You may think if you had more of something, then you’d have peace. The opposite is true. There’s something you need less of, in order to have and feel peace.
Having less of something to feel better seems counterintuitive to ego-mind. But you would indeed have greater peace if you had less mental activity, especially about what you feel you lack in yourself and your life, or anything that’s got your attention in a negative way. This doesn’t mean you don’t meet your needs or go after your dreams, it means you do so from a particular mental attitude, one that doesn’t rely on frenetic mental energy about going after these or having them. You can take action (or even appropriate non-action) AND practice quiet mind.
In my article, “Our Unintentional Sabotage of Authenticity and Spirituality,” I shared a quick and easy technique from Dr. Frank Kinslow that allows you to not only quiet thought, but touch Awareness. I suggest you either see the article or get his book “The Secret of Quantum Living” so you know how to do the technique, which leads you into the gap between thoughts. That gap proves two things: you genuinely are not your thoughts, and if you’re not your thoughts but are still aware of your beingness, then you are Awareness!
In order for your Awareness to have experiences, it created and uses your ego-mind. The “glitch” is that we’ve moved ego-mind into the dominant position, and we experience and feel the effects of this. So what is true inner peace about? Peace isn’t the absence of anything that annoys or discomforts you; it’s a quiet mind no matter what is going on.
I mentioned the gap that leads you into Awareness and would like to share an interesting gap I experienced when I was nine years old, long before I knew anything of what I know now. My mother was rolling my hair when I felt tremendous pressure in the back of my head. I shifted my head slightly, looking left, in hopes that would relieve the pressure. Everything – to use a technical TV and movie term – faded to black. The next thing I was aware of was that “I” was floating above my father’s favorite chair in the den, about two and half yards from where my mother and my collapsed body were.
I was aware that “I” was floating near the ceiling, and was completely undisturbed by it. I watched my father carry my body toward the door, with my mother hurrying alongside him. My thought was, “They look so worried. They shouldn’t be. I’m fine.” My mother said, “Do you think we can make it to the hospital in time?” My thought was, “I don’t want to go to the hospital.” And as soon as I had that thought, I – my consciousness – zoomed back into my body. I opened my eyes and smiled at my dad so he would know I was okay, that everything was okay.
Our family physician and friend came to the house to examine me and make recommendations for further tests. He kept asking me questions. I recall feeling really peaceful (though at nine, I wouldn’t have thought of that word) and was not interested in talking. I was in a state of bliss and wished everyone would leave me to it. I don’t know if my mouth was smiling, but my consciousness was. The only thing that puzzles me, or maybe I should say interests me is where my consciousness was during the gap between losing consciousness while inside my body and regaining my consciousness outside my body about 45-60 seconds later. Whether it was losing consciousness or hitting my head when I fell that sent me into a different level of Awareness, I don’t know. I only know I went there and felt true peace while in my non-physical consciousness; though, that feeling continued for a few hours once I rejoined my body.
If you do Kinslow’s technique or any technique that provides the result of a quiet mind, you discover inside the gap between thoughts, that silent, still Awareness, where every thought you have comes from. You realize you are the thinker. You are the creator of your thoughts, though you’ve been trained to abdicate this creative power to ego-mind. You – the Awareness You Are – creates your experiences; though, this Truth may ruffle ego-mind’s “feathers.” True Trust resides in that Awareness, in the awareness of this Truth.
Worry cancels prayer, affirmations, Trust, and peace. Trust in the Universal Consciousness opens you to peace. The words “I Trust,” if genuinely felt bring peace, or at least a trusting acceptance of what-is and what can or may be done about it, for your highest good and the highest good of all involved. A key phrase here is “genuinely felt.” Maybe you’ll have a Knowing first, but more often than not, Trust comes from experience, from witnessing something remarkable happening for your benefit, and possibly in a way you never imagined, even if this isn’t clear until some time has passed, and even if ego-mind perceives it as a negative experience initially.
Peace, as is worry, is like a seed you plant. You can’t plant worry and grow (expect) peace, just as you can’t plant tomatoes and expect zucchini. The fruit (result, effect) is within the seed (worry, peace) that you plant. Your thoughts are seeds you plant. The more attention you give them, the likelier they are to produce, but produce only that which is within the seed as its pattern. Earnest Holmes wrote, though he capitalized every letter, “Every thought sets the fulfillment of its desire in motion in mind, and mind sees the thing as already done!” Your desire to NOT experience something can, with enough energy from you, fulfill it as though you had desired it. As Joyce Meyer might add, “You’re talking to yourself anyway. You might as well start saying something that makes sense.”
Trust is a challenge only because ego-mind has called the shots for so long. Ego-mind is set in its ways, in its reactions, whether or not the “fruit” of that creates desired results or not. Ego-mind is busy-mind. So to let go of standard reactions and choose Peace, Awareness, and Trust makes ego-mind anxious. This is because ego-mind believes that even if you turn in circles and go nowhere, any action is better than no action. Ego-mind believes its safety, and desired results, can only come from action, but especially mental action. It trusts only itself. This is why knowing you are not your thoughts and that you are Spirit helps you to let go of what ego-mind clings to, which is the only way to be in a state of peace or return to it.
This kind of peace, and Trust, can happen quickly; but as I said, usually happens gradually, in a progression of experiences where we pay attention in a different way during and after events. This practice of different attention is what enables us to eventually choose Trust and peace before events, as well. Ego-mind wants this feeling of trust and peace to happen immediately, as soon as you think about it. Your Spiritual aspect knows the reason it sometimes takes time is because each time you Trust or choose peace, it’s like peeling away a tentacle of ego-mind’s that’s been tightly wound around a belief for a long time. The core belief of all ego-mind’s beliefs is that it is the power. Your Spirit Being knows that you, as an expression of Universal Consciousness, are the True Power and that ego-mind is your tool, not your leader, or dictator.
We rely on thinking, and thinking has its purpose. But thinking has spoiled (gone bad) when it causes you to panic, get angry, etc., before anything has happened other than in your imagination. Spoiled thinking can send you into unproductive or destructive behaviors once something does happen, and worse, before anything does happen. Trust happens when you pause your unhelpful thinking and expand your awareness to include the big picture, including about who you really are, rather than just your immediate ego-mind based perspective. And you, Spirit You, do this without understanding every detail or dynamic first, which really annoys ego-mind.
Trust lets you put emphasis on Awareness (that different form of paying attention) rather than fear or just on fear, so you are more present in the now. In this state of mind and being, you observe what’s going on around you, but you observe what’s going on within you even more. You cannot objectively observe what’s going on within you so that you can address it, from any state other than a calm one, or rather, one of Trust. When anxious, you’re in ego-mind. Once you choose to get calm, to Trust, you connect with peace, and your ability to “see” and respond appropriately expands. Then you can manage your choices and energy from consciousness that’s connected to the guiding hand of Spirit.
Awareness takes you out of ego-mind’s story and into your Spirit Self and how you can choose to relate to what-is. All of this opens you to choose peace, and peace always comes from Trust. You can deal with issues or emergencies and be peaceful while you do this. Ego-mind wants to control, and it uses stories (past, present, and future ones) to manipulate you. This is why Awareness should be sought and valued. Awareness lives spontaneously in the Now, not in the stories and reactions to the stories.
Peace happens when you let go of the need to control. Ego-based control and Awareness do not and cannot operate on the same frequency. One leads to peace, the other never will. Letting go of that need to control is not about giving up or taking no appropriate action, and is the pathway to Trust, Awareness, and Peace. Peace, Awareness, and Trust are integral aspects of being fully functional as we all desire to be.
Ego-mind wants us to believe that choosing peace or Trust, especially amid tribulations, is irresponsible. Not choosing them is counterproductive. We’re just so used to habitual reactions that we’re afraid to feel or be seen as irresponsible (or afraid we – ego-mind – will die), if we choose to deal with situations from a place of peace, trust, and awareness. And yet we crave it. And yet it is the most effective way to move through any experience.
Give the technique I mentioned a try. See what it feels like for you to enter the gap. Allow yourself to retrain you to not just have Peace, Awareness, and Trust when you sit still or meditate, but to have these as you move through life and required or inspired actions. It’s a good practice, one you’ll appreciate.
Practice makes progress.
© Joyce Shafer
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Joyce Shafer is a Life Empowerment Coach dedicated to helping people feel, be, and live their true inner power. She’s author of I Don’t Want to be Your Guru and other books/ebooks, and publishes a free weekly online newsletter that offers empowering articles and free downloads. See all that’s offered by Joyce and on her site at http://stateofappreciation.weebly.com
This amazing little book is Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer, Napoleon Hill and more all rolled into one little treasure. Extraordinarily written and busting at the seams with wisdom. Once you start reading it you’ll immediately be glued to every word. I’m a national peak performance expert. I’ve read over 5,000 books on every imaginable topic relevant to life, achievement, psychology and spirituality. I can say that in the current sea of personal development books on the market, few stand out. This one is tops. Buy a copy for yourself and everyone you know, you’ll be glad you did. ~ Jim Fortin, International Author/Speaker
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