Cultivate Positive Thoughts and Feelings

You need a peaceful, clear and positive mind in order manifest your needs for your self, your family and perhaps even for society and the world.

Our emotions have a direct effect on our bodies. Every time we feel an emotion, our endocrine system excretes certain hormones or peptides that flow throughout our blood stream to all of our cells, filling them with the “hormones of that emotion”. The hormonal state created by negative emotions creates an imbalance in our nervous, endocrine and immune system, which in turn creates an imbalance in all other systems. We are subsequently much more susceptible to illness and discomfort.

Medical Studies at the “ Heart Math Institute” in California have shown that five minutes of anger or frustration can weaken aspects of the immune system for five hours and that five minutes of love or gratitude can strengthen the immune system for five hours.

Other studies have shown that we become chemically addicted to these hormonal excretions caused by certain emotions, and tend to subconsciously seek ways to recreate those feelings and our “hormonal doses” just as any other addictive substance. We actually become chemically addicted to feeling fear, anger, hurt, bitterness, hate or guilt and attract and create situations in which we can once again experience those familiar feelings.

This subsequently leads to a vicious circle of recreating negative emotional states that reinforce our false beliefs that we are in danger, or victims or unworthy. Our health, relationships, work and happiness all deteriorate.

Our mind creates our reality

Perhaps the worse result is that, because of the law of attraction, our negative feelings and thinking attract more of what we are feeling negative about. This might also be called the law of mirroring, sympathetic vibration or the law of manifestation.

Our mind, thoughts, emotions, expectations and behaviors actually create our reality. When we change them, our reality changes. Positive thoughts and feelings attract and create positive realities.

This is the test of our times. To feel confident and positive even when the external reality does not inspire positive thinking. This is where the “centered” will be separated from the “fearful”. Those who are able to continue to feel confident in their ability to deal with and overcome challenges will do well. Those who succumb to fear, anxiety, anger and hate, as it is very easy to do, will suffer even more.

Others mirror our emotions

We broadcast our emotions whether we express them or not. These energies stimulate others to react and behave in ways that reflect our emotions. When we submit for periods of time to intense negative emotions (not just momentary feelings, which are natural and harmless), we actually increase the possibility that others will behave negatively towards us.

Even when we are “innocent”, and have done no harm to anyone, our fear of others will subconsciously invite them to behave in ways that mirror our fears. The same is true for our feelings of anger, guilt, pain, betrayal, hate, bitterness, rejection, criticism and all other feelings. They actually increase the possibility of attracting once again what we feel negatively towards.

This is an extremely important fact to remember in when passing through “testing times”. We are actually being tested as to our ability to remain positive by feeling worthy, secure and powerful within ourselves, thus enabling ourselves to be courageous and positive in dealing with people and situations.

The power of Gratitude

One way to generate positives feelings is to focus on all that you have that you can feel grateful for. Even when we do not have everything that we want or believe that we must have in order to feel happy, we can always focus on what we do have. When we concentrate only on what we do not have, we lose all that we actually do have because we are ignoring it and not allowing what we have to grant us pleasure, security or happiness.

We may not have the money or material security that we would like to have, but we may have people that we love and who love us. We may have good or sufficient health to enjoy life. We may have shelter and food. We may have electricity and running water. We may even have hot running water. If we have books and a TV, then we are probably in the top 20% of the planet. If we have even a little money in the bank, then we are in the top 8% of the planet.

We can feel grateful for the air we breathe, the flowers, trees and birds around us. And if we live near a park, forest, mountain or any body of water, then we can find pleasure in their presence in our lives. Even in difficult times, we can enjoy the people, animals and nature around us.

If we know how to read and have gained various forms of knowledge, then we are very special and blessed. If we have access to the Internet, then we are among 6% of the planet who have access to a computer. If we have a telephone we are better off than the 3 billion people (50% of the planet) who do not have one and may have not even seen one.

Feeling gratitude for all that we have causes to attract more of what we need. When we feel gratitude, we broadcast positive energy, which mirrors back from people and the universe in the form of more of whatever causes us to feel even greater gratitude. When we feel lucky to have what we have, we attract more of whatever makes us feel lucky. When we feel unloved, unlucky and discouraged we attract more of whatever causes us to feel those feelings.

Life is a mirror that reflects back to us our past and present dominant thoughts, feelings and behaviors. The power to create a new and happier reality, even in these testing times depends on our ability to remain confident that we are always worthy and safe and have the power and inner stamina to deal with and benefit from each and every challenge that life brings us.

It is important to perceive life as friendly rather than as dangerous. We have learned and become programmed to see life as difficult and dangerous. This is because for many thousands of years society has identified with the body and mind, ignoring our spiritual self and the actual reason we, as spirit, are in these temporary bodies.

Nothing is by chance

One basic change we need to make in the way we think is to realize that nothing in our lives ever happened by chance and that nothing is now happening by chance or will ever occur by chance. We are loved beyond measure by the divine, life and the universe. Everything that happens in our lives occurs as an opportunity for our growth and evolution. We create these events and situations either with our unenlightened choices, feelings and thoughts or as “soul choices” before we are born.

The reality is that we actually immortal formless consciousness temporarily occupying a body for the purpose of remembering our true eternal nature while in the body and then manifesting on this material level the harmony, love, unity and beauty that already exist in our spiritual self.

Having this in mind, there are only two reasons why something unpleasant happens in our lives. One is that we in our ignorance and fear are attracting negative realities. The other is that on a spiritual level have chosen this experience as an opportunity to wake up.

We can assume that this economic, social and ethical crises the world is experiencing is a product of both causes. On one level it is the result of our ego identification, selfishness, greed, fear and alienation. On the other hand, it is what we have now chosen as an opportunity to develop inner security and greater feelings of unity, love and cooperation.

We are personally loved

We have all together as humanity created and chosen this situation as a opportunity to take our next step towards spiritual freedom from fear by creating a deeper connection with our unlimited inner power. Based on this perception, we can now begin to understand and feel that we are each personally loved unconditionally by the Divine and the universe.

There is nothing that has even happened to us, or is happening now or will happen in the unfoldment of our lives that is not our creation – either by our ego choices or by our soul choices. There is no such thing as punishment. There is no danger. Nothing can happen by chance. Nothing will ever happen that is not in our ultimate benefit as souls seeking to remember our true selves in these material bodies where we have lost that feeling of formless immortality.

Every event, every outcome is an expression of love from the universe, giving us an opportunity to use it to realize the truth or not. We have free will. We can use these experiences for their ultimate purpose – discovering greater inner worth, security freedom and fulfillment. Or we can sink into fear, discouragement, pain, bitterness, resentment, anger, guilt, hate or helplessness. This is our free will. The events have been created by our previous and present thoughts, words, acts and souls choices in conjunction with the lessons we have chosen personally and communally to learn at this point in our evolutionary process. But how we use and react to these events and situations is our free choice.

This is the choice we have in “times of testing”. We must not confuse, as we have for thousands of years, the opportunities offered by these tests we have set up for ourselves with any type of punishment. There is no divine punishment. This is an illusion. How could a divine being of unconditional love who asks us to love even their enemies, ever have negative feelings toward or punish those creations, which are actually projections of the divine on the material plane? It doesn’t make any sense. The idea of punishment from God or the universe is an old rather childish perception of the divine that has lost is usefulness as we move forward to realizing and manifesting our own inner divine potential.

Those who have until now believed that we are weak and unworthy sinners, might benefit from learning that the actual goal of Christianity as expressed by the early church fathers is “theosis” or the process of becoming “God like”. By freeing ourselves from fear and guilt we bring forth our inner spiritual values such as love, peace, just action, truthfulness, non violence, selflessness, and caring for and serving others. These qualities manifest the “Image of God” which is the potential within as the Likeness of God in our lives. This is a basic step in Theosis – becoming like God while in a body.

It is essential that we free ourselves from the feeling that we live in a difficult, unfriendly and punishing universe. We now need to grow up from these less evolved perceptions to realize that we altogether – all souls incarnated and not - comprise the being we call God. We are expressions of Divine consciousness in these temporary physical bodies. We are the creators of our personal reality and co-creators of our social, national and planetary realities.

Learning and manifesting

We are in a process of learning to manifest ever more positive realities with abundance, peace, equality, love and happiness for all. This is our life purpose. We have accepted to temporarily forget our true formless self and identify with the body and mind. In the highest levels of our being we love everyone – even those who harm and disturb us. Our ego might not love them. Be we do love them. That is why Christ asks us to love even those who harm us, because by doing so, we are connecting to our true spiritual self who actually already loves the others and cannot do otherwise.

When we realize that we live in a loving reality, we will feel secure and peaceful in all situations and will be able to help those around us do the same. Our energy will then be diverted from fear, resentment and anger towards seeking solutions personally and collectively. We will be much more effective in creating the security, abundance and happiness we seek.

You can do this by realizing and remembering the following.

1. That you are actually an immortal divine consciousness who has temporarily projected your consciousness in what you call your body. There is no birth, only a temporary projection of your consciousness into this body and mind. You were actually never born and will never die.

2. You will simply one day retract your consciousness from your body at that time you choose, regardless of the conditions of your withdrawal, which may happen slowly or suddenly. You cannot and will not retract your consciousness from your body until your own chosen time even in the extreme possibility that someone might “murder” you, it can only happen with your inner concurrence – which of course your ego and mind will have no awareness.

3. The same is true for all the events that have occurred or will appear in your life. Nothing will happen that you have not in some way created or chosen on some level. Everything that has happened, is happening or will ever happen will always be the best opportunity for your growth and awakening to the truth. You can be at peace with the fact that only that which serves your best possible interest as a soul in the process of evolution will ever take place.

4. Equally all of your loved ones are also eternal, immortal fellow souls who have chosen play their temporary roles in your life drama (as you are playing your role in theirs) and who have chosen their own experiences and lessons. Nothing is happening or will happen in their lives that is not what they are freely creating and choosing as opportunities for learning their chosen lessons. They too have free will to learn or not. They may have to create more pain before they are ready to learn. Sometimes we can help them and at other times, they are not open or ready for help. This is something we need to accept and be at peace with.

Worrying or fearing for our loved ones only undermines their own sense of power and self-confidence. We can help them much more effectively by perceiving them as eternal powerful spiritual beings who have chosen their life lessons and challenges and believe in their ability to deal with and benefit from those tests.

There is a story, which I believe is true, about a man who saw a butterfly struggling to get out from its cocoon. He decided to help the butterfly by cutting the cocoon open with his pen allowing the butterfly to get free with no effort at all. Then the butterfly could not fly, because only through the effort of pushing with its wings on the walls of cocoon could his wings become developed for flying. It remained ground bound.

In our love and concern for our loved ones and especially our children, we often make the mistake of solving their problems for them, so that in the end they have no wings to fly with. The best way to help our loved ones is to perform Ho’oponopono (which we will discuss later) and to visualize them filled with the inner light of their true spiritual self which energizes them with power and inner guidance. Every time you find yourself fearing for or worrying about a loved one, if you really want to help, gently direct your mind to this image of him or her with light, power and inner guidance. You will on this way empower them rather than participate in the illusion of their weakness. This is greatest help we can offer a loved one.

5. Our opportunities for growth and evolution come in doses that may stretch our “spiritual muscles” but not so much that they will damage them, unless we ourselves chose ignore our inner power. When we want to increase the weight we can lift, there is no sense in lifting the same weights we have been lifting for years. We need to increase the weight, but not so much that we will break our backs trying. In the same way, we “choose” opportunities for growth that test our spiritual muscles but always in doses that we have the power to deal with. We will never be given a growth opportunity that is beyond our ability to deal with. We, however, have free will to access our inner power or to ignore it and feel weak and thus allow the event or situation to drag us into pain, fear, despair, depression and helplessness. Some people after suffering or fearing at first, recoup and reconnect to their inner power and others do not. It is our choice.

6. All events and realities are personally created, even in all encompassing catastrophes. Christ mentions when talking about the second coming that “two men with be in the field, one will be taken and one will remain. Two women will be at the mill, one will be taken, one will remain.” This means to me that even in a mass catastrophe whether it be an earthquake, flood, fire or an economic crises, what will happen to each will be what each specific soul needs at this time. Nothing will happen to you because it is happening to others. Regardless of what is occurring to others around you, only what you have chosen and created will happen to you. When an event like a plane crash kills many people that is because each one of them has chosen that way of withdrawing their consciousness from the temporary physical body. If some had a ticket for the flight but had not chosen that means, they will in some way be obstructed from getting on the flight, while others not listed on the flight but who have chosen that means of departure will suddenly get on the flight.

When we begin to think in this way, we will experience inner peace and clarity and will realize that we live in loving universe and are loved unconditionally by the divine of which we are a part. We will feel gratitude and perceive every challenge as an opportunity for a deeper reconnection with our true selves. We will then manifest all of the abundance, health, joy and love that we wish to have.

From the forthcoming book Dealing with Testing Times