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ONLY PEOPLE CAN HELPPEOPLE, BE ONE OF THEM. |
The Conscious Mind Our conscious mind is the field of awareness that accompanies us everywhere. It is with us when we wake up in the morning and it is with us as we go to sleep at night. Within our conscious mind, thousands of thoughts come and go daily. It is very active, constantly thinking thoughts. Thinking thoughts seems to be its main preoccupation. We are rarely without thoughts of some sort. As you watch and observe your conscious mind, which is one of the exercises I give my students at the beginning of their training, you will be amazed to notice how much "thought stuff" passes through its domain. Some of it is quite valuable and relevant to our life, but much of it is totally useless and counterproductive. Negatives, fears, worries, inadequacies, all make their way into the mix of what we call our daily perceptions. Our conscious mind can be a great trickster, and we must be vigilant in observing what it is saying. Every event and experience elicits from us a thought response. Very quickly these thoughts gather and build upon one another, and without even noticing the mechanism involved, an opinion is formed within us. We feel we "know" what is happening in our life, and make judgements accordingly. And here is where we must be cautious, for our "knowing" is often just our "listening" to the inner chatter of the predominant thoughts within us. If they happen to be positive at the time of our thinking, then we experience our situation as positive. If they happen to be negative at the time of our thinking, then we experience our situation as negative. Our perceptions can fluctuate wildly back and forth, sometimes daily, even hourly. We do not realize how susceptible we are to our thoughts, and how much they can control us if we are not careful. Our conscious mind is both our best friend and worst enemy. Our best friend when we perceive clearly and have a prevailing positive mental attitude. Our worst enemy when we identify with negative thoughts about ourselves and our life. Many people remain captives of fear, worry, doubt, and a host of other undesirable thoughts and attitudes, without even realizing how it has happened. To use an analogy, our conscious mind can be compared to a garden, where we are the gardeners. Through daily Mind Power exercises, we can create a botanical masterpiece, or through neglect we can turn our mind into a morass of weeds and negatives. But we are the master gardeners of our own consciousness, and Mind Power is the tool we use in this inner garden. Besides thinking thoughts, our conscious mind is the eye of perception through which we experience our life. The trick is to see our life without the distorting filters of thought. Thought, both positive and negative, can have a distorting effect that obscures the true reality of what is happening to us. While I would certainly choose to be positive rather than negative, it can at times be valuable to be neither, and just experience life as it happens, without the mental filter. This is a Zen approach and one I like to practice. For over twenty years I have used this Zen approach as an added compliment to my Mind Power practice. The reason I'm attracted to Zen is that it is the polar opposite to Mind Power. Mind Power uses thoughts in a conscious and systematic way to create and manifest reality. Zen experiences life without identifying with thoughts, allowing things to happen and experiencing them fully for whatever they are. Both approaches have their wisdom, and while there are some proponents who say you must choose one way or the other, I disagree. Each person may choose for themselves the system and method that works best for them, and nothing is stopping anyone from choosing here and there, taking the best from each and designing a system unique to themselves. My belief is that life should be fun, exciting, successful and filled with pleasurable experiences, that each of us has our own destiny to discover, and that by following our instincts and trusting ourselves, we will be led to it. I know from working for thirty years with Mind Power that we are far greater and more powerful than we can ever conceive. Our greatness lies in understanding and discovering who we are. The more we understand ourselves the more successful our life will be. I hope this site assists you in this pursuit. Over the next two months I will explore the other two levels of consciousness: the subconscious mind and the soul. |