The Power of "I am".

[Dodgee]

I'm a firm advocate of positive thinking at the moment but even I'm prepared to say thoughts without actions will get you no where.

 

Think positive. Talk positive but more important act it. 

 

And in the words of the poem

"dream but don't make dreams your master, think but don't make thoughts your aim"

 

Actions will always speak louder than words... An old saying but no less true for age.

 

 

 

 

[Dodgee]

Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap.

 

Rather by the seeds that you sow.

 

 

 

-Robert Louis Stevenson

[Dodgee]

Morning Folks,

 

Well my positivity has taken a big hit this past week. Bad news at the end of last week has turned into the worst news at the start of this.  

 

The next few weeks (possibly month/s)is set to be the toughest I've faced yet.  

 

So, training my mind has become even more important than ever,

 

Some pertinent lessons from sadhguru,

 

 

The words of Dylan Thomas ring loud in my mind this week,

 

 

I don't need or want condolences, but some good vibes/positive energy are always a welcome blessing.

 

X

[buddy13]

inspiring "takeaway" 

good luck with your journey dude

[botanics]

The tough bits is where we learn the most from Dodge    atb bud  

[Dodgee]

"Not everything that counts can be counted

 

And not everything that's counted truly counts."

 

Einstein

 

 

 

(The dudes genius is widely underestimated I think)

[wu-tang-sam]

Been running the gamut of the self help and metaphysics section upwards of 2 decades now. Tended more toward the new thought end of the spectrum, as oppose to the more pragmatic, motivational speakers.
All started when I was given a fluffy Louise Hay book  (had to be synchronicity right ) , and been down the rabbit hole ever since.
Watts to Walsch, Deepak to Dyer, Sadhguru to The Secret, McKenna to Mooji. If a fast track route to enlightenment and healing is promised, I'm on it

Still have a strong belief in many of the principles outlined, cos I've absolutely seen them working (especially on the negative side), but my attempts to develop an eclectic mix of the above, have left me with a new age mush in an already addled brain.

I think in retrospect much of it's been counter productive for me, especially the "thoughts creating reality" paradigm. Being prone to "magical thinking" I'm told, I probably put a little too much emphasis on the thought, feeling and visualization bit of the process, neglecting the action stage. Ironically it fostered passivity.

If things don't go as "affirmed", there's a danger of just heaping a greater sense of failure and/or guilt on one.
Of course, this area attracts the vulnerable (gullible some would say),  who may be more advised to seek out more conventional, professionally lead therapies. I bet sales have increased this past 5 or 6 years as the mental health services have been surreptitiously dismantled.

It can also be bloody exhausting trying to catch every thought if I'm a bit manic or going through a bad ocd spell. Which can cause a bit of a fear loop (ah negative, dark thoughts, wtf am I creating man! )

Not to give in though, just started studying the hermetic principles in the Kybalion, based on ancient Greek and Egyptian philosophy supposedly. The first principle of "mentalism" covers the mind creating matter aspect. Then onto further metaphysical tenets.  Looks pretty aligned with theosophical teachings, I'll see where it goes.
Supposedly this book appears in one's life at just the right time, feeling my synchronicity antenna buzzing. I think this may be a turning point

Anyway, off to stick a pic of another Ferrari on me vision board.

 

 

[Dodgee]

@wu-tang-sam

 

Hey Sam, interesting to hear you be trying this stuff so long.

 

I hear you on how some parts can seem counter productive on times but still the obvious question I suppose would be, "has it worked?"

 

I don't mean that it in the literal sense, like your manifesting Ferraris daily,

 

But after 2 decades of studying and trying to apply this stuff do you think the overall impact on your life has been for the most part positive?/negative?

 

Genuinely interested like dude

 

[Dodgee]

Find a place inside where's there's joy

And the joy will burn out the pain 

 

Joseph Campbell

 

(Thanks for that this morning Joe, it helped)

[wu-tang-sam]

@Dodgee

 

I don't think I've really sat down and given it a huge amount of thought, odd as that sounds. I mean trying to assess it objectively.
I was never really into trying to manifest possessions as such. More into drawing experiences, people and opportunity for growth toward me, somewhat naff as that sounds.

On reflection though,  I had some amazing results in those areas I believe, but nothing that couldn't be explained away by simply becoming more focused and adopting a "caution to the wind" approach to life, or simply dumb luck in some scenarios.

When I first started seriously trying to apply the principles, I was bumming around delivering pizza, with zero drive for much other than drugs and alcohol and numbing out my childhood.

But over the next 15 years (and man, i really used to hammer those affirmations, mantras and visualisations etc), "inspired" by so many random encounters/synchronicities; I'd got a psychology degree, another degree in mental health nursing (always an interesting juxtaposition that-woo and Western psych ), was buying my own place, traveled and volunteered in some pretty dramatic locations around the world. I progressed in my career way beyond where my abilities should have taken me.

Most importantly, the people I seemed to draw to me. Some amazing souls, who appeared at just the right moment to push me onto the next adventure it seemed.
I also had some very strange supernatural encounters over that whole time that I was sure were connected to the metaphysical enquiries.
And all of it was just so effortless.

I genuinely believe there was an external influence involved during that period, that I was somehow manipulating in part, bonkers as it sounds. Really difficult to explain without sounding hugely simplistic, in a religious blind faith sorta way. I've no idea about the mechanics of it all, how it worked.

Then life took a very unpleasant turn.

I'm not sure how having my head staved in and losing everything in a heartbeat fits into "I am, law of attraction" philosophy lol. Without drifting into a discussion about fate, life paths and possibly karma.

Suffice to say, this is where the harmful/ counter productive element of it came in. 

 

Instead of focusing on learning to recognise faces again, dealing with the rage and emotional lability, building myself up physically so I didn't need to sleep 20 hours a day and coping with the vertigo; I was obsessing over what I'd said/thought to create this (outside of the physical world I mean), and what I was doing wrong to not be healing.

It was all very harmful in that sense during that period. Put my attention in completely the wrong place and probably set me back a few years in recovery.

Was definitely a season for putting the metaphysics aside in hindsight.

I've only recently resumed my interest (have been very firmly rooted in the physical matrix this past 5 or 6 years), but these days I'm more inclined to reading the Vedas, Gnostic interpretations of the Bible and the Gita.

More like trying to make sense of it all than creating anew

 

 

[Dodgee]

The most important words you will ever hear in your whole life are the ones you say to yourself, about yourself.

 

 

[Dodgee]

Everyday on the right side of the grass is a good day 

 

Ain't that the truth! 

[Dodgee]

No matter how bad it is.

No matter how bad it gets.

I CAN DO THIS!

 

Les Brown

[Guest theokoles]

On 10/25/2018 at 0:09 AM, wu-tang-sam said:

@Dodgee

 

I don't think I've really sat down and given it a huge amount of thought, odd as that sounds. I mean trying to assess it objectively.
I was never really into trying to manifest possessions as such. More into drawing experiences, people and opportunity for growth toward me, somewhat naff as that sounds.

On reflection though,  I had some amazing results in those areas I believe, but nothing that couldn't be explained away by simply becoming more focused and adopting a "caution to the wind" approach to life, or simply dumb luck in some scenarios.

When I first started seriously trying to apply the principles, I was bumming around delivering pizza, with zero drive for much other than drugs and alcohol and numbing out my childhood.

But over the next 15 years (and man, i really used to hammer those affirmations, mantras and visualisations etc), "inspired" by so many random encounters/synchronicities; I'd got a psychology degree, another degree in mental health nursing (always an interesting juxtaposition that-woo and Western psych ), was buying my own place, traveled and volunteered in some pretty dramatic locations around the world. I progressed in my career way beyond where my abilities should have taken me.

Most importantly, the people I seemed to draw to me. Some amazing souls, who appeared at just the right moment to push me onto the next adventure it seemed.
I also had some very strange supernatural encounters over that whole time that I was sure were connected to the metaphysical enquiries.
And all of it was just so effortless.

I genuinely believe there was an external influence involved during that period, that I was somehow manipulating in part, bonkers as it sounds. Really difficult to explain without sounding hugely simplistic, in a religious blind faith sorta way. I've no idea about the mechanics of it all, how it worked.

Then life took a very unpleasant turn.

I'm not sure how having my head staved in and losing everything in a heartbeat fits into "I am, law of attraction" philosophy lol. Without drifting into a discussion about fate, life paths and possibly karma.

Suffice to say, this is where the harmful/ counter productive element of it came in. 

 

Instead of focusing on learning to recognise faces again, dealing with the rage and emotional lability, building myself up physically so I didn't need to sleep 20 hours a day and coping with the vertigo; I was obsessing over what I'd said/thought to create this (outside of the physical world I mean), and what I was doing wrong to not be healing.

It was all very harmful in that sense during that period. Put my attention in completely the wrong place and probably set me back a few years in recovery.

Was definitely a season for putting the metaphysics aside in hindsight.

I've only recently resumed my interest (have been very firmly rooted in the physical matrix this past 5 or 6 years), but these days I'm more inclined to reading the Vedas, Gnostic interpretations of the Bible and the Gita.

More like trying to make sense of it all than creating anew

 

 

 

I read this and it immediately reminded me of my own struggles. A Rocky quote springs to mind (he's already been mentioned in the thread) "Nothing hits harder than life"..how very true this is, and you never see it coming. I was given a lot of love from my grandparents, thankfully i know what love is (said Forest ) without that love and strength i doubt id still be here. Theres only so much the human body and mind can take before it shuts down, retreats and you metaphysically curl up in the fetal position. I was sexually abused before i even went into care, then i went to live with foster parents, vile and abusive and another peado. For 7 years i was abused and neglected, not sexually by him, but physically, emotionally, psychologically as pedophilia isn't just about sex its about power and control. They say neglect is the hardest type of abuse to get over, im not sure about that but i can understand the reasons behind the theory. So you don't develop like "normal" kids..plus i was blinded in the eye by him and had to have a false eye so that fucked with my development too, theirs no manual for kids, nobody to turn to when your lost in the care system right? It destroyed my sister who died at 22.

 

But being a tough little fucker, i just got on with things, but i struggled with no support or direction..eventually went to college but got the shit kicked out of me and was too traumatized to go to uni. So that dream died until 6 years later after being fucked off doing shitty jobs like pizza delivery, factory work..i did enjoy working in nursing homes and making a difference..but with serious mental health issues and dark depression its really hard to think/focus. And being a tough kid, you just got on with stuff no matter how hard it was, and even if id have wanted to i don't think i could have articulated what happened to me as a child back then, my mind was broken, fragmented. I did reach out for help and spent time on a psychiatric ward and a mental health hostel, but was way to traumatized to articulate what had happened, and if people don't ask the "right" questions, you could go the rest of your life never talking or understanding/dealing with the abuse and resulting trauma.

 

Out of desperation went back to college and then uni to do my law degree and a night class in psychology too at the same time. I worked as a volunteer mentor for young people in care, trying to steer them in the right direction, i made a difference, even though i hadn't dealt with my own abuse. I excelled at uni, won the mooting comp and took part in other activities and was approached by the uni to represent them in the QAA, generally was well respected..

 

Then something unimaginable happened to turn my life upside down again, id just applied with a coupe of friends to Middle Temple to do my Bar Vocational course and instead of going to train to be a Barrister i ended up in prison for a crime i didn't commit. Well, aint life just peachy

 

Its the last place id ever have expected to be.

 

I came out and i was just so traumatized it set me back another 10 years of living like a hermit/recluse..just a gibbering nervous wreck of epic proportions with un-dealt with mental health issues like sever complex PTSD a personality disorder and anxiety disorder. But you know what they say, you cant keep a good man down forever and i came back like the return of Rocky and realized the way to transfer all my frustration and inner turmoil and trauma was to put pen to paper, that sometimes the pen is mightier than the sword. Almost 4 years ago now i brought an action for the historical child abuse and neglect by the local authority that were entrusted to oversee my and my sisters "care"..Its in the specialist solicitors hands now, got email other day conference with Barrister in Leeds in Jan, things are moving along nicely..A big legal victory last year in the Supreme Court made it possible for victims of abuse to hold the LA vicariously liable for the actions, deliberate or tortuous acts by foster parents..It wont bring any justice but it s been therapeutic to fight and beneficial to be heard..I might get a very large amount of compo, its not justice its just compo which would probably be enough to buy a house with.. I have apparently a very significant claim, which is however not without risks.

 

The courts this year have not been very sympathetic towards victims of historical abuse theirs so many other victims have gone through what i have and been denied any compo, or the case not allowed to be heard due to the amount of time its been since the abuse happened..Thats just another smack in the face for victims of abuse, so whilst this is all going on i have to prepare myself for the worst, which lets be fair im used to

 

 

Edited December 5, 2018 by theokoles

[Guest theokoles]

Sorry for going a bit off topic folks, i get carried away sometimes..A bit passionate is all, in the belief that it is possible for many to achieve things in life they never dreamed of..