Affirmations Before Louise Hay

Most people think Louise Hay invented affirmations. They are off by about a hundred years. This video traces the 150-year lineage behind Louise Hay's affirmations — from Mesmer's baquets in 1770s Paris, to Quimby's parlor in Maine, to New Thought churches, to the French pharmacist who wrote "Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better." The Rooted Commons follows ideas upstream. We read deeply, contemplate, and try to discern what is living and what is merely inherited. — Sources and further reading: Mesmer, Franz Anton. Mémoire sur la découverte du magnétisme animal. 1779. Quimby, Phineas Parkhurst. The Quimby Manuscripts. Eddy, Mary Baker. Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. 1875. Hopkins, Emma Curtis. Scientific Christian Mental Practice. 1888. Holmes, Ernest. The Science of Mind. 1926. Coué, Émile. Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion. 1922. Scovel Shinn, Florence. The Game of Life and How to Play It. 1925. James, William. The Varieties of Religious Experience. 1902. Hay, Louise. Heal Your Body. 1976. You Can Heal Your Life. 1984. About The Rooted Commons: The Rooted Commons is a place for returning to ideas that once mattered, for tracing how they grew, and for asking whether they still have something to say to us. We follow ideas upstream. We read deeply, we contemplate, and we try to discern what is living and what is merely inherited.