living life fully's e-zine for December 9

9 December 2024

Hello, and welcome to another week in all our lives! The world keeps turning and we all keep on keeping on, so let's make sure that we do our best to make the absolute most of any and all opportunities that come our way. Enjoy your today!
	Living More Consciously Duane Elgin
	The Art of Manifestation Lucinda Bassett
	Perseverance/Determination tom walsh
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Simple and Profound Thoughts (from Simple and Profound)
Here I am, fifty-eight, and I still don't know what I'm going to be when I grow up. -Peter Drucker	They are wise people who do not grieve for the things which they have not, but rejoice for those which they have. -Epictetus
It is better for you to be free of fear lying upon a pallet, than to have a golden couch and a rich table and be full of trouble. -Epicurus	The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. -Albert Einstein

Living More Consciously Duane Elgin The word consciousness literally means "that with which we know." It has also been termed the knowing faculty. To live more consciously means to be more consciously aware, moment by moment, that we are present in all we do. When we stand and talk, we know that we are standing and talking. When we sit and eat, we know that we are sitting and eating. When we do the countless things that make up our daily lives, we remember the being that is involved in those activities. We remember ourselves (and to "re-member" is to make whole; it is the opposite of dis-memberment). To live consciously is to move through life with conscious self-remembering. We are not bound to habitual and preprogrammed ways of perceiving and responding when we are consciously watchful of ourselves in the process of living. Consider several examples. It is difficult to relate to another person solely as the embodiment of a social position or job title when, moment by moment, we are consciously aware of the utter humanness that we both possess--a humanness whose magnificence and mystery dwarf the seeming importance of status and titles as a basis of a relationship. It is difficult to deceive another person when, moment by moment, we are consciously aware of our unfolding experience of deception. It is difficult to sustain the experience of sexual desire by projecting a sexual fantasy when, moment by moment, we are conscious that we are creating and relating to a fantasy rather than the authentic individual we are with.
In short, when we begin to consciously watch ourselves, in the activities of daily life, we begin to cut through confining self-images, social pretenses, and psychological barriers. We begin to live more voluntarily. We all have the ability to consciously know ourselves as we move through life. The capacity to "witness" the unfolding of our lives is not an ability that is remote or hidden from us. To the contrary, this is an experience that is so close, so intimate, and so ordinary, that we easily overlook it presence and significance. An old adage states, It's a rare fish that knows it swims in water. Analogously the challenge of living voluntarily is not in gaining access to the conscious experience of ourselves but rather in consciously recognizing the witnessing experience and then learning the skills of sustaining our opening to that experience. To clarify the nature of conscious watchfulness, I would like to ask you several questions. Have you been conscious of the fact that you have been sitting here reading this book? Have you been conscious of changes in your bodily sensations, frame of mind, and emotions? Were you totally absorbed in the book until I asked? Or had you unintentionally allowed your thoughts to wander to other concerns? Did you just experience a slight shock of self-recognition when I inquired? What does it feel like to notice yourself reading while you read; to observe yourself eating while you eat; to see yourself watching television while you watch television; to notice yourself driving while you drive; to experience yourself talking while you talk? Despite the utter simplicity of being consciously watchful of our lives, this is a demanding activity. At first it is a struggle to just occasionally remember ourselves moving through the daily routine. A brief moment of self-remembering is followed by an extended period where we are lost in the flow of thought and the demands of the exterior world. Yet with practice we find that we can more easily remember ourselves--while walking down the street or while we are at home, at work, at play. We come to recognize, as direct experience, the nature of "knowing that we know." As our familiarity with this mode of perception increases, we get lost in thought and worldly activities less and less frequently. In turn, we experience our behavior in the world as more and more choiceful, or voluntary. Bringing conscious attention into our daily lives may lack the mystery of searching for enlightenment with an Indian sorcerer and the spiritual glamour of sitting for long months in an Eastern monastic setting, but consciously attending to our daily-life activities is an eminently useful, readily accessible, and powerful tool for enhancing our capacity for voluntary action.
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The Art of Manifestation
Lucinda Bassett

The art of manifestation rests on using the universal law of attraction to benefit your life. I see it as the law of attraction in action--the process of doing something in order to achieve a specific purpose. When you say things like "I can't afford that" or "That isn't for people like me," you are generating a climate in which you truly can't afford it so it isn't for you. Instead, try saying "I always have plenty of money for everything I need and want." Now you are generating energy that will put you in control and help you prioritize your decisions based on abundance, not lack.

The idea is to act like the thing you wish to manifest is already your reality. Just keep in mind that everything takes time and that your circumstances today are a direct result of your past thoughts and beliefs. If you start thinking and acting differently now, if you give the new habit time to set in, you will reap different results in the future. The universe is just waiting for you to take action. So don't underestimate the power of taking one step at a time. It doesn't matter how big or small your actions are. Any action in the general direction of your new reality is enough to get the ball rolling.

Using deliberateness in the art of manifestation is crucial. You will be successful when you

- Are specific about what you want.
- Use the present tense in your expressions. (I am making more money instead of I will be making more money.)
- Affirm your desires all day long.
- Understand the changes you are asking for.
- Have faith in the end result.
- Be flexible.
- Use the power of daily meditation and prayer.
- Get in the habit of expressing gratitude.

There are several ways I've found to shift my overall patterns of manifestation: affirmations and visualizations as well as active meditations and prayer. The purpose of affirmations is to increase your intention and desire, thus inviting the magical experience of manifestation to occur.

The second choice for manifesting is the use of visualization. The images you visualize can be as simple as a single snapshot held in your mind. But when it becomes more dynamic, such as a detailed image of a life change or a place you'd like to live, there will be added power in your action.

If you want to be even more focused, I suggest you create a daily mantra that will help you affirm the way you want to live. Dating back thousands of years, mantras are words or sentences that affirm the way you want to live your life. In order to create your own personal mantra, make a list of three things you want to change in your life. Write them in this form:

I am. . . stressed, debt-ridden, exhausted.

Don't think too much. Just write them down as they arise in your mind. Then, for each item, write down the opposite idea in the same form:

I am. . . at peace, financially secure, well-rested.

String together these positive thoughts in a pleasing order, such as in this form:

I am at peace and well-rested and my world is financially secure.

Write down your mantra on an index card and post it where you will see it often during the day. Make multiple copies, one for your car, your office, your bathroom. Repeat this mantra throughout the day, whenever you think about it and especially before you go to bed.

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Compared to what we ought to be, we are only half awake. We are
making use of only a small part of our physical and mental resources.

William James

Perseverance/Determination

Sometimes I want to give up. There are times in life when we all face moments that seem too difficult to bear, when we feel like giving up because our efforts seem fruitless, when we feel that we don't have enough strength left to persevere without wiping ourselves out completely. These are the times when it's difficult to keep our perspective, and when it's difficult to think clearly, for our fear or our pain are dominating our thoughts.

Sometimes we feel worn down, as if we've been fighting and struggling forever without seeing results, and we see other people work not nearly as hard as we're working, yet somehow they're seeing more results to their efforts. Our frustration level grows and grows, and we feel a lack of the hope that should be keeping us going.

These are just the times when, as some people put it, we find out "what we're made of." There are many people in this world who use such situations as a reason to stop trying, as grounds for giving up. They abandon their goals and dreams because they've proven to be too hard to reach, or because they don't feel that they're strong enough to keep on trying. They go back to what they were doing before because the new things aren't working out quickly enough or easily enough, so they retreat to safety in order to preserve themselves--or so they believe.

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is filled with educated derelicts. Perseverance and determination alone are omnipotent.

Calvin Coolidge

Life, though, is not about safety, and it's not about being easy. We search for the easiest routes sometimes because we don't want to have to struggle, and we don't want to face the possibility of failure. Sometimes, of course, the easiest route can get us to where we need to go. Other times, though, the easier path will never allow us to reach our goals or our dreams, and then it's very easy to give up, to not strive to get further or to reach our desired destination. I may want to have a certain degree, but unless I'm willing to work hard for it--over the course of a lot of time--that degree won't be mine. If I want to be very, very good at my job, then I need to do the work necessary to get better, and not give up because it's "too hard."

We're tested as people not by doing the same things over and over again, but by pushing through obstacles and giving our best to go further in life, not to stay in the same place. The world is full of people who tried for a while, but then gave up--people who weren't willing to push themselves any harder. But what if I don't want to be one of those people who have given up?

Then it's very important that I keep telling myself that just because something is hard, it won't kill me or devastate me. I have to remind myself constantly that many other people have pushed on through hard times and down times to finally reach a point at which they succeed. I have to keep in mind that the difficulties and the anguish will pass eventually, and I'll be extremely glad when they do pass that I stuck with my original plans through thick and thin.

It is not so much brilliancy of intellect, or fertility of resource, as persistency of effort, constancy of purpose, that makes a great person. Persistency always gives confidence. Everybody believes in the people who persist. They may meet misfortunes, sorrows, and reverses, but everybody believes that they will ultimately triumph because they know there is no keeping them down. "Do they keep at it? Are they persistent?" are the questions which the world asks about us. Even the person with small ability will often succeed if he or she has the quality of persistence, where a genius without persistence would fail.

Orison Swett Marden

There are, of course, situations in which perseverance isn't the best course of action. If I'm running a marathon and I start feeling severe pain in my knee at ten miles, then I'm not going to finish that marathon. Note, though, that I said "severe" pain--there are other types of pain that I've learned as a runner can simply be run through, and they'll go away after some time. If I've set my goal as reaching a certain position in my job, but in the meantime a new supervisor has been hired who treats people horribly, perhaps it's time to scrap that goal and make a new one--in a different workplace. Sometimes persistence is simply stubbornness disguised as something more positive, and it's important that we recognize things like stubbornness in the many masks that they wear.

All in all, though, persistence is one of the most important character traits that we can develop. No novel or book has been written without it; no important research can be developed and finished if those doing the work don't have the determination necessary to bring it to a close.

There are many lessons about perseverance all about us, every day, that we can learn if we just keep our eyes open for them. If we wait, the tide will come back in (or go back out); even the darkest night will eventually give way to day; the light will appear at the end of the tunnel; the water and wind eventually will wear down any stone; time and again teams win games in the very last moment possible. In each case, they have to keep on keeping on, doing what they're doing without giving up. Sometimes the results may not be exactly what we hoped for of planned, but determination can be one of the most important elements of any life.

No one ever did anything worth doing
unless they were prepared to go on with
it long after it became something of a bore.

Douglas V. Steere

I want to be a determined person. I want to pursue my goals without giving up, even when they may seem hopeless. I want to pursue my dreams no matter how many people tell me to be more realistic. I won't fool myself into thinking that perseverance alone will solve all the ills in my life, but I will keep in mind that without perseverance, I can pretty much guarantee that I will not be able to do many of the things that I dream of doing.