Editing Affirmative prayer (section)

== Self-help ==
[[William James]] described affirmative prayer as an element of the American metaphysical healing movement that he called the "mind-cure"; he described it as America's "only decidedly original contribution to the systemic philosophy of life."<ref name= Zaleski>{{cite book |title=Prayer: A History |page=322 |first= Philip |last=Zaleski |author2=Carol Zaleski |publisher=Mariner Books |year=2006 |isbn=0-618-77360-6}}</ref>

What sets affirmative prayer apart from secular [[Affirmations (New Age)|affirmations]] of the [[autosuggestion]] type taught by the 19th century [[self-help]] author [[Émile Coué]] (whose most famous affirmation was "Every day in every way, I am getting better and better") is that affirmative prayer addresses the practitioner to God, the Divine, the Creative Mind, emphasizing the seemingly practical aspects of religious belief.<ref name=Inge>{{cite book |title=Handbook of American Popular Culture |url=https://archive.org/details/handbookofameric02inge |url-access=registration |first=M. Thomas |last=Inge |publisher=Greenwood Press |year=1989 |page=1256 |isbn=0-313-25406-0}}</ref>