Principle Seven - Theory

“Life can be lived as a prayer in action.”
—Caroline Myss

You might have realised by now that Self Mastery is not about thinking your way through life but nor is it a passive way of living. There is a Sacred Path that we can follow through life and to be aware of it is the trick. When we start to look, we can barely see it but as we relax and allow ourselves to be guided along the path it becomes clearer and easier to follow.

Gratitude is like the lubricant for the wheel of life. To receive joy from life or the universe we need to give back our gratitude. As we give our gratitude we get more joy and so on.

From a neuroscience and neuro-plasticity perceptive – what we focus on expands. If we focus on what we appreciate in life then we reinforce the neural pathways around this type of thinking.

Looking at it from a past/present/future perspective gratitude supports the flow from future to present to past.

Likewise Quantum Physics would tell us that as we resonate with the vibration of gratitude that is what we are putting into the quantum field so again we create fertile ground for the creation of more events that make us feel grateful.

This is where it’s all about perspective.

It’s also important not to get hung up about the form of things but rather to focus on the essence.

Consider this story.

There was a great storm brewing and the people in the small village were warned to put all of the lose things inside, batten down all the windows and get ready for heavy rain and winds.

As the storm hit it brought with it much more rain than was anticipated and slowly but surely the river began to rise and before long broke its banks and started flooding the village.

The emergency people went from house to house in a big truck telling people to evacuate their houses and move to higher ground.

One man, Jonar, who was very religious decided to stay in his house and replied to the pleas of the emergency people, “Don’t worry my God will save me”.

More time passed and still the storm did not abate. The rains continued and the river kept rising. Soon the streets were so flooded the truck could not drive around so now the emergency people used a small boat to go from house to house.

“Come now!” they called to Jonar “The water is still rising, you will drown.”

“No” said Jonar “My God will save me.”

Several hours later the waters were so high they were flowing through the houses and washing everyone’s belongings away. By this stage Jonar was perched on his roof watching the raging flood waters below.

This time an emergency helicopter flew in. Using a loud hailer they begged Jonar to climb up the rope and into the helicopter.

“No” replied Jonar defiant “My God will save me.”

During the night the waters continued to rise and by the next morning many houses had been swept away in the flood killing the people who had stayed.

In heaven Jonar stood before God, “Why didn’t you save me?” he asked.

God smiled at him and laughed, “Who do you think sent the truck, the boat and the helicopter?”

We think too much remember?

We try so hard with our serial processor left brains to work out some meaning in life.

But we will never truly work it all out – and if we did – how boring would life be then?

To be Masters of our Self. To be contributors to the creation of a new world – we need to let go of the form and focus on the essence of what we desire instead.

If we can do that. If we can trust that what we are getting right now is perfect then we can allow the universe to work its magic and deliver to us what we desire in a way that we cannot possibly imagine.

Gratitude lubricates the flow of the wheel of life.

Gratitude shows our faith and allows for the flourishing of joy.

Gratitude shifts our focus and therefore our attention and our intention thereby allowing creation to weave its magic.

 

Principle Seven - Toolbox

 

This one is all about focus as well. Gratitude completes the loop that links with joy. Give gratitude – receive joy…

Affirmation

I am grateful for all that I have right now. I am grateful for all of the lessons I have learnt, good and bad, that have made me who I am today.

Journal of Joy

As part of the Self Mastery process I strongly recommend keeping a journal.

However my advice to you is to be very careful about what you write in your journal as the simple act of going through the process of formulating the thoughts and putting them into words causes you to focus your attention on them and helps to manifest them into the world.

Many people going through heart rendering situations write their worries and concerns in their journals hoping this will somehow relieve them of the burden. But then they keep going back and reading back through the drama thereby reliving them.

Do you do that??

If so – try this instead.

In your journal – only write things that have brought you joy. Write down how they made you FEEL and why you are grateful for them. Don’t just write – “I am grateful for my partner, my wonderful kids, my new job and my dark blue Ferrari California convertible with tan leather interior” (oh sorry just visualising…)

Anyway – try instead writing things like “Wow! I am so grateful for my beautiful daughter and the amazing experience of being with her. Today she got into the pool and swam a few strokes for the first time. Then she turned and looked at me with a huge smile on her face as if to say ‘See Dad I can swim!’.

I felt so proud of her in that moment that I could have cried. My life is truly a precious gift.”

See what I mean?

You need to be able to go back and read the entry and relive the experience. Relive the joy and re-presence yourself in gratitude.

Try to get into the habit of writing down two or three things every day that give you joy. This will serve to refocus your attention on the good things that happen to you every day.

Now – those other negative things that you’ve been writing. DON’T WRITE THEM IN YOUR JOURNAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And if you have already done so get a new journal.

With those negative things you need to do a proper release with them so – take some loose paper and write all your worries, concerns, frustrations, aggravations etc on the paper – anything you wish to let go of.

Take the piece of paper and tie it with some string to a stick to symbolise a spear – to pierce the veil of negative energy and allow it to escape into the ether.

Light a fire – get focused, say a prayer for letting go – something like “I choose now to let go of all of these things and I ask that the energy of them be transmuted into something positive”

Then take the stick and throw it into the fire. As you watch it burn envisage the energy around those negative things being vaporised by the fire and sent up into the ether to be transformed.

Now you may not be able to light a fire – especially if you are living in an apartment in Manhattan…. So, just use the same principle of fire to do the job. That is, write down all your stuff on paper. Bundle it up. Light a candle as your fire then set the piece of paper on fire and allow it to burn down in a pot or other suitable container.

Gratitude Walks And Claps

Any activity that stirs the energy and focuses your attention is good, and also be aware that the acts of speaking, writing or any other activity gives more weight to it.

So, try going for a walk and as you walk along think of all the things you are grateful for – and especially the people you are grateful for. Each time you think of something or someone say out loud “I am so grateful for … and clap three times”

As you clap imagine the energy of gratitude being radiated out by the clap like the way sound waves radiate out.

Consider the Butterfly Effect. This is a phrase that tries to capture the technical notion of ‘sensitive dependence on initial conditions’ in chaos theory.

WHAT??

In simple terms this is the idea that a small variation of the initial condition of a dynamic system may produce large variations on the long term behaviour of the system.

So a butterfly flapping its wings in the Amazon may create small changes in the atmosphere that may ultimately lead to a tornado in America.

Hmmm…. So clap, clap, clap – send out the resonance of gratitude.

Gratitude Visits

This one’s elegantly simple.

Write a testimonial to someone you are grateful to and then go pay them a visit and read it to them.