AN ESSENTIAL SELF-CARE GUIDEBOOK FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF YOU CAN HEAL YOUR LIFE LOUISE HAY’S 21 DAY SIGNATURE DAILY PRACTICE FOR LEARNING HOW TO LOVE YOURSELF BASED ON HER MOST POPULAR VIDEO COURSE, LOVING YOURSELF Mirror work has long been Louise Hay’s favorite method for cultivating a deeper relationship with yourself, and leading a more peaceful and meaningful life. The Mirror Principle, one of Louise’s core teachings, holds that our experience of life mirrors our relationship with ourselves; unless we see ourselves as loveable, the world can be a dark and lonely place. Mirror work—looking at oneself in a mirror and repeating positive affirmations—was Louise’s powerful method for learning to love oneself and experience the world as a safe and loving place. Each of the 21 days is organized around a theme, such as monitoring self-talk, overcoming fear, releasing anger, healing relationships, forgiving self and others, receiving prosperity, and living stress-free. The daily program involves an exercise in front of the mirror, positive affirmations, journaling, an inspiring Heart Thought to ponder, and a guided meditation. Packed with practical guidance and support, presented in Louise’s warmly personal words, MIRROR WORK—or Mirror Play, as she likes to call it—is designed to help • Learn a deeper level of self-care • Gain confidence in their own inner guidance system • Develop awareness of their soul gifts • Overcome resistance to change • Boost self-esteem • Cultivate love and compassion in their relationships with self and others In just three weeks, you will establish the practice of Mirror Work as a tool for personal growth and self-care, and a path to a full, rich life. MIRROR WORK CHAPTERS WEEK ONE · Loving Yourself · Making Your Mirror Your Friend · Monitoring Your Self-Talk · Letting Go of Your Past · Building Your Self-Esteem · Releasing Your Inner Critic WEEK TWO · Loving Your Inner Child - Part One · Loving Your Inner Child - Part Two · Loving Your Body, Healing Your Pain · Feeling Good, Releasing Your Anger · Overcoming Your Fear · Starting Your Day with Love WEEK THREE · Forgiving Yourself and Those Who Have Hurt You · Healing Your Relationships · Living Stress Free · Receiving Your Prosperity · Living Your Attitude of Gratitude · Teaching Mirror Work to Children · Loving Yourself Now “Mirror work—looking deeply into your eyes and repeating affirmations—is the most effective method I’ve found for learning to love yourself and see the world as a safe and loving place. I have been teaching people how to do mirror work for as long as I have been teaching affirmations. The most powerful affirmations are those you say out loud when you are in front of your mirror. The mirror reflects back to you the feelings you have about yourself. As you learn to do mirror work, you will become much more aware of the words you say and the things you do. You will learn to take care of yourself on a deeper level than you have done before. The more you use mirrors for complimenting yourself, approving of yourself, and supporting yourself during difficult times, the deeper and more enjoyable your relationship with yourself will become.” Love, Louise Hay
Author
Louise Hay was born to a poor mother who married Hay's violent stepfather. When she was about five, she was raped by a neighbor. At fifteen she dropped out of high school without a diploma, became pregnant, and on her sixteenth birthday gave up her newborn baby girl for adoption. She moved to Chicago, where she worked in menial jobs, before moving in 1950 to New York. At this point she changed her name and began a career as a fashion model. She was successful at this, working for Bill Blass, Oleg Cassini, and Pauline Trigere. In 1954, she married Andrew Hay, but after fourteen years of marriage Louise was devastated when Andrew left her for another woman. Hay said that she found the First Church of Religious Science on 48th Street, which taught the transformative power of thought. Hay revealed that here she studied the metaphysical works of authors like Florence Scovel Shinn and the Religious Science founder Ernest Holmes. In the early 1970's Hay became a Religious Science practitioner. In this role she led people in spoken affirmations meant to cure their illnesses. She also became popular as a workshop leader. She studied transcendental meditation with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at his university in Fairfield, Iowa. In 1977 or 1978 she found she had cervical cancer, and she concluded that its cause was her unwillingness to let go of resentment over her childhood abuse and rape. She refused medical treatment, and began a regimen of forgiveness, therapy, reflexology, nutrition, and occasional enemas, and claims she rid herself of the cancer. She declared that there is no doctor left who can confirm this story, but swore that it is true. In 1976 Hay wrote a small pamphlet, which came to be called "Heal Your Body." This pamphlet was enlarged and extended into her book You Can Heal Your Life, which was published in 1984. As of February 2008, it is still on the New York Times best sellers list. Around the same time she began leading support groups for people living with H.I.V. or AIDS that she called Hay Rides. These grew from a few people in her living room to hundreds in a large hall in West Hollywood. Her work with AIDS patients drew fame and she was invited to appear on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and "Donahue" in the same week in March, 1988. You Can Heal Your Life immediately landed on the New York Times Best Sellers List. More than 35 million copies are now in print around the world in more than 30 languages and has been made into a movie. Louise Hay established Hay House Publishing. It is the primary publisher of books and audio books by Deepak Chopra and Doreen Virtue, as well as many books by Wayne Dyer. In addition to running her publishing company, Hay runs a charitable organization called Hay Foundation that was established in 1985. Information courtesy of Wikipedia.org.
