Thoughts on the wind

Your thoughts are powerful little seeds.

Spiritually speaking, they pack quite a punch, for your thoughts are made up of the energy of the universe. That energy creates your body, the Earth and all of your daily interactions.

Each of your thoughts—from the tiniest to the most grand—has the ability to manifest in countless ways. With practice and patience, you can help steer your thoughts in positive, purposeful directions and in those circumstances, you may be pleased with the results.

But other times, you simply let your thoughts leave your awareness without giving them (excuse the expression) a second thought. Where do those thoughts go? Do they disappear into the ether? Do they land somewhere unintended and germinate?

When it comes to all those thoughts in your head, it’s important to remember that you have a powerful team working on your behalf. The universe itself, in coordination with your inner self, helps steer those thoughts to the places they can do the most good. Thoughts want to manifest; they want to express themselves and evolve and grow.

Like seeds, thoughts have the ability to take root in the right soil. The universe then acts like a loving wind, carrying those seeds to just the right place at just the right time for them to take hold.

You may not always be able to watch those thought-seeds sail into the wind and follow them to their destination. So how do you ensure that your crop is bountiful? You start by becoming gently aware of your thoughts. You notice them, inspect them and gauge them against your life. Are your thought-seeds producing things you love or are you planting unwanted weeds?

Once you get a handle on what you are thinking, spend some time deliberately choosing thought-seeds that will grow into things you want. This is a numbers game: see if you can produce more positive thought-seeds than negative. Since you don’t know where the universe will send those seeds, make sure the ones you release into the air are something you can appreciate down the road.

After all, if you’re going to walk among your thoughts, you may as well enjoy a beautiful path along the way.

 

 

(Are you still) arguing for limitations?

In an instant, I changed my future with a simple press of the “delete key” on my computer.

If that sounds a tad dramatic, it’s meant to. It’s dramatic because in that moment, I realized one of my long-standing—and often unconscious—actions that I indulge in on a daily basis: arguing for my limitations.

In this blog, I write a lot about the process of conscious creation: defining your intents, clarifying up your beliefs and setting out to purposely become aware of all of your thoughts. Then directing those thoughts where you want then to manifest. Part of the hardest part of conscious creation is keeping on top of your thoughts and realizing when you’re straying off course.

Conscious creation, however, goes way beyond your thoughts, beliefs and imagination. Yes, thoughts are the impetus toward creating a new, better life for yourself; they are the driving force behind your beliefs and eventually the reality you experience. Thoughts and beliefs are reinforced with action, which results in changed behavior, such as the words you speak and write as well as the physical acts you preform each day.

When I was emailing back and forth with a coworker last week, I was acting on autopilot. We were speculating on some rumored changes at work and we were in what I would call full-tilt conspiracy mode. We talked about unconfirmed reports on changes in policy and personnel and started wondering what the ramifications of those changes would be.

On one particular issue, she asked me an innocent question: “what’s the worst that could happen?” That’s when I found myself typing a seven-paragraph response. I brought up fears from the past and combined them with paranoia in the present and projected them straight into the future. I was literally writing a negative version of my future and it was staring at me from my computer screen.

That’s when I felt unease in my gut. Thankfully, I paused long enough to have a true “moment of reflection” when I could look critically at my response. Up until this point, we were feverishly writing back and forth but now I took a few minutes to re-read my response with fresh eyes because it didn’t feel right.

Right there on my computer screen, I realized what I was doing. I quickly (and elegantly) outlined exactly how I would be affected by any of the probable actions I argued for and they weren’t pretty. I used dire language and honestly made things bigger and harsher than they needed to be.

I was arguing for my own limitations—again.

Since becoming introduced to the concept of conscious creation, I’ve become much better at filtering my thoughts. I’ve gotten good at quickly realigning my thoughts in directions that better fit my goals; but, I often neglect to implement one important thing: change in my actions to align with those new goals.

I’m hardly alone in this. I see it quite frankly in many postings on Facebook, social media and in conversations with friends and family. Talking about our limitations seems practical after all; it’s the way we’ve been raised. In the Accepted View of Reality, talking about and focusing on problems is seen as the way to solve them.

We take comfort in sharing our feelings of fear and distrust. We frequently get sympathy from others when we have these kinds of conversations, hoping the other person will remind us that things aren’t that bad or that we’re speaking out of line. Unfortunately, however, we’re so attuned to this kind of behavior that half the time, we don’t even know we’re doing it.

Sometimes we become conscious of what we’re doing and make the decision to have these kinds of limiting conversations anyway. Maybe we believe that releasing the fear through words and actions will help the universe mysteriously solve the problem. Maybe we don’t really believe that change is possible. Maybe we’re just lazy.

As I read over my response to my coworker, I did become aware of my language. I realized that I was planting very powerful thought and belief seeds in the moment point and instantly realized that the fruits of those seeds would be the very things I didn’t want in my life.

This type of conscious creation action is so automatic, so practiced, it takes a sharp mind and quick thinking to catch it in time. We think we’re soothing our egos and analytical minds by “telling it like it is,” but in fact we’re simply keeping ourselves stuck. Talking about “what is” keeps us stuck in “what is.” It keeps us from moving forward with our development and fulfillment.

Commissary feels good because, as a society, that’s the way we’re used to bonding. Author and spiritual pioneer Caroline Myss calls it “woundology” – sharing our troubles with others in an effort to feel included and to soothe our aching psyches. It’s also a form of one-upmanship: “my troubles are worse than yours.” In short, it’s another way of keeping us stuck right where we are.

Lately I’ve realized how practiced I am in the art of “telling it like it is.” I complain to my coworkers, bitch to my friends, and tell my troubles to my family. And yes, there is value in venting, recognizing when you’re feeling a particular emotion and trying to remove it from your awareness.

But once that initial recognition is made, it becomes even more important to realize the positive choices that are then available. Understand that you have a choice in the way you act next. That means switching gears and performing a new action, whether it’s making a new statement about the way you want things to happen or talking about your hopes for the future. It can mean emailing a friend something positive about your day or quietly thanking the universe for having already set into motion the magical steps that will solve your challenges.

In my case, I looked at what I had written to my coworker and immediately deleted it. I responded: “I had a long list of things to add to this conversation but realized I am simply arguing for my limitations and I don’t want to do that.” She understood (some friends are sharp like that) and we dropped the whole thing. I then took a few moments to clear my mind, identify my limiting thoughts and start the process of inserting new ones in their place.

That one small act of action in the present moment helped set into motion a whole new set of probabilities that are more in line with what I want to experience. The choice, although different, felt good overall.

Creation always happens in the “now.” It’s the only time you have to shape your future. Your past thoughts and actions have brought you to this very moment right now and now is the only time you can effectively begin to change course. Recognizing your habitual thoughts, words and actions takes practice and awareness but if you find yourself arguing for limitations, the present moment is the only time to begin changing them.

Think a new thought, speak a new word, or react in a different way. Make sure your thoughts, beliefs and actions are in keeping with your desired results. Argue for your success. Make a case for your happiness. It’s a great way to Honor Your Spirit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You’re so impressive

Chances are, I’ve never met you and yet I can still stay with 100 percent certainty that you are impressive. Really, you are.

Actually, all of us here on Earth are impressive but probably not in the way you’re used to thinking about the word. In conscious creation terms, you impress the universe with your vibrational signature, that unique combination of thoughts, emotions and beliefs that are uniquely yours.

What you think matters; what you feel matters; what you believe matters. And when you get a hold of that concept fully, you can start to take conscious control over your day-to-day existence in a much more meaningful way.

So what does this mean to you, personally?

It means that you’re never at the mercy of an uncaring universe. It signifies that others don’t have the control over you that you think they do. It means you have control over your experience in ways you’re not even aware of. Most of all, it means you have a choice in the way you steer yourself through this thing we call “life.”

Without going all quantum physics on you, think about your existence in some simple terms. You are consciousness. Consciousness is energy. You come from and are a part of that great energy. Some people call this energy “God,” others call it “source.” The terms aren’t important. But what is important is understanding that you are a part of all existence because you are made of it and you help it grow with every thought and action you perform. You are co-creating the universe right now.

Your thoughts are made up of electrified, coded information. They literally send out “imprinted” information into the universe, stamped with your intent. As those thoughts go forth into the universe, they seek out similar vibrational patterns that eventually form the “real,” physical world you experience. You’ve heard this referred to as Law of Attraction or Law of Creation. The important part to remember, however, is that your imprint—your imprint—is what forms your reality.

That’s some pretty trippy stuff, I understand. But if you agree to it—whether or not you understand the mechanics of it—you begin to get a sense of why it’s important to direct your conscious thoughts in constructive ways.

You are impressing the universe in every moment of the day and night, literally. So you can understand why taking a hold of your unwanted, negative or distrustful—even sloppy—thoughts is important. Your beliefs and expectations are formed through habitual thought patterns and those beliefs and expectations are the biggest driving force of the reality that you know.

What does all this mean in practical terms?

It means “waking up” to yourself. It means becoming aware of your thoughts when you can catch them. If your thoughts and beliefs are serving you well and you’re happy with the life you’re living—keep at it! But in those areas where you’re unhappy, dissatisfied or simply want change, you must become acutely aware of what you’re doing. What are you thinking? What do you tell others? What do you daydream about? What do you believe? What outcome do you really expect? If you catch yourself focused in negativity, judgment, and criticism or if you’re holding onto bad memories of the past, make an effort to change. Change the thought, rearrange the picture, choose a different word, walk a different path. Do something to interrupt your habitual imprint.

This isn’t easy work. In fact, it seems to fly in the face of what we’ve been conditioned to believe about the way the world works. We’ve been taught that if you have a problem, you should concentrate on it, keep a hold of it and analyze it to death. In the world of conscious creation, you become aware of a problem, realize it’s the result of your past thinking and then make a conscious choice to move your thoughts in a new direction.

Sounds simple on the surface, doesn’t it? I admit, it does take effort to become aware of your thoughts. It takes courage to face those thoughts directly and it takes willpower to change them. It does get easier as you go along.

The goal is not to be Polly. Or Anna.

I’m not suggesting that you become one of those people who won’t say a bad word about anyone or anything or that you deny your experience. You must allow your creations their due. What I am suggesting is that you familiarize yourself with your vibrational signature. Remember that your signature imprints itself on the universe and returns to you the physical world you experience.

When you consciously understand your role in creation—the point that you mold your physical experience through the action of your thoughts, beliefs and expectations—you become more aware of your choices. You come to believe that it’s important to direct yourself in carefully chosen directions. You also then come to experience the world in a new way, one that is more fulfilling, creative and exuberant.

That is pretty impressive.

 

Your are the inner circle

You are at the center of it all.

It may seem egotistical to say, but you can admit it: you really are the center of the universe.

Your life is built upon your thoughts, emotions and expectations. You literally create the world you experience. The physical world, then, serves as a mirror of your inner state, allowing you interact physically with the subjective thoughts in your mind. It’s actually quite a cool process when you think about it because you can adjust your thoughts, change your emotions, or adjust your expectations to create the reality you want to experience.

Some people (myself included) have a hard time wrapping their head around this concept. How is it possible to create the world around me? Doesn’t that make me God? In some ways, yes it does. But you’re not alone. We all create our own individual worlds, which then interact with one another, helping ourselves and everyone else evolve and grow. “God” is within all of us and we are all within God.

If creating the universe seems like a hard concept, try substituting the word, “attraction” instead. You attract things to you: people, events, interactions, rendezvous, and physical objects. Your thoughts create an environment where you draw to you those “things” that match your subjective thoughts. Thoughts of poverty and lack will bring bills and an empty wallet. Thoughts of war and violence will attract protests and fighting.  More importantly, thoughts of peace will bring peace. Thoughts of love will bring love.

Yes, this is law of attraction but it’s also so much more. It’s having the conscious knowledge that you create your world one thought at a time. It’s knowing that you have the power and ability to change your thoughts to bring about different results. It’s realizing that you are the center of the universe and the director of your own experience. Pretty cool, huh?

So go ahead and own up to it. Realize the world is predisposed to you and you alone. Realize that the universe wants nothing more for you than your own fulfillment. And when you experience less-than-desirable results, remember that you have the ability to change things.  After all, you’re in the center of it all.

Are you ready (I mean REALLY ready) for change?

Prove it with the HYS Five-Day Reality Challenge ™ Contract

In grade school, my parents insisted I take violin lessons. I had no interest in the violin. The lessons were, shall we say, painful. I couldn’t produce one sound that even somewhat resembled a musical note. To be quite blunt, I sucked.

After several weeks of lessons, we finally discovered the biggest stumbling block to my lack of musical ability: I didn’t know how to read music. I panicked whenever the instructor asked me to play a note—I didn’t have a clue what I was looking at on the sheet music and would randomly place my hands on the instrument and hope for the best. After discovering my inability to read music, I was off the hook.

There is a point to this story, I promise. After I finally learned to read music and selected a different instrument—one I wanted to play–I became a better musician. As I progressed in school and joined the band and orchestra, I spent more and more time practicing my instrument, learning scales, challenging myself with new music and enjoying the process much more.

What’s this have to do with conscious creation?

Before I was exposed to spirituality and specifically the concept of conscious creation, I often wished for a better life. Overall my life was fine but, like everyone else, there were things I wanted to change. I yearned for a more fulfilling existence, great relationships and, of course, material things.

But without knowledge of spiritual principles, I was simply repeating those damn violin lessons. I hoped to make beautiful music with my life when all I was doing was annoying the hell out myself and everyone else. I didn’t have the tools I needed to change my life effectively; I was going about it the hard way.

Many years later, I would acquire the knowledge, skills and tools needed to help transform my life. I got excited about the prospect of change. I read a lot of books, studied the principles and talked about them with my friends. I was ready for a complete transformation of my life.

And so I waited. And waited. And waited. Why wasn’t my life changing in leaps and bounds?

The problem, of course, was that I wasn’t practicing. That’s like someone pointing out where to place your fingers on a saxophone and expecting you to immediately join a jazz ensemble. It takes more than reading music and understanding your instrument before you become adept at making beautiful music. Learning how to use conscious creation to your benefit requires practice, too.

Old habits die hard

The principles of conscious creation often sound really simple. Think about what you want and you can make it happen. Change your thoughts and change your life. Focus on the good things in life and you’ll get more of them. The list goes on and on. You can read a lot about these principles in the archives of the Honor Your Spirit blog.

However, reading about and understanding conscious creation is one thing, living it is another. When you set out to change your thoughts and beliefs, you’re pushing against a lifetime of learned and practiced behavior. Unbeknownst to you, you have practiced yourself right into the person you are today. So when you want to change that person, you’ll have to push through a lot of self-imposed resistance.

This is proven to me frequently whenever I talk to my best friend on the phone. Despite knowing and studying conscious creation, we often find ourselves replaying the same conversation over and over again. It goes something like this:

Me: You won’t believe what happened at work this week! It was such a bad week and I’m tired of all the bullshit that goes on there.

Bob: Oh I understand. I’ve had to work 14-hour days for the past six days in a row and I’m not convinced they’ll ever hire anyone to help alleviate the situation.

Me: I know I should be thinking positive thoughts but I’m really tired of living this way. Can’t I just win the lottery?

Bob: Oh I hear ya. Sometimes I wonder if this stuff works or not.

You can see how even well versed and well-intentioned spiritual seekers can get caught in the undertow of old habits and thought patterns. The moral of our phone conversations is this: we know better. We know how important it is to direct our thoughts toward what we want. We know it’s important to focus on solutions, not challenges. We know that staying stuck in complaining mode is disastrous to the spirit. We know those things and yet consciously choose to keep going down the familiar road.

After one such recent phone call, I decided a firm commitment to change was in order—real, honest, palpable change. I needed a change in my thoughts, actions, and beliefs. In short, I needed to walk the talk I espouse to on this blog.  Although I’ve made great strides in my own spiritual development in the past several years, I could see where my own blocks were staring me in the face and it was time to knock them down.

Guidelines to operate by

I decided I needed to write a contract with myself, one that would spell out some of the basic conscious creation principles I try to live by.  The contract would serve as a visual reminder of the basic things I feel are important to crating a better life. This will be fun, I told myself.

And then I started to panic.

There were an awful lot of things on the list, certainly too many to remember, let alone accomplish. I looked at what I had written and felt like it was too much to tackle all at once. Changing my life would have to wait. That’s when I realized what my ego was up to. It had already jumped ahead and decided the plan wasn’t going to work because it (my ego) didn’t want to change. It was comfortable where it was. It likes to complain and to gripe and keep me in the same thought patterns because it finds them comfortable. That’s when I knew I was on the right track.

To help appease my ego, I decided to put a time limit on the contract: five days. That way, if I gave my absolute best to the process and really worked hard, five days should show me that I’m either on the right track or I’m full of bunk. I know five days is barely scratching the surface when it comes to changing beliefs or behavior, but everyone has to start somewhere so I decided a full-on commitment to my spiritual principles for five days was the least I could do to honor myself.

Share the wealth

Why limit my excitement (or my fear, for that matter) to just myself when I can invite my blog readers to join along with me in changing their lives? Activities that are challenging to your body, mind or ego (like exercise or skydiving) seem to be a little easier when you have others joining you.

The Contract

If you think you’re up to the challenge, start by downloading and printing the form at the bottom of this post. You’re going to pick five consecutive days to start and end your Honor Your Spirit contract. You’ll see on the contract itself that there are two categories: things you WILL DO for the next five days and things that you WILL NOT DO for the next five days.

The items are relatively self-explanatory. In essence, you’re attempting to first observe and then adjust your thoughts accordingly. Some points may be easier than others. For example, I’ve become very good at following my impulses when I can recognize them but I find I still must consciously work on not complaining…that’s a skill I’ve honed over many, many years.

It’s important to remember that you won’t be 100 percent effective at your new thoughts and behaviors. You’re aiming for a noticeable change in your behavior/thoughts/beliefs. It won’t be easy but keep at it and if you fall off the horse, so to speak, get right back on and adjust accordingly. The willingness to undertake this challenge shows your inner self that you’re serious about making positive change.

In addition to the listed points, feel free to add one or two items of your own. These are things that honor your spirit, things that fuel you at a deep level.

They can be spiritual, physical or mental items—whatever helps accelerate your own spiritual development. For example, I’ve decided to make breakfast for the week since I usually don’t eat until lunch or dinnertime. You may wish to include things like exercising, stretching or calling your siblings.

Paging Mr. Power, Mr. Will Power

Let’s be honest. If it were really, really easy to change your life by changing your thoughts, you would have done it a long time ago, right? Even with the best intentions to change deeply ingrained thoughts and beliefs, you will most likely find yourself struggling with some of the ideas presented here.

It’s hard to break old habits like complaining, ruminating and focusing on problems. They are simply old habits. They need to be kicked to the curb and out of your life so you can make room for more positive arrivals. Because of this, you may have to search deep inside for willpower. Your will is your intent—you want to change your life. Use some power with your intent to try these activities for five days. Reason with your ego and/or your conscious mind. Remind yourself how much you will gain from doing this exercise. And, remind yourself that if you don’t see the slightest bit of change in five days, you can chuck the whole thing.

And remember the biggest conscious creation lesson from our friend Seth: “You get what you concentrate upon. There is no other main rule.” That means if you keep telling yourself over and over how hard it is to do these things, you’ll get more hard work coming your way. If you exclaim to everyone that you can’t do these things, you indeed will not be able to do them.

It’s time to write a new script for your life and the next five days can provide the space and time to write your first draft.

Share your experiences

If you decide to participate in the HYS Five-Day Reality Challenge, I’d love to hear from you. Simply use the “reply” button on this post and let me know how things worked or didn’t work for you. You can also chime in on my Facebook page.

Download the contract below

HYS_fivedaychallengeform

Easing into the spacious present

The spacious present is always only a thought away.

Daily living has a way of closing in on the human spirit. Work, chores, headlines, traffic—they all conspire to steal a precious commodity that belongs to each and every one of us. And while it’s easy to let the toils of day-to-day existence chip away at it, the spacious present can be brought back into existence with a mere change of thought.

The idea and the value of the “present” has been talked about in spiritual, religious and self-help books for many years. Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now is dedicated to the study of using the present moment as a springboard for understanding our very existence. But even after I read Tolle’s book (which is excellent, by the way), I was still left wondering, “what’s the big deal?”

It would take several years and many authors later for the idea to take root. I was reading a passage from Seth/Jane Robert’s The Early Sessions when Seth added the word “spacious” to “present” when I felt an immediate sense of understanding. Suddenly, I saw what all the fuss was about.

Okay, so maybe it wasn’t that easy for me to get the concept but it did start to gel in my mind. Perhaps it was this one tiny bit of information that really started to get the ball rolling: all of creation happens in the present moment. All of it. I had to let that sink in before I could really do anything with the concept. I tried to deny it and I tried to reason it away, but it just sat there, taunting me to think about it, study it, perceive it and then live it. Everything is happening now.

The only source of perception happens in the present moment. Think about it: you can’t think ahead to the future or think back to the past (really, you don’t). You use your consciousness in the present moment to do either of those tasks. Let that sink in for a moment. You use the present moment to experience your now, to imagine your future or think about your past. While you can mentally examine any “time” you’d like, you must do so with your feet planted firmly in the present moment. There is no other way.

What makes the ‘present’ so important?

The present moment is the stage where you produce your life. The actors you choose, the scenery you imagine, the actions you create, all happens right there, or rather, right “here.” The present moment is where you consciously, or often unconsciously, set the stage for what you will experience in your next moment, your next “now.” An understanding of that concept is important if you want to use conscious creation to your advantage.

Understanding that all of creation happens in this very moment underscores the need to be conscious of your thoughts, emotions, beliefs and imaginations…now. If you worry about the future, you do so from the present moment. If you opine about your past, you do so from the now. So either of those actions take on new significance when you realize you have a choice about how you think about them this very second.

What does “spacious” have to do with it?

When I first read Seth use the term “spacious present,” it brought the present moment alive for me. “Now” truly is wide open, vast and almost incomprehensible. Think for a moment about an astronaut looking down on Earth and freezing one moment of time. She would see over six billion people all “being” and “doing” and “living.” She would see rivers racing, oceans churning and mountains reaching for the sky. Billions upon billions of insects would be flying and crawling on Earth while uncountable animal life would be completing the circle.

Sounds pretty big, doesn’t it?

For me, getting a grasp on “spacious” in relation to the present moment is important because it helps to see and feel the enormity of what I experience. It also allows me to feel how much room I have to consciously direct my thoughts into what will be my next experienced moment.

Any attempt to sense the present moment brings me right back into it. That is, when I try to consciously perceive the present moment, it actually brings me right into real time—a moment where clock time doesn’t exist. When I add the layer of spaciousness to the present moment, it relaxes me and makes me feel energized at the same time.

Reality Challenge™

Attempting to sense the spacious present is an excellent way to ease into an awareness of yourself, your thoughts and your subjective mood. It stops the world for a moment, giving your mind a chance to catch its breath and luxuriate in the state of being.

Throughout the day, see if you can take a moment here and there to sense the spacious present. There are many ways to become aware of the present moment. Here are two of my favorites:

• Close your eyes and place your awareness on your breath. Breathe consciously and slowly in and out a few times then let your awareness flow to your body. Feel your legs on the chair or your feet on the ground. Loosen any tight muscles. Then allow your awareness to flow past yourself, into the world. Open your eyes: what do you see? Allow your eyes to move easily and slowly in your range of sight. Notice shapes, objects and colors. Listen carefully to what’s around you: birds chirping, cars passing, people talking. Listen for silence between sounds.
• You can also simply pause and allow your mind and body to sense the openness that surrounds you. This is a hard one to explain, but you’re trying to “feel” your way into the spacious present. Ease into it and let it envelope you. It almost feels like you’re allowing your body to vaporize and become part of the landscape. How far can your perception of the world take you?

While you’re sensing the spacious present

Once you’ve allowed your consciousness to slow down a bit and rest comfortably in the present moment, you can use that time to consciously create. Being truly present stops your thoughts long enough for you to become aware of them. Think to yourself: what do I want to happen next? How do I want to feel? What do I want to experience?

You don’t necessarily need to have a plan mapped out for yourself, but you can place positive and constructive thoughts and emotions in your spacious present that will meld with the universe to become manifest later on. For example, you can set your intention to feel calm and centered in the spacious present. Sitting (figuratively) with this feeling for even a moment will frame your spacious present and help you achieve that goal in the future.

You needn’t worry about trying to catch the spacious present constantly throughout the day. What you’re aiming for here is a periodic reminder of your present and using it as a springboard for intentional creation.

 

 

 

 

 

What’s your dummy light telling you?

It’s amazing how a little red light can throw you into a panic. Have you ever driven down the highway and had one of the “dummy” lights come on in your car? You know the kind: the little warning lights that tell you that you’re running out of gas…or oil…or air pressure in a tire. When you see one of those lights, you know you need to check something at the next stop.

Indicator lights—or “dummy” lights—are designed to give warning that something isn’t working correctly with your car. They are there to keep you from having to preform a check of your car every time you get in. In short, they alert you to problems, hopefully, before they become too serious.

Wouldn’t it be cool if we had those same kinds of dummy lights for our own lives? We do, we simply don’t recognize them as such.

In conscious creation terms, you create your own reality. Everything you see around you in your life, everything you experience in your life, is a reflection of the thoughts, beliefs and expectations you hold. So when something isn’t going exactly the way you would like, think of it is a dummy light illuminating itself in the dashboard of your mind.

For me this week, my dummy light came in the form of a head cold. I felt the sniffles coming on a few days ago and tried my best to “think my way” to a more healthy body. I tried to put the thought of sickness out of my mind and trudge on with everyday life. But ignoring dummy lights only makes them illuminate brighter and brighter until finally, you are forced to pull over and take stock of what’s happening.

Sickness of any kind—colds, flu, cancer, disease—are often dummy lights in disguise. They turn on when we have contradictory thoughts; they turn on when we haven’t addressed certain beliefs or when we’ve tried to ignore other warning signs. But those dummy lights go way beyond health issues.

Almost anything that isn’t working life can be a dummy light. Are you constantly worried about money and lack of abundance?  That’s a dummy light. Is the relationship with your spouse or friends causing you frustration, anger or sadness? Again, that little red light is getting brighter and brighter right before your eyes.

The problem we have with dummy lights is that we often take them as reflections of “reality” rather than beliefs about reality. This is a subtle difference but it’s an important one when trying to create your best life possible. When you realize your thoughts about realty are just that, you have the power to change them and move in a more positive direction.

Learning to understand your own dummy lights can be a hard process to tackle. It’s easy to see that our inner selves are trying to get our attention on particular issues but we may be too blind to understand what the indicator lights actually mean.

Let me give you another example. When I left my last corporate job, I was becoming more and more miserable. It was a slow process to see the cumulative effects of my thoughts around work and so I started to develop a regularly occurring series of dummy lights. The first started with a sore throat. For months, I would start to get a sore throat and immediately spot the problem. I would go to the doctor, discover it was strep throat and have to miss several days if not a full week of work. In this case, my doctor acted as a mechanic, diagnosing the symptom and offering a quick way to alleviate the problem. Back to work I’d go.

Although the doctor was resetting my dummy light, the underlying cause of the problem was still not being addressed or healed. The doctor was simply hitting the reset button that controlled the light and sent me forward thinking the problem was solved.

A few months later, I was in an annual performance review with my boss when right in the meeting, my dummy light illuminated, again in the form of a sore throat and trouble swallowing. I had seen this light before and knew exactly what it meant: it was the one telling me I had a bout of strep throat coming my way. Like most indicators, the dummy light got my attention loud and clear (with a little panic thrown in). That meeting was a turning point for me. Within an hour, I stopped listening to the ranting and raving of my boss and realized that I alone was causing my reality—sickness and all.

It was time to stop into the nearest service station, otherwise known as my home, and begin to take stock of what the dummy light was telling me. Over the course of the next week as I nursed myself back to health, stopping to investigate what the sickness (dummy light) was trying to tell me. Two truths emerged from that week. First, I was creating this health challenge myself, it was not being forced upon me by some outside agency. Second, since I developed the symptoms on my own, I had the ability to change them on my own. I wanted to feel better and so I reluctantly realized it was time to take matters into my own hands.

It was no secret to anyone involved. I had become increasingly unhappy with my job. I was constantly fighting with my boss and coworkers and was trying to blame external circumstances for my unhappiness. Because I had been blaming others and life for my unhappiness, I felt powerless to change. But this final warning light got my attention loud and clear and I realized it was up to me to make changes that would feel good to my spirit and myself.

It’s not only health issues that serve as giant warning lights; there are many, many other ways your inner self attempts to communicate with your conscious mind (and ego). Dummy lights can indicate to us our thoughts about money, careers relationships, women and men, ease-of-life, pets and other things. The more the light affects us with panic and wonder, the more serious the problem the inner self wants you to address. Again, warning lights are simply an indicator that something isn’t working or is about to go haywire, so it’s best to take time to investigate the light.

Some warning lights are easy to understand. When you find yourself cranky and irritable around 11:30 in the morning, your dummy light may be simply telling you to stop and have lunch. A bad cold every time you try to arrange a vacation with your friends may indicate you don’t really want to go on the trip or have relationships issues with your friends. The list goes on and on.

But as a warning light gets more serious and shines brighter into your consciousness, it’s going to take some investigative work to understand it better. Here are some quick ways to start the investigative process:

1. Acknowledge that the warning light (or unpleasant situation) is trying to get your attention. Realize that, accept it, and make the commitment to find out what it is.
2. Realize that the dummy light is trying to help move you in the proper direction. This is the universe’s way of saying, “ I see you’re off course, here’s a way to help.”
3. If nothing sticks out at you about why the warning light is on, tell yourself this, “I realize that my inner self is trying to get my attention. Whatever I need to know will float to the top of my conscious thoughts so that I can deal with them on a different level.
4. Continue to tell yourself, whatever the problem (health or otherwise), “I can release the need for the manifestation of this challenge while I work on it at a another level. So for a health challenge, remind yourself that the body can release the physical symptoms while you intellectually deal with your thoughts, emotions and beliefs about the challenge.

Will you always realize what your dummy light is telling you? Maybe not, but bringing conscious awareness to the process is the first step in taking responsibility for your life and helping it move forward in a positive way.

For me this week, I’ve had no clear idea of why I’ve developed a head cold, so I’m relying on a regular affirmation of “my body can release the physical symptoms while I understand what thoughts and beliefs are causing this physical distress.” So far that suggestion seems to be keeping the cold from getting worse. I’m learning to relax and become aware of my discordant thoughts when they do finally work their way to the top of my consciousness.

Stick with it and realize that it will take time to learn a new way of looking at challenges in your life. Similarly, think about the good things that happen in your life as a green dummy light telling you that you’re on the right track. Smile to yourself when you realize this and keep heading in the current direction. Those thoughts/beliefs/emotions that are working for you need no other acknowledgement except a “thank you” to the universe for helping you become aware of them.

 

 

 

 

 

It’s all about choice

“You don’t have to stay stuck in this.”

I felt like a concerned friend trying to talk myself into believing some rather blatant and obvious advice. I knew the option was there—to change my thinking and challenge some old beliefs—but staying where I was felt so familiar. Notice I didn’t say comfortable. Sometimes familiar is anything but comfortable.

I dug down deep into my psyche to evaluate the situation. I’ve been studying conscious creation for several years and understand the concept intellectually: you create your own reality—all of it. Acquiescing to that belief means I can’t blame anyone else for my problems or challenges, they’re all uniquely my own. In fact, I even believe that I willingly take on specific challenges simply because they will in some way expand my learning and take me to a new plateau. But the liberation I feel when I think about that concept certainly feels much different when I’m staring my own challenges in the face.

All of us have particular challenges we have selected to work on in this lifetime. Some are small goals that can be achieved with relative ease while others are the culmination of a lifetime of closely-held beliefs. One of my challenges is money and abundance (like most of Americans these days) and I realize when I work on money issues, I’m trying to change more than 40 years of thoughts and beliefs about money, worthiness, safety and trust.

It’s those deeply-rooted beliefs that can cause a lot of problems if you don’t become conscious of them. And even when they do become conscious, it can take some practice and hard work to change them. But there’s one small, yet very powerful, tool in the conscious creation arsenal that often gets overlooked: choice.

For me, this reminder popped up over the weekend as I was paying my monthly bills. As is usual at the first of the month, bill paying can sometimes send me into a tailspin of negative beliefs: will I have any money left at the end of the month? Will I ever have more money? Will I ever be able to take a real vacation? The questions are endless but the result is always the same. The thoughts send me into a mild depression about money, the future and where I am with some of my conscious creation goals.

Even knowing what I do about conscious creation, I had a hard time controlling my thoughts. No matter what I tried to do physically—clean the house, mow the lawn, talk on the phone—my thoughts seemed to creep back to those pesky money-related issues. The law of attraction took over each time and one thought would turn into many others on the same subject. The result was more of the same and lots of negativity pervading my otherwise outstanding weekend.

I was sitting on the deck late pondering these questions, again, when I became aware of a new emotion—anger. I was becoming angry with myself for having these repeated thoughts take over my consciousness. Anger directed at ones self is never useful (despite what we have been taught), so I knew I was stepping into dangerous territory. Still, my life experience seemed to reinforce something that simply wasn’t working. That is, I was hoping that focusing on the problem would help me find new solutions and it wasn’t. So, I’d get angry again and start the cycle anew.

When I really couldn’t stand it any longer, that beloved inner voice rose up and spoke to me in a quiet, calm and convincing manner. “You don’t have to stay stuck in this,” it reminded me. The words caught me off guard with their simplicity. “Of course I have to stay stuck in this, I don’t know any better!” my conscious mind objected.

From there, I was able to engage myself in a dialogue about the nature of reality and how it relates to conscious creation. I reminded myself that I was already doing all of the “work” I needed to when it comes to my money goals. I reminded myself that I was working on feeling safe in my world and that the universe is always leading me toward my best fulfillment. But, my inner self objected: even while the universe is lining up better and better things for me, I still have the choice of how I feel in each moment.

It sounded like Pollyanna advice; however, I knew it was correct. I’ve written about these subjects, I knew the benefit to the concepts but I needed a stern yet compassionate reminder that it’s always a choice of how to respond in the present moment that makes all the difference.

It does take a leap of faith to consciously choose a new path for yourself and for your thinking. As I sat and teetered on the edge of choosing a new path for my thoughts, I knew I was ready to tackle the process. For me, that meant that despite the slow progress (or seeming lack of progress) on my goals, I had to be vigilant in each moment to make the choice between the new and the old. I can choose to feel good about my progress and my new direction or I can stay stuck in the old. The choice is mine.

The old, familiar thoughts certainly weren’t working for me. Yet I looked at them with nostalgia. I had practiced the habit of feeling bad about money and abundance and I knew how to handle it even as I wished for a better outcome. I knew the contours of the feelings and where they would lead and felt ashamed for thinking them again. Choosing a new reaction to these thoughts felt like trying to stop a locomotive in motion. I knew it was possible and I knew it would be in my best interest, but I had to rouse my full consciousness to do it. That is, it would take a lot of energy to do it the first time and then the process would become easier.

This is one of those times when the real work of self-development happens when you’re in the middle of a “tough situation.” It’s one thing to learn about and study concepts when you’re in a good mood, devoid of in-the-moment challenges. It’s another when you’re slapped in the face with a chance to change your life. I hypothesized that the situation must be like an alcoholic deciding whether or not to take a drink after attending an AA meeting for the first time. The situation becomes a now-or-never proposition and the choice will set the tone for future development.

I did decide that I was tired of having the same reaction to money and I told myself that from now on, I would consciously choose a better feeling thought. That new thought can shift as circumstances change but the important part is to recognize when I’ve drifted into old thinking patterns and remind myself that I have a choice. I always have a choice.

Now this doesn’t mean that answers to my money woes will suddenly appear out of thin air. It doesn’t even guarantee that I’ll make headway on changing my beliefs about money. But making a conscious choice to accept a new line of thinking tells my inner self and the universe that I’m serious about a new direction. Accepting new thinking sets into motion a whole slew of probabilities for me, any of which may turn my life around in new, unexpected ways.

It seems too simple to boil this notion down to the word choice, but in many ways it is that simple. Too often I forget (and many others do, too) that making a choice to feel, think or act differently is where the real work of self-improvement starts. It’s the gateway to honoring the spirit and it all starts with taking that first step. Here’s to choice.