It’s not about STUFF; it’s about JOY
Books like The Secret, or The Belief Formula, or any other book that seeks to explain the nature and relationship of thoughts becoming things, can be read by many different people at many different levels of understanding. Though these books seek to explore and explain the importance of our thoughts and thought processes — and how those thoughts actually create and become our life experience — they are often seen as books that teach you how to use your mind to "get STUFF." Well, it’s not about the STUFF; it’s about JOY!
By "STUFF," I am referring to things you can buy, eat, wear, drive, live in, play with, etc… Money, and other material goods, seem to be the "STUFF" most people (in America, anyway) seem to be interested in; but try not to miss the point — or the boat. Your stuff is not making you happy — and it never has. Receiving stuff may have caused you to feel elation at one point, and you may enjoy using or looking at some of your stuff; but there is an energetic cost for everything you have, and if it isn’t giving back at least as much energy as it requires to maintain, then your stuff is draining your energy — your life.
It’s almost New Year’s Resolution time again!
It’s almost time to make those New Year’s resolutions again. One of the most well-known facts about New Year’s resolutions is that people simply don’t stick with them and, as a result, they don’t get that which they resolved to get. What’s the point in making a resolution you know won’t last? The point of all resolutions — like the point of all prayers — is to "formalize" desires in order to increase our chances of experiencing them in our reality.
But what exactly is a resolution? It is possible that people are not realizing their resolution simply because they don’t have their minds completely wrapped around the concept of what a resolution is — or what their resolution is. If you don’t really understand what you want, what you’re doing, or how to best do it, what kind of results do you truly hope to experience? You can learn how to make — and live — your New Year’s resolutions (no matter what day of the year you make them on).
I believe the definitions for, "Resolution," which best apply in this context, are: "To find an answer to…;" "To deal with successfully;" and, "To declare or reach a firm decision about." Of course, it starts with the declarations of our intentions to experience a certain kind of change; and then, perhaps, we reach our resolution and "successfully deal with" that which we wished to change. Essentially, a New Year’s resolution is our declaration of a specific change we wish to make in our life, and our intention to create it. It is a prayer, of sorts — perhaps one you wish to create on your own. As they say, "Declare a thing and it is so;" the best first-step to achieving anything is to make a resolution.
Most of the New Year’s resolutions people make have something to do with breaking old habits — or, changing old behaviors. "I resolve to quit…," or, "I resolve to lose 25-pounds in time for…" In other words, most people resolve to change something about their body, or change some of the things their body does with "its" time. Honestly, if you knew how your body worked, you wouldn’t wait until New Year’s to let it be healthy and happy; and if you don’t know how it works, a resolution isn’t going to generate any real, lasting, positive changes — but it might start you thinking about something different for yourself. Enough of the right kind of thinking always inspires the right kind of action.
People wait until New Year’s, presumably, to join in the collective energy of millions and millions of people making resolutions on the same day — like a club, or a support group… Unfortunately, what most of them are doing is joining in an experiment in group failure — for the comfort, or safety, of being a part of a group. If I wanted something to happen, I wouldn’t go about asking, wishing, praying, or resolving, in the same way most people traditionally go about NOT GETTING what they want. Failed New Year’s resolutions are a cliche; they are so common, that the term, "New Year’s resolution," has become synonymous with, "Something I don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of accomplishing."
If you’ve been hit in the head with a hammer each and every time you pushed a certain red button, Don’t Push that Button Again. If your New Year’s resolutions typically fall by the wayside, don’t keep doing what you’ve been doing. Try and think differently about your resolutions, decisions, declarations, or prayers. Make a resolution you can keep; and then keep it. In order to keep it, you’ll need to think about it quite often, and in a certain way. Most people have casual interests — like fitting into a certain dress, or losing a few pounds, or giving up something they really don’t want to give up — that are so casual they haven’t really thought about them since last New Year’s Day. These are typically the things they resolve to do — maybe because they know they won’t have to change. After all, everyone knows New Year’s resolutions are doomed to fail…
A New Year’s resolution is a twist on the, "There’s no time like the present," or, "The best place to start is at the beginning," philosophies — both of which are true. But, unless you devote mental energy to your resolution, it will fail no matter which day of the year it was made. Resolve to do something that’s been on your mind for some time, and is likely to stay on your mind. Resolutions require changes in behavior — those require changes in thinking. Don’t resolve to do something that you have to REMIND yourself to think about. Resolve to do something you can’t stop thinking about. If you have to keep reminding yourself what you want, you probably don’t really want it too badly. And, if you do know what you want, you might want to think about it, or pray for it, every day of the year — or until you received it. If your goal is the acquisition of some thing, this is a good way to start.
Of course, if your resolution is to have a better memory, you might want to write that down and resolve to read it several times each day… Really. In fact, write your resolution in the form of an AFFIRMATIVE DECLARATION, and put it someplace where you can read it in the morning and before bed. The more you write and speak your resolution, the more you are thinking about it — and the more real it becomes. The whole point of a resolution is to make this "new thing" a part of you and your life; affirmations are an immediate way to start doing that. Affirmations should be like prayers of thanks for receiving what you want exactly as it should be: "Thank you for my wonderful new body, and for making it so easy for me to reach and maintain my ideal weight and Divine health!" If your resolution was something like: "I resolve to achieve my ideal body weight," then that’s a good affirmation. There are many possible affirmations for every resolution.
Pay attention to other signs and opportunities to take steps toward your goal or desire. For instance, if you resolve to be in better shape and play with the kids more, then don’t tell the kids you’re too tired the next time they ask! Go find out what it’s like to play tired! Remember when you were a kid?!? I promise you that you will find ENERGY you didn’t know you had — if you look for it, that is. Think about it; you don’t wish for a strong, healthy, attractive body so you can sit in a dark room on a couch watching the television and eating the junk your body tells you to eat. DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT! In fact, do something kind of like people who already HAVE the same things you RESOLVED to get for yourself.
If you resolved to take control of your health and reclaim your wellness, then you can absolutely do that; but not by complaining about your health to anyone who is kind enough to not walk away when you start talking about your woes. Talking about problems makes them bigger, not smaller; and healthy people don’t sit around complaining about their health — or dramatizing it. Do one thing healthy people do; and then do another, until all of your time is filled with the activities of a healthy person and you have no time left for the activities of an ill person. Start your road to recovery by resolving to speak WELL of yourself; and, if you cannot make yourself believe that you are well, "fake it ’til you make it." You will become what you think yourself to be. Speak well of your self and your health — until you believe it. Only then will it be so.
The truth is, most people simply don’t think about the idea of a resolution, or what it means; they simply "make ‘em and break ‘em." The next few posts will be about "Secrets for Turning Resolutions into Reality;" but these "secrets" aren’t really secrets, and they aren’t just for New Year’s Day. The more you change the way you think, the more your life will change as a result. If you are experiencing things you truly want to change, then you truly need a new way of thinking about those things you wish to change. Stay tuned for some simple and effective ways to create the change you seek — in your mind, body, and life.
It’s Always Better to Bless than Stress!
It is always better to bless than stress! In any of life’s many moments, we can find a blessing, or we can fail to see the good that is always there. In every outcome, we either get what we want, or what we need – perhaps in the form of valuable feedback. It is our job here to learn to see the blessings all around us – and to learn to pass those blessing on to others in any way we can.
In case you need it, here’s some incentive to change the way you think about the world around you. For starters, when you bless a person, they feel it; and you feel it too. When you do something kind for someone, they actually receive a health benefit; and so do you. Even more interesting than that is the fact that anyone witnessing your kind act will also experience the same positive physiological changes and health benefits as the giver and receiver of the blessing. Anyone witnessing, receiving, or performing a kind act experiences and immediate boost in immune function, among other things. For your health, and the health of those around you, it is always better to bless.
Merry Christmas; or, Happy Holidays…
Whether you say, "Merry Christmas," or, "Happy Holidays," the point is still the same; and the REAL reason for the season is JOY and LOVE. It doesn’t matter which icon you use, or what you call a day, or the idea of a person; what matters is how you treat your fellow humans.
The saddest people in the world are those who use holidays to remind them of something unfortunate, those who focus on differences between people, or who spend all their time, money, and energy feeding the machine of materialism — that machine, by the way, is NEVER satisfied.
So, don’t worry about others; love and bless them. Don’t worry about what they’re doing, or what they believe; focus on what’s important to you. And, most of all — "Be of good cheer." You make the world a better place when you think thoughts that create happiness inside you.
Best of all, you don’t need a holiday to do these things! So, Happy Tuesday, to one and all! May all your days be filled with love and joy — no matter where you are or what you believe.
P.S. — If you got your kids a bunch of toys for Christmas, remember whose fault the mess really is before you start yelling at your kids tomorrow, or next week, for having toys scattered all over the place. Kids aren’t pre-programmed with storage places for every new gadget we give them… Once the tree is gone, they have no point of reference for where the toys are supposed to go. Take a minute to think about this, and you can keep the Christmas cheer until next year!
Seek and You Will Find
One of the most well-known peculiarities of modern physics is a phenomenon called the “Observer Effect.” Simply put, when you observe an experiment, you change the outcome of the experiment; you cannot observe an experiment without affecting it. In the early part of the last century, physicists performed a very interesting experiment, called the “Double-slit Experiment,” in which this phenomenon can be consistently observed in a most fascinating way.
In the experiment, it was shown that the outcome of the experiment changed as the point of observation changed; when you look at the experiment from one point, a certain thing happens, and when you change perspectives, the same conditions produce different results!
You can “Google” the “Double-slit experiment” and learn more about it; but the key point is that this experiment defies linear reason and logic (indicating that there is only so far we can go with the intellect alone). The double-slit experiment proved in a highly reproducible and scientific way that you get what you’re looking for — and that it isn’t always easy to explain, or understand, the things we see. (If you’ve never heard of this phenomenon, there is a fun and informative video at the end of this article that explains it in an easy-to-understand way.)
Check out this cool video
Wow I thought this was great.
How I Lost 55-lbs. with the Power of Prayer
To me, the power of prayer is the incredible power we wield when we join our mind and spirit — our brain and heart, or thoughts and feelings. This is indeed the secret to having your prayers answered: Align yourself completely with what you are asking for — body, mind, and spirit. Whatever you ask for, believing in your heart you have received it, will be yours.
It occurred to me that, if this was true, people should just be able to pray for those things they want, things like: Better health, more happiness, peace of mind, and quick and easy weight-loss, among other things. It had already occurred to me that I was 50-pounds overweight; and it seemed natural that I should "put my money where my mouth is," as they say.
I think anyone could lose weight by starving themselves and working-out like crazy. But would they be happy? Some of them might; and others may shift into a happy place upon seeing tangible results. But most people have tried this route to weight-loss; and most of them have failed. Remember, there are over 200-million overweight Americans; that’s over 66% of our population!
Don’t Speak of your Problems; Ask for what you want
"In the beginning was the Word…" A word is simply a thought, or many thoughts, clothed in sound; if the thought is "good," the word will be "good," and if the word is not "good," you know the thought wasn’t either. Good thoughts and words produce good fruit; while bad thoughts and words produce bad fruit.
Whatever thought is sown in the mind determines the fruit we reap in our bodies and lives. Thoughts become things; and a word is both a thought and a thing. "As a man thinketh, so it is done unto him;" so speak not of your problems, troubles, debts, illness, pains or aches — because to he who has, more will be added.
If you are talking about it, you’re thinking about it; and "it is done unto you according to your thoughts." And one of the quickest ways to express your thoughts to the world around you is to speak them; so remember: "Your word is your wand." "Declare a thing and it is so."
Worried about your health?
If you live in the United States, you’re probably worried about your health; most Americans are – and with good reason, too. Did you know that over two-thirds of Americans are overweight; and half of those are actually obese? That’s 200-million Americans who are overweight – which is simply an indicator of poor health – and stress.
And that’s just weight. There are hundreds of chronic health problems in this country, like diabetes, cancer, heart disease, fibromyalgia, lupus, and many other serious and not-so-serious health problems which don’t just affect people who are overweight. What I am saying is that there are only 300-million Americans and almost every one of them has a health problem of some sort – all of which diminish the quality of life.
So why wouldn’t you worry about your health if you live in America? Don’t you read? Don’t you watch television like everyone else? Fast food kills; the air will suffocate you; the water is polluted; and everything else seems to cause cancer, or some other affliction; and the most popular ways of moderating the stress and pain of this kind of life – smoking, drinking, eating junk food, and taking medicine prescribed by a doctor – are statistically among the most dangerous activities on the planet!
The Greatest Discovery Ever!
The greatest discovery you will ever make is not a wooden chest filled with gold coins, or the true location of Noah’s ark, or a new species of plant or animal, or anything of the sort. The greatest discovery a person could ever make is the discovery of the potential of their own mind.
History is full of great minds and great achievements; but those achievements were all born in the mind of a person willing to listen to their own greatness – their own power from within. I can think about airplanes, and flying, for instance; but only because others thought of such things first – and in such ways that great, flying creations naturally resulted.
I say “naturally resulted” simply because everyone knows the only truly verifiable law of human nature is, “As a man thinketh, so it is done…” Other great minds throughout history have said the same thing in many ways; and it is up to us to come to understand what they mean – if we want true dominion over our own lives, anyway. How do some people turn their thoughts into reality — regardless of the size of the thought — when others seem completely unable to control the thoughts they choose to dwell on? There are at least two very different things going on here — two very different ways of using the mind and its ability to believe.
Albert Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge;” and Henry Ford put it this way: “If you think you can, or think you can’t, you’re right!” Both men – great and remembered for very different accomplishments – were simply paraphrasing the same teachings Jesus was passing along, and the same axiom investors must come to understand: “Past performance is no guarantee of future success.” It doesn’t matter what we “know” from experience, in other words; it matters what we “think” and “believe” about the future. As William James writes, “Belief creates the actual fact.”
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The Belief Formula
