The West coast of the States is 8 hours behind where I live in England and yet I am able to Skype my beloved and despite what the clock tells us, we are in instant communication. (Definitely something for the gratitude journal!)
This really got me thinking about the fact that everything is NOW, as the song says, "tomorrow never comes." The only time is now, and it is in this now moment that we have the power to change our situation by changing how we think. William James, the father of modern psychology, said, "Your beliefs create the fact." What if we chose to believe that statement? What if we can change our beliefs and thereby change the facts of our life?
Would you care to experiment in your life? If there is an area that's not working for you, then perhaps you have nothing to loose by a little thought experiment.
First let us think about a belief - a belief is a thought we have thought over and over, we may have then gone into the world to find evidence to support that thought, and over the time of thinking it has become fixed in our mind as a belief. It might not have even been our original thought, perhaps it was our parents or a school teacher, but we have adopted it, like the good children we were, and we have taken it in as our own. But think! What if that belief isn't true, or no longer serves us in our adult life?
I like this story as an example of this concept:
At 5 years old, when she starts school, Sarah's Mummy tells her not to talk to strangers. "It's not safe to talk to strangers they might try to hurt you or steel you away." For the 5 year old Sarah this is a great thought and she knows that her Mummy is always right so she repeats it to herself often. Sarah hears the same message from her school teacher and her friends in class, and her Mummy is always reminding her as they walk to school in the morning.
As Sarah gets a little older and goes to high school she still hears this message and the thought of a stranger steeling her away is very scary for her. A few years on and Sarah doesn't hear the message form outside, but it has become so securely fixed in her mind that she still hears it in her head. A few more years pass and Sarah is going to leave home to go to university, it's a good school, and her friends tell her she'll have a great time. However, when she gets there, all she can see is strangers, and that old belief is running rampant in her head. She becomes isolated and miserable because she has no friends and no tools to get passed her belief, eventually she comes home to the safety of her family and misses out on her degree ad a promising career as a researcher.
Whilst this is a simple tale, the truth that sits behind it is significant. 90% or more of our mind is the subconscious and many of our beliefs hide there. Just like Sarah, a belief may have been perfectly valid at one point in our life, but have we reviewed them lately to decide what works for us and what doesn't?
To find out where hidden beliefs may be keeping you stuck, look at what's not working in your life. Health, finances, relationships, career. These are the four most significant areas in our lives and if things are a bit rough in one or more of these areas, it's quite likely that some old beliefs are still working you.
So back to the experiment - think of an area where you'd like to see some change, don't go for an earth shattering transformation, you need to build your mental muscle slowly, just like physical muscle. Start with something small. Instead of running the old tape of how it's not working, spend 15 minutes every day visualising how you would love it to be.
Here's an example - Money is a bit tight and you'd like to have enough to buy a ticket for a weekend conference. In your 15 minutes imagine yourself at the conference, think about how excited you will feel to be there and to listen to the speakers or attend the workshops. Imagine sending the cheque off in the post and knowing that the money is already in your bank account. think of the things that really create excitement and gratitude in your body, every time you get "yeah but" come up, just thank your mind for sharing and go back to creating an image of you achieving your goal.
If you really can't visualise your good, then you may want to ask yourself what you believe about yourself and what you deserve to have in life, but that's a whole other blog.Louise Hay talks about making these changes in her book, "You Can Heal Your Life," if you're not much of a reader I invite you to seek out the movie "Heal Your Life" and learn more from a master.
I know that you have the power to change your thinking and thereby change what you experience in your life. I am just a regular person and my life is utterly transformed by applying these principles, so don't wait, you absolutely deserve a life that makes you go "WOW."
And remember the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting to get a different result.
Enjoy the journey.
