Master Your Mind
by Jim Dreaver"To be a fearless leader, just be a fearless person, and lead naturally."
--Zen saying
Master Your Mind ...
As you become more present in your life, your awareness naturally expands and becomes more multidimensional. You tap into the true power of your mind, because now you know that while you have a mind, you are not your mind. You break free of the box of either/or, black/white thinking. Paradox and uncertainty are no longer seen as threatening, but rather are viewed as opportunities for engaging in fresh, creative thinking.
Use Intention As A Tool: The key insight here is to understand that what you see is what you get. Think fearful thoughts, and you will create situations that just reinforce the fear. You are learning to see that while all thoughts are unreal, they do serve a purpose: you use them for communication and creativity, for making good decisions and manifesting your goals, or intentions, in reality. After all, everything man-made, from the biggest skyscrapers to the tiniest microchips, from forms of government to programs for feeding the poor, began with an idea in someone’s mind.
So, be clear about your intentions, what you want. Think of them three or four times a day, then forget about them. Come back to the power of the present, be patient, and enjoy the flow of whatever you manifest.
Live Your Understanding ...
Awakening, enlightenment, or self-realization is knowing yourself at the deepest level of your being. It is knowing who you are beyond all your beliefs and ideas about who you are, beyond the story you have fabricated in your mind about who you are. It is seeing through the I itself, the me that you have taken yourself to be for most of your life. Then the work is to fully embody that knowing, to be it, so that you directly experience yourself as one with the beauty, harmony, and flow of the universe.
The Consciousness Practice: Whenever suffering or upset arises, look for the story you are telling yourself that keeps the emotion alive. Then breathe, and be very present. Notice how you can look at the story, so you cannot be it. You are what is looking: clear, vibrant, present-time consciousness. Get this, and a shift happens. The story loses its power over you, and your energy is freed up. Eventually, you will question the very me you take yourself to be. You will see that it is just a story too (the story-teller) and that your true nature is the luminous, ever-present consciousness behind everything. To know this, to find your identity not in stories but in the moment-by-moment flow of being, is true freedom. Then life is always rich in love, meaning, and purpose.
When you no longer hold onto any image or concept of self, because you have seen that it is all a self-generated fiction anyway, there is nothing in your consciousness to resist what is happening, and so, no anxiety, fear, or suffering. Meaning and happiness no longer depend on beliefs, outer conditions, economic status, or anything else. They come from within, from the fullness and radiance of being itself.
Your ego, your personal history, and the power of your mind are available when needed, but they do not get in the way. Changes of the kind that throw most people into crisis cease having the power to upset you, other than momentarily. If upset does occur, you do the Consciousness Practice above, and you recover your clarity and equanimity quickly.
The authenticity, spontaneity, and sheer goodwill you then bring to each moment will inspire the highest and best in others. More and more you see them as an expression of the same light in you. In this way, you contribute to the healing of our world.
Thanks for visiting; your comments and reflections are welcome.
