The Screen of the Mind

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.-Viktor Frankl

With all the techniques that I have learned over the years, there are still experiences that throw me off balance.  These are the times when I fall into the sleep of the illusion.  I allow the pendulum of duality to swing to the negative and permit my thoughts to start snowballing about the injustices and stupidities of life and the world.  I lose control of my imagination and ultimately my state of being.  I engage in a monologue with an imaginary scenario playing out a drama on the stage of my mind.  All the time I am forgetting that I have the power to change the story. 

Instead, I cruise along thinking I have control of the situation by playing out this imaginary play in my mind.  It’s a horrid little drama filled with worst case scenarios, unsavoury characters and the dominant underlying emotions are fear, anger and worry.  The worst part of this is that when I catch myself I know I am using my imagination to create more of that which I say I do not want.  Yet, somehow I remain unconscious and fall back into old patterns of reiteration.  I forget about the power of now. I lose the gratitude of the moment and get lost in past happenings, old moments influencing the present, clouding my judgement and projecting a future filled with a drama I do not want. 

The Law of Karma

“How people treat you is their Karma; how you react is yours.” –- Wayne Dyer

Here is one of the Universal Laws which is totally misunderstood. When most people think of karma they think of payback, revenge and retribution.  We even have slogans that tells us: “Karma is a bitch.”  The implied assumption of the phrase is that it is about someone else’s behaviour.  In today’s world, we use the word karma to relinquish our responsibility for our own vibration. So what exactly is the Law of Karma?

Also known as the Law of Identical Harvest, it is the reaping of the seeds you have sown.  These seeds can either be associated with negative or positive experiences in your life.  Karma is not necessarily about behaviour, it more about vibration.

Your Power is in the Now Moment

The Splendor of Mother Earth
Mixed Media by Beverly Blanchard

What is the thought you thinking right now?  Is it an empowering thought? Is it a thought about the argument you had yesterday?  Is it a thought about what you have to do tomorrow?  Is it a thought about what you saw in the news?  Whatever that thought is; you are using it to create your reality.

All time is a suggestion of the mind.  In our world, we project it as a horizontal line in which there is a past, a present and a future.  For many of us, we lock ourselves into internal and external conversations that either rehash the past or speak about a future filtered through our past memories.  Through our dialogues, we tend attract to ourselves analogous circumstances and relationships over and over again.  We change jobs only to be confronted with the same problem employees or bosses.  We get out of one relationship and find ourselves engaged with the same type of person.  At points we ask ourselves: Why am I experiencing this again?  Why do I keep attracting the same thing over and over again?

You are experiencing it because you haven’t shifted your vibration.  If you spend time listening to your internal and external dialogues, you will discover that you are unconsciously creating.  You are using your imaginal abilities to create negatively.  For the thoughts you are thinking in this moment do not recede into the past.  They actually advance into the future to confront you.

If you are continually talking about the problem you had yesterday, you are projecting that onto the screen of your tomorrows. If you are talking negatively about what might happen, you are projecting that onto the screen of your life.  It is through the thoughts you are saying or thinking at this particular moment that puts the whole thing in motion. 

In the middle of your past and future, is the present moment. Most of us neglect this moment because we do not understand that it is our point of power.  It is the bouncing off point.  How you use it determines your next moment and the next moment and the next moment.

To move your awareness to the present moment, you have to release yourself from ‘what is’.  You cannot continue to focus on what it is you don’t like and expect to change your life.  It is your focusing that keeps you locked into a pattern.  I can hear you now...but this is reality!  If you don’t like your reality, then it is time to become a conscious creator.  It’s time to realize that you are the operative power and that power rests with how you use your imaginal abilities in this present moment.

So where do you begin?  You start playing with time and become aware of how you are using you present moment.  Here are few exercises for you to experiment with to get you into the habit of becoming conscious of your moments.

1.  Do a mental roll call.  Throughout the day, stop whatever you are doing and take attendance.  Mentally call out your name and answer:  Present.

2.  Throughout the day, stop whatever you are doing and ask yourself: ‘what time is it?’  Answer:  ‘The time is now and I am here.’

3.  Break out of your routine.  Have dinner for breakfast.  Drive to work a different way.  Go for a walk at lunch time.  Meditate on your coffee break.  Go into the office earlier and leave earlier than you normally do.  Wake up an hour earlier.  

Here is a clip from the movie Groundhog Day.  Watch how he starts to change his thinking.