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  • The Power of Thought

    Thoughts are powerful things. Every one of man’s achievements, from the greatest to the most insignificant, began with thought. As did every human atrocity.

    Thoughts are a mind process. And mind is the interface between our transient earthly existence and our eternal Spiritual essence. Thoughts are like programs run on the biological supercomputer that is our brain. Their inputs come from both the physical and Spiritual realms, with their outputs interpreted by the Spirit within.

    Thinking is like the planting of a seed. This seed has an energy that spreads like the ripples from a pebble tossed into a pool, touching all other entities. Not all thoughts blossom into reality, but all have the potential to. Their fruition (or otherwise) depends upon the strength of the initial thought, and the degree to which it is received and acted upon by those agencies necessary for its realization. Like magnets, thoughts tend to attract their content to the thinker.

    Thought is therefore a double-edged sword for humanity.

    By thinking, planning, holding and building a dream in ever-greater detail we are laying the foundations for that dream to become a part of our physical reality. This is the essence of the recent self-help blockbuster movie and book The Secret. If you want something enough, contemplate it enough, and believe in it enough, it will come true. The most successful thoughts are not mere academic musings, but are experienced with all the emotion as if they were already real, as taught in Napoleon Hill’s classic Think and Grow Rich (read online – free).

    But by the same principles so our fears and anxieties also tend to happen, and the more we dwell upon them, the more likely they are to become true. This is why we really do need to get our worries under control. If a situation concerns us, we need to analyze our concerns, identify what we can best do about them, and do those things. Having done this, in the knowledge we have done our best and can do no more, we must simply let go of the anxiety. We must not allow it to take root. 

    The key is to master your thoughts, rather than allow them to master you. We all know how difficult it can be to try to hold our attention on one thing for longer than a few seconds; the mind continually wanders elsewhere. But with discipline,  perseverance, and a little meditation, our ability to do so can become stronger. Begin by setting some time, just a few minutes a couple of times a day, when you will think of some dearly-held dream. Make the schedule easy-to-follow, so you don’t get sidetracked. You will soon witness the process becoming easier, even enjoyable. And remain ever vigilant for those destructive worries.

    Thoughts are powerful things. Use them with care.

  • Think Big (and kick ass?)

    Think Big and Kick AssDescribed by Jack Canfield (of Chicken Soup fame) as Donald Trump’s version of The Secret, Think Big and Kick Ass must be causing librarians around the world a dilemma over whether it should be filed under business or self-help.

    Think Big has arisen from Trump’s association with the Learning Annex Wealth Expos and is co-authored with Learning Annex founder Bill Zanker. Real estate tycoon Trump’s larger than life persona shines through every page as he shares the mindset and strategies that have taken him to the pinnacle of his chosen line of work.

    Far be it from me to criticize Trump (wealthier than I by several orders of magnitude!) but some of his more controversial topics ought to be read with a degree of skepticism, or at least serious questioning as to whether they are right for YOU. In particular I refer to the chapters on Revenge and Pre-Nups. Trump is also scathing of those who seek to build win-win deals.

    While these approaches have certainly done Trump no harm, I can’t help feeling many of us would be better off without a string of enemies out there waiting to trip us up. And isn’t entering a marriage with a pre-devised exit plan creating a self-fulfilling prophesy for failure?

    The rest of “Think Big” is good, sound advice. Much of it echoes the messages of the classic self-help masters, but Trump presents them in his own inimitable style, illustrating the timeless principles in action with numerous examples from his own career. Each chapter concludes with Zanker’s take on the topic.

    The powers of thought and belief are the most powerful in the universe. If you think mediocrity, and think yourself mediocre, then that’s the reality you will create for yourself. But by thinking and acting big you create the mindset and beliefs that will deliver big results. As Zanker says: “If you’re thinking already, you might as well think BIG. It’s your choice.”

    This book may not leave you loving Donald Trump, but it will give you stacks of proven, practical tips to aid your own personal journey to success.

    See also Trump’s classic first book, The Art of the Deal.

  • Proof of Life After Death?

    Throughout history man has pondered whether individual consciousness survives the death of the physical body, amassing along the way countless pieces of evidence suggesting that it does. Though much of this evidence is anecdotal, modern science is also lending the power of its tools and methodology to the investigation of the eternal question.

    The Forever Family Foundation is bringing together the finest scientific researchers on this topic for a two-day conference entitled “Investigations of Consciousness and The Unseen World – Proof of an Afterlife?” The conference will run over January 19-20, 2008 at the Cowell Theater, Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, California.

    Speakers include:

    • Parapsychologist Dean Radin, PhD, Senior scientist with the Institute of Noetic Sciences and world authority on psi phenomena and consciousness.
    • Psychologist Gary E. Schwartz, PhD, Director of the VERITAS Research Program at the University of Arizona, dedicated to discovering the truth about the consciousness and the continuity of life. Professor Schwartz is a leading researcher into mediumship.
    • Quantum physicist Fred Alan Wolf, PhD on quantum physics and consciousness – does this hold the key to how Spirit interacts with incarnate beings?
    • Medical doctor Bruce Greyson, MD on his decades of research on NDEs.

    For more information and to book tickets ($225) visit the conference Web site at http://www.foreverfamilyfoundation.org/SanFrancisco.htm

  • New Year, New Beginnings

    Time flies. I can hardly believe another year has almost passed and a new one is upon us.

    New Year is closely linked (in both temporal proximity and symbolic meaning) with the Winter solstice and Christmas, ie the passing of the shortest day and the (re-)birth of the Sun (Son).

    Traditionally this is a time to reflect on what has gone as well as making resolutions for the brand new year ahead. It is rightly a time to celebrate. Surviving another year on the roller coaster of life is achievement in itself and a milestone worth marking.

    Reviewing the past twelve months – in personal and global terms – obviously invokes different emotions in different people. For some it has brought wonderful success, for others heartbreaking disaster. Perhaps for most any review includes both ups and downs.

    Kipling said: “if you can meet with triumph and disaster, and treat those two impostors just the same” … “yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it”. For good and bad, ecstasy and despair, are but two sides of the same coins. What counts is what we can draw the lessons of experience, for this hard-earned knowledge is what truly maketh the person and is the ultimate purpose of life.

    Hopefully you will have had at least as many ups and downs, but even if not the fact that you are reading this means your place is still in this world, there is still work to be done, adventures to be had, lessons to be learned. Which leads us to our second theme – new beginnings.

    It is customary at New Year to make resolutions. Often these are made hastily and lightly about quitting smoking, losing weight, getting more exercise etc etc. And just as hastily and lightly broken. It’s but a small proportion that outlives January.

    But New Year really is a new blank page in the book of life. So just for once let’s think a little harder and resolve to do something that is both meaningful and likely to last. Many people get a break from work over the Holiday season. Use it to consider where you’re heading, where you’d truly like to be headed, and what changes you need to make.

    Think big. Aiming high always produces greater results than setting your sights too low – even if you don’t quite reach your personal summit. But also give yourself a chance to taste the satisfaction of success, eg by setting milestones along the way. Keep yourself heartened by allowing yourself a little treat for a milestone reached.

    And so to Spring, the next review, when the seeds sowed now begin to come to life.

    Happy New Year

  • Does Santa Exist?

    When I was a kid I’d go to bed full of excitement on Christmas Eve. I’d wake up the following morning to find a pile of toys and other gifts where none had been the previous night. The magic, I was told, was all down to some kindly old guy who lived at the north pole and every year would ride his reindeer-driven sleigh across the skies delivering his presents to all the kids around the world who’d behaved well enough to deserve them.

    Then one day I “learned” Father Christmas didn’t really exist, and the mysterious gifts ceased. I’d entered the cynical world of adults where magic doesn’t happen, and people fight wars and do other bad stuff that kids aren’t born knowing about.

    But is what I “learned” really right? After all, in many ways the child really can teach the man. Nobody’s ever seen Santa, so he can’t exist – right? Then again, nobody’s ever seen electricity, radio waves, black holes…

    Santa’s mission is to give without the hope of receiving. It’s also to encourage kids to believe that miracles sometimes do happen.

    Well on count 1, at this time of year there’s a hell of a lot of giving without thought for what you’ll get. (Yeah, OK, I know a lot of giving is done for cynical reasons, because it’s expected, because the giver does want something back etc, but take all that away and there’s still a great deal of selflessness going on.)

    And on count 2, miracles can and do happen. Not often, but often enough to make them real. And one of the most important factors in being the recipient of one of these events… the simple power of belief. All you have to do is ask, and it shall be given. Or rather – the power you need to make it happen – will be given.

    So, as I’m told by those that “know”, Santa doesn’t exist – but his Spirit sure as hell does.

    And who was it left my presents when I was a kid?

  • Happy Holidays / What is Love?

    Once again the Holiday season is upon us. How are you feeling?

    Filled with wonder of the Season? Stressed by last-minute preparations and overcrowded malls? Or simply disgusted at the over-commercialisation and the pressures on folk to overspend and incur debt just so big business can earn a quick buck (remember Jesus driving the money-lenders from the temple)?

    What bugs me is the political correctness bullsh*t seeking to expunge Christian symbolism from Christmas for fear of offending other faiths. How can anyone, Christian or otherwise, possibly be offended by celebrating the birth and life of a man who taught a message of love and peace?

    And isn’t love what this season is all about?

    Love is an oft-used term, eg I love this movie, or football team, or ice cream. It’s also the most common theme in literature, music and art, though none adequately express the feelings it inspires.

    So what does love really mean? It can reduce a grown man to jelly, but defies definition in mere words. Following the lesson of Jesus, “love your neighbour as yourself”, we can say love means to treat the object of your love as, or better than, yourself.

    If you’ve ever been privileged to have kids you’ll understand this. You feel what they feel. You would sacrifice anything for their well-being. You would gladly assume their suffering. It is the recognition and acknowledgement of the oneness of two individuals.

    It’s easy to love our nearest and dearest (though at this season we may feel we love some more at a distance), less easy to love strangers, and hardest of all to love our enemies. But that is what Jesus taught: “But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” [Matthew 5:44].

    Now that’s a tall order for most of us mere mortals, but maybe – just for teh festive season – we can begin by simply accepting others and them be. Regardless of their race, religious belief, past history, whatever… That means acknowledging the place of everyone as unique individuals with a unique role to play in the tapestry of life.

    Enjoy the season, don’t stress, do what you can as best you can. And when the day comes,

    Happy Holidays

  • The Meaning of Coincidence

    Coincidence is where two or more unrelated things seem to occur in close enough proximity to suggest some relationship between them. Eg you dream of a school friend you haven’t heard from for years only to get a reunion invitation from that same person next day.

    Between getting the idea for this post and actually writing it a friend told me of two instances when people she hadn’t seen for ages came into her mind. The first she ran into on the street next day, and the second happened to be on the TV when she walked into the next room! And, on the day I posted this, I happened to be flicking through the TV channels and started watching an old series (of about 80 episodes). Bizarrely the episode being shown was the same that I happened upon over 4 years ago also by channel-flicking. I don’t follow this series and don’t recall having watched it inbetween times. Coincidence, or what? (more…)

  • The Prophet

    The ProphetWritten in 1923 by Lebanese artist, philosopher and writer Khalil Gibran, The Prophet is a collection of 26 poetic essays covering all aspects of human experience.

    The book tells the story of the prophet Almustafa, who has lived abroad in the city of Orphalese for 12 years. Almustafa is about to board a ship which will take him home. Perhaps the voyage is a metaphor for physical death. Before leaving he is approached by a group of people, with whom he discusses matters relating to life and its meaning. His beautifully expressed messages all give insight to our Spiritual nature.

    The Prophet is one of those few books that can be read again and again, at different phases of one’s life, each time yielding a different interpretation.

    Read the Prophet online – Free

  • Don’t Worry, Be Happy

    A few years ago an (irritatingly) catchy little tune called Don’t Worry, Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin was going the rounds. Once heard it took ages to get out of your head. But within that simple song lies a profound message; we spend way too much time worrying.

    The thing about worrying is that no good ever comes of it. Worry dissipates your energies, diverting them from more constructive use. As we’ve got better at curing physical illness so it seems mental illnesses such as stress, depression, anxiety (essentially all aliases for worry) have expanded to fill the gap. And of course these conditions adversely affect physical health.

    But even worse than that, worry is a form of thought. And as countless teachers have told thoughts are very powerful things. They tend to manifest themselves in reality. So by worrying, you actually serve to create the very thing you are worried about!

    If something is bothering you all the worry in the world isn’t going to help (and will most likely harm). Whatever it may be – money, work, relationships, kids, health, family… DO something about it. If the problem is money, start planning and budgeting a little better; if it’s work, start checking the job ads or consider something more radical like self-employment or re-training; if it’s health, eat healthy, exercise and follow the doctor’s orders…

    Sit quietly, take a few deep breaths, analyze what’s wrong and what you can do about it. Don’t be afraid to ask for help through prayer, or even from those you trust.

    In most situations you’ll have a choice of potential actions (including simply doing nothing and letting what will be just be). And for each, since we can’t see the future, a range of possible outcomes – including the best, worst and most likely.

    You’ll now be empowered by knowledge. Decide what you’re going to do. Then do it. And stop worrying, because you KNOW that you’ve done the best you could in the circumstances, and whatever happens you KNOW that you couldn’t have done any better.

    Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday

    Think back to childhood. I’m pretty sure you worried then too. Perhaps you forgot to revise for a class test, or maybe you got dropped from the football team, or your best friend didn’t want to let you in a game… At the time didn’t it seem the biggest problem in the world, but looking back don’t your childhood worries seem inconsequential? And that’s how today’s worries will seem when reviewed in the world of Spirit. So stop worrying and be happy.

  • Does Evil Exist?

    Though we all have our own concepts of good and bad, right and wrong, when we think objectively the concept of morality is a slippery one, if it any concrete existence at all. Just look at how laws, organized society’s embodiment of morality, differ from culture to culture and even over (a short) time within the same culture.

    In England homosexuality was illegal until 1967. Now, even daring to voice anything remotely critical of the practice is sufficient to warrant a visit from the authorities (TIMESONLINE Dec 23, 2005). Normally killing a fellow human being is a serious crime. But do it in a war and you’ll get a medal. Be a government-employed executioner and you’ll get a paycheck and pension. And how many doctors assist the passage of suffering patients, believing they are acting out of compassion. Members of the same profession regularly carry out “abortion”…..

    But having recognized moral fluidity, is there any such thing as absolute evil? In the extreme, what of those who start wars? A single stroke of their pen condemns hundreds of thousands to pointless slaughter.

    Given we all come to earth for experiential growth the indiscriminate mass slaughter that is war surely ends the adventure of life prematurely for a large number. Their journey, though not exactly pointless, is certainly under-fulfilled. And that destruction, that wasted potential, is as close as we get to evil in that it frustrates rather than serves the Will of Spirit.

    Which raises the question of whether such “evil” is part of God’s plan, or the result of individual (ab)use of free will leading the party concerned too far from their intended path. Perhaps we cannot answer this with certainty in our incarnate form. In most cases I’d tentatively suggest it is free will gone wrong. But maybe, occasionally, one is born whose purpose is not primarily to experience but to act as a catalyst enabling the greater experience of many others.

    So continue to hold, and refine, your personal concepts of right and wrong. Also oppose in whatever ways you can those things that appear to be truly evil. You may not always be successful, but you and the world will be the better for your efforts.