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God wants what you want, and God's not stupid...
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Just wanted to let everyone know that we have a meditation class set up for Thursday afternoons at 1:30pm. These will be held at "The Studio" in Desloge, 400 South Desloge Drive. If you're interested, email or call me at normanbennett@att.net or 573-218-2114. The cost is $25.00 for the monthly class. (Let me know if the money is a problem).
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For a moment… I wasn’t sure where I was.
gloomy familiarity hung in my mind,
anticipating the recognition of this… existence.
Something waiting, with deathly seriousness
for my consciousness to emerge.
It was a moment of reverse metamorphosis,
unfolding into the sensations of my physicality,
as I recognized… air and breath and thought and body
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SOLILOQUIES
Here we find Norm... asking "why?"
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No matter what I do
No matter what thing I do,
I cannot prove my worth.
What I do doesn't change the truth,
I've been worthy since my birth.
There is no doing that proclaims,
what being clearly states.
"It's only through being that anything...
Infinitely, creates".
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SOLILOQUIES
Here we find Norm, feeling better in some ways, since he has stopped judging so harshly, yet cannot find a way to grasp this new nonjudgmental way of thinking...
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A standard scientific test to prove or disprove the ability of any certain drug gives half of a group of participants the real medication and the other half a sugar pill. A certain percentage of people will - every time - have remarkable results from the sugar pill because “it’s all in their head”.
If someone is sickly, and always going to the doctor with ailment after ailment - invariably - someone will say “it’s all in their head”.
If we think someone is borderline delusional in their thinking, and not quite in touch with reality we may say “you’re crazy, it’s all in your head”.
In fact, “it’s all in your head” is a very common statement used to delineate a person’s position… about just about any topic. It seems that this phrase serves our purpose as long as it reduces a seemingly invincible power into an aloof statement. The invincible power? Our thinking.
I believe that the people suffering from the delusion that a sugar pill healed their body - which it did - should not be marched off to the loony bin, but marched off in another direction to see what additional amazing feats their minds can accomplish. If they can take an imaginary pill and be healed… what else can they do?! I love how the scientific community simply sets this to one side and gives it a nice tidy name - “the placebo effect” - and moves on to more important issues that can be properly defined. Just because it can’t be nailed down to a specific scientific categorization or conclusion doesn’t mean it’s not something that happened and is happening… every single moment of every single day in every single life.
The last example of this I noticed recently on a commercial where the “miracle drug” being touted gave 44 percent of participants relief over the sugar pill - which helped only 18 percent. So the miracle drug… which probably wasn’t cheap… helped a little over 4 out of 10, while the sugar pill healed roughly 2 out of 10... and some brainiac drug company executive decided to market and sell this product?
Every night there seems to be another commercial for another pill with a list of side effects that would be too radical for a curse in a Steven King novel. Yet we’re spending millions and millions researching and marketing drugs that end up barely beating a sugar pill with their healing qualities.
And if you really want to push the envelope of reality, and don’t mind digging a little deeper, consider this;
- If the sugar pill cured 18 percent and the actual drug cured 44 percent… how many of the 44 percent were also healed by their mind - and not the medication?
- What if… we used the 18 percent as an overall basis for the number of people within the general public who are capable of - or burdened by - the healing effects of their “delusional” minds.
- This means… 18 percent of the 44 percent would reduce the medicated group’s success ratio to 36 percent.
- Then we would have to… add 8 percent to those cured by the sugar pill, bringing their total to 26 percent.
All of the above mumbo-jumbo breaks down to a resulting two and a half out of ten individuals being cured by sugar pills, and three and a half out of ten cured by the medication. I may be stretching the scientific process a bit, but suffice as to say, the percentages are ridiculously close.
It’s not that there aren’t scientific studies into the power of the mind. We’ve been talking about and studying the power of the mind for hundreds of years. It’s just that we seem to have a skewed view of anything we can’t readily understand. For example, we’ve all had miraculous situations in our lives that were unexplainable… which we immediately scoffed at and dismissed. Things you couldn’t have possibly known… but you did know. A feeling about a loved one who has passed. A bit of intuitive information that you may have even kept to yourself so nobody would say “you’re crazy, it’s all in your head”. When did, having an ability to know what could not have possibly been known without Divine intervention, become a prelude to insanity? In the Bible this is called “a gift from God”.
What is having a “placebo effect” on your life? What amazing or terrible things is your mind - unbeknownst to you - believing or not believing? And what is the effect on your life from your inadvertent mind power? If your mind can throw you around from sickness to health with a sugar pill, how can we harness this awesome power and use it to our advantage? Could we possibly stay healthy all the time?
There are people… that use their minds to their advantage. They seem to fall “bass-ackwards” into money. They seem to never be actually working a day in their lives - yet somehow always have everything they could possibly need. They seem to always have an annoying story about winning $500 at scratch-offs or what they just found at a yard sale for a dollar. We have another phrase we use for them… “they’re just lucky”. (Another article for another day.)
What if we began to give credence to the power of our thoughts? What if we began to recognize each thought and every time we noticed we were thinking in a way that didn’t serve our best interest, immediately stopped as if we were startled and said, “That was close! I almost used my power against myself!” Then… what if we began to use our power for good - on purpose - and began to stack the deck in our favor by only focusing our thoughts on what truly brought benefit to our lives?
The truth is… there have been innumerable scientific documentations of miracles - and we scoff. The truth is… there have been many events in your own life that were miraculous - and you scoffed. The truth is… you get hint after hint, nudge after nudge, as to the power you have over your own life… and you say, “it’s all in my head”. And it is. Everything you need to begin to recognize and use your powerful thoughts for your advantage - is all there. Scoff less… recognize more. Notice what you’re thinking and how you feel about your life, your job, your family. Have the courage to think a different thought - a higher thought - about that hurtful area in your life. Imagine that area of your life healed. Think about what your life will be like when all your painful issues are resolved and all your thoughts are of future joyful events and situations.
It would seem… the moment science and the world in general, found the phenomena of the placebo effect, everyone would have accepted self-healing as a possibility - but we barely even gave it a thought… because we don’t know or accept the power of our thoughts and feelings. What would happen if we all kept a little bottle of sugar pills in our pocket and every time we had a pain - either physical or emotional - we popped a pill? I know what would happen… at least 18% of us would feel better… because… “It’s all in your head”.
By Norman Bennett
Originally Posted: December 31, 2009
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My Grandson Calvin had a dilemma. There he stood, on the landing of the stairs, he couldn’t go up and he couldn’t come down. If he went up, he would have to play alone because after relentlessly pleading, Grandma would not go upstairs with him. If, he went down, he would have no choice but to be mad and sullen and defeated.
Sometimes it’s hard to tell what’s going on in a two year old’s mind… But, not with Calvin. Calvin’s thoughts and feelings come out somewhere along the lines of an extremely “over-the-top” Broadway play. He manages to -enter stage left- with the most dramatic invocation of betrayal and misery and humiliation… Then by the time he - exits stage right - He is the King and Master of all he surveys, shouting “off with their heads!”
So, Calvin has given me - with his remarkable ability to animate every thought and feeling - a wonderful insight to the inner workings of the mind. Which brings me back to the drama at hand… Calvin on the landing.
The line between the conscious and subconscious mind is very thin indeed, as Calvin was about to demonstrate in a grandiose fashion. In a split second, Calvin turns from the repetitious and relentless pleas to Grandma, looked up the stairs, gasped with shock, and marched downstairs proclaiming, “That "Freaking" Funny Lion won’t let me go upstairs!”
We all watched in amazement as Calvin stormed around yelling, “That "Freaking" Funny Lion!” “I will get a stick and hit That "Freaking" Funny Lion!” “That "Freaking" Funny Lion won’t let me go up there!” (We’re not sure where he picked up the “Freaking” part - but I personally blame his Grandma.)
It took several days for all this to sink in to my conscious mind… why did he gasp at the imaginary lion? Why did he storm around mad at the lion? Why wasn’t he asking Grandma to go upstairs anymore? Why was it a “Funny Lion”? How did his little mind work that fast?
What became very clear to me was that even though this little guy was smart, it was inconceivable that he could have “consciously” and instantly come up with such a story. He was in a predicament… and his “subconscious” mind came up with a solution that would solve all his problems. He needed to be able to walk back downstairs without being humiliated. He didn’t want to be mad at Grandma. He didn’t “really” want to be scared, so it had to be something powerful enough to keep him from going upstairs but not too scary, so it became a “Funny” lion. He retained his power throughout the entire situation, since he could get a stick and hit the lion at any time.
All-in-all, it was a pretty empowering and incredibly creative solution to his situation. A solution worthy of a group of very creative people in some kind of round-table brain-storming discussion. Yet Calvin did it in an instant.
What if he had made up a different story? What if he had decided to be mad? What if he had decided that nobody cared about him? It was a split-second subconscious decision that conscious Calvin had very little to do with. I believe we all had split-second decisions, made by our subconscious minds, that we have reacted to and carried with us our entire lives. And I also believe that it is our job at some point in our lives to look very closely at our thoughts, and begin to recognize the impact those thoughts have had - and are having- in our current reality. We made up stories to suit us when we were two years old and are still doing it today. Making up stories about our life situations. The “Funny Lions” may be gone, but the creations we began at a very young age still linger. But when it comes to seeing our own stories as illusions, we’re about as capable as Calvin at separating fact from fiction.
In fact, let’s not even try. It’s just too daunting of a task, in the time frame of this short article, to expose and recognize how the illusions of our very young subconscious minds created a scenario that we may somehow still cling to in our present life situations. We can, however, without the fear of opening up our own “Pandora’s Box” look to others for obvious examples.
For some reason we seem to have the innate ability to see a speck in someone else’s eye-even if there is a log in our own. We can use this human malfunction to learn - just this once… We all know someone who thinks everyone is out to get them. If you think long enough, you will probably find that you’ve known someone since they were very young who has always felt this way. Could it be… that their story with which they cling to so tightly as a definite fact of reality - began on some landing on some stairs many years ago? Would it be possible for them to diligently begin to notice their thoughts and feelings and eventually trace them back to their origin? And in doing so, even free themselves from their very limiting illusion which was placed there many years ago as a simple subconscious solution to a child’s conscious dilemma?
If you can see how this story might relate to someone you know, and how they might benefit from such an examination of their thoughts and feelings, then you too may be able to do the same. You too may find limiting or hurtful thoughts and feelings that you are inadvertently repeating… to yourself… that are just old “made up” stories. And you can now begin to “make up” a new story - a story where you have everything you could every imagine. Then see how you feel about your life after a day or a week or a month of your new thoughts and feelings. Watch how a new thought… a Higher Thought… can begin to change things in your actual physical reality.
Thanks for reading...
By Norman Bennett
Originally Posted: December 24, 2009
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Probably the most empowering bit of information I could relay would be the fact that your thoughts - your every thought - is creative. Your feelings - your deepest feelings - are creative. And your actions, although the physical manifestations of your thoughts and feelings, are your least powerful tool.
Your actions and all the other “actual” events and reality in your life are there through trajectory. Like the momentum of something you just gave a huge push. Your reality is rolling, but only because your thoughts and feelings gave it a good shove.
So if you don’t like your life, don’t try to change “it”. There’s nothing to change. You are looking at your reality that “is”. It is now. It has already been created. There “it” is. You can no more change your reality than you could change a marble statue that you just completed creating.
What you can do is notice how your create by noticing every thought - every feeling. Those are your chisel and your hammer. Those are your moment-by-moment tools you use to create another statue.
“I don’t deserve to be happy” - You just knocked a big chunk of marble out of your creation.
“I will be happy when things get better in my life” - Whack!
“If that person would change, I wouldn’t have to always be so on guard and negative” - there goes another slab of marble.
Notice every thought. Notice every feeling. These are your tools of creation. Your constant microphones which speak to God in every moment. You don’t turn it off and on - unfortunately - you’re always on, always praying, always creating.
That’s how it works. Ask and Ye’ shall receive. Seek and Ye shall find. Knock and the door shall be opened. You are “Asking” with every thought. “Seeking” through locating your feelings with regard to every thought. “Knocking” by acting out a new reality or creation based on the awareness “How you Ask” and “How you Seek” and “How the Door Shall Be Opened“.
By Norman Bennett
Originally Posted: December 10, 2009
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The trick is not to push or pull or even to channel energy… it is to become the energy of what you want to be. To be able to go within and feel what you will become. To know and become intimate with “how it feels” to be… healthy, strong, prosperous, limitless, or any other high energy.
Pushing or pulling energy is temporary. Energy goes where it is drawn. Like energy attracts like energy. That’s why visualizations are so powerful. You become aware of - if only for a moment - what it “feels” like to be… whatever you desire. You get to take it for a test drive. To see what it’s actually like to have money, or feel free, or be strong. You will find that money and freedom and strength “feel” different within, than they do in your mind. In your mind you try to create money and freedom and strength - somewhere out there, at some point in the future, when you are something more, etc. When you feel these energies within, you are actually experiencing what’s real.
This may take a little time, but it’s worth it. To feel how it feels instead how you think it may someday be, allows you to know… now… in this moment, what you want. And eventually, you will create enough of the energy of what you want to become - within you - to begin to draw the universal energy of that desire to you. And at that moment, you will begin to experience joy.
By: Norman Bennett
Originally Posted: November 5, 2009
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You’ve been set up, waylaid, manipulated and contrived against… by yourself. The things that you are trying to create in your life that keep on blowing up in your face aren’t a vast right - or left - winged conspiracy. They are your own conspiracy. You brought back the energy that creates - on some level - the wrong thing in the wrong way, so that you could recognize your lack of understanding of those energies, (experiences which cause pain), and then experience those energies, to the degree that you understand them so intimately that you have the ability to experience "their opposite".
Then these situations and experiences will no longer bring you pain - but pleasure. They will not be limiting - but limitless. They won’t be weak and poorly created outside of yourself - but will become everlasting strength within.
By Norman Bennett
Originally Posted: November 8, 2009
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An animal makes no judgments. It does not stop to think about it’s action or reaction to the moment it is experiencing. It simply and gloriously experiences each experience, acting upon instinct. And what is instinct? It is energy.
The deer feels the same exuberance whether nibbling grass in the morning sun, or running for it’s life with it’s heart pounding out of it’s chest. It lives for these moments. It has practiced sniffing the air for danger since birth, making mock escapes from nothing, seeing how fast it could run in a circle, diligently preparing to “run for it’s life”. What we view as hideously fearful, the deer feels only as blissful instinct and existence.
You may even have a perfect example of the energy of instinct within the confines of your own home… if you have a cat. A cat creates fear! A cat even makes stuff up, just so it can be afraid - just for the experience. Who hasn’t seen a cat run in a room… look around like there was someone with an axe waiting to savagely attach… then run for it’s life… only to be found moments later… asleep?
This world of animal bliss operates in perfect unison… save for man’s influence. There are absolutely perfect ebb and flow energies that regulate and create with unexplainable precision, guiding the sun and the moon and the change of the seasons. Then this same energy, ultimately creates on such a miniscule level as to effect the actions and reactions of the animals. The actions and reactions of all God’s creatures are carried out with perfect compliance with the urges and instincts they have within. Creating an eternal and perfect orchestra of life and death, of creation and destruction. The animals of the earth don’t look upon fear as bad, or bliss as good. They don’t make that judgment. They don’t take it personally - and refuse to reproduce - when one of their off-spring falls prey to another species. They simply and gloriously accept each moment, and continue “existing“.
This blind faith operates somewhere else very close to you with the same inexplicable faith… within your own body. Every cell of your body lives and dies every moment, recreating you on a minute level, over and over again. And on this cellular level, each cell does nothing to prevent it’s death, and only holds enough spare energy to live for about three seconds. Always trusting that the life food of oxygen and nutrients will come as always… without any proof… without any effort… your body simply spends all it’s time trusting and allowing.
It is incomprehensible to man, how all this is accomplished. We cannot fathom how… or why… a caterpillar crawls around, then mysteriously finds a spot to hang, then turns into another kind of caterpillar for a while, then finds another place to hang, then this time turns into a butterfly, which for some reason… flies for about a thousand miles… to it’s summer home. Why? How? We cannot comprehend. And since we cannot comprehend these things, we just shrug our shoulders and go back to believing that none of this is miraculous, there is no higher power, and by our own superior intellect, we make our own fate. Such arrogance! Only man, could claim to be “all knowing“ in the face of such an example of “not” knowing or understanding the simplest instinctual event such as the life of a butterfly.
And since we’re so “all knowing“, we attempt to live each moment either preparing for a future moment or remembering a past moment, and never become a part of our now… which is the simplest example and reason for our suffering. We cannot trust and allow like the simplest of animals. We cannot accept or even comprehend that our lives and deaths could possibly exist within the context of trust and acceptance of a real “all knowing“ Presence.
It’s man’s ignorance, indifference and lack of concern for these perfect examples of nature’s glory that have brought about our disassociation with the energies of Heaven and earth. And this illusion of separation, has kept us from the glory of our own existence.
One day I was watching one of those giant flocks of blackbirds that lean and dip and rise and turn as if directed by one mind, and as I began to wonder how this was possible, I felt their energy. This was quite an unexpected and extremely euphoric event. It felt like dizzying, coordinated, blissful chaos. But the thing that surprised me the most, was the feeling of exhilaration. You might expect that these birds were struggling to keep up, but they were not. You might expect that they were afraid of falling out of formation, but I sensed no fear. You might expect that they were somehow focusing on finding food or getting to their migration point or at least carrying a hint of seriousness or determination, but there was no such feeling.
Before this experience, I had heard and read many times, how we could draw inspiration from the animals of the earth. “Be more like the animals… they accept every moment for what it is… they remain present… etc.” All this just made me shrug my shoulders and shake my head and wonder what in the world they were talking about. I just didn’t see the logic in how I could find inspiration by looking at a lowly animal. But this experience has given me an inside view to the bliss of animals, and if you are cocking your head a little and wondering if the guys in white coats are chasing me - then beware! That’s how I used to feel! Be very careful when you’re in nature. Be careful that you don’t accidentally feel the energy of a bird or a squirrel or even - like the Buddha - a tree. You may end up experiencing something “you” can’t understand. And then my friend… your world may begin to get very interesting.
By: Norm Bennett
Originally Posted:November 11, 2009
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Everything we do or say or be... is usually resistant to something - and resistance brings pain. The opposite of resistance is acceptance and therefore, brings the opposite of pain...
Complete submission to the present moment is as blissful of a place as you could ever be. In this place of complete acceptance you can feel everything, pain and pleasure - love and fear, yet it is all bliss.
It can't be explained any better than, "The peace that passeth all understanding".
By: Norman Bennett
Originally Posted: November 19, 2009
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There’s a lot of shows out now where a camera crew and some very frightened people go in search for a ghost. Seek and ye shall find, ask and ye shall receive… or in layman’s terms, “you get what you expect”.
It’s silly, really, to bother or search for or seek a spirit. A spirit is such a confused conglomeration of energy, that it did not even comprehend death. It’s still roaming around in the same loop of energy of it’s last days with a seeming eternal repetition. And when someone is sensitive enough, or the spirit’s ties are still strong enough, to create a manifestation on our plane of consciousness, everyone freaks. Justifiably so I guess... but someone jumping out from behind a door that I didn’t know was there can create the same exact response! If that’s something you’re interested in experiencing, then just tell all your friends to hide when you’re not looking and let’s leave the poor, confused, detached globs of energy alone!
If you are sensitive enough to actually feel or see one of these “spirits”, then tell them to go to the light, where there is comfort to replace their confusion, and peace for their poor past life’s misery.
Let's start the "Help a goblin home" program for this Haloween! That old haunted house might not be as interesting next year without all the thumping and door slamming, but you'll have a happy ghost!!
By: Norman Bennett
Originally Posted: October 17, 2009
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What I had created in my life, I had created with my mind. When the mind is the origin of creation, it cannot stand. When the mind creates, the body and soul are it’s servants.
The mind creates by analyzing the past, and preparing for the future based on the information it has gathered. There is no other way for the mind to function. It is not intuitive. It is a thinking and learning computer, capable of adapting and growing based on it’s own experiences. That is all it is.
The body is a computer in it’s own rights, but unlike the mind, it is intuitive - quicker and wiser than the mind. Reacting to the mind’s stimulus faster than the mind can analyze. If the body senses trouble, it reacts before the mind can start or stop the reaction. That’s why there is illness. The body senses and reacts to not only subtle routines, such as food and water intake, but also how we feel about the food and water we intake. If the mind feels the water is harmful, we may get sick from the purest water on earth. If the mind feels the water is healthy, we may not get sick from drinking the most contaminated water on earth. The body does not wait to see if something the mind creates is real or fiction, it simply… responds. It responds with instant trust and servitude to the situation created by the mind - which can be real or perceived - and it responds to the reality of the physical world.
The body has other issues to contend with which it does with silent, constant efficiency. It communicates with the energies of the earth. It is the vehicle we’re driving that knows more than we could ever imagine understanding. It knows the cycles of the earth and the moon and has innate, deep connections to energies that direct the flights of the geese, and the changes of the seasons. The body is in constant communication with these energies and responds accordingly. You have the instincts of thousands of lives riding along with you and your body. When in a panic situation, you fight or flight. When a soon to be Mother reaches various stages of pregnancy, she will have certain deep and powerful feelings and urges which her mind did not invent. The body is tapping into those energies that have shown women since the beginning of time, what to do and feel, and how to do it and feel it.
When the mind takes over the body and soul, it uses the body to accomplish it’s self ordained necessities. It fights the instinct of the body and replaces things like instinct and sensitivity to various energies, with it’s own agenda. It does this at the expense of the body. It uses the body with little or no regard for it’s long-standing ability. It uses the body for immediate gratification because the mind has no concept of aiding in a long and healthy life. It only responds to the particular stimuli of it’s own past experience.
By the same token, the mind uses the soul for stealing inspiration from the heart of the soul like a child who had never conceived of playing with a particular toy in a particular way until the soul showed it the possibility. And when the mind is successful at this “snatch and use” move, it robs the soul of it’s possibility to create on terms which are eternal, and the creation is stolen and prostituted for the mind’s own earthly needs. Leaving nothing but external gratification, which quickly wanes, and the holy inspiration is wasted… then the cycle continues.
This is how I created. For many years. I planned and schemed and worked until I bled. I waged war on the lethargic. I was diligent. I made a statement. I even found inspiration. All of which I stole from my soul as a spark for my fire of more “doing”. All of which would pay off in the end. All of which would show the worth of my existence. All of which, began to become evident in my physical world. What I had stolen from my body and my soul, began to show it‘s frailty. It was all a house of cards. A sloppily constructed structure. I was scared, mad, lonely, sullen, miserable, and tired of creating on this level. Tired of living on these terms. Something had to change.
To be continued...
By: Norman Bennett
Originally Posted: October 29, 2009
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Want is an empty energy. Empty in as much as it has no effect on your reality. In order to feel something energetically, and therefore draw it to you, it must be higher or lower than your current reality. If you feel bad, you are experiencing an energy that is lower than your currently created energy level. This “bad feeling” lets you know that it is an energy or experience that is below your comfort zone. Your comfort zone is dictated by your current energetic vibration.
By the same token, if you feel “good“, you are experiencing an energy that is higher than your currently created reality.
As you move up and down with your energy, you are deciding where you want to be, and letting the universe know what you want to experience. By focusing on either higher or lower, with your thoughts and feelings, whether consciously or unconsciously, you are raising - or lowering - your vibration. And since like energy attracts like energy, (birds of a feather flock together), you will continue to experience what you are now, until you focus on a higher thought.
If you’re not led by love, you’re led by fear;
If you seek out, focus on, desire and pursue, your highest hopes and dreams, then you reside in an almost constant level of energy that is higher than your current vibration. Therefore, you are leaning in the direction of greater joy in your life.
If you seek out, focus on, desire and pursue, life from a negative perspective, then you reside in an almost constant level of energy that is lower than your current vibration. Therefore, you are leaning in the direction of less joy in your life.
Why would anyone do this? Because we don’t know any better, and haven’t noticed - possibly until now - that our every thought and decision has been based on living with the philosophy, “what won’t make me vomit?” We literally look at what we can barely tolerate doing, and for how long, until something - anything - makes up for having to perform our less than desirable duties in life.
This, unfortunately, is a hard way to understand what we want and don’t want in our lives, but nevertheless is the avenue most of us take. We are not being led by what we love, we’re led by fear and pain to make our decisions for us, and usually end up choosing between the lesser of two evils. “What will hurt us the least?” is usually how we end up making our decisions.
This is why “want” is an empty energy, and “wonder” brings you to a level of awe, that allows you to pursue your highest thoughts and dreams and feelings.
Want, doesn’t bring you anything. Want, is a statement of where you currently are. Want, is exactly where you are right now, and doesn’t draw any higher thoughts to you.
Wonder, makes you use your imagination. Wonder, brings you higher energy. Wonder, allows you to look at possibilities with awe. Wonder, makes you find thoughts and possibilities within you that you didn’t know were there.
The next time you want something - whatever it is - sit for a moment and say what you want. Either in your mind or say it out loud. For example, “I want a new car“, might be your statement. Feel how that feels. Say it over a few times and really get comfortable with how it feels to want it. Then, replace want, with wonder. “I wonder what it would be like to have a new car?” Feel how that feels. Say it over a few times and feel the difference. Almost immediately, by replacing want with wonder, you automatically begin to contemplate more details of your desires. You begin to visualize the style and color of your new car. How much will it cost? How could you buy it? All things for which you had no thought whatsoever while operating within “want”.
It has been said that if you “want something”, you’ll never have it. This is what they’re talking about. The energy of want… does nothing.
As you’re going through your day, and you recognize a want, take a moment. Just time enough for a few breaths, and feel the wonder and awe that you have behind that vacant stare of want. Feel the depths and strength and imagination that flows from beyond anywhere you’ve ever been. Possibly even bringing thoughts and feelings that lay out for you in perfect order how something wonderful can come into your life, something that has always just been an empty need.
Even if you don’t believe a word of all this energy talk, and all the physicist and brilliant minds in this world are wrong, and there is no “energy”, just over-active imaginations… do this small exercise of replacing want with wonder, and you will notice the difference. And when you notice the difference, do you now believe? Do you believe that you just felt the energy that a moment ago you disputed? That’s how it starts. A very subtle noticing of “something”, and you may have just opened up to your whole new world… of higher thoughts!
By: Norman Bennett
Originally Posted: September 4, 2009
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There’s a great scene in a movie… A mysterious man in a black mask is following a group of kidnappers and at every turn he is faster than their fastest ship, stronger than their strongest man, more skilled than their master swordsman, and more witty than their brainiac mastermind.
During each of these feats of inconceivable ability by the masked man, the ultra-intelligent mastermind would shriek “inconceivable!”. After watching these turns of events and the repetition of shrieks, “inconceivable!”, one in the group had to make the only observation available - as his analysis of the mastermind’s constant statements - and said… “I do not think that means what you think that means”.
What we think, we seem to continue to think, no matter what the circumstances or consequences. The mastermind could not conceive of someone capable of conquering all his accumulated perfections of speed and strength and sword and intellect, and therefore would not consider the possibility that any of these actual occurrences were even possible… to his ultimate demise.
What are we constantly thinking… to the demise of our happiness, that “doesn’t really mean what we think it means?” How often in life do we shriek with the same vigor, at every moment‘s inconceivability? How often do we hold to our restrictive, self-defeatist beliefs, no matter what the facts or the circumstances to the contrary? Even to the extent of looking upon a good thing in our life, with the same limiting, critical, negative eyes as if it were bad. Upon the occurrence of a good happenstance, we simply shrug our shoulders and say, “that just dropped into my lap”, or “I shouldn’t always expect it to go that easily”, or “I didn’t deserve that… I didn’t earn it… it wasn’t really that hard to get so I really shouldn’t embrace it as mine”. With these thoughts, we subconsciously block the universe from bringing us any future happy circumstances which we didn’t “earn”.
Perhaps… accidental good things happening to us are the only way the universe can prod us into saying, “I do not think that means what I think that means”. In other words, maybe everyone isn’t against you. Maybe you are here, on this earth, to become and create something grander than you currently are. Maybe… even God… wants good things for you too. Maybe all of this isn’t a test of your resolve, but an opportunity for your glory.
Pretty hard pill to swallow? Is part of you screaming, “inconceivable!?” Then you’re noticing the absurdity of your thoughts. You are recognizing what you truly believe and how your thoughts lie just beneath the surface - and resist - at the slightest hint of ease. (I don’t think that means what you think that means).
What if you began to notice good things in your life? What if you began to expect these good things? What if the “bad” things in your life - all of the sudden - held the same subconscious insignificance, as the view you’ve always held of anything “good” in your life? How would your life begin to change?
The next time something unexpectedly just drops into your life… try accepting it. Try being thankful for it. Try recognizing it as a gift. Try owning it as yours.
You may want to take baby steps. As with any new awareness, you probably won’t be able to have deep and sincere gratitude for every little good thing that happens in your life without practice. But little stuff leads to big stuff!
For example… few things can drop you to your knees both literally and spiritually, like a little child looking up at you and saying sincerely and appreciatively, “thank you”. That little baby has more power than anyone in the world at that point in time. It’s powerful to be thankful.
If someone holds the door for you, don’t be afraid to feel deeply grateful for their simple gesture. Look them in the eyes and say “thanks!” It’s not weakness, it’s power. If someone does something that makes you feel better, tell them the positive effect they’ve had on your life. You’re not gaining anything by keeping it to yourself. In fact, you’re showing the universe by your silence, that you really won’t be needing these kind of polite gestures in the future, and you move on with your life expecting the opposite by holding up your guard against any possible attack. Then, you’re shocked and appalled when some rude person cuts in front of you and lets the door hit you right between the eyes. (I don’t think that means what you think that means).
We have been taught to prepare for the worst. To always look at the worst case scenario. To keep ourselves prepared for any onslaught of lack or rudeness or disappointment.
I believe we need to plan for, strategize around, expect, create and prepare… for the best case scenario. For the highest possible outcome. For our lives and the lives of all those with which we come into contact. For the grandest and most glorious of all possibilities for our lives.
The next time you begin to build up all your resistance against the boss you have to deal with, or the rough day ahead, or that neighbor that causes you so much grief, give yourself a moment to consider that maybe there is a different way of thinking about your situation. It might just be, that the problem you’re addressing… does not mean what you think it means…
By: Norman Bennett
Originally Posted: September 22, 2009
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Wronged in my mind,
wronged in my soul.
I’ve placed the blame,
yes, that was my goal.
When bad things happen,
which they surely will,
the person to blame,
I may even… wish to kill.
“They” are the ones,
who brought me this fate.
“They” placed the burden,
of revenge on my plate.
“They” caused the reaction,
playing this cruel game.
“They” caused the consequence,
of manifesting my blame.
“They” must deserve,
my wrath so dutiful.
It cannot be possible,
that my anger is futile.
How could it be,
that they should not pay?
Wasn’t it their choice,
to fold or to stay?
Why should I hold,
the striking of my hand?
Aren’t I the king,
of judgment in my land?
Then what is this question,
in the corner of my mind?
Why is there this glimmer?
I refuse to be kind!
Yet the glimmer,
breaks my hold,
on my judgment,
which was so bold.
The glimmer is a thought,
which I did not create.
A thought that questions judgment,
in any form and any shape.
For if I release,
if my hesitation wanes,
And I bring down my hand,
and cause another pain,
the glimmer that made,
these questions arise,
shows me something new,
something beyond me, and wise.
It shows me the truth,
about the pain of being wronged.
That this pain will continue,
like the striking of a gong.
If I perpetrate pain,
upon someone deserving,
the pain is the constant,
it continues preserving.
I’m aiding and abetting,
I’m showing pain the way,
to flow from body to body,
giving pain a home… in which to stay…
By: Norman Bennett
Originally Posted: August 1, 2009
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Do you feel like you’re not getting the recognition you deserve? Have you worked and reached many of your goals and still feel unsatisfied? Does it feel like you really haven’t accomplished anything… until someone notices? Then learning how find exterior validation, may be path for you!
The best way to know if validation is important, is to look at why you do what you do. Is there a constant and persistent voice in your head asking in every situation, “How will this action be perceived by others?” Do you obsess, after just completing a project, whether anyone will know it was you that completed the task? Are there things that are secretly important to you that you are not doing or even paying much attention to, because of what people might think? If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, then you may want to try validation from others…
How to get others to validate you;
- First decide what issue you wish to validate. There may be many, so let’s just pick one that’s most important. Something really tied to your self worth. Something like your talents, your job, your income, your looks, etc.
- Once you decide what particular issue you wish to validate, begin to formulate a plan that will prove to all, that in this area, you are very much worthy of their respect.
- Carry out your chosen task which proves to the world, that you are who you profess to be. This may take a while - maybe even years - but it will be worth it!
- Once the task is complete… wait for someone to notice.
If nobody notices, you are not yet validated, so you will have to follow these measures - in this order;
- Start with subtle hints. Gently lead people to your accomplishments and point out your successes.
- Tell as many people as possible how wonderful you are. Don’t hold back. You never know who might validate you. It may even be someone in the line at the grocery store!
- Blow your own horn. Nobody gets anywhere being nice. Make sure they see you. Talk louder if you have to.
- Throw a tantrum. Force those around you to feel bad if they haven’t noticed your efforts. Make them realize how hard you have worked, and how much self-sacrifice you have endured.
- Sue them! When someone published a report that Donald Trump was only worth about 150 million and not a billion, he sued. Do whatever you have to do to get validation.
If anyone refuses to recognize your worth, and even goes so far as to point out that you, in fact, are not what you proclaim to be, you are justified in writing them off as either simpletons, or too jealous of your talents to show any public recognition.
There is one final hurdle you will have to clear. You can’t just get validated once and move on. There needs to be a constant flow of validation or you won’t feel good about yourself. You have to devise a way of creating a steady flow of accolades. So whatever system works for you - gently leading people into a position where they may see your worth, talking loudly in the supermarket, throwing a tantrum, or suing anyone who doesn’t see you in the proper light - you will have to be prepared to keep it up.
You may have caught on by now... validation must come from within. Only you can validate you. There’s an old saying, “if you don’t go within, you go without”.
Recognizing a need for something outside of yourself can be an excellent way to lead you back within for happiness. Whenever you notice a need for someone else’s actions, or attention, or accolades to bring you happiness, you can use this need as a sign post to recognize the deeper you. A you that holds no concern for accolades. A you that knows that deep within, you will find an infinite perfection, which you are a part.
Anything… that you believe will bring you recognition - recognition that you won’t be happy until you get - is a farce. You only have to look at the most recognized among us as proof of this fact. Those who are richest and most popular and receive an absolute constant flow of endless attention and validation - movies stars - are some of the most miserable, addicted, dysfunctional, un-validated, self-conscious, insecure of all humanity.
Find joy in what you do. If you don’t like what you’re doing, devise another plan. Follow your heart. Be who you want to be. Look within and don’t go without. It’s your life… live it how you want to live it! These are not clichés, they are timeless truths. Nobody is better suited to guide you to what you love but you.
Every moment is a choice. A choice to look within yourself and feel how you feel - or - look at things outside of yourself for proof of your worth. No amount of “exterior validation” can give you the right to live the life you want to live. Only you can recognize that you are worthy… automatically.
By Norman Bennett
Originally Posted: August 10, 2009
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When you were young, and something scared you, you resisted. You had no choice. In some way, you drew back in fear, and blocked yourself off from whatever caused you to be afraid or hurt. The strange thing is, you didn’t protect yourself from another bout with fear, but you began to create the framework for how you would handle the situation in the future.
This “framework” became your perceived strength. The statement in your head about that thing that hurt you so badly. “People are mean”. “Don’t trust anyone”. “If I try again, I may fail again”.
Years pass. You may begin to long for the freedom of acting like you did when you were a child. You may wish to try something crazy. You may simply be strapped with pain from a lifetime of negative thinking. Whatever the thought process, you may wish for a better life… in some way.
This is where the other shoe drops. At the point of letting down your guard to consider the possibility of a better life, fear rushes in. Why? Because you removed the resistance that you placed there many years ago to protect you. This rush of fear - the same fear that initiated your resistance - goes where it has not gone since your resistance initially blocked it’s presence. Creating anew, that which began the cycle of creation. Presenting again, a new opportunity to choose. Resistance or acceptance, unconditional love of life or placing terms and conditions on life.
So when you’re considering more joy in your life, realize that the fear you feel, and the choice you’re about to make, is the beginning of your new creation. Recognize that the fear will continue to present itself to you, until you cease to resist, and can create unencumbered.
This is how true masters of life live. Those among us, past and present, who don’t resist life, they accept life without question or judgment. This is what Jesus did. He did not resist. He just loved. He allowed himself to be nailed to a cross, didn’t resist, and then forgave those who just nailed him down. I don’t entirely understand this, but I’m trying.
By: Norman Bennett
Originally Posted: August 31, 2009
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Come to me, Oh my soul,
come give me a sign.
Are you with me, Oh my soul,
are you so divine?
Where do you slumber, Oh my soul,
are you even here?
Do you listen, Oh my soul,
do you even care?
Why do you mock me, Oh my soul,
with your response so muted?
Have you answered, Oh my soul,
and your answer I refuted?
You don’t understand! Oh my soul,
Your ability must be lack!
For why would you answer, Oh my soul,
in ways that fade to black?
Isn’t it you, Oh my soul,
that brought your light to me?
For why would I know, Oh my soul,
I might connect with thee?
Had you not shown me, Oh my soul,
a glimmer of your light,
we would not be talking, Oh my soul,
much to my delight!
It’s blissful blankness, Oh my soul,
for which I do now long.
A wish for yesterday, Oh my soul,
a tune from a different song.
Now I have it! Oh my soul,
an answer to my prayers.
I could die, Oh my soul,
then I would find you there!
You could not evade me, Oh my soul,
even “you” could not deny,
Revealing yourself, Oh my soul,
if I looked you in the eye.
But what of death, Oh my soul,
what if you trick me again?
And bring me back, Oh my soul,
to be your lonely friend.
A thousand times, Oh my soul,
I’ve languished at this junction.
Ten thousand years, Oh my soul,
for time there seems no function.
What’s my longing, Oh my soul,
to grasp what I did glimpse?
Why would you show me, Oh my soul,
my limits you did not sense?
You’re the one, Oh my soul,
with all the truth and knowledge.
You’re the one, Oh my soul,
you placed me in this college.
“You” must come forward, Oh my soul,
for I am a limited being.
“You” must move towards me, Oh my soul,
I cannot clear my seeing.
Is this your mission, Oh my soul,
to tempt me with your wonder?
To hold the carrot, Oh my soul,
just to watch me blunder?
Until I give up? Oh my soul,
and ask the final question?
Or until I realize, Oh my soul,
there really “is” no mission?
Must I look within, Oh my soul,
and see something that’s new?
Something that’s been there, Oh my soul,
obvious and in full view?
Have you been there, Oh my soul,
for lo, the full millennia?
Have you been there, Oh my soul,
creating my dementia?
Waiting for me, Oh my soul,
to look to you and see,
To stop the wailing, Oh my soul,
stop looking and just be?
Have you come, Oh my soul,
in all these many lives,
because for you, Oh my soul,
there’s no such thing as strife?
Have you relished, Oh my soul,
my every waking hour?
And blessed each moment, Oh my soul,
like the blooming of a flower?
Could it be, Oh my soul,
that you are here and watching,
experiencing each moment, Oh my soul,
not in the distance mocking?
Are you with me, Oh my soul,
in the reading of these words?
Filling my heart, Oh my soul,
knowing separation is absurd?
So close to me, Oh my soul,
that we could never part.
Respecting me, Oh my soul,
smiling from the start?
Unwilling to push, Oh my soul,
your will upon my being,
Because to you, Oh my soul,
my life is so redeeming?
This is my answer, Oh my soul,
as usual you were subtle.
What else could you be, Oh my soul,
with my life you would not muddle.
Is this the game, Oh my soul,
this thinking of my mind…
That you’re isolated from me, Oh my soul,
with your presence so divine?
Is it an illusion, Oh my soul,
a trap that is my thinking,
that we’re not one, Oh my soul,
feels like a ship that’s sinking?
That you’re not with me, Oh my soul,
because you stand behind?
Allowing me, Oh my soul,
to seek until I find?
I must thank you, Oh my soul,
for allowing me the chance,
to find a way, Oh my soul,
both our beings to enhance.
I may shout out, Oh my soul,
at you once again!
For I am here, Oh my soul,
until I do ascend.
Until this life, Oh my soul,
separates me from the earth,
I will not know, Oh my soul,
the details of my girth.
So if I scream, Oh my soul,
“Where did you go again?“,
I know you know, Oh my soul,
our paths will never end.
By: Norm Bennett
Originally Posted: July 13, 2009
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For most of my life, all I really wanted to do, was die. Not in a suicidal way. It was more of a longing. When I was a child I used this feeling as my own secret weapon. I remember thinking on many occasions how sorry my Dad - or anyone else that I perceived to have wronged me - would be if I died. Then over the years it became more of a tolerance for living, rather than a longing for dying. To a certain degree, I still carry that with me, but it has been replaced by a choice. A choice to create.
I never was able to look at life as anything but a duty. A responsibility that would hopefully be soon fulfilled. So that I would be done. A means to an end. Something I needed to do… or accomplish… or be. But always out “there” somewhere. Never could I view my life as being something automatically worthy of living, just for the experience. It was always some kind of duty that needed fulfilled. Then… I would be more, or worthy, or better yet… done.
With this kind of attitude and outlook, I did not accept my life as anything redeeming in any way. I always had to work on myself. Someday, I would make myself worthy. Someday, I would demand respect. Someday, never came.
When things started happening to me three or four years ago, I had to start looking at life differently. I couldn’t do the things I used to do. I couldn’t act the way I used to act. I couldn’t eat the things I used to eat. Everything I had ever held as a truth, began to flip to it’s opposite. My political views changed. My attitude changed. I no longer felt it necessary to convince people to believe how I believed. I no longer had a monopoly on right and wrong. I began to find that all things are truly relative to the observer, and that every person is looking at life from a different perspective.
All these shifts in my thoughts and beliefs left a huge gap in my functioning. I could no longer just “do”. I couldn’t work how I used to work. I could no longer be who I used to be, and I had no idea how to live.
I began to understand that who I was, was my creation, and that I will be creating forever. This is the choice. Particularly for me, the choice between living a life comprised basically of waiting, for validation, for a mission, for a reason - or - learning to understand a new way of creating who I was. A way that made me a “conscious” part of my creation. Because we’re all creating in every moment. It’s just a matter of whether we’re aware - or not aware - of our innate ability to create.
In an attempt to be a part of my conscious creation, I had been repetitively stating “who I was” as an affirmation to myself and the universe… and it didn’t feel like I thought it should feel. Even though this is what most teachers and books suggest - to state it as if it were so - it seemed to me that a statement of “who I was” did me no good, if it were a lie. If it is not who I am at that moment, it’s not true. To my mind, it really doesn’t get any more cut-and-dried than that.
Then I realized that my statement had to reflect what was happening "now". This caused my statemnet to create an energetic response. Without this energetic response, my mind would not accept it as a truth. But feeling the energy created a recognition of what was happening. This brought me into such a presence, that it became something that my mind could not dispute. It came from another Source. And it came from another Source because there was a knowing within my new statement of “who I was”.
This knowing was based on the fact that, at this moment, “I am” more of what I want to become than “I was“ a moment ago. This felt different!
For example, my statement of “who I am” changed from; “I am happy” - to - “I am happier than I ever could have imagined one moment ago“. This made me feel my creation. I could actually feel the new energy come in through my head, and the energy of the previous moment move away through my lower body. This caused the knowing to strengthen… which in turn caused the energy to increase and accelerate… which in turn increased my knowing… You get the idea!
This is very much like an energy healing feels. Which is good… but all of this was happening within "me". And it gave me the evidence I needed of my ability to create.
You may want to try this with whatever experience you wish to bring into your life. It’s your creation!
By: Norman Bennett
Originally Posted: July 21, 2009
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More than created by stuff that I have,
More than illusion of good and of bad.
More than a miniscule moment ago,
More than my thoughts lined up in a row.
The future holds promise of fortune and fame,
It comes and it goes and seems all the same.
It’s not here yet, so all I can do,
Is wait it’s arrival, wait and be blue.
The stoplight brings pleasure, but I don’t know how,
There seems no ailment, as long as it’s now.
This creation continues, it builds then it burns,
The making of ashes spins the world one more turn.
Creating my now one thought at a time,
Not through my memories that may seem sublime.
Though memories seem happy, there I can’t stay,
The pain from the past comes to get in the way.
Moments don’t stand, still like a stone,
From future to past they fly through my bones.
In these moments we have yet to see,
We send our thoughts searching, for what we will be.
And within these infinite moments that pass,
Comes endless future like molding hot glass.
Our thoughts heat the furnace, forming the mold,
What form will I take before I grow old?
Pain is the fire, creating the glass,
Now is the mold, bringing truths to pass.
If our thoughts ring forth each moment the same,
Our future and present unchanged will remain.
By: Norman Bennett
Originally Posted: July 27, 2009
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I have gone to the depths of the deepest valley…
and dug myself a hole.
I have traveled far into the darkness…
and in fear covered my eyes.
I have listened to each of the thoughts in my head…
and believed every word.
I have determined to make it on my own…
and blocked God’s help in the process.
I have judged the actions of others harshly…
and by doing so judged myself.
I have stood in the depths and the darkness…
and struggled until the darkness grew.
I have felt the pain of all I created…
and added to that pain by being strong.
I have seen my fear in all it’s intensity…
and increased it’s power by looking away.
I have diligently created my reality…
and fought against my creation with all my might.
I am now… looking into the darkness…
and recognizing it’s light.
I am now… seeing my creation…
and I know it is perfection.
I am now… asking for God’s assistance…
and receiving with simplistic ease.
I am now… feeling my pain…
and seeing it’s oneness with my pleasure.
I am now… recognizing judgment…
and it compels me to empower myself and others.
I am now… listening to each thought…
and having compassion and patience towards the thinker.
I am now… basking in the fire of my fear…
and feeling the bliss of my soul from having the experience.
by: Norman Bennett
Originally Posted: June 15, 2009
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Recently, in an attempt to really notice my own thoughts, I wrote them down throughout the day as they popped into my head. This was an excellent exercise to notice the heights and depths that the mind can travel from moment to moment with seemingly no effort whatsoever.
If you can do this without judgement, then try it. You will probably be amazed at how impossible it would be to actually act or react to each thought. Yet at the same time, you will probably also be amazed at how many of your thoughts you do act upon, or react to, as the day goes by.
At the end of the day, read your list of thoughts. You may recognize why there is an ancient Buddhist saying... "don't believe everything you think".
Norm
Originally Posted: May 7, 2009
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Big tough guys are… independent and strong. They do whatever it takes. They take care of their families. They don’t let their feelings or emotions get in the way. They don’t ask anybody for help. They get what they need on their own. Nobody messes with big tough guys… it’s their way or the highway… their word is the final word…
Any of this sound familiar? Is this your philosophy or the philosophy of someone you know? Big tough guys - and gals - are everywhere. They all kind of act the same. Kind of “on guard” against the rest of the world. Ready to strike against any attack. They all approach their world from this same energetic level of “defense“. They all also, have something else in common… their strength is an illusion.
Everyone of us, at one time or another, tries to create an atmosphere of strength which is an illusion to the mind and body’s ultimate frailty. Some of us, however, create a much bigger illusion than others. Some of us carry this illusion so far as to change our outward appearance to reflect an image of “stay away… don’t come near me”. Others may reflect this image by making the vehicle they drive as intimidating as possible. No matter what we do to “create” a safe space of strength around us, someone, or some situation, is going to walk through that big illusion-of-a-wall like it was air. And there you will stand as weak as the day you were born. It might be your spouse or your child or your dog or a bunny rabbit in the yard… but that wall will come down.
About a year ago I watched a special about “the ice man”. he killed with seemingly no thought or concern for his victims. He wasn’t sure how many he killed. It was well over one hundred and maybe even hundred(s). He was a “big tough guy”. He did what he had to do to take care of his family. He didn’t let his emotions or feelings get in the way. Nobody messed with him…
He was being interviewed by a prominent psychologist in an attempt to find the basis for such brutality within the construct of a seemingly normal suburban family setting. He seemed to discuss his deeds with detached precision. He made no apologies. But when it came to the discussion about his wife and two children, his eye’s began to water. The emotionless illusion of strength he had created had a basic fundamental flaw. His illusion was based on a lie. He still had feelings. Covering them up, or pushing them aside, had not eliminated them as energy, they were just covered up.
Could your wall be built stronger than his? Could you make yourself stronger than him? He ended up as weak as the day he was born and died alone with the memory of his deeds - in prison - with his feelings. The same feelings he had shut off and worked so hard to block. He felt it was necessary to shut the door to his feelings and emotions which inadvertently shut the door to God.
It is my contention that this was his sin… the ability to ignore the possibility of a feeling within him he could honor. All our judgment and all our laws and all our knowledge of right and wrong could not stop or block his path. If he had opened his mind and heart to how he felt about the effect of his actions upon his “self“, his “soul“, his very “essence“, he may have taken a different path.
Are there really big sins and little sins? Is the pain you are avoiding due to the “shutting off” of emotions really more or less painful than the “ice man”? I’m not talking about degrees of wrongness. We live in a world of relativity and you may feel the exact same deep remorse for one tiny mis-deed as “icey” did for the ending of another human being’s life.
You must recognize and honor your feelings. You must give honor to your wants and needs. You must aspire to reach the highest and grandest of your abilities… even if you’re a tough guy.
How are we… and what are we… shutting the door to, when we shut off our feelings?
Originally Posted: April 10, 2009
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If you grew up hungry, only surviving on bread and water and scraps, you might look at a piece of cheese with the same desire as another would look at a piece of gold. If you grew up in the artic, zero degrees might seem to you… balmy. If you have only known lack and practically lived penniless, and have never even seen more than ten dollars, one hundred dollars might seem to you like one hundred thousand seemed to another.
By the same token, your hunger may have given you the ability to taste and be satisfied more than any human being on earth. The cold you experienced might make you relish the warmth of two degrees with a greater appreciation than that of someone experiencing the warmth of a day at the beach. And your lifetime of lack may have been the spring-board for a life of blissful satisfaction beyond a millionaire’s dreams, just by working a satisfying job, making a middle class wage.
We live in a world of relativity. We can’t fully experience one without fully knowing the other.
This is how and why a person in full mastery of herself says, “thank you” in every situation. Not because she is so tolerant, noble and long suffering, but because she understands that every situation is an opportunity to see, feel and become the opposite energy of what seems so distasteful. She recognizes that without that opposite, she would simply just “be“... without needs and wants and emotions. She would just be. Without the experience, it’s all just conjecture. We’re here to experience all the edges of all the energies we can fathom. The good and the bad. The high and the low. The dark and the light. One without the other would be boring.
Of course, the obvious retort to such a statement is, “I can think of a few things I could do without experiencing!” The question to ask yourself is, “Could you live without the opposite of that experience you view as so distasteful?” I know you don’t like it when someone “does you wrong“, but would you throw the baby out with the bath water and deprive yourself the experience of someone “doing you right?”
You even have the right to not participate in this Divine dichotomy. You can decide, and may have even already decided, that it hurts too much to put yourself out there and just get hurt. You may decide to sit the bench. Maybe the first person you fell in love with broke your heart. Maybe the only person you really ever trusted, left you. This is a gift. You have just seen and experienced such a great pain, that it dropped you to your knees. You have just been put in the perfect position to experience the opposite of pain and betrayal. This is a wonderful opportunity to say, “thank you”. Just like the person in full mastery of their life. “Thank you. This hurts so bad… that it’s opposite is going to be the most incredibly blissful experience of my life.”
This is why we can’t shut ourselves off. This is why we can’t let a negative situation or person or experience put us off the path for one second. Because it really is an opportunity for finding a deeper knowing of who we truly are, and what we are truly capable of experiencing and creating.
Orginally Posted: Monday, April 13, 2009
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Now offering distance healings.
About a month ago I began to do distance healings and they seem to create the same response as personal sessions. If you are interested in receiving a remote healing, please read the page “Healing with energy”.
If you are then still interested please send an email to normanbennett@att.net
Thanks, Norm
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Originally Posted: March 20, 2009
What if I don't like my life?
Today has been an opportunity for new awareness regarding getting what you want, and not wanting it any more.
This has taken a while to develop into translatable thoughts. But it’s becoming clearer and clearer and is worthy of discussion. Why, once you reach a goal, do you often find your objective distasteful? Why do you work towards something for sometimes years, and after achieving success, become dissatisfied with your newly enriched life situation? Shouldn’t you be victorious and pillaging your spoils? Shouldn’t you be celebrating?
The answer has to do with the theory of relativity. All things - thoughts and feelings included - are relative. At the time you fought so hard and worked without a thought towards discomfort or pain, you were visualizing the victorious moment when you would triumph over your adversities. You were visualizing a place with less problems. A place where you would not have the pain and suffering you were diligently enduring while your eye was on the prize. You created a world with less emphasis on pain by focusing on a world which would someday be painless. Then, as your creation unfolded, you stand and look from a different perspective that was seen before. You have a new reality. And everything in your life is now relative to your new view.
When I used to go hunting, I would sneak along in the woods at a snail’s pace. Stopping at very minute intervals to scan the woods. Every single time, when I would get ready to take a few steps, I thought I had spied every twig and rock and bush in the area. Upon taking a step or two, I would look around at an entirely new woods, seeing bushes and trees and rocks as if they had appeared out of nowhere… just from moving a few feet.
This is what is happening when we change something in our lives. Our new view is now relative to where we are currently standing - not where we were - and everything looks completely different from this new perspective. It does not matter what I visualized the woods would look like from a few feet away. It does not matter how hard that few feet was to move. It does not matter how bad I want to see from another few feet away. I am where I am and this is my perspective, and before I prematurely move to another location I had better see things very clearly from where I am. Before I move on I must not miss the opportunity that I gave myself by putting myself here. If I don’t honor and respect where I am right now, my urge to see something new will cause me to miss what is right in front of me. This is present moment awareness!
What if you recognize this “present moment awareness” and you’re not too thrilled with what you see? Maybe you’ve worked hard and long to get here. Maybe you can’t imagine taking on another huge task of change, but you just don’t think you can stay where you are. Maybe it’s just too boring or miserable or not what you thought it was going to be. In an effort to understand why the way you feel is so unexpected, consider this scenario…
You’re visiting a botanical garden. It’s spring and all the exotic flowers are in full bloom and the beauty is just indescribable. The air is clean and the weather perfect. You’ve been anticipating this trip to these particular gardens for months and you walk and walk and soak it all up for hours and hours. At the end of the day you’re exhausted and exhilarated. It was everything you ever thought it would be. Now that you have that picture in your mind in all it’s glory… would you want to do it every day? Is your view of the gardens different now than it was yesterday “relative” to the feelings you feel after walking your legs off? Does this feeling relative to the gardens and your exhaustion make the gardens any less beautiful? Of course not… but your feelings are relative to right now… and in a week or two your feelings will be relative to that “now”.
Why should you berate yourself for liking something one day and not so much the next? You shouldn’t. You should cut yourself some slack. Just because you’ve been told all your life that you should make up your mind, doesn’t mean that you didn’t. You did make up your mind, it just changed based on a new reality… or relativity. Just because parents and friends and siblings and coworkers and spouses and probably everyone with whom you have ever come into contact thought you should make a decision and stick with it, doesn’t mean you should. They can’t see what you can see. Nobody but you can.
Here’s the deal… the simple understanding that your feelings and attitudes and thoughts are relative to everything else in your life will make you more tolerant of your life’s situation. If you can fully except that your life’s situation doesn’t have to be judged and analyzed and that it is your creation and you weren’t “wrong” to create it, then you will become more tolerant of your own decisions and begin to recognize that you can accept what is, and change what no longer serves you. Anytime, all the time, at your own will and discretion. And you will find a power you didn’t know you had, the power to have a higher thought about another possibility and another creation will bloom from this new ability. Your current situation won’t be so cumbersome, so strangling, and you will be able to stop judging your every thought and feeling and begin to recognize unlimited possibilities for your life. Then you can move on with the process of creation unencumbered. The process of thought, word and deed.
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Usually, if I'm going to get some kind of inspiration, it's the first moment of the day. That time when you don't quite know where you are or who you are!
This morning my inspiration was the phrase, "I know I am, but what am I?". When I heard the phrase in my head it was kind of like when you were trading insults when you were a kid and responded to someone calling you a name by saying, "I know you are, but what am I?".
Anyway, it led me to consider the process of creating new thoughts by repeating that phrase when I recognized a thought that was not in my best interest. And this is the same process, with different techniques, every single time...
- Recognize the thought. Own it by saying, I know I am...
- Release it without judgement and at the same time invite in a new/higher thought by saying, But what am I...
"I know I am, but what am I?".
CREATION IN PROGRESS__
Originally Posted: February 3rd, 2009
Mantra of the day
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Originally posted: February 9th, 2009
Thought of the day;
Each thought, each belief, each experience, creates a root with an opposing branch. Like black and white, like hot and cold, like opposite polarities, one repels the other to deeper and stronger, to higher and grander.
The roots are your experiences... the branches your creations.
Each experience is an opportunity for this recognition and the subsequent growth and creation that each experience offers. When you have an experience, good or bad, feel the depth of it's roots... then feel the heights of it's opposite, which is what may now be created because of the experience.
Norm
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Originally posted: Tuesday, January 27, 2009
False prophets... false profits
It was only about a hundred years ago that Henry Ford, through the mastery of mass production, brought the almighty automobile to the general public. He and others created a system that could produce a product of good quality and at an affordable price which would ultimately allow everyone access to something they had never dreamed possible. It was through this genius of technology that empires were built… and now they are crumbling.
In order to understand why some of our assumed archetypes are passing into extinction, we have to look directly at the financial crisis. We must look directly down the rabbit hole to see how far it goes. And as we look down that hole that seems to have no bottom… we have to say “Thank You”. Please excuse the Spiritual/Zen/Guru type spin I’m about to put on this situation, but there is only one way to find any semblance of peace on this Earth, and that way is to recognize the irrefutable truth... Everything happens for a reason.
Henry Ford did not like financing. He based his success on the process he helped refine, mass production, and he refused to offer financing for his product. His genius towards production was the means to his success, not financing… but production. Then, many years later, Ford Motor Credit became a more profitable company than Ford Motors! When the process of production exceeded the public’s desire or ability to purchase the product, financing took over. And not just with the auto industry… I remember quite a few years ago, going into Circuit City to look at computers and coming out of the store a little bit dazed. I not only had a computer, but a credit line for purchasing more product by way of a Visa card. I believe it was my first credit card and I remember thinking, “What just happened?” Now Circuit City is on the brink of extinction.
In a climate of such focus on everything but the product, there is no possibility of success. What you give your attention grows, what you block or ignore dies.
These few instances are just indicators of our faulty systems. We can recognize more faulty systems through the help of the media, who show us the things we never would have had access to seeing. Such as one man on Wall Street capable of swindling billions. This same system of monetary trade that allows such massive indiscretions cuts to the very heart of how we all exist on this Earth. The very system by which we buy our groceries and put gas in our cars and pay our bills. Thank God for this financial crisis! Thank God it was exposed! Thank God that is has only touched the largest majority of us by the numbers on a piece of paper rather than the food in our refrigerators! Do you doubt that that is the direction it was going? Do you doubt that these unscrupulous men, these false prophets with their false profits would have had any qualms carrying on their schemes and scams until it did effect the food in our refrigerators?
The next time I hear that annoying newscaster, that polished anchorman or anchorwoman who is telling me of another tyrant uncovered, or institution dissolving… I’ll say thank you. Thank you for showing us what’s false. Thank you for showing us what can’t stand the light of day. Thank you for showing us what is so fake and bereft of substance that it doesn’t want to be seen or heard but what you just never-the-less exposed.
Sometimes the package we all receive labeled, everything happens for a reason is one we would just as soon not open. Sometimes I get frustrated when my Bank only wants to give me 60% of what I need to do a project. In retrospect… that may be a much better, although more immediately difficult solution, than loaning me 110% of what I need. (Which is another topic, for another day).
This process of recognizing a false system is painful. We want to blame and prosecute and vilify. It’s actually easy to do this. But we’re in a time of major change in this world, and just like the big industries taking their focus off their product and it dying, we must take our focus off the scape-goat mentality and let it die. We can be thankful for the awareness of the faulty system but move on to focusing on fixing it.
We can use this philosophy in our own lives by recognizing the faulty systems and beliefs we carry by being thankful for the awareness, even though it may be quite painful, not berate ourselves, not condemn ourselves, but put our focus on fixing it by opening our minds to others solutions and ways of thinking we never could have seen without the removal of the faulty belief. And just like the Country must focus on new ways to operate and grow, so must we.
Just like one hundred years ago, geniuses are now offering to the public, affordable items that we can actually purchase, that we could not have imagined in our wildest dreams even ten years ago. Ford and Edison and others may have started this process of unlimited imagination, but today there are thousands and thousands of Ford’s and Edison’s. Children are born geniuses that seem to have an innate knowing of new technology and are gifted beyond belief. Anyone who has had a computer problem and found the nearest twelve year old to fix it will attest to this. We, and they, will not let our systems fail. We, and they, will continue to create systems and procedures that allow everyone to prosper and at no time will any part of these new processes shy away from the light of scrutiny or questioning.
Because of this financial crisis we are going through today, we will create a better, truer system of monetary trade. Because of this financial crisis, we will be offered products which will have an impact on our environment and wealth and lives which we can’t even imagine. Because of this financial crisis we will no longer allow someone else to carry the security of our retirement around in their pocket. Because of this financial crisis we have the opportunity to recognize what’s wrong, claim it as ours, fix it, and have higher thoughts about the future...
This is why I say, “thank you”. Because of the opportunity to have new thoughts. Higher thoughts. Thoughts that were not visible or possible until the faulty system or belief was exposed. And whether we like it or not… this financial situation has definitely been exposed. And we definitely are going to look at the world in a new way, whether we like it or not. So we might as well like it! (I bet that would be your first higher thought on this subject!)
By… Norm Bennett
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