What Are You Looking For?

by James Clair Lewis -

Whatever you are looking for, that is what you will find. If you are looking for Truth, Beauty, Love or Wisdom, you will find those things.

If you are looking for lies, ugliness, hate or foolishness you will find those things as well. If you are looking for flaws or mistakes, then you will find those things, too. 

It doesn't matter if any of this stuff is real or not because you will find it anyway... even if it is not there.

You may think in your mind that you are looking for something, when actually you are not. You might be looking for what you believe is there, instead of looking at what is there.

Mind and Heart

• The mind can convince itself of anything. 
• The mind can make the Truth appear to be false and what is false to appear true. 
• The mind can also see the Truth and know what is false. 
• The mind can convince itself that it makes decisions and it does this regularly.

It is the Heart which makes decisions and what you hold in your Heart determines what those decisions will be. 

The mind may think it is looking for something, when the Heart has decided otherwise and the mind cannot prevail against that.

The mind will only convince itself that it has chosen but what you hold in your Heart will decide what the mind perceives.

Thus, to really know what you are looking for, you must examine what you are holding in your Heart. 

If your Heart holds fear, then you will find fear and fail in everything you try to do, no matter how hard you try. Give up fear, which isn't to say that you shouldn't be prudent.

If your Heart holds greed, then you will find greed wherever you look and corrupt everything you touch. Give up greed and you will discover what true wealth is.

If your Heart holds malice, then you will destroy everything you think you love. Give up malice and you will find Peace. 

Look into your Heart and if you don't like what you see, then throw it away.

thegaiandragon.com Metaphysics
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What is the Matrix?

by Keith Varnum - 

The question alone invites intrigue and wonder. The Morphogenic Unified Field. The space-time continuum. The Wave. Oneness. Grace. Home.

There are no barriers to the expression of this energy and there are no limitations for it. The limitations are in your own mind and with practice you transcend these limitations.

The Matrix goes by many names.

Some scientific. Some mystical. All magical. Why? Because the mere mention of the word opens doorways!

Doorways that can’t be easily shut once cracked ajar. Not because you aren't able to re-seal the portal. You just don't want to.

Once someone's glimpsed the City of Light, you can't get 'em back to the farm! The game is too exciting. The adventure too electric. The journey too enticing.

The Matrix is the master blueprint of the Universe.

The energetic infrastructure of the world we live in. Our human structures aren’t built with wood and nails.

Our physical world is created with energy and beliefs. Condensed energy is the basic construction material. Our beliefs nail this energy in place. The result is the Matrix.

Find a way to enter the Matrix and you can re-construct your world!

Why would you want to do that?

Well, your daily existence may not be all that you want it to be. You might want more abundance, ease, health or joy in some aspect of your life.

How do you enter the Matrix to change your world?

This is the main purpose of all scientific and spiritual endeavor.

This is the focus of every complex experiment and ancient ritual. Cracking the entry code of the construction of the Universe is the goal of all modern technology and of all sacred tradition.

Eureka!

The scientist has found a break-in point via quantum physics!

The mystic has discovered an entrance via deep meditation! And guess what, Dorothy? We aren’t in Kansas anymore!

These two vastly different approaches to the same goal bump into each other in the "middle distance."

Strangers in the night. Lovers in the Light. What a surprise. Dare I say shock!

In fact, only recently have the two exploratory missions begun to recognize their similarities—in method and in result.

Time to Lift the Veil

We haven't recognized the common elements between the scientific and the spiritual methods because of the core secret nature of the Matrix itself.

The Matrix is veiled! Concealed. Hidden behind centuries of dusty and rusty beliefs!

A Matrix explorer has to see through the misleading surface appearance of the way the Matrix shows up in the explorer's world!

Once you can sense the true inner nature of life beneath the outer forms, you see the commonality of every effort to penetrate the Matrix.

You feel the unity of all approaches to understanding life. You realize the oneness of all attempts to find human happiness, health and harmony.

You see that not only is everyone actually using the same fishing line, they’re catching the same fish! No matter how different the surface appearance of the catch.

You see all parties crossing the same finish line. No matter how distant the location in space. You see that they all value the same bottom line. No matter how divergent their expression of success.

You see Einstein and the Elders eating the same bagel. A round symbol of the movement of all life.

A representation of the essential nature of the Matrix. - A spiral of free-flowing energy! Our intention to have a bagel focuses free-flowing life energy into condensed physical matter with the label "bagel."

The Key to Unlock Miracles

The key to merging with the Matrix is becoming fluid enough to flow into the Matrix energy field.

Once there, your experience is transformed into whatever your current harmony is.

You can become this flexible and malleable by many means, modern and ancient. Your inner guidance or intuition can lead you to the perfect portal for you!

Portal of Matrix Energetics

thedream.com

The Mysticism and Mystery of Life

by Dennis Merritt Jones - 

The deepest mystery and perhaps the one for which there will never be an answer that will completely satisfy the itch of the intellect is the miracle of Life itself.

In his book The Living Universe, Duane Elgin writes,

“American Indian lore speaks of three miracles. The first miracle is that anything exists at all. The second miracle is that living things exist. The third miracle is that living things exist that know they exist. As human beings conscious of ourselves, we represent the third miracle.”

In the normal course of our daily life, these three miracles are all mysteries we seldom take time to contemplate, if ever.

We expend much of our time and energy navigating over, under, around, and through the uncertainties of everyday life, relating to the events, conditions and circumstances that come with the territory of living in a human skin.

People travel to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars and they pass by themselves without wondering. --St. Augustine

If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change. --Buddha

Witness and Observe Yourself: You Are A Miracle!

The idea that we can be conscious of ourselves as human beings has profound implications. It means that we can become observers of the miracle of our own minds at work. It also means that we can consciously experience that mystical point in space and time when and where our doing merges with our Being.

Stop right now, take a deep intentional breath and then take a peek into your own mind. Simply witness yourself, observe yourself.

When was the last time you paused to do this? Watch your thinking mind process your thoughts and the ideas being presented here, as you read these words.

Observing The Mysticism and Mystery of Life

The fact that when we choose to be fully present in the mystery of the moment, we can be the observer of our own minds means that there is more to us than meets the eye, or the brain — who is it that is doing the observing?

This is the moment when the human self and the sacred Self commingle as one, and it is also the miracle of all miracles; that is, that in any given moment we can consciously witness the merging of the human with the Divine realizing, as Ernest Holmes wrote,

“What we are looking for, we are looking with.”

This is the mystical moment when we know we have fully entered the mystery of life at a level where uncertainty of anything ceases to exist. The idea of certainty and uncertainty is a human invention.

If humankind did not exist, certainty and uncertainty wouldn’t exist either because both are a human concern.

Deepest Mystery

The Universe, which is Infinite Intelligence, just Is and It has been operating in its Divine “Is-ness” flawlessly for fourteen billion years and it continues to evolve Itself, expanding at the speed of Light, with no apparent attachment to where it is going or what its future may or may not be.

As we deepen our awareness of our oneness with this expanding Life Force, uncertainty will cease holding us hostage to what lies ahead in the mystery of that which is yet to be.

Then, coming to the edge of the unknown becomes a natural part of our journey that will happen repeatedly, with grace and ease. This does not mean the mystery of that which is yet to be will cease — it simply means we have become one with it as it unfolds.

You Are A Miracle -- The Miracle and Mystery of Life

Life, itself, is the ultimate mystery. It is a miracle that we shall never fully understand, nor should we try: We appear on the planet one day, coming from the apparent ethers of absolute nothingness, entering Earth School with many questions and no answers.

As we grow and evolve, we spend the balance of our time on the journey as soul beings learning how to navigate through the human condition, gathering the necessary information to create a life worth living through curiosity, inquisitiveness, and experiences motivated by either desperation or inspiration.

As we awaken to our true nature, we aspire to create experiences that offer purpose and meaning for the journey.

Then one day, when it is our time, we depart once again, back into the apparent ethers of nothingness from which we came.

What is not miraculous and mysterious about that?

It is what we do with the miracle and the mystery between the coming and the going that matters.

Another way to say it might be:

The most precious gift we have ever been given by the Infinite One is the miracle of Life, itself; what we choose to do with this Life is our gift back to the Giver.

except  from The Art of Uncertainty: How to Live in the Mystery of Life and Love It

dennismerrittjones.com

Aura Fixation

by Jeffrey Willius - 

One Man's Wonder

Reclaiming Curiosity in a "Ho-hum" World:

From this increasingly sped-up, dumbed-down, 140-character world of quick, shallow experiences and relationships, a new generation of thinkers is emerging.

Yearning for substance, hungry for real, first-hand relationships with each other and with Nature, we are beginning to realize that very little of this occurs without our willingness to notice and appreciate things not readily apparent.

One Man's Wonder is about looking further, paying attention, making time for discovery, celebrating little things, and being open to wonder. Can we reclaim those qualities that illuminate our spiritual essence and make us truly human?

I wonder...

AURA FIXATION – UNWRAPPING PRESENCE

When you're in a crowd, do you ever find yourself fixating on just one of the many strangers you see? This happens to me all the time. I'm at a party, in a restaurant or watching a sporting event. There may be hundreds of people all around me but one of them, of all those anonymous beings, will just absolutely fascinate me.

Does who we are determine what we choose to see or does how we see actually change what is?

Just this morning I was having breakfast with a friend and pointed out a waitress who intrigued me. He didn't see it and asked me if it was some kind of sexual chemistry I was picking up on. No, it's not that, I explained but I do think it's about beauty, albeit seldom the kind you'd see on the surface.

Normally, you probably wouldn't look twice at most of these people. It's more like fleeting glimpses of something extraordinary I see shining through those otherwise ordinary façades. Most often, it's just a way of smiling, moving or interacting with other people. Sometimes I picture it as a sort of inner light that radiates from them.

• There was a kid on my stepson's little league baseball team. He wasn't especially big nor good looking. But the way he moved to pick up a ground ball and throw it to first base was so natural, so pure, that I couldn't stop watching him. He had, at the age of ten, a degree of that intensity and self-assurance you see in some professional athletes—the Michael Jordans, the Derrick Jeters, the Roger Federers. I hoped he'd grow up using that charisma for good.

She had the refinement of old money but without the damage.

• A 17 or 18-year-old girl who was sitting in front of me at a children's piano recital had an unusual radiance. I picked up on it even though I never saw more than the back of her head and an occasional profile. What was it, the way she encouraged her little brother—one of the performers? Or was it was how she looked at, and listened to, her parents, seated on either side of her. It struck me that she had the refinement of old money, but without the damage it so often inflicts. From those few impressions, I felt I could see the kind of life she would lead. And, while a bit disconcerting, I found that inkling, more than anything, reassuring.

• I was on one of those "chicken buses" in rural Guerrero, Mexico. A heavy-set, plain-faced, 30-something woman got on at Los Achotes and sat across from me. Something about her just caught my eye. Maybe it was just the careful manner of her dress. But the more I looked—trying not to be too creepy—the more I could tell that her surface beauty went deep. I could see it in her posture and in her eyes. I'm sure this woman had experienced her share of the unrelenting challenges facing most poor Mexican women. It wasn't just that she wore that abrasion well; somehow she'd managed to gild it—she shone that brightly.

Impressions like these visit me almost every day. A skeptic might say they derive, not from the people I'm looking at but from some need I have to see them that way. But does it make any difference?

Does who we are determine what we choose to see, or does how we see actually change what is? Or could both be true? What do you think? I'd love to hear your comments!

onemanswonder.com

Rising Above Illusion

by Remez Sasson -

The Philosophy of Nonduality:

The philosophy of Nonduality says that there is just One Spirit in the Universe and that everything, living or inanimate, is an inseparable and indivisible part of this One Spirit.

Nonduality further says that it is only illusion, caused by the mind and the play of the senses, which makes us regard the world and everything in it, as real and separate from us.

For someone not familiar with this philosophy, it might sound strange and even weird, but once understood, it can completely change one's attitude and perspective about life.

Imagine a state, in which you feel oneness with the Universe, enjoying bliss and peace of mind and at the same time acting and functioning normally in your day-to-day life.

A state of being active in the world but at the same time maintaining a state of inner detachment. Being aware of your oneness with the One Spirit and also aware that the One Spirit is acting and manifesting through everything, matter, plants, trees, animals and people.

This is the experience of nonduality in its highest form.

Our thoughts and five senses draw the mind outside, to the external world and obscure the awareness of the consciousness that is beyond the mind.

Through meditation, we gain inner peace and the ability to silence the mind and lift up the obscuring veil of thoughts.

In this state of inner silence we rise above the illusion of identification with the mind, thoughts and ego, get beyond the illusion of separateness and realize the oneness with the One Spirit.

It is as if a new sort of consciousness dawns and we see the world in a different way.

With this kind of consciousness we are able to allow the mind to be active or silent at our command. It becomes our faithful servant, instead of being our master.

We act in the material world, yet our roots are in pure, calm and limitless consciousness, which is not attached to anything and not limited by anything. In this state, we live and view the world from the nonduality point of view.

Though in our day-today life we regard other people, as separate from us, as separate units, this is only a mental viewpoint, convenient for functioning in our day to day life.

From a higher state of consciousness, all are One, and the terms "I", "you", "he", "she" and "they" are not real. There is only the One Spirit, Consciousness, which manifests in limitless forms and ways.

The external forms may be different but the Spirit within them is one undivided Spirit. It is the mind, which lets us believe and feel that we are separate from others but we are all part of the same One Spirit manifesting and expressing itself through different forms.

The concept of nonduality is not a strange or weird idea. 

It can be experienced and lived right here and now, no matter where you are and without attracting anybody's attention. It is an inner state of consciousness, not an external state.

It is possible to realize and experience the meaning of nonduality in an ashram or a cave and it is also equally possible to do so while living in a town or city, with family and a job.

This requires dedication, an open mind, inner work and turning the mind inwards.

Most people cannot afford to leave everything behind, in order to meditate and lead a purely spiritual life. They need to work and support their family and can therefore devote only part of the day to spiritual pursuits.

The good news is that you can walk on the inner path of spirituality and nonduality, meditation and self realization, without abandoning your family, job or external life style. With proper planning, it is possible to find the time and the energy for the inner work.

Meditation and walking on the spiritual path, which can lead to understanding and experiencing nonduality, can be practiced anywhere, without making external changes in your life. You can stay with your job and family, and still make spiritual progress and realize the true meaning nonduality.

Look within you, be aware of what is going in your mind, search for the source of your thoughts and where they come from, learn to make your mind peaceful and you will start to be aware of your true essence and the consciousness beyond your mind. This will lead to understanding what nonduality is.

What can help? 

A peaceful mind, concentration, meditation, reading of spiritual literature and when possible, the proximity and guidance of true spiritual teachers.

successconsciousness.com

Thoughts and Thinking

by Joseph Naft -

We collectively glorify our ability to think as the distinguishing characteristic of humanity; we personally and mistakenly glorify our thoughts as the distinguishing pattern of who we are.

From the inner voice of thought-as-words to the wordless images within our minds, thoughts create and limit our personal world. Through thinking we abstract and define reality, reason about it, react to it, recall past events and plan for the future. Yet thinking remains both woefully underdeveloped in most of us, as well as grossly overvalued.

We can best gain some perspective on thinking in terms of energies.

Automatic Thinking: 

 Automatic thinking draws us away from the present. We wistfully allow our thoughts to meander where they will, carrying our passive attention along with them. Like water running down a mountain stream, thoughts running on autopilot careen through the spaces of perception, randomly triggering associative links within our vast storehouse of memory.

By itself, such associative thought is harmless. However, our tendency to believe in, act upon and drift away with such undirected thought keeps us operating in an automatic mode. Lulled into an inner passivity by our daydreams and thought streams, we lose contact with the world of actual perceptions, of real life. In the automatic mode of thinking, I am completely identified with my thoughts, believing my thoughts are me, believing that I am my thoughts.

Another mode of automatic thinking consists of repetitious and habitual patterns of thought. These thought tapes and our running commentary on life, unexamined by the light of awareness, keep us enthralled, defining who we are and perpetuating all our limiting assumptions about what is possible for us.

Driving and driven by our emotions, these ruts of thought create our false persona, the mask that keeps us disconnected from others and from our own authentic self. More than any other single factor, automatic thinking hinders our contact with presence, limits our being, and blocks our path. The autopilot of thought constantly calls us away from the here and now, and keeps us fixed on the most superficial levels of our being.

Sometimes we even notice strange, unwanted thoughts that we consider horrible or shameful. We might be upset or shaken that we would think such thoughts, but those reactions only serve to sustain the problematic thoughts by feeding them energy.

Furthermore, that self-disgust is based on the false assumption that we are our thoughts, that even unintentional thoughts, arising from our conditioned minds, are us. They are not us and we need not act upon or react to them. They are just thoughts with no inherent power and no real message about who we are. We can just relax and let them go — or not. Troubling thoughts that recur over a long period and hinder our inner work may require us to examine and heal their roots in our conditioning, perhaps with the help of a psychotherapist.

Sensitive Thinking: 

Sensitive thinking puts us in touch with the meaning of our thoughts and enables us to think logically, solve problems, make plans and carry on a substantive conversation. A good education develops our ability to think clearly and intentionally with the sensitive energy. With that energy level in our thinking brain, no longer totally submerged in the thought stream, we can move about in it, choosing among and directing our thoughts based on their meaning.

Conscious Thinking: 

 Conscious thinking means stepping out of the thought stream altogether, surveying it from the shore. The thoughts themselves may even evaporate, leaving behind a temporarily empty stream bed. Consciousness reveals the banality and emptiness of ordinary thinking. Consciousness also permits us to think more powerfully, holding several ideas, their meanings and ramifications in our minds at once.

When the creative energy enters into thought, truly new ideas spring up. Creative thinking can happen after a struggle, after exhausting all known avenues of relevant ideas and giving up, shaping and emptying the stage so the creative spark may enter. The quiet, relaxed mind also leaves room for the creative thought, a clear channel for creativity.

Creative and insightful thoughts come to all of us in regard to the situations we face in life. The trick is to be aware enough to catch them, to notice their significance, and if they withstand the light of sober and unbiased evaluation, to act on them.

Limitations of Thought: 

In the spiritual path, we work to recognize the limitations of thought, to recognize its power over us, and especially to move beyond it. Along with Descartes, we live in the realm of “thoughts ‘r us.” But thoughts are just thoughts. They are not us. They are not who we are.

While thought processes, such as planning and foresight, give us power in the domain of time, thoughts also mask the timeless, chaining our inner world to time. No thought can enter the spiritual realms. Rather, the material world defines the boundaries of thought, despite its power to conceive lofty abstractions.

We cannot think our way into the spiritual reality. 

On the contrary, identification with thinking prevents us from entering the depths. As long as we remain mesmerized by thoughts or believe that refined thinking represents our highest capacity, we shackle ourselves exclusively to this world. All our thoughts, all our books, all our ideas wither before the immensity of the higher realms.

A richly developed body of spiritual practices engages thought: from repetitive prayer and mantras, to contemplation of an idea, to visualizations of deities.

In a most instructive and invaluable exercise, we learn to see beyond thought by embracing the gaps, the spaces between thoughts. After sitting quietly and relaxing for some time, we turn our attention toward the thought stream within us. We notice thoughts come and go of their own accord, without prodding or pushing from us.

Timeless Consciousness: 

If we can abide in this relaxed watching of thought, without falling into the stream and flowing away with it, the thought stream begins to slow, the thoughts fragment. 

Less enthralled by our thoughts, we begin to see that we are not our thoughts. Less controlled by and at the mercy of, our thoughts, we begin to be aware of the gaps between thought particles. 

These gaps open to consciousness, underlying all thought. Settling into these gaps, we enter and become the silent, timeless consciousness beneath thought. Instead of being in our thoughts our thoughts are in us.

innerfrontier.org

Dreamer or Doer?

by Ralph Marston -

Is it best to be a dreamer or to be a doer?

Actually, it is helpful to be both. In all great creations, the idealistic exists with the pragmatic in elegant proportions. 

A dream is of little value unless you put action into it and action won't get you very far unless there is meaningful purpose behind it. 

Allow yourself to dream grand, magnificent dreams that express the deepest essence of who you are. Then let those dreams pull you steadily through the practical, nuts-and-bolts work of making them real. 

Work through each day with diligence and persistence, doing what there is to be done. As you do, stay close to the dreamer that always lives within you. As a dreamer, you can envision a world and a life with no limits. As a doer, you can focus on something that has never existed before and make it real. 

Let your most treasured dreams focus your actions and let your actions express your dreams. 

Be both a dreamer and a doer and dive deeply into the multifaceted treasure that is your life.

  greatday.com

Going Beyond Impressions

by Gloria Wendroff -

Harmony does not have to mean agreement. Harmony is more like peace. People can be opposed in their thoughts and opinions and yet there is no opposition. There is acceptance. There is no need to change how anyone thinks. What does it matter if one calls the sky green and the grass blue?

Ways to think cannot be forced.

No one can be made to think one way or another. It is not obligatory. Thoughts do change, yet they can change only of their own accord. Thoughts have a will of their own. You cannot by dint of will change even your own thoughts let alone someone else’s. Yet the day will come when your thoughts do change.

Thoughts resemble beliefs.

You believe what you believe. No matter what the reward or punishment, you can only believe what you believe. You can act differently from what you believe. You can pretend to believe and not yet believe.

Yet it is good to have your thoughts and actions coincide. If you think to do a kind act, follow through on it. Do not let opportunities go by. Then you will not have regrets. A kind thought is good. A kind thought acted on is better.

By what means do thoughts change? 

You cannot make them change, yet thoughts change. Thoughts change when a light goes on. Your thoughts are based on your perceptions. How you think depends upon how you see.

Today you see the person in front of you as a friend. Tomorrow you may see him as a foe. Have you not experienced this or vice versa? The person before you is what you make of him. You paint your own picture with the brushes of your perception.

You may say that another person’s words, actions or reactions are what you base your thoughts on. Beloveds, you base your thoughts on your interpretation of another’s words, actions, or reactions. You must know this is so.

There may be someone you cannot tolerate, and someone else loves that person you cannot tolerate. You may say that the person you don’t like shows himself in a different light to the one who loves him. That may well be so. And yet it is also possible that he gives the best of himself because the one who loves him sees him differently and treats him differently too.

Your interpretations are everything.

This is true in nations as well.

In one culture, a certain action is considered lovely. In another culture, it may be viewed as not lovely. If you see friendliness, odds are you will respond in friendliness. If you see aloofness, odds are you will be aloof also.

What else is there to say but that you think and act based upon your impressions. True or false, right or wrong, you respond to how you see.

Now you are coming to the point where you go beyond impressions. You come to the point where you come from, not where you surmise someone else to be, but from where you are. You are not to spend your life bouncing off other people. If you must bounce, bounce off Me, beloveds. It will feel good, and you will be so gentle.

You will stand on a mountain top.

You will be the mountain. What fuss will a mountain make of grass that grows at its feet. What will the mountain mind? What will it object to? What will it not love when it stands so tall above the madding crowd?

heavenletters.org

Whose REALITY Is It Anyway?

by Douglas Davis -

I am so tired of hearing The weekend is over and tomorrow it's back to reality! and You've lost touch with reality! or Get Real! What exactly is reality and whose reality are we talking about?

I have also often heard: Wait until you get out into the REAL WORLD! Where exactly are you when you aren't in the real world? Are you in a false place? A world of non-reality?

Additionally there's the old, It won't be so easy when you get out there! Prepare yourself for a merciless, cold, cruel world. When you do get there, you will have to struggle and deal with a lot of negative people and situations.

Is that a set up or what? We are told what is and what is not "real" and what to expect and how to fit in.

I saw a bumper sticker not too long ago that said "Question reality". I agree.

I think reality should be questioned and challenged and maybe even done away with. Usually, when someone tells you that you must "get back to reality", they are talking about their own reality. People project their own belief systems on others all the time and if you're not careful, you might start to think like them.

I suppose most people believe that there is one reality and that they have no choice but to exist in it. Who decided what reality was to be when things first got started? If you haven't already, I strongly suggest that you begin to examine, right away, in whose reality you are living.

Are you following your own reality or that of society, your parents, some institution or that of someone you knew 10 years ago? What is real for you? Can you do anything to change your reality, assuming you'd want to?

Just What Is Real? 

Have you ever stopped to think that "reality" is, to so many people, what is usually synonymous with a job or a task that is unpleasant? Why is that? Who decided that reality should be a necessary evil or just plain not fun? Does this mean when you are having fun that you are doing something that's not real?

I think that we are all much closer to real reality when we are having fun and feeling passionate and alive. Being quiet, centered, feeling joy, doing nothing all day...now THAT'S my idea of reality!

How much does "reality" dictate to you what you must do? Must you struggle and work hard at something you don't enjoy in order to pay the bills? Also, do you believe reality dictates that we all have to do things we don't like? Is this just the way it is, or is there something that can be done about it? Who decided these things?

And now for a little dose of reality! Many of you know by now that you are the creator of your own reality, even the bad stuff. The thing is, you can't start doing anything about your reality until you know this and accept it. Taking responsibility for your life is the first step in getting yourself out from under the clutches of the old belief system.

The next step is to look at yourself. It is the way you see yourself that determines how you view the world around you. In other words, your outer reality is a reflection of your inner reality, your inner thoughts and beliefs. Therefore, your "real world" will be negative only if you perceive aspects of yourself as negative. Change how you perceive yourself and you change your reality.

If you believe you are a limited being, undeserving and a victim with very little choice in life, then that is exactly what your reality will be.

If you choose to believe that you are susceptible to colds, the flu and all sorts of other common maladies every time there's a change in the weather, then that, too, will be your reality.

If, however, you believe you are a limitless, multidimensional person and that abundance, prosperity, and radiant good health are yours for the taking, then that is the reality you will manifest.

You empower yourself when you realize that you can create your own reality. The fact is, your life does not have to be cold and cruel. You simply do not have to accept what someone tells you is real. If you think you have to struggle to pay the bills, you may want to take a look at the possibility that your possessions are enslaving you. How many things do you feel you MUST have? How much could you let go in order to be freer?

Or, what could you do to increase your income that would allow you to keep all of your possessions and acquire even more?

Think about this. If you are in a relationship that no longer serves you, then why do you remain in it? Could it be you think you have no other choice and "reality" dictates that you must stay there? If you do not like your present reality, then go within and ask your Higher Self what part of you is thinking negatively and why.

What Were You Taught?

Much of what we believe about the nature of reality and ourselves is determined by what is taught to us.

We are told what is and what is not "real" and what to expect and how to fit in. This is done so that the vast majority of us do not make the full connection with our true spiritual selves. Therefore, control and power are maintained and the status quo goes unchallenged.

The "real world', as it has been traditionally defined is an illusion. Our challenge is to realize this and then to discover our own. Consider how much you may have bought into the program and when you are ready, start creating your new reality and don't look back.

personalpower.com.au

What Can We Do to Make Things Better?

by Gregg Braden -

The pioneering anthropologist Louis Leakey was once asked why his work to find the oldest evidence of human existence was so important. He replied,

“Without an understanding of who we are, and from where we came, I do not think we can truly advance.”

I believe there’s a lot of truth to what Leakey said—so much so that the bulk of my adult life has revolved around my search to know who we are and how the knowledge of our past can help us become better people and create a better world.

With the exception of Antarctica, my research into the mystery of our past has taken me to every continent on the planet.

From huge cities such as Cairo and Bangkok, to remote villages in Peru and Bolivia, from ancient monasteries in the Himalayas of Tibet, to Hindu temples in Nepal, during the time that I’ve experienced each culture, a single theme has emerged.

The people of this world are ready for something more than the suffering and uncertainty that defined their lives for so much of the 20th century.

They’re ready for peace and the promise of a better tomorrow.

As different as our cultures and ways of life appear on the outside, beneath the surface we’re all searching for the same things—a land to call home, a way to provide for our families, and a better future for ourselves and our children.

At the same time, there are two questions that people of all cultures ask me again and again. 

• The first is simply: “What is happening to our world?”
• The second is: “What can we do to make things better?”

The answers to both questions appear to be woven into a single understanding that links the traditions of prayer today with the most ancient and cherished spiritual traditions of our past.

Four hundred years ago in the high deserts of the American Southwest, the great wisdom keepers of the Navajo families were tested by the earth, nature, and the tribes that surrounded them.

Through the extremes that drought, intense heat and lack of food caused in their societies, the Navajo realized that they must harness the power of their inner pain to endure the harsh conditions of their outer world. Their very survival depended upon learning to do so.

Recognizing that life’s tests pushed them to the depths of their greatest suffering, they also discovered that the same tests revealed their greatest strengths. 

The key to their survival was to immerse themselves in life’s challenges without becoming lost in the experience. They had to find an “anchor” within themselves—a belief that gave them the inner strength to endure their tests—and the knowledge that a better day would follow.

From this place of power they had the confidence to take risks, change their lives and make sense of their world.

Our lives today may not be so very different from that of those brave individuals who roamed the high deserts of the American Southwest centuries before our country was created.

Although the scenery has shifted and the circumstances have changed, we still find ourselves in situations that shake the foundations of our beliefs, test the limits of our sensibilities and challenge us to rise above the things that hurt us.

In a world that many describe as “coming apart at the seams,” we’re challenged to find a way to live each day with peace, joy and a sense of order.

We find ourselves in a world of experiences that defy our sensibilities and push us to the limits of what we can accept as rational, loving people. 

In the presence of war and genocide beyond our borders, and hate based upon our differences within our own communities, how are we to feel emotions such as peace and healing?

Clearly, we must find a way to break the cycle of hurt-suffering-anger-hate if we’re to transcend the conditions that we find ourselves in.

In the languages of their time, ancient traditions left us precise instructions for how to do just that!

Through their words, we’re reminded that “life” is nothing more and nothing less, than a mirror of what we’ve become within.

The key to experiencing our lives as beauty or as pain rests solely within our ability to become these qualities in each moment of every day.

A growing body of scientific evidence gives renewed credibility to such wisdom and the powerful role that each of us plays in contributing to the healing or the suffering in our world.

greggbraden.com

Easing Your Burdens

by Ralph Marston -

Don't make life's difficulties even more difficult by filling your mind with resentment. Instead, ease your burdens by choosing to be truly thankful for them.  

If you feel resentment starting to take hold, stop and consider this: 

There's nothing to be gained by bringing yourself down over what has already happened. Use the occasion to remember all the things for which you can be thankful.  

Rise to the challenge of seeing the positive aspect that are surely there within any troubling situation. 

 

Holding on to resentment will drain valuable energy away from you. Gratitude on the other hand, can fill you with fresh, new positive energy.  

Choose to see the value in your situation.  

Choose to look forward with confidence instead of looking backward with resentment. Right now, there is much for which to be thankful. 

Focus on the positive possibilities and find real joy in steadily bringing them to life.

greatday.com

Do Something About It

by Ralph Marston -

When something is troubling you, make the commitment to change it. Then begin to act on that decision right away. Some of the influences in your life are under your control and many of those influences are outside your control.  

You can always decide upon and put into action a positive response to anything. 

Don't sit around being amazed at how miserable you are and at how unfairly life is treating you. Instead be amazed at how quickly and effectively you can do something about it.  

Don't complain to others about how tough it is for you. Instead, inspire them with your positive and enthusiastic attitude and actions.

When the world feels all wrong, that's a valuable signal. It's your way of telling yourself to get going and make a difference.  

You have plenty of good options if you'll simply make the effort to find them. Pick the best one, get busy putting it into action and take positive control of your world.

greatday.com