“I am whole, perfect, strong, powerful, loving, harmonious and happy.” This potent affirmation comes from The Master Key System by Charles Haanel, a book that inspired much of the current manifestation belief system. Let’s break it down into its eight parts.
You may have noticed that I said, “eight parts,” instead of seven. That is because the first word, I, is critically important in understanding the rest of the affirmation.
I
Who is the “I” that is whole, perfect, strong powerful, loving, harmonious and happy? It is your true self. The immortal self unencumbered by circumstances. The self free of ego. It’s may be hard to even get a glimpse of this self. But finding out what this true self wants can help you to manifest more authentic happiness than focusing on what the superficial ego wants. Material trappings can be a reflection of true desires of the self. A nice house may represent family, love and security. A fancy car may represent freedom. If you focus on the desire underneath the material expression, you can allow the universe to give you what you really want, and you may be surprised at the form it takes.
One way to get at what you truly desire is to think about what needs objects of desire might represent. You can also ask your heart — your heart knows. Place one or both hands on your heart and ask the question, “What do I want?” Let go of answers that seem to be coming from your brain and listen to messages from your heart.
Whole
How can broken people be whole? You can think of this aspirationally (“If I think it, it will come to be”) or you can go back to “I”. Who is it that is whole? Your physical self? Your spiritual self? Your true self, the I making this claim to wholeness, is indeed whole. Hindus call this I the atman, Jains call it jiva. It is forever whole… and perfect.
Perfect
As with the concept of whole, the soul/atman/jiva is unflawed. But there is is another way to think of your self as perfect. We can accept a flower as perfect even though we know it may be missing a few petals. A baby seems perfect even though it cries. Sometimes flaws in a partner make them even more endearing. So, there is perfection in flaws. Or maybe it’s easier to see the true self of a flawed flower, child or partner because we have opened our hearts to them. If you open your heart to your self, you can accept yourself, with all your flaws, as perfect.
Strong
You are a powerful being with great agency. Think of all that you have done and have withstood. You are literally a thinking manifestation of the universe. Pretty strong stuff.
Powerful
Not only do you have physical and intellectual power, you have the ability to manipulate events around you. That is great power. You have just barely tapped into your potential power.
Loving
Love is the glue that connects life. It’s good to frequently remind yourself that you love and are loved. Just like you have to open your heart up to yourself to see that you are perfect, you have to open your heart to others to see that love illuminates and connects all of life. It makes you vulnerable, but it also makes life worth living.
Harmonious
When things fall into place, everything is harmonious. You can feel it. That’s what you want to aim for, so remind yourself of it. Let’s also look at the different between melody and harmony. One person can sing a melody, but harmony requires singing together.
Happy
You deserve to be happy. This affirmation reminds you of that.
I am whole, perfect, strong, powerful, loving, harmonious and happy. Affirmations are meant to be repeated. After repeating them for some time, you may find yourself just mouthing the words without contemplating their meaning. But the power of affirmations comes from their meaning. So, when you repeat this or other affirmations, take your time and really feel what each of the eight parts means to you.
