The pace of modern life has become so fast and intense that it has created an epidemic in our society. This epidemic that affects the majority of us is stress. You have probably heard how stress affects the human body. It is not unusual for people to suffer all kinds of psychological and physical problems because they are afraid of dealing with the factors responsible for their stress.
With the best of intentions, we all wish to lead the life we want to live, with plenty of freedom to enjoy our desires and to keep us (or put us) at the top of our game. Yet, just like the practical math skills needed to balance our checking accounts, setting intentions is not exactly high on the list of things we must master in life to be productive and successful. We usually are not given the opportunity to learn how to balance our bank accounts in school, and we certainly are not often trained on how to work with our intentions.
How is more Important than What
One of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to manifest their dreams is working from some perceived skillset rather than the correct mindset. “I can do X, Y and Z. Therefore, I should get result A” is an example of relying on your level of skill in a particular area rather than on your mindset. Skillset thinking always emphasizes what over how.
The Power of Love
All of us - young or old, poor or rich, salt of the earth or intellectual, battling grave illness or enjoying phenomenal health - all of us want the same things in our lives. We must take care of our survival needs by providing shelter from the elements, food and sustenance for our bodies, and protection from dangers. Because we are social in nature, we need to connect with others in various ways. We need to belong, to be part of something larger than ourselves. Most of all we need love, and the more there is in our lives to enjoy, the better off we are in all ways.
Well-intentioned resolutions will fall flat in the face of stiff restraining forces without character and social reinforcements.
Every organization and individual struggles to gain and maintain alignment with core values, ethics, and principles. Whatever our professed personal and organizational beliefs, we all face restraining forces, opposition, and challenges - and these sometimes cause us to do things that are contrary to our stated missions, intentions, and resolutions. We may think that we can change deeply imbedded habits and patterns simply by making new resolutions or goals only to find that old habits die hard and that in spite of good intentions and social promises, familiar patterns carry over from year to year.
It is a most liberating experience when you are able to live life with an attitude of no expectations. When you have expectations, you have preconceived ideas of how things should be that you are attached to. Expectation creates fear because you think what you desire may or may not happen. Free of expectations, you can just go with the flow of the universe and not be affected by the outcomes that you encounter. Every outcome can serve to move you towards greater realization of your desires.
The problem with free will is that it is easily confused with its delusional cousins, conditioning and indoctrination. For example, a person, let us say his name is Fred, may represent his choice of pink slippers over yellow slippers as an exercise of his free will, but careful investigation will reveal that pink slippers were the habitual footwear of his doting mother, a fact that he has forgotten.
So is his choice of pink slippers a coincidence, or is there some psychological conditioning in his mind that predisposes his attention to desire pink?
Your subconscious mind works best when your conscious mind is asleep or pleasantly occupied. In between intending and manifesting must be a temporary period of forgetting. If you want a good parking spot, give yourself enough time to forget about your intent before you get there. The sooner you think about something else the sooner reality can get to work. There is no easier way to take your conscious mind of something than by keeping yourself busy with something else.
We may think that everything we are experiencing in our external reality is a reflection of our inner consciousness, therefore when we see negative events that we feel we aren’t presently creating, we become confused and frustrated. We start doubting the law of attraction and our reality creation powers. The truth is that although the outer world is a reflection of the inner world, it is only a partial reflection. What we see in the visible world is not all there is.
In everything we think and do, there are only two positions that we are intending and acting from. Fear or love. You can have the same intention or action but it can be either fear based or love based. The same intention or action will have two different affects on reality depending on the kind of energy that goes along with it. When you act and intend out of fear, you attract corresponding conditions created by fear. When you act and intend out of love, you attract corresponding conditions created by love.
A coincidence is an incident that happens with another incident. It can happen at the same time at the same place, same time but different place or same place but different time. It can even happen at a different time and different place but is related to the first event in some special way. Coincidences are incidents that correlate with each other across time and space. They are events in synchronization with a higher cause. That is why coincidences are synchronicities.
Recently I approached a traffic light where a man stood in shabby clothes with a three-legged dog by his side. As I waited for the light to change I looked at this scene with compassion and felt an urge to contribute something. The sign he was carrying indicated that he was homeless. The people in my car commented that he was a strong young man, there were plenty of employment opportunities, and why should anyone give to people who are capable of working. They indicated a kind of mild contempt for this man soliciting funds whom they felt “should” be working. My thoughts were on him and the fact that he cared for and fed this crippled dog. I rolled down the window and gave him several dollars for which he expressed enormous gratitude.