Maybe It Is All in Your Mind

Where do you experience most of your life? Is the majority of activity outside of you or inside your mind?

I was with a person who, as other times before, talked about what’s perceived as wrong in her life, wrong with others, and recounted past events shared from a negative perspective. Yet, I didn’t have the same experience of this as I’ve had prior times. Instead, I was serene, which allowed me to listen and observe differently (rather than absorb that energy). In fact, my all-round participation was different. It was like being in freezing temperatures, but staying warm because there was a heater hidden in my energy field. While the person complained, I felt cozy inside and out, with no need to engage or judge her “it’s miserable” perspective. Eventually, my inner flame warmed her, as well.

Granted, our time spent together was limited, but when I thought about this, I realized that what I usually experience with this person is not the person herself as much as it is that I experience myself, that is, my perceptions, my judgments, my expectations, and my ego’s inner dialogue that likes to run on and on. It’s called mind chatter, which is one of the biggest wastes of life force energy we self-indulge in.

Mind chatter takes up mental space, which means there’s little room for inspiration, creativity, and intuitive information to communicate with you and lead you along a more joyful, productive, and fulfilling path… one of genuine connection with yourself, Source, others, and your life.

We, understandably, believe we are fully present with others, or with life matters, but we aren’t really as “there” as we might like to think we are. Instead, we’re inside our mind, usually listening to our insecure ego that is busy sniping about how it wants everything and everyone to be a certain way. This bumps us right out of being fully present, where we can be responsive in a productive way, and makes us less prone to remember we are spiritual beings with an inner power more dynamic than we usually allow it to be for us; a power that waits for us to remember it’s there and “plug in” so its energy can flow to us and through us.

Sometimes we get so full of mind chatter we spew it out, believing we’re having a conversation or being productive, when we’re just informing people in which ways we feel out of control in our life. Mind chatter happens; and if you let it have its way, it’ll have you upset more often than not, and possibly doing battle with people in real life or on the battlefield created in your mind.

So, how did I get into and stay in that more serene inner place during that time? I decided to hold silent power, to pay attention differently, to be with the person and the energy instead of in the mind chatter of my ego… kind of like watching a film, or being okay with a minor role instead of being the star or competing for top billing (not always easy, but doable). I allowed and reminded myself to stay connected to the truth of my inner power, as much as possible.

My experience included asking myself questions like: Do I choose to be aligned with my power enough to provide appropriate energetic and other support to this person so she won’t feel so insecure, or worse, judged because of my ego’s as yet unresolved issues? Am I listening with more than my ears and ego? What and how do I choose to engage, and will this engagement be fueled by my personal power and connection to Source… or my ego?

Sometimes the way you can best support or engage yourself and others is through silence; but this requires the energy of serenity from higher understanding and awareness so that your silence isn’t underscored with negative mind chatter and the ego’s resentment about you choosing to keep your mouth shut.

Stuff happens, and we get triggered. Personal power helps you stay stable. If you’re not engaging your power, then anything, even small stuff, can rattle you and you find yourself following your emotions wherever they lead. There are at least two typical ways you might deal with mind chatter, which include either going with it, which puts you in a bad mood you then “share” with others, or self-deprecation because you have the chatter going on, so you tell yourself you have to stop this, which frustrates you if you don’t have a way to do this that works. What’s working for me, as soon as I see this happening (or sometimes before it starts), is I use a few genuinely empowering-for-me statements and repeat them like a mantra, to remind myself to more deeply connect with my personal power and what it really means; and to re-dedicate myself to this every day.

You cannot be strong in your personal power if or when your emotions are out of control. Mind chatter keeps you out of control because you choose to let the needy ego run amok rather than do what it takes to build up and stand in your power.

Personal power requires self-discipline, or self-management, if that’s an easier term for you to accept and allow. Without this, your life is disorganized, messy, and therefore, unfulfilling; and this is true for any area of your life. Any emotional, and even physical, “mess” in your life indicates a weakness in your connection to your personal power, in partnership with Source, and that ego is running the show. Messes are a declaration by ego that it either believes it can make a mess and others will clean it up or that it’s too “special” or “justified” to concern itself with such details. The more you follow either of these paths the more ego will control your life; and, you won’t appreciate the results, including how this affects your confidence, your ability to put your attention and energy towards what you really desire to experience, and your level of success and fulfillment.

If your life or a particular area of it seems out of control, look first at what you’re allowing to happen in your mind. Consider what you’ve read here and put some or all of it into practice, and you will begin to build your life force energy and personal power. This may happen quickly or may feel slower than you’d like; and the building speed may be different for the affected areas of your life. Your progress depends on your practice. Whatever it is that you think you want, personal power and life force energy are what you really want because they are what support you to experience your life the way you really desire to, inwardly then outwardly. Whenever you’re ready, get out of your mind chatter and into your true power. You’ll find Source is ready to assist you.

Practice makes progress.
© Joyce Shafer

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