. Goals, wishes and intuition
The purpose of living is living with a purpose.
The simple answer to living a better life is quite simple:
- Set a goal
- Tell someone
- Repeat
- All that is left is to take a closer look:
- The first part of this answer involves you. When your intuition buzzes, when you make a wish or when you set a goal, you are working with a force outside of your ego; you are working with a force that is beyond logic, beyond concrete touch-and-feel, and you are taking your first step in recognizing that there is "a big picture". Your recognition of this force is a HUGE step in self-awareness in this cosmic world, as long as you still remember that you are still working within yourself, within your own physical body within this physical universe.
Notice that I am not even suggesting that you act upon your intuition, or that you stop dreaming, or that set out to accomplish your goals, I am just suggesting that you acknowledge them - don't fight them, don't give them a "divine" power. They are part of you - part of everyone - and are real. "Setting a goal" is stronger than "making a wish", which is stronger than "having an intuition", but they are all related; they all are the evolution of the same seed. And all of these come from YOU - you were born with it, you will die with it and you can use it in your life as easy as making a fist with your hand.
- The second part of this answer involves someone else. Tell someone your intuition, your wish, your goal, Why? Because you are acknowledging its reality in your life - and because, perhaps, that someone will help you explain EXACTLY what you mean and EXACTLY why you have that goal - important steps that we will talk about later.
Now, having an unrealized goal really sucks, but as soon as you don't accomplish your goal, then you will start to find out what needs to be done to make the next one reachable. And this is a good thing! No, you will never not set another goal, because setting goals stimulates endorphins - you feel REALLY good setting goals and dreaming about the consequences after achieving them.
Now, we begin to understand "the ethereal". You cannot reach a goal unless you set one; you cannot set a goal unless you consciously bring it forth into your conscious mind, and you cannot have a wish - any wish - until you give credence to that intuitive thought that creeps in through your subconscious mind. And finally - here's the kicker - you cannot recognize an intuitive thought until your active mind is at rest and you "take the time" to listen to what your heart is telling you.
Goals are just grown-up wishes and wishes are evolved intuitions.
Intuition
Counting and logic memory comes predominantly from your left brain; intuition is controlled from your right brain. And so the process of developing the ability to hear your "inner voice" is exactly the same (physically within you brain) as creating "skills" in carpentry, accounting, etc. The differnce? In left-brain activity we have had teachers directing you for over 15 years of your life. In rigt-brain learning, you are on our own and are easily convinced by gurus and religious leaders that they have the correct and true parth. The reality is that they are wrong and that you only need to understand that intuition, wishes and goals are natural and normal for everyone,
The funny thing about intuition is that each intuitive thought is either right or wrong - just like the outcome of tossing a coin has no bearing on what the outcomes were in previous tosses. Ideas - a different name for intuition - have no power or importance. Ideas come from seemingly random connections that your right brain is making - as its normal operation - when you brain is storing experiences and knowledge into your memory bank. There is a feed-back loop in this process - traditionally know to be the substance of dreams - that you experience whenever a synaptic connection is made.
(more to come)
. Just Breathe
"Prayer is when you talk; meditation is when you listen."
Forget the mumbo-jumbo. Just meditate because it feels good and it is good for you. Oh yeah ... it will also change your life.
Why? Because your self-identification of how you are living your life comes from your core - from your deep down self-worth. Scientists call it "the id" - that part of you whose job it is to promote your ego-self as a victor over its circumstances - to develop and improve your self-worth.
And, in order for your intuition to work - for your right brain to be given the freedom to lead - all left brain activities have to stop - but only for a brief moment.
The sum of these brief periods of quietness - the sum of quite (active) breathing is meditation. This is where wisdom comes from - wisdom of you building from the life you have to the life you want.
And its simple, It can happen now, no matter what age, or where you live. And, like every other "medicine" in the world, the impact will be dramatic at first, and, after a while will "seem" not to do anything, but then (when you realize what has happened), it will be your constant companion.
I started my first practice of meditation when I was 31. I meditate twice a day. And it changed my life. For starters, I retired at 48 !
So, let's look at some mechanics:
- Meditation takes many forms, but, for, now the simplest steps are:
- Find a quiet area, get comfortable, sit or lie down, and close your eyes.
- Take one or more cleansing breaths - breathe deeply through your mouth and blow the air fairly forcefully out of your nose.
- While breathing normally only through your nose: inhale, wait a second and exhale thinking the phrase "let it go". I have meditated for 40+ years now - and have found this EXACT phrase works best for me because it never seems to be part of any "stress-memory" that my right brain generates - and it sends me exactly the message I need.
- Begin now (with your eyes closed) to focus on the inside of your eyelids. Sounds crazy, but there actually is something there.
- After about 5 seconds your mind will wander - this is good. What's happening is an emotional stress point - trapped in your right brain for normal use to be digested in your brain empaths during sleep - will form images and connect with your left brain for thoughts and attach words to these emotions - coming to the surface of your awareness. This complex thought has NO meaning or use except that we are setting up the process of a quick-charge "freed up space" for what is about to happen.
- Soon - after about another 5 seconds - you will realize that you are no longer repeating the phrase "let it go".
- Here, now, just ignore your breathing - in fact, ignore everything - and repeat (quickly and often) "let it go", "let it go", "let it go", "let it go". Believe in these words and continue until the only thought in you mind is "let it go". Done. Great!
- Now start over with a cleansing breathe, focus on the inside of your eyelids and start your phrase over again. Remember: it will only last 5-10 seconds until another thought pops up and you start over again.
- You are done after 3 minutes to 20 minutes - or until you wake up because you have fallen asleep - the ultimate goal.
- When done, take another cleansing breathe and - with no air in your lungs - wait - with an empty mind - until you need to breathe. Pay attention: this is often that exact intuitive thought that you need right now. Also, after some time, you will get a feeling that your brain is a wet sponge and that it has been COMPLETELY wrung dry and that - at that moment when you are "paying attention" - it has been filled with fabulous NEW ideas and a zap of energy. Quite wonderful! Quite addictive!