“Why is this taking so long...if seeing is believing I can’t see this happening…?”
I was walking on the beach this morning enjoying the sound of the sea
lapping on the shingle. My mind was in neutral and I was feeling
gratitude for such a beautiful morning and for the blessing of living by
the coast.
My thoughts drifted and wandered to the realisation
of one my most cherished objectives, and then to the business deal that
could make that possible… and then I was mulling over how this business deal may or may not succeed.
My
thoughts then drifted further into analysis of how much this mattered
to me and all the good things that depended on getting the result I
wanted. I thought of how a successful outcome would enable me to help a
particular person I have been mentoring.
Then I started getting frustrated and within
only a few short minutes my peace of mind and present moment awareness
was shattered and I was feeling tense, anxious and resentful.
Like the characters in "The Matrix" we are fooled by the illusion that what we see is how things really are. Why? Because this is the mind's default setting. It sees:
On this site, we place a lot of emphasis on learning how to think effectively and also on learning and practicing the art of not thinking.
Why? Because a quiet mind is an insightful mind and a resourceful mind.
The most effective way of achieving a quiet mind is with the zen practise of mindfulness.
The purpose of this:
As you become more mindful, you become aware that in the gaps between your thoughts, you are far more than the limited and conventional sense of self of your egoic mind.
If you continue with this practice you come to realise that we are spiritual or energetic beings
and that we really are all interconnected and part of one all-embracing
everything.
It sounds dramatic, but to some degree, the walls of separation fall away - or at least weaken.
The Power Of Expectation Of An Outcome Regardless Of The Lack Of Any Substance To That Expectation.
The placebo effect is based on the
power of belief and expectation of an outcome regardless of the lack of
any substance to that belief or expectation. Considerable research has been undertaken on this and there is a body of evidence that suggests that expectation can have a significant impact on outcome.
This
is not magical thinking, but the interaction of your mind and body and
the positive neurological benefits that can be generated by your belief
and expectation.
How you feel has a major effect on how you think and behave.
How you think and behave has a significant effect on the quality of your response to the events in your life. It is the cumulative effect of these responses that shape your long term life experience.
In an earlier article I shared a personal experience of this where I was grounded in, and fixated on, circumstances.
I was looking outside of myself to circumstances seeking evidence of how I could believe that my intentions were possible.
Eventually
I realised that belief, or expectation, was an internal state, and that
my experience of life was ultimately dependent on that.
Letting go and dropping the “How?” is hard for the ego because it is fixated on seeing is believing and letting go is an act of surrender – of giving up control.
Also
it is a matter of temperament. Those of us who see ourselves as the
leader and in charge can find it particularly difficult. Often we can
only really let go when we reach a stage of desperation.
Alternatively, we can use the following less dramatic and less stressful two-step approach:
[1] The cognitive context
Remind yourself that:
[2] The practice
Next Article: What Difference Did You Make?
Return from "Seeing Is Believing" to: Walking The Talk
Or return to: What Is Spirituality?
Just Because You Have A Spectacular Failure Doesn’t Mean The Game Is Over. The thought that you could fail can really slow you down. But the problem is not the failure, the problem is your relationshi…
Are You Lost In Transition? To be in an alien North African city, late in the evening, in the dark, completely lost in transition from the main market square back to the obscure location of our Riad…
Do You Believe What You See Or Do You See What You Believe? Like the characters in "The Matrix" we are fooled by the illusion that what we see is how things really are. Why? Because this is the mind's…
What Impact Will You Leave In The Lives Of Others? If you knew you were going to die tonight and you were given a few minutes to reflect before that happened, what would you say was the meaning of yo…
If You Want Others To Be Happy, Practice Compassion. If You Want To Be Happy, Practice Compassion. Compassion is derived from the Latin words "com pati" meaning to suffer with. It has been defined as…
The Power Of Expectation Of An Outcome Regardless Of The Lack Of Any Substance To That Expectation. Traditionally, the placebo effect occurs when false, or dummy, treatments of inert substances [that…
This Is What Will Happen After You Take It.
"This is your last chance," rebel leader Morpheus tells Neo, holding a coloured pill in each hand. “You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in y…
This Has To Be One Of The Best Ways For Living The Best Life You Can Possibly Live. An online search on life hacks will invariably provide you with multiple links to ways of increasing your productivi…
The Blessing And The Curse Of Impermanence. There is a story of a king who sought wisdom. Eventually he heard of a man living in a remote part of the kingdom who had a reputation for great wisdom. The…
The Stories That We Tell Ourselves Are A Matter Of Choice. The stories we tell ourselves form the backcloth and the tapestry of our lives. These narratives shape and define our sense of self and how a…
Trust Is A Choice And It Creates Your Reality. Nothing in life is permanent and nothing lasts forever. Every relationship ends in tears. Somebody leaves or somebody dies. This is how things are. This…
Finding This Hidden Value Is The Key To A Huge Upside. Most of us spend our lives working to linear rules where there is an equal relationship between effort and result. Work hard you get a result. Wo…
How To Be There When Preparation Meets Opportunity. The growth mindset holds the core belief that your intelligence and personality is something you can develop and that you can expand and grow. The p…
If you can't think of the right thing to say, say nothing.
The concepts we employ, the categorizations we apply and the words we choose and use to articulate a direct experience put us in a double bi…
To Believe Or Not To Believe - That Is The Question. Nothing has inflicted more suffering on humanity than its beliefs and dogmas. The religious and cultural beliefs that sanction and allow or impose…
How To Stay Far From The Madding Crowd. Herd mentality describes how we make decisions based on what everyone else is thinking and doing. It is also known as a mob or crowd mentality. We follow the he…
We Suffer Every Time We Believe A Thought That Argues With What Is. When your mind is perfectly clear, what is, is what you want. If you want reality to be different than it is, you might as well try…
Slack Is The Capacity To Effect Change And The Resource To Deal With The Unexpected. Many organizations are obsessed with efficiency and try to ensure that every resource is fully utilized to its full…
Less and less do you need to force things, until you arrive at non-action. We are brought up to believe that we get what we want in life as a result of what we do, by the actions that we take, that ha…
Is It Helping You Or Hindering You? Your point of focus is the central point of your attention. Your point of focus is a binary choice and the result of that choice is critical to your happiness, your…
To accomplish any success in life, you must identify accurately what it is that you hunger for, thirst for and long for. The purpose of this article is to look at the foundation of the secret for succ…
Discover The Joy Of A Quiet Mind Can you stop thinking? According to Zen Buddhist priest Shunmyo Masuno the art of not thinking about anything is not easy to achieve. Even practising monks find it dif…
What Is Holding You Back From Pursuing Your Dreams? Your self confidence is based on ability. Your self confidence is all about your level of trust, faith and belief in your abilities [your power] and…
Learning how to overcome fear and perform powerfully is a skill that we all need to acquire as fear of failure affects most of us at some point in our lives. Whilst it is natural to feel a level of fe…
You are creating hell on earth when you are too subsumed within your underlying and deeply embedded negative energetic states. To counter your dissatisfactions and misery you initially go unconscious…
How you mentally characterize a situation has a profound impact on how you respond to it emotionally. There is a direct causal link between how you think about a situation, the words you use to articu…
What good is a universe without somebody around to look at it? What Conclusions Can We Draw About Living In A Participatory Universe? The inescapable conclusion is that the world and the universe (wit…
The journey home to the energy of life does not consist in arriving at a new destination it is a coming home to one’s self. [1] How are you feeling, what is your dominant emotion right now? [2] Where…
You have to be willing to suffer today in order to reap enormous rewards tomorrow. The long game is so hard to play because it involves taking a series of very small steps, that people rarely see, per…
How To Build Self Esteem In my early life and until my early twenties I suffered from a deep inferiority complex and low self esteem. Forty years later and, said in sincerity and with humility, I have…