Friday, February 27, 2009. So which is it? Does the government and the media control whether I’m optimistic about my future possibilities? Or do I get my daily input from a higher source? That’s what I wrote to a friend of mine who was not quite sure about all this law of attraction buzz. He watches the news vigilantly. “So you don’t believe the whole law of attraction thang: that your thoughts bring your experiences to you?”
Bob told me “Where I am right now: I do believe that factors in, most certainly. And I add to that, the belief that my attitude, at the very least, governs how I perceive what comes to me, whether I bring it in or not. No, I don’t believe in my thoughts as having the ultimate authority in attracting decisive experiences. May feel differently tomorrow. And of course, if LOA is correct, I’d therefore bring in experiences that reinforce my belief. Hee hee. As in, “I don’t believe in astrology, but heck, all us Libras are skeptical.”
I suggested that he not cut the news off altogether, simply try a one week news fast to get him back on an upward spiral.
Bob: “I could try that. I wouldn’t mind vibing higher, but I’d like to think it wasn’t based upon denial of the world I contracted to come into. Tricky, that.”
Andrea: Ah, and what exactly do you mean by the world you contracted to come into? Tricky that 🙂 So which is it? Does the government and the media control whether I’m optimistic about my future possibilities? Or do I get my daily input from a higher source?
Bob: To me, that’s a brilliant question. Here’s the best answer I have – again, right now. I think this world is interactive. I think that it’s narcissism on my part to believe my thoughts and expectations alone control my experience.
Andrea: I’d say though they control your vibration and your vibration controls your experience. I don’t believe in renunciation, per se, but I do believe in stepping back from particular people and activities to get perspective and to keep track of the broader picture. To make sure I’m making progress, if progress is important to me. To take note of who enhances my life and encourages progress, and who hinders and distracts. If I am heavily involved in a garden project, I am probably spending less time with my bowling friends during that time, but I have not renounced them. I agree all the sturm and drang is part of “here” and that we should never deny what is in front of us. It is just my experience that I control how much strum and drang comes into my Now. It may take awhile for past momentum to catch up and old matters to resolve themselves, but that doesn’t take long and then it gets easier with time. Then you get excited about “instant karma” instead of dreading it.
Bob: Not to be too philosophical, but I don’t always feel I choose my thoughts. They seem, at times, to come up from a well of darkness whose true source I’m not seeing. I can, to the best of my ability, choose my RESPONSE to my thoughts, guide them and direct them once they’re here. Just sayin’ …
Andrea: I know what you are saying. I have found that it takes discipline and re-programming my self talk and doing it long enough that it takes over my consciousness. THEN the thoughts don’t come willy nilly. Kind of like doing the Om Namah Shivaya mantra at Shiva Raatri. After you’ve done it several hours, you can stop doing it consciously and it still keeps going on by itself. I feel I’m successful in my meditation practice when I catch myself during the day in idle thought and my mantra is going thru my head like a ticker tape underlying everything. For ME, that’s one reason I keep the tv and movies and popular music to a minimum. I know the less I fill my thoughts with what I call non essential info (and not all entertainment is non essential info), the more I can stay attuned to the other world, the nonphysical world, where that greater part of me resides.
Andrea: For me, it’s always a question of “how deep do I want to go? From what level do I want to work?” If I am hanging out with friends and watching movies, that’s fine and fun but often ultimately less rewarding and fulfilling that other work I would prefer to do. Like at the well, do I want the surface water warmed by the sun that might have a leaf or two in it, or do I want a drink from deeper down where it’s ice cold and fresh from the spring? Both will quench my thirst but one has more life in it for me.