Study Suggests That Spirituality Is Key To Kids’ Happiness
A professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan, and his colleagues Ben Coleman and Judi Wallace have conducted a study which suggests that spirituality is key to children’s happiness.(1) Over the past few years, scientists have been able to measure the affect of positive emotions and feelings of joy within our biology, so it is key to find out what best produces these feelings within us.
Just to be clear, they define spirituality as internal characteristics, an inner belief system that a person relies on for strength and comfort. Understanding happiness has been subjected to large amounts of research for a number of years. This particular one suggests that the processes that influence happiness are not guided by external factors, but internal characteristics and qualities.
320 children aged 8-12 were assessed to examine the relationship between spirituality and happiness, from both public and private schools. You can read the full abstract and study for methods used here. The study concluded that children’s spirituality, not their religious practices (e.g., attending church, praying, and meditating), was strongly linked to their happiness. The results parallel studies of adult happiness and suggest strategies to enhance happiness in children.
The authors found that the children who said they were more spiritual were happier. In particular, the personal (i.e. meaning and value in one’s own life) and communal (i.e. quality and depth of inter-personal relationships) aspects of spirituality were strong predictors of children’s happiness. Spirituality explained up to 27 percent of the differences in happiness levels among children.
Researchers have identified many ways in which spirituality enhances and promotes subjective well-being. One of these ways of enhancing well-being is to increase personal meaning in one’s life. Spirituality may produce a sense of meaning that is worth living or dying for.
“If spirituality enhances happiness by increasing personal meaning, this may suggest strategies to enhance happiness. For example, strategies aimed at enhancing personal meaning in children’s lives may promote happiness. Future studies could have children engage in activities that might promote personal meaning. For example, children might volunteer to help others or record their contributions to the community in a journal. Then changes in happiness and personal meaning before and after these activities could be compared. If personal meaning is critical to happiness, one might see that these activities particularly enhances happiness for those children who showed increases in personal meaning” (1)
Again, spirituality is not just another ‘thing’ to latch on to, in the context of this article it refers to an inner belief system that a person relies on for strength and comfort.
If we look at the planet today, from the day we are born we are bombarded with marketing, advertising, television and more; our wants and desires are literally programmed into us. We constantly seek external factors for self satisfaction and happiness (i.e., money), but after we acquire these external characteristics we instantly move on to something else outside of us in order to feel happy or fulfilled. This is a result of the mass conditioning we are exposed to throughout our lives.
Have you ever wondered why a majority of people on the planet want and desire the same thing? They want money, cars, clothes and a big house. What happens when nobody wants these things anymore? What happens when nobody truly has a desire to acquire materialistic gains? What happens to an individual when they come to the understanding that nothing external can bring us joy? It’s a process of great transformation, awakening and realization. It’s a path towards true fulfillment. It forces one to look within themselves for a feeling they could once only receive temporarily, from ‘things’ outside of themselves. It also forces one to create a new experience, one that can provide a better experience, one that resonates more with our internal being.
As we grow up, we pay no attention to our inner voice, neglecting it and pushing it to the side. We seem to always be following instructions. This internal voice is the key to joy, it’s your intuition, your belief systems, your heart. Many of us haven’t even had the time to develop or listen to it, many of us don’t even know how because we are told what to believe, how to live our lives and what makes us happy. We are not given the opportunity to examine and explore these things on our own, through our own inner guidance.
Constantly looking for happiness and fulfillment outside of ourselves, or having a certain external criteria for achieving a state of happiness keeps us in a cycle of depression, and sadness because these things can never provide us with real feelings of fulfillment and joy. We are always feeling that something is lacking, and that we need to acquire something to make it better. Sure, they may provide something temporary, but in order to vibe in the energetic frequency of joy more often you will have to find it within yourself, something many of us continue to do, and something that is not easy.
I do not believe that one needs to be, or even can be in a constant joyful state. There is also a neutral state of peace which can be perceived as a state of sadness by some. This is our natural state, an observer state.
Because we’ve been programmed and conditioned to seek fulfillment outside of ourselves for most of our lives, this process is extremely difficult and hard. A while ago now, I realized that nothing external on the planet could really make me ‘happy,’ that I would have to find joy in just being, existing, and having the opportunity to experience this life on this planet at this time. When nothing truly outside of yourself can provide you with joy, you will be hurled towards self discovery, but only when truly nothing outside of yourself does the trick anymore. It can be a dark place at first, but if you find yourself going through this process remember that nothing is wrong with you, and you are on the correct path. It’s perfectly normal to not be able to find joy from anything in the external world, it doesn’t mean you are depressed or not ‘normal.’ Pretty soon you will learn to find joy from the simple gift of being able to experience life. It just means that you have outgrown this experience, and you seek something new, something different, and something that fulfills your soul as apposed to your mind.
I don’t want to make it seem like completely nothing outside of myself provides me with joy. There is love, relationships with other individuals, friends, beautiful planet Earth, sports and more. But these are all feelings that come from within, and cannot be produced by materialistic gains. These are empirical experiences producing these feelings, the joy that comes from the simplicity of EXPERIENCING life, rather than acquiring. These are indeed spiritual experiences.
Next time you are feeling down ask yourself, is this feeling coming from a place where you feel you are lacking something? Because the truth is, all you need is within you, and it has been there all along.
Remember, my brave ones, you are living in the midst of eternity. The messages of cosmic wisdom we bring you are not to set more rules or create new dogma. Our intention is to set your hearts afire with love and to give you a glimpse of the glorious future before you. As more and more of the masses are feeling a discontent initiated by their Soul Self, it is vital that the Wisdom Teachings of Ascension are reviewed and shared with those around you. You, the awakened STAR SEED, are the ones who will now spread the emerging WISDOM TEACHINGS of the future.
Whether aware of it or not, humanity and the Earth are in the midst of an accelerated evolutionary process. That is the miracle of these times, beloveds. The Supreme Creator is radiating throughout the Omniverse the full spectrum of Divine Light. This powerful, pure Light is filtering through each Great Central Sun, the mansion world of the Father/Mother God of each universe, out into every level of Creation so that gradually every Spark and fragment of Creation will have access to an appropriate level of Creator-consciousness. The Light of Creation or Adamantine Particles is being made available to every Soul that has ever been created; however, there are some rules that apply to this “Light Redemption” process: each Soul must prepare their vessel by lifting their vibrational patterns to a certain level of harmonious frequencies in order to receive these particles of God Light, and you must remember, after receiving these particles of Light, they must be activated by your loving intention. Love is the power source, the generator of these precious particles from the Source of All.
Ascension is about lifting, balancing and harmonizing your vibrational patterns so that the many facets of your Divine Self can descend and take dominion within your Sacred Heart core. As you delve more deeply into the wisdom of the cosmos, it is of vital importance that you maintain a state of mindful awareness. Humanity is emerging from a state of amnesia, or what could be called a limited awareness of Self and of the complex vastness of Creation. We have explained in the past, but it is time to refresh your memory about what is taking place as you traverse the many levels and sub-levels of consciousness. As you clear the distortions within your auric field, there is also an internal process taking place. Your entire physical structure is undergoing complex changes which are triggered by the higher frequency patterns you are integrating from the Creator Source via the great cities of Light. Your DNA, your chakra centers and your Sacred Heart/Mind contain your Divine Blueprint, and as you integrate more and more Adamantine Particles of God consciousness, all the distortions/imperfections that you have created from the concepts you have accepted as your truth are slowly being rectified. Many of these distorted concepts are being filtered into your conscious awareness to be healed or eliminated, and we understand that this can be an uncomfortable, disconcerting process.
You have a SACRED CENTER OF EXISTENCE within your Sacred Heart which we have named your DIAMOND CORE GOD CELL for this Sub-Universal experience. You have around you an etheric third- / fourth-dimensional GRAND TRIANGLE OF EXISTENCE, which contains your Pillar of Light and the Cross of Matter that you have built down through the ages. You exist in a GOLDEN OVOID (egg-shaped sphere), which expands and radiates more and more Divine Love-Light as you resonate with higher and higher frequencies of consciousness. Adamantine Particles of Divine Light contain living energy which has been programmed for a specific Divine Blueprint. When you access that living Light, you must activate it with your loving intention and program it with the desires of the Soul which are always in harmony with your Divine Blueprint. On the material planes of existence, the Creator Light must be encoded with your Essence as a cocreator, before it is ready to be radiated out into the world of form. It takes great courage and tenacity to become SELF-AWARE and SOUL-CONSCIOUS. A constant attitude of gratitude and thanks-giving is sustenance for the Soul.
You are becoming very proficient at analyzing new concepts and the plethora of information that is now available via the empowering gift of discernment. Now that you are more attuned to Spirit and the voice within, you can quickly ascertain if a concept is in alignment with your inner truth. If it is not, it behooves you to discard it without malice or judgment; or if you are not sure, put it aside and ask your Higher Self to validate it for you in some unmistakable way. We are aware that you are being bombarded with many new concepts, some of which are stretching the limits of your conceptual understanding. Please be aware, beloveds, that what you are experiencing is all part of the reunification and ascension process that you are in the midst of.
Many of you are experiencing miraculous events in your lives, and we ask you to be bold enough to share these wonders with your friends. Do not fear ridicule or criticism; you will find approval more often than disapproval and interest more often than disdain. The religious community, partially out of fear of losing their following, are beginning to incorporate some of the more moderate cosmic teachings. While it matters not how or why, it is all for the benefit of humanity, and it will assist in speeding up the transformation process of Earth and its inhabitants.
Examine your feelings of abundance and scarcity, beloved ones. If even one-quarter of the population of the world would believe, envision, invoke and then work towards prosperity and abundance for all, you would see a dramatic turn of events as those who hoard the wealth of the world and those who prey on the meek and poor begin to lose their stranglehold on the world’s economy. Are you fearfully holding on tightly to and hoarding your riches? Beware, dear ones that your hoard does not melt into thin air. It is only a form of energy, you know. Energy is meant to be circulated, recycled—used, reformed, expanded and refined. That which you hold onto too tightly will dissolve before your eyes.
A part of the initiation process is to surrender all that you hold dear, all that you possess to your Divine Self, to the highest good of all. This does not mean that you will lose what you surrender; it just means you are willing to allow the Divine plan to work through you, which is always for your highest good, even though it may not seem so at the time.
Do not be dismayed if your past is becoming only a hazy memory, especially the painful memories you experienced during this lifetime. It is time to heal and release the past, beloveds. It no longer serves you to delve into past lifetimes in order to heal yourself or to try to understand why you are acting or reacting a certain way in the present. That is the old way. The distortions of consciousness you created in the past cannot exist when you fill yourselves to overflowing with Adamantine Particles through the processes we have taught you. These magical particles contain the pure/perfect Essence of the Creator and will gradually transform/transmute any distortions in your auric field and your physical vessel. Slowly, but surely, the imperfections you have created both in your inner and outer worlds are being rectified. Remember, a slow steady pace forward on the Path leads to Self-mastery. It is the ego personality that desires more information and dramatic validation; it forever seeks excitement, drama and sensationalism. It has taken a very long time for the Earth and humanity to reach the present state of imperfection that is now so prevalent. The level of transformational progress that has been made by you, the earthly Legions of Light, in such a short time is truly miraculous.
Once again, allow us to give you an example of what is occurring as you traverse the path of en-Lighten-ment. You have heard that there are many mansions in heaven which, in truth, are the many dimensional and sub-dimensional levels of Creation. During the era that is now coming to a close, each person’s reality is composed of a combination of third- and fourth-dimensional frequency patterns made up of his/her beliefs/actions/deeds from the past and the present. Residing within each person’s mansion of existence are all those people who are attuned to and compatible with that particular level of existence. They share many beliefs and function under many of the same limiting concepts: scarcity, guilt, fear of the future, and they are usually controlled by racial /cultural / religious / traditional rules and standards. In this reality, the normal ego-driven personality usually has either a self-centered sense of entitlement or a martyr, self-sacrificing complex with many variations and extremes. Those who function within this frequency level of existence interact with each other, choosing those who mirror to them that which they are lacking (usually in a distorted, exaggerated way). They usually are not comfortable with those who resonate at a higher frequency level, and even though they are dissatisfied, they have difficulty in breaking free and moving out of their dysfunctional life patterns, which are their perceived comfort zone.
As you eliminate old habits, beliefs and actions, you gradually return to harmony within the accepted spectrum of polarity/duality. With each higher frequency level you attain, you leave behind those situations, people and things that no longer are compatible with your new level of awareness and resonance. It often seems as if you have stepped through a new dimensional doorway and a portion of the past is fading away. That is why many of you are experiencing the loss of friends and/or family members, and why you are changing jobs or beginning a new career. Many of you are also moving to new places, sometimes not really understanding why you have been guided to a certain area, but there is a deep inner-knowing that it was meant to be. Many of you are finding that the work you do, your recreational pursuits, hobbies and many things that interested you in the past are less satisfying, for they do not fit into your ever-expanding, evolving reality.
The multidimensional doorways of the past are closing, and the doorways of the future are opening at a faster and faster pace as the process of ascension accelerates. The fear of change has been a major controlling factor within your conscious awareness for a very long time. In the beginning of your journey into density, you sought a great variety of self-expression and change, and you delighted in each new creation. It has only been during your earthly experiences that you have forgotten that you were a cocreator endowed with a full measure of creative abilities and that you have a direct link to the Power Source of Creation, which has been named the River of Life/Light.
You, the STAR SEED vanguard, who have diligently labored to refine the resonance of your physical vessel and upgrade your emotional and mental nature in order to return to an accepted level of duality, are now in the process of clearing the residual, imbalanced frequencies within the astral planes of the fourth dimension. You have refined your column of Light so that you now exist in a world of your own making, which consists of the three higher sub-planes of the fourth dimension. Most of you who have faithfully followed our teachings have tapped into a stream of frequencies composed of a variety of fifth-dimensional frequencies, as well as a small trickle-down stream of Light from the sixth dimension. You might say this is a new formula of Light/Life you are creating.
Within the ancient esoteric teachings was this puzzling concept: “When an initiate on the path reaches a certain stage in the ascension process, there appears what is called The Dweller on the Threshold and the Angel of Presence. The Dweller on the Threshold is the one who stands before the gate of God and the portal of initiation. The Angel of Presence stands on the other side of the portal.”
Since so many of you on the Path are in the process of clearing the residual, imbalanced frequency patterns from the higher third and lower fourth dimensions, the time has come for us to explain this important facet of the initiation process. The Dweller on the Threshold is a memory Seed Atom in which, over time, the remaining, residual, negative thought patterns within the emotional and mental bodies have been encapsulated. When you have reached a certain level of en-Lighten-ment, with your Higher Self as the director, the Dweller on the Threshold slowly releases these challenging thought forms into your conscious awareness and then out into your world of form so they may be transmuted into harmonious frequencies of Light. The Angel at the Portal is a facet of your Higher Self who stands ready to assist you through these intense periods of testing. The Threshold is within your Diamond Core God cell; it is the innermost portal that leads to your Sacred Heart Core where the White Fire Seed Atom of our Father/Mother God resides. Once you gain entrance to the Golden Sun chamber of the Sacred Heart, you will be forever changed, for you will have experienced the bliss of communion with your God parents.
We understand that these are times of great challenge, beloveds, and many of you are wondering what you are doing to deserve such painful and trying tests when you have so faithfully stayed the course. We tell you, do not falter now, for as you face these latest tests with love and compassion, you will find that the Angel at the Portal will assist you to clear the way. With every challenge faced head-on, there will be miracles and blessings to encourage you to clear the remaining obstacles on the Path before you.
This is a critical step in the ascension process, for when you have succeeded in firmly establishing your Soul Song resonance within the higher fourth dimension, you will be ready to incorporate a larger measure of fifth-dimensional vibrational patterns. Before taking this leap in consciousness, it is vital that you have gained the discipline to stay centered within the required limits of duality. Your abilities to manifest in the world of form will increase dramatically, and if you are not well-disciplined mentally and emotionally, you will create more chaos which will, most likely, draw you back into a denser frequency pattern.
Brave bearers of Light, are you ready and willing to be a pathfinder, to open the doors to the many heavenly mansions/dimensions of Creation? Each dimensional level will offer new opportunities and will give you access to many new abilities and expanded wisdom; however, each higher level will also challenge you in many ways, and will require that you release those things which no longer serve your greatest good. You left many facets of your greater Self along the way as you traversed the descending pathway into the lower dimensions, and you must also be willing to release to the past those people, ways of being and things which do not fit into your present/future reality as you make your return journey into the higher dimensions.
Beloveds, we are assisting you in every way possible within the limits of universal law, and we are waiting patiently for you to join us in the various Pyramids of Light stationed throughout the universe. We have told you that you are not only creating your new earthly reality, but you are also creating your mansions in the heavenly dimensions. We convey to you all the radiance of Love/Light that you can contain. You are loved beyond measure.
As this Shift of Consciousness unfolds, there are many, many events that are being stripped from your consciousness and your memories. The first Wave* clears away beliefs in your past that have been projected into your future. These sets of beliefs say, “This is my truth. This is all I have ever been, and this is all I am ever going to be!”
In the third dimension, the past is experienced in the mental body and the emotional body. But in the fourth dimension the past is observed, not experienced. You don’t run your past through the emotional body. When you can stand in the fourth dimension present-time, right now- and decouple the emotion from the thought, you can simply perceive the past, “I was yelled at, abused, and insulted.” You can decouple the strong emotion that went along with it and simply observe that, “In my past, my father abused me; but I’m not in my past; I’m standing right here and I do not have to be the result of my past if I do not bring the painful emotion with me present-time.
The minute the emotion is coupled with the information or thought, you drop back into the third dimension and relive that painful past again in this moment. Your past can be viewed as simply two distinct components: a piece of information that once had an emotion attached to it. When you can separate the emotion from the thought (the information), the ability to perceive your past will change instantly. Everything that you have believed about how you’re “not Okay” begins to release its hold on you. You may have participated in events and you may have experienced outcomes that you didn’t desire; but you’ve never failed at any part of the lesson. It’s when you can separate the information from the emotion in this present-time moment that the old charged memories are cleared from your past. You are changing your past! That pain from the past that has been projected into your future is also being cleared at the same time. It is a very big deal how the Shift is taking away everything that is not you!
Now, that is why remembering and practicing your tools, skills and strategies is so important right now. One of the most important skills you can develop is the ability to determine what is your concern and what is simply Shakespeare’s theater surrounding you. The Rose tool, which I have referred to in webinars and articles, is designed to allow you to identify that space from the Rose to you is who you are; and from the Rose away from you is Shakespeare’s theater to entertain you. Incorporating this simple, significant tool into your daily life will allow you to instantly rearrange how you understand yourself: ” This is me here, and that is the theater that has nothing to do with me!”
As that point is determined, the first Wave has more room to dissolve who-you-are-not and clear it away. The second Wave will then begin to increase your wiring capacity; bringing in more Light, more knowledge, more wisdom, and more of you (the multidimensional part of you) into the body. The noise, the drama, and the past and future simply cease to happen. You begin to know yourself here, in this moment in the present time.
Another transformative tool is a geometric energy field. It’s called an octahedron. When you put the octahedron back together and wear it, what happens is that you begin to hold a consistent tone that is outside of the third dimensional reality’s grasp.
As you step into present-time and choose to look at your past simply as a combined emotion and thought- “I was yelled at by the Blue Shirt”–and recognize that the blue shirt you’re looking at in present time has nothing to do with the emotion once experienced, the event loses its charge and becomes neutralized, which in turn allows the emotion that you’ve been reliving over and over every day to dissolve from your present-time space. You are now more neutral and can ask a better question-e.g., “What else might have been going on in that past situation?” Instead of approaching all of life from a charged place, you will simply view it from a place of neutral curiosity.
Putting yourself back together
So why is it so important to begin to put yourself back together? In the third dimension we have been trained and conditioned to respond to what is outside of us. And, what’s outside of us directs much of our reality. Just take a look at advertising! Do you really need that seventh pair of shoes? And, “Oh, that’s so cute I think I”ll get another pair in green” etc.
In the externally motivated third dimension an interesting dynamic occurs. Let me use the example of hunger. You’re driving along, You’re not even aware of being hungry, and there is an ad for Sushi, Wendy’s, KFC, Soup n’Salad, whatever, and you find yourself saying: “I think I’ll go and get a meal.” You were not even hungry a moment ago, but the conditioning pulls you into that location! You were powerfully affected by the external world.
As the memories of the past fall away, and as the programmed thoughts of who you will be in the future dissolve, the conditioning is also falling away. Have you noticed that the dreams and desires, the hopes, goals and wishes that you once had don’t even feel important anymore? Also, you can’t even remember some of the things that you were told and believed would drive your life? That specific observation is very important! As you put yourself back together, the who-you-are-not dissolves and who-you-are begins to shine.
Boredom
As time is collapsing into a singular present moment, many people are getting bored. Bored as in “I don’t know what to do! I’m not sure who I am anymore. I don’t have anything that’s important to me. And I’m really not sure what to do with myself.” Do you know this place? As we forget who we are not, a conditioning is also being stripped away. And now, the reference points of the conditioning no longer exist! But we’re so conditioned on “Wendy’s = eat hamburger,” and “advertising = buy shoes”, that when those reference points go away, we don’t know what to do with ourselves. And this is a great thing that’s happening. You are surely stepping into a fourth dimensional place!
As you begin to play in the fourth dimension, (with diminishing reference points) you are (metaphorically) standing naked with nothing to do until you decide what you want to do. You are treading water until you choose to create an event. So, let me give you an example. I now no longer have an external stimuli to tell me I’m hungry, and I’m starting to actually feel hungry, but I don’t know what I want to eat. If you can switch this to: “I think I’d like to create something really wonderful to eat; I wonder what I would like to have?” If you begin to ask the right questions- Universe, what would be very interesting to eat? – you will begin to get some new ideas. Instead of the old conditioning, the Universe begins to give you what you put your attention on. All you have to do is pay attention in present-time and notice what is presented to you: mangoes, Japanese cucumbers, fresh spring peas. Notice what your asking brings to you. Boredom is a choice.
I know you have had the experience where you casually say something like, “Well, I wonder where I could get a delicious, Hawaiian salmon burger that is very juicy and on a tosated bun and has a big slice of tomato and very fresh lettuce and a thick red onion on it.” Then all of a sudden, a picture will appear in your mind accompanied by the thought: three weeks ago when I was at dinner with my best friend, and we were having a wonderful, laughing time, the waiter walked by with this really nice looking salmon-burger.” That sandwich will come right into your awareness because it’s part of your creative mechanism rather than your reactionary mechanism. This will begin to happen more often to all of us, because we are forgetting who-we-are-not, and we are being given an empty palette on which to re-create our selves on our own terms and according to our own desires.
Since many of us have not been trained well, nor given permission to validate and grow our creative nature, we are, in a sense being given back our childhood. We are being given back the opportunity to create. And the Shift is stripping away more and more. The anger, frustration, resentment, and the always-and-never aspects of the rigid third dimension are dissolving. As they are going away they are taking who-you-are-not with them.
As you begin to put yourself back together and re-access your Higher Mind, re-connect with your Soul, anchor it back into your Heart, and begin to activate the Light Body, you discover you can choose different and new options. You can choose co-creation and compassion; well-being and beauty. You begin to find the internal smile in the Heart that has been forgotten a long time ago, and you begin to create and co-create with your community of friends.
This is happening and it is going to continue. As you use your tools, and start putting yourself back together, you begin to experience yourself as being “in the world but not of the world.” As the wiring comes back together, the access to whom you have always been starts to lock into place, you not only remember whom you have always been; you also do not remember that you never remembered! You simply become once again what you have always been.
This is a remarkable game that we are playing in, and there is a tremendous acceleration as you put yourself back together! This is something that is not experienced very often by many beings! What you are doing is creating something that has never even been thought possible in the higher realms. And you are doing it at an accelerated rate. Superbly!
So even though you look in the mirror and say, “I don’t know what that guy was talking about” it IS an exciting adventure! As you put yourself back together, you’re going to be thrilled with what you find!
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A caller to my radio show told me the following story: she had survived a terrible earthquake in her native country, lost her husband in that quake, emigrated to the U.S. with her surviving child, and worked to put that child through college. Now she was trying to follow her dream of establishing a charitable organization to help disaster victims, but she was becoming discouraged because her vision wasn’t materializing as quickly as she’d hoped.
Could someone who had come so far through so much really afford to be discouraged?
I told her in no uncertain terms to hang on to her dream. Be willing to hold the vision!
All of us are here for a purpose; when you find that purpose, hold the vision regardless of what difficulties or obstacles may surface. Holding the vision involves an unwillingness to compromise what you’re visualizing. It means being willing to face setbacks and what appears to be an uncooperative universe.
Even if you’re not convinced that you can make something happen that has never happened before, try creating a vision of your authentic self, destined to do great things, enjoy fulfillment, happiness, and success, deserving of the best that life has to offer. When that happens, you’ll be a vibrational match to the Source of all, and this new receptivity will become your way of life. When anything crops up that’s inconsistent with this vision, take the advice of Lao-tzu: “In order to eliminate the negative influences, simply ignore them.” Such words are so simple, yet so profound.
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”
—ALBERT EINSTEIN
While walking down a crowded street in London many years ago, I noticed a window display devoted to the English poet William Blake. There was a quotation on a sign in the window that I read over and over. The words seemed to touch my soul, and I was prompted by an internal calling to write those words on the back of an envelope. Blake’s 200-year-old words resonated strongly with me. I had a curious knowing that I’d one day be writing about what he’d had to say.
Fast-forward some ten years later to the day I began writing this chapter about that most mysterious function of our human lives—our imagination. During the morning before settling in to write, I was searching for some tax records in a desk drawer. Unsought, the Blake quote scribbled on the back of an envelope, which had long ago been misplaced, appeared. As I grabbed the ten-year-old envelope, I pondered for a moment how Divine synchronicity is always working, moving the pieces around while our ego believes we are in charge. Here I was, ready to begin writing a chapter on how to use your imagination, and today of all days, these scribbles reappeared after a decade of being “lost.” How could I ignore this synchronicity?
So I share these words with you from my spiritual mentor back in the 18th century:
The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a Green thing that stands in the way. Some see Nature all Ridicule and Deformity… and some scarce see Nature at all. But to the eyes of the Man of Imagination, Nature is Imagination itself.
The greatest gift you were ever given was the gift of your imagination. Within your magical inner realm is the capacity to have all of your wishes fulfilled. Here in your imagination lies the greatest power you will ever know. It is your domain for creating the life that you desire, and the best part of it is that you are the monarch with all of the inherent powers to rule your world as you desire.
The essence of this great gift is found within another observation made by William Blake, the intuitive poet who lived at the time of the American Revolution. Writing in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, he made this wry comment that is the great secret for living a life of creative manifestation: “What is now proved was once only imagin’d.” Allow yourself to contemplate this. As this one line of great wisdom sinks into your consciousness, your imagination will then begin to take over.
Look around you. Everything that you can experience with your senses was once in someone’s imagination. This is the great truth that you must come to realize for yourself. In order for something to get into this world where things exist and are proved, as Blake says, they must first be placed firmly into your imagination. Without your imagination as the reason for future creations, the process of creativity is halted. You have this great power within you. It is a power that is virtually unlimited, and it has been given to you as your birthright.
Before putting this gift to work, it is crucial for you to know that virtually all spiritual teachings have spoken of the power that Blake comments on in that insightful sentence, “What is now proved was once only imagin’d.” In the year that I spent researching and living the Tao for my book Change Your Thoughts—Change Your Life, this truth jumped out at me in the lines of the 40th verse of the Tao Te Ching. “Being is born of nonbeing” was Lao-tzu’s observation 2,500 years ago. The visible world of being originates in nonbeing. Some 500 years later Jesus would tell his followers, “It is the Spirit who gives life” (John 6:63). I could go on through all of the great spiritual traditions and offer you quote upon quote that states that it is in the invisible formless realm that the originating spark of life begins.
Today, the world of quantum physics confirms that the universe is made of formless (spirit) energy, and that particles (that is, things) do not originate from particles (things). Everything springs from something that is akin to your imagination. You can’t touch, taste, see, hear, or smell it. It has no boundaries. You can’t prove it with mathematical formulas or scientific verification. Yet we all know that it exists. These invisible thoughts that you have—these ideas that continue to percolate within you, these fanciful images that are always with you—are beyond the scope of science to prove or disprove.
I love this observation made by Max Planck, the father of quantum theory: “Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are part of nature and, therefore, part of the mystery that we are trying to solve.” You simply know that you have an imagination, and that this imagination is the Source of all being. It is up to you to channel and use this magnificent endowment to work in the creation of all that you choose to place in that imagination.
Because sometimes asking the right questions is the answer.
1. How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?
2. Which is worse, failing or never trying?
3. If life is so short, why do we do so many things we don’t like and like so many things we don’t do?
4. When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done?
5. What is the one thing you would most like to change about the world?
6. If happiness was the national currency, what kind of work would make you rich?
7. Are you doing what you believe in, or are you settling for what you are doing?
8. If the average human life span was 40 years, how would you live your life differently?
9. To what degree have you actually controlled the course your life has taken?
10. Are you more worried about doing things right, or doing the right things?
11. You are having lunch with three people you respect and admire. They all start criticizing a close friend of yours, not knowing she is your friend. The criticism is distasteful and unjustified. What do you do?
12. If you could offer a newborn child only one piece of advice, what would it be?
13. Would you break the law to save a loved one?
14. Have you ever seen insanity where you later saw creativity?
15. What is something you know you do differently than most people?
16. How come the things that make you happy don’t make everyone happy?
17. What is one thing have you not done that you really want to do? What’s holding you back?
18. Are you holding onto something you need to let go of?
19. If you had to move to a state or country besides the one you currently live in, where would you move and why?
20. Do you push the elevator button more than once? Do you really believe it makes the elevator faster?
21. Would you rather be a worried genius or a joyful simpleton?
22. Why are you, you?
23. Have you been the kind of friend you want as a friend?
24. Which is worse, when a good friend moves away, or losing touch with a good friend who lives right near you?
25. What are you most grateful for?
26. Would you rather lose all of your old memories, or never be able to make new ones?
27. Is is possible to know the truth without challenging it first?
28. Has your greatest fear ever come true?
29. Do you remember that time 5 years ago when you were extremely upset? Does it really matter now?
30. What is your happiest childhood memory? What makes it so special?
31. At what time in your recent past have you felt most passionate and alive?
32. If not now, then when?
33. If you haven’t achieved it yet, what do you have to lose?
34. Have you ever been with someone, said nothing, and walked away feeling like you just had the best conversation ever?
35. Why do religions that support love cause so many wars?
36. Is it possible to know, without a doubt, what is good and what is evil?
37. If you just won a million dollars, would you quit your job?
38. Would you rather have less work to do, or more work you actually enjoy doing?
39. Do you feel like you’ve lived this day a hundred times before?
40. When was the last time you marched into the dark with only the soft glow of an idea you strongly believed in?
41. If you knew that everyone you know was going to die tomorrow, who would you visit today?
42. Would you be willing to reduce your life expectancy by 10 years to become extremely attractive or famous?
43. What is the difference between being alive and truly living?
44. When is it time to stop calculating risk and rewards, and just go ahead and do what you know is right?
45. If we learn from our mistakes, why are we always so afraid to make a mistake?
46. What would you do differently if you knew nobody would judge you?
47. When was the last time you noticed the sound of your own breathing?
48. What do you love? Have any of your recent actions openly expressed this love?
49. In 5 years from now, will you remember what you did yesterday? What about the day before that? Or the day before that?
50. Decisions are being made right now. The question is: Are you making them for yourself, or are you letting others make them for you?
DEFINITION: Pronoia is the antidote for paranoia. It’s the understanding that the universe is fundamentally friendly. It’s a mode of training your senses and intellect so you’re able to perceive the fact that life always gives you exactly what you need, exactly when you need it.
OBJECTIVE OF PRONOIA: To explore the secrets of becoming a wildly disciplined, fiercely tender, ironically sincere, scrupulously curious, aggressively sensitive, blasphemously reverent, lyrically logical, lustfully compassionate Master of Rowdy Bliss.
HYPOTHESES: Evil is boring. Cynicism is idiotic. Fear is a bad habit. Despair is lazy. Joy is fascinating. Love is an act of heroic genius. Pleasure is your birthright. Receptivity is a superpower.
PROCEDURE: Act as if the universe is a prodigious miracle created for your amusement and illumination. Assume that secret helpers are working behind the scenes to assist you in turning into the gorgeous masterpiece you were born to be. Join the conspiracy to shower all of creation with blessings.
GUIDING QUESTION: “The secret of life,” said sculptor Henry Moore to poet Donald Hall, “is to have a task, something you devote your entire life to, something you bring everything to, every minute of the day for your whole life. And the most important thing is — it must be something you cannot possibly do.” What is that task for you?
