Practicing Mindfulness: Beneficial Beliefs Feel Better When I Think Them. . .

Practicing Mindfulness. . .

Almost daily I encounter someone, or myself, experiencing suffering over or with tumultuous thoughts, thoughts run amok. Thoughts that torture our minds, interrupt our focus, steal our attention and energy have become a plague within our society, which culturally places a high importance on thoughts and thinking ability. 

René Descartes

"Cogito ergo sum. . ."

 a Latin philosophical proposition by René Descartes, translated into English as

 "I think therefore I am. . . "

Complex thought may be one of the factors in the advancement of humanity as a species, but look what has happened to us as the thoughts we think spiral into fearfulness and aggression. . . when our thoughts about ourselves become overly critical. . . when our thoughts about each other become separatist and exclusionary. . . when our thoughts about life become those of superiority and inferiority. . . thoughts of insufficiency and greed. . .

Believing every thought that comes into our minds is a symptom of mental illness, as not all of the thoughts we think are true.

Consider that what we believe shapes our reality and as such it is beneficial to be mindful of the thoughts we pursue and the beliefs we cling to. It may seem simplistic to point this out, but --to paraphrase one of my favorite influencers, Abraham and Esther Hicks-- a belief is just a thought that you keep thinking and thoughts can be changed.

We have the power to choose which thoughts we will pursue, cultivate and grow. We have the ability to examine our beliefs and when we find those which no longer serve us, re-frame them to bring about change.

Distinguishing between which thoughts are beneficial to us and those that are not is a skill which requires practice. When we have been unconsciously allowing our thoughts to rule our lives, it can become confusing to ween ourselves from those thoughts which separate us from the improved state of being we desire.

Thursday's thought to think upon . . .

Beneficial Beliefs Feel Better When I Think Them. . .

There are things in your environment --that you believe-- that match what you want.  And there are all kinds of things in your environment that you believe that defy what you want. How would you ever sort them out? How do you know the active beliefs within you that serve you well and the active beliefs that do not serve you?  How do you know the beneficial beliefs from the detrimental ones? The Beneficial beliefs feel better when you think them.  The detrimental ones feel worse when you think them.

 ~ Getting into the Vortex cards

by Ester and Jerry Hicks

The Teachings of Abraham

Refusing The Call. . .

The Fates

"The fates lead him who will; him who won't they drag." ~ old Roman proverb.

Have you ever wondered what your life would be like if you followed your dreams?

Have you ever considered the cost you will pay by not pursuing them? If so, perhaps you already have an inkling.

Our ancestors understood there were consequences to avoiding the call of inspiration and the desire of our hearts. Mythos from the ages prepare us, using the allegoric anchor of the Hero's Journey stories, to face the psychological repercussions associated with refusing this call.

The Call of the Gods . . .

You may be familiar with the bible story of Jonah and the whale. . . ? 

Jonah's failed escape . . .

Jonah1:1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.

Well, Jonah --the hero of the myth, doesn't want to answer the call to adventure. In the beginning of this bible story, he refuses to follow the quest given him by his god, Jehovah. The people of Nineveh are the enemies of Jonah's people. He would rather they were destroyed. Instead of accepting the task laid out by his god, trusting that there is some greater purpose at hand, he high-tails-it in the other direction, hopping a ship in Joppa headed for Tarshish. Not the most well thought out of plans. In Jonah's story, running the other direction only succeeds in pissing his patron god off. Jehovah basically sends a hurricane to sink the ship Jonah gets on.

Joseph Campbell

According to Joseph Campbell's research of world mythology, when a hero refuses the call to adventure or denies the ability to move beyond the status quo, something, usually some type of magical intervention, is then needed to plunge the hero into the unknown. Where the reluctant hero requires supernatural forces to urge him on, the willing adventurer gathers amulets, power tokens or magical items, and advice from a protector or spirit guide as aid for the journey.

A modern example of a hero refusing the call to adventure/change can be found in the movie STAR WARS.

The Call in STAR WARS

When Luke Skywalker first finds the droid R2-D2, and discovers the message from Princess Leia, he has no intention of investigating the mystery. He is more concerned with the work he has to finish for the coming morning and even mentions wiping R2's hard drive in preparation for re-purposing.
R2 runs away and while Luke is willing to come after him, meeting the Jedi Obiwan in the process, it takes returning home to find the storm troupers have wiped his home and only known family off the planet to send him on his quest.

In mundane life when we refuse the call of inspiration we don't always experience a dramatic or magical event to push us out of the stasis we are in. Sometimes what we experience is an intense feeling or realization that something is wrong in our world, a lingering dissatisfaction with the way things are. The urge to follow our inner calling and visions intensifies, and life events seem to push us to make changes. If we remain unmoved and continue to ignore these feelings, asserting an effort to maintain the status quo, at the expense of our dreams, Life quite often will shift the circumstances around us in ways that force us to grow in new directions. If we continue to ignore the deeper guidance of Source, which is trying to move us towards our highest good and potential, we become blocked energetically and create disease in our lives. Dis-ease can manifest as physical illnesses or chronic poverty, accidents, debt thinking, depression, emotional turmoil, traumatic events, or simply a deep abiding dissatisfaction with life. Our personal hero story becomes one of tragedy, loss, and pain.

It is only through embracing The Call of Life, the inspiration of Source, and engaging in the adventure of living fully that we fulfill the potential of our Be-ing.

The Tarot and the Hero's Journey

The Fool is of the tarot represents Joseph Campbell's monomythic hero at the beginning of his journey cycle. The Fool is given the number placement 0, the number of unlimited potential, which does not actually have a specific place in the sequence of the Tarot cards. The Fool can come either at the beginning of the Major Arcana or at the end, as the hero must return to the society or place of origin to complete his journey of enlightenment. The Major Arcana is often considered as the Fool’s journey through life and as such, he is ever present and therefore needs no number.

The Fool is shown at the beginning of his journey with unlimited potential. The sun rising up behind him represents the beginning of his journey. He is facing north-west, the direction of the unknown. He is looking upwards, toward the sky, or Spirit. He is about to step off a cliff into the material world but is he prepared? He has all the tools and resources he needs in the bag on his staff but he has not opened the bag yet. The white rose in his left hand represents purity and innocence. He has a guardian in the little white dog who will protect him throughout his journey but who will also push him to learn the lessons the Fool came here to learn. The mountains behind the Fool represent the realms of Spirit that he has just left and will spend his life trying to regain.