Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Saturday – Losing a Pet

Tags

Crossing Over, Leaving this World, Losing a Pet, Loss, Mourning, The Next Adventure, Transition, Weezer

My sister’s dog Weezer passed yesterday. The Vet diagnosed him with a brain tumor and she decided it was best to put him down to ease his suffering. The little guy lost all of his energy in recent months and over the last few days couldn’t walk or negotiate stairs.

Losing a pet is no fun. You spend a good majority of your time with them and then, suddenly, they’re gone. What was interesting with the little guy was that he wanted to follow my sister everywhere she went toward the end of his life. It was frustrating because he had a bad habit of sitting right behind her on the floor when she was cooking. I think it was his way of spending as much time with my sister as he could because he knew his time was coming. He wanted to be as close to her as he could, since his time was fleeting.

Pets, like us, realize at some point when our time here is up. With dogs they sleep more. They dream more. In my religious path, we use these dreams or experiences to ease one from this world to the next with as little shock as possible. My sister said Weezer went easy. He didn’t fight. He just went to sleep. This happens when we slowly let go of our attachments to this life and prepare for the next. If we pay attention, the same will happen for all of us when it is our time to go.

Weezer, we will miss you. You were a great companion to our family, and you were always a welcome addition to our home when my sister had to travel. Goldie will miss you too. Even though you got on her nerves when you were here, she will wonder what happened to you when my sister comes the next time and you are not there. Wherever you are, buddy, I know you will run after balls and enjoy yourself in the next life. I wish you well on your journey my little friend.

For any of you that lose a pet, know they are in a good place, filled with love, and doing the same things they did here. They are on their next adventure and continue their journey back to God. Like our pets, our time here is temporary. We will all pass over too. As we age, we too will sleep more and dream more, to make our transition to our next assignment in the worlds of God easier.

I wish all of you a terrific Saturday!

Until next time…

Dave

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Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Saturday – Grateful for Life

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Acceptance, Awareness, Grateful, Gratitude, Joy, reality, simplicity, spirituality

“When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege, it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love.” Marcus Aurelius

It is a privilege to be alive. I am thankful for each day and all the experiences that come with it. Each of us is here to gain experience and take one more step back to our true home–God. The lessons keep coming and we either learn or fail to recognize the lesson presented to us. The lessons keep coming.

I believe that everything is in its rightful place in the universes of God. It is not reality that is the problem. It is our inability to accept reality for what it is. Some things we can change or avoid, but who can avoid being sick, the death of a loved one, or the loss of a job? No one. These things happen. People get sick, they die, and in today’s business climate will lose work.

There is always a lesson to be learned in every problem we encounter. You can get emotional, you can throw a tantrum, you can ignore the problem, but the problem and the lesson remain. God is persistent. If you fail this time, God will give you ample opportunity to try again, and again, and again. God has all the time there is to help you grow and return to your home. It will happen sooner or later. Why not make it sooner?

I have had a good share of trouble in my life. I’ve filed bankruptcy twice, divorced twice, lost a home, surrendered a few vehicles, lost my job, and a whole host of other things. Did I learn anything? You bet. I realized that happiness has nothing to do with whom you have in your life, how healthy or sick you are, or if you have a soul mate. Happiness is a personal choice. If you want to be happy–be happy. It is that simple.

Find the joy in the moment. Savor that first cup of coffee. Listen to a loved one tell you about his or her day. Talk to your dog or cat and spend time with them. Enjoy every bite of that cheesecake. Happiness to me is all about paying attention to how great we all have it. I have enough food to eat; I have a roof over my head; I have projects that keep me busy; we have a nice dog, a nice home, a great backyard, and the technology we need to interact online, play games, and watch television shows.

For me happiness is recognizing the things I have, rather than thinking about what I do not have. It is literally taking into account all the things I am grateful for and savoring the thoughts that come from that place where all is well. I do this every morning and it is really a great thing to do. Simply write down all the things you are grateful for and keep adding to the list until you feel it–that feeling of comfort, love, and satisfaction, knowing all is right with your world. I do this in my gratitude journal and it is an awesome daily practice. Try it out. Start small and write down 3 things you are grateful for. That’s it. As you establish this habit, you’ll find that you will uncover more and more things you are grateful for. Be as specific as you want or as generalized as you want.

When you have established the habit of a gratitude journal, you’ll begin to notice a shift in your attitude. You will begin to realize that you really do have all you need. Things will rattle you less. Things will roll off of your back instead of sticking to you. When you realize you have all you need, life becomes a true joy to live.

Thank you, to all of my new followers this week. I really appreciate the growth. My goal this year is to get to 1000 followers. I am at 564 so far, so I have some more work to do to gain more. If you enjoy reading Daily Ramblings, send your friends here. I thank you in advance for any help you provide.

Two things I’d like you to keep in the back of your mind as you move forward with your life. All is in its rightful place in the universes of God and God will never give you a problem you cannot solve. These two points should give you great solace as you move forward. I wish you well.

Have a great Saturday everybody! See you on Monday!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Saturday – Creativity

Tags

Bountifulness, Challenges, creativity, Gratitude, journaling, Solutions, spirituality, trouble

“Creativity, bountifulness, and gratitude go hand in hand.” – Harold Klemp The Language of Soul

As a writer, creativity is an important aspect. We need creativity to create the worlds, conversations, characters, and dialogue that intrigue and entertain our readers. We also need creativity to live our lives. I have found that I am most creative during times of duress. You know those points in your lives where you feel like everything is crashing down around you and you sit there wondering, “What else can go wrong?”

During these times of trouble, our creativity elevates to a new level. Harold Klemp offers three keys to dealing with the troubles that will affect us from time-to-time. When times are tough, it is hard to be grateful. We concentrate on what is being taken away instead of focusing on what we have. This in turn creates a sense of lack or shortage, which in turn, stifles our creativity because of our narrow focus on the things we do not want in our lives.

When I started my gratitude journaling a while back, I did it by going through the motions. The journal I was using at the time was the 5-minute Journal and it requires you to write down three things you are grateful for in the morning when you awake and three things you are grateful for in the evening before you go to bed. I did this each day like without a second thought.

Then, something happened. I began to really feel grateful for the things I was writing down. I began to see how great I really had it. I began focusing on being grateful for the things I had. This focus awoke me to something I have read about over and over again but never really caught onto. It is a quote from some author I cannot remember. The quote goes like this, “Most of us have what we need, but are upset because we do not have what we want.” This is the key to being grateful and cultivating a gratitude that will smooth things out in your life.

Now I write in my gratitude journal until I can cultivate that feeling of gratefulness daily. I write and write until I “feel” grateful. When I have achieved this feeling, I realize how great my life is, how much I have, and how little I need to be truly happy. This is the bountifulness, Harold Klemp discusses. When you have all you need, when you believe you are wealthy beyond words, and you believe that you are satisfied with your life, creativity is boundless, because you have no limits. You attain a child-like quality, where you rekindle what it was like to dream, to make-believe, to live in a world where anything is possible. The days you believed you could be a fireman, an astronaut, a princess, or actress.

Creativity and the ability to visualize some goal or achievement is a great asset, while negotiating this life. When trouble comes, a creative mind will find a solution. There is always a solution to our problems. “God only gives us problems we have the ability to solve” – Unknown.

When you are hit with a problem or challenge, don’t panic. Sit down with a piece of paper and write down every potential solution you can come up with. Brainstorm. I like to use mind mapping software when I begin on a new writing project, others may just want to write out a huge list of potential solutions and work from this. Whichever way you choose to go, evaluate each idea you come up with and choose the solution you feel will work the best. Keep the list, in case the idea you choose doesn’t work. Then you can return to the list for your next-best idea. Visualize the problem being solved. Over time, you will begin to see the answers to your problems come from everywhere. Your friends may offer solutions, your wife, husband, or significant other may offer a solution. You may read something online or in the newspaper that addresses your problem. You may even overhear someone talking in your local coffee shop about the same or like problem you are dealing with and offer some ideas via their conversation. The solution to your problem can come from anywhere if you are open to it.

I hope each of you has a terrific weekend! My brother is visiting and we have a bunch of stuff planned to take advantage of his week’s stay with us. It’ll be a great time.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Saturday – Remember to Love Yourself

Tags

Aberjhani, Do Nothing Day, habits, Human, Routines, Self-love, Weakness

Image by Alexas_Fotos from Pixabay

“Dare to love yourself as if you were a rainbow with gold at both ends.” 
― Author-Poet Aberjhani, Journey through the Power of the Rainbow: Quotations from a Life Made Out of Poetry

If you’ve read any of my writings on this blog, you’ll notice I am really into self-help. I enjoy improving myself. I enjoy finding hacks to make my life easier, more productive, and efficient. I am constantly testing my performance and trying to find better ways to do things.

One concept I learned a while back was the concept of self-love. Self-love isn’t selfish. It is taking care of you. It is giving yourself a break when you need to buck a routine or you fall short on one of your goals today. It is: remembering you are human and will make mistakes.

I have found over time that the more forgiving I am to myself, the more forgiving I am to other people. We are all flawed, broken, and inconsistent. So are your friends and family. They all have their weaknesses. They all try their best and sometimes they are at their worst.

If you are on a diet and you screw up—so what. You get back on the horse and continue.  Your life will not end because you blew off a workout, cheated on your diet, or slept in. You are human, not a machine. Sometimes it’s ok to take a break from your routines or your workouts or your diet or whatever you are pursuing. Self-improvement is a lifelong endeavor, not a onetime thing. You can miss a day. You can have a donut. You can sleep in. The days you take a day off from your habits and your routines is liberating. So I use a “do nothing day”.

Each Sunday I do nothing. I do not pursue my goals; I do not stick with my diet; I do not worry about sleeping in. I literally do what I want to on this day. The rest of the week I stick to my routines, my diet, my workout routine, etc. A do nothing day can be any day you want and it can vary from week to week. Your do nothing day can also include whatever things you would normally do. This is the beauty of a do nothing day—it’s your day and you do whatever you want to.

Pursuing goals plays a piece in any meaningful life. They do not rule you. If one day off a week is too much, take one every two weeks or once a month. I want my goals to be something that inspires me, not something that rules over me. If you have never used a “do nothing day” before, try it. You’ll find, like I did, that it changes your motivation levels immensely at the beginning of the week.

You are human. You are not a machine. You will slip. You will fall down. You will miss your deadlines from time-to-time. It’s ok.

Until next time…

Dave

 

 

Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Saturday – Divine Love

Tags

Divine Love, Emotional Love, God Loves, God's Love, Loving Hobbies, Loving People, Loving Work

“On the outside, divine and emotional love may look the same, but divine love is joyful, thankful. It gives itself fully. Let love be what it will. Don’t let the mind tell you one is human and the other divine.”—Harold Klemp The Language of Soul

Love. It is emotional, nurturing, giving. I remember when I was growing up that I always wondered what love was. I had no idea. Then came the first girl I met and the feelings I had for her. Initially, it was a crush, then, over time, it became something else. It grew to a trusting feeling that just knew she would always be there. She was in my corner. She got me.

Like all first loves it ended after a time. She went off to college; I went off to the Army. We stayed in touch for a while, but then the letters became more infrequent, and it slowly faded away. Then I met other girls and love took my heart again.

Then I began to wonder how love worked with our passions, like the job we do or the hobbies we have. I began to look at my life as a soldier. I wondered could I truly love my work? So, I began putting everything I had into my work. Something happened. My military career took off.

Love is still a mystery. It has so many facets, yet is so simple at the same time. I read that “God is love. God loves. IT loves because that is ITs nature.” – Harold Klemp. Imagine an entity that loved all. That is God. God loves you regardless of how evil you are, how good you are, how selfish you are or how altruistic you are. God loves you if you just robbed a bank, loves you if you cheated on your wife or husband, or sacrificed yourself to save another.

Divine love is charitable. It gives. Human or emotional love is love too. Humans need someone or something to love. Each of us receives love and gives love in our own way. The love we receive has to go somewhere. So we give it to others in the form of a smile, our time, or a quick pat on the head for our dog. We give it to the things we enjoy, whether it’s writing a blog posting, mowing the lawn, or doing the laundry. It is said that when you give of yourself without any expectation of reward; you experience divine love. It is also said “to get love, you have to give it.” – Harold Klemp.

So love what you do. Love your friends, your parents, your brothers and sisters. Love your fellow man, despite his or her weaknesses. Give of yourself. Give to others. Give to a cause. Give to your employer. Give. It is that simple.

Some people will take your love and not give anything back. It hurts when that happens. Maybe you have given your all at work and it just isn’t a fit. Maybe you love someone and they can’t love you back. That’s ok, extend your good will to all. This is divine love. It is an unemotional love that you wish for everyone. It is charitable. It doesn’t care if someone misuses it or fails to reciprocate it. God’s love comes to us, regardless. God loves.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Saturday – Zazen

Tags

Being Present, Contemplation, Focus, Meditation, Mindfulness, Prayer, Shunryu Suzuki, Sitting, Zazen

“When you bow, you should just bow; when you sit, you should just sit; when you eat, you should just eat.” – Shunryu Suzuki

This quote relates to being present. Being present means you think about what you do and focus on that and that only. Before I began to attempt this, I had no idea how many details I was missing. Our minds have a way of doing this to us all of the time. It automates, because that is the most efficient way for the brain to operate. This automaticity, however, is also the brain’s weakness.

Being present means we do one thing, focusing all of our attention on that one thing. It is hard to explain the beauty of living this way. Recently, I began tracking my activities for the day. I start a timer and focus on one task. This focus allows you to realize a ton of things you may have missed if you fail to focus like this.

Here I am working on a blog posting. I focus on the words. I focus on the pressure my fingers feel each time they depress a button on my laptop’s keyboard. I say the words to myself as I type. My mind will wander at times, but I bring it right back to the task at hand. Truly focusing on one thing at a time is not easy. The mind is so scattered. One thing I have discovered over time while I practice this new way of thinking, is how much more focused I have become by practicing every day.

This is the crux of Zen Buddhism. It is not a religion. It is a meditation practice. The Zen Buddhists call this zazen or sitting. When a Zen Buddhist meditates, he sits. He does nothing but sit and focus on the breath. Over time, the mind will settle down. You transcend the mind and its thoughts. The mind, when it is ignored long enough, will fade away, just like your body will fade. The focus that arises from sitting is so pinpointed, everything beyond what is focused on disappears.

Think about the beauty of this. If the mind and body fades away, what is left? You got it–the real you! That is what is left. This level of focus is far above what you and I would consider focus. This focus, derived from sitting (zazen), will transfer to other aspects of your life. It transfers to your work, your writing, your eating, and your bathing. The focus becomes easier to attain as well.

The focus is the primary benefit. This focus, particularly when you are concentrating on a singular task, allows one to enjoy this state throughout the day. Imagine a day like this. A day without worry about the future, dread about the past, stressing over a mistake, or worrying about how long you have been doing something. This is a state called flow. You become so focused and engrossed with a task, time falls away, everything falls away but you and the task you are working on.

Imagine how wonderful eating would be if you could enjoy the texture, the smell, the feel, the sight, and taste of what you are eating. Imagine being so focused on your meal that everything outside that meal faded away.

Meditation, contemplation, or prayer all require focus. Focus comes with practice. Here is a simple meditation you can try. Sit in a comfortable chair with your back straight. Close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths. Then let the breath return to its normal pace and depth. Concentrate on the breath coming in and going out. Initially, you’ll want to count the breath as it comes in and goes out. One–breathe in. Two–breathe out. Three–breathe in. Four–breathe out. Do this to 10 and start over. If you lose track of your counting when you daydream or get engaged with a rising thought, start over again. You’ll find that the mind will be restless and continue to give you things to think about. Don’t fret over this. Simply return to your breath and begin counting again.

This is Zazen or sitting. It has been practiced for thousands of years. Zazen can be practiced when sitting, working on a single task, eating, or even gardening. You remain focused on the moment, by experiencing everything as it occurs. Try this out. You’ll be amazed how pleasant mundane tasks become. You’ll also begin to appreciate the calm, wonder, and flow that arises when you improve your focus.

I hope you have a terrific Saturday! My sister is coming over today to celebrate her birthday and hang out with us. We are looking forward to it.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Saturday – Happiness Comes From Within

Tags

24-hour news, Choice, External, Grateful, Gratitude, Happiness, Internal, Needs, social media, Wants

“Happiness comes from within. It is not dependent on external things or on other people. You become vulnerable and can be easily hurt when your feelings of security and happiness depend on the behavior and actions of other people. Never give your power to anyone else.” ― Brian Weiss

 

Have you ever heard a friend or relative cry out, ‘I just want to be happy!’? People seek happiness in money, travel, relationships, a good job, security, or some other place. The problem with this idea is simply this: Happiness is a choice.

You choose to be happy. If you constantly depend on material things, people, places, or your job to make you happy, you will find out very quickly that this is an untenable position. Why you ask? Because nothing is permanent in this world. Money changes, places change, people change, jobs change, and your health changes. If you depend on outside things to make you happy, you’ll be chasing happiness for the rest of your life.

Happiness is a mindset. It literally is a way of living. You either choose to be happy or you choose to be unhappy. Frankly, I choose to be happy. Being happy is so much easier than being pissed off and afraid. Happiness is calming, peaceful, comfortable. Why would anyone want to be anything but happy?

I find the people that are chasing after happiness are never happy. There’s always one more thing to get, one more friend to have, one more experience to try, one more place to travel to. A common phrase unhappy people use is “if only”. If only I had a wife that loved me. If only I had a nicer home. If only I had a better job, a faster car, a puppy, ad infinitum.

Unfortunately, in the United States, we have a society driven by marketing, sales, and advertising. We’re shown unrealistic pictures of happy people driving around in Ferraris, eating whatever they want, drinking whatever they want, and living the supposed “good life”. We have a 24-hour news cycle constantly berating us with disasters, crime, and tales of doom and gloom. It is never ending and inescapable.

Be informed but remain happy. Buy the things you want and need but be happy. Be grateful for what you have. It is so interesting to hear people talk about what they need and confusing need with want. Most of us have what we need to survive. We have a place to sleep, we have enough food to eat, we have a place protected from the elements. Yet, so many of us are unhappy. We take for granted what we have already and that what we have is enough. I think part of our unhappiness as a society is spurred by social media, advertisers, and the 24-hour new cycle, which focuses on negative, rather than positive stories.

How can you turn all of this around? Avoid it. Stop watching the news. Stop spending hours on social media. You can still be informed by scanning the news for a few minutes in the morning. You can stay in touch with friends by making some postings in the morning and reacting to your feed. Once you’ve done these things–GET OFF OF IT!! Then, focus on the things you want to do for yourself. Work on your goals, work on yourself, do your chores. Read, write, experience. Most importantly, take stock each day of what you are grateful for. Really focus on the things that you have right now. The more you focus on what you have, the less you’ll want something externally.

I hope all of you have a terrific Saturday!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Saturday – We are Spiritual Beings Having a Human Experience

Tags

Anger, Attachment, Contentment, Detachment, Discrimination, Forgiveness, Greed, Humility, Lust, Passions of the Mind, Soul, tolerance, Vanity, Virtues

“Remember, we are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” – Stephen Covey

Read more at: Brainy Quote

Have you ever wondered how you can think about thinking? What part of you is watching you? My religion is ECKANKAR and we call this you—soul. Soul is a spiritual being. It is the real you. It is that part of you that can watch what you are thinking, saying, and doing. Soul is what thinks about what the mind thinks and what the body does. Soul uses your body to experience this life.

I believe in reincarnation. To believe in reincarnation, there must be a something that outlives the body and takes a body when it is time to live another life. This is soul. Soul experiences. Soul learns. Soul needs a body to experience things here. It needs a body to see, hear, smell, taste, and feel. It needs to experience the mind’s memory, it’s intuition, and its subconscious, automatic processes.

Soul is the real you. It is a spark of God. God creates soul and soul exists because God loves it. Soul is forever. It never dies, it merely moves to another realm of existence when the human body dies. In this realm it interacts with other souls to continue its learning on another plane of existence. It can return here, it can go to other dimensions or planes, it will go where it needs to go to continue its spiritual journey.

I know this may be a little mind-blowing to some of you. I like using Saturdays to move away from the self-improvement chats and all the rest to dedicate one day a week to discuss my religion and some principles and insights it offers. I am not here to evangelize or push my beliefs down your throat. I merely want to educate. In ECKANKAR, we believe that each soul chooses the religious path it needs during this lifetime. Some souls select Islam, some Christianity, some Buddhism, some Judaism, or Hinduism. Regardless of the religion soul chooses, it is the perfect religion for that soul at the time. As an ECKIST, I believe this to be true. Your religion is yours and yours alone. It is exactly what you need in this lifetime to move ahead spiritually.

The viewpoint of soul is the highest. When you come to realize that soul is the real you, life gets a lot easier. Life isn’t scary anymore, when you realize that you have an infinite amount of lives left. Soul never dies. Soul is infinite. This life will come and go, but soul is forever. Soul takes all its experiences with it when this body finally goes to sleep for the last time. Soul needs these experiences to learn the lessons it needs to gain wisdom and progress spiritually.

Think about all the things you learn during a lifetime. You learn about love. You learn about work. You learn about loss and suffering. You learn about joy and ecstasy. You learn about horror and evil. Soul learns why the passions of the mind like lust, anger, greed, attachment, and vanity are dead ends. Over time, it learns that the virtues are ever-lasting. These are discrimination, tolerance/forgiveness, contentment, detachment, and humility.

When you are lustful, angry, greedy, attached to material things or ideas, or vain, there is a coinciding feeling, a pit in your stomach, an ache in your heart, or some other discomfort. When you are discriminating, tolerant and forgiving, content, detached, and humble, the feelings are lighter. You have a feeling that is long lasting. Things are just right. Soul needs to learn these things through millions of lives and even more experiences. It is the only way.

You are soul, a spiritual being, learning and experiencing through a human body, not the other way around. I wish all of you a Happy Easter tomorrow (for those that celebrate).

Baraka Bashad (May the blessings be).

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Saturday – The HU Chant

Tags

Calm, Focus, Good Habits, HU Chant, Meditation, Relaxation, simplicity

Have you ever thought about meditation? There are many benefits to this practice, particularly the benefits of calm and focus. Another benefit is the simplicity of the act. You can close your eyes and meditate anywhere, provided you are comfortable and the place you choose is remote or away from noise.

Here are the basics:

• Sit down or lay down on a bed or couch
• Close your eyes
• Focus on your breath (breathe in and breath out)

If you would like to use another technique to keep your focus you can chant silently to yourself or out loud, depending on where you are. If you chant, use the word HU. HU is an ancient name for God and pronounced like the word “hue”. Chant this word for whatever period you have available. I recommend 10 minutes for starters.

Chanting HU can help you in times of stress or trouble. Chanting HU is not religious. You can use the HU chant if you are Jewish, Christian, Muslim, or any other religion.

Try it. Many people, the world over, use the HU chant daily. I do this in the early morning, before I head to the gym. Other people I know do the HU chant during their lunch break or right before they go to bed. Start small. 10-20 minutes is all you need.

If you try this out or have questions, comment below.

Have a great Saturday folks!

Until next time…

Dave

 

 

Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Saturday – Replacing the Negative with the Positive

Tags

Changing the Script, Focus, Gratitude, Gratitude Journal, Negative, Positive, spirituality

“If you fill your consciousness with the positive aspects of Divine Spirit, there is no vacuum where the negative may enter.”—Harold Klemp The Language of Soul

Do you have any bad habits you’d like to rid yourself of? I was thinking about this, this morning as I searched for a quote for today’s article and this one is right on spot. If you’ve ever looked into Neuro-linguistic programming, you are probably aware of some aspects of the brain that are interesting, to say the least. One of these interesting aspects is the brain’s inability to distinguish between don’t and do. If you say you don’t want to smoke anymore, your brain captures smoking. If you say you won’t get angry at stupid things anymore, your brain captures angry. It is interesting and true.

So how do you rewire your brain to break a bad habit? You fill it with a replacement. If you focus on health, exercise, or any other positive trait, you will slowly drain energy from the neural pathway that was created to automate the bad habit you are trying to get rid of. The key is to continuously fill your consciousness with positive aspects. By doing so, you will starve the automatic neural pathways that coincide with your bad habits and they will dissipate. I know. It’s harder than just filling your mind with positive things. It takes a concerted effort.

It is possible, however. If you begin to realize how your brain automates things—truly see your brain go through this process, it is easier to unravel. It is like witnessing your brain go through the steps that are necessary to do something, say something, or feel something. There is a natural progression of steps your brain goes through for everything you do in a given day. These steps are automated, so you really have to pay attention and watch what your brain does. Once you witness your brain traveling down the road of a bad habit, it will naturally fade away. This awareness is hard to capture but once you do, there is no way you will continue to do something that hurts you.

I have found that doing meditation helps me with this process. When you have developed the ability to watch your breath and ignore everything else physically, it is easy to rise above the thought stream. For those of you who have conquered the “monkey mind”, you know what this feels like. You imagine your thoughts as a steady stream. When you rise above that stream, you are no longer bothered by your thoughts—you are above them! This same process can be used to observe your unconscious mind. The unconscious part of you is where all your good and bad automated processes are located. Let me explain.

When you first learned to drive a car, you had to think about every single step of driving. It was painstaking, nerve-wracking, and exhausting. Over time, you became proficient with driving. Your brain “automated” driving. Once your driving became unconscious, driving was simple. You get in the care, put your foot on the brake, turn the key in the ignition, put your car into gear and off you go. It was seamless from beginning to the end.

You also have unconscious processes for being angry, being jealous, being frightened, being happy, and so on. The unconscious mind becomes visible once your active mind settles down. You can begin to witness different parts of your body. You can begin to witness your thoughts and how they come about. When you truly see the inner wiring of a habit and see how harmful it is, it is much easier to change the wiring, or what the late Stephen Covey calls “rewriting the script”.

To get back to the quote for today’s article, you just must observe your negative inner wiring with positive wiring. It is simply keeping your attention on the positive things in life and letting the negative things fade away. Don’t get me wrong. There will always be things that get under your skin. The key is to minimize the duration you stay in this negative state. Pout or have a tantrum, cry, scream, and then, LET IT GO.

One of the ways I remain in a positive state of mind is by keeping a gratitude journal. Each morning I write down all the things I am grateful for. I don’t hold myself to a time limit or a set number of statements. I just keep writing until I get that feeling. A feeling that everything is ok, everything is going well, and a deep satisfaction that all is well. I have enough; I have great things to look forward to, and everything is exactly as it should be.

Try this technique. Gratitude journaling is really enjoyable once you get the hang of it and spend the time to truly appreciate all you have in your life. If you need some help or some ideas about how to create a gratitude journal, simply do a Google search on gratitude journaling and you’ll find all kinds of articles on the topic.

I hope all of you have a great Saturday.

Until next time…

Dave