What Box?^®

How often do you ask yourself the question, “What do I want to create in my life?”

Knowing what you want is the first step in manifesting what it is you want in your life. When you make the conscious effort to think about and imagine what it is you want to create in your life, anything becomes possible. Yet, very few people take the time or expend the energy to understand what it is they want.

Go ahead. Right now ask yourself, “What do I want to create in my life?”

Let your imagination wander, expanding what is possible for you. Focus on what can be instead of what is. Let the first wants float into your consciousness and see where they take you. Pay close attention to the thoughts that come into your mind that say, “I can’t have that,” or “This want is way too far out of reach for me.” Remember, what you “believe” is what you create for yourself.

“If you think you can or if you think you can’t, either way you are right.”
Anthony Robbins

Believe in yourself and what it is that you want to create in your life. When you believe that you can’t get what it is you want, you won’t. When you believe that anything is possible, anything becomes possible.

Negative thinking is just a part of our society’s mental models. We have been brainwashed into believing that we are not good enough, things have to be done this way or that way, and that we have to follow the norms of society. This limiting thinking holds us back. There is no direct route to success. We have to believe we can get what we want no matter how outrageous it may be. We have to trust that it will happen, maybe not in the timeframe that we have projected, but that it will happen at some point. It can and it will. Let go of the negative and focus on the positive.

This takes practice, practice, and more practice. Being in a positive state where anything is possible takes being conscious of your thoughts and emotions. This consciousness will fight your internal programming that prevents you from believing that you can achieve what you want to create in your life. I have to fight it every day. My experience is that consciousness has empowered and encouraged me to achieve that which I want for my life. It can do the same for you.

I think a major reason that people don’t think about and go for what they want in their lives is because it is just easier to go through life in an unconscious state, accepting things the way they are. You have the unlimited potential to change your current situation, to make your dreams come true. All it takes is a lot of hard work and intestinal fortitude.

What do you want to create in your life?

“Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it, we go nowhere.”  Carl Sagan

I frequently like to ask myself, “What do I want to create in my life?” I use my imagination to put myself into a state of having what I want. I feel it and experience it. My imagination allows what I want to become real. I work to release my judgments and block the programming that prevents me from letting my imagination wander. When what I want feels really good, then I know that it is something that I believe in and that I am willing to work towards it.

At this point I write it down or create a vision board, a collage of images. I cut the images out of magazines, print them off of the Web, or draw them myself. I hang this visual in a place where I will see it everyday so that it will remind me of what I want to create in my life.

I do this kind of work because there are many things that can hold me back from creating what I want in my life: a lack of confidence, too much doing and not enough being, the many distractions of life, buying into other peoples negative attitudes, or just forgetting because I am too busy to keep what I want in my consciousness. Putting what I want down on paper enables me to consciously create what I want in my life verses just allowing life’s circumstances to happen.

The thing is that what you are currently creating in your life right now is what you want. You may not be conscious of it, but it is what you want. The key is to become conscious of what you want and to focus on creating it in your life. What is holding you back from creating what it is you really want in your life?

“The great thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving.”  Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Let me know what you think.

Dear Sean
Last week you wrote about Love. I have so many “loves of this and that” in my life it is difficult for me to define the difference. Where can I begin?
Loving in Langley

Dear Loving
Love is a very personal experience. True love is usually felt between a person for another person or another living animal. If you are loving a thing it can be sign of selfishness and not a true love. When you feel true love you give of yourself very naturally and expect nothing in return for giving this love. If you are feeling like you should get something for the love you give then you may not be in true love. This does not mean that you should be taken advantage of for giving your love. Loving yourself is one of the keys to better understanding how to differentiate between love, lust, or attraction. Family love is very different from romantic love or platonic love. Love empowers, creates joy, motivates, and generates happiness. When these emotions are present you will have identified that which you love and which loves you back.
Keep on keeping on,
Sean

Until next week, remember the only boxes that exist are the ones you create for yourself

What does love mean to you?

Every one of us loves someone, something, and in many cases even ourselves. We were born into this world filled with love. Love is what we all are looking for each and every day. Love fills us with joy, lifting our spirits and inspiring us to new heights. Love is one of the most powerful energies that exist in the universe. Learning to love is what we are designed to do and what all of the great religions of the world teach us to focus on. Love is about learning how to live our lives to the fullest.

The Beatles may have said it best when they sang, “There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done, nothing you can sing that can’t be sung. Nothing you can say, but you can learn how to play the game. It’s easy. There’s nothing you can make that can’t be made, no one you can save that can’t be saved. Nothing you can do, but you can learn how to be in time. It’s easy. All you need is love.”

All you need is love.

Yet, how many of us go through life consciously aware of how we give love or receive love? For that matter, how many times do people say, “I love you?” Did you know that the more love you give the more love you will receive? It is the same with giving it away to get it back. The more you give away the more you get back. The thing is that when you give away love you are giving away the most precious gift you can possibly give. And guess what. It doesn’t cost you a single dime.

What does it mean to love? When we “fall in love” with someone, not for what we can get from them, but for who they are, their essence, their soul, their energy, and their being, we see in them something that sparks the love that we have inside of us. We find ourselves in a state of adoration which drives us to want to know who they are, what they are thinking, what they want for their lives, and wanting to be with them every moment that is possible so that we can serve them and love them. This is when our true nature of giving and receiving love works its magic. It is your true nature to be in a state of love.

Are you in a state of love?

“In our life there is a single color, as on an artist’s palette, which provides the meaning of life and art. It is the color of love.” Marc Chagall

Isn’t it strange how we all are born into a state of unconditional love and then as time passes many of us lose touch with what it means to love? One of the commandments is “to love thy neighbor.” What does that mean to you? What if you don’t like your neighbor? What happens if he is mean and takes advantage of you? What if he is rude and speaks badly of you behind your back and you become hurt, distrusting and feel separate from him? How can you find yourself in a state of love under these circumstances? I think that to love one another is to have an attitude of wanting what is best for them, regardless of whether or not they are interested in what is best for you. It doesn’t mean you have to like them, but it does mean if you are in a loving state that your attitude towards them should be to want what is best for them. A little complicated isn’t it? What do you think?

Given this example it is easy to see how one could lose touch with what it means to love. Perhaps we find that it is just easier not to let people in and allow ourselves to be vulnerable through giving love. The thing is that if we get hurt it is because we are expecting something as a result of our loving nature. Giving love does not mean that we are always going get what we expect. It is the expectations we set of what we are going to get back when we give our love that hurts us. The key is to be in a state of unconditional love, a state where expectations do not exist, that is you give your love freely, without expectations of getting anything back. Sounds difficult, doesn’t it? Well, no one said that re-learning how to love was going to be easy, particularly when it generally takes a lifetime to re-learn what it is we knew when we were born.

Very few things written in What Box? are easy. It takes work to awaken that part of our being, the part that is our loving nature, the part of us that is tied to our inner child, the place we found ourselves when we were born. You can do it.

In my life I have experienced anger and aggression toward people who have hurt me or who have hurt those that I love. It is easy for me to fly off the handle and lash out at them through foul words or physical contact. The thing is that after the altercation I only feel worse about the situation and angry at myself about what happened and for being such a buffoon. This is when love comes in and I become aware of being sorry and remorseful for my response. This is love working its energy to get me out of my state of anger to a place of love, a place where I can apologize for my actions and forgive myself for my negative and hateful behavior.

Over the years I have learned to become aware of my emotions and feelings so that when I feel anger or aggression coming on I am able to consciously focus on love and compassion. I have found that I need to walk away, breathe until I am calmer, and then return to the situation when I am able to respond more clearly. I guarantee I will be working on this one the rest of my life. The good news is that this method works for me and it can work for you as well.

What I have learned from my life experiences is that when I focus on living my life in a state of love and giving unconditional love to the people I am in relationship with, I am happier and the better my life becomes. People are attracted to people who are in a state of love because this is what they are searching for, that natural desire to be near loving people.

“Love talked about can be easily turned aside, but love demonstrated is irresistible.”  
W. Stanley Mooneyham

It is unfortunate that people in a state of love are so rare to find today. You were created to love. You were created to give love unconditionally. You were created to receive love. And you were created to be the best you can be. When you live a life focused on expanding the power of love for yourself and others anything becomes possible.

“You can do no great things–only small things with great love.”  Mother Teresa

How would your life be different if you loved others as you love yourself?

Let me know what you think.

Until next week, remember the only boxes that exist are the ones you create for yourself.

What do you want to create in your life?

Is it a new car? Is it a fantastic new home? Is it a million dollars? A billion dollars? Is it the ability to travel whenever and wherever you want? Is it to create a better world? Is it to make a positive difference in people’s lives? Is it to send your child to college? Is it a new boat? What is it you want to create in your life?

Do you really know what it is you want to create in your life?

Because, I want you to know that you have the power to create anything and everything you want in your life, if you believe.

The challenge to creating what we want in our lives is that we tend to focus on what we don’t have instead of focusing on what we do have and what we want to create. When we focus on what we don’t have or what little we have we create more of the same, which means we never get out of where we don’t want to be.

If you are having financial challenges it is easy to get into the trap of focusing attention on those challenges and how much you really don’t want to be in your situation. The weight of this challenge can cause you to always be thinking about and dreading the next bill. You can actually bring yourself to depression or sickness from the stress caused by these financial challenges. Here is the rub. The more you think about how much you wish you could make these bills go away the more you will create more bills and stress.

The same goes for your relationships. If you are always finding yourself in relationships that go nowhere, or with people who treat you poorly, and you continue to focus on how miserable this makes you feel, you will only continue to create more of the same.

I have written about this before and will continue to write about it. What you focus your attention on and think about most you will create in your life. This is nothing new. All the great thinkers and major forces throughout history have understood the power of focused thinking to create either positive or negative in ones life. Sounds so simple doesn’t it?

“The secret of happiness is to count your blessings while others are adding up their troubles”

It is simple. Your mind and body are an energy powerhouse. The energy your mind, imagination and emotions generate can be harnessed to create what it is you most want in your life, no matter what it is or how outrageous. If you want to be a millionaire you can do it. Focus your mind on becoming a millionaire, and your emotions on the feeling of being a millionaire.

Utilizing one of your ultimate creativity tools, your imagination, you can transport yourself to a place where you are a millionaire living a millionaire life. Imagine spending your money on a Ferrari, sliding into this amazing car and driving off from the dealership. Feel the air blowing through your hair, inhale the petrol smells created from your accelerations and braking. Imagine getting out of your exquisite automobile and walking into one of the finest restaurants you can imagine, the Bel Air for example, being recognized and given special privileges. The more real your imaginations are the quicker they will become tangible and real in the physical world.

The thing is that your subconscious mind is working for you and what you focus your mind on most. If you want to be a millionaire focus on being a millionaire. If you want to have lots and lots of bills or be treated poorly you will create more of this by focusing your attention on bills and being treated poorly. When you understand and embrace this universal truth by focusing your attention on positive desires and let go your negative thinking you capture the power to change your life and generate the kind of happiness you have always dreamed of.

When you let go of the “how” the universe has a way of filling in the gaps and presenting the opportunities to make your imaginations a reality. This is a key and universal truth to creating what it is you want in your life.

Focus your attention on the positive. Remember that people like to be around positive people and that positive people attract happiness, things, and opportunities.

“Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

Successful results from this kind of living are created when you focus your attention and imagination on abundance, the ideal, what you want to create, and where you want to be. No matter your current circumstance, no matter how difficult or challenging when you overcome the tendency to focus on the negative and instead focus on the positive you can and will change your circumstance.

You can create anything you want in your life. You have the energy to generate the kind of power that moves mountains. You are a force of nature and when you focus your mind on the positive and what it is you ideally want to create in your life you will.

What are you going to do with your key to universal knowledge and unlimited potential?

Let me know what you think.

Until next week, remember the only boxes that exist are the ones you create for yourself.

Since the beginning of time man has searched for the meaning of life. Going back to the earliest recorded history, images and writings have revolved around the search for greater meaning in ones life. The quest for meaning remains strong to this day. It is a motivation that resides inside of everyone. Yes, everyone.

There is a big difference with today’s quest for greater meaning than those of years gone by. What is this big difference?

Today we are a blessed society because we have our basic needs taken care of and then some. We have reached a level of satisfying our needs never before seen by man. Even the people of America below the poverty line have more material wealth than over half of the world’s population.

People in general are accumulating greater wealth and buying more stuff than ever before. One of the biggest growth industries around the world today is in storage facilities. Looks like George Carlin was right about needing more stuff to store our stuff. Yet it appears that even with these increasing means we are living lives with less meaning.

What are you living for?

Is it to buy the next hot car? Is it to take your next vacation? Is it to buy the next trendy fashion? Is it to watch the next episode of American Idol? Is it to see your favorite football team win the SuperBowl? Is it to buy a bigger house? Is it to collect as much stuff as you can before you die? Or is it to make a positive difference? Is it to inspire people to reach for their full potential? The choice of what you are living for is yours to decide. How are you going to choose?

What is the meaning of life? To be happy and useful. – The Dalai Lama

I have written about it before and will in all likelihood write about it again, but sometimes it takes great tragedy to wake us up to life’s fleetingness. September 11, 2001 was one of those tragic days that woke up our nation and the world to the fact that we are only here on earth a short time and that at any moment that time can be taken away. This shocking moment in history inspired a large percentage of the American population and others around the world to reevaluate their priorities and look towards living a life with greater meaning and purpose. Unfortunately as time passes the cobwebs start to grow over these inspirations, people fall back into their old grooves and the quest for greater meaning loses its momentum. Why is this?

Because like so many things written in What Box? it takes a lot of hard work, determination and persistence to live a life with greater meaning and purpose. There is no silver bullet, there is no quick fix and there is no direct path to creating a life of greater meaning and purpose. Although we have the power to decide to live a life with greater meaning, it is just easier not to and instead continue living the materialistic easy going life we have come to know and grown comfortable with.

Individually and together we can change this trend and turn the tide. Never before in the history of man have we had such an opportunity to create greater meaning in our lives, our collective lives. With so many people having so much of their materialistic needs taken care of a natural outcome is the desire to look for something more, something greater, to find meaning in life. Our challenge is to not let this moment pass and pursue the journey of self discovery and meaning. We literally have hundreds of millions of people on the brink of seriously joining the quest for greater meaning in their lives. Oh yeah, I can see it now.

What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of him. What he needs is not the discharge of tension at any cost, but the call of a potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled by him. – Victor Frankl

What I need to do, what you need to do, what we all need to do is awaken our spirit. Back in the early 90’s when I was working with Michael Munn, a head physicist for Lockheed, he was involved in the pursuit of connecting spirituality with science. This was a new frontier at the time and I was fortunate enough to be a collaborator in the process. What Mike believed was that both of these studies were very similar and interconnected. That science exploration could benefit from spirituality and that spirituality could benefit from science. That unlimited potential of creating a better life for us humans was an outcome of integrating the two.

Mike Munn activated inside of me a deep desire to understand my spirituality and that of the world. And after many years of pursuing spirituality whether it be at Grand Lake, Machu Pichu, The Council Oak Tree, ChaI co Canyon, Saint Patricks Cathedral, the Crystal Cathedral, Ashrams, Mosques, or Synagogues, I believe that living a 24/7 spiritual life is one of the keys to discovering and living a life with greater meaning.

Inside of all of us is a spirit that understands and believes that there is something larger than ourselves. That we have a purpose and meaning to our being alive. The question is will you choose a materialistic-driven life or a meaning-driven life? A good first place to start looking is inside of yourself.

Let me know what you think.

Until next week, remember the only boxes that exist are the ones you create for yourself.