It’s very easy, I know, to fall into complacency, living by rote, doing everything today as you did yesterday and not really having the inspiration to do anything differently.
Sometimes it takes a shock to the system to change that pattern. In my case, it was the flu — a particularly nasty strain that kept me sleeping and feeling miserable for more than two weeks.
While slowly recovering to a state closer to normal, I received clear awareness of how unconscious I have been in several areas of my life. I realized that I have allowed some thoughts to replay in my mind for decades. It was like finding a rotting trash bag in the basement and wondering why I allowed it to sit and decay for such a long time. The answer is because I chose not to look at it.
Every moment is a choice.
My own mind
For far too long, I have wallowed within my own mind about how I want to create inspiring video, but I don’t have a camera. I want to pick up my brushes and acrylics and paint again, but I don’t have a space to do that. I want to write fiction, but I don’t have the time.
Of course, I don’t. My reality reflects what I believe.
For far too long, I have been telling those sob stories to myself and others, not realizing that the stories have been nothing more than a retelling of the tape loops running over and over again in my mind –and a sad excuse for inaction.
I’ve begun an action plan to manifest my dreams.
Power of words
I’ve also begun to get more clear about the power of words, on how what we say, even in a quick exchange, can have a transformative effect on others — and ourselves.
The key is to be present, in the moment.
It’s easy to bemoan your circumstances or criticize someone who may have done you wrong. It’s even easier — and more fulfilling — to lift those circumstances or people up to the light and pray they find a way forward that benefits everyone, instead of remaining tied to the past and using a situation to play the victim.
When I think of the power of words, I always remember reading an account of how John Lennon met Yoko Ono, a conceptual artist. In 1966, Lennon reportedly went to the Indica Gallery in London where Ono was preparing an exhibit.
Lennon, who did not find pleasure in art created to oppose something, walked through the exhibit unimpressed, until he saw a ladder with a spyglass at the top of it. He climbed up, looked through the spyglass and read, “YES.”
That single word may have launched the relationship that changed his entire life.
Takes work
Until it becomes second nature — being conscious of what I am saying as I am saying it and what I am doing as I am doing it — it takes work. Being aware is an active process — and it’s one that I choose to undertake.
I am also committed to being more conscious of what I am thinking and ignoring old patterns that do not move me or others forward.
In every moment, we can choose how we affect ourselves and others. We can do what we’ve always done, unconsciously, or we can actively address a situation from the perspective that how we respond will make all the difference.
Do you believe you have that much effect on things around you? Choose to, and everything changes.