Be aware of your thoughts and create your peace

Dr Wayne Dyer says, "when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." What a true statement. I was thinking recently of a story which some of you may have heard before. When Columbus came to America, it is said as the massive boats were off the coast, the Indians noticed there was something wrong with the waves, but they could not tell what it was, because they could not see the boats. They had never even imagined such things, and their minds would not let them see what was beyond their shore. The medicine man then walked down to the water, and in a meditation, emptied his mind, and looked out at the water again, this time open to the infinite number of possibilities that exist in the Universe. He then saw the boats, and went back to the group. He explained to them what was out there, and when the other Indians changed the way they looked at the situation, the boats became visible.


This lesson has so many facets to it, I'll briefly touch on a couple. First of all, how do we change the way we look at things? The easiest way is to be impeccable with our thoughts. One of my favorite exercises is for you to imagine that you have a genie on your shoulder at all times, and whatever you think, or say, instantly becomes your reality. How many things would you take back in an average day? Imagine your thought when you encounter some traffic on the way to work: "Man, I'm going to be late". Your wish is my command!! And suddenly, you're late. Or, "I'm never going to get all my stuff done!" Abracadabra! Your stuff will not get done. Many of our thoughts are self limiting thoughts, and negative in nature. I asked one friend once when he was playing the lottery, "Do you think you'll ever win?" And he replied "no". Then why play at all? If you truly believe you'll never win, and your thoughts become your world, then do something more useful with the dollar! One thing you can do to break this, is try not to have an opinion about it at all. Stories are just lies we tell ourselves. When we want to call someone, but we say "Oh, they're probably busy", it is a lie we just told ourselves. If you want to tell yourself a story, tell yourself a good one! Or, don't have an opinion on it at all, and just make the call. If they're busy, they're busy, if not, then you get to talk to them. The other way out of this, is to be aware of that thought as soon as it pops in your mind, and "take it back", and replace it with another one. Instead of "I'm never going to get my stuff done!", it can be "I'm making some great progress today!" It doesn't mean you magically will get your stuff done, but it puts it into a peaceful, goal oriented action thought. And if you believe you are making great progress, chances are, you'll get all your stuff done.

The second thing you can do is when you notice that your thought is about someone else, or someone else's action, turn that thought onto yourself. After all, we cannot modify anyone else's actions; they have to do that themselves. But what about YOU is feeling the way you're feeling? People and events cannot make you feel anything. It's what's inside you that makes you feel the way you do. That's why the same event can be handled two different ways by two different people. If the event caused you to feel a certain way, it would make everyone feel that way. Some people are calm in traffic, others are not. The traffic doesn't cause stress, it's what you know about yourself inside that causes stress. So if someone cuts you off in traffic, and you think "I can't believe that guy cut me off!", turn the thought back to you and say "What about me is mad about getting cut off?" When you realize that there's nothing earth shattering about getting cut off, and it's the ego's response to get mad and be a victim of something, you can diffuse the situation by looking at it a different way. "Thank God he didn't hit me. What a blessing I'm safe and protected." How can you get mad at that thought? In a relationship, it may be "He doesn't call me enough". Turn that thought back to yourself and say "What about me needs to be called so much?" You just may find your insecurity inside yourself.

When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at do change. When we don't want that genie on our shoulder to create a negative situation for us, we can change our thoughts to be on the positive side. When ego makes us look at and question others, we can turn that question back to ourselves to find out what's inside us. That's where the growth is going to occur anyway. You getting mad at the driver cutting you off certainly isn't going to help you grow, nor will it magically change the situation that just happened. But if you find inside yourself what bothers you so much, then you can change the way you look at the event, even yourself, and create a peaceful outcome.

Be aware of your thoughts and create your peace