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Monthly Archives: April 2007
Monthly Archives: April 2007
How many of your thoughts are you aware of?
Since your thoughts direct your life wouldn’t it be advantageous to know what they were?
Have you ever wondered why you are not experiencing some of what you want in your life even though you think about it?
Your unconscious thoughts may be the culprit keeping you where you are and away from what you have decided you want.
You are most likely unaware of some of your most self-directing thoughts. Thoughts that guide your everyday actions, your beliefs, your perceptions, your interpretations – actually the general direction of your life.
Most of these thoughts have built up gradually over time, some you may have known about at one time, but most you won’t even be aware of.
How does it feel to know you are guided and directed by you own thoughts – thoughts that you are unaware of?
Actually this should liberate you. The idea that there actually is something that you CAN take command of that will change your life the way you want is exciting!
It’s a lot better than going around believing that you must just live with certain things. The only thing is — is that this puts the responsibility on you.
You are what you think, so you can and actually you must get more control over your thinking and feelings in order to live your dreams
In order to get command of your life it is necessary to clarify your thinking, all your thinking — this includes those automatic unconscious thoughts.
Only with uncluttered, unchallenged without doubt clear thinking can you see the specific results you want.
You will need to do some digging to root out some of your deep set automatic habitual thinking that is no supporting what you now want.
One good way is to go on a mission of self-understanding. Asking probing questions of yourself is a great way to get your awareness to a deeper level.
So, since you are getting what you think, your life is really the evidence of your thinking.
Look carefully at what you are living with right now.
What can you tell about your thinking from your current experiences? What thoughts lead up to what you have in your life?
You don’t want to dig up your deep inner unconscious thinking just so you can dwell on it or beat yourself up about it — you want to find out what it is so that you can see if you want to change it at all.
If you don’t know that certain thoughts are active, below the surface, you won’t know what is the cause of your current living ‘evidence’ and you won’t know what to change.
One of the things that happens to hold you back from something you want is some unknown deep thoughts that sabotage your desires.
So you are harboring competing thoughts, and which ones do you think will win out? Yea, the ones deep down that have been there a long time.
The ones that your ego mind is protecting for you because it wants you to always feel comfortable – and your ego knows comfort comes with the known not the unknown – your new ideas of desire are new and unknown!
The universal intelligence that is responding to your every thought is totally confused when you have conflicting thoughts, so you may not get much of any clear results with this jumbled thinking.
Clarity and focus is what will yield the results you desire and clarity can only be had with single-minded thought. This means getting all your thinking into alignment, supportive of what you want.
Just get rid of the thoughts that negate, confuse or compete with what you want.
It’s common for us to not see how the law of attraction works because we seldom see the results we say we want and this is because we are really actively harboring thoughts that work against our desires.
Until you get to the core of what you think and feel about any and all aspects of life that relate to what you want, you may be sending unclear competing messages to the universe. You are actually getting what you send out, so again, your life right now is the clear evidence of your total thinking.
So if you are not living as you want today, look deeply into your thoughts and feelings – there have to be some that are going against what you want. You need to dig in and uproot them.
Once you know what they are, you can create the new thinking that will be supportive of your desires.
How you ask? Just make it up!
You decide what you should think in order to be supportive. It’s like writing a character for a movie, what attributes would he have in order to think and act in certain ways?
Write your thought and perception characteristics into your life as they need to be to support your desires.
One more point to consider —
This way of looking at yourself may be new to you but it is critical to get a hold of and manage your thinking – this is what you were created to do. You have all the equipment to do it.
This is the great feature humans have over all other creatures – the ability to manage our thinking.
This is what we should be doing to live to our fullest capabilities.
It’s up to you — to live on purpose through a life you design or live by default allowing programming, random thoughts and concepts to govern your daily behavior. The latter is what animals do!
Yes, we humans do have our basic animalistic pre-programmed behavior but it’s our abilities of creative thought that supports our fullest potential and this is done though the management of our thought and feelings.
“The universe never says no to your thought about yourself. It
only grows it.” — Neale Donald Walsch
“When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” — Paulo Coelho
I know – this self-understanding and thought management is one more thing that will take some time and commitment — you will have to decide if it is worth it to you.
If you are happy with how your life is now – maybe not worth a lot of time. But if dissatisfaction and deep desire for something different have bothered you and it hasn’t been coming together — do your frustration a favor — get into this and get your thinking clear and on target.
Above I mentioned asking yourself questions. This is a great way to probe deeply into yourself beyond what you have currently been aware of.
You’ve got to see what is there in order to decide if it is what you want of not.
Ask yourself questions like:
Why am I thinking this way?
Why do I react this way?
Why do I feel this way when . . . ?
How do I look at _____ ?
What are my core feelings about ____ ?
What are my thoughts about____ ?
Why do I keep___ over and over?
I suggest setting up specific times during the day for this self-discovery, sit down and question yourself, allow yourself to think freely. Don’t question what comes up into your awareness, write it all down – you can analyze later.
When asking questions, don’t just ask one and stop – keep asking why again after each answer you get. This will get you deeper.
Also, make it your intention to notice how you feel, think and act throughout the day. The more you are able to catch yourself the more you will be able to SEE the thought cause behind it all.
This too will take some time, so make a commitment and stick with it, you can create a new habit that includes being more consciously aware of your thinking all the time.
I know this is probably something you are not use to doing (otherwise you would already be clear with your thinking) but just give it a try. It may feel uncomfortable at first, just remember that it is just your ego defense mechanism trying to protect you by keeping your conscious mind away from anything new and unknown.
Just BE with the discomfort and ride through it – don’t let it cause you to back up.
Because something feels uncomfortable does not mean stop or run away. In this case it’s just a signal that something you are doing is unfamiliar.
Any new behavior takes time and persistence to master and make into a base habit.
Remember that having command of your thinking is your most advanced capability.
The universal creative mind is always responding to all of your thoughts, why not make them clear and on purpose?
John
“Most of our obstacles would melt away if, instead of cowering before them,
we should make up our minds to walk boldly through them.” — Orison Swett Marden
Every thought we think
Is like a flower in life’s garden,
And not the permanent possession of anyone.
Let our thoughts then
Be fragrant and beautiful,
Not rank and ugly,
That the memory we have behind us
Be felt as a blessing on this earth.
— Omar Khayyam
“It is the greatest good for an individual to discuss virtue (aka aret
But not just any thought.
I’m not talking about the fact that your mind is always on, always working.
I’m referring to conscious active thought, the kind of thought that you and I have been endowed with over the other creatures we share this planet with.
There can be a little confusion when people talk about taking action.
I see conscious purposeful thought as taking action.
Thinking this way takes effort and focus – you can’t do it effectively while doing something else.
Watching TV or driving is not active thought, it is passive – your mind is running, but not active.
Just because your mind is working does not mean you are thinking. You mind performs a lot of functions without your conscious input – I’m talking about managing the outcome of your life experience.
Thought as action is when you make the effort to define something, to analyze something, to visualize, exploring specific emotional feelings and more. It can also be contemplation, meditation, journaling or the like.
This is why so much time goes by and we haven’t done what we want – we haven’t taken the time and effort to think about something specifically.
So, thought can be action when applied to a specific purpose. Of course it is not the only action needed to accomplish anything, but it is a necessary part.
Many people expend so much thought energy while performing their job functions that when they get home all they want to do is relax – and not think.
We need to relax and unwind, but for how long? I think many just do way too much of this, particularly when you have ideas of more that you want to be doing.
If you ‘veg out’ and relax all evening after arriving home from a day’s work, how and when do you apply yourself to any kind of change or development? That is if you want to.
Find the time to manage your thought – take command and build your life.
Become meaningful and specific, take the action of purposeful thought.
John
What are you most likely going to do today – something different or something habitual?
You may not want to admit it, because of a negative connotation, but you are most likely going to do things that are habitual.
There is a reason for this . . .
It’s because you are human – this is the way we operate.
Our mental operating system automatically defaults to what we know and are accustomed to.
It doesn’t matter what the habits are, your brain will want you doing them – over and over!
Now you can try to fight this, but fight you will.
Or you can use it to your advantage – work with it – work with your natural normal tendencies.
Your mental operating system does not discriminate, any habits will do.
So why don’t you decide what they will be?
Actually you already have – well sort of.
Your current habits have been developed over the years by you, no one else can do this to you!
You have chosen them. Some by conscious choice but most by the unconscious choice to allow something to take hold.
Now this is not the time for the blame game – you didn’t know that these habits were forming, that they even could form or that they would stay with you as part of your operating system that would keep showing up day after day.
But now you do, so you can make more conscious choices now.
First, habits are not bad – well some are!
Actually a habit just is. Your operating system is not passing judgement on any of your habits, you decide that as well. To your operating system habits are like programs that it follows.
Habits allow us to do what we do everyday with out the need to figure it all out every time – what a drain of brain power that would be. Habits allow our minds to conserve energy, save time, increase efficiency, and so forth – it’s a good thing.
There will always be a set of operational habits serving as the bases of your thought and behavior.
So, since habits are a normal part of the structure of how we operate, why not choose what they will be?
Now that you know that most of what you do is part of an established habit
You can identify habitual patterns of thinking and behavior, then decide if you want to keep them or replace them with some that better support what you want in your life.
The first step is always seeing what you do – then you can do something about it if you choose.
John
I’m sure you have seen how geese fly in a V formation when they are traveling between their summer and winter homes. I was thinking about this and how well it relates to our thoughts.
Are your thoughts going in formation towards a common goal like geese on a mission or are they scattered? You know that what you will be living tomorrow will be the direct result of what you think about right now.
The geese make it to their destination, hundreds of miles, because they are all joined together focused on one specific mission.
What do you think would be the result if each goose had a different agenda, a different path they were trying to follow? They would not get to any one destination, if when each goose would take their position at the point of the V they would steer the group in a different direction. They would just end up going all over the place, never knowing where they would end up.
If they never stuck with any one destination long enough to actually get there, they would not end up anywhere specific. Where they found themselves at any moment would be where they were at that moment and this would always be the case, unless by some accident they made a destination, but would they know they were somewhere they wanted to be?
Four key elements are present in the flying behavior of geese that are worth looking at in terms of how your thoughts support your personal growth and development.
1) The consensus of your thought
This is like the cooperation a group of geese exhibits in order to succeed at the journey. Do all your thoughts converge and contribute to the same goal? If some of your thoughts are towards something you desire, some towards what you no longer want, some towards your fears and doubts, and some just distracted by something going on today, what is the consensus of these thoughts? Confusion, disharmony and no particular direction is like being all over the map.
In their V formation aren’t all the birds going in the same direction, keeping close together supporting one another in their single minded pursuit of their intention in order to succeed as a whole group? Each goose is committed to the same intention and each supports the others just as all you thoughts should be.
2) Thought energy invested
While the birds take turns being the lead so that one bird does not bear the brunt of the energy needed to break the wind, all the birds end up contributing to the whole with their energy focused on the one goal. The more they can put their energy into flying in the one direction, the quicker they arrive. This equates to how much of your thought time and emotional energy is focused on your destination
Just like flying the geese, the amount time and emotional energy you focus on the desired direction dictates when and if you will reach the goal. Constant change of focus from what you do want to what you don’t want, to something distracting, to uncertainty is not giving enough thought and emotional energy to what you want. Like the geese you will be somewhere different but it will not likely be very far from where you started, so the scenery will be much the same.
3) Clearly defined and tended to intention or destination
Of course, you need a specific thing, place and reason, this seems simple, but not always quite so in practice. Clear definition is very important, you need to have intention, a target, a goal in order to have something to focus on. But another aspect of this is the clouds. Are you sticking to it clearly and concisely or are you distracted by the clouds? The geese can keep on course and fly through the clouds because they don’t allow themselves to get distracted.
If you allow yourself to get distracted by too much of the daily stuff that goes on in everyone’s life, what is your actual focus? Is it not disjointed and unclear? All the daily goings on can be a huge factor in breaking your focus, thus leading you to place thought and energy on many other things which do not support or contribute to your declared intention.
Just like the geese you need to stick with something long enough with enough energy and clearly to actually get there. Whenever you allow your attention to lock on to something else, there is no energy going to the destination, and it may actually be going away from it as the result of other certain thought focus, such as doubt, fear and worry.
4) Single minded commitment and persistence
This should be clear, but so many people either gives up too soon or they switch gears too often to actually realize any of the desired results. The geese must fly in one direction for how many days to reach their destination? Every day until they get there! Think about it, if there is a lot of head wind they may not make many miles in a day, but they must keep going – they must, it’s life or death. Do geese take side trips? I don’t think so.
Until you persist in spite of your frustrations, doubts and setbacks you will not get there. Whenever you stop, you are guaranteeing that you will not get there. And you will never know how close you were when you did.
If the geese stop flying for a week, how much closer to their destination do they get?
If the geese change directions often, how much closer do they get?
If the geese can’t get together on where they are going, how close do they get?
If all of the geese don’t apply themselves to the one common focus, how close do they get?
If the geese gave up after 2 days and changed direction, where will they be?
Thousands of geese change living habitats twice a year because they are programmed to do all the right things that get them there – they don’t mess it up by allowing distractions to knock them off course.
If geese can do this, why not you. What’s their secret? The only difference is that you have free will and choice. Yes, you have the ability to choose NOT to clearly focus and persist towards your target, the goose does not.
But you can choose to do as they do and succeed on a regular basis. It’s up to you to watch and take command of your everyday thinking if you want your life to be on purpose. Think about how the geese accomplish their twice a year trek over hundreds of miles and how you can use their behavior to get where you want. You have the choice to do or not, it’s all in how you take command of your thinking. Get to where you can place most of your thoughts in a V formation with each supporting the lead or main directing idea and target?
Clearly define your target
Build single-minded focus, get your thoughts in formation,
Watch your thoughts, DAILY, for focus and distraction
Take command of your thinking, drop un-supportive thoughts, and add supportive thoughts
Persist until you get there
John
Wow, I saw the latest episode of ‘Planet Earth’ on the Discovery Channel. What wonderful photography, I don’t have a digital TV but the picture seems to be of higher quality than with most of what is on the tube. Must be the type of cameras they used in the filming.
Also the way the vignettes and the narration is put together is very appealing, it kept my attention
Understanding more about the intricacies of nature can lead to a better understanding of how you function. We share many characteristics with other living things on earth. To understand nature is to understand yourself.
This is well worth watching
John