 AWAKENING |
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Master
Your Destiny Master your destiny? According to Webster's New World Dictionary, “To Master” is to have control, authority, or power over something; “Destiny” is the inevitable or necessary succession of events. All great spiritual teachings have said that man and woman are made in the image and likeness of a Higher power. These teachings also profess that this Higher power has created all that exists. If we are made in the image and likeness of this greater power then it pre-supposes we create. The question that is seldom asked is how we have created our complex matrix of beliefs, values, and perspectives and personalities. Some of what we have created exhibits our best qualities and some of what we have created limits and sabotages our success. How have we become what we are today and how can we create sustainable change within our lives so our lives are fulfilled? The first key is language. Language is a symbol of our thinking and our thinking creates our individual internal worlds. As Buddha said in the writing entitled the Dhammapada: “The thought manifests the word; The word manifests as the deed; The deed develops into habit And the habit hardens into character; So watch the thought and its ways with care, And let it spring from love Born out of concern for all beings. . . . As the shadow follows the body, As we think, so we become.” I often ask class participants: “Have you ever attempted to change thinking with thinking?” They answer “yes, and it doesn't work.” When we speak, our minds follow the meaning of the words we utter. If we carry on long conversations about our misery, sadness, or grief our minds must associate to those pictures, sounds, and feelings of the memories that our language is representing. We re-live over and over the pain of our past through our continued attention to and language of those events. We may have experienced the event once, however our contemplation of the event keeps it alive as if it was now. Far too often we have lived and continue still to live in our story rather than our outcome (where we desire our lives to move toward). As Buddha has said, what we contemplate follows as the shadow follows the body. What we contemplate, we create more of. Whether good or bad, whatever the mind gives regular attention, “that” is the “temple” where one prays and the “God” that will answer those prayers. Unless we provide the conscious choice of the words, feelings and imagination to direct our minds, our habitual, ancestrally-influenced thinking and languaging will direct our thinking for us. The choice we make moment to moment is: “Do I create my world from my infinite potential and possibility or from my programming and limitations?” We make our choice with every word we speak or think. Our words are the representation of our thinking. Our thinking represents the focus of our minds. The focus of our mind is our prayer. We are required to point our thinking in the direction of our goals and change our language to be outcome oriented, first person accountable for our experience. Our language can be a powerful tool we can consciously and consistently employ to shape our thinking, therefore our emotional states, and therefore our behaviors towards our hearts desire. Language shapes our internal world. Be mindful of what and how we speak because we create our heaven or hell accordingly. The second key is imagination. Albert Einstein once said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” We have a subconscious mind. Our mental capacity has 90% of our mental potential lying outside of our conscious awareness. Science has attempted to place a number on the amount of possible functions our minds can do. The number is infinite; however, the figure which science has assigned is one with eight million miles of half inch zeroes behind it. We have endless potential waiting to be directed. When we direct our minds into the imagination of the dream fulfilled, we create a deep imprint on the subconscious mind to move in the direction of the desire sought. When we have the art of awakening the imagination infused with the power of emotions, which is the third key, we can re-imprint past negative memories in lightening speed. We can turn our worst past hurdles into our greatest strength and allies. The greatest benefit to learning the art of awakening the imagination is learning to live in outcome of the desired future. From the book, Resurrection by Nevelle: “You are an eternal dreamer dreaming non-eternal dreams. Your dreams take form as you assume the feeling of their reality. Do not limit yourself to the past. Knowing nothing is impossible to consciousness, begin to imagine states beyond the experiences of the past. Whatever the mind of man/woman can imagine, man/woman can realize.”
Gary
De Rodriquez is an international speaker, communication consultant, |