How would you like to create a brand new life for yourself?
Don’t be shy…step right up and get ready to look behind the curtain! I am going to reveal the something-from-nothing type of life-changing power that ranks right up there with the Big Bang (the theory, not the show. Nothing compares to the show…) Are you ready?
First up is Will. Or more specifically, the power of Will.
I don’t like the term “willpower” because it makes it seem like I should be able to buy it off the grocery shelf, right next to Wheaties, that other breakfast of champions. Mix with a liberal sprinkle of Luck, a dab of Good Fortune,eat it with the Silver Spoon you was born with, and life will be grand.
That is the common mythology, anyway… and it places us in the enviable spot of being able to blame life, the universe, and everything else except ourselves for our failure to get what we want. If we were not given that bowl of Willpower, along with luck, good fortune and a spoon, how can we help being where we are?
Ahhh….Little grasshopper, you need a new sensei! Life just is what it is, bringing rain and sun without regard to who is deserving or worthy of its favors.
But the power of Will, on the other hand, is an inalienable right given to every human who draws breath on the face of this earth, and it can be exquisitely directed for good or ill by the other power of creation: Choice.
Will is the force, Choice is the instrument. Between the two of them, everything that is, was,or ever will be came into existence. Yep, they are that powerful!
What is soooo freaking awesome is that, right now at this very moment, you and I have access to enough Will and Choice to completely make ourselves a new life, separate order from chaos, change darkness into light, and generally make the Avengers look like wimpy men in tights (looking at you Cary Elwes, aka Robin Hood.)
Hey, quit laughing:-) This is serious stuff. Seriously! (as I picture Blazing Saddles and Mel Brooks, sorry, I am laughing too…)
This First Day business is dangerous, heady stuff!
It is also a lot of fun. Think about a time you really wanted to do something, just because you thought it would be a cool thing to do. Build a treehouse, sleep out under the stars, run a mile in less than 15 minutes (my current goal), and you went out and did it. Remember that feeling? What a great feeling!
You used your Will to create a vision of where you wanted to go, and your Choices built it into reality. Now I need to give a small word of advice on using your new powers, which I will actually break into three Pillars of Self-Creation.
First Pillar
Only focus on what you can control, and let the rest go. You know that old saying about having the wisdom to know the difference between what you can change, and what you cannot? The wisdom lies in accepting the things you cannot change. It is an old cliche for a reason.
Life, as we said previously, is what it is and no matter how much you fight it it will still be what it is. Other people will also continue to be what they are because they also possess Will and Choice. You cannot do away with other people’s ability to decide what they want to do, and they cannot take it away from you. Our minds are sacrosanct in that respect. When you set out to Will something into existence, you must first be clear on what it is you want to do, and if it lies within your control to do it.
I always wanted to be 6 feet tall. Did it happen? No. I need to accept that part of my physical body as it is. Now I want to weight 180 lbs, which is under my control, even though it is a difficult goal. If I want it badly enough, and make the choices that lead to that goal, I will create a 180 pound guy with a 6-pack.
Does that make sense? No amount of effort will change something if you don’t have control over it. Now that does not mean total control as the only option. If your job sucks and you want a promotion, you don’t have control over your boss, right? But you DO have control over what kind of employee you are. If you be the best employee at your job, they will either promote you, or lose you to another company that sees your value. Same with relationships… Choose to be the best you can be where you are at, and the universe will bring you good things. It is the law of attraction in action, and leads into the next Pillar.
2nd Pillar
Happiness is a “now” thing, not a “when” thing. Did you know that atoms vibrate? And did you also know that they vibrate faster or slower according to their energy states? Hot, happy atoms that drink red bull vibrate faster than cold, depressed, sleep deprived atoms. Fact.
So here is a key that will change the way you look at your body forevermore: You are made of zillions of atoms, and they are all vibrating all the time, in tune with your emotional state. This is science, as it is now possible to directly observe the energy field of the body and how emotional changes effect that energy field. Happy people have a more healthy, vibrant energy field than do depressed people. What is so wonderful about these energy field findings is happiness is a choice that we control.
No, I am not talking about being a Pollyanna here and ignoring reality.
I am talking about the conscious choice we make each and every second to embrace our life as it is right now, or to reject it. It is not the events of our lives that dictate our emotions, but our reactions to those events. We control our reactions.
That is why happiness only exists now, in the present moment. That is when our Will and Choice intersect with time. Each of those fleeting present moments, taken together, make up our lives.
Many people have a mistaken idea of karma, in that they think that karma (the condition of their life) is immutable, something they cannot change. In one sense that is true, as our present karma is a result of our previous actions driven by intention (cetanā). The reality is that as we change our actions driven by intention in the present moment, we change our future karma. As we choose happiness in the present moment, we create a future karma of happiness. Present action=future karma.
Life is what it is. Embrace your life in the present moment by consciously choosing to be happy with what you have, right now. Your atoms and karma will thank you when you embrace the third Pillar!
Pillar Three
You get more of what you focus on, so focus wisely. Ever use a magnifying glass to start a fire? Wisely done, you now have the life-giving warmth of a fire and the ability to cook food. Foolishly applied, you unleash a wildfire that destroys all in its path.Now that you know the secret of creation through Will and Choice, what you focus on is key.
You might have noticed by now that perceptions and focus play a large role in Creation. Indeed, without perception and focus our lives would be chaos. Think of how many different sounds, sight, and smells we experience every day! our senses take it all in, but only a tiny fraction get through our perceptual buffers and filters into our conscious awareness. Of that small slice of reality is all our reactions based upon. Stated differently, change our perceptions, change our reality.
Whoa…change our reality! That sounds scary and extremely hard to do..but relax:-) it’s easy-peasy and we do it all the time. Example? Think of your first crush, full-blown, romantic tidal wave of teenage-hormone-attack that you could not imagine your life without: Where are they now? What was once life or death is now merely detritus in our memory banks.
We change our reality all the time, every day of our lives. We just rarely do it intentionally, with the end in mind. In the famous words of Pink Floyd “There is someone in my head, and it’s not me!” who is creating your future karma through unconscious and unintentional focus.
You see, we can really want to do something and try very hard to achieve that goal, and yet fail miserably time after time. As proof, we need look no further than the endless diet fads that never work. Wayyy back in 2005 a Gallup poll found that the average adult had tried a diet 13 times…and was still not successful at maintaining desired weight! Obesity has only increased since then, despite the over $66 billion spent in 2017 alone.
What people say they want and what they unconsciously do are two very different things.
Karma is intentional action, consistently applied moment by moment. We must really get to know ourselves, listen to what we are thinking, stop and question what we are seeing in our lives. Do we have unhealthy habits, false paradigms, control issues and other such obstacles to seeing life as it really is? If we do, that is where we need to start changing our reality. change our focus from what we don’t want, to what we do want more of.
We live with a deficit mentality of looking at what is broken and trying to fix it. What if we used an abundance mentality and looked at what we cherished, then focused on nurturing the processes that brought us more of it?
Perceptions and focus are like a roadmap: if we do not care where we end up, any old map will do. If we have a specific destination in mind, only a very accurate, up to date map of how to get from our current location to that specific spot will suffice.
The recipe for a life without limits really is this simple:
Focus on what we can control and see ourselves for what we really are, right now. Let the rest go.
Love ourselves and choose to be happy now in this present reality.
Use our Will and Choice to intentionally act, in the present moment, to shape our future karma (reality) by focusing our perceptions on what we want to create more of.
What a wonderful First Day this is going to be!