2015
Before we back track to 2011, I read something worth mentioning in today's newspaper:
"You believe in the power of love, and you put action behind that belief. It's what will allow you to let go of a problem relationship and adopt an inspired relationship, all with the same person."
Post 306—published on November 16th, 2011:
It’s hard work to ‘change your mind’. Why? Because ‘mind sets’ shape up, based in yesteryear's experience. When yesterday's mindsets no longer match today's reality, it's common for negative tension to generate between people whose thoughts had once travelled along the same wave length.
As prolonged states of mental conflict prove painful, I work to identify fearful attitudes that give rise to negative mindsets, which—weighing heavy on my energy source —deprive my spirit of hope and my think tank of creativity —Thank goodness, my intuitive quest toward making gains in self awareness has offered me insight into this fact: When I hunger for the dawning of a sunny new day, it's up to me to open my eyes to see why the sun seems to shine brightly over those who, feeling less traumatized, are likely to feel more joyful than me.
Once I came to see that one string of insights illuminates the next, I gained an appreciation for the fact that my conscious mind cannot identify subconscious fears on its own, so whenever a dark cloud weighs heavy on my sunny disposition, over long, it makes sense to seek guidance in hopes that astute professional help can help me to coax my subconscious to release strings of insight until an unnamed fear that keeps raining on my parade is revealed.
If, in the aftermath of a devastating loss, we hope to chase black clouds away, it may be necessary to en-courage an old mind set to move through a step-by-step process, whereby an irreversible change may be accepted with less grumbling, more grace. If you ask what kinds of irreversible changes must be accepted with grace, I'd reply: Any change that proves to be beyond our control. Examples of changes that prove beyond our control may follow in the wake of divorce, incurable illness, the aging process and death. As some of these changes mystify our minds, it's likely that our think tanks will feel uncentered for quite some time. For example, let's consider this question, which has plague man kind since the beginning of time:
Why is every living thing born to work hard and strive toward success in many of life’s endeavors—just to die? If you have a glimmer of insight into a question that proves as universally unsettling as that, please don't be shy ... Actually, that question leads me to understand why so many people need to believe in heaven and hell ...
Though much about life does not seem just, and though much does not seem to make sense—much must be accepted at face value while the learning curve of human understanding inches forward on the time line, whereby one string of insight ignites the next until, ultimately, a deeper sense of understanding (into this or that) dawns. If you ask why it's wise to keep an open mind during this unending process of change, I'd say:
We have no clue when insight into understanding that which proves confounding, today, will dawn.
So, whenever change makes me feel like I'm walking through a mine field, you'll watch me retrace my steps in hopes of clarifying a mystifying event that I may have misperceived as a child. In short, I work to identify and neutralize negative mind sets, which may have shaped up during life's darkest times.
Each time insight simplifies mental complexity, a piece of the mind maze, which I could not fathom, yesterday, clarifies for me, today. So, whenever you feel lost, wandering through a mind maze that feels explosive, this next insight may help to lessen your frustrated feeling of helplessness as it does mine:
Generally speaking, old mind sets process through change for the better, two steps forward, one step back, day by day, until strings of insight that encourage you to 'change your mind' feel complete.
If it's true that one change leads to another then change never stops
If change never stops then common sense suggests that we'd be wise to
Identify subconscious mind sets (fearful attitudes), which
Close our conscious minds to choices that may sweeten life, all around.
As you watch me grow from a child into an adult, you'll come to see the reasons why I've chosen to embrace a common sensical, step-by-step, approach to life, which opens my mind to formulating experimental, solution-seeking PLANS, some of which extend over many years. Then, as you watch each step of each PLAN shape up in the creative center of my conscious mind, you'll see me achieve piecemeal success while solving problems that I've not yet come to understand as a whole. In short ... as long as my memory keeps secrets from my conscious mind ...
A conscious portion of my brain will remain unaware of its secret partnership with knowledge stored in my subconscious.
As put downs and the blame game play no part in the success of these creative PLANS, any leadership role that I agree to accept will not have been inherited, assumed or usurped. Each plan that shapes up in the positively focused, creative portion of my mind is based in this fact: Leadership in my little corner of the world is earned by way of feeling knowledgeable, compassionate, open minded and self controlled—under fire.
As I learn to direct my faith toward the creative center of my brain, my focus will ignore any put downs cast my way by those who have no clue that their personal sense of safety depends upon negatively focused mind sets that keep The Blame Game alive.
As you watch my vulnerabilities transform into positively focused, purposeful personal strengths, you'll see the spongy side of my mind transform into a trampoline—meaning that I'll develop the ability to bounce up from a hurtful shot without shooting back.
In short, I've stopped engaging in discussions where kettles, boiling over with negativity, call hot pots black. Each time I come to understand the ways in which subconscious fear has kept me captive in the maze, much of that which had once confused me begins to make sense. Bottom line ...
As clarity develops so does my buoyant sense of self confident leadership.
To my way of thinking, self-confident leadership skills develop, just like everything else—step by step. So if you hope to see a positively focused, solution seeker staring out from your mirror then guess which part of your mind may be in need of strength training? Humility must be trained to gain more muscle in the brain than ego—because ...
Just as with courage, patience, self control, and positive focus ... humility is a strength.
If asked, how one en-courages humility to muscle up in hopes of pinning ego to the mat, my answer would be:
Choose a path where your powers of reflection expect to identify your own mistakes. With courage, patience, self control, positive focus and humility intact, I've learned to accept my failures as experiments that blow up in my face.
Upon reminding myself that every new experience is an experiment, I accept the fact that success is sometimes mine and sometimes not. And as my experiments tend to meet with success, much more often than not, my faith in my history continues to ring true. At times when my experiments blow up too frequently, reflection suggests my think tank is missing an important insight, so I seek help.
Eventually, reflection pinpoints that which makes sense to repeat and that which may be in need of revision, which had been beyond my understanding, before. And in this way do I work to neutralize yesterday's frustration by deepening my understanding of those aspects my life, which have caused my spirit to fly at half mast, over long.
In short, I work, step-by-step, to examine any hard boiled mind set that leaves me with egg dripping down my face—repeatedly.
If you wonder why I persist in painting pictures of the inner workings of my mind, my answer would be ...
The human brain is a complex instrument, made up of intricate parts, which at times, interact dysfunctionally.
When my brain is not taking me where my heart wants to go, I give my think tank a tune up in hopes that, with time, that which had felt intuitively melodic may, eventually, prove more harmonic with reality than ever before. And here's why I work at tuning into personal perceptions that may need a tune up: The ways in which each thought processor functions in an organized, disorganized, or reorganized fashion is determined by which of our perceptions and decisions are based in reality or denial. In fact, here’s how this blog exemplifies the complex workings of our minds:
Upon sitting down to write, I have no clue which thought will lead to the next. I just allow whatever pours out of my brain to show up on my screen. Then I edit. Again and again, until crystal clear clarity is mine.
If we live life in such a fashion as to allow our first thoughts to pop out of our mouths—we’ll continue to make decisions, based in reactions, without much reflection, concerning yesterday’s mistakes. And thus will we march forth, day after day, without insight into creating a step-by-step approach to reshaping yesterday’s personal disasters into tomorrow’s success stories.
As you know, three year olds learn by monkey-see-monkey-do. Monkey-hear-monkey-say. Monkey-feel-monkey-react. Thank goodness, little monkeys, today, are learning to put their egos into time out, so that humility can guide us toward making better choices, tomorrow, than ego had led us to make, today.
Self confident leaders do more than teach respect. Self confident leaders listen respectfully to opinions of those who follow, knowing that, inevitably, today's little monkeys grow into tomorrow's leaders.
At all ages, transforming dark minded 'tantrums' into sunny, cooperative attitudes requires thought provoking work.
And ...
Cooperative attitudes are based in positively focused mind sets.
While raising children of my own, I felt the need to come up with a savings plan. Not to save money. We had a pension plan for that. I needed a plan to save my sanity. And after absorbing a gazillion parenting books, a simple, step-by-step plan began to formulate inside my mind. Not a12 step plan. Not a 7 step plan. A three step plan. Why three steps? Because once frustration at not being heard closes in on losing our sanity, it’s impossible for the mind to hold on to more than three simple thoughts.
As you may remember, I began to call the first in this series of plans, which eventually shaped up inside my mind:
THE THREE STEP, PROBLEM SOLVING, SANITY SAVING PLAN.
If you’d like to know more about each of these plans or anything else that I choose to write, the comment box is always hungry and waiting to be fed
As for me, I feel the storytelling part of my brain gearing up to tell you more about myself when I was three, tragedy hit, and confounding questions piled up inside my head faster than a young mind could think anything through. And as misperceived mind sets invaded my sense of inner peace and subconscious fear filtered into my thoughts, inner conflict caused lots of problems, due to misperception, to hatch …
2015
If you choose to back track to TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR part 13 you'll reflect over that which takes place when imagination, driven by subconscious fear, creates emotional static, which, upon filtering into the conscious mind, disrupts clarity of thought. Upon reconsidering the past, we'll see how unidentified ghosts continued to haunt the frightened side of my imagination for most of my life …
As for me, I'm still hoping to feel inspired to write the story that showcases the plan I offered to Steven in hopes of inspiring my eleven year old son to free himself from being bullied in school. Once this story shows up on your screen, you'll come to understand the plan that your friend, Annie, has had need to make use of as an adult—more than once ...
