I like it.

Your blow-by-blow of how the Litany’s words act as triggers for you is definitely not my experience — but I can see where your responses come from. I think the key for anyone would be to do a personal breakdown and then do a “custom rewrite” in the way we’ve both suggested.

The process should ultimately result in a unique affirmation or prayer — always the goal in my opinion. In my experience, very few borrowed affirmations, spells, or prayers out-perform those that I create according to my own unique needs.

I definitely agree that acknowledging pain, facing it, and working through it is a vital process, and the Litany is a great lyrical trigger for that. The formula you present is definitely a powerful one, and simple to do, too.

I think, though, that the action you take is not the only thing that counts here. What you’re after is developing a positive emotional state — one that doesn’t deny the pain, but which doesn’t focus on it, either. The strategy you outline aims to direct your attention away from the problem and onto the solution, which is awesome. But as Claire says, sometimes just mentioning the problem is enough to reinforce the negative emotions you’re trying to work through. Sometimes they’re just so strong that it’s hard to get past that trigger and focus on your positive plans.

This is actually a problem I’ve always had with the Litany. I first got hooked on Herbert when I was in high school, when I experienced a lot of fear; and I was delighted to read about the Litany! I memorized it and tried it out… but it never worked like it did in the books. My mind would run like this:

I must not fear. Fear. Fear. Fear…
Fear is the mind killer. Mind killer. Killer. Fear…
Fear is the little death… death! Death!…

You get the idea. By the time I got around to “face my fear”, I felt so much worse I could barely concentrate on the words I was saying.

I think that the Litany is a great formula for dealing with fear, but as an actual mantra, it never had the intended effect for me.

Now, if you take the tack I described in this article, you’d want to find some word that means the exact opposite of “fear” and use that, instead. By activating the opposite of fear, you cancel the effect of the fear without directly activating it.

What is the opposite of “fear”? Perhaps “courage”? Let’s go with that… So you should be able to “translate” the first part of the Litany (the part that describes fear) into something that means exactly the same thing, but using all-positive phrasing (with some other tweaks — for example, I’ve replaced the future tense of the Litany against Fear with present tense):

The Litany for Courage:

I am courageous.
Courage enlivens the mind;
It is the spark of life that brings forth new creation.
With courage, I face forward.
Courage fills me, and shows my path.
The way ahead is open and plain.
I walk it bravely.

What do you think…?