One of the main psychological change technologies found in personal development literature is to affirm and/or visualize precisely what you want, with great emotional force. This key technique can be found again and again in classic texts like Think and Grow Rich, The Science of Getting Rich, and Psycho-Cybernetics, as well as contemporary books like Awaken the Giant Within (the slumbering giant is “a giant of emotion” when awakened, says Robbins), Maximum Achievement, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, and numerous books on the “Law of Attraction.” When practiced intensely and frequently as recommended, this technique literally becomes “the cultivation of inflation”—the deliberate and intentional practice of self-centeredness!

What are the consequences of using such a technique on the individual, on culture and society, and on the planet? What are alternative ways to cultivate one’s mind and emotions that lead to beneficial outcomes without the self-centeredness and inflation of such techniques?

Affirming what you want in positive, present tense language, over and over is a foundational technique of personal development found in self-help classics such as Think and Grow Rich, repeated in endless variations in books and blogs. Intensely affirming one’s desired outcomes—often for greed-based goals—amplifies the already self-focused tendency of the mind. Such affirmations end up being a version of the “what about me?” mantra that most of us say all day long already:

This touching music video is from the Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, a Tibetan Lama and lineage holder of Shambhala Buddhism, and son of Chogyam Trungpa. In this poem, he says…

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