The following is a blog post written by author and teacher Lola Jones, which I'm reprinting with her permission. See more of Lola's blogs at www.divineopenings.com. Enjoy!
In the sixties and seventies we said, "Question Authority!"
Now I tell people, "Disrespect Reality!"
Why give our power away to any outer "reality," whether it's government, relationship, a job, or health condition? Just because it's physical and it's staring you in the face doesn't mean it's real-- or permanent. Don't give it so much respect.
Disrespect it.
Take your power back.
Today's reality is merely an out-picturing of your feelings and beliefs. Most people just keep re-creating yesterday's reality! Change, and tomorrow you could take delivery on a fresh reality. All you have to do is give up the old one. It's all ephemeral-- as insubstantial as mist. The trouble is that in this Age of Reason, we've bought so heavily into physical "reality" that we actually worship it, bow down to it, revere it, and fear it.
Let's take an empowering look, behind the curtain, at what beliefs really are.
They're just big boxes of evidence that you've collected, or you "bought them" from someone else. They are pre-decided experience!
Our minds "organize" our reality for us in compartments, all neatly boxed up. It's how we keep a very complicated reality under "control".... by simplifying it and OVER-simplifying it.
Oversimplified example: As a child, Sue fails at something. That's her first piece of evidence that she's defective. She becomes a magnet for more evidence of it. Soon she's collected a whole box of evidence for it, other people affirm it, and it's HER reality.
This applies to every concept you have about yourself, the world, and others.
So more evidence keeps showing up. We attract evidence that fits our beliefs. So anything we deeply believe in our unconscious seems to get more and more true by the day.
What DO you do with evidence that doesn't support your beliefs?
Your unconscious deletes it, because it doesn't fit in the box with the other contents! You think, "Oh, that's a fluke!" I often see people being completely unable to see evidence that doesn't fit in their box. What evidence? Where? It's as if for them, it's not there!
Or you can discount it, or distort it to fit, "Well, I succeeded at that, but that was too EASY. Any failure of a person could succeed at that!" or "Yes, it's working now, but it won't keep working."
Most people don't experience reality at all. They literally only experience their boxes. Sit with that for a moment! Other people are in boxes, their health and their job is seen through the filter of their box of evidence.
What they believe is possible for them in life is all boxed up and sealed. Done.
*******************************
There are two main kinds of beliefs, the kind you picked up from a personal experience like Sue's, and beliefs you absorbed by osmosis from your parents, culture, media, friends, and the giant collective unconscious. In my book it's referred to as the Ancient Mind.
The collective unconscious is a sort of "community pool" of beliefs that we swim in daily. We live by thousands of unquestioned assumptions that we "absorbed" unconsciously from this collective.
One of the most damaging of these beliefs is that reality is some kind of fixed, unchangeable thing. How often do you hear, "face reality," "get real," "be realistic," or "that's impossible"?
Any reality is only one creation out of many possibilities.
Why limit yourself?
People say, "This is THE reality. It's proven, true, and real because there is evidence."
Of course you have evidence!
When you believe it, evidence for it finds you. And once you know how powerful you are, you will never again be a victim of a reality that you yourself created.
When you get conscious of your beliefs and take back your power, you're really going to like what happens.
Ask The Divine to go on a box-busting adventure with you. If you can't find the belief, ask The Divine to do the heavy lifting.
The Dive In And Be With It audios are great for this, because you don't have to know, figure out, or analyze what's holding you back. You just tune into the subject you want to address, and find the feeling. Then relax, and let the process take you.
To learn more about Diving In process, or to order, go to http://www.divineopenings.com/.
OR..... if you're already good at the diving in process, you've mastered the moving of your emotions, and surf them like a pro, here's something more advanced for you:
When you create something you don't particularly like, try this:
"Hmmm, how amazing that I created that. I sure am a powerful creator.
It's only energy in form, and I can create something else just as easily."
When you create something you love, try this:
"Ahhh, I created that.
I sure am a powerful creator.
It's only energy in form, but I sure do appreciate it."
*********************
OK!
Dig out your old hippie headband and start a revolution.
Bust some boxes!
Disrespect reality!
Love,
Lola
www.divineopenings.com
Monday, October 24, 2011
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Could Steve Jobs' Wisdom Be the Nudge You Need?
Several months ago I received a flurry of emails from friends and clients, who were forwarding me either a link to a YouTube video of Steve Jobs' 2005 commencement address to the graduating seniors of Stanford University, or a transcript of that same speech. I'm not sure why it was making the rounds then, but it doesn't matter. To say the speech was inspiring, engaging and very humanly real would be an understatement. He was definitely speaking from his heart to ours.
With Steve's recent passing, another client forwarded me a quote from that same speech. Once again I was moved by his clear, straightforward message to follow your heart - first and always. Below are two of my favorite excerpts from his commencement address, both of which speak to themes that are central to my work in helping clients create work - to create lives - they love:
"Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life (my emphasis), karma, whatever. This approach has never let meknow, and it has made all the difference in my life."
Clients who have worked with me know that I often use the analogy of following the breadcrumbs, or holding a flashlight that illuminates only your next step, to convey the mystery of our inner guidance. It doesn't lay out a five-year plan, and that's a good thing!
I have come to understand that our inner guidance is connected to - in some real way is an aspect of - the Divine Intelligence that guides the very expansion and evolution of the universe. It understands paradox and flow and interconnectedness in a way our linear minds simply cannot.
And because we are inherently creative beings, we are constantly creating - our future is not fixed. Step-by-step guidance reflects and respects this truth. Our own creative impulses trigger the guidance we need in that moment...and then the next, and the next. There is no set plan, just a continual unfolding. As we learn to trust this more and more - to trust in Life itself, as Steve suggests - we can follow the dots into our deeply fulfilling, heart-centered future.
"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noice of others' opinions down out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."
Again he eloquently emphasizes the absolute necessity of listening to your own inner voice, your heart and intuition. They're connected to your soul's true longings, and they do indeed know what you want to become. He also uses the word courage, which most of us on this journey find very appropriate! It can feel daunting to say "no" to the many rules, beliefs and expectations of our families and communities and culture - not to mention how difficult it is to say "no" to the naggingly persistent voice of fear and doubt within our own minds.
We literally have to learn how to think differently, how to think from that deep inner well of wisdom and creativity. We have to learn how to navigate through fear and doubt. And - this is essential - we have to learn how to cultivate a strong, resilient foundation of self-love as we commit to this journey. In the absence of that love, none of this makes sense.
Most of us need a little support and, yes, training as we shift from "having a job" to "living a life." And providing that support is my greatest passion! I know I might sound like a broken record, but hey - some messages simply bear repeating, if only because it can be so difficult to grasp their full impact the first - or fiftieth! - time around. And here's the message, in the words of someone else who has inspired me on my own path, Tama Kieves:
"You can do this. You must do this! You don't want to miss this life!"
- from her bestselling book, This Time I Dance! Creating the Work You Love
Join me this Saturday, October 15th, for my from-the-heart workshop on Creating Work You Love: Growing Into Your Dreams. For only $40 and 3 hours of your time, you could put your life on a whole new trajectory. Email jill@mysolidground.com for information and to register.
Don't wait. Now is the perfect time.
You don't want to miss this life.
With Steve's recent passing, another client forwarded me a quote from that same speech. Once again I was moved by his clear, straightforward message to follow your heart - first and always. Below are two of my favorite excerpts from his commencement address, both of which speak to themes that are central to my work in helping clients create work - to create lives - they love:
"Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life (my emphasis), karma, whatever. This approach has never let meknow, and it has made all the difference in my life."
Clients who have worked with me know that I often use the analogy of following the breadcrumbs, or holding a flashlight that illuminates only your next step, to convey the mystery of our inner guidance. It doesn't lay out a five-year plan, and that's a good thing!
I have come to understand that our inner guidance is connected to - in some real way is an aspect of - the Divine Intelligence that guides the very expansion and evolution of the universe. It understands paradox and flow and interconnectedness in a way our linear minds simply cannot.
And because we are inherently creative beings, we are constantly creating - our future is not fixed. Step-by-step guidance reflects and respects this truth. Our own creative impulses trigger the guidance we need in that moment...and then the next, and the next. There is no set plan, just a continual unfolding. As we learn to trust this more and more - to trust in Life itself, as Steve suggests - we can follow the dots into our deeply fulfilling, heart-centered future.
"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noice of others' opinions down out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."
Again he eloquently emphasizes the absolute necessity of listening to your own inner voice, your heart and intuition. They're connected to your soul's true longings, and they do indeed know what you want to become. He also uses the word courage, which most of us on this journey find very appropriate! It can feel daunting to say "no" to the many rules, beliefs and expectations of our families and communities and culture - not to mention how difficult it is to say "no" to the naggingly persistent voice of fear and doubt within our own minds.
We literally have to learn how to think differently, how to think from that deep inner well of wisdom and creativity. We have to learn how to navigate through fear and doubt. And - this is essential - we have to learn how to cultivate a strong, resilient foundation of self-love as we commit to this journey. In the absence of that love, none of this makes sense.
Most of us need a little support and, yes, training as we shift from "having a job" to "living a life." And providing that support is my greatest passion! I know I might sound like a broken record, but hey - some messages simply bear repeating, if only because it can be so difficult to grasp their full impact the first - or fiftieth! - time around. And here's the message, in the words of someone else who has inspired me on my own path, Tama Kieves:
"You can do this. You must do this! You don't want to miss this life!"
- from her bestselling book, This Time I Dance! Creating the Work You Love
Join me this Saturday, October 15th, for my from-the-heart workshop on Creating Work You Love: Growing Into Your Dreams. For only $40 and 3 hours of your time, you could put your life on a whole new trajectory. Email jill@mysolidground.com for information and to register.
Don't wait. Now is the perfect time.
You don't want to miss this life.
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