A digest for conscious living
It seems as if I’ve hit a bit of a plateau with my practice this week. It`s not that there is anything wrong, it`s just that previously I had been aware of continual and steady improvements in my ability to calm my mind and reach Sammadhi. For the past week, I have sensed no change. That having been said, I feel that my yoga practice and my physical condition is the best it has been in quite some time. I have been experiencing noticeably less back pain during my daily life than before I began practicing yoga so regularly.
Last night, my wife helped me to identify what I believe might be the most effective way I know of so far to intentionally influence or direct the dreamscape of this life.
Many people believe that by focusing our thoughts powerfully enough on something, we can bring it into manifestation. At the core of this belief is the idea that our thoughts are extensions of our will and have the power to literally change the universe. I believe this is fundamentally true.
It is very easy to visualize what we want and focus our thoughts on it- very often this happens without even having to put any effort into it. A person could for example visualize themselves having a particular job or career and through their focus and determination, one day find that their thoughts have materialized into reality. There is a catch however. Applying the power of our will by focusing our thoughts on a specific goal will not necessarily make us feel the way we believe it will when we begin visualizing. I can speak from personal experience on the subject. When I was studying violin in University, I was unbelieveably determined and focused on my goal of one day playing full time in a high level symphony orchestra. This thought informed the greater part of my waking life years until eventually, I found myself looking out from a stage as a routined professional violinist working with a prestigious Symphony. The interesting part however, was that once the thrill of winning an audition wore off, I realized that being in this situation did not necessarily make me feel the way I thought it would when I first began focusing my thoughts on this goal. There was no lasting sense of satisfaction or fulfillment- I was still the same person on the inside. I had fulfilled my desire, only to realize that I still felt unfulfilled. What is the point of materializing a reality if that reality is not going to make me happy over the long run?
As human beings we have the power to create so much, but unfortunately, most people create their lives according to their desires, and they use their thoughts as a powerful tool to attain them. This is what has lead human beings to be in the dire situation in which we find ourselves today. As motivational and powerful as it is, the idea that if we just get that next object of our desire we will somehow be satisfied, is clearly illusory.
I have a theory that I plan to test that I think might be the solution for this problem. Rather than focus my thoughts on particular material or even psychological objects of my desire, I am going to try to focus my energy on imagining the feeling that I would like to experience- to use my emotional imagination to imagine this feeling, but not to attach specific material prerequisites for it.
Yesterday when I began imagining this feeling, I realized I am not sure how I really want to feel. What feeling is it that I want to imagine and then hold in my mind with such focus and determination that I will bring it into manifestation? So I asked myself: how would I feel if my life was absolutely and fantastically fulfilling, abundant, and full of love, wonder, and joy? I closed my eyes and realized… Gratitude. I would feel extremely grateful. That is the feeling I have to focus on. Even when I don’t feel like I have anything to be grateful for, I have to simply imagine the feeling and hold it in the center of my being with all my power. It is this feeling that has to inform the greater part of my waking life until one day I look around and realize that the dream has built itself up accordingly. I will look around at the rivers, mountains, forests and faces of a New World which could not have been engineered by thinking, but only cultivated through Gratitude.
Goodnight,
Kikta