Missing Ingredient
While in Las Vegas last month, I met with a student who
asked me for private instruction. Specifically, he asked me about the
metaphysical elements of playing and how it applied to the dice game. One of
the components I spoke of was right time, right place, and right action.
The student confided to me about his belief in
affirmations. He said he was confused about the way affirmations worked,
however, more specifically, he asked me why affirmations did not work. He gave
me an example of a past experience, when he had attended a program designed to
help grow wealth. He went on to say that the program was all about the use of
affirmations. He told me of how he wrote down affirmations, how he placed them
around his home and work place as visible reminders, and how he often mentally
repeated the phases. In the end, he told me that the process did not work. I
asked him to explain the process that he had learned at the seminar for
growing wealth. He told me that the seminar presenters represented that by
using affirmations, checks would come in the mail and money would appear to
him. I asked him what he had done in order to cause someone to want to send
him a check in the mail. After a long pause, he replied with, “nothing”.
Affirmations support the reprogramming of the subconscious
mind to a new way of thinking. Without concerted action, on the part of the
affirmer, little to nothing is likely to happen. It has to do with a
willingness on the part of the person doing the affirmations to do something
that allows the affirmations to work. Stuart Wilde covered this in his book,
“Life Was Never Meant To Be A Struggle”. You do not necessarily have to work
hard for success, but you do have to do something to work toward the end goal.
Money is an expression of energy. If you put out little to no energy, it
probably explains why you have little to no money. Somewhere along the line
action supported by appropriate energy is required.
This is a fairly simple concept, but easily missed by most
people. It is abused by scores of others, playing on the emotions of
individuals while selling them hope in get rich quick scams. Changing a life
style to feel abundant is an on going process, once you set out upon the path.
It is not something that has an ending, unlike the example above. “I did all
these affirmations and I then waited for something to happen.”
If a person’s life and beliefs are rooted in scarcity and
lack, it is nearly impossible to have any support from affirmations about
abundance. A thought form of limitation holds back prosperity the same way as
a lack of action. Once engaged in the practice of feeling abundance and
wealth, a different life style is set in place. Sometimes that feeling can
even exist without a lot of money. Think of it like a spring pouring from the
side of a hill. Would you want to try to stop the spring once you had quenched
your thirst? No! You would want the spring to continue to flow and support
your needs for water. Think of it as a continuation of events in you life
always coming at you abundantly. There is always more. You can always feel
when you are in the “flow”.
The person that you take to the game is the same person
that you take into life. Your strengths and weakness fears and confidence will
be exposed during the course of the game. The quickest way to change the game
is to change your beliefs about life. You might as well believe in something
that empowers you and the actions that you take.
Right place, right time and right action are not just
motivating phrases. It has to do with a commitment to a belief system. It is
taking on a belief that supports limitless possibilities. Contrast that, for
example, to how most of society especially now, subscribes to a belief in
lack, scarcity and the fear of not having enough. Having an abundant life
means to take ownership of a belief of limitlessness, like the spring always
gushing water. It is a life style and a way of living that takes
responsibility for life experiences. Life does not just happen to you, it is
an expression of your energy, your thought forms and your actions. It is a
combination of an expanded belief system, affirmations, and action. In a game
of chance, you affirm your intention of being at the right game at the right
time and possessing the skill and knowledge to take the right action. If you
leave any door open to doubt, it is pretty much an expression of lack and a
leak in your game.
Sure, the process of change involves overcoming old ways.
It will take some time and practice to make the decision to release a belief
that is based in restriction and opt in favor of empowering yourself with a
belief of limitlessness, abundance, and opportunity. That is when the missing
ingredient can kick in... powerful, abundant action!
Out on a Limb…
Sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know and that could
be a good thing. I didn’t know that I was afraid of heights. In my youth, I
performed climbing feats of daring and I attempted them without much thought
about the consequences. My best friend lived in a log style home. Where the
corners of the log home criss-crossed, it made for a perfect ladder to gain
access to the roof. Of course the last part was a bit tricky, needing enough
arm strength to pull up and over the extended eve of the roof’s edge. But once
on the roof, at ten years old, my buddy and I were the kings of the world.
We were climbing monkeys in those days, no matter what the
challenge, we would climb it. Trees were our most common perch and there were
plenty of trees. Our dream tree was an old Silver Cottonwood in a neighbor’s
yard. It was the tallest of all the trees. It had huge limbs. Lying on our
backs in the cool grass, we’d look up and imagine our very own tree house
hanging in its boughs. The problem for us was the tree was too tall and there
was no way for us to get up to the first limb. You can always dream.
I was about twelve years old when I had what turned out to
be a spiritual climbing experience. I considered myself a daredevil in those
days. Hell, every show on TV exemplified someone doing impossible stunts,
especially the westerns. Not far from where I lived, there was a house on two
lots. It was a favorite place to play. There was a large grassy area with
shrubs and bushes to hide under and a row of Elm trees, which offered some of
the best climbing. One day, I noticed how two of the Elm trees had limbs
growing out towards one another. From the ground it looked as though the limbs
actually touched. I had the genius idea that I could climb up one tree and
switch over to the other limb and climb down on a different tree. You know, it
would be a good idea to have an alternate escape route if you are twelve years
old and up a tree.
I was alone for this expedition. I climbed up the first
tree without a problem. I straddled the limb that grew out towards the
junction of the two limbs. The limb I sat on was not as big around as it had
appeared when I hatched my scheme. Never the less, it was more than stout
enough to handle my weight. As I scooted along the limb it became difficult to
balance because of the limb’s girth. The limb was not large enough for me to
squeeze my thighs with enough grip to help hold me steady along the limb. I
had to use my arm strength and hand gripping to move along and keep my balance
as the limb swayed in a light breeze.
I was out of breath when I finally reached the junction of
the limbs only to find that the second limb was not touching the limb that I
was sitting upon. Still, the maneuver at first did not appear to be any more
difficult than the assent to the roof of the log house.
While waiting to catch my breath, I pondered my next
climbing move. It would really require me to stand up, some how, and then step
across to the other limb. Oh, oh! I began to recognize that my plan for
changing limbs was quickly becoming riddled with holes. In order to stand, I
had to get my legs underneath me, but the limb was too narrow for that. Above
my head there were wispy branches dangling, but nothing strong enough to grab.
A frail effort to pull myself up to standing, only resulted in a hand full of
leaves.
Now what? Perhaps twelve to fourteen feet off the ground,
jumping was not an option. Oops! It was then that I realized how high the tree
was that I had climbed. A flash of panic wafted through my emotions. Fear
coursed through my body as I became aware of my predicament. However, the fear
gradually faded away once I decided to abandon my limb swapping adventure in
exchange for a plan of retreat.
Fair enough! I was alone. No one was going to call me
chicken and there was no need to share the episode with anyone else. Fine, I
decided to slide back the way that I had climbed up. There was just one little
problem. Friction! Lifting myself up and pushing backward on the limb was not
as easy as it was scooting forward. Then there was the balance thing,
remember? On my first attempt to move backward, the friction of my jeans on
the rough bark caused me to lose my balance and I almost fell. With wide eyes
and sweaty palms, I said something that surely got me four “Our Fathers” and
three “Hail Marys” at confession. The problem I had with sliding back meant
that I had to release my legs from squeezing on the limb, raise my butt up
using only arm strength and leaning slightly forward, and push myself
backwards. By this time my arms were weakened to the point that I could not
balance without holding on with my legs. The panic returned big time and I
froze up. I hugged the limb in desperation. Reality check! For the first time
in my life, I was afraid of heights. I was stuck, out on a limb, with panic
fueling my fear. I was all alone and it was late in the day, about supper
time. My friends were indoors and that is where I should have been too.
I don’t know how long I clung to the limb in an altered
state of sheer panic. I do remember the sickening feeling of the panic attack
and how I was too scared to move a muscle. Eventually I regained composure and
came to the conclusion that my only solution was to move backward ever so
slowly while hugging the limb. With my chest to the limb, I was able to figure
out an alternative method of moving backward that allowed me to inch back
towards the main trunk of the tree. Once on the ground and a bit scuffed up,
the feeling of relief was overwhelming. Strange too, I had a sense of
accomplishment. Looking back up into the boughs of my folly, the trees’ limbs
still appeared to be crossing just as before. That experience pretty much
ended my climbing days. No way in hell would I ever to be the climbing boy I
once was.
Fear is an important emotion. Fear is both an innate and
learned behavior. It keeps us safe. It tells us when danger is present.
However, sometime, fear is overly stated, ingrained by another’s influence.
The tendency may be to live a life that subscribes to someone else’s dogma,
life dictated by other’s fears. Self empowerment comes from the freedom of
from not taking on someone else’s beliefs. Manipulation into our lives is
spawned by negative emotions and beliefs that do not support or nurture our
life’s goals. A lack of confidence, for example, makes it easy for another to
influence our beliefs. Too often another’s fear becomes our own simply because
of a lack of confidence. Sometimes their fear imprints on us just like the
image of a credit card, pressed by the old style embossing machine onto a
carbon receipt. We hardly know what is happening and suddenly we are afraid in
a certain situation. We have taken on someone else’s fear impression.
When a life is lived without examination, and without
questioning, sometimes we don’t know what we don’t know until we are out on a
limb. The end of the limb is a dangerous place to have to reflect and learn,
although many of us wait until that time to realize that we have put ourselves
in a bad situation. We are hoping to be one of those who receive a flash of
enlightenment when we have no recourse. What if we’re not though?
Allowing reflection and introspection to become a part of
our lives is more useful. We then have a daily perspective on fears and their
origins. When we come to the crossed limbs, we then can have a plan. We have
options; we have flexibility, because we know ourselves. We have not waited
until the end of the line or end of the limb to get information. It’s just a
lot safer that way.
