The Power of Your Supermind

Well, that’s good news! According to Vernon, it doesn’t matter how long we’ve been living in darkness.

Let there be light! :)

That’s such a fantastic image of what often goes on in our heads, huh?!?

Think about it: How many times would you go see a REALLY bad movie?!? You’d prolly walk out mid-way, eh? And you *definitely* wouldn’t rush back to watch it again and again and again! (Right? :)

So, uh, why do we literally rush back to the mental movie theatre to re-play that terrible painful experience with someone over and over?!?

Modern Positive Psychology research (see the Notes on Happy for No Reason for a nice overview) tells us that we’ve actually got an evolutionarily hard-wired tendency to see the negative and have it stick to our brains like velcro (vs. the positive stuff which researchers say slips away like teflon!).

The solution?

We’ve gotta literally re-wire our minds to become more inclined to notice and focus on the things we *want* to have swimming around in our consciousness.

For now?

Start noticing when you’re replaying that horrible scene for the 3rd or 300th time and see if you can observe yourself watching it. (That’s a HUGE step in the right direction.)

And then ask yourself, “Self, is this really the movie we want to watch again?”

Then, if you’re feelin’ it, smile and give yourself a high five for the new habit you’re building and then focus on something you want to replay!

Love that.

Reminds me of James Arthur Ray in his great book, Harmonic Wealth (see Notes). He tells us: “Everything has a gestation period, a time period that must pass before things will come into form. If you plant a carrot seed, it takes about seven weeks for the sprout to make its above-dirt entrance. Bamboo, which can grow up to thirteen feet in as little as one week, takes up to seven years to break through the surface of the ground. But for seven long years it looks like absolutely nothing’s happening. Now that takes some commitment.”

Isn’t that *amazing*??

According to Ray, it takes a bamboo up to SEVEN years to break through the ground at which point it can grow thirteen feet in a week!

*rubs eyes*

Wow. That’s cool.

I love the whole idea of patience and gestation periods.

It’s amazing how easily we can forget that EVERYTHING takes time, eh?

We’d *never* think to rush a baby in her mommy’s tummy—pushing for “results” in four months instead of nine! And we don’t get frustrated when a carrot seed takes seven weeks to sprout.

So, how about we apply some of that wisdom to our lives and bring a little more patience to our own evolution?!?

(And, Epictetus is always helpful whenever we’re a little too impatiently frisky: “No great thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.” :)

Powerful.

Vernon reminds us that the (often not so) simple act of observing our own negativity is a POSITIVE event.

Why? Because most of the time we’re TOTALLY unaware of when we’re off! We can’t change something within ourselves we aren’t aware of, eh? Having the ability to more and more consistently SEE the negative aspects of ourselves is like turning on a flashlight in a dark room. We need the light of awareness to do the clean-up.

So let’s remember: “Detection of inner negativity is not a negative act, but a courageously positive act that makes you a new person.”

That’s brilliant.

Have you been stepping into the street without looking (both ways!!!) and getting a little (or a big?) psychic spanking? :)

What’s the lesson the Big Guy in the Sky might be trying to teach you?

This is a huge theme with the teachers we study in these Notes.

My favorite thought on the subject is from Eckhart Tolle in The Power of Now (see Notes) where he says: “Accept—then act. Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. Always work with it, not against it. Make it your friend and ally, not your enemy. This will miraculously transform your whole life.”

Accept it as if you have chosen it. That’s HUGE!!!!

What’s stressing you out right now? Can you see how the suffering is the result of the gap between what you think *should* be happening vs. what is actually happening?

You want to close the pain-gap? Simple. Act as if you actually scripted the event to go just the way it is. Voilà! Pain vanishes.

Byron Katie tells us pretty much the same thing (see Notes on Loving What Is): “The only time we suffer is when we believe a thought that argues with what is. When the mind is perfectly clear, what is is what we want.”

And, remember, according to Katie: “If you want reality to be different than what it is, you might as well try to teach a cat to bark.”

Love that. :)

T. Harv says the same thing in his great book Secrets of the Millionaire Mind (see Notes) where he talks about you vs. the size of your problems.

Imagine you’re a size 3 person (out of a possible 10). You’re confronted with a size 3 problem. How do you react? You’re stressed, eh?

Now, imagine you’re a size 5 person dealing with that size 3 problem. Less stressed, eh? Continue your evolution. You’re now a size 10 person. Do you even see the size 3 problem and/or describe it as a “problem”?!?

Point: let’s grow to a higher level of consciousness and not even get into the messes that currently pester us!!! :)

Lots o’ teachers talk about this Big Idea.

We are NOT our emotions!!!

Anthony de Mello captures it well in his great little book, Awareness (see Notes): “Never identify with that feeling. It has nothing to do with the ‘I.’ Don’t define your essential self in terms of that feeling. Don’t say, ‘I am depressed.’ If you want to say, ‘It is depressed,’ that’s all right. If you want to say that depression is there, that’s fine; if you want to say gloominess is there, that’s fine. But not: I am gloomy. You’re defining yourself in terms of the feeling. That’s your illusion; that’s your mistake. There is a depression there right now, but let it be, leave it alone. It will pass. Everything passes, everything.”

So, next time you’re feeling depressed (or grouchy or angry or whatever), imagine observing (and maybe even playful commenting on :) your emotional state like a psychic meteorologist would comment on a passing storm on your TV news program. Might sound simple (well, it IS simple, not always EASY to do!), but the moment we can actually just observe the state we’re in, its power over us diminishes immediately and significantly!

What a great way to put it in perspective, huh?!?

We can memorize the instructions on a first-aid kit, or from our “bible,” but being able to parrot the words is VERY different than actually living them, eh?

States obvious: It’s NOT enough to be able to cite the quote and give the page reference. We’ve GOTTA LIVE the truths!!!! So, let’s!!! :)

A fisherman with a leaky boat would look for the cause of the leak and fix it. Funny how we often just keep on plugging up the holes with temporary fixes, *totally* ignoring the cause, huh?

Here’s another way to think about cause and effect and our often less-than-enlightened-responses: You’ve got water in a pot. You turn on the flame beneath the pot and the water begins to heat. Soon, it begins to boil. You don’t like the water boiling. Unfortunately, rather than identifying the cause and simply turning off the flame (or moving the pot), you drop in a couple ice cubes. Ahhhhhh. Boiling stopped. Problem solved.

Um, yah.

Cause and effect. As Vernon says: “If you don’t like the effect, don’t produce the cause.”

So… What “effect” or result in your life isn’t making you do the happy dance?

Are you looking at the cause or merely treating the symptoms?

* queue chorus of angels singing *

→ “If you blunder for ten years while thinking for yourself, that is rich treasure when compared with living these ten years under the mental domination of another.”

Why is it better to “blunder for ten years while thinking for yourself” than to live those ten years under the mental domination of others?

Because the greatest gift we can give ourselves is to be in integrity with our own, authentic values and if we’re constantly following someone else’s idea of what we should do (whether that “someone” is a parent or spouse or church/Bible/priest/etc.) we’re NEVER going to know what OUR truth is.

As Vernon says: “Don’t look for someone in whom to believe. Believe in yourself. The only authentic authority is your own original nature.”

Amen.

Vernon also says: “If it takes apparent misfortune to turn us into true philosophers and doers of good to receive good, then apparent misfortune is our greatest fortune.”

Imagine that. If our highest goal is to wake up, end our suffering and truly live our precious lives, then EVERYTHING is a gift, eh?

What’s goin’ on in your life right now that you might be able to look at in a different way?!?

While you’re thinking about that, how about a little Marcus Aurelius mojo on the subject as well? In Meditations (see Notes), he says: “So here is a rule to remember in future, when anything tempts you to feel bitter: not, ‘This is a misfortune,’ but ‘To bear this worthily is a good fortune.’”

Imagine a cat that’s been convinced he *should* be a tiger. Yikes!

Are you being who you *really* are?

Check in the next time you’re struggling and see if you’re trying a little too hard to be something/someone you’re not.

As we get our Supermind on, let’s remember we’ve *gotta* be true to ourselves!