Awareness

If you’re like me, fully self-actualized and near perfect (NOT!), then you have all of the time in the world to spend on the path to enlightenment.

Just like me, you get up at 3:30am, meditate for 30 minutes, practice your tai chi and yoga for another 90 minutes, and eat your vegan breakfast with spirulina before you cook the rest of the day’s meals and then sit down at your perfectly-organized desk for a day’s work in complete concentration.

If you weren’t laughing at the beginning of this post, you probably are now.  But really, I do know someone like that.  Of course she is a Tibetan nun who is supported by a group of kind and loving followers.  Even worse, she doesn’t even do her own dishes, and if she drops something on the floor someone else picks it up for her.

The rest of us just don’t live that way.  But does that mean that we can’t follow some different path to enlightenment?  What if we could set a goal to meditate sometime in the day, even if it’s in the car before we get out for our latte.  Or to write in our journal about what we’ve learned about the human condition as we nod off over our writing utensil?  Is that good enough for God?

Why wouldn’t it be?
After all, if God had wanted us all to follow the same path, then he wouldn’t have created so many different ones to tempt us.  We wouldn’t have been given free choice at all.  So if you’re in self-flagellation mode about your imperfect path to enlightenment, thank God that he gave you so many choices to get there, even if you can’t get up at 3:30 in the morning.

If you listen to the news, the sky is falling at any moment.  The Dow is down, homes are being lost, and the future for many is on shaky ground.  It’s no wonder people lose their marbles in such an environment.  However, these issues have repeated themselves, with different details, through man’s entire existence.  For the caveman, it was a lack of food and freezing temperatures, and babies that rarely lived past the age of one.  Then there was the bubonic plague, a multitude of crusades and wars, and the Great Depression.  If you look back, things have rarely been peachy for very long.  Even the ancient Babylonians, considered the wealthiest civilization on earth, employed exorcists and the diviner, who drove away evil spirits that haunted the citizens.

Now in early 2009, we are acutely aware of this particularly painful period in history because we are living in it; yet external elements of society–whether it be sickness, unrest or a bad economy–need not influence our inner well being if we choose to disallow such it.  This does not require you to plunge your head in the sand and ignore the pleas of those in need.  There’s plenty of room for assistance in times like this.  Rather, your attention toward others and away from your own needs allows at least two parties to benefit from your generosity: the recipient of your goodwill (whether that be time or money), and you, who according to the Law of Attraction will receive similar kindnesses in turn.  This is where true happiness lies, from the giving of yourself in both plentiful–and scarce–economies.

My partner works  closely with people all day long, and as a manager he says it’s important to find out the basics about his employees.  Not secrets per se, but rather a rudimentary outline of their lifestyle.  Are they married with children?  Are they single and lonely and therefore perhaps depressed seeing others happy?  Do they party all evening and then come to work a bit tipsy?

He calls it their “movie,” and I didn’t Google the term to see if he invented it or not.  But we all have our movies;  somewhat vague stereotypes that we attribute to a particular style of living.  So what’s so important about this?

If you’re dealing with people, which the majority of us do virtually every day, it would definitely benefit us to know other peoples’ movies.  This does not mean fitting square pegs into square holes and to categorize everyone we meet, for that is judgment rather than objective observance.  I’m referring to learning more about their perspective.  When we know which glasses they’re looking through, it is easier to understand why they say and do certain things.

This is awareness in one of its most efficient states.

And if you don’t like your movie?  Change the channel by changing your thoughts; and be the director of a better life production.

It seems with all the Law of Attraction pointers out there, many teachers fail to focus on the importance of the BE DO HAVE model.  What does this mean?

Let’s say you want to lose a little weight.  I am an expert at this, as recently I shed 22 pounds.  I started out at a size 8 but that was a little too broad at the hips for my liking.  Perhaps years of being forced to stare at the cover of Cosmo in line at the grocery persuaded me that I was a fat pig, but more likely, I had an image in my mind of what I thought I should look like–or rather what I KNEW I could look like if I only set my sights on it and did something about it.

What did I do?  I started BEING thinner.  This was done by visualizing exactly how I would act if I were thinner.  I wrote out a list:  I would stand taller.  I would look people in the eye.  I would place my feet more carefully, more confidently in the direction I was headed, and perhaps swagger a little at the thought that I had accomplished my goal.  I did NOT go out and buy size 4 clothing, but I could have.  I was lucky to have a friend that gave me some of hers, so I had a size goal too.  And although I hadn’t lost a pound yet, I started adopting the characteristics of the thinner me that I envisioned.

Soon after that, I found myself modeling those people whose lifestyle I coveted.  They were at the gym regularly, working out with dedication and purpose.  When they ate in restaurants (which I found out they seldom did), they were careful about what they ordered and watched their portion sizes.  They did not appear to be suffering from malnutrition or resenting their food, but rather eating to live, rather than living to eat.  Before I knew it, I had adopted their habits, with the assistance of a trainer who kept me accountable and taught me the same dedication and purpose I had seen in those I observed.  I was DOING what they did, and I didn’t sacrifice much at all.

Finally, three months later, I HAVE the body that makes me happy with myself.  I feel more comfortable in my clothes (my friend’s clothes, that is, and they are actually getting a bit loose for my liking!); I look people in the eye; and I put my feet firmly down in the direction I’m headed.  All of my achievements are compliments of the Law of Attraction.

By following the BE DO HAVE order you facilitate the goodwill the Universe has to bestow upon you.  So next time, start BEING what it is that you want.  Simply by DOING that, you will HAVE what you’ve envisioned in no time at all.