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Thoughts create energy making us feel good or making us feel bad, energy can feed our ego or it can feed our true self either one cause emotions that cause vibrations that affect the body and create our reality .
There are 3 ways of thinking; that will lead you to suffering
1. dwelling in past
Thoughts about the past :
“Why did that happen to me, why did she leave me, I should have got that promotion, he screwed me over, my parents divorced when I was young, I was in an accident, I went through a hard time, I was attacked, I didn’t go to college” when we focus on the thought patterns:
The body reacts; with depression, crying, sadness, not wanting to do anything, blaming others for everything that goes wrong in your life, unhappiness, procrastination and health Problems might be heart disease, asthma, addiction etc..
The reality you might manifest will be more things to continue those same vibrations People will step on you, use you, jobs will pass you by, relationships will go badly and there will be little change in your life.
2. Denying the now and fighting against what is:
These thought might be “this should not be happening to me, do they know who I am, how dare them make me wait, I don’t have time for this, I can’t deal with this right now”
The body reacts with yelling, stumping feet, Being rude to people. frustration, irritation, and tension. Health problems might be headache, high blood pressure upset stomach, heart burn .
Your manifested reality will continue to bring about situations where nothing is going right, people will not want to be around you, people will cut you off in traffic, accidents will occur and mistakes will be made.
3. dwelling in thoughts of the future :
“I’ll be rich soon, tomorrow will be better, I will move up that latter soon, when the house is paid off, when we have more money, when I get my business in order, when I lose weight, someday soon, I will relax, and then I will spend time with my family, go on vacation etc.
The body reacts with worry, fear, anxiety, tension, stress, missing life, and regret. health problems may be addiction, heart conditions , high cholesterol , obesity.
Your manifested reality will continue to bring about things that get in your way, things that keep you down, worrying about things that need to be fixed, projects that never get done, missing out on life, missing out on events, cheating, relationship problems, divorce. etc…
The hardest part of changing any of these three thought patterns, outside of chronic disease is going to be addiction and I will explain why in a minute.
We cant stop thinking of the past, it’s impossible… but we don’t need to hold on to the negative energy of the past, we can use the past as a knowledge base, for useful information while still staying present we don’t need to give up our good feeling memories, but we don’t need to keep reliving our not so good memories, we can use the past for knowing what not to do, like putting your hand in a fire, we know it will burn.
We can imagine a beautiful future, while understanding there is no life in the future there’s only life in the now tomorrow will not come because tomorrow will be today again.
We can react to the now when needed, but It’s silly to think we can change what’s already happen like somehow its going to change, back up, and go in reverse.
So what can we do to stop the madness: give your thoughts awareness in other words pay attention to your thoughts and pay attention to your emotions about those thoughts meditation is a wonderful option to clear the mind if you can master it, next we need to stop labeling, naming and categorizing ourselves.
I would like to share with you the first verse of the Tao Te Ching it reads: “The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao, The name that can be named, is not the eternal Name.” Which means we cannot be named, we are not our thoughts, someone may say, you are old, you are rich, you are poor, you are a big jerk, but that is not who we are.
A child only knows that the grass is called green, because they were taught it was called green, the true essence of the green grass cannot be named, as with the essence of your spirit it cannot be named, like an infant seeing their hand for the first time, looking at it in awe, they have no experience of it , they have not learned how to judge, label and name. When you look at a person or your self without naming, judging, labeling, you will see a very different person .
Krishnamurti once said, “When you teach a child that a bird is named ‘bird,’ the child will never see the bird the same again.
So how can we begin to choose to think in a way that serves us ? Can you change the past? can you change the future? In a sense “yes”, you can change it by changing your perspective of it. without labeling it good, bad, or unfair, giving up the fight against it.
Without preconceived perceptions, and being present in the now without judgement, without attaching and Identifying it to self or ego without preconceived ideas of what it should be. In other words unlearn your negative life experiences, put them in their place, change your perseption of them just noticing them will cause a shift in your thought patterns .
Example : Give up your idea’s of what love is, love cannot be named, it’s not a thing to be given nor received. love is like a promise you keep, give up your ideas of what success should look like, it cannot be named a mansion, gold metal, or perfect relationship. Success is something you feel its a creation, a manifestation, a feeling of accomplishment its not big or small. stop labeling your self as rich, poor, middle classed.
People are truly happiest when they are in a state of alignment, balanced in their true self leaving a feeling of peace.
As I said earlier addiction will be the hardest challenge
Addiction also can have a false feeling of being present, it often stops the thinking process, there’s many different addictions besides drugs and alcohol there’s food , hoarding, cutting yourself, etc… whatever the high addiction takes your attention away from thoughts, stimulates the ego (false self), it feel similar to being present but of coarse only momentarily . The more you drink, or take the drug the more the ego makes you think and feel present , but in reality you are so gone in the ego you can’t be present at all, alcohol gives a false sense of self many of us know the occasional drunk state, We know this later when we sober up, you might remember thinking you could dance like Saturday Night Fever, or maybe you were god’s gift to every girl or guy at the bar, or you suddenly thought you should quit your day job and become a Karaoke DJ, yes the ego has taken you over completely.
So the addiction continues, causing its own problems : resentment, abandonment, loss, and the ego’ there to tell us: depending on what kind of thinker you are
( stuck in the past kind of thinker ) “ feel guilty, you’re a loser, you don’t deserve to be loved,”
(fighting the now kind of thinker ) ” I can’t cope, I’ve had a hard day , somebody screwed me over, I deserve a drink, I do it to unwind, I do it to relax.”
( stuck in the future kind of thinker) ” I can quit when I want. It’s not a problem, life is not fun without it, I’m more appealing when I’ve had a few, I don’t see a future without it” .
And the addiction goes on.
Practicing, staying present will help you give up the addiction, you’ll have a clearer perspective of it, you’ll notice the reality of it, understanding it’s intentions
What is an addiction:
Its a lie, its false, its like a person masqueraded as a friend, a friend making you feel better, a friend that’s always there for you, all along secretly trying to destroy your life, whether or not you are lost in thought or in addiction its keeping you from manifesting the life you were meant to have, the life you deserve, the life you were here to create.
with less suffering there wont be the need for addiction and self medicating . Start by paying attention to your ” thoughts’ the longer you practice the easier it gets starting with things that are not stressful like at home in the shower relaxing, try enjoying something without thought, when you notice you are thinking in one of these thought pattern. example: you are in the shower and you notice you are thinking about being at work, that would be a future thought or you notice you are thinking about someone that pissed you off the day before, that would be a past thought, maybe you notice a fighting the now thought like “I need to hurry up” or feeling irritated that you for got to get a towel, “I’m going to be late “.
As you notice these thoughts don’t beat your self up that would be fighting the now its already happen let it go .
The good part of noticing these thinking patterns are that once you put awareness on the thoughts they go away and the more you do this the more you get better at staying present . And being present you’ll start to see things as you have never seen them before, later you will be able to do it walking through a busy mall, and soon you’ll start to feel true peace not the imaginary false peace of addictions.
Give up the thoughts, stay present as much and as long as you can, stop dwelling on the past, the future, stop resisting the now, be present without judgment once you find the appreciation of the moment, the momentum of appreciation will increase and it will get easier and easier to find appreciation in the now, in the present moment, and the addiction will no longer control you.
The best things in life are created from a present mind, we manifest things we want.
Any creative thing in this world, a song, a great painting, a great movie script, anything that last in this world came from being present in creating . And that is why we love music, movies, painting, and other creative things, even creative places. We love activities that take presence like sports, rock climbing, things that take focus are appealing to people. We love sunsets, trees, blue skies, mountains , storms, snow and rain. These things are the creative presence of the universe.
People find cures, love, fame, success, by accident or just by being present enough to notice an opportunity . Your car breaks down and someone stops to help you, suddenly you’ve met the love of your life. You find a rock, keep it as a pet, the idea sells, you make millions, food is left out and Penicillin is discovered and saves millions of lives. Many of our most important discoveries were found accidentally, discoveries just presented themselves, and the person that discovered it was just present enough to notice it, present enough to see the value in it. present enough to appreciate it . Be present and see what you … notice.
By Kari Pelz
Stillness 101 