What Is a Denial?

Eliminating thoughts and beliefs we have come to regard as false, limiting, or negative.

True denial releases the energy expended in holding nonproductive ideas.

Denials are often partnered with affirmations. First, we clear away or release a false belief, followed by affirming an important truth. Together they make a valuable and rewarding tool.

Here are some examples of Denials about money:
  • I release the idea that there is not enough, that I could run out of time or money.
  • I am not subject to the mass consciousness of fear and insecurity with every turn of the market.
  • False notions of lack and limitation have no hold on me.
  • My value is not defined by my present net worth.

“How I Think About Denials”

by Rev. Linda Martella-Whitsett

Spiritual denial is not the same as the psychological term that means refusing to face reality. We never suggest denying the facts or glossing over feelings.

This spiritual form of denial—a term coined more than a century ago—means to release or renounce. It is dis-identifying with and eliminating thoughts and beliefs that we have come to regard as false, limiting, or negative. True denial releases the energy expended in holding nonproductive ideas.

In this sense, we can deny:

  • Any belief we have been harboring about the permanence of our circumstance or the length of time it is taking to resolve.
  • Negative interpretations of the circumstance, such as making it mean that something is broken, wrong, or missing in our life.
  • Identification with the condition, such as naming it “my” disease or making the condition a bigger part of our life than it actually is.
  • Believing what I have been told and what “everyone” knows about a condition. A good example is claiming seasonal allergies because “everyone” has them.
  • Self-punishing beliefs about God and about human nature.

There is no absence of life, substance, or intelligence anywhere.

God in me is infinite wisdom; I know just what to do.

WHAT IS AN AFFIRMATION?

An affirmation is a declaration of spiritual truth, supporting us in the way an anchor holds a boat steady in its position on the water.

An affirmation is a claim on truth, our demand on truth to establish itself in mind and heart. Affirmations are often partnered with denials as a practice of first clearing away or releasing a false belief, followed by affirming an important truth. Together they are a valuable and rewarding tool.

Here are a some examples of Affirmations for health:
  • Divine life is my true state of being.
  • Every cell in my body is thrumming with divine life.
  • I lean into the glory of Divine Love and all fear falls away.

“Understanding How Affirmations Work”

by Rev. Linda Martella-Whitsett

An effective affirmation is not wishful or magical thinking, and – this is important – it is not a prediction of how things will turn out. Rather, it is a statement of what is true here and now.

The affirmations remind us of the spiritual principles behind life’s events, like the sun shining behind the clouds.

An example might be about money. We don’t affirm we’ll be rich someday. Instead, we affirm what is true now and always:

  • The key to prosperity lies within me.
  • I claim and affirm there is plenty of time and money, plenty of possibilities for me to thrive.
  • I open my mind in abundance. I open my heart in appreciation.
  • I cultivate a plenty consciousness.
  • Denials sweep away negative thoughts. Affirmations state the truth of the good that is always ours.