Connie Bowen - I Believe in Me: A Book of Affirmations

One of the most important teachings in all of life is the principle of cause and effect. We always reap what we sow. When we eat nourishing food, we get healthy; when we eat junk food, we tend to get sick. Effects are put into motion by their causes. In a similar way, the thoughts we think and the words we say are causes that shape how we experience and how we evaluate the events that occur in our lives. They may appear to be happenstance; they are not.

They are effects put into motion by us. All of us take on the royal responsibility of shaping our personal worlds. Our thoughts and words are a decree to the Universe as to what kind of life we expect. Obviously, we would be wise to think and speak carefully. What a great gift it is to give children an understanding of the power of words and thoughts. They can build on this foundation a very good life indeed.

It is also a gift to ourselves to remember the elegant simplicity of affirming and knowing the Truth about ourselves. This is a book of affirmations. Let me remind all of us that affirmations are not true just because we say them. We say them because they are True! Affirmations are strong statements of Truth. They recognize that God is in us and in every situation. When we affirm, we say Yes! to the Truth.

This is also a book of illustrations. The silhouetted figure in each illustration represents the Divine that is within us. We have provided pages at the back of the book so that you and/or your child or grandchild may write and create personalized illustrated affirmations. Affirmations need to be positive and expressed in the present tense. For example, affirming that you will beat your friend at one-on-one basketball may seem positive to you but it is not in the present nor is it based on Truth. You can instead affirm: Iam healthy and strong; I give my best, for this speaks to the Truth within you.

Enjoy the playful, intriguing artwork of Connie Bowen. I appreciate how it opens my heart and stills my mind to receive the Truth of each affirmative statement. May your own inner child awake and rejoice in how wondrous you truly are. Michael A. Maday 1995

My son Matthew had reached his first birthday, and I had gone to the library to look for a book for him. I wanted a book that would show him what a magnificent person he wasa spiritual being capable of infinite creativity and fulfillment.

I wanted him to feel his divinity and the power within him to achieve greatness. I had only been in the library a few minutes when I had a strong feeling that I wouldnt find what I was looking for among the shelves. When I returned home, I immediately started sketching some ideas I had about love, about our true Self. It wasnt until a few months later that I realized what I really wanted to do was to write out some affirmations, then illustrate them in a way that would be appealing to children and to the inner child in us all. I took about a week off from my busy court reporting business and wrote out fifty affirmations and began to illustrate them with colored pencil. It was as if I had opened the door just a crack by my willingness to serve God in this way, and the Universe was now widening this open door.

The more I drew, the more ideas and images kept coming to me. I found my best time to draw was from 9 p.m. on into the night when Matthew was asleep and the house was quiet. The time slipped by unnoticed as I felt compelled to keep drawing. I would glance at the clock, and it would be 10 p.m.; then what seemed like twenty minutes later, I would glance at it again, and it was 1:30 in the morning. It has now been two years, and I see the fulfillment of my dreama book to use as a tool to realize our inner greatness, our immense potential to achieve our cherished longings.

Through positive images and positive statements of affirmation, we focus our energies in a productive way, turning from false appearances to the infinite Good that is our birthright as children of the Spirit of Love. I dedicate this book to all who seek to know themselves. May you find in its pages the glory and the beauty that are you. Connie Bowen Lake Oswego, Oregon 1995 I am wonderfully creative. I am safe. I learn and discover new things every day. I am powerful. I am free to be me. I am helpful and caring. I have a place of stillness within me. I follow my heart. I make friends easily. I am thankful. I share my love and watch it grow.