HAPPY NEW YEAR 2021 !

Do you mean it?  A happy 2021? (After what I went through in 2020?)  It’s not a wish, it's not magic.   It’s a matter of intent.  Your intent.

One simple declaration will make all the difference.  Attach the declaration to the beginning of every thought and you’ll be astonished.  Okay, ready? 

“It is fun to ________________________________.”    😊

Simple.  Uncomplicated.  Heck, it’ll even make pleasant those traditional dreaded New Year’s Resolutions: 

“It is fun to plan to lose weight.”  It’s not necessary to “wait” until the weight is lost to have fun.

“It is fun to choose what I eat.”  If a healthier diet is in the plan, then have fun with it now.

“It is fun to de-clutter the office.”  Think about how much better it is without the mess rather than fixating on the mess.

“It is fun to have the car serviced.”  It’s fun to be able to drive where I want to go.”

“It is fun to pay more attention to_____.”  Fill in the blank.

“It is fun to be around healthy, happy people.”  Duh.

“It is fun to pay the bills.”  Well, for each bill you received some service or item.  Enjoy that! 

You get the idea.  The more you do it, the easier it becomes.  In fact, if you really intend to have a fun 2021, and you begin using this declaration January 1, by the beginning of March you’ll think this way automatically.  You won’t pay much attention to that fact because you’ll be having so a good time.  You will literally think your way out of the doom and gloom that was called 2020. 

Of course, if you don’t really believe that you could/should/ought to have a continuous good time, then you won’t.  It’s the intention that rules, a.k.a. expectation.   If you look for the fun in anything, you’ll find it.  If you look for something else, you’ll find that.  What is consistent is that you will find and experience what you expect, what you look for, what you give your attention to.  Thoughts mean things.  Thoughts become things.  A thing un-thought never came to pass. 

If you truly want a fun 2021, use the magic word as well.  Go whole-hog – complaint free!

How much delight can you have in 2021?  All you want.

Those who get it, get it.  Those who don’t, can’t. 

Happy New Year!  (If you want it.)  

 

Ready to get Serious in 2019?

No, really.  And serious doesn’t mean lacking frivolity, delight, fun, and joy.  Serious, in this sense, means decision made.  What are your decisions/choices for the new year?  Here’s a check list:

_____This is the year I decide to feel good.  (No “if” and/or “but...”)  I want to feel good.  There are no longer any conditions on my good feeling.

_____This is the year I choose to treat everyone (and I mean everyone) the way I wish to be treated by them.  It doesn’t matter how they respond,  I feel good doing this.

_____This is the year I relax more, create more personal quiet time (to listen to my thoughts, and the thoughts they attract), and find something pleasant in every situation in every moment.  (This isn’t pretend – there is something to appreciate in every moment.)

_____This is the year I will give my attention to the things that I feel good about.  (I’m not going to be conned into feeling lousy by the “news” or unhappy people.)

_____This is the year I will be my best.  (No need to wait until this or that happens in order to feel good, or choose actions that I desire.)

_____This is the year I contribute to the well-being of all by being happy and desiring happiness for everyone (even if they don’t want it.)

_____This is the year I pay attention to my instincts, that inner voice, my higher self, and Jiminy Cricket.

            You get the idea.  It’s impossible to feel good and harbor anger, resentment, jealousy, and such feelings.  If your ability to feel good is mortgaged to another person’s behavior or actions, then you won’t feel good.  You can’t feel good in the company of unhappy people.  Your misery cannot make someone else feel better. 

            Habits, Patterns, and Thoughts That Go Bump in the Night  recognizes thinking as the important activity.  Thinking is important because nothing can occur without a thought.  In the most basic structure, things not thought never come to pass.  The flip side, of course, is all that stuff that comes about as a result of careless (or unawares) thinking.  It’s the difference between living a managed life and one bouncing around the chaos of other peoples thinking, i.e., victim of external forces.

            Any person, anywhere, anytime, prefers to feel good rather than bad.  Good is relative, granted, and the range of  a “good” feeling is vast.  Someone’s “good” feeling may be seeing another suffer.  That’s hardly the same “good” feeling of someone providing assistance to another.  There are degrees of every feeling and experience.  Life is about moving to a better feeling experience.  A mental move to a better feeling experience is not an accident.  It is a choice - a decision, a thought.

 

            Nothing can improve without a thought for improvement.  Some people understand that.  Some don’t.  One of my favorite thinkers, Emmet Fox, noted that People are trying to change outer conditions but leaving their consciousness unchanged, and it cannot be done.  Fox was emphasizing that until consciousness changes it’s not possible for anything else to change.  Consciousness is an awareness of thinking and there are degrees of consciousness as with everything.  The higher degree is characterized by a greater frequency or vibration.  Higher frequencies, in a word, rule over lower frequencies.

            Contemporary with Fox was Charles Fillmore, who summed up the mental process:  If you’re unhappy with your life, change you thinking.  In essence, it’s not possible to “fix” your life until you are able to “change” your thinking.

 

            Yet how do you change thinking?  Simply by giving attention to something else that evokes an improved feeling.  Simple, but because of the ability of people to habituate, not always easy.  Many of us aren’t aware of that we’re thinking, let alone how.  As one wag said, consciousness is a terrible thing to waste.

            This can be the year to get serious about your thinking.  You’ll feel good about it!

Must, Got to, Can’t, Should, Ought!

I must lose weight!  I’ve got to cut down on (fill in the blank.) I can’t continue doing (something you like)!  I ought to spend more time (doing this or that)!  I should (fill in the blank.)   Or, some version of  “breaking or beating old habits.”  How do you feel having such thoughts (intentions?)

If someone comes up to you and says “You’ve got to do this!” what’s the first thing that goes through your mind?  Your immediate reaction:  “The hell I do!” you think.  You didn’t have to work at it.  As soon as those dreadful words “got to” were hurled, you immediately, instinctively, resisted them.  A bit of anger flared at the same instant for protection, didn’t it?  You were prepared to defend your freedom and identity.  That’s part of what makes us human.  Now, where it gets dicey is when this instinctive reaction is directed not at some external threat, but at yourself.

You react to your own thinking in the same way you react to the words spoken by another.  If you think to yourself words such as must, got to, can’t, should, ought, then you  risk resisting yourself.   That resistance becomes your point of attention rather than what you desire.  In a fight against yourself, you lose.

So what to do?  First, practice thinking and speaking to yourself as you would want others to speak to you.  Second, speak and think about what you desire, what you want, rather than what you lack or what your fear.

This is a good time to practice what you want.  Re-consider your intentions.  For example – “I must get up earlier each morning,” or “I must go to bed earlier each night.”  The issue is time.  How about:  “I desire to have all the time I need to do what I choose to do.”

“I can’t eat my treats, I must lose weight.”  The issue – comfort with self.  How about:  “I enjoy everything I eat and everything I eat nourishes my healthy body.”

And, a big one:  “I can’t worry so much.”  The issue – worry makes me feel badly about something I can’t control.  How about:  “Life is Good.  There is Good for all.  I enjoy thinking about Goodness.”

The bottom line is that you select the words you use to speak with yourself.  Are you clearly communicating what you desire?  Or, the tricky part, are you giving more attention to what you don’t want?  Law of Attraction means “ask and you will receive.”  Whatever you’re giving attention is asking.  You have a lot of control over your life experience, after all.

Remember that:

Happiness

is wherever you are,

doing whatever you are doing

at any given moment.

Musing on Spooky Thoughts

  Recently spent some time musing on spooky things.  And what were once spooky things.  For your musing pleasure:

   A spooky concept for many is that superstition and magic may be real.  Or, more precisely, the phenomena that superstition and magic attempt to describe or portray is real.  Take prayer for instance.  Superstition and magic would describe a situation where certain persons, perhaps priests, would “pray” or call for the action of the gods upon another person for benefit, such as healing.  The person gets well.  No one may know why or how, just that it happened.  If it can’t be explained, then it’s magic – the action of a capricious god or strange force.

   Arthur C. Clarke once noted that a person encountering an advanced technology for the first time would consider it magic.  That is true.  If someone has no idea what prayer is and how it works, it appears magical.

   There is a tremendous burst of knowledge occurring where many “magic and superstitions” of old are recognized as a reality event – an occurrence explainable by the known laws of the universe.  For instance, there have been replicated studies on the impact of prayer on healing.  These studies support the concept that prayer does in face have a healing impact (or certainly comforting) on the target person – even when those praying are distant and not acquainted with those they pray for.  Prayer, then, is no longer magic or divine intervention, but an energy transfer, a syncing of vibrations, as real as a radio broadcast.  The question then, is how we can direct this power.

   Another spooky concept was contained in the November 2005 issue of National Geographic.  It contains an article on letters from wars.  The feature has a photo of the mother of a son killed in Iraq.  She had vivid dreams where her son clearly tells her that he is all right.  This observation is a matter of fact.  There are dreams of exceptional clarity that are not the dross of brain and thought activity coursing around, but are instead more direct links with specific vibrations – tuning in, if you will.  You’ve had a dream like that.  Everyone has.  It’s not superstition.  The Ancients placed great stock in such connections.

   Moving out of dreams and into waking experience are the stories of spooky concepts a.k.a. ghosts and apparitions.  By day and by night many people sense a presence, a vibration, that may provide a visual moment or other sensory event that is associated with a geographic location.  Ghost hunters prowl the old houses and haunts.  Once again, rather than a supernatural event, what is experienced is more a frequency-tuning.  Not everyone is on the same frequency thus may have a different experience or none at all while someone else present is fully tuned in.  An interesting book, “Speaking with the spirits of the old Southwest,” presents a trio of investigators conversing with former residents of Arizona ghost towns and historic sites.  One is a sensitive medium, one a pendulum dowser, and the third a paranormal researcher and animal communicator.  Each perceives the presence of a person (deceased) in his/her distinct manner.  Very often the three are in sync with the vibrations offered and literal conversations are possible (sometimes recorded.)  Something is occurring.  A piece of a grand mosaic of energy.  Demonstrable, if not fully explainable.  Yet.

   Anyone desiring a more pleasant, comfortable, happy life will, sooner or later, conclude that a change in thinking (frequency) has to occur before anything else.  That’s not superstition or magic, it’s a reality.  The impact of thought (thinking) on the mental, physical, emotional and astral self is evident.  Self-evident.  Thinking creates life experiences. 

   Quantum physics studies the actions of incredibly small forces.  This writer only grasped a concept of vastness after peeking at the enormous amount of “space” contained in the extreme realm of micro.  The relative distance between measurable components of an atom is on a scale of our solar system.  There’s a whole lot of “nothing” making up our physical universe.  What’s spooky is that most of this universe consists of, well, we don’t quite know, yet.  Termed “dark matter” it’s stuff we can’t see but can notice its effects on what we can see.  This is truly a realm for magic and superstition.

   It’s curious how some cling to superstitions and magic rather than seek to understand the force that is in play.  Natural Selection.  Intelligent Design.  Two phrases that attempt to describe the same process.  The process is the improving manner of a life form, a.k.a evolution.  The process is so keen that it must be an observation of an intelligence at work.  Nature.  Natural.  Intelligence.  The difference is a curious mine-field.  Intelligence is a characteristic of Consciousness.  For nature to “select” the best process implies some degree of intelligence, at least to this writer.  Treating consciousness as a superstition insulates an awareness that “natural selection” is a conscious process.  I wonder how this debate would exist had Darwin titled his magnificent observations “The Evolution of Species” or “The Development of Species” rather than “The Origin of Species.”

   A really spooky concept for many is that their thinking (and in turn decisions and actions) actually influence what they experience.  It’s often easier to rely on superstition and magic as external forces that make things happen (good things to bad people, bad things to good people.)  If it’s Good, then God did it.  If it’s bad, then the Devil did it.  Or someone else did it.  Anybody, or anything, other than self.  This manner of thinking creates the realm of the victim.

   Medical Intuitive Caroline Myss has a theory why some people will not, or cannot, get well or improve their lives.  She calls it woundology.  This is a situation where a person suffered a loss – perhaps an illness, death of a loved one, and such.  People are instinctively sympathetic to another who’s rebuilding from such a devastating change event.  Yet some folks simply refuse to rebuild, or, get well.  What Caroline noticed is that the person received a lot of power and control by keeping alive the old wound.  To heal the wound would be to lose the power of victimhood.  It’s not a happy place.

   In a lesser extent we may find a spooky tendency to devote attention to negative situations – conditions and situation we do not want.  Yet how often is the conversation between people a lively account of current and past aches, pains, and misery?  “Your back hurts?  Well, let me tell you how bad I felt last night...”

   Now we know that what we hold in our thoughts (mind) is what we create (and experience.)  “The more I thought about it, the angrier I got!”  Dwelling on anything increases its effect.  It doesn’t even have to be real.  Running an imagined slight (insult, wrong, disrespect, etc.,)over and over, replacing sleep, replacing focus on the task at hand, does what?  The mole-hill slight is now a mountain, blocking any relief.  Wouldn’t we really want to hold in our mind a thought/situation that makes us feel good, and have that be our experience?  Duh.  Unless one is so wrapped in victimology .

   Dwelling might be considered the goblin of our past thinking that can lure our here-and-now thoughts back to the earlier state, which fires up the mental engines of creation to restore the former condition (or certainly emotional state reacting to the condition.)

   What about considering our thoughts as a form of prayer?  I suspect they could be synonyms.  If prayer establishes a vibrational “link” with Divine Intelligence, then each and every thought, regardless of intent, is a vibrational transmission whatever supreme consciousness is called.  At the very least, our thoughts are elevated if considered prayers.  That can be a spooky concept – every thought is a prayer.

   What’s in play is the Law ofAttraction.  Birds of a feather flock together.  Many ways describe it.  Like attracts like.  It’s fundamental.  Lets go back to our friend who talks constantly about his/her ailments.  Who listens?  Who is there?  Who is he/she spending time with?  Why, other people who are speaking of their ailments.  Unless you’re interested in sharing health war stories, you’re unlikely to hang around (there’s not much interest, or attraction.)

   We know this universal law so well.  Is there a parent who hasn’t expressed concern to a child about his/her friends?  We know that if the child spends time around children who are up to no good, shall we say , the probability of the child engaging in sad behaviors is high.  Think trash, speak trash, live trash.

  The converse is also true.  The Law of Attraction is totally neutral and answers every prayer (thought) with YES!  If the prayer is trash, then, yes!  More trash.  The Law is totally fair.  Isn’t it strange that we comprehend the negative easily, but find the positive, spooky?  What?  You mean that the way I think has something to do with what I experience.  Duh.

   Do you wake up each morning expecting a good day?  Or, a “see what comes” day?  Which wake up thought is more likely to be a bedtime reflection “what a good day...”  Caroline Myss observed two types of people seeking health.  When given a sure-fire plan to restore health and improve like, people will receive that plan with one of two responses:  That’s all I have to do?  Or  I have to do all of that?  The response predicts whether the person will enjoy life more, or less.  The first response is positive, optimistic – healing is an inside job.  The second response is fearful, overwhelming – healing is an outside job.

   A spooky concept that many have difficulty turning loose is life is meant to be hard.  This frightening concept often has deep roots.  It’s found in such fundamental thinking as:

            I am a sinner by birth

            Life is hard

            I am supposed to suffer

            Suffering is a virtue

            If I don’t do what they say, God will punish me

   These demon thoughts are being cast away in this millennium.  Once, such thoughts served a useful purpose.  But We (human beings) have, on the whole, moved above that (meaning that such thinking is less attractive now, meaning that such beliefs will become extinct for most people.)  Things once considered superstitious or magical are more and more found to be genuine.  How much more comfort could the mother of the slain soldier have, than for her son to personally reassure her that all is well.  And for her to know the communication was real.  That’s not spooky.  It’s a sample of the wonderous things that are part of our total life.

   There’s a whole lot f something going on in that a whole bunch of “nothing” that seems to be around us.  It doesn’t matter what we ask for, the answer is always YES. 

   That isn’t spooky.  It isn’t superstition.  It isn’t magic.  It’s exciting.  And you’re a part of it.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Welcome 2018.

Is the glass half full or, is the glass half empty?  You know the question.  Yet what’s the answer?

The sage question has nothing to do with volume.  It has everything to do with perspective.  Your perspective.  Yours alone.  No one else can view the glass (or anything for that matter) the same way you do.  And vice versa.

Think about it.  You look at the glass.  Through your eyes, through your optic nerves, through your brain imagery.  You are the only person who has this view-point, this perspective.  It’s your eyes, etc., and the imagery is influenced by your beliefs, memory, and experience.  There is no way anyone else could see the glass the same as you.  Therefore, the only “correct” answer to the question is the one you provide.  Someone else’s answer will be “correct” for them.

Half full.  Half empty.  On the level

Bottom line, don’t worry about it.  If you see the glass as half FULL, then you probably expect a full glass.  If you see the glass as half EMPTY, then you probably expect the glass to be empty at some point.  It’s a subtle but important distinction.

Yes, I think it can be safely considered that the folks who see a glass half FULL are more likely to be satisfied with their life than the folks who see a glass half-way to empty.  Why is that?  Ask that tricky question yours truly keeps tossing about:  Do you want to feel good?  If you can answer Yes! then you see the glass on it’s way to being full.  I have yet to find someone who answers “No”, at least directly.  The response will be Of course I want to feel good.  But...”

A person who places a condition on feeling good will have a difficult time reaching that feeling.  Just as your perspective is yours alone, so is your desire to feel good.  Why shouldn’t you feel good?  Are a you a bad person who ought to suffer?  (Many people have a version of this belief as a part of their perspective.)  Must  you fulfill  some duty or obligation before allowing yourself to feel good? (Your time and energy must be given to someone else so they can feel good first.)

But George, it’s selfish to want to feel good, when so many people are suffering.  Well, yes it is.  It’s your perspective, your feeling, and your intention.  Not someone else.  I’ve yet to have explained how one person’s suffering (or refusal to feel good) somehow makes another person feel better.  If you deliberately ate a bad mushroom and had to be hospitalized, would some sick person be released from the hospital, healed?

You’re flying somewhere.  Before you take off one of the crew will demonstrate (or a video will show) how to use the oxygen mask should the cabin lose air pressure.  You will be reminded to place your mask on first before assisting anyone else.  You cannot be of full service to anyone else (child, spouse, friend, whatever) unless you are in good condition.  So, why not extend that practical approach to feeling good?  Doesn’t it make sense that you are more likely to be of assistance to another if you are feeling good?  Now, understand that this does not mean that just because you feel good that others will be able to feel better.  They might.  They might not.  That’s a process up to them.  Perhaps your example will be of use to them when examining their perspective.

A lot of beliefs are in flux world wide.  When a way of thinking is no longer serving a person, dissatisfaction is the first symptom.  It’s not surprising then, when such discomfort is aimed at someone or something else.  I’m miserable because of you!  One extreme solution is to eliminate the source or cause of the perceived suffering.  Perceived because it is only that person’s perception that interprets the suffering (the half empty glass is draining rapidly – time to panic!)

A belief is a thought that is repeated over and over and over and over...gaining momentum and force in perspective.  Perspective can be ruled by long held beliefs (I can’t feel good until...) thus an improved perspective can only be preceded by a change in thinking.

Happy New Year!  2018 is a year you can feel good about.

Some Thoughts on Thinking

Thoughts on Thinking over Time

Heraclitus of Ephesus (ca 535 - 475 BCE)   Greek philosopher.  Believed change was central to the universe.

"You cannot step into the same river twice."

Epictetus (ca 55-135 CE)  Greek Stoic philosopher.  “Men are disturbed not by things, but by the view which they take of them.”  “Suffering arises from trying to control what is uncontrollable.”

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)  playwright. “...for there is nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so.”  Hamlet, Act II, Scene 1.

George Berkley (1685-1753)  empiricist.  “The only thing we can perceive are our own perceptions.”

John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946)  Economist.  “When someone persuades me that I am wrong, I change my mind.  What do you do?”

Emmet Fox (1886-1951) minister, author.  “People are trying to change outer conditions but leaving their consciousness unchanged, and it cannot be done.”

Charles Fillmore (1854-1948) philosopher, mystic.  “Your mind, body, and affairs are the expression of your thoughts, so, if you are unhappy, change your mental habits.”

John A. Wheeler (1911-2008)  physicist.  “We inhabit a cosmos made real in part by our own observations...our observations influence the universe at the most fundamental levels.”

Everything begins with a thought.  A wag once wrote "Things not thought never came to pass." Whatever you wish to "pass" in your experience must be preceded by a like thought.

So, think about it.

Thoughts on Thinking

Habits, Patterns, and Thoughts That Go Bump in the Night recognizes thinking as the important activity of Mankind.  Thinking is important because nothing can occur prior to a thought.   Thinking is the activity of consciousness.  I think, therefore I am; I am, therefore I think.  Well, yes.

In the most basic structure, things not thought never come to pass.  The flip side, of course, is the belief that “all that is” is the result of random movements of particles in a capricious universe.   Because of the Law of Attraction, either belief is valid – the thinker/believer will experience the results of such belief.  The difference is between living a managed life and one bouncing around the chaos of other peoples thinking, i.e., victim of external forces.

Is it safe to assume (risking ass-you-me!)  that any person, anywhere, anytime, prefers to feel good rather than feel bad?  Good is relative, granted, and the range of  a “good” feeling is vast.  Someone’s “good” feeling may be witnessing another suffer.  That’s hardly the same “good” feeling of someone providing assistance to another.  There are degrees of every feeling and experience.  Feeling angry is an improvement on feeling hopeless.  I suspect most people aspire for Joy. The Life experience is about moving to a better feeling existence.  A mental move to a better feeling experience is not an accident.  It is a choice - a decision, a thought, an expectation.

Nothing can improve without a thought for improvement.  Some people understand that.  Some can’t.  One of my favorite thinkers, Emmet Fox, noted that People are trying to change outer conditions but leaving their consciousness unchanged, and it cannot be done.  I think Fox was emphasizing that until consciousness changes it’s not possible for anything else to change.  Consciousness is an awareness of thinking and there are degrees of consciousness as with everything.  The higher degree is characterized by a greater frequency or vibration.  Higher frequencies, in a word, rule over lower frequencies.

Contemporary with Fox was Charles Fillmore, who summed up the mental process:  If you’re unhappy with your life, change you thinking.  In essence, it’s not possible to “fix” your life until you are able to “change” your thinking.  Thinking precedes everything.

Yet how do you change thinking?  Simply by giving attention to something else that evokes an improved feeling.  Simple is not synonymous with easy.  Many of us aren’t aware that we’re thinking, let alone how we’re thinking.  As one wag noted, consciousness is a terrible thing to waste.

Quick check:  On most days are you planning your activities/experiences?  Or, are you reacting to whatever you’re sensing around you – 24 hours news, FB, other people’s opinions, etc.?  Many people bounce around their thinking, reacting to what they see and experience going on around them.  They give attention to the news, gossip, what others say and do, and make note of the differences between people (especially themselves.)   They focus on every injustice when the “bad guys” get away with it.   Or, when some people have all the luck (leaving less “luck” available for others!)

A change in consciousness is not necessarily a Road to Damascus moment with blinding Light and Voices from the Cosmos.  Most often an elevation of consciousness (thinking on a higher frequency) is more a “Eureka!” or “Aha!” moment when something is suddenly clear.  “I get that!” is often a response.  Finally learning to “follow” your hunch/intuition is a good sign.

Perhaps the finest illustration of a change in consciousness involves a very old and very widespread teaching about humans relating to one another:

            Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.  Buddhism.

            This is the sum of duty; do naught onto others what you would not have them do

            unto you.  Hinduism.

            What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellowman.  Judaism.

           

The teaching is direct – don’t inflict on others what you don’t want to experience yourself.  We’ve got a long history of showing that this guiding principle is effective.

Take a look at the essence of the thought:  What’s emphasized?  Something painful or undesirable.  “I don’t want this to happen to me.”  Therefore, I won’t inflict this on someone else (and maybe they won’t do it to me.)  It is a sort of truce among people – let’s agree not to harm each other.  The agreement works very well.  Over time it becomes codified and passed along to each generation.  It is a belief, a faith, if you will.  It becomes a state of consciousness – individual and collective.

Take a look at the general concept expressed on a higher level of consciousness:

All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye so to them. 

However one may consider Jesus, he is first a profound teacher, guiding consciousness with a shift in perspective.  This application, known as the Golden Rule, puts attention on what you desire – how you wish to be treated.  And places the responsibility for that desire on you!  Treat others as you want to be treated.  That’s a significant evolution from the old teaching.  Now as over 2,000 years ago, not everyone “gets it.”

DUH! The Factor.

As the day progressed I realized that the more I thought about “it” the angrier I felt.  The transgression by a family member was irritating and somewhat irksome, yet the more I “thought” about the situation, the stronger I felt about it.  About that time the “Duh!” factor came forth to reveal the formula for creating emotional mountains out of mole hills.

The Duh Factor is that moment when we can see the forest and the trees; that happy moment when mentally we gain a splash of perspective on what we’ve been doing and how it directly affects what we experience.  “The more I thought about it (the initial offense) the angrier I felt (really, really pissed after tossing all night!)”  Duh.

Why not spend the same amount of mental energy (and burned calories) thinking about something good or desired rather than on something negative or unwanted?  Duh illuminates self-evident truths:  The more one thinks about something, the greater the emotional response to the thought.  Thinking, once again, is the important activity.

The Duh! Factor at work

“So what are you saying, George?  That if I think goody Pollyanna thoughts my life will be a bed of roses, red wine, dark chocolate, hot rolls and butter?”  If you like roses, red wine, dark chocolate, hot rolls and butter you’re more likely to experience them if you think about them rather than thinking about that foul tempered so-and-so who you know is plotting against you.

American mystic and philosopher Charles Fillmore once wrote that thoughts held in mind produce after their own kind.  The more I thought about it, the angrier I felt.  Well, I have proved that.  It is true, simple, self-evident and undeniable.  Duh.  

The tricky part is becoming more aware of how I am thinking and to consciously choose the activity of my mind.  I might want to fuss and fight, and thus so think.  But if that’s not how I really want to spend my time, then I am free to think according to what I want.  I know, having demonstrated, that the more I think about something, the stronger  the associated feeling.

Tommy Learns About Happiness

Tommy liked his job.  Tommy enjoyed his job so much that he actually looked forward to going to work each day.  As the foreman of the shop he had a good crew to work with.  It wasn’t that long ago that Tommy became enamored with Suzette, one of the administration staff at the facility.  They married.  Suzette and Tommy were very happy with themselves, their children, their jobs, and their life.

That was his problem.

Generous by nature, Tommy permitted his brother, separated from his wife and out of work, to live with them while he looked for work.  Tommy’s father was ailing and he also joined the growing household.  Coming over for regular bar-b-que’s and holidays were Tommy’s other siblings and relations.  Their lives were filled with problems, resentments, illness, and legal issues.  Tommy was concerned for all of them.  He and Suzette felt blessed and happy while nobody else in the family did.

Tommy began to feel badly about feeling good.  One day he discussed with his boss how he felt guilty because his relations were having so much trouble and his family had it so good.  The boss understood, and was prepared to help Tommy.  “Tell you what I can do, Tommy,” said the Boss.  “You’re fired.”

Tommy was stunned.  His boss continued.  “Feel any better?” he asked.  Tommy was too flummoxed to answer.  “Now, as I understand it, some of your relations are jealous of your happy life and that bothers you.  So, to help out, I’ve fired you.  Now they’ll be happy, right?”

By that point Tommy was thinking more clearly.  “But it won’t change anything, except now I don’t have a job.”

    “You felt guilty about having a good job didn’t you?” asked the Boss.

    “Well, yes,” replied Tommy.

    “So by losing your job, you’ll feel better?”

    “I don’t know about that,” said Tommy.

    “Won’t they feel better, now that you’re in the same boat as them?” remarked the Boss.

    “No.”

    “Doesn’t  losing your  job help them?”

    “No,” mumbled Tommy.

    “You mean to tell me that their lives aren’t going to get better just because you got fired?”

    “No.”

The Boss smiled.  “Well, if losing your job isn’t going to help them, then you might as well keep it.”  Tommy sighed relief.  “However,” noted the Boss,  “You can’t keep feeling guilty.  Your having a job doesn’t keep them from doing anything.  They’ll be just as miserable regardless of how happy and Suzette may be.  That about right?”

Tommy scratched his head.  “I hadn’t thought about it like that.  My good life doesn’t mean they can’t have a good life.  It’s up to them.”

“Bingo,” chimed the Boss.

As with the other tales in the book Habits, Patterns, and Thoughts That Go Bump in the Night, Tommy’s story is true.  Isn’t it odd how some people feel bad about having some measure of good in their life?  This is another variation of the Crab Bucket.  Tommy’s good life doesn’t depend on what others think or do and visa versa - unless he allows it.  Tommy wasn’t aware, at first, that he had that ability.  Before his realization, “Do I want to be happy?” would have seemed a trick question.  Not anymore.  Not only does Tommy desire to be happy, he expects it.

A variation is “Do I deserve to be happy?”  The very question answers itself – a resounding no.  The question implies an obligation to justify existence.  Some deeply held thinking habit is embedded in the psyche that forever chides the person to prove they are worthy.  Prove worthy?  To whom?  The first answers are usually mother, father, parents, family, church, boss, and so on.  The underlying premise is that happiness cannot exist without the permission (approval) of someone or something else.  Whoever holds that approval authority is a powerful being indeed.

The true answer to the question, “Do I deserve to be happy?” is yes.  Of course you do.  It’s up to you, however, to enter that desired state of being.  Happiness cannot be ordained or bestowed from something external.  It’s an inside job, so to speak.

The geniuses who founded the United States of America based the entire enterprise on what Thomas Jefferson eloquently penned, with editorial assistance from Benjamin Franklin:  “ We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”  Life and Liberty are recognized as rights bestowed by God (or whatever manner one may title the Creator) on each person.  Each also has the right to pursue Happiness.  Happiness is not a “right.”  Happiness is not bestowed, or given.  It is achieved.  That is the magic of it.  It was true then, it is true now, and it will be true tomorrow.

Happiness is available to anyone and everyone.  It is not withheld from them by anyone or anything.

(Excerpt from Habits, Patterns, and Thoughts That Go Bump in the Night)

Yes! It's the official "PAY ATTENTION TO YOURSELF" Day

Well?

Getting the Point.

Many people are enjoying their lives more and more.  Others are not.  Why is this?  There are many variations, but the common theme is attention.  People who give their attention to what they appreciate (in Life) will see more of it and have more of it in their experience.  Others give their attention to what they dislike (in Life) and they see more of it and have more of what they dislike in their experience.

The former, either consciously or not, practice creation - their experience is a result of their thinking.  The latter, either consciously or not, react to a perceived external universe, and thus can only have a better experience if the external world changes.  One is possible.  One is impossible.

The adage "knowledge is power" is true.  The contrary is also true - ignorance is weakness.  Many people are enjoying their lives more and more as they better understand, and practice in their daily life, the Law of Attraction.  Others, ignorant of the Law of Attraction, are still ruled by it.  Their world is a confounding place of capricious forces resulting in constant struggle.

The universal Law of Attraction is the way the Universe manages.  Similar frequencies cluster.  Birds of a feather, flock together.  It is self-evident.  In a curious paradox, the Law demonstrates itself to those people who reject it.  One who thinks "there is no such thing as a law of attraction" is, by Law, going to cluster similar thoughts and manifestations - more evidence that there is no such law.  Like gravity, the Law of Attraction operates whether recognized or not.  It is what it is and it does what it does.  Working with the Law (like gravity) is "going with the flow" or the path of least resistance. 

A popular practice utilizing the Law to create a more satisfying life is the "Complaint Free" concept.  The exercise is to become more aware of complaining - thinking and spoken.  One is often surprised at how much conversation is an exchange of complaints!  Next, the challenge is to stop complaining.  Now why on Earth would anyone do that?  The squeaky wheel gets the grease, right?

Back to worldview.  People complain when they see/experience something they do not like.  In order to feel better, the object/situation has to be removed or eliminated.  Someone or something has to do that.  That will take energy and resources, which the person gives up to get rid of the object of complaint.  Also known as struggle.  Yes what is the result?  More unpleasant conditions/situations are observed, which mean greater effort must be made to make the world pleasant so the observer can feel better about his/her life.  This is a materialistic approach based on the premise that the universe/world is a separate physical structure.  If you understand "people are a result of their environment" then you understand the materialistic approach.  The Law of Attraction will insure that you experience this materialistic approach if that is your intent.

People who spend less mental energy observing what they do not desire to experience and giving attention to what they appreciate in Life will, by Law, have more of what they appreciate in their daily life.  They will feel better and enjoy life more.  It's the same Law, but two different applications.  That's the difference between knowledge and ignorance.  Ignorance isn't stupid, it's the absence of knowledge and one cannot know what one does not know.  Ergo, those that get it, get it.  Those that don't, can't.

 The people who practice complaint-free notice the effects quickly.  They become very sensitive to complaining.  It is an unpleasant experience, one they do not wish to experience, and thus move their attention (and often physical self) away.  This shift in attention often means new friends, changes in relationships - birds of a feather flock together.  A person is not chained to a particular environment or condition.  Note:  The complaining/unhappy person will likely resent the complaint-free person. It's the Crab-bucket effect.

Releasing old/established relationships/patterns is often described as "following your heart" or dreams.  It is true.  Only you know what is best for you.  There are, of course, quite a number of materialists who know precisely what is good for you and will go to great lengths to "help you."  They believe they will feel better once you act right, so to speak.   You may choose to resist them, thus attracting (creating) more struggle, or you can direct your attention to what you wish to experience (appreciate) and supplant the struggle with desired experience.

It's not a matter of right or wrong.  As Henry Ford is alleged to have said, "If you believe you can, or if you believe you can't, you're right."  Abe Lincoln is alleged to have remarked that "most people are as happy as they make up their minds to be."  Going back in time, we find similar observations:  "People are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them." Epictetus.

"We inhabit a cosmos made real in part by our own observations…our observations influence the universe at the most fundamental levels.”   Physicist John Wheeler (coined the phrase "Black Hole.)  Observation = attention.  Attention = thinking.

Author Eckert Tolle put it nicely: "Complaining is not to be confused with informing someone of a mistake or deficiency so that it can be put right. And to refrain from complaining doesn’t necessarily mean putting up with bad quality of behavior. There is no ego in telling the waiter your soup is cold and needs to be heated up – if you stick to the facts, which are always neutral.

^'How dare you serve me cold soup!'. . . That’s complaining."

The Law of Attraction.  Use it consciously.  It's in play, regardless.

Changing the Thought

The process is simple.  Change the channel.  That’s what you do when watching a boring or offensive program on television.  When you surf the myriad of stations beaming into your radio you move past those that irritate your ears.  Rather than listen to a station that aggravates your senses, you simply tune in to another station more pleasing.

It is natural to seek similar company.  Birds of a feather do flock together.  Whatever has your attention will increase.  Even Facebook knows that.  Of course, if you continue to “like” things that disturb you, then you’ll encounter more disturbing things.  Being aware of your attention is a magnificent tool – it allows you to change the channel and tune-out irritations.  It allows you to give attention to what you like and desire, rather than what disturbs and angers you.

By being aware of how/what you are thinking, you have the power to direct your thinking.  In effect, you are in control of your life.  This is in stark contrast to those who have a meager awareness of how/what they are thinking.  The former acts, the latter reacts.  The former allows others to choose for themselves, the latter feels victimized.  The former can change the channel.  The latter is stuck in one position on the dial.

Thoughts define what we call Consciousness.  The absence of thinking is a state of un-consciousness.  Marginal awareness of thinking results in semi-consciousness.  A conscious decision is a powerful thing.  Thought is energy.  Thought has power to attract similar thoughts and to influence thought creation.

It is a form of induction:  The process by which an electrical conductor becomes electrified when near a charged body, by which a magnetizable body becomes magnetized when in a magnetic field or in the magnetic flux set up by a magnetomotive force, or by which an electromotive force is produced in a circuit by varying the magnetic field linked with the circuit.  Radio.  Television.  Smart phones.  The same electro-magnetic process works with thoughts.

You’ve experienced it.  You entered a room, or a building, where people were gathered and “sensed” the atmosphere.  Uplifting.  Oppressive.  Whichever thought was dominate among the people is what was induced to you, a.k.a. sixth sense, intuition, hunch, and so forth.  It’s a fine and subtle communication, much like looking at your phone a split second before it sounds.  Perhaps you found yourself staring at something but didn’t know why.  Later, there was a reason for that earlier attention (sometimes finding a lost item, realizing that you really should have taken that umbrella.)  These sensations are not magical or supernatural, they are perfectly normal aspects of variations of induction.

How best to manage this powerful force that is thought?  Be aware that you are thinking and that you have both authority and ability to shift your thoughts (attention) to anything.  Your thoughts attract similar frequency thoughts.  Since every thought, ever thought, still exists in the Universe, your thinking has a great alliance.  The alliance is neutral – your attention will increase whether you’re focused on something pleasing or something distressing.

If you do not believe that thoughts attract similar thoughts, then you will discover lots of instances to validate that thought.

Get it?

Think What You Want.

I must lose weight!  I’ve got to cut down on (fill in the blank.) I can’t continue doing (something you like)!  I ought to spend more time (doing this or that)!  I should (fill in the blank.)   Or, some version of  “breaking or beating old habits.”  How do you feel having such thoughts (intentions?)

If someone comes up to you and says “You’ve got to do this!” what’s the first thing that goes through your mind?  Your immediate reaction:  “The hell I do!” you think.  You didn’t have to work at it.  As soon as those dreadful words “got to” were hurled, you immediately, instinctively, resisted them.  A bit of anger flared at the same instant for protection, didn’t it?  You were prepared to defend your freedom and identity.  That’s part of what makes us human.  Now, where it gets dicey is when this instinctive reaction is directed not at some external threat, but at yourself.

You react to your own thinking in the same way you react to the words spoken by another.  If you think to yourself words such as must, got to, can’t, should, ought, then you  risk resisting yourself.   That resistance becomes your point of attention rather than what you desire.  In a fight against yourself, you lose.

So what to do?  First, practice thinking and speaking to yourself as you would want others to speak to you.  Second, speak and think about what you desire, what you want, rather than what you lack or what your fear.

This is a good time to practice what you want.  Re-consider your intentions.  For example – “I must get up earlier each morning,” or “I must go to bed earlier each night.”  The issue is time.  How about:  “I desire to have all the time I need to do what I choose to do.”

“I can’t eat my treats, I must lose weight.”  The issue – comfort with self.  How about:  “I enjoy everything I eat and everything I eat nourishes my healthy body.”

And, a big one:  “I can’t worry so much.”  The issue – worry makes me feel badly about something I can’t control.  How about:  “Life is Good.  There is Good for all.  I enjoy thinking about Goodness.”

The bottom line is that you select the words you use to speak with yourself.  Are you clearly communicating what you desire?  Or, the tricky part, are you giving more attention to what you don’t want?  Law of Attraction means “ask and you will receive.”  Whatever you’re giving attention is asking.  You have a lot of control over your life experience, afterall.