We usually expect others to respect us if our parents treated us with respect and bolstered our perceived self-worth.
We manufactured perceptions based on the conclusions we made about the way our parents treated us in our formative years. We confront life in a courteous manner and expect others to respect us if our parents treated us with respect and bolstered our perceived self-worth. We in turn view others with suspicion and expect to be let down if we come from a home where our parents abused and minimised us. You are at a continues disadvantage when you travel through life with low self-esteem. People treat you the way you teach them to treat you. It should be clear how the different launching pads (respect or disrespect) by our parents created two very different future paths for us. It is imperative that we modify mindsets where we always draw problems and disputes into our lives. We are not the software downloaded by our parents. We must pause for a moment before we act or react and refrain from slipping in our historical habitual victim role. You were never your body or history my friend. The things your parents said or failed to do during your formative years do not reflect who you are. You are and will remain a spiritual being in training at earth school. You are here at earth school to learn experience and grow. Your growth can make a giant leap forward starting today if you if you accept that you were never the roles that you we forced to play since early childhood.
Rene
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We are not the software downloaded into our heads by our parents. We must learn to pause for a moment before we act or react and refrain from slipping in our historical habitual victim role.
There is a saying that ignorance is bliss. This might be true for some, but it is as far as I am concerned the root cause of most of our suffering, pain and anxiety. Accepting life, people, religion, politics, perceptions, choices, rules and laws at face value imprisoned the mind of mankind. Looking at anything in life from a single perspective is the lazy way out. Seeing and experiencing from a limited range of perspectives have shackled man almost since its inception. Primitive man could not read, write or decipher the range of threats that confronted them and were forced to turn to priests and other individuals for guidance. This disposition provided a wonderful opportunity for those that claimed that they understood to take over control of their followers minds. The initial flimsy net that these opportunists wove gradually grew stronger and more sophisticated.
You will later see how this initial ignorance created an ideal vehicle of enslavement for those in control. Mankind have been kept in a state of ignorance since the beginning of time by greedy power hungry individuals, groups and organizations. Primitive methods of pain, pleasure and hope were used to restrain the masses. Man experienced fleeting moments of pleasure while they blindly obeyed the “commands” of these controllers. Thousands of written laws, spiritual and otherwise came into being over the years. Those that remained subdued and subservient were praised and rewarded while anyone that questioned anything faced the intricate range of pain that these controllers could bring to bear on them. They were cruelly tortured in the dark ages when they questioned anything to do with religion or the state.
Mankind became the slaves of the controllers. They were carefully manipulated to let go of a fair percentage of their hard earned income. The state took their pound of flesh while the religious leaders demanded at least ten percent of all income earned as well. The system sucked in mankind to such an extent that only a handful of individuals over the years showed the courage to point out the deadly trap that we find ourselves in up to today. Do you grasp that the slaves of this system not only police the deadly system on behalf of the controllers, but breed the future slaves that will take over from them when they produce children? I can write a fairly substantial book on this subject matter, but believe that you can see what I am addressing in this document.
My plea is that everyone make it his or her business to get rid of the veil of ignorance that is responsible for most of their anxiety, pain and lack. You might have noticed that I post a very wide range of perceptions daily on an endless range of subjects. My motivation is that I want you to look at stuff from many different perspectives. Nothing is as it seems. I will continue to write on the endless range of methods used to keep us ignorant if I get a fairly acceptable responds on this post.
People think that their life will only be perfect when they have achieved everything they want, when everything is completely going the way they want it to go.
They are looking at the perfect state of life as something that is in the future, that they don’t have it now but they need to move towards it.
The truth is even when they have reached that state, there will still be new desires that will arise to be achieved. It is an illusion to think that the perfect life is something in the future instead of being present with us.
If you think that the perfect state of your life can only be experienced when everything you desire is manifested, then you are separating yourself in time. Thinking in terms of linear time is what creates resistance towards our desires manifesting as perfectly as possible.
There is really no separation between past, present and future because spirit contains it all as one reality. Your perfect life is not something that happens at a certain point of time, but it is the one where you’re aligned with your highest purpose.
There is not just one line of time that you will experience. There are multiple lanes of time running parallel with each other with their corresponding alternate states of the universe.
Out of the many pathways that you can take in life, there is one particular path that is in alignment with your highest purpose. The universe has what you truly desire all lined up at different points of time in that particular path. The moment you step into your true path, you are living the perfect life instantly no matter where in time.
The things that you truly desire will never come to you on any other pathways other than your highest one. That is because your higher self sent you into this world with a purpose and everything to do with that purpose is what truly makes you happy. The feeling of happiness, fulfillment and true desire is what you experience when think or act in alignment with your higher self. These feelings were programmed into your soul before it emerged into physical life.
They are your guidance of what you are here for.
The reason why we experience disappointment and unhappiness is because we are on another path instead of our true one. Even when we are on our true path, it does not mean we will remain in it all the time. We tend to get on and off our path from time to time. The purpose of growing is to become more developed in our consciousness and being so that we can find and remain on our true path more and more of the time. Every time we are off it, life feels bad but every time we’re on it, life feels good again.
There is a difference between a life path and a lane of time. Our life path can switch between lanes of time from time to time. Even our true life path is not created to stay fixed in one particular lane of time all the way. Every new decision we make can alter the entire course of our lives in ways that changes everything. Therefore the way things are going in one lane of time will totally change when we switch lanes. Our higher self will guide us in the switching of lanes according to the life path it has charted.
In pursuing your true path, you may face obstacles along the way that seem to stop you from moving forward. You may start doubting if you’re on your true path and start thinking that God is playing a cosmic joke on you for leading you in a direction that only gets your head banging against a wall. Actually the obstacles are only present in the lane of time we are on. When it seems impossible to move forwards but we are guided to, that’s when it’s time to trust the universe to shift our time line as we move on.
We would think the future is impossible when looking at it based on the timeline we are on. We can only predict the probable futures based on the present. That is why predictions of the future turn out wrong when the time line is shifted. When you think what you’ve been given is wrong, you’re saying that the universe makes mistakes. But there are no mistakes. Every element is a piece of a greater puzzle, and with each new piece that falls into place, the look of the entire picture in the moment is changed.
There is a life path you have in which everything you need to have will come in through synchronicities that cannot be calculated because the factors are hidden and will only be revealed in divine timing and divine order. Things aren’t always what they seem to be. What you see are only possible future scenarios that can only be seen from the present time point of view. But as time moves along, many elements will shift and rearrange themselves turning what seems to be bad into what is completely good.
Obstacles are not really obstacles. It is an illusion when we think something is stopping us. If the universe wants us to go a certain way, the way will open up and the obstacles will disappear when we move in that direction. If something seems to remain in the way, it means it is not the right timing for it to happen yet. Just keep moving where the path is open for you and you will find that is exactly where the universe has intended for you to move all along. The universe makes a way where there is no way.
So your perfect life is not something you experience when all your dreams and desires are manifested. Your perfect life is experienced the moment you step into your true path where you are living your dream and expressing yourself fully in the moment. Your perfect life is not something you have to move towards in time, it is something right beside you that you can step into instantly. It is not something in the future but what you can experience in the present now. When you shift into your destiny, it is perfect.
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By Enoch Tan / Creator of Secrets of Mind and Reality
How your life unfolded to date came about via the choices you made.
You incarnated after you chose you’re the parents, culture and the vocation that you (the real spiritual you) want to experience. These factors became your launching pad for this time around at “Earth School”. The factors mentioned above became the anchors to the “role” you selected for yourself. Your life at earth school made many twists and turns and you possibly endure an endless range of learning experience to date, but the main pillars remained in place. You selected your current parents, culture, vocation and heritage because you knew that it would provide you with many opportunities to experience and learn about the factors that could speed up your spiritual evolution. How your life unfolded to date came about via the choices you made. You are not only exposed to your own family and the various roles that they selected for themselves, but also to the collective consciousness of everyone that daily cross your path. Can you see the endless number of opportunities you have daily to “practice and master” this game called life? Each individual in the family you chose and each person that crosses your path became your teachers. They present you with wonderful opportunities to grow and upgrade your personality. You and everyone else developed a personality over many incarnations. These personalities (your and other’s egos) are not a real reflection who you. You need to wake up to this vital fact if you want to ultimately re-unite with the source.
Rene
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Each individual in the family you chose and each person that crosses your path became your teachers. They present you with wonderful opportunities to grow and upgrade your personality.
There is a saying that ignorance is bliss. This might be true for some, but it is as far as I am concerned the root cause of most of our suffering, pain and anxiety. Accepting life, people, religion, politics, perceptions, choices, rules and laws at face value imprisoned the mind of mankind. Looking at anything in life from a single perspective is the lazy way out. Seeing and experiencing from a limited range of perspectives have shackled man almost since its inception. Primitive man could not read, write or decipher the range of threats that confronted them and were forced to turn to priests and other individuals for guidance. This disposition provided a wonderful opportunity for those that claimed that they understood to take over control of their followers minds. The initial flimsy net that these opportunists wove gradually grew stronger and more sophisticated.
You will later see how this initial ignorance created an ideal vehicle of enslavement for those in control. Mankind have been kept in a state of ignorance since the beginning of time by greedy power hungry individuals, groups and organizations. Primitive methods of pain, pleasure and hope were used to restrain the masses. Man experienced fleeting moments of pleasure while they blindly obeyed the “commands” of these controllers. Thousands of written laws, spiritual and otherwise came into being over the years. Those that remained subdued and subservient were praised and rewarded while anyone that questioned anything faced the intricate range of pain that these controllers could bring to bear on them. They were cruelly tortured in the dark ages when they questioned anything to do with religion or the state.
Mankind became the slaves of the controllers. They were carefully manipulated to let go of a fair percentage of their hard earned income. The state took their pound of flesh while the religious leaders demanded at least ten percent of all income earned as well. The system sucked in mankind to such an extent that only a handful of individuals over the years showed the courage to point out the deadly trap that we find ourselves in up to today. Do you grasp that the slaves of this system not only police the deadly system on behalf of the controllers, but breed their future slaves when they produce children? I can write a fairly substantial book on this subject matter, but believe that you can see what I am addressing in this document.
My plea is that everyone make it his or her business to get rid of the veil of ignorance that is responsible for most of their anxiety, pain and lack. You might have noticed that I post a very wide range of perceptions daily on an endless range of subjects. My motivation is that I want you to look at stuff from many different perspectives. Nothing is as it seems. I will continue to write on the endless range of methods used to keep us ignorant if I get a fairly acceptable responds on this post.
This may come as a bold statement for many, yet it is the absolute truth. In almost any situation we find ourselves, we can choose to be happy if we want to. Obviously, this is more difficult to do in some situations than in others. For example, if we are in physical pain, it’s very difficult to focus our minds on happiness. And when we are experiencing something pleasurable, happiness almost comes on it’s own.
In our modern world, we rarely experience physical pain. Most of the situations we find ourselves unhappy in are simply situations that don’t meet our expectations. A friend who betrays our trust, a life partner that is dishonest or unfaithful, a boss that is difficult and demanding. These are the types of situations that we can choose to be happy in if we set our mental focus properly.
But how do we find happiness in the midst of these situations? Or, on a more basic level, how do we control our emotions to be what we want them to be? And an even more basic question, why would we want to?
Let’s start with the most basic question, why would we want to control our emotions and make them be something other than those expected?
One of the core principles in the Keys To Power system (and many New Thought systems) is that the Power of Spirit is directed by the thoughts and feelings within us to create our experiences.
This means that when we’re thinking and feeling happy thoughts, Power will be directed to create happy experiences. When we think and feel unhappy thoughts, Power is directed to create unhappy experiences. This ‘Law of Power’ works just as surely and accurately as any other natural Law, such as gravity.
Most people understand the basic concepts here, so I won’t go into detail here. What continually amazes me, however, is the number of people who will agree with the concepts just mentioned, yet will do nothing to implement them into their lives!
But maybe that is because they don’t really know how. Which gets us to the next question, how do we control our emotions to be what we want them to be?
How to Control the Emotions
To get to the answer of that question, we need to understand how the emotions work. Not an easy task, and a full description would take far too much time and space to include here. But in essence, the emotions react to mental stimulus. This means that the combination of our thoughts, beliefs, mental images, and perceptions of the world around us work together to create our emotions.
The sight of a mountain can arouse feelings of pride in one person, and feelings of failure in another. Obviously, the sight of the mountain itself did not create the feelings, or everyone would feel the same way about seeing a mountain. Hearing that the stock market dropped 500 points will make one person feel like the end of the world is at hand, yet make someone else feel that a grand opportunity has arrived. And on a more personal level, finding out that your spouse has engaged in extramarital affairs can be either a blessing or a curse to the relationship, depending on how you look at it.
So, to control our emotions, we need to control the mental stimulus that creates those emotions.
One of the most basic (and most effective) mental stimulus is the judgment that we place on the interpretation of each event. When we judge an event to be bad, our emotional reaction is negative and unhappiness results. If we judge an event to be good, then happiness is much more likely. In many motivational programs, you will find the instruction to label all experiences as good, and then to search for the goodness in the experience. If you lose your job, claim “this is good” and then go about looking for the good in losing your job. It’s usually the opportunity to find a better means of employment.
In other situations, the goodness of the situation is harder to find. For example, someone lies to you and causes you to lose your trust in them. What good is there in that? Maybe it’s an indication that your trust is misplaced and you need to focus elsewhere for truth. Maybe it’s an indication that you’ve allowed an experience to be created (from previous usages of Power) that you don’t like. In this case, it’s an indication that you need to refocus your mind to create what you do want, and not what you don’t want.
And this is the central message here. Your thoughts and feelings are directing Power to create your life experiences. Think about the possibility of dishonesty, or allow yourself to feel that dishonesty is a possibility, and you sow the seeds for a dishonest experience.
I know what you’re probably thinking – “People lie and cheat all the time. How can I possibly NOT think or feel that dishonesty is a possibility? It’s more than a possibility, it’s real!” This is where the principles of the Keys To Power get the most difficult to implement in real life. All I can say is that if you can convince yourself that you will never experience dishonesty, then you won’t. I’m not saying that it’s easy to do, I’m just relaying the principles.
Now let’s get to our first question, how can we find happiness in the midst of unhappy experiences?
Whatever the situation, we need to focus our mind on happy things. Maybe we start to think about other situations other than the one we are currently in. Think about a time when you were tremendously happy. Relive the experience in your mind. Pretend that you are having the same experience right now. Or maybe it’s better to think about how you would like the current situation to end. Imagine that the situation is completely transformed and becomes what you want it to become. Or maybe you only need to focus on the concept that everything will be okay, whether you know how it will end or not.
There’s a story that I like to remember from time to time. There was once a farmer living on a plot of land with his family. This farmer had 2 horses to help him farm his land. And if he worked with those 2 horses from sun up to sun down, he barely made enough to support his family. One day, one of the horses ran away. The farmer’s neighbor, once he found out about it, said “That’s terrible. Now you won’t have what you need to support your family. You’ll surely starve to death.” The farmer replied “Maybe, maybe not.”
The next day, the horse that ran away came back, and brought 2 other horses with it. The farmer’s neighbor happened to be there, and exclaimed jubilantly “This is wonderful! Now you’ll be able to earn much more, and you and your family will live in luxury!” Again, the farmer’s response was “Maybe, maybe not.”
A few days later, one of the farmer’s sons tried to tame one of the wild horses. The horse threw the young boy. When the boy fell, one of his legs was broken. Again the farmer’s neighbor said “That’s terrible!” and again the farmer replied “Maybe, maybe not.”
About a week later, the local militia came around recruiting all available young men. Because the farmer’s son’s leg was broken, they passed by without taking him. Again the farmer’s neighbor said “That’s great!” and again the farmer replied “Maybe, maybe not.”
The basic lesson in this story (which could go on forever), is that you never really know what will happen because of the current event. Even if the situation now is “terrible”, it may be necessary to get to a situation that’s “Great!”
We tend to postpone our happiness because we have been conditioned that we can only be happy when we achieve a specific objective. The unpredictability of the times that we are living in make life a very painful experience for individuals with this frame of mind.
I once asked a young man in his mid twenties what would really make him happy? He responded and said, “I would love to retire and live in a small cottage close to the sea.” It was difficult for me to comprehend the long postponement of this young man’s happiness and then asked him, “What will make you really happy in your work?” He stared through the window for a while and then said, “I will only be really happy when I become managing director of the company that I work for.” You might think that this young man showed a lot of ambition, but I diagnosed him as a chronically unhappy boy.
It is good to have long-term goals, but it is better to learn to enjoy each step of your journey. Only when you learn to enjoy the current moment will you achieve real contentment.
Happiness is not something that you need to strive for or that must be handed to you by someone else. Happiness is something that must be allowed to escape from your heart. Happiness is the ability to experience happiness notwithstanding what happened in the past or what might happen at some future date.
If you knew that you have only one month to live, will you be able to enjoy every last second before your date with fate? If you are a person that is truly happy you will make the absolute best of the final hours of your life. You will give and receive love unconditionally. You will not waste time to accuse others of past mistakes that they made. What you will do is to live life to its fullest. Why then do we need to know that we will die soon before we actually live the final hours of our lives? Live each day as if it is your last on this planet and see what difference it will make. Stop looking for happiness from some outside source. Happiness is already in your heart; all you need to do is to release it.
The fear that something might be wrong with you is causing you to search for happiness in all the wrong places. Your beliefs that something or someone else will make you happy move your attention away from “here” to a place or destination away from yourself. It activates the perception that the “now” (current situation) is not the place where you will find happiness and that you can only expect happiness at some future time at a different destination or location.
Most of us are always busy pondering our “next step” and forget to appreciate what we already have. People search, struggle and strive, but never really arrive at their desired destination because they cannot get past the feeling that something is missing. I have met so many people that find it impossible to enjoy the present moment, the present company or their present partner because they feel that there is always still something missing.
The reason for this is because most people think that happiness must arrive from a source outside them. This perception is at the root of feelings of unworthiness and unhappiness. Most people are waiting for their friends, partners, children or employer to make them happy. This self-enforced feeling that something is missing and that happiness will mystically appear do not only put themselves under constant pressure, but also cause a lot of discomfort to the other players in his or her game of life.
I am convinced that you have met many individuals that are constantly unhappy. Such people also tell endless stories how people have let them down or how they have been taken advantage of. In short these people love to play the role of a victim and enjoy the moments of attention that it provokes in their listener. The problem with people with this disposition is that they are unable to see the whole picture. They look at things selectively and only see the things that will confirm and support their negative point of view.
When a happy person looks at a wonderful sunset he or she will allow themselves to be swept away by the kaleidoscope of colours and shadows. They might even experience a moment of deep respect for the creator. The habitually unhappy person will also look at the sunset, but will not even see the amazing play of colours. He or she might still be upset because his or her partner arrived late for their appointment.
I often tell people that you must not only listen to music, but feel the music as well. When you become a person that live your life in the now you usually become optimistic and appreciative. Unhappy people live in the past or the future. They usually drag trainloads of bad experiences with them. They find it impossible to let go of past failures and setbacks. They also cannot stop worrying what might happen in the future. While you are still busy congratulating them with their new job they will already speculate about things that could possibly go wrong at some future date. I am sure that you might think that this type of person should be classified as a perpetual pessimist, but I see people like this everyday. In fact I do not know a lot of people that I would classify as happy. When you take a careful look at all the things we do and strive for you will discover that our yearning to be happy is behind most of our actions and decisions.
We tend to postpone our happiness because we have been conditioned that we can only be happy when we achieve a specific objective. The unpredictability of the times that we are living in make life a very painful experience for individuals with this frame of mind.
I once asked a young man in his mid twenties what would really make him happy? He responded and said, “I would love to retire and live in a small cottage close to the sea.” It was difficult for me to comprehend the long postponement of this young man’s happiness and then asked him, “What will make you really happy in your work?” He stared through the window for a while and then said, “I will only be really happy when I become managing director of the company that I work for.” You might think that this young man showed a lot of ambition, but I diagnosed him as a chronically unhappy boy.
It is good to have long-term goals, but it is better to learn to enjoy each step of your journey. Only when you learn to enjoy the current moment will you achieve real contentment.
Happiness is not something that you need to strive for or that must be handed to you by someone else. Happiness is something that must be allowed to escape from your heart. Happiness is the ability to experience happiness notwithstanding what happened in the past or what might happen at some future date.
If you knew that you have only one month to live, will you be able to enjoy every last second before your date with fate? If you are a person that is truly happy you will make the absolute best of the final hours of your life. You will give and receive love unconditionally. You will not waste time to accuse others of past mistakes that they made. What you will do is to live life to its fullest. Why then do we need to know that we will die soon before we actually live the final hours of our lives? Live each day as if it is your last on this planet and see what difference it will make. Stop looking for happiness from some outside source. Happiness is already in your heart; all you need to do is to release it.
The fear that something might be wrong with you is causing you to search for happiness in all the wrong places. Your beliefs that something or someone else will make you happy move your attention away from “here” to a place or destination away from yourself. It activates the perception that the “now” (current situation) is not the place where you will find happiness and that you can only expect happiness at some future time at a different destination or location.
Most of us are always busy pondering our “next step” and forget to appreciate what we already have. People search, struggle and strive, but never really arrive at their desired destination because they cannot get past the feeling that something is missing. I have met so many people that find it impossible to enjoy the present moment, the present company or their present partner because they feel that there is always still something missing.
The reason for this is because most people think that happiness must arrive from a source outside them. This perception is at the root of feelings of unworthiness and unhappiness. Most people are waiting for their friends, partners, children or employer to make them happy. This self-enforced feeling that something is missing and that happiness will mystically appear do not only put themselves under constant pressure, but also cause a lot of discomfort to the other players in his or her game of life.
I am convinced that you have met many individuals that are constantly unhappy. Such people also tell endless stories how people have let them down or how they have been taken advantage of. In short these people love to play the role of a victim and enjoy the moments of attention that it provokes in their listener. The problem with people with this disposition is that they are unable to see the whole picture. They look at things selectively and only see the things that will confirm and support their negative point of view.
When a happy person looks at a wonderful sunset he or she will allow themselves to be swept away by the kaleidoscope of colours and shadows. They might even experience a moment of deep respect for the creator. The habitually unhappy person will also look at the sunset, but will not even see the amazing play of colours. He or she might still be upset because his or her partner arrived late for their appointment.
I often tell people that you must not only listen to music, but feel the music as well. When you become a person that live your life in the now you usually become optimistic and appreciative. Unhappy people live in the past or the future. They usually drag trainloads of bad experiences with them. They find it impossible to let go of past failures and setbacks. They also cannot stop worrying what might happen in the future. While you are still busy congratulating them with their new job they will already speculate about things that could possibly go wrong at some future date. I am sure that you might think that this type of person should be classified as a perpetual pessimist, but I see people like this everyday. In fact I do not know a lot of people that I would classify as happy. When you take a careful look at all the things we do and strive for you will discover that our yearning to be happy is behind most of our actions and decisions.
If you maintain a negative limiting belief about your reality, such as a belief that this reality is insane, crazy, violent, indifferent, apathetic, etc., then your attitude will absolutely cream you. You can’t expect to get anywhere good with a belief that this reality is anything less than heavenly.
You’re not actually judging reality with such beliefs because you only have access to your limited perceptions of it, and those are 100% within your mind. So by labeling reality negatively, you’re actually labeling a part of your own mind in the same way.
That’s a trap — a huge trap that you must avoid at all costs.
The Trap of Labeling Reality Negatively
Subconsciously your mind will respond to such beliefs by crippling your self-esteem and strangling your ability to leverage your skills and talents. Some people who go this route even kill themselves in the end. It’s a completely foolhardy way to deal with reality. No good can come of it. Well… no good other than the eventual realization that it was a rather lame idea.
Once you realize that your perceptions of reality are all you have to go with, the most sensible approach is to permanently rule out the idea of casting aspersions on your reality, since you’re actually ridiculing your own perceptions, which can only make you go a bit insane. You can’t afford to do anything of the sort. That cannot possibly do any good whatsoever — it can only take you down a path of self-destruction and ruin.
What’s the alternative? Do the absolute best you can to cultivate a harmonious and supportive relationship with your reality. Settle for nothing less. If anything conflicts with your efforts there, ignore it as best you can, and refocus your attention on re-establishing a harmonious and supportive relationship with reality. You cannot get anywhere in this life if you do otherwise.
Some people have the belief that this reality is something of a proving ground between heaven (bliss) and hell (torture). They’re mistaken. When those people experience physical death, if their consciousness continues, they’ll only continue recreating more of the same flavor of experience they had here. They won’t suddenly ascend or descend just because they drop the connection to this particular physical plane. When you disconnect your computer from the Internet, it doesn’t suddenly upgrade or downgrade itself. If you want to upgrade your life experience, you must be the upgrader.
How to Take Control of Reality
This reality is actually as good as it gets. You’re already in heaven now, if you believe such a thing exists. There is nothing better. Whatever you think you can create in heaven, you can create and experience here. This doesn’t require magical powers or magical thinking. It does require taking full responsibility for how you relate to this reality. Since that relationship exists entirely within your mind, it’s under your control… but only to the extent that you believe it is. If you think that’s a Catch 22, you’re also right, since that’s just another belief. The benefit of a Catch 22, however, is that you can choose to be on the side that cheats, so no matter what happens, you win.
I maintain the belief that reality is 100% on my side. This is not based on evidence. It is based on choice. The evidence comes after the choice, not the other way around.
I even believe that reality conspires to go out of its way to help me, and I see evidence of this constantly (again, only after I chose this belief). And so this is what my experience of reality becomes. It’s full of pleasant surprises.
Today, for instance, I received an extra $900 out of the blue that I didn’t even know was coming. Reality loves to bring me gifts like this — financially, socially, experientially, etc. And because I maintain this belief, people frequently help and support me on my path. No one is going to do that for someone who thinks this reality is somehow lacking or damaged — that belief will only get you drained, beaten down, and abused.
If you seem to have a love-hate relationship with reality, then who’s the abuser? It can only be you. If you wish to continue suffering, then by all means, do so. I won’t stop you, especially when you do it in an entertaining way.
What if the whole time you’ve been here, reality was conspiring to bring you the most heavenly experiences imaginable, and all this time it’s been waiting for you to get with the program? Reality was functioning perfectly — within established parameters. But perhaps you’ve been slacking off in the imagination department. Have you been dwelling on what you’d love to experience and summoning it, or have you been muddling your mind with thoughts of perpetuating more of what you don’t want?
If you love what you’re experiencing right now, you can just keep observing that, and it will self-perpetuate; if that’s you, you’re already golden. But you can’t afford to let your mind dwell on your observations and their extended predictions if you’ve already established the pattern of creating experiences you don’t desire to continue. If you want to break the pattern of what you’re already experiencing, you need to shift your energy from observation and prediction to unfettered imagination and creation. Essentially that’s a time management challenge — spend less time observing and more time imagining.
Have you thought about what heaven might actually be like? It’s surely not all harps and angels and clouds like you might see depicted in a movie. That might be fun for a few hours, but then you’d be bored for eternity.
This Is Heaven
Here’s how I define heaven for me. Heaven is a state of existence that let’s me experience the following:
Beam – Enjoy my life immensely; feel deep appreciation and gratitude for this experience; laugh and smile
Harmonize – Maintain a deeply positive, loving, and supportive relationship with my reality
Shine – Develop my skills, talents, and habits to genius level; shamelessly express and share my creativity and brilliance
Explore – Search, study, travel, learn, and discover, guided by my curiosity, desires, and intuition
Open – Open my heart; actively invite and experience delicious connections that I desire
Grow – Become more capable and free; release and shed fears and limitations
Prosper – Create and enjoy tremendous prosperity and abundance
No need to wait for an afterlife. This is achievable here and now.
What’s your version of heaven? Do you have to wait till you’re dead to experience it? What makes you think death will be any better than this anyway? Would it really be easier to create heaven in some astral realm vs. right here, right now? What are you waiting for?
People think that their life will only be perfect when they have achieved everything they want, when everything is completely going the way they want it to go.
They are looking at the perfect state of life as something that is in the future, that they don’t have it now but they need to move towards it.
The truth is even when they have reached that state, there will still be new desires that will arise to be achieved. It is an illusion to think that the perfect life is something in the future instead of being present with us.
If you think that the perfect state of your life can only be experienced when everything you desire is manifested, then you are separating yourself in time. Thinking in terms of linear time is what creates resistance towards our desires manifesting as perfectly as possible.
There is really no separation between past, present and future because spirit contains it all as one reality. Your perfect life is not something that happens at a certain point of time, but it is the one where you’re aligned with your highest purpose.
There is not just one line of time that you will experience. There are multiple lanes of time running parallel with each other with their corresponding alternate states of the universe.
Out of the many pathways that you can take in life, there is one particular path that is in alignment with your highest purpose. The universe has what you truly desire all lined up at different points of time in that particular path. The moment you step into your true path, you are living the perfect life instantly no matter where in time.
The things that you truly desire will never come to you on any other pathways other than your highest one. That is because your higher self sent you into this world with a purpose and everything to do with that purpose is what truly makes you happy. The feeling of happiness, fulfillment and true desire is what you experience when think or act in alignment with your higher self. These feelings were programmed into your soul before it emerged into physical life.
They are your guidance of what you are here for.
The reason why we experience disappointment and unhappiness is because we are on another path instead of our true one. Even when we are on our true path, it does not mean we will remain in it all the time. We tend to get on and off our path from time to time. The purpose of growing is to become more developed in our consciousness and being so that we can find and remain on our true path more and more of the time. Every time we are off it, life feels bad but every time we’re on it, life feels good again.
There is a difference between a life path and a lane of time. Our life path can switch between lanes of time from time to time. Even our true life path is not created to stay fixed in one particular lane of time all the way. Every new decision we make can alter the entire course of our lives in ways that changes everything. Therefore the way things are going in one lane of time will totally change when we switch lanes. Our higher self will guide us in the switching of lanes according to the life path it has charted.
In pursuing your true path, you may face obstacles along the way that seem to stop you from moving forward. You may start doubting if you’re on your true path and start thinking that God is playing a cosmic joke on you for leading you in a direction that only gets your head banging against a wall. Actually the obstacles are only present in the lane of time we are on. When it seems impossible to move forwards but we are guided to, that’s when it’s time to trust the universe to shift our time line as we move on.
We would think the future is impossible when looking at it based on the timeline we are on. We can only predict the probable futures based on the present. That is why predictions of the future turn out wrong when the time line is shifted. When you think what you’ve been given is wrong, you’re saying that the universe makes mistakes. But there are no mistakes. Every element is a piece of a greater puzzle, and with each new piece that falls into place, the look of the entire picture in the moment is changed.
There is a life path you have in which everything you need to have will come in through synchronicities that cannot be calculated because the factors are hidden and will only be revealed in divine timing and divine order. Things aren’t always what they seem to be. What you see are only possible future scenarios that can only be seen from the present time point of view. But as time moves along, many elements will shift and rearrange themselves turning what seems to be bad into what is completely good.
Obstacles are not really obstacles. It is an illusion when we think something is stopping us. If the universe wants us to go a certain way, the way will open up and the obstacles will disappear when we move in that direction. If something seems to remain in the way, it means it is not the right timing for it to happen yet. Just keep moving where the path is open for you and you will find that is exactly where the universe has intended for you to move all along. The universe makes a way where there is no way.
So your perfect life is not something you experience when all your dreams and desires are manifested. Your perfect life is experienced the moment you step into your true path where you are living your dream and expressing yourself fully in the moment. Your perfect life is not something you have to move towards in time, it is something right beside you that you can step into instantly. It is not something in the future but what you can experience in the present now. When you shift into your destiny, it is perfect.
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By Enoch Tan / Creator of Secrets of Mind and Reality
Some of us one day wake up to the fact that we might have been travelling in the wrong direction away from our desired destiny. The solution would be to turn your vehicle of life around and readjust your course, but that is often easier set than done. They have a saying in sport when a player loose form or fail to play at his/her full potential. The trainer often tells the player to return to basics for a while. We are sometimes so busy making a living, fighting the good fight to be a good provider or mother that we go on auto pilot and speed along on the highway of life without noticing that we are travelling in the wrong direction. We sometimes only wake up to mistakes when we are many miles away from our desired course.
The biggest mistake we can make when we discover that we are speeding along in the wrong direction is to implode or start telling ourselves that we are some kind of idiot. There is nothing wrong with you now and there was never anything wrong with you in the past. We all make countless mistakes while we play the game of life. There is nothing wrong with mistakes. We learn and gain experience when we make mistakes. This is how knowledge turn into wisdom. The bigger the mistake the higher its educational value. You could slow down, park your vehicle of life and cry over the time, money and opportunities you have lost while you travelled in the wrong direction or you can learn from your mistake, point your vehicle of life’s nose in the right direction and push hard on the petrol pedal of your vehicle. You will soon feel the wind in your hair while you gather speed toward your destiny.
We need to see mistakes that we make as stepping stones. We must see them as valuable tools that teach us wonderful lessons. We usually recover faster when we learn from our mistakes and get back in the game of life quickly. We should not see our detours as disasters where we lost valuable time. We should see these detours as opportunities to uncover the stuff that is not working to our advantage. We might feel depleted and defeated after one of our setbacks or mistakes, but also soon discover that new fresh energy and enthusiasm soon fill the void left by our negative and destructive thought patterns.
The universe did not send you to earth dimension to fail. It sent you on your current mission to learn and to grow. The universe (God) is always watching your progress and rejoice when you learn from a mistake and start moving towards your destiny again. The universe do not always intervene when you make mistakes because you have free will and came to learn and to grow. The universe will never allow you to face obstacles that you are not equipped to overcome.
As we go about our work each day we should keep our minds open to new ideas and possibilities. Life is about learning and developing new skills and experiencing new opportunities – and by opening our minds to possibilities we leave ourselves ready and able to hear and see opportunities that a more limiting mind may be denied. We need to ask ourselves the question – Are we ready and willing to change our behaviour in order to widen our minds to possibilities? For instance, if we are poor listeners are we ready and willing to make the necessary changes in behaviour that will allow us to hear new ideas and thereby experience new possibilities. What possibilities are we missing out on because of having closed minds? It is not just “ideas” we miss out on when we consider this across all areas of our lives – this could include opportunities that will bring us laughter, joy, happiness and love into our lives. When we approach each area of our life with positive expectation and flexibility it opens up a whole range of possibilities for us to enjoy.
We should also be prepared to encounter some “fear” in our lives. When we encounter fear it is a sign that we are stretching ourselves, and therefore we are learning and growing. Many people avoid fear because it gives them a terrible feeling in the pit of their stomach. Recognise fear for what it is – it is the Opportunity for Growth!! If we never experience fear we are not stretching ourselves.
There is a saying “the Teacher arrives when the student is ready”. Every person and every opportunity is a “teacher” (learning experience) for us – we learn from positive experiences and we learn from negative experiences – just as we learn from negative people and positive people. For example – if we exceed the speed limit when driving we receive a fine – we can learn from that negative experience and decide not to speed in the future, or we can continue to speed and keep receiving the same negative result. Children learn in similar ways. When parents praise their child for doing something well the child will continue to try to make repeat attempts at the task before them, thereby developing their skills and enhancing their interest in exploring new possibilities. They may fall down many times along their journey however their persistence will eventually gain positive results.
Like the children we once were, we need to continue to approach life with open minds and fearless spirits believing in our ability to persist and eventually succeed in any endeavour we undertake.
When we resist fear we are stifling growth. If we meet fear head on, our lives will become more expansive and our new learning experiences will enable us to thrive and flourish. We cultivate fear on our journey through life partly because we are afraid to fail. What we need to realize is that failure is part of our journey to success. Many very successful business people have failed many times before going on to create extremely successful businesses.
Some people think that the physical universe is different from the mental planes of reality. But the physical universe is really not as physical as it seems. In fact, it is just another layer of the mental universe. Time and space does not exist in the physical universe only, it also does exist on the other planes of reality. Except it is experienced differently on those planes.
The entire universe is a hologram. The world is simply a simulation, like a computer program. All levels of reality are part of that same program. Everything physical is only a concept in the mind of God. As he imagines it to be, we experience it to be.
Reality is a mental construct. The rules of physics are just there to “govern” how the physical universe operates. The universal mind which governs the laws of the physical universe only allows it them to be superceded when it permits.
We are living in the matrix. This is not a computer-generated but a mind-generated world. It is generated by the universal mind which is partly the mind of God and partly the collective consciousness of the people alive.
Do our five senses really operate as energy receptors carry energy in the form of electrical impulses along nerves to the brain in order to be processed by the mind as information? Are we really not able to see the world around us when the electrical impulses are cut off? Does our life support system really operate as blood carrying oxygen from the air that we breathe to our body cells in order to nourish and repair them? Are we really not able to process energy without the means of our blood?
While looking at your feet, stomp on the ground. You will notice that your visual perception of your foot hitting the floor matches your sensation of touching it. This would be fine except for one thing: the speed of light is vastly faster than the conduction times and synaptic delays through the long nerves and spinal cord from your feet. As a result, you should be seeing the event before you feel it and the delay should be noticeable.
Scientist can study how the physical system operates in order to work with it. We have to follow the rules of a system when we are in it, in order to function in it. But the physical system is only a simulation to provide logic and order to how reality operates on the physical level. The simulation is only a mask over how true reality operates. We do not actually see with electrical impulses being sent from our eyes to our brains through the channel of nerves. We sense energy directly with our mind. We do not actually live with oxygen flooding our cells through the use of blood. We absorb energy directly from the universal field of energy. We perceive everything as energy directly with consciousness.
When we think, we think as conscious mind. When a thought becomes substantiated, it substantiates in the subconscious mind. But what is man’s subconscious mind? It is his mental field or frequency in Universal Subjectivity. There is no such thing as your subjective mind and my subjective mind, meaning two, for this would be duality. All mind is One Mind. But there is such a thing as the subconscious state of your thought and of my thought in Mind.
When we think, we think through a Universal Creative Medium, a receptive and plastic substance which surrounds us on all sides, which permeates us and flows through us. When we think, we think through and into the One Common Mind producing points of mental activity within it. We exist as the universal mind differentiated into individual minds. We think as universal conscious mind through the Universal Subconscious medium. As each person thinks, he is building around himself a mental atmosphere. Nothing can enter unless he allows it to, through the avenues of his own thought whether conscious or unconscious.
There is no other place that we could think, since Mind is Omnipresent. There is no out there. Everything exist as projections in the external world from within ourselves. Even the experience of internal to external projection itself is an experience in our Mind. It is a projection of consciousness within consciousness. There really is no external or internal for everything is at one place where Mind is. Mind is everywhere yet nowhere. Mind is nowhere but Here, Now. Everything is created by consciousness and nothing is outside of consciousness.
Our heart is our subconscious mind. The Universal Field of Subjectivity is the key to understanding what it means when we say someone is always with us because that person is in our heart. We might see, hear and touch the person, but that is just a means of experiencing each other through physical form. Of course Spirit must manifest into form in order to express itself. But once we experienced each other physically, we know that we are always connected to each other no matter where we are. There is no separation. The person exist in Universal Subconscious which is in our heart. That person is in us literally.
Metaphysics of Time, Space and Things
Time simply measures change. Beyond that simple function, time is nonexistent. There is really only the “now”. “Time is a sequence of events in a Unitary Whole.” Time is not a thing of itself, it is simply a measure of experience in eternity. Time does not contradict Eternity, but allows It to become expressed in terms of definite experience. Time is necessary since it allows experience to take place within the One, but time is never a thing of itself. It is really impossible to measure time. For yesterday is gone and tomorrow has not come, and today is rapidly slipping into the past. If we were to attempt to put a finger on any period of time it would be gone before we could point to it. But, illusive as time is, it is still necessary to experience.
Space, like time, is not a thing of itself, but is only the outline of form. It is a relative distance within the Absolute. Space is also necessary to the expression of Spirit, for without it no definite form could be produced. We must not be confused over the ideas of time and space, as they are not things of themselves. They are entirely relative, but none the less necessary.
Things are mean forms in time and space. Things are always results and never make themselves; they are the objectifications of Spirit. Things are necessary to the manifestation of Spirit. They are the result of the Self-Knowingness of the Word of God. Things vary in size and shape, in time and duration, from the planet to the peanut, from a moment to an eternity. It is necessary that Spirit should manifest in SOME KIND OF FORM in order that It may come into Self-Expression through Self-Realization. The world is waking up to the fact that things are not at all what they appear to be, that matter and form are but the one substance appearing and disappearing, and that form is simply used to express something which is formless, self-conscious life.
Form in the astral world is not as definite as form in the physical world. But the physical world is not as definite as it seems because it is governed by true reality, and true reality is highly fluid. Physical reality and mental reality and different levels of the same program, running with a different set of parameters. The difference between the physical world and the astral world is that of time. Change happens slower on the physical plane because energy moves at a slower rate on their plane but on the astral plane, things can happen very quickly.
There is only one place that is far more definite than physical reality. It is a place where you really can’t change the conditions in it with your mind. It’s vibrations are the lower and denser than Earth. That place is Hell. Beings that exist there will forever be tormented with fire in anguish, pain and misery. It is where things are truly hopeless and there is nothing you can do about it. Hell is the condition of having no alternatives. Both heaven and hell are real places, but while on Earth, your experience can either be a heaven or hell depending on whether you live in higher consciousness where anything is possible and change can happen fast, or hell consciousness where things are hopeless and impossible.
The physical plane is where the challenge is. It is a loss to give up living in the physical world and to enter the astral world just because one is in despair of the difficulties in manifesting desires on that plane. It is precisely for that reason that we are truly able to develop and test our powers of mind in order to fulfill our realization as spirit beings. The purpose of physicality is to lock different beings into common dimensional arenas of interaction, so they can evolve via that interaction. Gaining the ability to be in control of reality at the physical level is gaining the ability to be in control of our own minds to the fullest degree. Ruling and reigning over reality is expressing who we are as sons and daughters of God, created in the true spiritual image of God.
After reading some of my observations about our collective relationship myths, a female friend said to me, “You know everything you say sounds very sensible and true Tim, but to be honest it makes me kind of sad. I mean what about the great love? Is that also just another myth or a silly belief? Because if it is, I think I’d rather live with the lie because life would simply be too empty and depressing without it …”
But as I said to my friend, the great love is not a myth. The myth is the belief that the great love is outside of us and dependent on another person. Which is why I often call this myth “the mother of all relationship myths”, simply because this is probably the greatest misunderstanding of all when it comes to love and relationships. And when you start to notice, you discover it’s a fantastic, all-consuming myth that is the theme of thousands and thousands of pop songs as well as the driving force behind huge commercial ventures including TV series, books, magazines as well as the fashion and beauty industries.
The reason why I call the idea that the great love is outside of us and dependent on another person – a myth is because that’s precisely what it is. An ancient myth, an old wives’ tale, a fable, that has absolutely nothing to do with reality, the reality of men and women and relationships.
The reality is that love and the joy of being are not outside of us. Love and the joy of being are inside us. This is because love and the joy of being are our nature, it is what we are. (For more about this, see the previous chapter “totalorgasmicbliss”.) No one can add anything to the love and joy that you and I are. And no one can take away the love and joy that you and I are.
But then why don’t we always experience love?
“But if love and joy are really our nature,” you might ask, “then why don’t we (always) experience it? Why do we sometimes feel sad, anxious and lonely?” Why do we sometimes feel that life is empty and depressing?
The answer is simple: Since love and joy are our nature – something must be blocking the experience of this love since we don’t always feel it. And what is that? What is preventing us from experiencing our true nature which is love?
If you look closely at the way the mind works, you will see that what is preventing us from experiencing our true nature are the whole range of thoughts we believe in that have nothing to do with reality. Thoughts and beliefs, which block the experience of love because these thoughts are unloving or the opposite of love. Thoughts and beliefs, which obscure our true nature. And many thoughts do just this. Thoughts and beliefs such as: “Life is dangerous”, or “I need to be in control”, or “If I don’t take care, things won’t go well”, or “There’s something wrong with me”, or “I’m not good enough”, or “I need __________ to be okay and happy”, or “I need people to like me” and so on. As you can see, all of these thoughts are a far cry from love.
When we believe untrue thoughts and stories about ourselves and about life like the ones mentioned above, these thoughts are like clouds before the sun. They temporarily block the experience of the love and the joy of being that we are. It’s not that the love that we are disappears (that’s not possible), but we temporarily lose the awareness of it because we are so absorbed in these distressing thoughts. In other words, when we believe thoughts like these that is what we experience – instead of our true nature, which is love.
This is obviously very painful, so naturally we will do anything and everything we can to experience that love and the joy of being again. We’ll even pass through fire and water to put an end to that terrible feeling of loss and experience that love again.
But because we’re not aware of our true nature and not aware of the real cause of our pain and longing, we try to end our suffering in ways that are doomed to failure. And so unfortunately for us, in our ignorance, we seek love and joy outside ourselves, in other people and in outer circumstances instead of seeking love where it really is – inside ourselves.
In our innocent confusion, the place where we most desperately seek this love and joy is in romantic relationships. Yes we seek it in the story of “the one and only”, in the story of “soul mates”, in the dream of that one special man or woman who we think will give us the experience of the love and joy we seek. And this story, this myth – that the love and joy of being that we seek is outside of us and dependent on another person – is one of the cornerstones of our confusion and unhappiness when it comes to relationships.
So how did this myth arise?
One reason we believe this myth is that many of us do actually experience love and the joy of being (or at least glimpses of it) when we are with our partners. Especially during the falling in love stage or when we’re having great sex! This experience seems to prove that the myth is true. It seems to prove that the love that you seek really is dependent on finding this one special person and being with him or her. Because yes it’s true, when we’re with our beloved, many of us do seem to experience glimpses of love and joy. And sometimes even more than just glimpses; sometimes we’re ecstatically happy.
But is the fact that we sometimes experience love and the joy of being when we are with our beloved really proof that the love and joy we are experiencing comes from this person or is dependent on this person? At first glance it sounds plausible, but is it really true?
This question is worth considering carefully.
So let’s backtrack a moment. If – as I said before – the nature of reality is that you and I are love, then why don’t we always experience this love? As I said, we don’t always experience this love because we believe in stressful, unloving thoughts and stories that have nothing to do with reality and which actually “block” the experience of the love because we are so absorbed in these thoughts. When this happens, the love doesn’t disappear but we temporarily lose our awareness of it. Just like when the clouds block the rays of the sun. The sun doesn’t disappear, we just can’t see it.
But – and now here comes the interesting part – our absorption in our thoughts and beliefs is not constant. Sometimes there are gaps. Sometimes there are moments when we’re not so absorbed in our thinking. And then what happens? What happens is bang! Without the clouds, the sun is suddenly shining and we experience the love and joy that is our true nature. All of a sudden, it’s just there. Just the way it happened to me that day on the beach by Tel Aviv when my stressful thinking finally conked out (see the previous chapter “totalorgasmicbliss” for more).
We are AUTOMATICALLY ANCHORING images, feelings and emotions to everything that we EXPERIENCE in all our day-to-day activities. Our subconscious minds also develop a KEY TRIGGER that will call back to LIFE all the IMAGES and EMOTIONS stored in our sub-conscious minds. Any CURRENT EVENT or THOUGHT can TRIGGER a HISTORICAL range of emotions that lay DORMAT for years in our sub-conscious minds. We are constantly ASSOCIATING CURRENT events with HISTORICAL data stored in our sub-conscious minds. The problem that most of us have is that we think that we have no CONTROL over these THOUGHT PACKAGES that are endlessly TRIGGERED by new events that we are faced with daily. We become VICTIMS that are AMBUSHED by a never ending stream of HISTORICAL images, feelings and emotions that COLOUR every moment of our day. Most of us find it impossible to look at and experience our CURRENT MOMENTS without the interference of these HISTORICAL thought bundles. It is impossible to remain OBJECTIVE and refrain from JUDGING while we treat CURRENT people and events through the haze of HISTORICAL FEELINGS and EMOTIONS.
People think that their life will only be perfect when they have achieved everything they want, when everything is completely going the way they want it to go.
They are looking at the perfect state of life as something that is in the future, that they don’t have it now but they need to move towards it.
The truth is even when they have reached that state, there will still be new desires that will arise to be achieved. It is an illusion to think that the perfect life is something in the future instead of being present with us.
If you think that the perfect state of your life can only be experienced when everything you desire is manifested, then you are separating yourself in time. Thinking in terms of linear time is what creates resistance towards our desires manifesting as perfectly as possible.
There is really no separation between past, present and future because spirit contains it all as one reality. Your perfect life is not something that happens at a certain point of time, but it is the one where you’re aligned with your highest purpose.
There is not just one line of time that you will experience. There are multiple lanes of time running parallel with each other with their corresponding alternate states of the universe.
Out of the many pathways that you can take in life, there is one particular path that is in alignment with your highest purpose. The universe has what you truly desire all lined up at different points of time in that particular path. The moment you step into your true path, you are living the perfect life instantly no matter where in time.
The things that you truly desire will never come to you on any other pathways other than your highest one. That is because your higher self sent you into this world with a purpose and everything to do with that purpose is what truly makes you happy. The feeling of happiness, fulfillment and true desire is what you experience when think or act in alignment with your higher self. These feelings were programmed into your soul before it emerged into physical life.
They are your guidance of what you are here for.
The reason why we experience disappointment and unhappiness is because we are on another path instead of our true one. Even when we are on our true path, it does not mean we will remain in it all the time. We tend to get on and off our path from time to time. The purpose of growing is to become more developed in our consciousness and being so that we can find and remain on our true path more and more of the time. Every time we are off it, life feels bad but every time we’re on it, life feels good again.
There is a difference between a life path and a lane of time. Our life path can switch between lanes of time from time to time. Even our true life path is not created to stay fixed in one particular lane of time all the way. Every new decision we make can alter the entire course of our lives in ways that changes everything. Therefore the way things are going in one lane of time will totally change when we switch lanes. Our higher self will guide us in the switching of lanes according to the life path it has charted.
In pursuing your true path, you may face obstacles along the way that seem to stop you from moving forward. You may start doubting if you’re on your true path and start thinking that God is playing a cosmic joke on you for leading you in a direction that only gets your head banging against a wall. Actually the obstacles are only present in the lane of time we are on. When it seems impossible to move forwards but we are guided to, that’s when it’s time to trust the universe to shift our time line as we move on.
We would think the future is impossible when looking at it based on the timeline we are on. We can only predict the probable futures based on the present. That is why predictions of the future turn out wrong when the time line is shifted. When you think what you’ve been given is wrong, you’re saying that the universe makes mistakes. But there are no mistakes. Every element is a piece of a greater puzzle, and with each new piece that falls into place, the look of the entire picture in the moment is changed.
There is a life path you have in which everything you need to have will come in through synchronicities that cannot be calculated because the factors are hidden and will only be revealed in divine timing and divine order. Things aren’t always what they seem to be. What you see are only possible future scenarios that can only be seen from the present time point of view. But as time moves along, many elements will shift and rearrange themselves turning what seems to be bad into what is completely good.
Obstacles are not really obstacles. It is an illusion when we think something is stopping us. If the universe wants us to go a certain way, the way will open up and the obstacles will disappear when we move in that direction. If something seems to remain in the way, it means it is not the right timing for it to happen yet. Just keep moving where the path is open for you and you will find that is exactly where the universe has intended for you to move all along. The universe makes a way where there is no way.
So your perfect life is not something you experience when all your dreams and desires are manifested. Your perfect life is experienced the moment you step into your true path where you are living your dream and expressing yourself fully in the moment. Your perfect life is not something you have to move towards in time, it is something right beside you that you can step into instantly. It is not something in the future but what you can experience in the present now. When you shift into your destiny, it is perfect.
By Enoch Tan / Creator of Secrets of Mind and Reality
Barbara Berger’s new book “The Awakening Human Being – a Guide to the Power of Mind” presents the essence of her lifelong exploration of the nature of mind and consciousness. What does it mean to be awake? How do you wake up? And why should anyone want to be awake? And what is the connection between “The Awakening Human Being” and Barbara’s previous books like her bestseller “The Road to Power – Fast Food for the Soul” which is now published in 30 languages? These are some of the questions I asked Barbara one sunny afternoon in Copenhagen.
Question: What do you mean by “being awake”?
“Well it’s really very simple – and yet it seems to be the most difficult thing in the world for most of us to do. By waking up I mean, seeing reality as it actually is instead of getting lost in our stories about what life should or could be. When we wake up, we wake up to reality. We wake up to what actually is. When we wake up, we actually see and experience what is right in front of our noses – we experience this – with no filter.
“Unfortunately most of us never actually do this. Most of us are living in a dream world – a world that is 100% imaginary – a world that is made up of our thoughts. And of course you can say – so what? What’s wrong with that? And well there’s nothing wrong with this unless your stories are making you unhappy.
“Because of course here’s the crux of the matter. Reality, this moment, what is, just is what it is. Always perfect whole and complete and always exactly as it should be. How do I know that reality is exactly as it should be? Because it is…! We don’t have a choice here.
“We only have problems when our thoughts and stories are so different from reality that we are actually resisting what is. When we resist what is, we suffer. The moment we resist this moment, we feel bad. This is the only suffering. If you didn’t resist this moment (whatever is happening) you would feel fine. And this is always true, even though for most of us, this is a pretty radical concept. (In fact, this is so radical that it is something most of us can meditate on for the rest of our lives!)
“So this is one of the things you find out when you start to wake up to reality. You start to see that yes – there is what is – and then there are your stories about what’s going on. You might have major resistance to what’s going on – or just a little resistance. But if you look closely, you will probably discover (unless you are enlightened) that yes, there’s usually a pretty big difference between reality (what’s actually going on) and your thoughts and stories. And this difference – this resistance to what is – is what makes us miserable – not reality. Why is this so? Because we can only experience our thoughts – that’s the way life works. We only experience our thinking (whatever our thinking is) – we never experience reality directly. Until of course we wake up!
“When you discover this, when you actually begin to “see” and understand this mechanism, you are starting to wake up. And that’s what my new book is about. The book is about this process of waking up – and about what happens when we start to see that yes there probably is a big difference between our thinking and reality… Because the ramifications of this discovery are quite big – quite far-reaching. And when you see this, you also understand that up until now you’ve been living in a dream. That you were not really present, here and now.
“And that’s how it all starts. You get glimpses of reality from your sleep state. At least that’s my experience. And you start to see how seldom you are really present in this now moment. It’s really quite amazing. And then sometimes you really are present in this now moment – and that too is amazing.”
“To sum it all up, I present the following five basic observations in the book:
1) The nature of mind is that thoughts arise and disappear.
2) There is often a difference between reality and our thinking.
3) There is a cause-and-effect relationship between our thinking and our experience. Thought is cause, experience is effect.
4) Unhappiness and suffering arise when our thinking is out of harmony with reality. In other words, we suffer when our thinking (thoughts) and reality do not match.
5) We can end our unhappiness and suffering (and experience more peace and happiness) by bringing our thinking back into harmony with reality.
Question: When you start to see that there’s a difference between reality (what actually is) and your thinking, what can you do when you discover that your thinking doesn’t match reality?
“If your thinking makes you happy, well then there’s no problem right? Just enjoy the movie right! But if your thinking makes you unhappy, afraid or worried, there are several things you can do. In my new book, I offer a wide range of tools you can use to bring your focus and your thinking more into harmony with reality. But basically there are 3 main options (all of which are discussed in detail in the book).
“You can:
1) Witness: You can just witness your thoughts and stories. You can just step back and watch the thoughts come and go and realize since you are the one who is watching and witnessing these thoughts (or stories), you can’t be the thoughts or the story. Meditation is a good way to do this. Meditation helps us see the illusory nature of all our thoughts.
2) Question: You can question the thoughts or stories. You can ask yourself – is this true? Is this story true? Or is it just some fairy tale about a future I can know nothing about? In other words, when you are having thoughts that make you afraid or unhappy, you can ask yourself if what you are thinking is true. A good way to do this is to first write the stressful thoughts down on a piece of paper and then question them using the Work of Byron Katie. I find her method extremely effective when it comes to dealing with our catastrophic thinking.
3) Change your focus: Since we get to experience whatever we are thinking about and since whatever we focus our attention on grows in our experience, we can deal with stressful thinking by changing our focus. In other words, you can change your experience by substituting another thought or thoughts for the ones that are bothering you. Prayer is a good way to do this – or reading a spiritual text, for example something from the Bhagavad Gita or a chapter from Emmet Fox. And then spend some time thinking deeply about what you have just read. And finally, if you are too freaked out to do this, you can go for a run, or go for a cold swim, or watch a movie or do something to completely change the flow of your thinking. But whatever you do, don’t dwell on the thoughts that are bothering you. (Because whatever you focus your attention on grows!)
“In the book, I go into detail about how to use these various techniques to help you take control of your stressful thinking so you can wake up to reality, so you can wake up and be present now – and actually enjoy the wonders of this moment.”
Question: Are you awake?
“Sometimes”. And then she adds, “I guess you could say I’m awake except when I’m not.”
Question: The book ends with some really funny dialogues between you and a creature that you call “Bollum”? Who’s Bollum?
“Bollum represents the unawakened part of me – the part of me that is still confused – the part of me who is always whispering into my ear about the dangers of waking up to reality! I call this part of myself Bollum because the conversations we have inside my head remind me of the dialogues in the Lord of the Rings between Gollum and Smeagol…”
Bollum talks to Barbara – about being productive
Bollum: You really should get up off your sofa Barbara and get to work. You’ve got books to write and things to do.
Barbara: But lying here is so blissful.
Bollum: Blissful? Who needs blissful, you’ve got to work! Be productive, make money, achieve! You can’t do that lying on your sofa!
Barbara: But lying here is so blissful! Isn’t that what the Spiritual Pathway is about anyway? Being present in the moment?
Bollum: Well you can do that when you get old.
Barbara: But I am old!
Bollum: Well not old enough.
Barbara: Well if I keep on waiting, I’ll be dead by the time I have time to enjoy the bliss of being here now.
Bollum: Oh come on girl. Pull yourself together. You don’t deserve to live unless you are productive.
Barbara: Really? You’re making me nervous.
Bollum: You should be with your work ethic! If everyone was like you the whole world would go under.
Barbara: Is that true?
Bollum: Sure it’s true. How will you ever get a big house on the beach?
Barbara: What do I need a big house on the beach for?
Bollum: Well it’s a sign of success and happiness.
Barbara: Is that true? What does a big house have to do with happiness? I’m feeling perfectly happy right now lying on my sofa.
Bollum: You’re hopeless. You’ll never be a success.
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Interview with Barbara Berger by Tim Ray
(This article appeared in the Danish lifestyle magazine “Liv & Sjæl” in December 2009)
There is a saying that ignorance is bliss. This might be true for some, but it is as far as I am concerned the root cause of most of our suffering, pain and anxiety. Accepting life, people, religion, politics, perceptions, choices, rules and laws at face value imprisoned the mind of mankind. Looking at anything in life from a single perspective is the lazy way out. Seeing and experiencing from a limited range of perspectives have shackled man almost since its inception. Primitive man could not read, write or decipher the range of threats that confronted them and were forced to turn to priests and other individuals for guidance. This disposition provided a wonderful opportunity for those that claimed that they understood to take over control of their followers minds. The initial flimsy net that these opportunists wove gradually grew stronger and more sophisticated.
You will later see how this initial ignorance created an ideal vehicle of enslavement for those in control. Mankind have been kept in a state of ignorance since the beginning of time by greedy power hungry individuals, groups and organizations. Primitive methods of pain, pleasure and hope were used to restrain the masses. Man experienced fleeting moments of pleasure while they blindly obeyed the “commands” of these controllers. Thousands of written laws, spiritual and otherwise came into being over the years. Those that remained subdued and subservient were praised and rewarded while anyone that questioned anything faced the intricate range of pain that these controllers could bring to bear on them. They were cruelly tortured in the dark ages when they questioned anything to do with religion or the state.
Mankind became the slaves of the controllers. They were carefully manipulated to let go of a fair percentage of their hard earned income. The state took their pound of flesh while the religious leaders demanded at least ten percent of all income earned as well. The system sucked in mankind to such an extent that only a handful of individuals over the years showed the courage to point out the deadly trap that we find ourselves in up to today. Do you grasp that the slaves of this system not only police the deadly system on behalf of the controllers, but breed their future slaves when they produce children? I can write a fairly substantial book on this subject matter, but believe that you can see what I am addressing in this document.
My plea is that everyone make it his or her business to get rid of the veil of ignorance that is responsible for most of their anxiety, pain and lack. You might have noticed that I post a very wide range of perceptions daily on an endless range of subjects. My motivation is that I want you to look at stuff from many different perspectives. Nothing is as it seems. I will continue to write on the endless range of methods used to keep us ignorant if I get a fairly acceptable responds on this post.
We all fall into a deep hypnotic sleep early in life. The noise, problems, pain and broken promises that we experience fail to resurrect us from our sleep like state. We dream that we are our history, body, successes and failures. We dream that we are measure by God while we bounce around in this machine called life that give us false hope only to knock us down again. The cunning slanted system that we live in secured you in a slave like state. You are daily confronted with survival issues. The only way to escape from this trap is to wake up and notice the deadly web that snared you in its ruthless claws. You must wake up to the reality of the religious dogma and the political rhetoric that encased your mind with lies and deceit. Cunning operators kept you mentally, physically and emotionally paralysed in a state of fear. You were forced to swallow their deadly poison made up with ingredients like guilt and sin. It is only when you wake up and grasp that you are not your body, history or story that you break the chains that kept you under their hypnotic trance. You are only using your body as a vehicle while you attend earth school. You are in this dimension to experience and learn. Your spiritual self have been waiting for your awakening my friend. View all painful experiences today as lessons. Be gentle with yourself. View life through the eyes of a student and not through the tarnished filter of sin.
Our thinking — the thoughts that we entertain — determine our experience of life. This is the great law of life on this plane. In brief, this means that our experience of reality (or this thing called life) is the result of our thoughts about life or reality—and not the result of experiencing reality itself directly.
And again, this is an impersonal, universal law. It has nothing to do with who you are or what you do. It doesn’t matter how young or old you are or if you are rich or poor. This law applies to everyone—without exception—which is why it is a law.
This law means:
– Whatever you think, you get to experience.
– Whatever I think, I get to experience.
When you think something is great, you get to experience that. When you think something is terrible, you get to experience that.
Nothing else is going on.
Reality is what it is.
It’s our interpretation we get to live.
Your first reaction to the above might be “Oh but this is not true. Everyone can see that ‘such-and-such’ is a terrible thing. It has nothing to do with my thinking!” But you have to look more closely and ask yourself if this is really true. Because you will discover when you look closely, that everything under the sun is interpreted in a multitude of different ways by a multitude of different people. The exact same event is experienced in very different ways by different people. And this applies to our health, finances, relationships, you name it. What is excellent health for one person is a poor condition for the next. A lot of money to one person is almost not enough for the next. A big issue in one person’s relationship doesn’t matter at all to another. What seems politically correct to one person is completely wrong to another. And it’s the same at the workplace. One person experiences working on a certain project with a tight deadline as highly stressful, while another thinks it’s just an exciting challenge. One person hates working late and just wants to get home to the family while another person loves working late because he/she doesn’t especially want to go home to the family!
So our experience is always entirely subjective—always—and always based on who we are and what we believe is good or bad for us. There is no neutral, objective definition of a “good” or “bad” event. It all depends on the point of view and the belief systems of the person (people) involved. And our points of view depend on a multitude of things including how we were programmed, our culture, our religion, our background, our sex, our age, and so on.
And even this changes for each individual as they mature and evolve because most people discover over time that what they once perceived and experienced as a “bad” event can turn out to be a “good” event when seen from another perspective. Hence the saying—a blessing in disguise.
So please consider this carefully and honestly. If you do, I can assure you that you will discover that all our reactions (yours and mine and everyone else’s) in any and every situation are based on the thoughts and beliefs we have about life and our beliefs as to the meaning of these situations and events.
And so we find that in all situations, the basic mechanism is thought is cause and experience is effect. This is what is going on—at all times for everyone.
So take a look again and you will see that when something happens, if we think it’s good, we feel good about it and we experience it as good. And when something happens and we think it’s bad, we then feel bad about it and experience it as bad. And this has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the event itself. The event is just the event. And we discover that in truth, there is no connection whatsoever between an event and our reactions to it. The way we experience events is completely determined by our thoughts about the events.
We tend to postpone our happiness because we have been conditioned that we can only be happy when we achieve a specific objective. The unpredictability of the times that we are living in make life a very painful experience for individuals with this frame of mind.
I once asked a young man in his mid twenties what would really make him happy? He responded and said, “I would love to retire and live in a small cottage close to the sea.” It was difficult for me to comprehend the long postponement of this young man’s happiness and then asked him, “What will make you really happy in your work?” He stared through the window for a while and then said, “I will only be really happy when I become managing director of the company that I work for.” You might think that this young man showed a lot of ambition, but I diagnosed him as a chronically unhappy boy.
It is good to have long-term goals, but it is better to learn to enjoy each step of your journey. Only when you learn to enjoy the current moment will you achieve real contentment.
Happiness is not something that you need to strive for or that must be handed to you by someone else. Happiness is something that must be allowed to escape from your heart. Happiness is the ability to experience happiness notwithstanding what happened in the past or what might happen at some future date.
If you knew that you have only one month to live, will you be able to enjoy every last second before your date with fate? If you are a person that is truly happy you will make the absolute best of the final hours of your life. You will give and receive love unconditionally. You will not waste time to accuse others of past mistakes that they made. What you will do is to live life to its fullest. Why then do we need to know that we will die soon before we actually live the final hours of our lives? Live each day as if it is your last on this planet and see what difference it will make. Stop looking for happiness from some outside source. Happiness is already in your heart; all you need to do is to release it.
The fear that something might be wrong with you is causing you to search for happiness in all the wrong places. Your beliefs that something or someone else will make you happy move your attention away from “here” to a place or destination away from yourself. It activates the perception that the “now” (current situation) is not the place where you will find happiness and that you can only expect happiness at some future time at a different destination or location.
Most of us are always busy pondering our “next step” and forget to appreciate what we already have. People search, struggle and strive, but never really arrive at their desired destination because they cannot get past the feeling that something is missing. I have met so many people that find it impossible to enjoy the present moment, the present company or their present partner because they feel that there is always still something missing.
The reason for this is because most people think that happiness must arrive from a source outside them. This perception is at the root of feelings of unworthiness and unhappiness. Most people are waiting for their friends, partners, children or employer to make them happy. This self-enforced feeling that something is missing and that happiness will mystically appear do not only put themselves under constant pressure, but also cause a lot of discomfort to the other players in his or her game of life.
I am convinced that you have met many individuals that are constantly unhappy. Such people also tell endless stories how people have let them down or how they have been taken advantage of. In short these people love to play the role of a victim and enjoy the moments of attention that it provokes in their listener. The problem with people with this disposition is that they are unable to see the whole picture. They look at things selectively and only see the things that will confirm and support their negative point of view.
When a happy person looks at a wonderful sunset he or she will allow themselves to be swept away by the kaleidoscope of colours and shadows. They might even experience a moment of deep respect for the creator. The habitually unhappy person will also look at the sunset, but will not even see the amazing play of colours. He or she might still be upset because his or her partner arrived late for their appointment.
I often tell people that you must not only listen to music, but feel the music as well. When you become a person that live your life in the now you usually become optimistic and appreciative. Unhappy people live in the past or the future. They usually drag trainloads of bad experiences with them. They find it impossible to let go of past failures and setbacks. They also cannot stop worrying what might happen in the future. While you are still busy congratulating them with their new job they will already speculate about things that could possibly go wrong at some future date. I am sure that you might think that this type of person should be classified as a perpetual pessimist, but I see people like this everyday. In fact I do not know a lot of people that I would classify as happy. When you take a careful look at all the things we do and strive for you will discover that our yearning to be happy is behind most of our actions and decisions.
We need to look at life from a totally different perspective if we want to live longer and enjoy life more.
.
Most of us lost the ability to play and enjoy our lives. We became burdened moaners that view life as a crisis management exercise. We immediately trigger a “victim mentality” when anything happen to us that might demand focus. We see even small events as major challenges. We experience resistance to many aspects of our lives. Many of us go around with a long sour face and a chip on our shoulders.
A housewife can for example see washing the dishes as an irritating event that proves that the female specie is still a slave in a world where males are always advantaged. She can hate every plate she wash and mentally see the “millions” of times she washed the same plate before and the “millions” of times she will have to wash the stupid plate in the future. She can mentally see how the dish washing liquid is daily peeling off her skin and how her skin is aging because of the slave mentality of all those that sat at the breakfast table. I am obviously exaggerating the point, but you understand that we attach certain thoughts and feelings to everything we do. We can decide to make it a fun thing or we can curse and resent our way to the last item that needs cleaning.
A man in turn often feels like someone that is forced to work like a slave in an attempt to keep a roof over the heads of his unappreciative family. He mentally views his job as a salt mine. He sees his manager or supervisor as a slave driver and back stabbing bastard that takes all the credit and pass all the shit down the line until it lands on his desk. He views a client that is unhappy about something the way he experience his neighbor’s dog that barks non-stop day and night, even when a tree waves in the wind. He views his fellow workers as the enemy that is out to steal his position the moment he dares to relax and let down his guard. He views meetings as a total waste of time, a place where the enthusiastic sales people get excited about the most trivial nonsense or where the boss struts around like a peacock. He hates the traffic on the way to the office and curse and moans his way back home at night. I again exaggerated here to make a point.
We need to look at life from a totally different perspective if we want to live longer and enjoy life more. We could curse every plate we clean and curse our way to the office and back or we could learn to play and relax our way to success. We can change washing dishes into a fun experience if we stop looking at this task through a negative and destructive window. We can make washing dishes a fun experience if we focus on the plate, soap and warm water that embrace our hands. We can simply clean the plate with a smile on our face and a song in our hearts. The dishes need to be cleaned. You can work through this task clenching your teeth while you resent everyone that ever soiled a plate before or you could just relax and make the best of the experience.
We have an attitude that we slip into like an old suit when we are expected to do anything or we can remain in the moment and make it fun. It is not the washing of the dishes that is causing the problem. It is the story we tell ourselves while we are busy with this task. We are usually the victim in our stories and everyone in our little drama in our heads is the enemy. The fun will come back when you simply wash the dishes and cut out all the nonsense that you think and feel while you complete this task. Look in the reflection of one of the pots you just washed and see if you notice a smile on your face or if you see the face of a person that is getting an enema.
All our actions and interactions are filtered through a perception data base. Our mindset and perceptions that we stored since early childhood automatically kick in when we are faced with things to do or problems to solve. Our perceptions trigger images and feelings that we associate with the task at hand. Some of these automatic reactions have been working for or possibly against us since early childhood. We never evaluated the viability of our reactions from the moment we adopted the data as part of our belief structure. We automatically react in our old tried and tested manner when for example someone say or do something that trigger a negative responds in us.
Your mother told you that all men are pigs that tend to use and abuse woman. Your scanners spring into action every time a man dares to compliment you or attempt to make personal contact with you. You might for a moment enjoy the attention and wonderful feeling of joy you experience, but your mother’s warning voice will kick in and soon destroy the moment. It is astounding how many women are unhappy and anxious because of a program that their mothers or fathers dumped into the data bank in their heads many moons ago. It is painful to see how some women live a painful and unhappy life because of a dreadful experience that their mothers faced.
You have hundreds of voices that are constantly shouting instructions in your head. Many of us are too weak to look at life on a moment to moment basis. We are so lame, lazy and stripped of confidence that we allow one or a few of these voices to control our lives. We live like robots under the control of a master system in our heads. We are too afraid to live our own lives. We simply role-play the script that someone wrote for us. We go to the church that we were told is the right and only way to salvation. We automatically react with anger and aggression if anyone dares to show us anything that might not pass the scrutiny of the program in our heads.
Everything that you see around you was labeled soon after your arrival on this plane. Your programmers convinced you when you are allowed to laugh and cry. Can you see that you have been mentally imprisoned for the best part of your life? You might think that you have free will my friend, but that is a myth and fallacy. You almost always act according to the invisible control system in your head. You have been domesticated like a dog to toe the line and to remain in your box. Your programmers put the fear of God into you if you ever dare to venture outside your box’s perimeters. You were rewarded with positive strokes when you stayed in the box and punished if you dare to investigate outside the perimeters set when you were still young and vulnerable. You were trained to feel guilty and like a sinner if you ignored any of these voices in your head. You were convinced that God is watching you like a hawk to see if you toe the line. Will you ever forget what happens to those that dared to investigate alternatives? Images of people toasted forever kept you firmly entombed in your box. My friend you are not alive and you are not having fun. You are more often than not giving a pathetic performance via the fears and anxieties that your programmers carried forward through you.
Set yourself free and live life one moment at a time. Pause for a moment before you do or say what the commanding voice in your head is instructing you to do. Enjoy washing your dishes, one dish at a time. Enjoy your way to the office, one kilometer at a time. Enjoy each contact with friends, family and even strangers on merit. Do not allow the voices in your head to tarnish your life. Investigate and be bold. Try new things and unplug the voices in your head for a while. You will be astounded how much more fun life will be without the ongoing meddling of characters that more often than not failed miserably in their own endeavors. They possibly struggled in their own relationships. They were often not very successful in their own careers. Your fear filled religious programmers were possibly too afraid to investigate beyond their own boxes. It is thus futile to live your life through the haze of thoughts and feelings of historical programmers. Become your own person. Live each moment on merit and don’t forget to make it a fun experience.
Being older and more mature does not remove your beauty and ability to experience the joy of sensuality. Age can be your mental jail or paradise. Why not decide TODAY, right NOW that you will LIVE until you DIE?
You can have an out of body experience right now, and it isn’t even that hard. Some people can do it more easily than others, and it may take a little practice. But it is something that anybody can do, and it can be done scientifically.
Senses and The Self
Let’s start with a question: Where do you feel like the center of your “self” is right now? Most people feel like the center of their consciousness—the vantage from which they are experiencing the world—is somewhere behind their eyes.
This makes sense: Your eyes are there, your ears are there, and even your mouth and your nose are there. Four out of five of your senses are all focused in a single area, so it’s no surprise that you feel like the center of your self is “in your head.”
Although both philosophers and scientists are still developing theories about exactly what our sense of self is really for, they all agree that it plays a key role in organizing all of the information that comes in through our senses. We are getting nerve signals from our skin, from our ears, from our eyes, and from our noses. All of these signals contain different types of information, and yet somehow we end up putting them all together to form a single, at least somewhat coherent, picture of “the world around us.”
Thomas Metzinger, in his book Being No One, says that the whole reason we have a self in the first place is to build a single coherent mental model of the world. Or as he eloquently puts it: “One main function of conscious experience may be to construct a final phase in a process of reducing information, data, and uncertainty originating in the buzzing, blooming confusion of the external world.”
To get rid of the feeling that you exist “behind your eyes,” you need to get your mind to build a mental model of the world that isn’t based on information coming into your head.
Lie on the floor and close your eyes. Try to do so where it’s quiet, so you are not distracted by sound, either. While you are lying on the ground, let your mind wander to different parts of your body: Focus on the way the floor feels against the back of your neck, against your shoulders, against your backside. Rub your hands against the floor, and feel the texture.
While you are focused on the way things feel, all of your attention is focused on a part of your body other than your head. Keep your attention completely focused on the sensation that you are getting from your hands, and that becomes your world. The center of your awareness will travel to the part of your body that you are focused on.
You may have also experienced something like this while getting a massage. Think about the last time you got one, or (even better) go out and get one as soon as you are finished reading this. While you are getting your massage, let your attention follow the movements of the person’s hands. Let your mind go blank, except for following every touch and sensation of those hands traveling over you. As the person’s hands travel down your back, so does your mind. When the hands move to your arms, your mind follows. Your attention is like a little spotlight that is traveling with the sensations over the surface of your body.
With this exercise, you will feel the center of your self becoming freed from that position “behind your eyes.” Instead, you are noticing that the location of your self travels around depending on what you are paying attention to. If you close your eyes, ignore your ears or any smells in the room, and focus entirely on (for example) a foot massage that you are getting, then you will experience the world with your feet at the “center” of your consciousness.
Where the Body Begins and Ends
“Well, that’s all fine and good,” you might say, “But that’s hardly an out of body experience!”
It’s time for the next step. If you are in an apartment or a house, lying on the floor, there is a good chance that you can feel faint vibrations through the floor. Can you feel the hum of your refrigerator? Maybe you can feel the vibration of a car driving by outside?
Instead of focusing on the floor and the way it feels, focus on what things out in the world you can use the floor to feel. Feel a person walking around in the apartment next door. Feel the truck driving past, outside your window.
Back in the 1950s, when we were first discovering the basic fundamental principles of how the nervous system deals with signals from the outside world, philosopher and anthropologist Gregory Bateson began to think about what the implications are for the idea of “self.”
Bateson came to the startling conclusion that we are wrong to think that our self stops at the edge of our bodies at all. He found himself reasoning this way: When we use our arm to touch a wall, we think of the wall as something “outside” and our arm as part of our “self.” But the neurons in the arm are merely transmitting a signal to our brain.
If a blind man uses a stick to feel the sidewalk in front of him, that stick is serving exactly the same purpose as the neuron in your arm. So Bateson asks, “Where does the blindman’s self begin? At the tip of the stick? At the handle of the stick? Or at some point half way up the stick? These questions are nonsense.”
For Bateson, our feeling of a boundary between self and “other” is arbitrary, or at least an illusion that is created by whatever we are paying attention to. When you use your hand to feel the floor, you feel like your self stops at your skin. But when you use the floor to feel the traffic outside, your self becomes much larger.
Using the same exercise that you used to move your self around into different locations in your body, you can move your self to locations outside your body, as well. Remember that your self is the way that your mind organizes a picture of the world. If the part of the world that you are focusing on is the part of the world that is touching your skin, then your self will feel like it is bound to your skin. But if you use the floor to feel the world beyond, your self will become larger.
The Embodied Mind
None of this is going to give you the “out of body experience” that you have come to expect from science fiction and fantasy movies. You will not exist as some kind of ghost, still in human form, floating around the room and looking at things with some kind of inner eye. That, unfortunately, only happens in dreams, myths, and movies.
But with practice you will be able to get a very dramatic sensation of your self existing in locations outside your body. These are actually techniques that have been practiced by Buddhist monks for centuries, and now the intellectual descendents of neuroscientist-philosophers like Gregory Bateson are trying to discover exactly how it happens.
In Ottawa, Canada, researchers are scanning the brain of a student who is quite skilled at triggering out-of-body experiences whenever she wants to. The researchers hope that these brain scans will tell us more about what parts of the brain are involved in different types of experience of the self and where it is located.
We get other clues from rare brain disorders that disrupt a person’s awareness or sense of self. Anton-Babinski syndrome, more commonly known as “Anton’s Blindness,” is a condition where a person is blind but does not know they are blind: As far as their self-awareness is concerned, they think they can see perfectly.
Cotard’s syndrome is a condition where a person believes he doesn’t exist. In fact, he or she will tell you as much… and no amount of rational argument (“If you don’t exist, how can you be telling me this?”) will persuade him or her. The feeling of non-existence is deep and profound, and the emotional impact on these patients is severe, and very sad.
From disorders where the feeling of self gets corrupted or disappears, to exercises that allow us to manipulate our feeling of the location of our self, there are many signs that this thing that we call self is an extremely complex phenomenon. It is one we are only beginning to grasp, but with research we are learning more all the time.
This may come as a bold statement for many, yet it is the absolute truth. In almost any situation we find ourselves, we can choose to be happy if we want to. Obviously, this is more difficult to do in some situations than in others. For example, if we are in physical pain, it’s very difficult to focus our minds on happiness. And when we are experiencing something pleasurable, happiness almost comes on it’s own.
In our modern world, we rarely experience physical pain. Most of the situations we find ourselves unhappy in are simply situations that don’t meet our expectations. A friend who betrays our trust, a life partner that is dishonest or unfaithful, a boss that is difficult and demanding. These are the types of situations that we can choose to be happy in if we set our mental focus properly.
But how do we find happiness in the midst of these situations? Or, on a more basic level, how do we control our emotions to be what we want them to be? And an even more basic question, why would we want to?
Let’s start with the most basic question, why would we want to control our emotions and make them be something other than those expected?
One of the core principles in the Keys To Power system (and many New Thought systems) is that the Power of Spirit is directed by the thoughts and feelings within us to create our experiences.
This means that when we’re thinking and feeling happy thoughts, Power will be directed to create happy experiences. When we think and feel unhappy thoughts, Power is directed to create unhappy experiences. This ‘Law of Power’ works just as surely and accurately as any other natural Law, such as gravity.
Most people understand the basic concepts here, so I won’t go into detail here. What continually amazes me, however, is the number of people who will agree with the concepts just mentioned, yet will do nothing to implement them into their lives!
But maybe that is because they don’t really know how. Which gets us to the next question, how do we control our emotions to be what we want them to be?
How to Control the Emotions
To get to the answer of that question, we need to understand how the emotions work. Not an easy task, and a full description would take far too much time and space to include here. But in essence, the emotions react to mental stimulus. This means that the combination of our thoughts, beliefs, mental images, and perceptions of the world around us work together to create our emotions.
The sight of a mountain can arouse feelings of pride in one person, and feelings of failure in another. Obviously, the sight of the mountain itself did not create the feelings, or everyone would feel the same way about seeing a mountain. Hearing that the stock market dropped 500 points will make one person feel like the end of the world is at hand, yet make someone else feel that a grand opportunity has arrived. And on a more personal level, finding out that your spouse has engaged in extramarital affairs can be either a blessing or a curse to the relationship, depending on how you look at it.
So, to control our emotions, we need to control the mental stimulus that creates those emotions.
One of the most basic (and most effective) mental stimulus is the judgment that we place on the interpretation of each event. When we judge an event to be bad, our emotional reaction is negative and unhappiness results. If we judge an event to be good, then happiness is much more likely. In many motivational programs, you will find the instruction to label all experiences as good, and then to search for the goodness in the experience. If you lose your job, claim “this is good” and then go about looking for the good in losing your job. It’s usually the opportunity to find a better means of employment.
In other situations, the goodness of the situation is harder to find. For example, someone lies to you and causes you to lose your trust in them. What good is there in that? Maybe it’s an indication that your trust is misplaced and you need to focus elsewhere for truth. Maybe it’s an indication that you’ve allowed an experience to be created (from previous usages of Power) that you don’t like. In this case, it’s an indication that you need to refocus your mind to create what you do want, and not what you don’t want.
And this is the central message here. Your thoughts and feelings are directing Power to create your life experiences. Think about the possibility of dishonesty, or allow yourself to feel that dishonesty is a possibility, and you sow the seeds for a dishonest experience.
I know what you’re probably thinking – “People lie and cheat all the time. How can I possibly NOT think or feel that dishonesty is a possibility? It’s more than a possibility, it’s real!” This is where the principles of the Keys To Power get the most difficult to implement in real life. All I can say is that if you can convince yourself that you will never experience dishonesty, then you won’t. I’m not saying that it’s easy to do, I’m just relaying the principles.
Now let’s get to our first question, how can we find happiness in the midst of unhappy experiences?
Whatever the situation, we need to focus our mind on happy things. Maybe we start to think about other situations other than the one we are currently in. Think about a time when you were tremendously happy. Relive the experience in your mind. Pretend that you are having the same experience right now. Or maybe it’s better to think about how you would like the current situation to end. Imagine that the situation is completely transformed and becomes what you want it to become. Or maybe you only need to focus on the concept that everything will be okay, whether you know how it will end or not.
There’s a story that I like to remember from time to time. There was once a farmer living on a plot of land with his family. This farmer had 2 horses to help him farm his land. And if he worked with those 2 horses from sun up to sun down, he barely made enough to support his family. One day, one of the horses ran away. The farmer’s neighbor, once he found out about it, said “That’s terrible. Now you won’t have what you need to support your family. You’ll surely starve to death.” The farmer replied “Maybe, maybe not.”
The next day, the horse that ran away came back, and brought 2 other horses with it. The farmer’s neighbor happened to be there, and exclaimed jubilantly “This is wonderful! Now you’ll be able to earn much more, and you and your family will live in luxury!” Again, the farmer’s response was “Maybe, maybe not.”
A few days later, one of the farmer’s sons tried to tame one of the wild horses. The horse threw the young boy. When the boy fell, one of his legs was broken. Again the farmer’s neighbor said “That’s terrible!” and again the farmer replied “Maybe, maybe not.”
About a week later, the local militia came around recruiting all available young men. Because the farmer’s son’s leg was broken, they passed by without taking him. Again the farmer’s neighbor said “That’s great!” and again the farmer replied “Maybe, maybe not.”
The basic lesson in this story (which could go on forever), is that you never really know what will happen because of the current event. Even if the situation now is “terrible”, it may be necessary to get to a situation that’s “Great!”
Everyday you make a thousand choices. You choose what to wear, where to go, who to meet, what to eat and what to do. MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL, YOU decide WHAT TO THINK. One thing is sure and that is that your day will not be better than your thoughts. ...................
Just close your eyes for a moment and see if you can visualise this open toolbox and if you can see the hundreds of tools that are neatly placed in this toolbox. Now look if you can see the maker’s name on these tools. The creator of these tools (thoughts and perceptions) is you. You created thousands of thoughts and perceptions (tools) about everything since your childhood. ..................
When confronted with any situation or problem you reach into this toolbox and take out what you think the most appropriate tool would be and then attempt to fix the problem. It is estimated that your mind thinks at least 2,500 thoughts an hour. Every thought that you think is a tool (perception) that you have that you imagine would work best under specific circumstances. This thought process continues day and night and will do so for the rest of your life. .....................................
I am convinced that we think ourselves to a standstill. We never stop playing with these tools in our toolbox and can hardly ever really relax for a while. If we are not faced with a problem or task that needs completion we still continue to take out these tools and mentally rehears and contemplate how we will use them should something that we fear become a reality. ............................
We are forever thinking and scheming and never become still and tranquil inside. Our bodies might seem relaxed, but deep inside our heads this thought process continues churning around. What I am most worried about is that most of the tools that you have in your toolbox are very old and outdated. .......................
Many of the opportunities, problems and obstructions that you face daily cannot be repaired while you are using old and outdated tools. If you take a modern mechanic’s toolbox and you place the toolbox of a mechanic of fifty years ago next to it you will find that there are major discrepancies. When you are confronted with something that needs repair and you do not have the right tool for the task at hand it can be very frustrating. We usually improvise and try using some other tools and hope that it will also get the job done. ........................
When you are faced with a problem you need to select the right tool for the task at hand. If you do not have the tool in your toolbox it can complicate your life. What most people seem to ignore is that it is sometimes better not to reach for your toolbox when faced with a problem. Sometimes you need time to pass or need to leave the problem with its rightful owner. How well you use your tools is usually reflected in the world you see around you. What would you do if you were faced with any or all of the following? .........................
You get a flat tire on your way to an important customer or meeting. You can fall apart, develop a migraine and think that life is against you or you can take out the right tools (patience and reality) and take care of the problem in a relaxed manner. ........................
You have been working on the computer for hours and suddenly lose all your work. You can drop dead with a heart attack; think that God hates you or you can take out the right tool (sanity and reality) and begin over and this time remember to make a backup of your work. ....................
A lover or wife possibly cheated on you. You can go crazy and get an assassin to take out the potential threat to your relationship, think that you are a failure or you can take out the right tool (no fear of loss) and get on with your life. .......................
When you have the right tools in your toolbox it makes life a lot easier. The choices we make are vital in our lives. The more quality choices we make during any given day the higher the probability of success and peace of mind. ................
I suggest that you equip your toolbox with the best tools you can lay your hands on. It is important to upgrade if you discover that one of your tools are outdated or that a more modern version is available. How would you react if your TV packed up and a technician that obviously knows very little about electronics arrived at your house with only a sledgehammer and a few other primitive tools in his toolbox? I am sure that you will send him away and find someone better qualified and equipped for the task. .....................
You might sometimes be like this incompetent and poorly equipped technician indicated above if you do not often update your tools (thoughts) in your toolbox. You can also have all the right tools in your toolbox and never use them because you are afraid that you might make a mistake. ..................
You must remember that happiness and success is always just one thought (tool) away. You should remember when you find it difficult to cope with something that one new tool (thought) could change your life. One fresh thought and one new idea can change your life from pain and suffering to success and peace of mind. ........................
You are today what you were programmed with yesterday. The choices that you make on a moment-to-moment basis decide your fate and future. You can never feel or perform better than the ongoing thoughts and feelings that you allow to occupy your mind! .......................
The mistake we make is that most of us live our lives on a reactive basis. We start and complete our day in a reactive state of being. Something comes to our attention via our five senses or via a thought in our mind. We automatically slip into the “role” that we created for ourselves many moons ago. We act, react and experience the same feelings and emotions that we embedded with our scrip at its inception. We do exactly the same when new stimuli push the previous “drama” off the stage in our minds. We sustain this reactive mode of thinking until we finally go to bed at night. Most of our days are made up of a tapestry of “roles” that we played in our own colorful way. It is important to understand that nothing is going to change until we do something different. We cannot repeat the same old recipes and expect a different outcome. ....................
You can use the “Portable Life Skills Wisdom” book to develop a range of appropriate scripts that you can use when you are faced with a problem or project that need your attention. You will if you apply the scripts in this book find that you no longer run your life on a reactive basis. The new scripts will help you to live your life in the moment. You will become more realistic. You will treat each event on its own merit. How do you do this? ......................
The Process ....................
Read the first message in your book. Write it down if at all possible. It will assist you to absorb the data provided. Now sit back and close your eyes and visualize how you will apply the specific message in the various areas of your life. See yourself on the screen of your mind using the message in all your day-to-day activities. It is important to attempt to feel and experience the benefits that this new mode of thinking will bring into your life. Do this for ten minutes. Then open your eyes and begin to apply the wisdom on all occasions where appropriate in your activities on that given day. ...........................
Proceed to do the same with second message etc. in your book tomorrow. You will upload almost a thousand powerful recipes if you sustain the process indicated above. You can in less than three years upload a powerful “tool” system that will serve you for the rest of your life. This can be a life changing experience if you apply it daily. You will discover that the ten minutes you invest daily will upload countless new strategies into your subconscious computer. Build a successful and happy life. The key however is action. You can have the best tools available to man and still fail if you don’t use them daily. Wishing you the very best with this endeavor. .............................
Daily Support System (This Blog) ................
You not only have the massive key ideas in the book that you can use when appropriate you also receive daily posts on a wide range of subjects that will expand this system to a level never offered before. Visit this blog daily for fresh new ideas with a sprinkle of historical wisdom that stood the test of time. ..........................
Rene
PORTABLE LIFE SKILLS DAILY WISDOM GUIDE 