So you want to find Mr. or Mrs. Right?

In order to get this right we are going to have to go through a little process here. Do you know what attributes this magical, perfect person for you posses? You might imagine them to have an humanitarian nature. They are actively involved in their community. They have a life of there own. Their sense of humor just has you laughing all the time. Their interests are similar to yours. They care about the environment. And the all important question to me anyway is, do they like dogs or cats? This one question, alone, can make or break it for me. hahaha.  I think you get my point. Get specific, right down to are they left or right handed? Write it out. OK now this is done and you are really clear about what it is you want in your perfect partner for you, here is the real question....

Here comes Mr or Mrs. Right. You are introduced to them and you are just blown away. But would they look twice at you? What is it you are bringing to the table? Are you someones Mr or Mrs. Right? Do you live up to the image you created for your perfect lover? No? Then it looks like you have some work to do. I don't mean that you should change who you are but I am saying that maybe it is time to get in alignment with who you are and start living the life you actually want to live. In doing so you are attracting to you Mr. or Mrs. Right.  You see you are highly unlikely to come across Mr. Outdoor Nature Loving Greek God sitting on the couch munching potato chips. What happens when you start to build a picture of the perfect mate you also build a picture of the perfect lifestyle. Start living the lifestyle.

Being clear about the request is important. Using your imagination increases the emotion surrounding Mr. or Mrs. Wonderful is essential. But at some stage you have to bring action into the equation. Inspired action. You will find that as you become clear about your intention and you start putting it into action that all manner of things start falling into place.

Pay attention to how you feel.

We have all, or most of us, heard an awful lot about the power of intention over recent years. We have heard that all of us have the ability to manifest our dreams and wishes. We have also heard about how many of the great minds and inventors in our history knew how to use the power of intention to create the world that they wanted. There seems to be a never ending plethora of information available on the subject. There doesn't, however, seem to be a lot of information out there on how to actually implement this into our daily lives. For me, I can see the validity of the information. I can feel it resonate within me. I have spent many years studying everything from the Bible, Tao Te Ching, Henry David Thorea, Albert Einstein, Neville up to and including Dr. Wayne Dyer to name but a few. The following represents a small part of what I have learned.

Generally speaking it goes like this, we identify what we think would make us happy. Be that, winning the lottery, finding Mr. or Mrs. Right, or simply losing that ten pounds. What ever it is. We ask the universe for it and then promptly sit back and wait for its arrival. After a period of time we get a little discourage because these things are not showing up. We sit there saying, but I followed all of the steps. I asked for what I wanted, I expected it but then nothing happened. There is a little more to it than that. Firstly you have to pay attention to how you feel when you think about what it is that you want. If there is very little feeling going on when you think about your wish then it is not a very strong wish yet. Increasing the feeling increases the strength or the alignment. I used to get very frustrated with that term. I would hear, you have to be in alignment with what ever it is that you want to manifest, over and over again. I would think but how, how do I do that. I think positive thoughts all the time about my wish and still nothing. I knew that there was something I didn't understand. A piece missing from the equation. Actually there was more than one piece missing from the equation.

The first thing we have to do, as I was saying, is increase the feeling part. Ok, you say, I heard you the first time. How. Your imagination is how. You imagine how it feels to actually experience having or being or doing what ever your wish was. And be specific. Detailed. So if it is winning the lottery, imagine driving to the store, buying the ticket. Putting it in your pocket or your purse. Then imagine how it feels when you realize you have the winning numbers. Figure out your game plan about how you are going to deal with the reality. Are you going to take the lump sum or do you want to take it in cash? Are you going to get some legal advice prior to picking up the winnings? How is that part going to play out?

Once you have all the details worked out, it is time to move it into action. You will actually have to go and do what you imagined you would do. Here's the next catch. When you go and buy that lottery ticket, in reality, you probably walk into the store with the attitude of someone who is not going to win. Your thoughts are probably rather defeatist at this point. You are talking yourself down. The thoughts and feelings you experience at the time of the action you are taking are incredibly important. This sets the intention stronger than the initial imagining. The universe will read everything as you go along and adjust accordingly. Buy the ticket feeling like you are actually buying the winning ticket. How do you think you would feel if you new you were, in reality, buying the winning ticket. Then don't let anything come between you and that feeling.

I used a pretty general example here. I hope it conveyed the basic steps involved in turning anything you want into your reality. Pay attention to how you feel in every moment. It is much more important than you realize. Action is equally important. Inspired, determined action. I'll continue with the other two examples in a later post. I really want to give them a greater focus. There is so much information to share, I thought it would be best to do it in bites rather than overwhelm people.

I will leave you with a quote from Henry David Thoreau, "If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."

What would happen if we decided for ourselves?

Websters definition of Meme: An idea, behavior, style or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture.

A meme is a belief that we are taught, either on purpose (say in school) or by osmosis (cultural, things we just seem to understand). We are exposed to all manner of ideas (memes) every day through various media, the internet or even an overheard conversation. A meme is more than say an old wives tale that is passed down from generation to generation, they are also complex concepts about certain attitudes or behaviors. 

Our attitudes about all subjects are influenced by memes. This is how a whole culture can hold a completely ridiculous prejudice against another one. For example, (leaving anything recent alone) the dislike for the German people in general after WW2 was palpable. I still remember having conversations with a few family friends who lived through that era. The generalizations they made about them were filled with venom. An entire nation was blamed for the actions of a few. We see this happening over and over again. Eventually, time moves on and the hatred lessons. Old concepts are exchanged for new ones. 

Most of the time we believe these memes without stopping to consider if we even agree with the concept or belief. Have you ever had a belief you have held for many years and then one day realized that it makes no sense at all. I have. I often, never even thought to question the belief until I spoke it out loud and then it occurred to me how ridiculous it actually was.  

How many of our current non accepting views are just old memes that we never stopped to think about before? 

Is it possible that we can change the world by simply and honestly asking ourselves if we agree or not?

Possibly. 

What is Acceptance?

The need to be accepted is something that all humans have in common. This human need crosses all boundaries. If we don't feel we are accepted, we experience feelings of rejection, loneliness and even abandonment. Which can be devastating to the human psyche and result in all manner of inappropriate actions. Discrimination, riots, murders and war are some examples of people acting out because someone else has a different point of view. We even go as far as feeling justified in punishing someone simply because they do something that we don't agree with.  

So, what do we do to be accepted?  

We may act certain ways that are acceptable within our own culture. How to behave is a lesson, often times, hard won in childhood. We go through quite an extensive training program to learn how to behave. It is something that starts at birth, with our parents directing us, teaching us right from wrong, then the pass picks up a bit when we start school (the lessons there are learnt a little harsher than before) and continues through out our whole lives. (well, until we get old enough not to care anymore) 

We may achieve certain milestones that our environment seems to demand from us, such as getting an education or a college degree. In fact the whole sequence of events of how our life plays out is dictated by our individual culture. You start school at 5, you complete all 13 years of school, then you go to college, establish your career, get married, have children and eventually retire. This sequence of events (although they seem logical) are all dictated by our cultures. We comply, mostly, without giving it much thought because this is just what is expected of us. We do all of this to be accepted within our little part of the world. We all have seen, maybe some have experienced, what happens to those that don't "fit" in. That girl over there, well, she got pregnant at 16 and she didn't know who the father was and, and, and......

How are we accepting of others?

We pass judgement on others all the time. Over the years we develop our own set of standards. A set of morals that we choose to live by. Some of these standards are driven by our culture, some come from the religion we were raised in and some are taught by our families.  These are the standards that we use to judge every one else by. Upon observing the other person for even just a few seconds in some cases, we come to a swift decision about them. Sometimes it's good and they fit right in but sometimes it's bad and they are excluded. Or at the very least treated as if they are not good enough. We feel justified in our treatment of the other because we deem them as different and therefore wrong. And if our personal beliefs are challenged in anyway we take it as a personal attack and often times lash out irrationally. 

Real acceptance

The world is slowly realizing that a lot of the beliefs we inherited are not how the world should be and are taking the time to figure out not only how we want to see the world but what, we, personally can do about it.  We are starting to fight the habitual thought patterns that happen when we see someone who is different and are even starting to engage in conversations, with genuine interest, with out feeling the need to to convert them to our own way of thinking. 

The old ways of non acceptance are falling away and it is time to create the new. We are entering into an era of greater spirituality. Of greater personal awareness.  Meditation, yoga, taking care of the body etc are no longer seen as out there but are becoming apart of the normal persons reality.