Everything you think is your choice. Everything you feel is the result of the choice you’ve made about what to think about. Everything you say, everything you do, everything and everyone you attract, and all that you are attracted to – every bit of it is your choice, based on the thoughts you have chosen to focus on. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Sure, it’s simple. But keeping your thoughts focused on what you want is not easy. Why not? Because our focus is mostly unconscious and automatic – we don’t even realize when we’ve let our minds wander off into the familiar territory of stress, scarcity, lacking, guilt, shame, doubts, and fears. And then once you realize you’ve gone there, sometimes you just don’t feel much at all like thinking about the happy. We become quite content to stay where we are and drown in our misery. Why? Because we know how to. It’s easy. Changing your focus takes work – even when the things you’d rather focus on are so wonderful.
So how do you choose to be happy? I’m not going to tell you the regular “tune into your happier thoughts and let the Law of Attraction do its job” routine. No. First of all, that doesn’t really work. WHAT, you say? Yes, I know, some people would scream “Blasphemy!” over my making that statement. “All you have to do is change that dial, hit a different radio station, and BOOM – you’re immediately tuned into a new and better frequency, and the Law of Attraction will make your life perfect, just the way you want it! Tune that dial of yours into happy thoughts, and you can go grab yourself a lotto jackpot ticket, order your perfect husband from the Law of Attraction Super Catalog of Delights, smile at your boss and get that promotion, yada… yada… bla bla bla.” YEAH. RIGHT. Ever try that? How’d that work out for you?
Am I being negative in bluntly stating this doesn’t work? Not at all. Are all those Law of Attraction specialists correct in that you simply need to change your tuner and hit a different station? Absolutely. Is it as simple as changing your thoughts? Not quite. Nobody ever tells you how to change that dial to tune into that “Law of Attraction Works for Me” station. And that’s why it’s not working out the way you hoped it would. Your dial is stuck on that other station, and you don’t even know it. Look at that radio of yours again. Did the tuner ever actually change over to the “Law of Attraction Works for Me” frequency? Here and there, perhaps? Now and then, maybe?
“Just think of happier thoughts.” That’s what you hear, over and over again. So you try it. And for a little while, you do it. And then what happens? A whole lot of nothing? Or worse – a whole lot of everything you don’t want? Oh yes. That’s exactly what happens. Why, why, WHY does this happen?
Because what you choose to consciously think about is just the tiniest fraction of all your thoughts, and it takes a little time and a whole lot of effort to change your UNconscious focus to match your conscious will and intent. You’ve got years, decades, lifetimes’ worth of programmed thoughts in your unconscious mind all constantly focused and tuned into that “poor, pity me” station you’ve been struggling to stop listening to – and you don’t even know it. You tune into your happier thoughts for a few seconds, a few minutes, a few hours, a few days, and then what? Your mind has gone back drifting and wandering off again without you – back to its old familiar territory of focusing on what you want to avoid, or on what you believe you are lacking. You find yourself having to struggle so hard to stay in a place of happiness and joy – which everyone tells you is your true state of being. So why is it so easy to fall back into the opposite state of our true nature – into misery – and so hard to stay in the happy place we all come from?
Our true state is Spirit. In Spirit, there is nothing lacking, and nothing to fear. It is a state of pure joy, pure love. That’s our natural state, and that is true for each and every one of us. But while we believe we are here having this experience as humans, we are subject to the laws of the ego-mind. Ego-mind is duality – the opposite of perfect Oneness – the opposite of pure joy and love, in every way. The ego-mind is terrified of your ability to choose to be who you really are, because in choosing to be as you truly are, it means the end of the ego. Faced with extinction, the ego-mind rears its head and shows you every deception, every illusion, pulls out all the punches, and uses every trick it knows to convince you that you have something to fear, or that you are lacking in some way. And unless you know that you are not your ego, that you are not your body, you can’t hear your Spirit-Mind gently calling to you to WAKE UP! This isn’t real! And so you remain convinced by what the ego-mind tells you – reacting to everything going on outside you, and believing it to be true. And off you go, back into the mindless state of suffering and worry, struggling to find a happy thought that can get you out of this despair.
No, you do not have to struggle between darkness and light. Step into the darkness and see it for what it is. Ask it why it is there. Ask it how it feels. Do not try to focus on the light, for in denying the darkness, you only suppress it. You cannot let it go if you don’t know what it is! Know that there isn’t anything to fear, and allow yourself to feel what’s coming up. Allow yourself to watch your mind – go find it in its darkness when it has wandered off without you. Shine your light upon the darkness, so that the trapped feelings and beliefs may be revealed to you, and in so doing, you may let them go. Honor your feelings, whatever they may be. Acknowledge them. And then let them go. If you are angry, take the time to understand why. What is it all about? If you feel guilty, allow yourself to explore the reason why. If you are afraid, ask yourself, WHY am I afraid? Once you have the answers, let the feelings go.
You do not have to fight your ego. You do not have to be at war with yourself. You do not have to struggle. Once you have your answers, take all the darkness – take all those feelings, and give it over to Spirit. “Let go and let God,” you may have heard before. You do not have to carry your burden, but rather, simply take it and give it to Spirit. Take just a few moments and close your eyes, and take a few deep breaths, and relax. In your mind, imagine God is right there, holding hands out to you, inviting you to take all your darkness, all your worries and fears, all your guilt, all your shame, all your traumas, and just give them to Him. In your mind, do as God asks, and give it all over, right into His hands. Take your wishes, all your desires, all your attachments to all the outcomes you want, and give them over as well. Watch it all disappear into the nothingness from which it all came. And then, put yourself in God’s hands, allowing yourself to become One with Spirit, and allow yourself to feel the love.
When you come to a fork in the road, choose the happy one. In other words, when faced between the thoughts of the ego-mind and the Truth of the Spirit-Mind, choose your Spirit guidance. By allowing, exploring, acknowledging, and honoring all your dark feelings, you can finally clear your energy blockages that have prevented you from hearing your Spirit-Mind, and you can release them to Spirit. This is how you change the dial and tune into your joy.
