When I spend time reading all the inspirational spiritual writing on the Web I become much more hopeful than I do when I checkout the political news. It seems that the narrow minded, misguided, so called religious people grab all the headlines while us spiritual and compassionate types all work away quietly. Maybe that is the way it has to be?
Yesterday I had an interview for a job in another town about 40 minutes away and it went well. I feel ready to move back into action but am unsure how much I want to go back to working for an organization. I am a free spirit and struggle with the confines of a job. I know I want to be out in the world as a speaker, teacher, consultant, and workshop and retreat leader and I have to make that happen. Fortunately my wife is good at making things happen on a business level. My skills are helping people grow and express the potential of their mind, heart and spirit.
This going back out into the world got me thinking about how I can best serve others and what does really bring about true change? It seems obvious to me that conscious change is needed and necessary or too much fear and anger will dominate the way the human family relates to each other.
There are several serious stuck places that we all can fall into that need the light of higher consciousness:
1. Many people are too sure they are right and they want to control others who look at the world differently.
2. Many people have closed their minds and have stopped questioning their own thoughts.
3. Many people have closed their hearts and feel distant and depressed.
4. Many people would rather blame others then look at what they can do to make the world a better place.
5. Many people have become angry because they live in worry and fear and feel powerless.
These 5 stuck places many people find themselves in are the product of their own mind. The ego-mind to be more precise is the cause of much self-caused suffering. Maybe it is time that the higher mind be the guiding force.
Here are 5 thinking changes that will offset the self-imposed suffering of these five stuck places.
1. The ego’s need to be right causes much suffering, destroys relationships, and is a source of many of the world’s problems. In truth we can only really know what is true for us. Therefore, we have to allow each person to find their own truth and give up trying to make them fall in line with what we think. Reminder: Thoughts are not real, they are just words we give meaning to in our own head. Beliefs are thoughts we hold onto but they are no more real.
2. Someone said a closed mind is like a parachute, useless unless open. How can anyone be so sure that they close their mind to other ideas and points of view? If we don’t question our own thoughts we can limit our life is so many ways. Another truth is that: many of our thoughts were taught to us by others, who may have been totally wrong or misunderstood. An open mind has infinite possibilities.
3. Closed hearts are a huge loss to humanity. Those that have closed down their hearts lack compassion for self and others. This mostly unconscious decision to close the heart can be remade today. We can chose to live in the world with an open heart. If we have blocked our heart to anyone or any situation it affects our ability to feel love for even those we care most about. Time to let the past go and live to love today.
4. Blame is such an easy out because then we don’t have to take responsibility for what our part is in the problems of the world. All the problems of the world come back to us, we are the government, we are the ones that need to be right, we are the ones that judge others as not ok, we are the ones that become rigid and inflexible. An open mind is always flexible, learning, exploring, and seeking to understand. Taking responsibility is very empowering.
5. Fear is a product of a closed mind and heart. Fear is the opposite of love. If we are filled with worry and fear, we need to find ways to open our heart. Another cause for worry and fear is that we live in the past and future and not in the now. Living in the now is free of fear. You can only plan for tomorrow, today. The past is gone and today you can make whatever better. Powerless is not true unless you think you are. The mind has infinite power and possibilities unless we limit it.
What would you add to these rethinking tips? What has worked for you?