The Core Addiction

There are still occasions when I behave in an addictive fashion around my drug of choice - food.

I've come a long way, and I still need to be mindful and take charge of my addiction process.

I've joked that my final addiction is my addiction to negative thinking. In truth, it's really not a joke. It's real. And it's an addiction we all have to a lesser or greater degree.

It's not something we need to be hard on ourselves about because it comes with the territory of being human. We were trained as children to think both positively and negatively. And for most of us it's been a life-long process of learning to overcome negative, ingrained thought patterns.

One of the most effective ways I've found to deal with the negative thoughts once I become conscious of them is by using a mantra. Don Miguel Ruiz, Toltec Shaman and author of The Four Agreements and other books, says that he overcame what he calls his inner parasite (negative voice) by singing Beatles' songs. At the time he didn't speak English so he didn't know what the words meant, he just sang them over and over to drown out his negative thoughts.

A mantra doesn't need to be religious in nature. It's simply a phrase that helps us focus. And a mantra doesn't have to be done in a meditative or altered state of consciousness. One of my favorites is: All God, All Good, All Ways, Always.

It should be something you relate to personally. A string of positive words can be an excellent choice: Peace, Presence, Positive, Power.

The main point is to shift your focus from the negative to something more positive or, at least, neutral.

A mantra can be used to program our minds with something we truly want. In the case of my food addiction using "Vibrant Health, Ideal Weight" has been useful. It isn't a magic formula but when I allow myself to use it, it does at least temporarily prevent inappropriate behavior.

Step-by-step I'm making progress, and I trust you are also.

Emotional Fire

"Passion" is emotional fire. "Passion" goes beyond "desire" or "enthusiasm." We often think of "passion" in terms of romantic love. We speak of people being passionately in love.

Love is an attractive force pulling to us the object of our desire. When we fuel that love with passion things often happen very quickly and often quite easily.

If there's something in your life that you feel the Law of Attraction is not delivering, you might ask yourself: "How passionate am I about being, doing, having this?"

When I look back on the demonstrations I've experienced by consciously asking and believing, I'm aware that the level of passion I felt about being, doing, or having the thing had a direct bearing on whether I got it or how quickly and easily it happened.

Passion is a key ingredient in commitment. When we're committed to something it's like saying, "There is no other option. This is the way it will be." We don't commit to something unless we feel passionate about it.

Can you fall in love with the idea of having your desire fulfilled? Can you add emotional fire to your desire and become passionate and then channel that passion into commitment?

What would it feel like if you were passionately in love with what you want?

Passion ignites a new level of energy within our attraction mechanism.

What I like about the idea of blogging is that I'm talking to myself and sharing my thoughts with others. I know I need more passion in my life in many areas.

Yesterday when I wrote about my moonlight drive through the mountains, I was writing about a passion of mine.

I need the same type of passion about getting a website created.

How to create more passion? The emotional fire is always available within, it's just letting go of old beliefs that block the flow into new creative endeavors.

I can consciously choose to be passionate about website design. It's simply a choice. Will I make it? I'm still struggling with that. Maybe tomorrow.

A Harvest Moon Ritual

Last night the full moon rose and shortly thereafter the fall equinox occurred. The full moon hasn't shone at the time of equinox since 1991. The full moon that rose last night was also the Harvest Moon. The Harvest Moon is defined as the full moon closest to the fall equinox. It would be hard for it to get much closer. It was within two hours.

A few years ago I created a Harvest Moon Ritual. There's a lake in Western Nevada called Pyramid Lake. It's the most lunar-looking place I've ever seen. I discovered it accidentally -- or was I "led" to it -- when I was on one of my three-day silent driving retreats. I was awestruck with the barrenness and the incredible beauty of it. It's located on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe Reservation, and the Native American energy may add to the mystery and magic I feel when I'm there.

My ritual is to drive up there and sit in the silence while the moon shines on the lake and give thanks for the harvest of blessings I've received this year. It's about a three-hour drive from where I live in Northern California. While driving I listened to Carlos Nakai's "Canyon Suite."
Driving through the Sierra Nevada mountains in the moonlight is magical and mystical in itself.

I found myself wishing everyone in the world could experience the connection I feel with our beautiful planet and her awesome and diverse beauty. Mountains, rivers, pine trees, lakes, oceans, deserts -- each has it's own unique brand of beauty. While I honor, practice and have practiced various spiritual traditions, in my human heart I am a nature worshipper. It's where I most feel my union with Source, God, whatever you choose to call the Infinite IS.

I had a bountiful harvest of gifts to be thankful for this year including the glorious freedom to get in a car at 8 p.m. and drive most of the night. A wonderful way to enjoy three of my favorite things: nature, driving and beautiful music.

May your harvest be bountiful and may more good things come to you every day.

As Within So Without

It's an ancient adage that what is going on within our consciousness, our inner belief system, is reflected as experiences in our outer world.

Sometimes it's hard to accept that what's going on without in our experience is a reflection of what's going on within our consciousness. This feels especially true when we're dealing with people who aren't treating us the way we feel they should.

Yet once we accept this as true -- not just sometimes but all the time -- we become empowered to make massive changes in our outer experience because while we can't manipulate what's going on without, we can take charge of what's going on within. And when we do that the outer automatically changes.

We bring about this change in consciousness through the tools of affirmation and visualization.
However, these affirmations and visualizations can't be casual or simply perfunctory. They must be done with a deep intention to fully realize the truth of what you're affirming or visualizing. The affirmations and visualizations must be done until you experience an inner click, an inner knowing that this is no longer an affirmation but an absolute truth about you and your experience.

Many years ago I had an experience that I call to mind when I want to remind myself that this process of inner transformation works and changes the outer automatically.

There was a person in my life who constantly put me down. Every time I was in his presence within a few minutes he'd start recounting the sins of my life and making derogatory statements about me, my beliefs and my lifestyle.

I made a firm decision that this was not going to continue to happen and that if it did I would not be spending any time with him. So I did the inner work. I visualized him starting to put me down and saw that he stopped and switched to a different subject. I didn't attempt to get him to say positive things about me -- now I wonder why I didn't -- but just that put-downs were no longer allowed. I did this inner work for several days until I felt an inner realization that the programming was done. Then I went to visit to test whether it had worked.

I'd been there about ten minutes when he started to say something that was headed in a derogatory direction. Without saying a work I simply raised my hand sending a silent message of "stop." And just as I'd seen it in my visualization, his voice trailed off and started up again on an entirely different subject. An interesting aside is that he didn't seem to realize what had happened. One second he was talking about one thing and then he simply switched.

One of my most powerful Truth teachers said that no one can hit you over the head unless at some level you've given them permission. I'm not sure "permission" is the most appropriate word, but I do truly realize that no one can put me down or keep my good from me if my consciousness is firmly aligned with the good I desire.

Who's In Charge?

Who's in charge of the Universe?

Who's in charge of my life?

I don't believe there's anyone out there dictating how things are going to transpire.

I have a friend who, when confronted by doubt -- hers or mine -- says, "Well, we know who's in charge." And when she says that I know she's referring to God or a higher power.

Even though I've usually just said, "Sure," it's never really felt right to me. It's caused me to ponder and ponder and ponder the question of who, exactly is in charge.

What I've come to realize is that who's in charge of me and my life is simply my collective consciousness in any one moment -- the sum total of the highest wisdom I've allowed into my consciousness blended with all my worldly thoughts and feelings. It's simply "WHAT IS" at any given moment.

And the same is true of collective consciousness. For instance in a job situation, the applicant hired will be the one who's consciousness is most in alignment with the consciousness of the interviewers.

And the same is true for the entire world and all the nations and their interactions. Who's in charge is the collective consciousness of everyone at each and every moment in time and space and it's always subject to instant change.

So what does this mean for me? It means that I need to be vigilant and mindful of what I'm allowing into my consciousness on a moment-by-moment basis, because the bottomline is that I'm in charge of my consciousness and my consciousness is in charge of me and my experiences.

I commit again for the millionth time to think and feel only positive, productive, prospering, loving thoughts.

Watch What You Criticize!

One of my first Truth teachers often said that we must "watch what we criticize."

In the beginning it didn't make a lot of sense to me, but over the years the wisdom contained in the phrase has been brought home to me many times; and, unfortunately, I've experienced the fruits of the poisoned tree of criticism.

There was a significant person in my life many years ago whom I criticized often and strongly about the way he handled finances. Not only did I criticize him to his face, but I played a tape in my head over and over about how unstable and irresponsible he was with money.

One day several years later I had one of those A-HA moments where I realized that I was handling money the same way he did. It was a tremendous wake-up call.

Whether we're criticizing or praising, we're always creating mental/emotional patterns in our consciousness that will play themselves out in our outer reality.

As I thought about this, I argued with myself, "But he was irresponsible." And the fact is that, yes, he was.

So how could I have handled this in a way that would have served me or at least not created chaos in my future financial experiences? It's an interesting question. The only answer that comes to mind is that I could have eliminated him from my life much sooner than I did, or I could have simply accepted him the way he was and focused on his more positive attributes.

It was definitely a learning experience and it has certainly made me more mindful when I start to feel critical or judgmental around someone's behavior.

We're all doing the best we can with our current state of consciousness and if we want a better outer reality we simply must create a better inner mental/emotional mindset.

Mindset Mastery is what I teach and what I'm striving to master day by day. It's a process. There's always more to learn and more to do and it does get better and better as we stay more focused on the qualities we desire and admire.

The Mystical Marriage

The words from the traditional marriage service are familiar to most of us. "What God has joined together let no man put asunder."

When we understand "God" as "Consciousness" these words take on a deeply expanded meaning. What Consciousness has joined together no man can put asunder. What consciousness has joined together cannot be pulled apart without a shift in the original consciousness that drew the parts together.

Consciousness attracts it's own and binds with it. In a relationship -- whether marriage or friendship or a career connection, Consciousness is what brought the parties together.

If something is ours by divine right of consciousness that means that it's truly ours and we don't need to struggle or effort to keep it. If we try to get something by force, by manipulation, then we have to work hard to keep it.

The mystical marriage occurs anytime two parties are brought together by right of consciousness. And it's wonderful, easy, joyful.

And when the consciousness of one or both parties shifts, then the relationship also shifts.

It's not necessarily good and it's not necessarily bad. It's just different.

We're each centers of creative consciousness attracting and repelling as we grow in awareness. Being in the flow without attachment leads to a life of ease, joy and fulfillment.

No Magic, but ...

One of the things I, personally, find irritating in New Thought and Law of Attraction teachings are the many references to "magic" and "miracles."

I don't believe in magic or miracles.

What I do believe in is PROCESS.

Thoughts are creative energy and every thought we think impresses our subconscious mind with the idea that that's what we want to experience. Good or bad. Happy or sad. We're constantly creating through our thoughts, feelings and visualizations.

I frequently remind myself: MY THOUGHTS ARE CREATIVE ENERGY. As I powerfully think the same thought, visualize and feel it's fulfillment over and over an ever larger, more powerful energy field is created which, when it reaches maximum, automatically manifests. It is the LAW. It must MANIFEST. If I don't have what I want, it's because I haven't thought, felt and visualized enough for it to become my reality.

Sometimes when the desired result manifests it does feel like something magical or miraculous has happened, but it's not magic. It's just the outer manifestation of an inner belief system that has become complete.

My Higher Self

The concept of God as the Whole, the Universe, Source Energy, Principle, Life, etc., is so expansive that I've never been able to feel much of a personal connection.
When people say, "God loves you," that has very little meaning to me. As a divine idea Love is definitely a part of the totality the God of my understanding is, but I don't think that Allness loves me with anything that we might feel as a human connection. One aspect of It's nature is Love itself, the divine idea of pure, unconditional love.
However, the concept of Higher Self, Higher Power, or God Individualized brings it down to an earthly level where I can feel connected and one with something higher than "me," the human. I see, feel, know my Higher Self as that part of my consciousness that sees the big picture, that is an expression of the highest and best there is and wants to experience those attributes on earth as me, Kathryn.
My Higher Self loves me, cares for me and wants me to have all the good I truly desire because my desires come from Her. She is connected with the Whole, knows what will make me happy and fulfilled, and knows how to guide me to the fulfillment of those desires.
Your Higher Self is there for you. She/He is a steady stream of love, wisdom and guidance flowing through you, leading you to ever greater good. All we have to do is let go and let Her/Him show us our own unique path step by step by step. One day at a time. One step at a time. Let go and let Higher Self have Her/His way with you.