Hi.
It’s taken me a while to get to the keyboard to write because I’ve made a commitment in this new year and I’ve been pretty focused on that.
I decided to commit, 100%, to what I call the Power of the Mind. It’s a full-on experiment in what can happen if I choose a positive mindset all day, every day.
No kidding, right? It’s a job, for sure.
As part of this research project on myself I am also committed to removing all samskaras as well.
All of them.
Those are basically scars from your past. All the garbage your parents subjected you to, all the crap schools and churches made you do, any stuff from old partnerships. All the junk we hold on to and often grab and pull out for another juicy look at what went wrong. Which is most certainly counter-intuitive to living a good life, but we do it anyway!
I also made a promise to myself and the spirit realm for a fully committed partnership. What that means for me, a medium, is that I will make myself available for communication when someone here needs help talking with someone who has died.
It would be silly to do all of this, to fully commit to these things, if I didn’t have goals, that part is easy. The main goal is freedom. The freedom to live in this world in a joyful condition and all that comes with that.
This might sound crazy, it might sound unrealistic and it also might sound … not new.
On New Year’s Eve I watched the lovely film The Holdovers and there is a scene where the curmudgeonly boarding school teacher gives copies of Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations as Christmas gifts. It turns out that that’s an excellent place to begin if you’re interested in this idea, that your mind, your thoughts create your reality. Aurelius was writing about it two thousand years ago.
It’s been repurposed by many writers since then. It’s been called The Secret, the Law of Attraction. Michael Singer has written several good books on the Untethered Life.
One of my favorites is a little-known book called Eden is Now, channeled by a woman named Maya Cointreau. She lived not far from me here in Vermont, though I never met her. She died a few years ago, in her 30’s I think. Eden is Now is fun and funny and playful and clear: Before anything can exist on the physical plane, it must first take shape and form in the astral, etheric planes. Having the idea is like planting a seed. It creates a blueprint for the form to manifest.
The secret really is no secret. If you believe that bad things are going to happen, if you spend your days thinking negative thoughts then eventually bad things will happen, which will reinforce your belief that bad things are going to happen to you and before long you are living in an unending cycle of bad things.
So what have you got to lose? Why not do a little experiment? I mean, what is it you think this life is for, anyway? Most certainly not for the acquisition of things. Most of them end up in a landfill or the thrift shop.
We did not come here to be angry, spiteful, resentful people. We came here to manifest the full potential of humanhood.
You can try even the smallest experiment: the minute you start thinking about something that’s bugging you, smile instead. Every time. It sounds and feels cheesy, but watch how your mindset shifts, how your body relaxes. Do it often enough and people will start talking about you in terms of your smile. It will catch on. Your smile alone has the power to improve the conditions of your own life, your physical and mental health, and the world around you.
But you’re too mad to try it, right? You hate your ex-wife so much you’re not willing to try joy instead of anger. You are so mad that your dad was such a jerk when you were a kid, you want to hold on to that feeling. You want to be mad, damnit! That boyfriend who left you ten years ago, you really want to keep hating him.
But maybe this is the year to stop all that. The anger and bitterness that you swallow on a daily basis eventually becomes disease. You don’t catch cancer, it’s not a cold bug floating through the air, you create the conditions for it in your mind and body. A body can’t handle endless frustration or disappointment or anger that seethes beneath the surface all the time. Eventually it sends up the red flag of illness in hopes you’ll change your ways.
So in this new year I am watching myself, catching myself, choosing joy all the time and observing, with curiosity, what happens. I’m looking around me for information about where my life is headed, what I should be doing. I pay attention to what people are saying, what books are showing up, who calls, what opportunities are presenting.
I turn 60 next year so it feels like the right time to commit to this experiment. I still have most of my faculties in tact. All the body parts are still working. My kids are launched and out there doing cool things. I’ve spent the last ten years in pretty intense spiritual exploration. I’ve studied the words of the living and the dead and the same things keep coming up: we have a lot of power to generate the life we want; we rarely put it to use.
I can tell you this much, after just nine days, I don’t have to catch myself as much. I find I am sleeping better and waking up feeling grateful and curious and joyful. It feels like there are unseen forces on my side. I find I’m not hungry the way I used to be in the winter, putting food in my mouth out of boredom and frustration and anger. I hate the cold! I’m having another waffle!
It’s kind of like … I’m an observer in my life. I’m watching myself in this experiment. I’m not trying to push my agenda, I’m watching things unfold. It’s cool.
And it can’t be half-assed, it has to be full commitment. I’m not letting myself off the hook on this one. Even when I have to do something I don’t really want to do, I change the story: this is fun, this is enjoyable, there is something in here that is going to be interesting.
I’ve also learned how and when to say no. This is not an experiment in saying yes to everything, there’s curating involved. But it is, indeed, a daily, full-on commitment to choosing joy, gratitude and a positive mindset.
I am certain that I have everything to gain and nothing to lose.
I trust that the Universe is far greater, richer and deeper than I have considered.
I believe that the Creator and I are in a mutually beneficial partnership.
I understand that I am here with purpose and that my life is my responsibility.
I choose truth and presence. And joy.
Amen. xomo
Skiing with Nate at Loon on Sunday. 💗
Beautiful
Thank you