Looking In The Mirror, Who Do You See?

Recently I posted on Facebook,

Have you looked into your eyes today . . . to see how amazing you are?  

After reading a comment on that statement I realized it would be good to tell you more about it and where I got the idea. It’s something that can enhance your self realization and personal growth.

I have a little note next to the mirror in by bathroom with some questions on it. It is there so that I will notice it every time I am at the mirror, where I can look at myself. But not for the usual looking at my hair and such, but for looking at myself, in the eye!

I got this from something I read, not sure where at the moment, but I started doing it o a regular basis and found it to be quite powerful. When you actually look yourself in the eye, you are making a connection that is deeper that your conscious level of awareness.

Here is the note:

Direct Eye Contact

Who are you?

Do I love you?

Do you love life?

What do you stand for?

Are you the best possible person you can be?

If you could have anything in the world what would it be?

The idea is to ask yourself these questions each morning. Doing this, you will find that you will come to know a deeper part of yourself than you usually are aware of. Asking yourself these questions elicits answers you may not have considered honestly before.

Getting to know yourself at a deeper level, means you are cutting through the normal ego mind thinking that takes up much of your conscious awareness.

So, do this yourself, you will see what I mean, it’s a personal experience. You may need to do it for a little while before you really open up to yourself, your ego mind is good at protecting anything that could rock the boat!

Like with anything you do to get in touch with your deeper self, relax about it, don’t get judgmental about your progress or lack of it. If you fight it or get stressed about it, you are operating from your ego mind, and just blocking it. Just tell yourself, “I’ll ask again tomorrow”

Doing this and discovering more about some of your deeper thoughts and feelings cam be a step to further getting to really know yourself better. This of course leads to being able to think, feel and act in ways that are in alignment with who you really are.

This can also be a great way to start your day, you are aligning with what is important and feeling good about it!

As with any personal growth, it’s most effective if you do it daily, not once in a while.

Keep Learning, Growing And Expanding Your Possibilities

Many times we get stuck thinking there is a limit on what it possible for us. This is mainly because of the perspective we currently hold. It is quite common top hear people knocking down the possibility of an idea because they can’t see how it can be done, or how ‘they’ could do it.

What we must recognize is that our perspective, how we see things, is only an opinion. and just a current one at that. You have many examples in your life where your perspective of something has changed over time, as you have done more things and met more people. So, having thoughts come up related to why you can’t do something is based on your current perspective, nothing more.

Change your perspective about what can be done, and even about what you personally can do and you increase what is possible for you. The only reason you don’t see something is possible for you is that you don’t believe you can do it. Here’s the thing, if someone else has done it, or something similar, it’s possible for a human to do it, and this means you!

I recall the story of Roger Bannister, who was the first man to break the records running a mile in under four minutes flat. Up until that point, it was commonly believed that this was not humanly possible. A man just could not do it, and nobody did. But after Roger did it, several others followed suit very soon after, clocking times under four minutes.

The other runners had shifted their belief and perspective on what was possible, so they allowed themselves to do it as well. Since we are talking about athletes, what is it that an athlete does to achieve the highest levels in their sport? They don’t have the knowledge and skill to perform at record breaking levels when they start out, they work up to it.

I don’t think Bannister had his sights on the four minute mark when he started, he probably believed much like all the others, it was not possible.  But at some point, he had to get to where he at least was thinking, “What if?” As he practiced and developed himself, he would see another opportunity to improve that he had not previously seen. Then another and another, and so on. Each time an athlete progresses, an new mark becomes a little bit more possible. This is what drives a person, seeing that something is possible.

Succeeding is not so much about what you know or can do when getting started with something, it’s more about how and what you learn as you go. If Bannister cold run at all when he began, he could learn to run better, faster. He just had to have enough of a vision to believe he could possibly get somewhat good at it, and get started.

The important part becomes what you do after you get started. It’s important to be open to learn, open to new ideas, to new perceptions. Here are Ten tools you can use to keep yourself continuously improving day to day.

1) What can I do better?
Ask yourself the question, “What can I do to improve/encourage/enhance/feel better about ______ ?”
Each day in the morning, give 10 minutes to thinking about something you could improve on today.
Do this multiple times a day. Notice what you are involved with, ask about improving it.                                      

2) What if?
Ask yourself the what if question as often as possible.
This will allow your creativity to help you to see what’s possible.
It helps keep you focusing forward rather than allowing yourself to get stuck in problem and why not.

3) Watch other successful people.
What are they doing? What are they moving towards?
Use this as evidence of what is possible.
How are they doing it may reveal something you can use, or an idea that leads to something.

4) Be around positive motivated forward thinking people.
It’s very easy to hear reasons why not, you can do that yourself.
Don’t allow yourself to be flooded with the naysayers negative energy.
This is very important in assisting you with keeping your possibility thinking open and your energy up.

5) Discuss your ideas with like minded supportive people.                                                                                                                         
Pose to them your questions, your problems. And discuss your curiosities and desires.
The power of masterminding is almost indescribable!

6) Expose yourself to new ideas and situations.
This creates a normal mode of open mindedness which will serve all of what you are doing.
Even getting exposed to things unrelated to your main focus can reveal new ideas you would not have thought of otherwise.
Go do something you have never done before, on a regular basis.

7) Learn and understand more of what you are capable of.
Many stifle themselves as they judge what they think are their talents and shortcomings.
Study what other people have proven can be done.
Study about your role as a creative human being and what this entails related to what you are capable of. 
Realize that capacity and talent are mainly a state of mind, a perception.

8) Accept a challenge.
Be willing to take on something you may feel is a stretch with time or ability.
Know that a healthy challenge is an opportunity to grow and prove to yourself what more you can do.
Choose the perspective of, “How can I?” rather than dwelling on why you can’t.
Excitement and curiosity open your creativity, worry, doubt and fear close it off!

9) Listen more than you speak.
Most of what you speak is reiterating what you now know.
Listening to others allows you to pick up on other peoples perceptions and vantage points.
Ask more than you tell, don’t waste your time trying to prove yourself to others, or feeling good from hearing yourself talk.

10) Keep a notebook handy to capture ideas.
You know how ideas come in an instant and can go just as fast when you are involved, you won’t remember everything!
This allows you to easily capture an idea from anywhere, anytime.
Answers to your questions come many times when your mind is on other matters.
Review your notes at the end of each day, sort them and file them away appropriately for easy access.

Remember, what you focus on most will have the greatest effect on your tomorrow. Learn to be a possibility thinker by focusing more of your thoughts and feelings on what can be done. I agree with many others in saying that because you get an idea, it means it is possible. It is just a matter of getting yourself to totally align with the results.

Attracting What You Want In Life Is An Acting Job

Does the actor playing the perfect role in a play, want to play that part? – No, he IS playing the part! How does this relate to attracting what you want into your life? When you become the lead player, the rest of the production fills in around you.

How did he get the position of playing the role? He prepared and practiced before the play began it’s run, so that he would be able to play the exact part required in the specific story. The play would not be successful if he could not play the part properly, if he was not the exact character the writer and director intended.

This is the same thing we should do in our lives when we want to be attracting a new and different life experience. Think about something you want, then think about yourself right now  – are you playing the role of the person who is doing or having what you want? Likely you are not or you would be enjoying the experience now. Right now you are like an actor who wants to play a particular role.

In order to actually experience what you want you must first get yourself into the character of one who is in that role enjoying what you want. Just as in a play, once the play starts you just don’t magically become the perfect character. You can’t wait until then to become character, the director would never let you go on!

It’s the very same in life, if you  are waiting for the thing you want to happen for you to to be the right person for the role . . . you will be waiting a long time! Now, with many things, you may already be in the role, it may be just a matter of you taking a specific action to realize the results. But with things that you are wanting that are beyond your current reality, you will need to learn a new role.

Think about the acting field, let’s say you were chosen to play a specific role in a play or movie. And then, you sat around not preparing yourself for the part, maybe you even complained that it was taking so long for everybody else to get ready. Do you think the director would let you go out and perform live or in front of the camera? Of course not, you are not prepared to play the specific charter at all and would not be able to fit in to the overall story line.

What you want in life is the story line! The question is, will you fit in to the required role to be included? You must first become the person qualified to play the new role, you can’t expect to be changed into the perfect character after it starts. And like a play or movie, it won’t start without the lead actor!

This is how you attract what you want, you become the perfect fit for what you want, then it can show up in your life. The whole production is waiting on you! If you continue to stay in a static want phase of your desire, you will continue to attract what that role aligns with – always wanting! Always wanting is a role many play, like the old wagon horse with a carrot dangled out in front of it to get it to move. The horse walks forward but the carrot is always just there ahead.

When you move yourself into the specific role of the person in your desire, then you move from ‘I want’ to ‘I AM’. Just like a good actor IS the character he is playing. What you experience in life is not about what happens to you, it’s about who you are. You are now going to be a match for attracting what you want.

Think about how actors and actresses prepare for playing a role, they imagine how a character be in all ways, they learn to feel as the person would, they relate mannerisms and the way they speak and carry themselves. The good actors actually get to where they can feel as the character would in order to pull off a believable performance and fit properly into the role as it fits the play or movie. You are an actor every day of your life but you are not usually choosing the roles you play, but you can!

You can do the same for yourself. Think and imagine being in the situation you want. What does it look like? What does it feel like? Put yourself in the role in your mind, enjoy it. This will help move you from thinking about not having it and wanting it, to feeling happening and aligning yourself with it. As you think and feel yourself in the part, you are aligning yourself energetically with it which acts to attract the rest of the show!

What Am I Actually Asking For And Getting

Many will say that you must ask God to be given what you want, in a “will you please” way. But this is relinquishing your natural ability and right to know for yourself, to think for yourself and to choose what you want. What we receive from the Intelligent Universe is not based on the whim of a human like mind, it is a clear cause and effect system. We are here, as individualizations of God, to notice what’s possible and ask for it. And, yes we can expect it to come into our life experience, but we must prepare for it first.

We don’t actually make anything happen, God, the Universal Intelligence does that, but we do request it and allow it. We ask for it and we allow it to connect with us, through our thoughts, feelings and vibration. For anything that we ask for to show up in our life experience, we must first align with it – we must be the person who does, has or is that which we want. The thing we want will not change us, or make us into what we need to be, we must do that first.

Once you have asked for something through your thoughts, feelings or vibration, or usually all together, the Intelligent Universe gets it all set up for you. If you are still waiting, what you have asked for is already there, you are just not yet aligned with it yet.

What very often happens is that we think strongly that we are thinking and feeling in the right ways for something to occur in our life, but we are actually not. Much of our life is commanded by our unconscious thoughts, where automatic functions are in place to simplify your conscious thought requirements. It is here that you may have strong thought patterns that are not in support of what you say you want. And guess which thinking usually wins out?

You can have something blocked because you are obsessed with having it. I know this sounds odd on the surface, but I’ll explain, what can be a more powerful want than obsession? It’s what is linked to it that is the biggest problem. And the most common restrictive factor is, a condition attached to the desire. A commonly attached condition is one related to happiness. Like, “I will be happy when I have . . . “

So here’s how this work in our mind:

* You notice what you want, picture it and you see happiness as part of having it.
* This picture in your mind, is what is conveyed to Spirit as what you want.
* The Intelligent Universe (God) goes about to set it all up for you.
* And your role now is to align yourself with the desired outcome and to take any actions you are guided through Spirit to take.
* For you to experience what you want, you must be a vibrational match for it. You must be the person who is in and at one with what you want. Your vibration is based on your thoughts and feelings.
* Then, like two perfectly matched magnetic puzzle pieces, you are drawn to what has been created for you.

Now, going back to the happiness condition we placed on our desire. That happiness condition says, “I will be happy when . . . ”

Notice this about your happiness – it’s not before, but when!
In order for you to be a perfect vibrational match for what you want, you must be that happy person first – before the match can take place.

So. . . this attachment to your desire that says “I must have this in order to be happy” is keeping you away from it. You are stuck in a cycle: you have declared that you won’t be happy until it happens, and the Universe will not connect you to the experience until you are happy. The two can never come together under this scenario.

Consider this, when you are saying that you will be happy when what you want shows up, you are saying that right now you are not happy. This is a command to the Universe, like all thoughts are. You are saying, and commanding, “I am not happy now.” This is what you will get, because this is what you are resonating with vibrationally right now.  Unhappiness begets unhappiness.

So even if consciously you are saying clearly what you want, but you are not a vibrational match for it, it will not come. But at the same time, unknown to you, you are actually saying and resonating the vibrational match for more unhappiness. You get the thing you are resonating with. This could be considered a form of self sabotage as you are preventing yourself from getting something you say you want.

I’m sure you have heard before, “Be happy now”, well, now you know why. Because if what you want has happiness as part of it as most things we want do, you will need to be happy before the Universe delivers it to you. What you want is already there, waiting for you to be a match! Time is a relative thing we use in our reality, but to the Universe – there is only now.  So what you are now, is what you will be when anything new happens. Think about it, anytime anythign actually happens, it’s now!

Also, many times when we are saying that we want something really badly, we are actually spending a lot of our time focusing on what we don’t want. What you don’t want may be the logical reason why you do want something, which is fine, but remember – what you focus on and resonate with will be what you get.

Noticing what you don’t want serves the purpose of helping you to identify what you do want, but don’t remain dwelling on it, or feeding it emotionally. Move on to focusing and feeling what you DO want so that you resonate with it. Our emotions have a very strong affect on our vibrational energy, which is why you’ve probably heard it’s best to get emotionally behind what you want.  

Eckhart Tolle said in his book, A New Earth “You cannot manifest what you want; you can only manifest what you already have.”

This means that you must have a very clear picture of it, with appropriate emotional feelings and be a vibrational match for it. This is the state of being with it already in your mind, and feeling it, which includes being the person that fits into the picture.

The Law of Attraction is valid and it lines up with what Jesus and others taught us about how to operate our life, it just needs to be better understood for us to get what we really want.

This is one example of what can be going on unconsciously and there are other factors which can affect your easily getting what you want as well, I will discuss those in later posts here.

Your growth is a work in progess, if you undertake it.

John

Miracle or Normal?

We commonly look at certain things in life and label them as a miracle, why? If something has not yet happened or does not commonly happen, why must it be categorized as something beyond human?

Does this not limit our perception of what is possible for people, for us? Could this be a form of self-sabotage?

When you come to realize that everything in our reality is actually a perception, our own perception, you will see how important it is to pay attention to what you are allowing into your awareness and how. What we think is normal is what we are accustomed to seeing most, nothing more. Just because you are not seeing certain things every day does not make them miracles.

I guess we should clarify the term miracle before going on. The common definitions from Dictionary.com are:

1. an effect or extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers and is ascribed to a supernatural cause.

2. such an effect or event manifesting or considered as a work of God.                                                                                       

3. a wonder; marvel.

We know that events occur all the time that get called a miracle, but the reason is because they are just not common on our current view of the world. Everyday, there are scientists discovering new things, athletes breaking perceived performance barriers, people getting well from major illnesses, inventors coming up with new ideas, and so on.

These things are actually a normal part of life, maybe not the most commonplace but normally occurring on a regular basis. Just look at all of what is called progress with mankind, has it not been a steady succession of previously considered unknown or undo-able things? But wait, they have been happening on a consistent manner for as long as we have recorded history, and I’m sure before.

So who does these so called miraculous things? How can they do them and why do they do them? They are people, yes basically normal people with one slight difference, they are not deterred by what has not or what usually does not happen in the world. They seem to have a drive within them that at least says, “What if?”, and they think and act as if it could be possible.

I think most of us get ideas about things that we may have not seen or done before, but don’t we usually dispel them for just that reason . . they are not normal! Or, I have never done that so I don’t have the ability. Or, that’s never been done before! But yet, there are thousands of people doing new and uncommon things all the time – and they are human!

Wayne Dyer said, “When you change the way you look at things, the way you look at things changes.”

At first this may sound silly, of course that’s the case, but what does this actually mean? You can literally change your perception which changes how you see things, thus affects how you think abut them and what actions you will or won’t take. The way you look a things, your perception is the pivot point in your life.  It can either support you or sabotage you.

The people who do the seemingly miraculous have a slightly different perception of what is possible than most people. It’s not so much in their abilities as it is in their feeling that it is possible. One of the well used analogies for this is the example of Roger Bannister, who was the first runner to break the 4 minute time for running a mile on a track. And soon after he did this, several other runners did the same thing.

Why? Up to that point, the common belief was that it was not humanly possible – period! This was the belief that all runners help, their perception. Once one man did it, their perceptions changes, they now saw and believed in the possibility that they too could do the same. In sports where the differences between athletes results are very slight, the fastest or best are not considered to have been chosen and provided special help from God. Other athletes know there is just some small difference in training or technique that allows for one to outperform the others.

But in other areas of life we tend to see many of the uncommon things as somehow performed by the hand of God. This is one place where I think a lot of people get stuck in perceiving their ability to do or experience something more uncommon, it’s in their belief about what they are capable of. It’s a commonly held belief that we are separate from what we define as God, and that God is who is doing all the miraculous things.

It’s generally thought that we humans have certain abilities, which we have defined by what we commonly see and anything beyond that must be from God. The thing is, if a few people or even just one person can do something, it is evidence of a human capability. We are here to help the universe express what’s possible. This is why we have free will and the ability to think as we do. In this physical realm, we are the ones that notice what could be done through our experiences.

No other thing on this planet can change at will what the intelligent universe does for them. An onion seed will always be an onion, a tiger will always be a tiger. Yes, a human will always be a human, but he can be a human standing atop a 50 story building built with materials and methods an onion or tiger cannot fathom. We humans are the conduit here on earth for the ever expanding self expression of God.

We have far more capabilities than we know, we are just beginning to imagine our potential. Anything that we conceive of doing is supported by universal intelligence, God. What we ask for is provided, just as the tiger gets what it needs and the onion seed can grow into the plant it desires to be. It is our limitation placed on our abilities that keeps us from what is called miraculous. What is new and different to us today is just the next step in the self expression of the universe, and we can allow it to flow through us if we choose.

And it’s not just about our abilities, but our right, our role in this reality we live in. We are of God, just as a leaf is of the tree – both providing something to the whole and receiving from the whole. Of course you and I do not make it all happen, but we are a critical part in the process. We are the conduits through which the divine flows.

The crux of the matter regarding is it a miracle or normal is, our beliefs can and do affect our perceptions, which are the only filters through which we take in everything. And, once we take it in, we interpret it . . .again influenced by our beliefs.

When we see more as being possible for us in our lives and in others, we will expand our thinking as well as the actions we will take. Knowing that you are an integral part of the intelligent universe, an individual expression of God, you realize that the thoughts you get are for a reason. They are for you to act on, not dispel as undo-able. They are for you to learn to allow to unfold. Just as every leaf on a tree has a purpose, you too have this connection with source.

So why not choose to look at what is considered miraculous, as normal. Normal for you to follow the divine nudge you are given. To not have fear and doubt about it because you know where it comes from and how it is supported – it’s possible and doable! Your ideas are supported the same way as the dna of an onion seed is supported.

What if you followed your inspired thoughts? Would that not be a grand purpose!

 

Here are some affirmative statements and questions for you to consider:

Why do I so easily follow my inspiration?

How can I easily follow my inspiration?

How can I allow life to unfold through me?

Why am I so excited about following my passion?

Why am I able to know anything as possible?

 

How to Turn Limp Affirmations Into Mantras for Success!

To affirm something is simply to declare that it is true. So, creating and using affirmations should be a breeze, right?

Actually, the true art of the affirmation is both subtle and profound. Despite the popularity of this technique, some people use affirmations that  are bland and perhaps even self-defeating.

When creating your affirmation, remember that even minor variations in wording can make a huge difference in the results you get. Since your words literally have the power to create your circumstances, invest a few minutes now to take your affirmation skills to a higher level.

Consider the following statement:

I will quit smoking with ease and joy, remembering the effects on my physical and mental health and preparing to live a longer life.

By using the guidelines found below, you can transform limp affirmations like that into mantras for manifesting a huge change in your life!

The following points are key:

FIVE GUIDELINES TO FOLLOW

1) Enter the “now”
Start your affirmation by entering the present tense. Take the condition you desire and declare it to be already true.

2) Be positive
Our sample affirmation keeps the focus on smoking—the condition that you do not want. Instead, shine a light on what you do want—to be smoke-free.

A related reminder: Our subconscious mind skips the word not. So, delete this word from your affirmations. “I am not afraid of public speaking” gives us the message that you are afraid. Use, “I feel at ease as I speak in public.” 

3) Be concise
Shorter is better. Affirmations with fewer words are often easier to recall, especially in situations when you feel some stress. Rhyming makes your affirmations even more memorable. For example, “I am feeling alive at 185.”

4) Include action
Whenever possible, affirm yourself as a person who takes action. For example: “I am gratefully driving my new Porsche along an open highway.” Action engages the Law of Attraction, creating new results in our lives and opening us to further inspiration.

5.) Include a feeling word  
Powerful affirmations include content and emotion. Content describes the specific outcome that you desire. Emotion gets to the heart of how you feel about that outcome. For a more potent affirmation, add both elements.

Consider this affirmation:

“I am supporting my children to fully come forward into the world.”

The content of this statement is clear. Yet it lacks an emotional charge. Breathe life into this affirmation by adding an active expression of feeling:

“I am lovingly supporting my children and encourage them to fully express their unique talents and gifts.”

You will know that you have a powerful affirmation when you feel a surge of emotional energy. The force of feeling jumpstarts you into action.

AN AFFIRMATION MAKEOVER  

Now get some direct experience with “affirmation transformation.” Return to the first example mentioned in this article:

“I will quit smoking with ease and joy, remembering the effects on my physical and mental health and preparing to live a longer life.”

Playing with the guidelines listed serves up some more exciting options, such as:

“I am breathing effortlessly with lungs that are pure and clean.”

“I am celebrating how easily I breathe through strong, healthy lungs.”

Also consider the following affirmations on a variety of topics:

“I am joyfully celebrating my graduation from college with a master’s degree.”

“I am effectively delivering my first talk to an audience of over 1,000 people who affirm my message with a standing ovation.”

“I am confidently checking the balance of my bank account as I make a deposit of $1,000,000.”

“I am walking up on stage to receive my first Emmy award and receiving a roar of applause.”

When you’re satisfied with the wording of your affirmation, start using it right away.

Repeat your affirmations at least three times daily—first thing in the morning, midday, and just before you go to sleep. Regular repetition will gently return your focus to manifesting the life of your dreams.

© 2010 Jack Canfield

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 Jack Canfield, America’s #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul© and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you’re ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com

There Is A Reason You Notice And Admire The Traits And Characteristics Of Others

I’m sure you have noticed attributes of another person to be appealing or admirable. This is normal, and can be used to your advantage if you understand why and what you can do with this awareness. Using the characteristics of others can help you to build these up in yourself. This method is called modeling.

You can use the desirable attributes you notice in others as a model to begin thinking and feeling how they can be in you. Actually, the reason you notice and admire specific characteristics in others is because you already have them yourself, they are just subdued. You noticed them in others because these characteristics in you want to be more fully expressed.

Modeling is a powerful way to heighten attributes within you that you want to be more dominant in your daily life. There is a powerful natural human characteristic that you can use to do this. Your mental state and your physiology are linked. You probably know that what you think and feel is transferred and expressed in your body and actions.

What you may not be aware of is that the opposite is true as well. Your thoughts and feelings will respond to your physiology. So, the power in this is that when you see the body posture and behavior of someone exhibiting a trait you admire, you can mimic them and get your mind to respond with like feelings. This has been clearly demonstrated in both the fields of sports and psychology.

So, for instance you admire what appears to be confident behavior in someone, use that as a model. You can at first imagine yourself acting as they do. How are they standing, holding themselves, and projecting themselves? How are they communicating – the tone and inflection of their voice? What feelings do you notice while watching them? And this can be done not only when you are actually watching them, but also in your mind as you think about them and see them in your mind.

Think about the people you have admired some attribute of, and make a list of them. You can categorize them by characteristics. This way you can group similar people together to better help you relate to the attribute you want to heighten.

Like anything new this may take some practice, as you apply some time to doing this. As noticing how you feel when doing it and gradually being able to get yourself to feel your mind and body associating with the trait, you will be applying more energy to aligning and empowering this in yourself. NLP and other disciplines have some techniques for aiding with this process which you may want to look into.

You are capable of doing this on your own, but for most it is not something we are accustomed to doing, so tools and techniques can help us do so. It can be helpful to have a method to help us do something new to use because the mind can tend to resist our efforts just to keep things the way they are. Discomfort is one of the main reasons we discontinue anything new before it’s taken hold in our behavior pattern. 

Just start, and don’t give in to the, “I can’t do this” or “I don’t know how to do this” chatter you may get in your mind. That’s all just your ego mind resisting change. Don’t fight it, rather choose to step through it, you can!

Are You Trying To Force Your Desires Into Being?

So you have burning desires and you set goals and intentions for what you want, that’s a good thing.

And you visualize them, along with allowing yourself to feel the emotions of how it will feel to realize them. Then, you get on with figuring out how you will accomplish them! And . . . then there is stress, anxiety, doubt and worry . . . and mostly undesirable results!

The Intelligent Universe, God, is designed to answer your requests, which is also a good thing – a very good thing. However, are you trying to force or micro-manage the universe, God? Are you taking on the responsibility of working on how exactly you will accomplish your desire?

OK, now I have not said that there are not things that you will end up needing to do in order to contribute to the physical manifestation of what you want, I have said that you are trying to figure out how it will all work in exact detail and what you need to do yourself.

You will, in many cases but not all, have to take some action. The question is, who or what decides what these actions are? Who decides what exact actions will fit in with all the pieces of the puzzle so you get the results you want? Are you capable of that? No, you and I are not. There is a power far greater than you and I that has vastly more knowledge about what is possible and how to put it all together in the result you want. Now this isn’t that we don’t play any part of the process, because we do, we are key to it.

Our thoughts, like seeds, are what put the universe in specific action. And then our alignment with the desires results and our purposeful actions contribute to our actual physical experience of the desire. But it is not our job to figure it all out, or to make it all happen, or to even decide the exact outcome.

Our job is to plant the seed and nurture it while knowing it will develop into something very close to our vision. Just like with a flower seed, we don’t know how it actually changes from a seed to a full grown plant, we don’t have to know this – the universe take care of this.

Briefly, the short version of how our desires come to be:

*You ask for what you want to be, do or have with your thoughts and feelings. This becomes a new point of creation – the idea.

*You have complete faith that the universe will bring this to be, so you relax in confidence – feeling happy.
 
*The universe acts on this request, bringing together whatever is needed.

*You are given guidance as to what you ought to do to fulfill your role in the realization.

*You then take the appropriate actions as directed, knowing with full confidence that you have all the ability and resources needed to follow through.

*You keep your predominate attention on being happy now and on the thoughts and feelings of what you intend to experience, not on what you don’t have or want.

There are some places in this process where we can get essentially muck it up! And one of the most common is with our thinking that we need to figure out everything required to get the result we want.  This is like thinking we need to figure out how to make a seed develop into a plant.

So, as the result of anxiousness, fear, uncertainty, the need for control or several other possible reasons, we are driven to plow our limited abilities into figuring it all out. Consider this, our perspectives, beliefs and knowledge are based on where we have been in our life experience, and we now want them to yield something new. Sure, we have abilities which allow us to come to new and different ideas, but do we know what the Intelligent Universe knows?

Yes, we can get a certain amount of progress and good results by mentally and physically powering our way through, but it becomes far more fluid and easy to allow Spirit to figure it all out and learn to listen for the inner guidance as to what we should be doing. A small preception change can have a huge difference in what and how much you realize of what you want.

In our struggles to figure it all out, we can become anxious and stressed. Scientists have now proven that the level of brainwave vibration during stress almost totally shuts down our ability to receive intuitive messages from our inner self, which is our conduit to Spirit. So, the more we attempt to figure it all out, and having multiple undesirable outcomes to our actions, we are becoming stressed and are no longer able to receive the directions about the actions that would be the most appropriate to take.

Most spiritual teachings indicate in some way that our role, once we have thought of and stated what we want, is to trust that it will be provided. That the universe will work out all the details. Then relax, and follow along with the purposeful actions which we are guided to do, keeping the end result in mind. And in taking those actions, we know that we are intended to take them, and that we are fully capable of carrying them through.

Just because you can think of what you want does not mean you know how to get it to happen, but the universe does – choose to trust it!

Dislike Is The The Impetus To Change

It’s so easy to identify what you don’t like or want, we all do this very well. But there is trouble in dwelling on it. Everything in our reality is energy, including our thought, so where it is focused is important. Our thoughts and feelings are the steering mechanism for our energy. When we focus on what we don’t want, we are giving it our energy.

In recent years science has been proving this age old wisdom that everything is energy vibrating at different rates. This is everything, from solid rock, to flesh and bone, to our thoughts. This is how a plant can be registered as responding in a way that could be described as fear when a person in another location thinks about doing specific harm to the plant. All of the energy we are all a part of is interconnected.

Our thoughts are like seeds, there are predictable results based on the energy focus. The intention of an onion seed is to express as an onion plant, the onion cannot change this energy focus. The Universal Spirit ( whatever term you use for the intelligence and power that we are a part of, commonly God.) responds by fulfilling the ‘request’ of the seed, as intended.

We, on the other hand create seeds with our thoughts, which can be changed. Our thought seeds are acted upon in the very same way by Universal Spirit. What we think and feel is a request for something which is fulfilled. We may not be able to see this directly in many cases in our lives because we are not usually clear about what we are requesting. Spirit puts the pieces together and provides an appropriate response or outcome.

When we harbor the negative thoughts and feelings about something that someone did that we dislike, we are actually perpetuating this. Have you ever noticed how a person acts that is stuck on how awful it was that something happened to them. Through their actions, many times they are acting out being a victim, or they may have some kind of retaliatory attitudes and behaviors.

When you feel bad about something, I’m sure you have noticed how it affects your attitude and behavior. One very common way that we perpetuate things is by continuing to talk about them. Griping, complaining, expressing resentment, cutting down the ‘responsible’ party or group are all just the extension of the original occurrence.

So, this makes it sound like we are doomed to be stuck in a continuous mire of expanding negativity and unwanted experiences in our lives, but that is not the case. It is actually very important to notice what you don’t like, not for the purpose of carrying on with it, but as a way leading to noticing what you do like. In fact you should recognize and accept something undesirable as what is, trying to ignore it can also just perpetuate it.

Once noticed we should release our focus on it and bring our attention to our true spiritual self which is calm and of good feeling. This is the point where what you want, that is different, is energized. You may not be consciously aware of the exact details. Now you can develop specific thoughts about what you want, which then is what you should be focusing on.

Now this doesn’t mean that the only way to get to what you want is that you must experience something unwanted, but it is one common way. We can see what we want in what others have experiences, or in ideas on how something can just be even better than it is. But, generally it requires a point of notice, I’ll call it, where we become aware of something.

The pivotal point is in accepting what is, becoming at one with your true self and noticing what you do want. Then, keeping your thoughts away from the dislike and more on to your true self and what you do want, is important to guide your energy more to the experiences you would like. I know how it is so easy to continue to dwell on something, but if in this very moment you can’t do anything about it, you don’t need to be thinking about it.

Think of the seed analogy, and that every thought and feeling you have is a request to Spirit, God. Now, what do you want to think about? If you treat your thoughts as if they are seeds, just like a physical plant seed, you can come to realize their affect on your life. They are acted upon just as any seed is, it gets what it says it wants.

In fact, by dwelling on something undesirable and allowing your fear, doubt and worry thoughts to become most prevalent, you are closing off your connection to Spirit. Negative thoughts actually cause your brain to shut off the intuitive, creative, receptive faculties, it puts you into ‘fight or flight’ mode.   So you are less likely to get an inspired idea on how to best deal with an ongoing undesirable situation.

Our power is in our command of our thoughts and feelings, which is why paying attention to your thoughts is so important. Setting aside time each day to consciously analyze your thinking and how you feel allows you to discover more about yourself and allows you to then notice how you ‘do’ want to think. Just as you can notice how you would like society to be different in some way, you can notice what you would rather experience in your life, then how your thoughts can be more in alignment with this.

Noticing what you don’t want is the impetus to change. Your feelings about something are meant as a signal to you to notice it, but not to continue to experience long term. It’s like a fire alarm, it’s no longer needed once you know there is a fire. Harboring negative or low level emotions is very destructive to you mentally, spiritually and physically, choose to step away from then as soon as you can. Replace them with a higher level emotional feeling as much as possible.

Life Can Be Exciting

There is nothing more exciting than being in a life that is going and blowing! I think that term, ‘going and blowing’ is an old railroad analogy, it describes a locomotive that is racing down the tracks full speed with a steady stream of smoke blowing out of the stack. We can use this to relate to living a life of constant self-discovery, personal growth and development.

Now I’m not implying that you should be pushing yourself all the time. There is a big difference between moving forward consistently and confidently, and in being in a hurry, rushing around. Rushing is when you are late for work or are trying to cram too many things into a short time frame, this is not freedom! This kind of behavior comes from a lack mentality, usually including the feeling of not enough time, among others.

When you are in a mode of consistent self-discovery and growth you get very excited with what is going on. You see new possibilities for yourself on a regular basis, which lead to more and more. You feel more and more freedom, the feeling of really being alive and unrestricted.

Even discovering what in your thinking has been responsible for an undesirable condition or behavior is exciting as this opens up your understanding and what you can do about it. You will see first hand how life works, what your role is and how you can best participate. You find out more of what you are capable of, which opens even more possibilities.

Your confidence rises substantially as you take command of your thinking, as well as responsibility for it. Your vision expands greatly as your faith in both your abilities and the possibilities available to you grows. Your ability to just accept your current situation along with taking responsibility for it becomes easier and easier. You see how change is more about choices and faith than about current conditions or past experiences.

You become more open to the new and different, and less attached to your existing beliefs and perceptions. You become comfortable with change as that is really life, always evolving. You stop trying to create a perfect, set, predictable life situation for yourself, as that is just fighting the natural flow of life.

You learn to know the difference between guided and inspired thought and the ego based protection thoughts. You take purposeful action based on the correct thoughts knowing that this is what you ought to do in order to have the experience meet with the idea, your role in the law of attraction.

Human history has shown that all this does not happen very often accidentally, although it does. But if you make it your intention to live your life in constant growth, you will. It is really an every day activity that you will have to develop into. Your days are already full, right. You will want to gradually make room for YOU time to do something related to your self-discovery and growth, and you will see that it will expand into everything that you do.

One thing that can help is to get a picture and even the feeling of what you want, because you will actually want to think, feel and act like the person doing and having what you want, in this case a lifestyle of consistent growth and development. Back to the train analogy, we can elaborate on this picture of the train going down the tracks and how it can relate to our life. It can be useful to have mental pictures that you can relate to as a way to further engage your thinking and enhance your feelings.

• It’s steadily moving forward.
• The scenery is always changing.
• It’s moving confidently, it knows where it’s going.
• It’s being guided on it’s way.
• Moving is what it was created for.
• It’s getting something done.
• It’s involved with people, things and places.
• It has purpose, taking purposeful action.

And maybe there are more aspects we can relate to, what do you think of when visualizing a fast moving train?

You will find that in choosing constant growth rather than trying to create a ‘perfect’ life, life is much more comfortable and satisfying. You will be less likely to be rushing around and more likely to be calm mentally and physically, getting more done – of what you want and enjoy.