing and inner work, your situation could be the subconscious clearing itself out. When a person transforms quickly, the subconscious tends to confront them with much of their old garbage, all at one time.

Imagine having a garage full of old stuff that you decide to clean out in a weekend. Lots of dust and chaos happens as you go through the process.

Another thing that could be happening is that you’re challenging a deeply held belief. It could be anything from “I deserve” to “Life flows easily.” Again, the old programming is unraveling and showing up very visibly in your life. You can pretty much tell if it’s either of these if the situation is similar to others in your life, but bigger.

Or if the condition is completely opposite to what you’ve been working on. For example, you’ve been affirming “I deserve,” and now people are coming out of the woodwork telling you how worthless you are. Just keep up with your inner work, and the outer will come into alignment.

Another reason this could be happening is that the Universe knows what you want, and is trying to move you out of a situation that you’ve outgrown and won’t leave willingly. So the Universe is making it so uncomfortable that you have to leave for something better.

No matter what, the situation is a result of old subconscious beliefs, either being released, fighting being changed, or having been outgrown and you haven’t let go of the outer experience yet.

Copyright 2002, 2011 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

beliefs · change · personal development · self-improvement · subconscious

Question: How long does it take for an affirmation to take effect?

Answer: It depends on how long and how deeply ingrained the old conditioning is. If it’s been there for a long time, or it’s a deeply held belief, it may take a few months of constant affirmation to completely change it. You will likely notice small improvements along the way.

Think of it like tacking a boat. You have to make small incremental changes in the boat’s course to turn it around. If you try to change the course too fast from due west to due east, then you risk ending up in the water. Keep track of the improvements, and use them to encourage yourself.

I tell my clients that it takes thirty days to change a habit (mental or physical), another thirty days to create a new habit (which would be your new thought pattern), and another thirty days to make that new habit familiar.

Even after that, you may find that times of stress may tempt you back to the old way of thinking. That’s normal, because that way has been the most familiar to the subconscious. Just start declaring your affirmation again.

Copyright 2002, 2011 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

affirmation · attitude · beliefs · believe · change · empowerment · self-improvement

Question: Can I do an affirmation on behalf of someone else?

Answer: You can affirm on behalf of someone else, as long as that person has asked for the affirmation. If they have not asked for it, you might be interfering with their choices and learning if you affirm something better for them.

I had a friend who affirmed that her husband would refrain from drinking. It worked, he stopped, until she realized that it wasn’t his choice to do so. When she stopped affirming that, he began drinking again. He had other things he needed to learn before he could make the decision himself to stop drinking.

It’s hard when you see someone you love in distress, and you want to help, but they’ve created the situation to learn from. What you can do is affirm for their Highest Good, or when you state a specific affirmation, include a statement such as “if they’re in mental agreement.”

Copyright 2002, 2011 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

affirmation · personal growth

Question: Are there ways a person can unknowingly cancel the positive affirmation that they’re using?

Answer: There are many ways you can cancel out a positive affirmation. One of the most basic is not having faith that it will manifest. If you’re afraid that the affirmation won’t create what you want, this will sap power from the statement, and you’ll manifest what you fear.

Having unconscious conflicts or blocks to the result will also restrict the manifestation. These could be from past experiences, childhood programming, other people’s conditioning, or any number of things.

The best thing to do is to examine what you really *feel* about the outcome. Listen to any negating statements you might tell yourself, and track them down to where they came from. Address them with an affirmation that counters them.

One of the most common ways to negate an affirmation is stating the affirmation, then during the day, stating its opposite. For example, affirming “I’m prosperous” then saying, “I don’t have enough money for….”

One other way that comes to mind is giving power to someone else to negate the affirmation. For example, if there are negative people in your life, and they belittle you when you say something positive. They can’t actually take any power away from you that you don’t give them. But, in this case, the most prudent thing to do is to keep your positive goals to yourself.

Copyright 2002, 2011 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

affirmation · believe · positive thinking · self-talk

Question: “What can I do when I get concerned about my finances?”

Answer: When I get into that state (as I sometimes do), I immerse myself in books on prosperity. This not only helps my peace of mind, but keeps my thoughts more positive.

See if your local library has any prosperity books, especially by Catherine Ponder or Joseph Murphy. One of my standby’s is “The Abundance Book,” by John Randolph Price. There are also a bunch written recently by other authors. Even books on general mind principles by Emmet Fox are great for this.

Your library is probably connected to a library system, so if they don’t have the book you want, another in the system probably does and you can order it.

Copyright 2011 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

abundance · beliefs · believe · prosperity · success

Question: I have been trying to develop my “psychic gifts” for many years now, without success. What can I do to get past it?

Answer: Many people are in a similar situation to you. They would like to develop an ability or talent more, but feel that it’s being blocked somehow. Sometimes, its cause is in a past life, and is re-stimulated in the present life. I’d recommend you read my article, “Past Lives: 101, Part 1-3″ especially part 3, (go to my Article Index page and scroll down near the bottom) to get some deeper understanding of how this works. And many times, it’s something that has happened in the current life that has shut it down.

As to how to get past it, begin telling yourself that it’s safe now to experience those gifts. The subconscious is just trying to keep you protected and safe. If some trauma happened in a past life that made it dangerous to express them, then letting the subconscious/soul know that the fear is a response to a time long ago, and not relevant now, is key. Inner reassurance that it isn’t dangerous for you any more, that this is a different situation, can help to reduce the subconscious’ attempt to protect you.

Generally, as with any block, a past life issue was then re-triggered in the present life. If you can track back to what might have been said or done that shut you down as a child, that can be very helpful. An adult might have disbelieved you or was afraid of how you could sense things. Unfortunately, this happens a lot.

To handle it, you follow the same process as dealing with a past life issue. Reassurance, encouragement, specifically addressing what was said or done, will help the subconscious realize that it’s okay now.

Then start practicing your psychic gift in a small way, in one area. For instance, sense where you should go for the best parking place. Or, when the phone rings, sense who it might be. You could get the pack of “psychic cards,” that have different shapes on them, choose one at a time, and practice predicting which one has been selected. Pick one exercise, and do that and only that one for a while.

This is to help begin expanding the availability of your gift, as well as showing the subconscious that nothing bad is happening from it.

Take it slow, one step at a time. This builds your confidence that can expand into other areas, and it builds the subconscious’ feeling of safety. I know you want to make faster progress, but it could be counter-productive. If you try to go too fast, it might be too much for your subconscious to handle, and it’ll shut down again. Take it slow and steady.

Copyright 2011 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

beliefs · believe · empowerment · intuition · personal development · personal growth · self-talk

Question: If one person is affirming something positive for a friend, while someone else is speaking negatively to that friend, will that affect the first person’s affirmation?

Answer: If one person is affirming something for someone else, the receiver may or may not accept the blessing of the affirmation. For instance, a person can affirm health for a loved one, but the loved one has to accept the idea of health for the affirmation to be fulfilled. They have free choice as to whether to experience it or not. Why would someone not want to have a better life? There are many reasons for that.

And if someone else is affirming something negative, the receiver will accept whatever they identify with the most. Their dominant attitude will lean them in the direction of the most familiar. For example, suppose you give a compliment to someone. If they have a good self-image, they’ll just say “Thank you.” However, if they lack self-esteem, most likely they’ll negate whatever the compliment was.

What a person can do to help is to include a statement in their affirmation to give the person the free will to accept the substance of the affirmation and protect them from negativity. Something like “If any part of them is in agreement with this affirmation, then they accept it, and every level of their being is protected from outer negative influences.”

Copyright 2002, 2011 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

affirmation · attitude · beliefs · personal development · positive thinking · self-improvement