Archive for October, 2009

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Practice Makes Permanent

Friday, October 30th, 2009

We have all heard the expression that ‘practice makes perfect’, and while that is a warm and fuzzy idea, it is very misleading. Think about it, if you are learning how to play tennis, with practice, you will get better at playing the way you are playing, but unless you have a great coach from the beginning, you can learn to do certain things, like serves, the wrong way and they will be far from perfect. This is why you hear so many people struggling with unlearning a wrong technique after they get used to it. The only way ‘practice makes perfect’ is when you are practicing things the perfect way; in other words, there is a sizable condition attached to that statement. Instead, I like ‘practice makes permanent’.

If you think about, ‘practice makes permanent’ holds in every case. Whether you are learning how to serve in tennis, the wrong way or the right way, practice will engrave that technique for you. So try not to fool yourself by saying that with enough practice you’ll get excellent at doing whatever it is that you are doing – instead focus on practicing doing things the right way so that the right way becomes the way of life!

Until Monday,

V

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Don’t Participate – Create!

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

We talked about how everything is energy a few times in the past, and today I want to revisit the subject again. So since everything is energy, we are energy too, and we give off energy and vibrations to other people and pick up on the energy sent out by them.

Most people go through life without any conscious awareness. They walk into a room and absorb the energy of the room. If the energy of the room is positive, they become more positive; if the energy of the room is negative, they become more negative. Has that every happened to you? Have you ever walked into a room full of people and had an immediate change in how you feel, for the better or otherwise? This is exactly what I am talking about – in that moment you were not conscious of what is going on and took on the energy of the room.

On the other hand, have you ever been in a room and someone walked in and changed the entire energy of the whole place? That is an example of a person who is quite conscious of their energy and chose to project it on to others, without absorbing their energy. I do want to note that it is possible that another person unconscious of their energy walked into the room, but their energy was so strong that it simply overpower the existing energy of the room.

So try to be more conscious of your energy and the energy of the places you attend. And while you do that, choose not to be influenced by the energy of the space you are in, and instead have an intention to change the energy of the room for the positive, one person at a time, with your own positive energy.

I’d love to hear about your experiences.

Until next time,

V

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Spirit Nudges

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

Yesterday I wrote a post entitled ‘Spirit Talks’ where I said that the Universe communicates with us through [gut] feelings – aka intuition. Today I want to expand a little bit on that with what happens when we don’t listen to our gut or intuition.

One of the things that happens is what I already mentioned yesterday – the voice of the Universe gets quieter and more difficult to distinguish and understand from the every day noise. The other thing that happens, is that the Universe tries to nudge you in the right direction by putting you in certain situations. For instance, when you ignore your gut feelings and do something (or abstain from doing something) anyway, the Universe nudges you and shows you that you should have listened to your gut via your own realization of that fact.

For example, you are speeding and have a feeling that you should slow down – this is the Universe communicating with you via gut feeling. You decide to ignore it and keep on speeding only to get caught in a speed trap and get a ticket – this is the nudge from the Universe with your own realization that you should have listened to your gut earlier.

If you ignore the nudge and keep ignoring the messages from the Universe, the nudges get stronger and stronger and more evident. If you keep ignoring them, the Universe will eventually smack you with a 2″ x 4″ and you will find yourself in a very messy situation that you will have a lot of fun getting out of. To relate that to the speeding example, say you keep speeding and keep ignoring the nudges to slow down and keep getting tickets and eventually get your license taken away. It can be very difficult to go about your day without a driver’s license, so metaphorically it is like getting hit with a 2″ x 4″.

So the lesson is to cultivate that gut feeling of yours, pay attention to it, and look for evidence in your life of how it supports you and works for you. Stay well and don’t get smacked by a 2″ x 4″!

Until next time,

V

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Spirit Talks

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

The Universe that we live in is always trying to show us the right way. The trouble is, we don’t always listen. When we stop listening it may seem to us like the Universe is no longer talking to us, but that is simply not true. Like I said – it is always talking to us – however what it is saying may be overshadowed by other noise from your every day life. This is one of the reasons why meditation is so powerful – it quiets our minds, turns down the every day noise, and makes it easier for us to hear the Universe talk.

Paulo Coelho, in his book, ‘The Alchemist’, talks about this concept, except that he uses the word ‘heart’ instead of the ‘Universe’. It is a wonderful book and I totally recommend it, though based on its sales, I don’t think that you would require need my endorsement. :)

Based on the story in The Alchemist, your hearts ‘talks’ to you, but as you ignore what it is saying, it gets quieter and quieter until you no longer can hear it and feel like it is no longer there. I have heard people say that they do not know what their hearts are telling them. When you reach this point, you really NEED to start paying attention to what your heart is saying so that it starts talking louder and louder to a point where you can hear it again.

Of course by ‘talk’ I don’t mean that the Universe communicates with you in ‘audible words’ – far from it. Much like the Universe does not understand your words and goes by how you feel, it also communicates to you through feelings. People who listen well to what the Universe is saying are said to have good ‘instincts’ or a good ‘gut’. That is why you hear people say that instinct can be cultivated and improved – the more you pay attention to it and the more you listen to it, the better you will get at understanding what the Universe is telling you.

Have you ever felt in your gut that you shouldn’t do something, but did it anyway, only to realize you have made a huge mistake? I have. And have you ever gone with your gut in spite of external uncertainty, and later were happy with your decision? I have as well! So start paying attention to what the Universe is telling you! It won’t mislead you!

Until next time,

V

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Treat For Consciousness, Not Form

Monday, October 26th, 2009

In the Science Of Mind class we will shortly be learning about a ’spiritual mind treatment’ which is also called ‘an affirmative prayer’. Based on my understanding, it is a guided thought process for a very specific purpose. I will learn more about it in the coming weeks, but so far it seems like a structured way to ‘talk’ to the Universe and align yourself with it so that it comes to your aid in the attainment of your goal, instead of you working against it.

During class last week, Kenn Gordon said that we should “treat for consciousness, not form” when going after a physical goal. Last week I wrote a post on how we become what we think about, but we attract what we are. Kenn was essentially saying that we should be working on ‘who we are’ instead of a goal that we are after.

It seems a little counter intuitive not to treat for the goal that you are after, but it makes sense nevertheless. Another way to think about it is that the building is the goal, while your consciousness is the foundation. You may want to build a bigger building on the existing foundation, but it will not be very sturdy and is likely to collapse at some point. To have a long lasting building, you will need to provide a solid foundation.

Expanding your mind, or consciousness, builds a strong foundation and ensures that the results that manifest as a result of this bigger consciousness will be lasting. To give you an example, there were times that I set a goal to to exercise, say, 4 times a week. At first I was pumped and excited about my workout program but a couple weeks down the line, the motivation faded and I stopped. That was an example of building a bigger building on the existing foundation. I had to change the way I thought about myself and exercise; I started seeing myself as a person who exercises 4 times a week. That expended consciousness provided a bigger foundation for my bigger results to be lasting.

Have you experienced something similar in your life?

Until next time,

V

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Worlds Shortest ‘Prayer’

Friday, October 23rd, 2009

“I am”

Of course, this is not a ‘prayer’ in the religious sense of the word, but rather in the neo-spiritual sense.

What do people pray for? They pray for a particular result. Yesterday I talked about the process of manifestation and how ‘you become what you think about, and you attract what you are’. ‘I am’ is part of a statement that results in some description of you, meaning that when you become that, you’ll attract the corresponding results.

As a side note, they are a great way to start an affirmation, or an intention for yourself or for your life. I encourage you to come up with a couple of new, inspiring affirmations for yourself and then use the Affirmation Triggers to remind yourself of what is in the process of becoming.

So do you see how ‘I am’ is the worlds shortest ‘prayer’? Think about the power of those two words…

Until Monday,

V

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The 100 Mile Journey

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

The Secret was a popular film that, I would imagine, many of you saw and many more have heard about. The Secret presented the Law of Attraction and argued that you manifest in your life what you think about. This statement is true, however it is somewhat misleading, since when I hear the phrase ‘you manifest what you think about’, I have a picture in my head of ‘thinking’ and ‘manifesting’ being right next to each other. There is, however, a 100 mile distance between you thinking about something and you manifesting it, and that distance is the journey you will have to make in order to manifest what you think about (I just picked 100 miles because it is a nice, round number – feel free to put in your own).

The Secret does talk about the ‘buffer of time’ and how you need to be ready to accept the manifestation in your life, but it is somewhat vague. I have heard a phrase recently that resonated with me and explained this buffer of time concept brilliantly. It also makes the ‘you manifest what you think about’ phrase more accurate and complete.

Are you ready for this? Here is the phrase:

“You become what you think about, and you manifest what you are”

This makes a lot more sense to me and has proven itself to be true in my experience. When I change what I think about, I start the process of becoming a different person, and it often takes a considerable amount of time for me to go through that process. When I actually become a different person, I start to attract and manifest things accordingly. So, if you want to make $250,000 annually, it is not so much about thinking of $250,000 and picturing the $250,000/year lifestyle, although it begins with that. It is more about, through your different thinking, becoming a person who thinks, acts, and feels like a person who earns $250,000/year. When you think, act, and feel like that, you will be worthy of earning $250,000/year and the Universe will have no choice but to present you with opportunities to do so. But remember, you will still need to act on those opportunities!

Your thoughts?

Until next time,

V

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The Path Through The Prickles

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

Last night, during my Science Of Mind class, Kenn Gordon told us an excellent story as a metaphor for how people go through life.

He was talking about the time he lived in California, and his regular trips to this particular beach with his kids. He said that to get to the beach, you had to walk down a small narrowing canyon that was sloping down, coming out to the beach through the narrower end. Since this was in California – a desert – the canyon was full of prickly plants, but there was a winding paved path that led down to the beach.

Going through life is like going down to the beach blindfolded. Most people feel like the Universe presents them with a path to follow – they make a realization on their own or through their spiritual practice or maybe some other way. But even though they know that the Universe paved a path for them, they often do not internalize that and freak out when presented with a stressful situation or a challenge of sorts.

So back to the metaphor: people start walking down the paved path blindfolded, but at some point they step off the path and get pricked (encounter a challenge), so they freak out and start running mindlessly getting pricked all over the place (encountering more challenges), until they just happen to get back to the path (saying to themselves that they have had enough) or until someone guides them back to the path (like a counselor). Then, a little while later, they step off the path and get pricked again, and the process repeats.

What you need to do when you step off the path, is not to forget what you already know about the Universe and trust that the path is still there, take a step back onto the path, and keep going. When you step off the path again and get pricked again, just take a step back again and continue with your journey.

Do you have any cool metaphors of your own that you would like to share?

Until next time,

V

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What Is An Epiphany?

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

I heard Dr. Kenn Gordon speak last weekend, and one of the things he talked about was an epiphany he had a while back. The epiphany itself is not important, but I would like to quickly talk about what an epiphany is.

But before I get to that, I’d like to talk about something else. I spoke before about how knowing something is very different form internalizing something. When you know something, you just mentally agree with that which you know. When you internalize something, you not only mentally agree, but you also feel that which you know viscerally – you feel it as being true.

It is rare that you internalize something before you know it, though sometimes it will happen. More often you will get to know something, ponder on it for a while, and then, at some point, you will internalize it. Something will trigger that process, like a thought or something that someone else may say. My understanding is that you have an epiphany when you go from knowing something to internalizing it.

Have you had any epiphanies that you can remember? Do you know what triggered that?

Until next time,

V

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Nothing Manifests Without Intention

Monday, October 19th, 2009

I had an interesting conversation with a good friend of mine who brought up a point that without intention nothing would manifest in this world. It is a very simple, yet a very profound statement at the same time.

How do you get any result in life? Whether it is to go to school, grab a snack, or go see a show, it all starts with a quick thought “hey, I should do that” and an intention to actually do it. People invented a car because they had an intention to have a better way of transportation than horses and they invented the airplane because of an intention to fly.

That is why achieving something in your life also starts with an intention. Many times the intentions are installed by someone else, like your parents, and many of the your current results in life are there because of those ’subconscious’ intentions. To achieve something different, however, you need to set some conscious intentions for your life (you can call it goals or affirmations). After you set your intention, you’ll need to trigger your brain to think actually think about it on the regular basis. Intention cards are a great method – this is where you write down your goal, intention, or affirmation on a card and read it as often as possible. Affirmation Triggers is a good alternative – it’s a free service that will send your own affirmations to your phone at regular intervals. Sorry for the plug :)

So, everything starts with an intention, or in other words, a thought, so what do you think about?

Until next time,

V

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