gari.baldi

As you know by now, a big part of my approach to work is about healing the voices within that keep us from showing up at our best.

So when I got tagged (more on that in a second) for Peter’s “Think Different” challenge, it was a no-brainer; the idea, basically, is to try thinking differently about something in your life that you’ve been holding as a negative… start thinking positively about it, and see what happens.

(The “tagging” debacle? I was told by Tristan Loo of the Synergy Institute that he tagged me, but he actually tagged a different Adam (he has since added me to his tagged list, though!). I sorta put it out of my mind, but then Jennifer Mannion of Heal Pain Naturally tagged me from her post… so that’s when I figured the Universe was trying to tell me something!)

As the wind bloweth

Now, thinking differently about something you’re holding as a negative is good… and, in my experience, it can be like trying to keep a paper cup on a picnic table in a wind storm. You can try to keep your thoughts in the positive, but if you’ve got a strong wind — belief systems, in this case — that keep on blowing the same way they have been, then you can try all you want to keep that cup on the table, but it isn’t going to happen.

If you want to keep your thoughts positive, you’ve got to make your belief (which generates your thoughts) positive first.

Example:

If you look outside your window, see grey skies, and think, “Bummer weather,” that’s just a thought created by a belief that says, “grey skies = bad.” You can try to think positively about your day, but as long as you have it worked up in your mind that “grey = bad,” you’ve got an uphill battle on your hands.

But if you look outside your window, see grey skies, and think, “Woo hoo!”, then you’ve obviously got a belief system that says, “grey skies = good.” Thinking positively, then, becomes automatic.

So, back to the challenge…

Right now, the bulk of my time and energy is being spent working on the Internal Success course. And as excited as I am about it, and even as the project cascades into so much more than it was when I started, I still have doubts now and again.

(Doubts = thoughts = the evil brainchild of negative beliefs.)

I’d love to think differently about them, so rather than just try to reorient my thoughts, I put the Internal Success teachings into action. Within two minutes, my thoughts went from scarcity-based thoughts, “No one will want it, there are already tons of programs out there…”, to, “There are millions of people out there who need it… this could be huge. There’s no shortage at all. Make it, offer it, be open and invite people to it. Be positive!”

And the great thing is, it was totally sincere. When I try to “overwrite” my thoughts, there’s always this nagging voice underneath it all, saying, “Oh, come on… you can try to affirm otherwise, but you know it’s not really like that.”

But with the negative beliefs cleared out of my system, those old connections just aren’t there anymore. There’s no tide I’m trying to hold back; my beliefs are naturally generating positive, abundant thoughts.

As a (wo)man thinketh

It’s true (to borrow the phrase from James Allen): As you thinketh, so you are. Changing your thoughts is a sure-fire way to impact the quality of your life (no big revelation here). But if you want to have more success at it than trying to keep a paper cup steady in a wind storm, don’t stop with your thoughts alone; clear the beliefs you have that are keeping your thoughts headed down the wrong paths, and you’ll be much better off.

Want a podcast of this? Click here.

And thanks to all those who commented on the previous post so far: Tim Warneka, Elena, Mark McCullagh, Shafie

© Adam for Adam Kayce, 2007. | Permalink | 14 comments

chuckp

The conversation that’s gotten started from “How Do You Orient To The Divine?” is one that I’m really, really enjoying. It’s the kind of discussion (one of them, at least) that I was hoping would happen when I started Monk at Work.

I’ve been touched by the sentiments shared, because it’s easy to see that people are really looking at their beliefs, and perhaps, questioning them. Personally, I’ve been questioning my beliefs for most of my life, and it has been a very fruitful debate.

One of the things I wrote was, “I’ve been both [a dualist and a monist],” The truth is, I could have easily added, “and, I’ve been neither — for most of my youth, I didn’t believe in anything.”

“- gasp – is it true? the monk was once an atheist?”

Yeah, but it’s really not that big a deal, I don’t think. If anything, it demonstrates my belief in having first-hand experience of something in order to make a decision about it. Because I didn’t have those experiences in my youth, I didn’t believe.

Things change, though.

In the explorations of my twenty-something years (and since), I’ve had a number of experiences where I’ve tangibly felt and communicated on some level with a presence that I’ve come to call Divine.

And, I’ve also had plenty of times where I’ve questioned it all, including all my experiences, no matter how strong and sure they were in the moment.

What I’ve come to is this: I suppose I could argue that my first-hand experience is unquestionable. Or, I just as easily say that every experience is subject to doubt. Which is to say, I could argue for, or against, the existence of a Divine presence, and I’d probably be right.

But I also have come to realize that even more important than being right is being rich. Having a full, abundant experience of life is more important to me than scoring an “A” on any scorecard that my mind (or anyone else’s) would hand out. And whether I’m right or wrong, for me, believing in the Divine (and living the life that stems from that) is the path to the richest, fullest experience of life I know.

So, whether you believe or don’t, I don’t really mind. I can support and love you in either. And where I truly want to support you is finding what works for you to have the richest, fullest experience of life that you can.

© Adam for Adam Kayce, 2007. | Permalink | 11 comments

cobalt123

This is a huge topic, I realize… one that I couldn’t do justice to in a single post (or a single lifetime, perhaps… but that won’t stop me from beginning the conversation, at least.

It seems to me that there are two primary ways that most people and most paths orient to the concept of God/Divine/Oneness/Spirit. It’s either inside of you, or outside of you.

The “outside of you” folks probably think of you and the Divine, the Divine being ‘out there’, and you trying to reach It. Your quest is to experience proximity to the Divine, and feel what it’s like to merge with the Divine, or, be in service to whatever It asks of you. (Because of the difference seen between man and Spirit, this is called, “dualism.”)

The “inside of you” folks probably think of the Divine in you, as ‘in here’, and you seeking to experience the fullness of It in you and through you. Your quest is to experience no absence of that Presence, to be filled 100% with the seamlessness of the experience of what is. (Because of the lack of difference seen between man and Spirit, this is called, “monism.”)

To the dualists, Divinity is something to be reached.
To the monists, Divinity is something to be realized.

(For more on these ideas, go here, here, here, or especially here.)

Now, I’m not putting one above the other; in my life, I’ve been both. But the reason I ask is that, from what I’m seeing, each one has profound (and profoundly different) implications on how you bring your sense of spirituality into your work.

Here are some questions to get you going…

What paradigm were you taught as a child? Have you stayed with that one, or left it? If you left it, have you come back to it? How have the paths you’ve studied oriented to the idea of God/Divine/Whatever? And what did you take from them around all this?

To be honest, drumming up conversation about this isn’t my primary aim… I’d much rather ask you to reflect, honestly and intensely, on not just what you think about this, but what you believe — what you practice with your words and actions (because sometimes, what you say you believe is different from what you actually do).

If you’d like to comment, I’d love to hear what happens for you once you’ve pondered, reflected, and chewed on this one for a while.

What I do want to impart is the idea that having clarity about which paradigm you truly follow can make a huge difference in everything you do, including your orientation to the idea of intuition, of fulfillment, of relationship, and obviously, personal growth and development, and the application of all of this in your livelihood.

And thanks to all who have commented on the previous post so far: Dawud Miracle, Shawn, Karin H., Alex, Joanna Young

© Adam for Adam Kayce, 2007. | Permalink | 23 comments