WAKE UP CALL

WAKE UP CALL

Every morning like clock work, as I am waking up, before I can even open my eyes, my brain begins jabbering.  It is going at mach speed, screaming about my finances, my relationships, and my health. On and on it goes.  Each subject is pushing and shoving to be the priority of the day.  I used to think that I was somehow punishing myself and that I was setting the tone for a worry-filled day before I even got out of bed.  And on many occasions that is exactly what I did; worry. I would find myself fixated on one problem after the next and wear myself out with wasteful anxiety.  That was before I realized that my mind was trying to give me the opportunity to ponder solutions for whatever my dilemma was. My brain was trying to help me, not torture me. 

As I began to take that insight to heart and to give myself the opportunity to change my mind, I envisioned a new approach to my life.  I decided that there must be a natural process as to how thoughts morph into form or how they can alter situations.  I realized that the things that have happened in my life came not from random thoughts, but from those thoughts that I gave unrelenting focus; whether it was happiness or fear and worry.

The reason for this is that when we concentrate (focus) on anything, our brain chemistry begins to change.  The frontal lobe which is located just behind the forehead accelerates into action.  It is the executive control center of the brain, monitoring higher order thinking, directing problem solving, and regulates the excesses of the emotional system.  It also contains our self-will area, or what some call our personality.  Steady focus on a subject then activates the connections from the frontal lobe to all of the senses directing them to respond only to those things that will bring about the realization of that thought.  It is the seat of unlimited imagination.  The more you focus, the more ideas and possibilities will flash across the screen of your mind building piece by piece the desired outcome.  The more you focus, the more ideas and possibilities will appear in your life.  It is surprising the ways that answers may appear. They may come on a bumper sticker, in a vivid dream, or an overheard conversation. The main thing is to pay attention to your surroundings and stay present in the moment and listen.

Thoughts, while powerful can do nothing unless they become the center of attention in the thinker’s mind.  Drifting, scattered musings cannot hold energy and are usually aborted because they do not register in the working memory of the frontal lobe.  It is when the individual decides to fully embrace the goal, whatever that may be, and makes it the center of their life that it has a chance to be demonstrated in their daily reality.

But the most important thing is to allow the idea to be bathed in the magical, and very real, power of imagination.  The idea must be allowed to gestate and grow there just as a fetus within its mother and to allow the thinker to bring into being the perfect replica of the original vision. Begin to dwell on the desired outcome, enjoying all of the colors, sounds and sensations. Allow them to permeate your days.  Make it real, begin to dress for the part, experience the role, and own the concept.  The process will simplify your ability to recognize and change your words and actions when they are not compatible with your goal.

Too often we find ourselves longing to be something that seems beyond the reach of our mind. It may be that you feel too old or too young or too inadequate to meet the criteria that you think is required to succeed.  My friend Stuart was such a case.  In his younger years he had been an actor and now that he was middle-aged and felt that he could never get a role at his age, but he passionately wanted to act again.  I told him to go and act. “See yourself on the stage, in a movie, or on television, being fit for your wardrobe, and sitting in make up”.  I asked him what type of parts he would like to play. He told me that he saw himself as a sophisticated Englishman.  So I suggested that he watch shows and see films with that type of character.  He began again to go to movie calls and joined a theater company and soon he was once again a working actor. He had fully utilized his brain power.

When I think of imagination, I remember daydreaming in school and once in a wonder filled reverie, was jolted out of my day dream and sternly admonished not to do it again.  What a mistake it is not allow daydreaming because it cripples our ability to create positive results in our lives. I think that all children, no matter their age, should be encouraged to use this natural ability that they are born with as a part of their educational curriculum.  It is the mind’s creative eye through which the imagination produces the image of people, places, and things and dictates your experience, according to how you imagine them to be.  Your frontal lobe, which is the home of your imagination, is finely tuned so it is imperative that it is exercised with the greatest of care because it is the final image that will materialize and be projected onto the universal screen of every individual life.  Imagination is impervious to whether it is being used in a negative or positive way.  Your imaging only does what your emotional mindset is demanding it to do.

One of the most memorable statements that I heard when I first attended a Louise Hay meeting was, “There is no one and no thing out there in your life except what you believe to be true.” What I understand now is that every person is witness to a personal reality created from their own belief system and created by their personal imaginings. 

So let’s look at this process more clearly using the steps that are always part of the Universal Law taken consciously or unconsciously to create the 360 degree reality that you are now living.

1.     You choose a thought; hopefully a positive one that will serve you and the world, and you give it your complete focus, not letting anyone or anything divert your attention, including words and actions that are not matching your ideal.

2.     You apply your amazing powers of imagination, allowing the temporal lobe to produce solutions and answers, allowing it to grow in scope and meaning. 

3.     You become open to a new experience and allow it to be projected into your world and begin to live it and celebrate it. 

When you become mindful of this inherent brain process you will come to the realization that life doesn’t just happen to us, it is projected from within us and the universe reflects back to you what you believe to be true. My mornings are no longer filled with sunrise terrors.  Before I open my eyes I visualize the positive outcomes that I want to see for my life and declare them to be done.  My days are now much more peaceful because I can be present in the moment without the distractions of nagging concerns.  Trusting the process, I know that I can look forward to a happy ending to my day, because that is the intention that I have chosen and is now my wake up call.

“You got to have a dream. If you ain’t got a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true?”

(Oscar Hammerstein II,  South Pacific, 1949)