We have a group meditation/visualization class set up for Thursday afternoons at 1:30pm at the Studio in Desloge. Anyone can attend and the cost is $25.00. (Let me know if the money is a problem).

We will start out with a group discussion and finish with a meditation. Listen... this is not "out there". Jesus meditated. This is about learning to know yourself, and enjoying the process.

All you have to do is let me know you're coming by emailing me at normanbennett@att.net or call me on my cell - 573-218-2114.

OR - If two or three individuals would like to get together at a different place or time, I'll do my best to work out a schedule for all involved. On these unscheduled classes there would be a $25.00 charge.

THANKS, Norm

Now... on to the visualizations...

Recently I was listening to a tape on visualizing that stated how miraculously easy it was to change your life once you recognize your true beliefs… Either they were practicing visualizations in bizzarro world, or I’ve been doing it wrong! 
 
What I do know is that “miraculously easy” has never been included anywhere in my life that “change” was required. In fact, visualizations should come with a disclaimer, “be careful what you with for“.

First of all, there is the completely unexpected resistance to whatever you “think” you “want”. You may be amazed at the resistance within, sitting patiently, for as long as it takes, for you to frivolously wish for something better in your life. Then there’s this quite little part of you - that you thought was so patient and kind - that jumps up and immediately and loudly and critically recites fourteen thousand reasons you should not even be “considering” such a ridiculous idea… no matter what the idea might be!

An immediate and simple way to find this resistance is to pick something - anything - and have a higher thought about it. Let’s take… “toothpaste” for example. One of the simplest, most ordinary, mundane, harmless things you could think about. Surely, you don’t have any inner resistance to a better “toothpaste”. But I bet you do…

Toothpaste Visualization;

Use the following guided visualization point by point. Read each one, close your eyes for just a moment, visualize your new toothpaste and move on. Keep going until you feel your “toothpaste resistance“.

• My toothpaste has a very pleasant taste.
• My toothpaste has a very appealing color.
• My toothpaste leaves me feeling refreshed.
• My toothpaste whitens my teeth.
• My toothpaste does not irritate my teeth or gums.
• My toothpaste creates a miraculous resistance to any possible bad breath.
• My toothpaste soothes any mouth sores.
• My toothpaste heals cavities.
• My toothpaste does all the above by only brushing once per week.

So… where did I lose you? 
 
If you fully accepted all the above toothpaste scenarios, then you have very little resistance to higher thoughts and we don’t have much more to talk about. (Please call me). But if you’re like most, you reached a place where your mind say’s, “whoa… who do you think you are? What difference does taste make if it works? Why are you worrying about what color it is? If it irritates your teeth and gums - that’s just too bad! And come on… toothpaste that heals?”

The purpose of this exercise was to find out how the mind resist a new or higher thought, and what this resistance feels like. If your mind won’t allow you to imagine a better toothpaste… what about your job - your life - your happiness?

Secondly, and even more ridiculous than the above, your visualization can almost immediately cause you to see with new eyes, and you radically notice all the areas of your life that are the exact opposite of what you want! So after you visualize, you feel like you’re not only “not” getting what you want - but are “receiving” more of what you can’t stand!

This is why it is so important to understand that there will be resistance to change, and what this resistance feels like, and why it feels the way it feels, that will make the process of growth and change a much easier and more flowing transition.

Why even visualize?

• You sense something lacking in your life.
• You desire more happiness in your life.
• You have pain or depression that cannot readily be explained.

Ways in which we visualize;

•  A thought or feeling resulting from a higher desire.
• Prayer.
• Meditate on a higher life in any way.
• Specific visualizations on specific things.

•  Thrill of higher thoughts and feelings.
• You briefly feel better about your situation.
• You imagine possibilities you never have before.
• The possibilities seem endless.

Resulting “feelings” from visualization;

• You notice thoughts and feelings that are resistant to your highest visualizations.
• You don’t need that”.
• “That will never happen”.
• You may even feel physical discomfort somewhere in your body.

What to "not" do with inner resistance;

• Fight it.
• Deny it’s existence.
• Ignore it.

What "to do" with inner resistance;
 

• Recognize it.
• Have compassion for it.
• Understand opposite energies and why the opposite of what you want shows up first.
• Understand that you began creating this resistance… probably when you were ten years old, and you have given it a home for years.
• Be patient.
• Use your highest visualization to locate, if you have not already located, the center of this energy within you and begin to release. Slowly and compassionately.

After releasing - remember to;
 

• Understand that “like energy” attracts “like energy”. This is the purpose of visualization. To change your energy to attract your heart’s desire.
• Discard resistant thoughts the moment they appear. (Saying, “no thank you” is a good method).
• It is the understanding and compassion towards this residual energy that gives you growth with peace. Change and shifts of awareness and energy no longer have to be so painful.

Another very important layer of understanding once you have successfully visualized, is the recognition that you are not responsible for bringing the manifestation to reality. You are only responsible for being open to receiving the reality of your visualization in whatever way the universe brings it forth. This understanding allows you to accept your now, without asking “why?” or thinking you’ve done something wrong in the visualization process. You can just be receptive and be present.
 

Remain open to receiving anything and everything that the universe sends you, understanding that you are a witness to the process. An experiencer of any experience. Always sending the message ahead, “Bring to me my highest and grandest moments that are blessings to me and all within my experience, even in ways I cannot imagine”.
 

Residual energies;
 

Having compassion for your old self once a cycle of new awareness is bestowed upon you is a key part of the process. In order to help with your compassion, it’s important to understand what just happened. Here’s an outline of the process of growth;
 

• You have a want or a need for a better life situation. This could be facilitated by an unhappy area of your life. An illness, a loneliness, an underlying and confusing deep misery, or many other possible discomforts. (If happiness can’t lead you, discomfort is your only guide).
• Through your thoughts or feelings or prayers, you request a change.
• Change begins to show up. Very often in a manner that you did not seemingly request! But from an energetic, universal perspective, it’s the perfect response. This could be manifested by a heightened awareness regarding a distasteful situation in you life that was only a minor discomfort yesterday.
• This is the power-spot in the process of growth… and the most frustrating. This is usually the time when we moan and groan and ask, “why did I ask for help?”. But it’s powerful because you now see what you could not see before. You have a higher awareness, your energy has changed, and you have the opportunity to look directly at something that a moment or an hour or a day or a week ago, you didn’t even know was there.
• You begin to accept, and release, these residual energies with compassion. You created them. They are yours. They are part of you. That’s why they can cause you so much pain. The only way to move on to a higher version of yourself is to say, (to yourself), “I understand your pain, I have compassion for you, and I choose a higher and happier path.”
• These energies will now morph and change and release as you do. You, just showed them the way.

Physical manifestations from visualizations;
 

Physically feeling the energy of resistance is evidence of the truth and the power of your visualization. If you focus on your highest wants and needs and desires long enough, you will feel the resistance somewhere in your body. And when you do… you will have proof. Proof that thoughts are energy. Proof that although a thought is the lightest of all energies - it is also the beginning of all creation in your life, and something you have complete control over. Proof that thoughts create a feeling and a feeling creates a belief and a belief creates a physical response in your body that you just felt. And the ultimate truth - that a belief creates on levels that can lead to healings and other physical manifestations we can’t even fully comprehend.
 

It is imperative that you have compassion for yourself during these changes. Nothing could be harder than becoming aware… of an energy you created… that is causing you pain… that you have to let go of… without blaming yourself.

If you're interested in taking a meditation or visualization class please give me an email. As soon as I get a couple people lined up, we set up a class, so I'm very flexible on times and the cost is ridiculously cheap. (About $25.00 for four weeks).

My email is normanbennett@att.net  THANKS, Norm