Day 3
Get the Idea?
What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow Our life is the creation of our mind.
The Buddha
Ideas are powerful. They are the seeds of creation. Every part of creation started as an idea. Everything that man has invented -- started as an idea. Everything in our consciousness is an idea. By changing ideas we also change our attitudes, perceptions and actions. By changing our ideas, we change the world.
By focusing our thoughts we organize and ultimately create our reality. Our thoughts are the organizing energy behind our experiences and our environment. They form the basis of all our creative ability. Through thought we begin the creative process. Through thought we exercise our free will.
All great spiritual teachers have emphasized that it is the inner world that matters most, not the outer world. That is because creation of the outer world begins in our inner world the world of ideas. Control your ideas and you control your world.
The inner world will always manifest itself. It is the inner world that creates the outer world, not vice versa, and in this sense, the outer world is merely a reflection. Consciousness, self-consciousness, creativity and free will are all resident in the inner world.
How could this be true? After all we experience thought as very ephemeral and changeable not the stuff of which concrete reality is made. Well, it s quite simple really. Thoughts create attitudes, feelings and beliefs. Attitudes, feelings and beliefs control action and behavior. Action and behavior create our physical reality, and our social environment.
Did you get that sequence? Do you agree that your thoughts create your attitudes, feelings and beliefs? Do you understand that your attitudes, feelings and beliefs govern your actions and behavior? Do you accept that actions and behavior create your physical and social environment?
Any frequent or habitual thought gets crystalized into an attitude, a feeling or a belief. For example, if you constantly think people are out to get you, that recurring thought pattern will eventually become a subconscious thought pattern. This subconscious thought pattern will reinforce itself by selecting those outward experiences that confirm its truth .
There are always more experiences in our environment than we can consciously process so we have the power of selecting those experiences that confirm our view of reality. Thus the subconscious thought pattern becomes a belief. The belief crystalizes into a feeling and an attitude about others that shows outwardly as defensiveness, aggression, anger, or victimhood.
Any or all of these behaviors will attract people who in fact are out to get you or who are reacting to your attitude in a way that makes it seem as though they are out to get you. Thus by your recurring thought you have created a social reality for yourself.
That is the truth behind the old joke about a person contemplating a move, who asks a wise man from the village where he plans to move: What are the people like in your village? The wise man responds, What are the people like where you live now? Oh, they are selfish, mean spirited and hard to get along with. Well, that s how you will find the people in the new village as well
This is really only the law of cause and effect, playing out on the spiritual or intangible level. In effect, What you think is what you get.
The mind is a wonderful thing. What we think is what we get. All of creation first starts with an idea. From the mind of the prime creator springs forth creation. From the mind of each man springs forth the creation of his life and his reality. We all have the ability to create our life by choosing what we think what we repeatedly and habitually focus our thinking upon.
You have a free will because you can choose where you will focus your thoughts. By using your free will you are choosing your future. The thoughts that we think today are the thoughts that are creating our future reality. What are those thoughts? How do you choose to see the world right now?
What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow Our life is a creation of our mind -- Buddha
What do you think about most often? Do you look at the world and see a friendly place? Does the world seem to you to be a place of love? Is it a place in which you can get your dreams fulfilled? Is it a place of positive experiences?
How much power do you see yourself having over your experiences? How much do you believe that you can create your own life? Or how much are your thoughts automatic reactions to your environment or habitual patterns from past experiences?
How much do you react to feelings of disappointment? How often do your thoughts turn to ways of avoiding or ignoring those feelings? Are you preoccupied with food, sex, work, sports?
Are your thoughts generally happy or sad? Are you normally energized or depressed? Be aware of your thoughts. Be-ware of your thoughts. For they will create your reality with or without your conscious participation.
Your thoughts are often automatic which is another way to say subconscious. If you don't take control of them they will surely control you. You are often reacting to automatic programs established through past patterns of thought and feeling.
For example, if you feel sad, depressed or angry, you may automatically feel like eating something or habitually reach for a cigarette. You may crave a drink or tend to overwork. These are automatic thought patterns (habits) that have been programmed into you.
You have control over those thoughts and habits. You can decide what you'll think and ultimately how you will feel and behave. Much of the time your thoughts are automatic reactions to situations that occur in your life. Those thoughts have been programmed from past associations. By changing these programs, by changing these thoughts, and habits - you change your reality.
Meditation Can Help
What is the power of meditation? There are many forms of meditation. Meditation puts you in touch with your inner world your creative world. It helps you become more aware of your consciousness and teaches you how to control your thoughts.
Through meditation you can get in touch with recurring and subconscious thought patterns, beliefs and attitudes. One of the classic styles of meditation is to simply observe what goes through your head without judgment or reaction - simply observe. In this way you become more aware of your thoughts and feeling patterns. By being aware of them you gain the power to change them if you so desire.
Meditation can therefore give you better control over your reality. It helps you to use your free will and freedom of choice by providing you with a deeper understanding of the quality and content of your consciousness.
Meditation teaches you how to concentrate and focus your consciousness. Thus it shows the way to a higher consciousness. With the ability to better concentrate and focus consciousness we gain the power to create our outer world more consciously.
Exercise Day 3:
Let s do a brief meditation exercise right now. When meditating it is important to get comfortable in order to limit physical distractions. So sit comfortably with your feet on the floor avoid crossing your arms or your legs. Take three slow, deep, cleansing breaths. Fill your lungs and stomach completely with air each time and let it out slowly without effort expelling as much as possible.
Now for the next five minutes sit quietly and simply observe your thoughts and feelings. Start with this thought and let the rest flow without judgment or editing:
I am powerful and the creator of my world. My thoughts and feelings are always within my control
When the five minutes are up, take another minute to record here what you observed yourself feeling and thinking during the meditation:
My Meditation Experience
How did you feel during the meditation? comfortable? uncomfortable? happy? sad? What thoughts went through your head and how did you react to them try to change them? just let them flow? Remember, all you are doing with meditation is getting in touch with your feelings and thoughts observing and learning about yourself.
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