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Choosing Thoughts
A CONSCIOUS MIND
In order to choose our thoughts we must have a conscious mind. What does it mean to be conscious? Does it mean simply to be alive or does it mean also to be aware? And of what are we aware? Actually, the more precise question is to which of the myriad perceptions do we choose to consciously attend? Having a conscious mind does not mean that we are just aware of our daily life. It also means to be conscious of what we have hidden deep inside ourselves. We all have many memories hidden in our unconscious mind, as well as in our superconscious mind.
To be truly conscious in our mundane life, we must also be aware of these hidden portions of our total consciousness. Otherwise, we will not have access to all of our possible choices of perception. While we are limited to the logical, sequential processing of our third-dimensional consciousness, we cannot attend to the constant bombardment of multidimensional stimuli. Therefore, we must filter out most of what we perceive and remain aware of only a small portion of our total experience of life. All that we have chosen to ignore is then stored in our unconscious and superconscious minds.
These perceptual filters are created by our beliefs. Our beliefs influence our expectations, and in turn our expectations influence our perceptions. For example, if we believe that the world is a hostile place, we will expect to see an enemy around every corner. Then, since we believe that the world is hostile, when someone comes around that corner—a normal someone with a vast and paradoxical range of thoughts and emotions—we expect to see an angry threatening person.
Therefore, we are aware of only the portions of that complex person that are expressing anger, as we have filtered out the portions of that person that are kind and loving. Then, because we have chosen to perceive this complex person as being angry, we feel a need to defend ourselves against this “angry” person. With our fear and anger, we amplify the fear and anger in this stranger. Voila! We have created an enemy, and we have also reaffirmed our belief that the world is a hostile place.
On the other hand, let us say that our belief is that the world is generally a loving place and that most people are of good nature. Now on the very same day, at the very same time, we walk around the same corner and meet that same complex person. Because we believe the world is generally a loving place, we expect the approaching person to be friendly. Therefore, we smile warmly and say hello.
Since we are warm and friendly, we amplify the portion of this stranger that is also warm and friendly. Also, we expect a friendly reply, so we filter out the portion of this person that is frightened or angry and choose to perceive the portion that is friendly. In this scenario, it is likely that the person will respond in the same manner in which he or she was addressed. Again, we have affirmed our belief by unconsciously choosing to perceive that which is consistent with the expectations of that belief.
CREATION OF BELIEF FILTERS
How were the belief filters formed? Belief filters are custom-made based on a hierarchical system. In other words, what is most important comes first. And, what is most important of all is survival. Inherent in all species is the fear for survival. Once this fear is activated, we create systems that provide a primary coping mechanism so that we can survive. For example, if we believe that the world is a hostile place, we were likely raised in a frightening environment. In order to survive to adulthood, we learned to believe that everyone and everything was a possible threat.
Therefore, we expected an enemy everywhere and were constantly prepared for battle. This preparation for battle became a primary coping mechanism, and even though the external danger eventually left, our preparation for war was stored in our unconscious self. This unconscious belief system then directs our expectations and eventual perceptions. Hence, we are now recreating our childhood environment.
On the other hand, if we believe that the world is a loving place, we were likely raised in a safe and caring environment. Or perhaps we worked through our early fear and anger and have found a way to believe in love. Either way, we have learned to believe that the world is a loving place or, at least, we have learned to believe in the power of love. Therefore, we are now able to filter out the surrounding negativity and be aware of the positive.
The fact is, not many of us are able to come into adulthood without some fear, anger, loss, or pain. However, if we are somehow able to find love, we can use our past trauma to recognize real, not perceived, danger so that we can protect ourselves. All of us are now experiencing or have experienced a reality that was created for us by our families, our past, and our society. These realities are based on beliefs that were programmed into our consciousness.
Some of these beliefs have assisted us, but some of them have created great limitations in our ability to expect, and perceive, the positive and loving aspects of our third-dimensional life. Our beliefs can be changed, but habit is powerful. The reality that is familiar brings comfort, even if it hurts. Therefore, how can we break out of the habitual beliefs of the familiar and dare to step into an unknown and unfamiliar reality?
CHANGING OUR REALITY
To change our reality, we must transmute our belief in fear and limitation into a belief in love and freedom. When our belief system is based on fear, we feel separate from the world around us because our view is that everyone and everything may try to harm us. However, when we learn to believe in love, we feel united with the world. Everyone and everything can then be viewed as a new opportunity to experience love.
Belief in fear and limitation creates a self-image of being a victim: "The world is my enemy, and I am its victim." On the other hand, belief in love and freedom creates a self-image of empowerment: "Somehow I created my reality and since I created it, I can change it." It is in switching from living in fear to living in love that we can alter the basis of our belief systems. Only then can we begin to change the reality that we experience. This change takes time and understanding, but if we can recognize that our experiences are lessons, we can begin our transformation from a dependent victim to a dependable leader.
This transformation has three phases: being dependent, being independent, and being dependable. Everyone moves through these stages of consciousness. Since we are all complex people, we often move through these phases more quickly in some areas of our life and more slowly in others. Usually, it is in the areas of our life where we have known love that we can transform quickly, and the areas that have caused us fear that transform more slowly. Unfortunately, these fear-filled areas of our life often become our personal nemeses, and we return again and again to address the same old issues in a new way. Fortunately, we each have only a few of these stuck places. These areas of our life are our greatest challenge, yet they also provide the greatest opportunity for personal growth.
CHOOSING OUR THOUGHTS
We can move through our stuck places by realizing that thought precedes action. Therefore, every one of our actions that have caused or prolonged yet another descent into our stuck place, began with a thought. The best way to determine how to get out of our familiar drama is to go backwards in our thinking until we can remember the thought that initiated that causal action.
For example, perhaps we have problems with money, and a check has bounced again. We could likely think backwards to the thought that said something like, “Oh, I am sure that check will come in to cover this.” Once we discover our faulty thinking, we can rewrite that thought to be, “I will NOT send out the payment for this bill until I look at my bank balance and make sure I have enough money right now.”
Many of our actions that make our life more difficult begin with thoughts such as, “I am not good enough.”
“This will never work for me.”
“I can’t do this.”
“I will never be successful.”
All of these thoughts, and thoughts like them, are based on fear.
It is helpful to, at some point, heal the cause of this kind of thinking. However, even once we have done that, we still have the power of our habit. If we have spent our life wallowing in negative thinking, it is a big shift to catch ourselves and replace that thought with a positive, empowering, loving thought. A mantra can be of great assistance in deflecting our old, negative, fear-thought and replacing it with a positive thought.
A mantra is an inner or outer visual picture and/or a positive sentence that can be used to filter out fear and habitual, negative thinking. For example, a visual mantra may be a symbolic picture of a favorite place, a loved one, or a pet that evokes a positive feeling of peace and love. Verbal mantras work best if they are in first person, present tense. For example: I am successfully fulfilling my goal. If the mantra is in the future tense (I will successfully fulfill my goal), it is like a carrot on a stick that is never obtained.
A mantra is used to edit out negative thoughts and feelings by believing in our self enough to remember that we can choose to shift our attention from fear to love. It is best if we choose a mantra that is based on self love and is correlated enough to the specific fear we are experiencing. In this manner, the mantra would be the most effective antidote for the “dis—ease” we are suffering due to our thoughts. For example, if the fear is that we will not achieve our goal, our visual mantra is an imaginary or real picture of us achieving a goal; the verbal mantra is, “I am achieving my goal;” and the feeling is one that is associated with the fulfillment of that goal.
If we can identify the fear before it is amplified by our attention, we can take a moment to close our eyes (limit our focus), take a deep breath (breathe through the fear), and visualize a picture that is the antidote for our fear, while we say our verbal mantra and allow the positive feelings of love, hope and inner power to override the feelings of fear and defeat. Once we have regained our footing in positive thinking, we can look again at the fear from our objective self. Does this fear carry a warning? If it does, then we can listen to the warning, act appropriately, and release the fear.
It is helpful to set aside some time, from five minutes to an hour, at least three to five days a week to spend inside our SELF. If we can set aside that special time, we can learn to gain conscious mastery over our consciousness and realize that we choose our consciousness by choosing the thoughts we allow to take residence in our mind and the emotions we allow to linger in our heart.
If we allow the habit of fearful thinking to dictate our overall thinking and give in to fearful emotions, our consciousness will be overwhelmed by the myriad stimuli supporting our choice to focus on fear. We have the ability to hear a negative thought and choose to edit it out by taking a few deep breaths and choosing to say, think or visualize our mantra. Our mantras will change as our challenges change, but whatever the mantra or positive thought we choose, it will be based on love, confidence and courage.
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Multidimensional Counseling
