Simple truth: Your mind is a tool.
Simple question: What will you do with it now?
The day I awaken to the fact that I am not the thoughts in my head is the day I am given control of my life. You can drive the train, if and when you want. You are at choice, whether you choose to recognize it or not.
And once you know you have the option to choose, what does that say about the thoughts in your head? There are no gremlins. There is no committee. There are no voices in your mind that are not your own. They live because you feed them.
When I feed my body with junk, my energy wanes. I grow fat, listless, and weak. Disease becomes a way of living.
Just so, when I feed my mind with junk, negativity increases. I grow fearful, depressed, obsessive. I become stuck in ways of thinking that are as destructive as any junk food or poison I could eat.
The junk in our minds seems oh so real, doesn’t it? In fact, our thoughts have the power to create physical sensations. Consider how a nightmare leaves your heart pounding and body sweating… then think of how sexual images produce physical tension we interpret as arousal and pleasure.
Yet those physical sensations are nothing more than the results of ghosts in our minds.
Do you believe in ghosts?
And what will you do with your mind now?
My brother has been struggling with a problem that plagues nearly all of us at one time or another: How to find an inspiring job. A job with heart.
I have to say that I never found much help in the available “find the right job” literature. For me, the secret has always been to uncover what inspires me, and to look for ways to apply that in service to the world. Wayne Dyer talks about that in his book Inspiration, and Robert Ringer talks about inspired, bold action in his book Action!
Jesus of Nazareth told us, “Seek and ye shall find.” Seek is an action word, a strong verb, a word that tells us to get up and search for what we want. But make sure you’re seeking the RIGHT thing!
Stop looking for an inspiring JOB! Look for activities, subjects or topics, ideas, practices, and so forth that inspire you. My personal experience is that I had to CREATE a job that inspired me — both when I worked in the corporate world and ultimately when I set out on my own.
I promise you that if you are looking for a job that will inspire you, you’ll be looking for it until you die. Don’t go down that road!
More to come!
You are an instrument of the Universe, tuned to a unique frequency that resonates harmonically with the Universe itself.
Too metaphysical for you? Let’s bring the concept to ground.
Everything around you is, at the elemental level, vibrating with energy. The ancient mystics knew it, and modern scientists know it. In fact, we’re even able to measure the frequency at which elements vibrate. Each element has its unique vibratory frequency. Diverse elements combine to form molecules which then have their own unique vibratory frequencies that can be visualized as harmonics of the individual elemental frequencies themselves.
Some elements will not combine with one another — their “elemental frequencies” make them incompatible.
You are in active resonance with the Universe itself at every level. The act of being present, of bringing my attention to the Now, is the act of allowing my natural frequency to resonate with the facts of reality. When my mind is in some past or future place, I could say that it’s attempting to vibrate at a frequency that’s incompatible with where my physical self is.
When my mind is focused on creating negative images of an unknowable future, we call the resulting physical sensation anxiety.
I cannot force a tuning fork to vibrate at anything other than its natural resonant frequency.
So why would I do so with my Self?
Suggested Exercise: Sit comfortably. Ignore your thoughts. Focus your attention on your senses. Feel the pressure on your body from its contact with your chair. Feel the air on your skin, the temperature of the room. Notice where tension exists in your body. It’s unnecessary to relax. Simply bring your attention to areas of tension and watch them let go of their own volition.
Smell the scent of your surroundings. Listen to each sound one at a time until you are able to hear them all at once.
What note is your body playing? Can your mind sing along?
My friend Jim was always a robust man. Opinionated, strong — a man who loved sea fishing, golfing and cooking. Who ran a successful logistics consulting business. All of that changed in an instant last year after a fall off the back of a golf cart.
Jim suffered a concussion that’s left him disoriented, out-of-kilter, yes, and angry. His memory confounds him — he can remember everything before the accident, but his short-term memory is elusive, shadowy. Over the next 9 months he managed an incredible recuperation and, though his mind still dwells on a slippery slope, he even got back into the business somewhat.
Yesterday morning, Susan and I were having our first cup of coffee when we saw the fire engine and ambulance pull up. Jim and Pat had planned to visit clients in Arizona, but anxiety played tricks on my friend and he had a mild seizure. He’s coming home from the hospital this afternoon (Susan’s talking with him by phone right now, actually), but it’s clear that he still has a long row to hoe.
Thank goodness Jim didn’t wait to do the things he loved — he had his day fishing, and he remembers with pleasure the days he spent on the open sea, pulling in salmon and albacore. He may actually do it again some day. Only time will tell.
Once again I learn the importance of not waiting for life to happen. I choose to create a life worth living. May we all do the same.
Here’s an exercise I do every day that helps me stay on the creative path. I commend it to your daily practice, too. It’s an easy five-minute exercise:
- Sit in a comfortable chair and close your eyes.
- Observe every physical sensation you feel through each of your senses. Notice the pressure of the chair on your buttocks. Feel the air of the room on your skin. Hear all the sounds around you without focusing on any one of them. Smell the odor of the room and the house. Feel your tongue touching the roof of your mouth.
- Let your body relax.
- Turn your attention to the heart area.
- Think of one thing you’d like to do before you die. Focus on it. See yourself doing it in your mind’s eye. Run the movie several times, vividly imagining yourself achieving your goal.
- Now, see yourself having achieved the goal. Feel the joy of the journey in your body, see yourself reaching your hands to the sky and smiling. Savor the moment.
- Open your eyes. Let the vision of what you want to achieve inform your next actions. And be sure to do one thing today that moves you measurably closer to achieving your goal.
Be well!
Yes, it’s last minute, but if you’re male and of a mind to undergo a transformative experience this weekend, you must go to the Best Western on 41st Avenue in Capitola, California. On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (January 19 through 21, 2007), King Lessons is happening. It’s an experience not to be missed. I’ll be there talking about Men’s Creativity, along with Noel Murphy (The Speaker’s Gym, Who’s Your Coach?), Hans Phillips, Ben Saltzman (Create Your Vision), and other inspirational coaches and speakers.
Join us!
Conscious choice is the name of this game called Life. You can live your life, create its fabric from the threads you collect along the way, or let it live you.
Either way, it is your choice.
Thought for the Now: What would you do with your life if you knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that you could not fail?