Reaching For the Sky

Today’s premise concerns ways of thinking and feeling about our own future. You know the old adage by James Allen: As a man thinketh in his heart, so shall he be. And the Buddha put it slightly differently: We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world.

So as you move into your new day, week, months and year, think of those two quotes and recognize that if you are not reaching and stretching, you may never reach the sky. And one of the ways to reach and stretch is by lifting your thoughts to other places than those which are your usual places. Where do your thoughts normally go? How do you normally think?

What do you say when someone asks you how you are? Or how things are going? Do you say the truth when things are not going well? Or do you pretend they are ok?

Here’s the thing: if you pretend they are ok, you leave no room for talking about the truth, but if you tell the truth, you must be very careful how you word it. This is not about the person to whom you are talking, but about yourself … what words are being engraved in your mind, heart and soul as you speak?

·         Things are tough right now at my office, they’re laying people off left and right

·         I’ve had a flu for weeks and can’t seem to get over it

·         Everyone has had to take pay cuts in my department, and since my wife was laid off from her job last summer, we’ve been having trouble making ends meet

·         I’ve been trying to get an exhibition together, but I can’t find a sponsor (or I am having a hard time   being inspired in my painting)

·         My husband and I have been seeing a therapist but our marriage really seems doomed

Clearly, all of these statements may be spot on for your particular situation, but you see, when you phrase your predicament in those kinds of terms, you are setting – so to speak – the current situation in stone. You leave no room for improvement in the way you phrase your answers. And hence – perhaps – you limit the room for improvement in your mind.

Here are some alternatives to the above sentences and before you call me a Pollyanna, or falsely positive thinker, give me a chance to offer you my thoughts please:

·         Due to the current climate in the workforce, I’ve been taking some free online courses to prepare myself for a horizontal move in my field, should the need arise. I’ve had a careful look at my CV and I’ve been networking and meeting a lot of very interesting contacts

·         I’ve been researching on the internet to see if there are some alternative methods available that might help me get over this flu that has been hanging on, and for the past few days I’ve seen a marked improvement thanks to this remedy that involves orange juice and cayenne pepper

·         My wife and I have been looking into selling organic produce from our garden at the local farmer’s market. I help her on the actual sale days on weekends, and she takes care of the gardening because she has extra free time right now due to getting laid off. Things are tight, but we are getting along fine

·         I’ve been attending free lectures at the local community college as an auditing student to find new inspiration for paintings for the exhibition I want to organize, and not only am I finding myself coming up with some great new ideas, but I’ve also met a professor whose wife owns a local gallery and we’re going to get together for coffee next week to see if the exhibition could be held there

·         My wife and I have been seeing a therapist about our problems, and nothing much was happening, but one day talking about it, we both realized we had been pretending to ourselves that therapy wasn’t working, when what was really happening, was that we weren’t actually implementing any of the suggestions the therapist was offering, so since then, we’ve been working on that and although we aren’t out of the woods, we are beginning to see that maybe there is hope for us after all

So I’m confident that you can see the difference in the two types of phrasing, and yet both are essentially about the same issue … it’s just that in the second set of phrases, the way the problem is expressed leaves room for improvement, solutions, and success in your mind.

The story you tell yourself – about anything at all – has a great deal to do with the eventual outcome. This is totally in your hands. You choose your stories. But in order to come up with stories that form part of the second set of phrases, you must be conscious and aware. You must have assumed responsibility for your own well-being. And so, at the beginning of this new year, we come full circle: make a priority of yourself. Find inner freedom by reaching for the sky, by remaining conscious and by willingly taking on responsibility for absolutely everything you think, feel, say and do.

What story are you telling yourself today?

For more information about how you can take the state of your energy into your own hands, via your feelings and thoughts (all of which can change our body), and in so doing, affect our mind and spirit, and for more about love and loving the self and self-transformation, have a look at my book Rewiring the Soul: Finding the Possible Self, available in paperback and e-book for Kindle format.

Click here to download the first chapter.

From the Reviews (see Amazon for many more):

In Rewiring the Soul, Gabriella Kortsch shows us in very practical ways how to lead a soul-guided, soul-infused life. With the wisdom of one who has traveled far and learned much, Dr. Kortsch blazes a path for all who have the courage to follow. The rewards for walking that path are great: an understanding of why we are here; an expanded awareness of who we really are; a new or heightened sense of purpose and meaning; and a deeper appreciation of life's many blessings. Highly recommended.

ROBERT SCHWARTZ, author, Your Soul's Plan: Discovering the Real Meaning of the Life You Planned Before You Were Born