Archives for posts with tag: law of attraction

Are You Running Away or Towards?

April 22, 2011 //
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All of our lives are in motion. Some parts of our life seem more influx than others. In some cases, we can sense we are running away from some experience we don’t desire. In other cases, we feel drawn to a greater vision for our lives.

If we wish to move to higher levels of fulfillment in our life, we need to shift our energy. We need to let go of “running away from” that which we don’t want. We need to expand “running towards” that which we desire.

Okay, you’re probably wondering what’s the difference?  The difference relates to a basic principle of the “Law of attraction”. That which we focus our attention on, grows in our life. That which we resist, persist.  If we look at what we want to grow in our lives, we get more of it.  If we look at what we don’t want, we get more of it.

A couple of real-life examples may help here. We all know people who leave one failed relationship and then re-create it with another person. We all know individuals who have left one lousy job to go to another one. We all know people who have gone from one financial crisis right into another one. Why is this?

The reason is we are giving our attention and energy to that which we don’t desire – the condition which we are running away from. We believe we’re making a proactive change in our lives, but we’re looking at that which we don’t want and using it as a motivator for the change. It’s a subtle difference, but an important one. If we wish to effectuate the change in our lives that we truly desire, then we need to keep our focus upon our highest possibility.

Recently I started exercising again.  I’ve stopped and started many times in my life.  Lately, I’ve been doing better in gaining consistency in working out each day.  One thing I’ve noticed that I’m doing differently relates to my focus – many times in the past my motivator was unwanted bodyweight.  As I kept seeing the weight, my motivation to continue exercising decreased.  Recently I’ve been focusing on my increased strength.  I’ve noticed that each day I can do more of a particular exercise then I could the day before.  Instead of running away from the fat, I’m running towards the muscle.

So stop and think about it for a moment – where in your life are you seeking positive change?

Are you unsatisfied with some aspect of your current relationship with your significant other?  If so, where is your focus?  Is it upon their personality characteristic or behavior that you “wish they would change”?  Or, are you noticing the characteristics that you do like and are feeling greater and greater appreciation for that aspect of their person?

Did you just come out of a relationship that was unsatisfying?  If so, what are you focusing upon as you consider dating again?  Is your energy directed at avoiding the characteristics that made the previous relationship bad?  Or, are you holding in your vision the positive characteristics that you desire in your new mate?

Are you experiencing some health or physical challenge?  If so, where is your focus?  Is it upon the body’s issue or limitation?  Or, is it upon those physical areas where you see improvement?

Are you unhappy in your current job?  If so, where are you directing the energy of your change?  Is it upon “running away from” the parts of your current job that you don’t like?  Or, is it upon “running towards” the aspect of the job that will feed your soul?

So which is it?  Are you running away from the parts of life that make you unhappy or are you running towards your dreams of the life divine?

Blessings,

Mark Gilbert

 - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

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Categories Consciousness, Featured Article

Things Are Getting Worse? Things Are Getting Better? You Make the Call…

May 7, 2010 //
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So how are things going in your life?  And by that, I mean all areas of your life… your physical health, relationships, job and career, expressing your talent, finances, spiritual growth… yet beyond your personal life, I also mean your community and global life… when you look around “out there” beyond your own day-to-day life to those areas that seem to be beyond your control… the community you live in, your government, companies and corporations, the entire planet… how does it look like things are going “out there”?

Two events occurred yesterday which brought this question to mind.  First, at the spiritual center where I work, we had a meeting yesterday afternoon where for a brief period we discussed our neighborhood and the changes we perceived “out there” and their potential impact on our center.  Then last night, my wife and I attended a student event at the middle school where she teaches.  Afterwards on the way home, we talked about how recently the climate both in the school and “out there” in the neighborhood surrounding the school appeared to be headed in a less than desirable direction.

Coincidentally, both conversations followed the same path.  In neither case did we fall into the trap of spiraling down into negativity complaining about how “bad things were”.  Instead there was simply an acknowledgment of what was less than desired.  And then with that contrast outlined, in both conversations we moved into the vision of where we saw life headed… we focused our attention both on our positive vision for the future and how the conditions “out there” gave us an opportunity to move towards that vision.

I have written many times about how our thoughts, words and actions have energy and that where we focus that energy determines what we are going to grow in our lives.  Life “out there” continuously calls out for our attention.  A lot of what we see is not what we want.  All of us can benefit from continuous reminders not to be spending our mental energy in the direction we don’t really want to go.  As people begin to see the truth in how “thoughts are things”, they often limit the power of their thoughts to only the relatively small area of their individual life.  It’s generally easier to see how my thoughts and deeds can impact the tiny bubble of life around me than it is see how they can make a difference in the gigantic world “out there”.  But they do.

In both conversations yesterday, if we had spent our energy complaining about changes “out there” that were less than what we desired, then we would have contributed to growing more of that undesirable state of affairs.  I know that in both cases life is moving in a positive direction.  More good is being expressed in life.

As more of us individually turn away from feeding the negative and growing the positive “out there”, then the more we will all see positive results.  Each of us has a responsibility not only for the direction of our individual life but also for the direction of the planet.  So how are things going in your life?  Where ever you see less than what you want… both in your personal life and in the “larger life out there”…, acknowledge the condition, visualize the positive on the other side of the current condition and focus yourself — your thoughts, words and actions — in the positive direction you know is possible.  So are things getting worse or are things getting better?  Ultimately, you make the call…

Mark

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Categories Consciousness, Featured Article, Positive Evolution

The Umpteenth Secret of “The Secret”: Align Your Rider and Elephant

March 17, 2010 //
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Who is in control?

Or, I thought about calling this “Beyond the Valley of the Secret”… so much as been written about “The Secret” and the “real way” to use it that I hesitated to reference The Secret in the title, but then I thought, “What the heck?  This really is about using the Law of Attraction in a more effective manner.”

So today we look at one of the big reasons why the Law of Attraction seems not to work for people when they are first introduced to it and then link it to some of the major points made in the new book “”Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard.”  Along the way, I trust you will gain some insights you can use.

Just Change Your Thinking?

Of course, the Secret or the  Law of Attraction is about the power of our thoughts… that what we think and believe we tend to manifest in our lives… our outward reality is a reflection of our inner consciousness.  Sounds pretty simple, and the movie and book “The Secret” did tend to oversimplify it.  Hence it seems, that a  whole cottage industry has sprung up around trying to explain it better.

Although I believe there are several key aspects to the Law of Attraction that were not adequately addressed by the movie, we are simply going to look at one of them today….that is, the misbelief that all I have to do is to change my conscious thoughts and my outer world will immediately change as well.  This is usually stated as “change your thinking, change your life.”  That statement is actually true, but we really need to define the word “thinking”.

What is “Thinking”?

Philosopher Christian de Quincy in his recent book, “Consciousness from Zombies to Angels” pondered why so many wise and insightful people proclaim that “thought creates reality or experience of reality.”  Ultimately he determined that when many people use the word “thought”, they are using it as a catchall for what otherwise they mean by “consciousness”.

de Quincy points out that not all consciousness is captured in our concept of “thought”, that a great deal of thought goes on “beyond the inquisitive eye of the ego.”  In other words, a lot of our consciousness is unconscious.  He says that other aspects of consciousness include feeling, intuition, intention and volition.  Therefore, if we only change our conscious thoughts without truly changing the subconscious aspects of our consciousness, then we truly didn’t “change our thinking.”  I can go around affirming all day in my conscious thoughts that I am changing some aspect of my life, but if in my gut I don’t truly believe it, I’m not going to see any outer change.

So if we truly want to “change our thinking” then we must really “change our consciousness.”  According to de Quincy, the two core elements of consciousness are “knowing” (consisting of our experience and awareness) and “choice” (consisting of our intention and volition).  He says, “knowing or experience guides and informs our action; choice or intention, initiates and transforms it”.

Mystic Ernest Holmes said much the same thing when he described thought as “the movement of consciousness.”  He went on to define consciousness as consisting of both an objective mental awareness and a subjective consciousness, which contained the creative ability or law.  Hence when he said “change your thinking” , he was telling us to redirect the total movement or consciousness, both our conscious thoughts as well as our feelings and emotions.  The greater degree to which we could “feel” the power of our thoughts, the more powerful they were.

The Rider and the Elephant

Chip Heath and Dan Heath in their book “Switch” provide some great insights on how to effectuate change.  Although the book doesn’t reference the Law of Attraction per se, as both really are about “change”, we can see some correlations.

Borrowing a concept created by Jonathan Haidt, in his book “The Happiness Hypothesis”, the Heaths advise us that one of the most important things we can do to implement change is to align our “Rider” and our “Elephant”.  Our Rider is our rational conscious mind, our intellect.  Our Elephant is our emotions and feelings.

They tell us, “perched atop the Elephant, the Rider holds the reins and seems to be the leader.  The Rider’s control is precarious, because the Rider is so small relative to the  Elephant.  Any time the 6-ton Elephant and the Rider disagree about which direction to go, the  Rider is going to lose.”

We can have our intellect and conscious mind convince ourselves that we are going to make a change, but if our emotions are truly not on board with the change, then they have a tendency to derail it.  The Heaths tell us that to truly change things, we must appeal both to our Rider and our Elephant… if we only appeal to our Rider, we will have direction without motivation.  They tell us that “once you break through to feeling, though, things change.”

Bottom Line

The key point, I hope you get from this discussion is that to truly effectuate change in your life.. to effectively use The Secret or the  Law of Attraction….when you hear the phrase “change your thinking”… you need to change your entire consciousness, which consist of both your conscious thoughts and your subconscious feelings and emotions….  You need to align both the head and the heart… both your Rider and your Elephant need to be going in the same direction. 

And it can’t be stressed too much, once you align your thoughts and feelings you also need to act in alignment with that intention.  You need to set about in the outer world, doing whatever you can that takes you in the direction of your intentions.  This relates to the Heath’s third key concept of change, which they call “shape the path” which we will look at later.

Over the next few days, I intend to review some of the Heaths’ advice on how to change things especially as it relates to our bridging us to a future that works for everyone.  In that review, we will also look at some techniques on how we can bring our head and heart together.

Mark

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Categories Consciousness, Science and Spirit, Spirituality

Bright Spots in Our Government

March 4, 2010 //
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We've got a lot to celebrate!

Yesterday we wrote about the Heath Brothers book “Switch” and the concept of seeking large changes by focusing our attention on things that are going right, i.e. “bright spots,” and then acting to duplicate them.  Today I want to highlight one bright spot that is occurring in our government’s ability to make decisions.

Several times recently I’ve written about my concerns over the gridlock at the federal level in being able to make any substantive changes to address major issues which are country is facing.  I do believe that we can turn from the current condition of overly partisan behavior which has stalled Congress, and towards a better future where all of our representatives are focused in a positive manner upon where we are going.  However this does appear to be one of those “elephants” where we’ re not sure where to take the first bite.  Last week, I encouraged you to take your first bite, that is a simple step, by writing your representatives (see other article).

Today I want to shine a light on a report that came out in this week’s Christian Science Monitor.  Their cover story is about the angry discourse in our political system these days, and how it portrays our nation as one divided into polar extremes.  As we’ve all noted, these extremes at the Federal level have blocked our ability to institute any meaningful change.  Yet there is hope. 

States Move to Fill the Void

The side article details how state governments are stepping into the void of leadership and working to solve major problems locally.  Around the country, states have tackled and put in place legislation to deal with such divisive issues as same-sex marriages, legalization of marijuana, growth of renewable energy, new safety standards, laws related to human trafficking, and more.

What is it that allows the states to institute solutions to these major problems?  What’s different at the state level from the Federal level?  The article points at a number of reasons.  One, state representatives who attempt to get into partisan arguments which stall legislation are much more easily called to task by their constituents who are physically closer to them.  The public and advocates can be very vocal about moving their representatives out of their political box and into working towards a solution.  Two, state representatives generally have more interaction across party lines, having personal friendships with all representatives.  They may be at a different political party, but they are your neighbors.  Three, as the stakes are not quite as high at the state level, there is more room for experimenting with new solutions.

So what can we learn from the state successes that we can duplicate?

Change Begins Within

First, we should always remember that change begins at the level where we have control.  Frequently.  I’ve written here about the importance of starting with ourselves.  Any change starts from within.  Any change begins with their own thoughts, words and deeds.  We begin in our own sphere of influence, and then expand out as the potential becomes available.

Our country was formed on the basis of local governance.  Powers were granted first to the local level, and only by law delegated to higher levels.  Over time, many powers were transferred to the Federal level which originally were seen as the purview of state and local government.  Perhaps it’s time to regroup and reconsider where our change efforts should start.  Maybe collectively, our expectations on change should be directed at the local and state level.

Focus on Our Commonalities

Second, we should always remember to focus upon our commonalities before our differences.  At the local level, it’s much easier to remember that we all live in the same neighborhoods, shop at the same stores, face the same issues.  At the local level, it’s much easier to be friends, and to act first from the level of friendship rather than from the level who belongs to which political party.

Celebrate Success

Third, we should always remember to seek out successes and give more energy to them than to any perceived failures.  This is the Law of Attraction in action.  Quit “tearing things down” with negativity.  Instead, build up that which we want to see more of by celebrating it.

We have plenty of successes to celebrate. 

Mark

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Categories Politics, Uniting U.S.

Find the Bright Spots in Your Life and Duplicate Them

March 3, 2010 //
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Find that bright spot in your life and focus on it!

There’s an old joke that asks “how do you eat an elephant?”  The answer of course is “one bite at a time.”

This joke comes to mind whenever I confront a problem that seems overwhelming.  It reminds me to not get bogged down in trying to repair everything at once.  Instead, we are called to tackle one small part of the issue which otherwise seems insurmountable.  The question always becomes, where should I start?  What’s the best “first bite of the elephant”?

The advice of many gurus… from business consultants advising you on how to institute change in your company… to personal coaches, advising you on how to get a handle on your life… generally say the same thing — begin with easy wins.  That is, look around and see what the easiest fix is and make that change.  It seems like a no-brainer, but there’s some good reasons for starting this way.  One of the biggest is to build momentum in the direction you wish to move.

Another advantage is that by having some early success to focus your attention upon, it redirects your mind from focusing upon the problem.  Students of metaphysics, familiar with the “Law of Attraction” popularized in the book and movie “The Secret” will most likely see how this principle comes into play here.  That which we focus upon with our mental energy tends to grow.  If we focus on our problems, we grow our problems.  If we focus upon our successes, we grow our successes.

Authors Chip Heath and Dan Heath in their new book “Switch” offer another way to get at this question of where to take the first bite.  They suggest that if you are faced with a situation of solving what appears to be an overwhelming problem, you look around and find somewhere where things are going right.  In other words, you find the “bright spots”, you determine what characteristics are bringing about the success, then you attempt to duplicate those factors elsewhere.

The Heath brothers, in my opinion, are some of the best writers today with the knack of melding stories together that highlight a point, offering you an insight and a connection that is both enlightening and practical.  Their first book, “Made to Stick,” gave us some critical advice on how to ensure that our messaging to others remained in their awareness.  I believe it’s essential reading for teachers, speakers, ministers, public relations specialists and anyone else whose business it is to communicate concepts and ideas.  Before I left my position at the government, I required my public affairs and outreach staff to all to read the book.

The Heaths detail a number of stories where large change was needed but the change agents did not get overwhelmed by the enormous task at hand. Rather they sought where things were working right and shined a light on it.  In one story, an individual working for Save the Children went to Vietnam to fight malnutrition.  Prior studies had pointed at the enormous issues of sanitation, poverty and lack of clean water as the problems.  Rather than tackling these concerns, the worker sought out situations where children were healthy in spite of the conditions.  He studied what was different (mothers were feeding their children more frequently, hand feeding them if necessary to ensure they ate, feeding them when sick, adding extra items into their food which were available locally and gave additional nutrients, etc.).  Armed with this information, he taught these techniques to other mothers.  These small changes reduced the rates of malnutrition.

Another story looked at a student who was failing in school, determining what factors were different in the one class he was passing, and then replicating them in his other classes leading to academic improvement.  The Heath’s also described the process of “solutions focused therapy”, which has been around for many years, and how it does not try to focus energy on uncovering the root cause of psychological or marital issues, but rather drills into the areas where things are going right, determining the factors at play, and growing them.

Once again, we see how this relates to the Law of Attraction.  The idea is to shift energy away from being absorbed “looking at” the problem and rather place energy upon “looking at” the solution.  If we look at the bright spots and focus our attention there, we grow more bright spots.

So where are the elephants in your life?  Where do you see such large problems that you’re stuck on how to tackle them?  Where do you feel paralysis, because you don’t know where to begin?

These elephants show up in all areas of our life.  They can be at our jobs, our relationships, our personal development and so on.  They certainly show up on the world stage in such looming problems as the economy, climate change, lack of political trans-partisanship, etc.

Today I invite you to look around at your life and see the bright spots.  Ask yourself, what is different here that makes it seem “bright”?  Express gratitude for that area where things are going right and then seek to duplicate it in other areas of your life.

Mark

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Categories Change Agent

Today’s not Thanksgiving, but I am Thankful

February 8, 2010 //
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Turning towards Love

The day didn’t start off that way.  I awoke abruptly out of a bizarre dream, which I really wanted to share with my wife, Mary.  She is a master at asking probing questions and getting at their deeper subjective meaning.  She was late for work, and there was no time to process the dream.  In the kitchen, I realized I had not set my automatic coffee pot the night before, so no coffee was ready.  The dream had disoriented me and I wasn’t fully awake as I attempted to multitask by getting my coffee ready, putting dog food in Harmony’s bowl and warming some milk for my wife.  Something funky in the dog food caught my eye (turned out to be okay) but while investigating, the milk boiled over.  As I cleaned up the milk, I realized the kitchen garbage was overflowing.  I bagged it up and took it outside only to be hit in the face by a snowstorm that must’ve started during the night.  Coming back in the house, the screen door sought to frustrate me by not closing.

Mary left for work and I went to meditate.  It was not one of my better meditations to say the least. Monkey mind day.  Time to do some exercise.  I start up the Wii Fit, it reminds me that it’s been over two weeks since I’ve been on it.  Oh yeah, it nags me further by pointing out that I’ve gained weight since last time and I’ve missed my goal to boot.  Thank you, little Wii character.  Today’s blog was almost an open letter to my Wii Fit apologizing for letting my schedule get in the way of my exercising and for eating so much yesterday during the Super Bowl.  Instead, I simply exercised with an internal sense of guilt irritating me.  Not a good Monday.

After showering and getting dressed, Harmony and I went outside to play Frisbee in the snow.  What joy in that girl as she hopped through the snow with her eyes on the Frisbee, timing that last-minute leap to catch the toy between her teeth.  Back and forth we went, her joy spreading just like the ever-increasing snowflakes swirling around us.  As she ran returned and carefully placed the Frisbee in my hand each time, our eyes would meet and a sense of love would flow between us.  Somewhere within Harmony’s consciousness I imagined that she sensed she was shifting my perspective on the day.  At some point she sensed that she had accomplished her mission and, as is her habit, she ran off to a corner of the yard with her Frisbee, gently placed it down in the snow and began rolling around on it in sheer ecstasy.

As I watched this display of the love of life itself, an exhibition Harmony has provided me so many times, my heart opened to a deep sense of gratitude.  What a wonderful day this is!  What a wonderful life this is!

I began ticking off in my mind all the things that I am thankful for… for Mary, for Harmony, for the beautiful snow falling, for the warm coffee inside, for the ability to work at home on a snowy day like today, for my health, for the ability to start over on my exercise routine… and more.

Yesterday I spoke at the spiritual center where I work part-time.  At the heart of my message were several points…. how we can get stuck looking at that which is less than what we want in our lives…how  the more we look at it, the more our “mental energy” uses the Law of Attraction to bring more of what we don’t want into our lives….how easy it is to get seduced by any negativity our senses are giving us and to continue “seeing” negativity everywhere we look…so then, the trick is to “turn from” that which our senses may be providing us and towards where we want to be…we use the Law of Attraction to take us to where we want to be….this is not to deny what’s in front of us, but rather to focus on our highest possibilities.

Interesting how easy it is to forget….So thank you, Harmony, for the reminder.  I could’ve continued seeing things going wrong around me, but you helped me to see all of the blessings which fill my life.  What a wonderful Monday!  And, it’s only going to get better.

Mark

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Categories Consciousness, Positive Evolution

To be for Something and against Nothing

January 21, 2010 //
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There’s great potential in focusing our energy in the direction we want to go rather than pushing against some condition we don’t like.  Whatever we spend our mental coin on is what we tend to produce.  The trick, of course, is in gaining the ability to turn our attention away from that we don’t want and then towards that which we do.

I thought about this the other night as I sat in the Denver City Council chambers for around six hours watching our civic processes in action.  I was there in support of my daughter, whose company was entering into a contract with the city which required the council’s approval.  They were holding public hearings on the contract which would bring a series of high-tech movie events to two of the city’s parks over the next three years.  This type of special outdoor cinema has never been used in the United States before yet has been quite successful in other countries for a number of years.  (For more information on the concept you can visit the company’s website at http://www.usopenair.com/ ).

Now admittedly, I might have a slight bias in favor of this idea based on this being my daughter’s company, yet I really do believe that these events can revitalize some of Denver’s underused parks and showcase their specialness.  I really thought this concept was a no-brainer.  Hence I was a little bit surprised when I showed up at the council’s hearings and discovered a large contingent of people who were wearing homemade stickers encouraging the council to vote “no”.  There were about 75 people who signed up to speak to the council.  Of that number, roughly half were in favor of the contract and half were not.  About half of each group got to speak before time ran out.  I was pleased to be able to address the council.

It’s not my purpose here to explain all of the points for and against bringing these film events to Denver’s parks.  As always, reasonable minds can disagree and there were good points made on both sides.  However, it was interesting to note a general theme that emerged from each side.  My comments, as well as many of the comments for those in favor of the proposal, focused upon a vision of a possible future.  They pointed to the potential for this film series to create a vital and vibrant focal point for activating the park’s potential to be a hub for the sharing of community.  On the other hand, many of the comments against the proposal were (in my opinion) rooted in fear…fear of change, fear of this being a setting of a precedent that might lead to the loss of parks, fear of the unknown, and more.  To be fair, there were some comments by some opponents, who took a non-fear-based approach and attempted to offer what they viewed as an alternative win-win possibility.  But in general, most of the opponents appeared to be stuck in the past and to be “pushing against” the idea.

Mystic Ernest Holmes wrote, “Find me one person who is for something and against nothing, who is redeemed enough not to condemn others out of the burden of his soul, and I will find another savior, another Jesus, and an exalted human being. “  Holmes really was speaking to the power of the Law of Attraction when used in the direction of good for all people.  When we can focus on what we are for, when we can eliminate the need to make others wrong in the process, we can truly perform miracles.

I was pleased at the end of the evening when the council voted in favor of the contract.  Overall this was a great example of our civic processes working out just like they’re designed.

However, there is an issue of concern here, which is indicative of a greater trend in American politics in recent years.  There appears to be a greater degree of being less “for” something and more “against” something which unfortunately often deteriorates into name calling, vindictiveness, and divisive behavior in the public forum.  We see this in lack of unbiased and measured discourse in many television programs, as well as the highly partisan way in which our political parties vote. 

Just in the past day, a lot has been made about the election in Massachusetts of a Republican senator to replace Teddy Kennedy simply because that one vote keeps the Democrats from total control of the Senate.  If there was more bipartisan behavior in our Congress, than this one vote would matter less.  There is an assumption by both our media and our politicians that our Congress is simply going to vote along party lines no matter what the issue.

A recent issue of the Christian Science Monitor had an article about the rising national debt and the issue of Congressional approval of the debt ceiling.  There was a telling quote in the piece from Stanley Collender, a longtime congressional budget analyst, who stated, “Debt ceilings have become political footballs and will continue to be in this highly politicized Congress where making the other side lose is more important than governing.”  Unfortunately, his observation frequently seems all too true.

So then the challenge before us is how do we turn from this condition, which is less than what we desire and focus our energy on what we do want?  In my opinion, we have to first acknowledge the condition…not to give energy, not to grow it, but rather just to be aware of it.  It’s from that awareness that we can now consciously choose a higher direction for our politics and for our country.

And what is that higher direction?  In my opinion it includes the following:

  • Visualizing and speaking out about a positive future… expressing our desire for what we do want.
  • Seeking opportunities to reinforce working together.
  • Honoring differences but focusing on commonalities.
  • Looking for ways to turn civil discourse away from negativity and towards respect, dignity and our common bonds.

You probably could add to this list.  I hope that you do.

Blessings,

Mark

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Categories Consciousness, Positive Evolution

The Law of Attraction Made Simple

January 13, 2010 //
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There is a law that responds to your thoughts and feelings

By now most people know about the law of attraction, based upon the popularity of the movie and book “The Secret” which discuss it in detail.  Many long-time students of metaphysics were pleased to see how the movie and the book generated interest in the concept they have long studied.  Yet many of us felt that the movie had two basic limitations.  One it focused too much on creating material wealth over the true spiritual purpose of the law (which will discuss another time).  Secondly, it glossed over  certain aspects of the law that when not understood can lead to failure and disillusionment with its truth.  My goal in the next few paragraphs is to simplify the law of attraction as well as to correct some of its misunderstandings.  I acknowledge at the beginning that some will read this and think I, too, have oversimplified it altogether. 

Let’s begin by considering that the universe is made up of energy and matter, which are interchangeable with one another and both respond to certain laws.  Science shows that as far back as a few milliseconds after the Big Bang energy, matter and these laws were in existence.  Science and its materialistic approach tends to limit its study to laws such as gravity that can be easily seen and measured.  Other laws such as the law of attraction have nuances to them (such as involving such things as “consciousness”  which are either denied or misunderstood from the materialistic standpoint..a subject we will discuss another day) that science either dismisses them out of hand or has trouble proving their truth. 

Simply stated, the law of attraction says that what we tend to think about manifests in the material world.  We often hear the phrase “thoughts are things.”  Hence, a beginning student of the law of attraction would be led to believe that so long as they “think” something enough they will see it come about in their lives.  Sometimes that happens, and validates the law.  Other times, they don’t get what they think and end up thinking the law is a of bunch of bunk. 

Generally speaking, there’s two reasons why people don’t get what they consciously think.  The first is that we must not only think something consistently, but we must act and speak in a manner that is in alignment with what we think.  We can affirm and affirm and affirm till we’re blue in the face, but if at the same time we are acting in a manner that is inconsistent with our affirmations then we will never see any manifestation.  If you are thinking and affirming that a new and wonderful relationship is flowing into your life yet you stay at home and never put yourself out where you can be open to being a friend to other people, than you will never see the manifestation of relationships that may be waiting for you.  There’s the old joke that you can affirm to win the lottery, but you first have to buy a ticket. 

The second reason why we may not see a manifestation of our thoughts (and one that is most frequently misunderstood) is because thoughts have two parts to them.  The first part is that of which we are consciously aware.  This is the part of consciousness we are using each day when we’re “trying” to use the law of attraction by our affirmations.  The second part of our thoughts are those that are below the level of awareness.  We have developed patterns of thinking throughout our lives that have become so ingrained that we don’t often know they exist.  These “thoughts” said below the level of awareness, and are the source of our beliefs, generate our habits and lead to our emotions.  Simply stated, if we consciously think one thing, but subconsciously believe another then we will not see the desires of our conscious thoughts. 

Let’s take an advanced metaphysics aside for a moment…author and philosopher Christian de Quincy in his recent book “Consciousness from Zombies to Angels” challenges the notion that thoughts create our reality.  However he goes on to add that may be a matter of semantics.  He thinks that when people use the word “thought” in this context what they are really talking about is “consciousness”.  He points out that “a great deal of consciousness does on beyond the inquisitive eye of the ego.”  Although I’ll get into these other aspects of consciousness that he discusses at another time, for now let’s simply consider that when we say “thoughts create our reality” what we are really saying is “consciousness creates our reality” and that consciousness contains a part that is in our awareness and a part that is subjected to our awareness.  It is the combination of both aspects of our consciousness that creates our reality.  Interestingly, the mystic Ernest Holmes (who frequently taught that thoughts are things) defines “thought” as “the movement of consciousness.”  A closer reading of Holmes shows us that he did not intend for us to have such a limited concept of the word thought so as to mean simply conscious thought.  Okay, aside over. 

So let’s get back to using the law of attraction… imagine for a minute that you have three buckets of thoughts, into which you put your mental energy.  These three buckets can be seen as a continuum.  At one end of the continuum are those thoughts regarding that which we see is in our life but that we don’t want.  Next are those thoughts related to that which is in our lives for which we have appreciation.  Finally up the continuum are those thoughts that relate to that which is not currently in our lives but we wish were.  Our goal in using the law of attraction is to move our thoughts up that continuum. 

Frequently, we look at life and see things out there in the physical world that are less than what we desire.  So what are our emotions and beliefs around these events in our lives?  If our emotions and beliefs are along the lines of saying “woe is me, look at my life” or something similar (I’ll never do that, I’ve always been fat, I’ll never be rich, etc.) then we tend to direct our mental energy in using the law of attraction into receiving more of the same.  However, if we look out at those events that we don’t desire, and can see them consciously and emotionally simply as a way for us to recognize that which we don’t want in life, then we give them less energy, and they tend to go away (or at least lessen).  This “turning from conditions” towards higher possibilities is probably the hardest thing to do in using the law of attraction. 

One of the best tools for moving our thoughts and emotions away from the apparent limitations of physical life we see in front of us is to focus upon that which is in front of us and for which we feel appreciation.  The more we can shift our thoughts into that bucket, where we are appreciative for that which we have right now, the less energy we are putting in the first bucket.  And, in that process, the more we are moving up the continuum.  Having gratitude for the challenges in our lives, and the lessons they teach us is a great way to move from bucket one that bucket two.  We’ll talk more about this at another time, but for now I just encourage you to look around at your life, from everything large and small for which you are happy, and feel appreciation for it.  For example, this morning I was appreciative for my hot coffee, my warm house, my clothes, my friends, my wife, my family, my dog, and even the hand railing that I was holding onto complete as I walked up the stairs.  Do you get the picture? 

The process of feeling appreciative for everything in your life, makes it easier to move your thoughts to the third bucket.  Here you visualize your life as it can be.  You see in your mind that which may not be in physical form yet, but you know that it’s coming.  You release attachment to how it might show up, and just know that it will.  You combine your thoughts with your emotions.  That is, you couple your “conscious” thoughts with your “subconscious or subjective” thoughts which give rise to your emotions.  In a sense you have all parts of your thoughts (or consciousness) in alignment knowing that this positive future is out picturing in your life now.  Then you simply allow the law of attraction to work. 

I would love to hear your thoughts and questions on this. 

Mark

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Categories Consciousness, Science and Spirit

Moving from Smallness to Greatness

January 8, 2010 //
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We are shifting into greatness

Moving from smallness to greatness… moving from fear to faith… keeping our eyes on the prize… shifting from doubt the certainty… moving beyond the appearance of conditions to the fulfillment of our highest calling and dreams… 

All of this movement, all of these “shifts”, all of this growth is in our consciousness.  We have a great gift in our thoughts which use the immense power of Mind.  It is so easy to forget that we have this gift….the ability to consciously use the “law of attraction”.  Read the rest of this entry »

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Categories Consciousness, Positive Evolution