|
Home / Others
We Need New Tools To Build The Good Life
By:Diane Hausler
Everybody wants to make real the life we create in our daydreams. So few seem to know where to begin. If we know what this "good life" looks like, why can't we just slide over to that space? It's not that we lack the desire. You probably know more depressed and or frustrated people now than ever before -- and the odds are that you are one of them. Years of thwarted yearning can do that to a person. Here's the problem as I see it: we've each inherited a toolbox full of lovely, old, obsolete tools with which to build our lives. It's a rusty toolbox. You know, the one our parents automatically handed down to us, as their parents did to them. How much freedom and joy did your parents find using those antiquated tools?
It's not that powerful new tools aren't available -- they are. So why do most of us prefer instead to redouble our efforts using the old, outdated ones? First, we tend to choose pain repeatedly because conflict makes us feel stronger by giving our mind a position to side with. Second, we don't much like change. Mixed together, these two traits are kryptonite to human potential and personal happiness.
The first step for anyone who wants the life they daydream about is not to take that money management course you've been considering. It's impossible to change much by tinkering with the outside of your life, because all our power is on the inside. We have been given limitless power to transform. The catch is, we have the power to transform only one thing -- our consciousness. That means the key to creating the life we want is learning to see everything differently.
Therefore, Tool #1 is: Allow Yourself to Open to Every Thought You Have -- good, evil, whiny, et cetera. Only in so doing will you begin to see the patterns in your life, for it is our thoughts that create these patterns. Tool #2 is a corollary to this: Notice the Cycles of Thinking That Repeat On a Daily Basis. And they do repeat. We have a great deal fewer new thoughts daily then we tend to believe, so it can be a humbling experience to monitor our thoughts in every situation throughout the day.
A teacher of mine once said, "We are our responses." If that is so, then be prepared to find out more than you ever wanted to know about who you've been playing at being until now. We tend to think of people who don't know who they are as "troubled" or at least "deficient" in some way. But can you say that as you move through all the various situations that comprise your day you are authentically yourself?
There is a scene in the film "I Heart Huckabee's" in which Jude Law asks, "How am I not myself?" without realizing the existential nature of the question. It's worth pondering.
For now, the focus is on observing your thoughts and how they seem to clump together to form the beliefs that you carry around. These determine our responses when our buttons get pushed. Therefore it is absolutely necessary to use Tool #2 in a non-judgmental fashion. As you do so you will be taken gently by the hand and led into the deepest recesses of your true self. That may feel scary at first, but it does take a certain amount of courage to look yourself in the eye and say, "Okay, this is who I've been pretending to be so far, and I'm beginning to see that blaming (my friends, family, you fill in the blank) for my unhappiness isn't the deepest truth. I am now going to start taking responsibility for my own happiness, even if that means I have to work pretty hard for awhile at not judging other people, as well as myself." Cool it with the never-ending self-blame, if that particular shoe fits.
This may sound difficult to put into practice, but it will be eased considerably by Tool #3, which is Take Time to Go Within every day. This is not only a great stress reducer but your strongest ally in your efforts to live the good life. It's been said that prayer is when you talk to God and meditation is when God talks to you. I don't care if you believe in a "God," but if you allow yourself to sit and listen to whatever moves through you as your body and mind quiet down, you will at some point hear and/or feel the presence of something greater than your personality self. It is that connection we are all seeking, regardless of our awareness that this is so.
This is our inner guidance system kicking in, and it is hardwired into each of us from birth. We just don't know that because we're taught from childhood to ignore it and allow only left-brain, logical thinking to drive the car. Unfortunately this has resulted in a planet full of people crashing into each other, sometimes acting as a nation.
The key to the universal library of wisdom has been in our pockets all along, but we never use it because we've always believed the message that it's worthless. Every single piece of "common wisdom" we live by is meant to be questioned, people. That's what waking up and finding ourselves requires. Until I discover for myself what really holds true and what just doesn't work for me, I'm just mimicking being alive.
A simple breathing or mantra meditation daily, even if for only 10 minutes at first will send the message to your spirit that you are ready to get off your ego trip and at least open to hear the freeing possibilities that have always whispered their loving invitations quietly into your ear.
As long as we keep running all day the only voice we hear is the ego voice, because it's loud and demands to be heard, often through threats, "shoulds" and fearful predictions about our future. Only when we are determined to say STOP to that reality and claim a quiet corner somewhere do we have a chance to hear our inner guidance system.
Tool #4: Act on What You Hear (or Feel) When You Go Within. Those who continue to choose the world's noise over their inner wisdom are finding that the rate of change is now accelerating so rapidly they are starting to think they may never live the life they really want. It doesn't have to be that way, if we remember to use our new tools.
Digg
del.icio.us
Blink
Stumble
Spurl
Reddit
Netscape
Furl
Article keywords: alternative healing, health, healing, medicine, doctors, advicechanneling, spiritual, life, medicine
Article Source: http://www.articles2k.com
Alternative healing, spiritual guidance and channeling by Diane Hausler provides you with life guidance to help you find your inner-self.
|
|
| Top Others Articles |
- 1). Clay Pot Crafts: Make a Bell for the Porch By : Paul Duxbury
Clay pot crafts are a cute way to make home decorations. In clay pot crafts, clay flower pots can be crafted into a variety of decorative things that appeal to gardeners. Usually, the crafter begins with new pots.
|
|
|
|
|
- 4). Biotechnology And Immortality By : frank vanderlugt
In a very primitive way we are on the road to Immortality.
Within the nucleus of nearly every one of the 100 trillion cells that make up our body is a Computer Program of enormous complexity. This Computer Program is our DNA.
We can now for the first time in Man's history read the message this Computer Program produces.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- 10). Treadmill Vs Elliptical By : Kathryn ONeill
Should you buy an elliptical trainer or a treadmill? Discover the unique benefits of both elliptical trainers and treadmills to help decide which one is best for you.
|
| New Others Articles |
- 1). Psychic Ability - Fraud Or Gift? By : Ciara McGrath
A psychic has some special powers that ordinary people don’t have. Some psychics are able to predict the future, others can communicate with the recently deceased. Some psychics are telepathic, others have the ability to exorcise ghosts.
The police use psychics to help solve crimes, preferably without the media getting to know! The newspapers would have a field day mocking the police investigator who had to resort to a “fortune teller”
Many people secretly believe that ...
|
- 2). Native Speakers? By : Brenda Townsend Hall
In a recent poll, I asked readers if they thought English language teachers should be native speakers. The result was interesting, as the vote from those with an opinion was close with 48% believing they should be native speakers and 41% saying no. I don’t know what you think about this but I’ve always had mixed feelings.
The first question I would raise with those who believe being a native speaker is an essential prerequisite for an English language teacher is, which nat...
|
- 3). Don't Hesitate To Cry A Tear By : Hallidae Thomason
Growing up, my siblings and I were never aloud to cry even just one tear. No matter how sad, mad or hurt we were, tears were never allowed. We were told that truly tough people didn't shed a tear no matter how bad life got. Tears, our parents said, were for wimps and people who weren't strong enough to handle life.
As I grew into my teenage years, I found it nearly impossible to make it through week after week without crying a single tear. Since I knew my parents would not...
|
- 4). I Heard About A Shark Attack By : Hallidae Thomason
Ever since my children were little, my husband and I have been taking them on beach vacations. So my kids have grown up with an honest love of the ocean. Even my youngest child loves to run by the side of the ocean and to wake up to the sound of the waves. My own childhood was filled with various beach vacations and cruises on the ocean. I have never given safety much of a thought on our family's beach vacations, but last year we heard a story about a shark attack that had ha...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
