Visualize Your Field of Dreams
Written by Jerry on December 11, 2009 – 4:04 am -Visualize Your Field of Dreams
Instead of focusing on a problem that you want changed, imagine the situation or condition as you really want it to be.
The idea is simple and, fortunately, so is the method. Anyone can do it, anywhere, at any time, with great results. Visualization is one of the most powerful methods for attracting what you desire.
In a very real sense, your fantasies are your realities – good ones and bad ones. What you imagine is what will be in the future. To quote the movie Field of Dreams, "If you build it, they will come." It’s never too late to imagine something new, even if you have been stuck in a rut for a long time.
The process of visualization is simple, and it doesn’t require any esoteric knowledge or special equipment. If you can find a quiet place to do it, all the more better; if you can’t don’t worry much about it. You can do it on the bus, if you want. If you can arrange to be uninterrupted while you do it, great; if not, it isn’t a problem. You can do it with your eyes closed or open. You can do it sitting, standing, laying down, or running.
All you need to do is create a visual picture of what you want, not what you don’t want. Create a visual picture of the condition, circumstance, or situation as perfectly as you want it to be. Once you have a clear mental picture of the ideal situation, be sure to place yourself right in middle the image. Be part of the scene.
Want to make it work even better and faster?
Visualization is much more effective when coupled with positive emotions. So, once you’ve begun visualizing the way you want something to be – whether it’s your physical condition or your life circumstances – next allow yourself to start feeling the emotions associated with this ideal scene.
Feel what it’s like to have what you want. Feel like you already have it now – perfect health, the relationship you’ve always wanted, that new house, that better job, better health – whatever it is, really FEEL the emotions you know you’ll have when whatever it is, becomes your reality.
The visualization is the way to send request into the universe; the positive emotions are the way you get yourself in alignment with your desire and the way you allow the possibility of what you’ve visualized into your present reality.
It’s a three-step process:
1. Visualize your desire, with yourself in it;
2. Feel how it feels to have that desired reality here and now;
3. Repeat often.
Abraham-Hicks, co-authors of "Ask And It Is Given", and facilitators of the "Art of Allowing" workshop claim that if you can focus on a single visual image for 17 seconds straight, you’ve effectively put your request out into the Universe.
Is that true? Why not try it for yourself and find out?
Never Stop Exploring Life!
Jerry L Saunders, RM
Tags: Better Health, Circumstance, Emotions, Esoteric Knowledge, Fantasies, Field Of Dreams, Good Ones And Bad Ones, Ideal, Image, Job, Life Circumstances, Long Time, Mental Picture, Perfect Health, Quiet Place, Quote, Realities, Relationship, Visualization
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The Stages of the Mind
Written by Jerry on November 21, 2009 – 2:17 am -The Stages of the Mind
For our purpose here, there are three unique stages in the mind that depict how it’s functioning at any given time. Some meditation experts and psychologists may define many more levels but, I want to keep it simple, short and useful for you.
One: The Normal Mind
In the “normal” state of mind, your mind is working in many directions – which means it’s bouncing from one idea and thought to the next. In fact, this is really an abnormal activity for the mind because it needs to focus on fewer ideas if it’s to be successful in dealing with daily life.
Stimuli from all around you are constantly coming at your mind. When something new stimulates your mind, it moves from its previous thought to the new one. Although you feel like you are completely in control of yourself during this, you probably aren’t.
You have very little control over the way that you behave and think during this "mind bouncing." Not only do your thoughts move from one thing to the next thing quickly, but your body begins to speed up too. Your emotions will follow soon.
An example of this type of brain activity can be as simple as seeing a child playing. If you see the child while you are driving, your mind goes from control of the vehicle to the child. She’s cute, playing and riding her bike. Then, your mind moves to thoughts from your own childhood. You feel good and smile at the happy memories.
Of course, it doesn’t always play out so innocently. You can go through these same thought and emotional processes with negative images too.
Consider if that child was a teenager, doing something that they shouldn’t be. Now, you might start wondering about your own children and what they are doing that you don’t know about. And, your emotions are now fearful and tense.
In a negative situation, you are likely to become distracted by the thoughts bouncing through your mind, which then directly impacts the way that you drive your vehicle. Perhaps you run a red light or, you narrowly miss a car accident.
As you can see, in your "normal state" of mind, your emotions as well as your physical being are brought into play. Each plays their own role in the outcome of this "mental event."
Often, stress builds up during this process and since it’s our “normal” state of mind, they pile on over time. You can find yourself unable to concentrate on anything for more than a few seconds and, over time, you can have trouble balancing your everyday life.
For the most part, your “normal” way of thinking may be creating a quiet havoc in your life.
Two: Concentration
Concentration is the first state that leads to meditation. But, don’t confuse concentration with meditation. It’s something very different.
During this second stage of mind, you can begin to get control of your thinking. When you learn to keep yourself in this mind frame, you’ll improve the quality of your life considerably.
In concentration, your goal seems simple but its actually quite difficult to master. You need to concentrate on only one thing or object.
To be successful, you need to keep your mind focused on that one thing and not be distracted by any thoughts or external events that happen to pop up. Focus on it, without allowing your mind to wander. It’s not as easy as it seems.
During concentration, the problem is the mind’s ability to trick you back into its “normal” state of being. By moving away from the actual concentration topic and focusing on another, it pulls you back.
For example, if you need to concentrate on a report for school, you could be sitting down thinking and working. You’ll allow your mind to focus and relax on the topic at hand.
Then, you think of what your teacher had to say about the report. That leads to thoughts of what your friend said next to you while the teacher was talking. Within a matter of minutes, you are thinking about something completely different than the topic of your report.
The result is that you are distracted so much that you are back at the “normal” stage of thinking, having accomplished little in way of concentrating on your report. This is just not going to work.
Now you must use your awareness to realize what’s just happened. When you can realize that you’ve been distracted and that your mind has fooled you, then you can come back and actually concentrate.
This is part of the cycle of concentration. It looks sort of like this:
Normal State==> Concentration==> Distraction==> Normal State==> Awareness==> Concentration==> Distraction….
When you can master the art of keeping your mind focused and concentrating, you’ll experience a new level of thinking. You’ll be able to relax more and you’ll be able to actually feel better about your life. That’s an amazing feeling!
Three: Meditative State
In a meditative state, the third stage, you enter a completely different realm. Now, you are able to fully concentrate on the object or thought without falling for any type of distraction. Here, distractions seem to just disappear.
This is the stage that you are striving for because it really can offer you a new outlook on life. In many ways, you’ll be able to focus so much that you can better understand yourself. You will begin to reshape your emotions and make better decisions.
During concentration, your mind is concentrating on the object of focus in a minimal way. Distraction breaks the stream of concentrative thoughts. This means you must become aware of the problem and to go back and change it.
In a meditative state, this is no longer the case. Now, you are keeping the ongoing stream of thought moving. There’s nothing breaking it and nothing that is able to pull your mind from it. This is the ultimate experience in meditation.
Consider this. If you think about just one topic, over and over again, anything and everything connected to that topic will come to you in one form or another. Let’s say that the word that you use is that of love.
If you think of love in a meditative state, you concentrate on that one word which leads to other terms connected to love. You love something, you love someone, different types of love, and so on. Eventually, you have connected in practically every way possible to love. You physically feel it, you emotionally feel it. You have thought about it over and over. And, eventually, you have connected everything you can to love.
When you have achieved this state of meditation, you’ve elevated yourself to a whole new level. You’ve gone far beyond the simple level of concentration. Now, you have entered the important stage of meditation which is called contemplation. This part of the final stages of meditation is the very best level of consciousness that your mind and body can enter. In a sense, you "become" what you meditate upon.
Although it takes some time to achieve this level of understanding, the end result is well worth it.
Never Stop Exploring Life!
Jerry L Saunders, RM
Tags: Abnormal Activity, Amp Nbsp, Brain Activity, Control, Emotional Processes, Emotions, Happy Memories, Meditation, Mind Control, Mind Moves, Mind Your Mind, Nbsp, Negative Images, Negative Situation, Psychologists, Rsquo, Smile, Stimuli, Teenager
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How Mind Builds Body
Written by Jerry on September 5, 2009 – 1:27 am -
by Ralph Waldo Trine
Would you remain always young, and would you carry all the joyousness and buoyancy of youth into your maturer years? Then have care concerning but one thing, — how you live in your thought world. This will determine all. It was the inspired one, Gautama, the Buddha, who said, — “The mind is everything; what you think you become.” And the same thing had Ruskin in mind when he said, — “Make yourself nests of pleasant thoughts. None of us as yet know, for none of us have been taught in early youth, what fairy palaces we may build of beautiful thought, –proof against all adversity.”
And would you have in your body all the elasticity, all the strength, all the beauty of your younger years? Then live these in your mind, making no room for unclean thought, and you will externalize them in your body. In the degree that you keep young in thought will you remain young in body. And you will find that your body will in turn aid your mind, for body helps mind the same as mind builds body.
You are continually building, and so externalizing in your body conditions most akin to the thoughts and emotions you entertain. And not only are you so building from within, but you are also continually drawing from without, forces of a kindred nature. Your particular kind of thought connects you with a similar order of thought from without. If it is bright, hopeful, cheerful, you connect yourself with a current of thought of this nature. If it is sad, fearing, despondent, then this is the order of thought you connect yourself with. Read more »
Tags: Abnormal Condition, Abnormal Conditions, Adversity, Buddha, Buoyancy, Child Nature, Elasticity, Emotions, Fairy Palaces, Health, Kindred Nature, Mdash, Proof, Ralph Waldo Trine, Ruskin
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Monk Moment 17 Emotional Discipline
Written by Jerry on May 7, 2009 – 3:13 pm -
If you remember, last week we started a series about the 5 Disciplines you need to begin pursuing your passions.
Last week we covered just what Discipline is and why it is a very positive thing, even though you may have thought about it as being harsh and negative.
We also covered Physical Discipline and what you’ll need to do to bring your health and energy up to the levels you’ll need to increase your Personal Power.
Keep in mind that these Disciplines will need to be followed iand worked on in the order given. Each Discipline builds the foundation for the next.
Now we’ll talk about Emotional Discipline and how to start breaking out of the "tribal" mentality. You might want to download the 9 Minute Guide to a Happier Life to help with this step.
Never Stop Exploring Life!
Jerry L Saunders, Renegade Monk
Tags: audio, Emotions, Fear, happier life, personal power, self help
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5 Meditation Thieves
Written by Jerry on April 21, 2009 – 6:29 pm -If your meditation practice is not growing and you feel stuck, you might just want to take a look at the 5 Meditation Thieves and see if they are behind your lack of progress. Don’t beat yourself up or feel bad. Use the information to get back on track and feel good about meditating again!
Monkey Mind
Because of our hectic lifestyles not only do our emotions tend to run wild, but we have 1001 thoughts just when we are trying "quiet" the mind. Believe it or not, this is normal. If your mind was already serene you wouldn’t need meditation. Be patient with yourself and remember that you aren’t trying to stop the thoughts. You want to observe them and let them go. I’ve also found it helpful to take a pen and paper just before the meditation session and take a few minutes to write down any "to do" items that tend to come up during meditations. It doesn’t stop thoughts of what to get at the grocery store or when to fill up the gas tank, but it has cut down on these thoughts tremendously.
The Liar
The Liar is closely related to the Judge but, gives you a slightly different message. The Liar tells you things like it’s okay to skip today because you’ve meditated the past 6 days in a row. The Liar also tells you things like it’s okay move on to more advanced meditation techniques, even though you haven’t really mastered the basics yet. Once again, the key is to be patient with yourself and understand that you have a lifetime to explore meditation and you never will really "master" it. Meditation is a journey and the results are reaped by taking the journey-not arriving at a particular destination.
The Judge
The Judge just loves to tell you what a fantastic failure you are at meditating. It loves playing the critic. The judge will tell you that you’re not doing it right, you’re doing it long enough and you haven’t perfected meditation yet even though you have invested a whole week into it! Be patient but firm. The judge fears any change in your "normal" thought processes and it’s just trying to protect you. You must tell the Judge gently but firmly that you know what is best for you and that you appreciate it’s looking out for your best interest, but that you’ve got it under control.
Will Power
Will power is the American way. It means being rough and tough, gritting your teeth and plowing on through the sheer power of determination. At times this type of guts and action can move you full speed ahead towards your goal. Meditation is not one of those times.
High Expectations
While there is nothing wrong with approaching meditation with the expectation of gaining all those great benefits you’ve heard about, high expectations can be your enemy here. Understand that many of the great benefits of meditation are just side effects. The real gold is in the journey of becoming more and more of your true self. Don’t expect to be able to "bliss out" or have magnificent revelations immediately. They may come soon or they may never come. You may simply experience a calm silent power in your life that lets you live a life without struggle. That’s not so bad, is it?
Start keeping a meditation journal and keep track of how any of these stumbling blocks are getting in your way. Then use the tips above to keep them in their proper perspective.
Never Stop Exploring Life!
Jerry L Saunders, RM
Tags: Emotions, Failure, Few Minutes, Gas Tank, Grocery Store, Hectic Lifestyles, Journey, Liar, Lifetime, Meditation Practice, Meditation Session, Meditation Techniques, Meditations, Monkey Mind, Nbsp, Pen And Paper, Thieves
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