Category Archives: Motivation

Developing drive, discipline and desire.

Motivation, Truth, Unlimited Mind

Being Natural – Creating Effortless Empowerment and Self Mastery

These days it has become popular to use the word “natural”. Its usage is especially enjoyed when it is used to refer to aspects of humankind or evolution not being natural and to use this inference in an attempt to direct a particular influence of “natural.” In the context of the universe there is nothing that is not natural. There is creation, there is destruction, there are layers of truth, illusions, shapes and forms. This very planet we live on was not always what it now is. There was a time that it was simply swirling gases, and a time before that when it was nothingness. Is this more natural than where we now live? Is it better simply because it is what was? A more accurate term for these swirling gases would be to use “original form.”

These same concepts and beliefs are projected through into how we see ourselves and how we direct our development. For instance in this very moment we may have natural tendencies which are not aligned with our conscious intention. These are habits, patterns and a magnetism that are moving in a particular way. The only reason that they are natural is because we have done them so many times that they are in effect self-perpetuating. This is in fact what we have defined “natural” to mean.

This planet, the trees, the air, the water – all have become self-perpetuating patterns of energy. They are able to hold their form, more or less. The same principles apply to consciousness. This is how energy works and yet we seem confused when certain achievements seem to require a lot of effort or hard work to attain. It is almost like all great goals and dreams should come easily. “It’s not natural,” we say when things get too hard and we fall back to old habits. “It’s too extreme,” we say and return to patterns that we consciously know do not serve us.

As a race we have done well to create language, but as a tool it can be used to hinder or support our intentions. We define words and concepts into negative and positive and then we act from the ridiculous notion of not wanting to be associated with negative words and only positive ones. What we really need to be doing is understanding what serves and supports us and what does not. Certainly being controlled by words does not. It is meaning that holds true power.

The ability to consciously, positively and willfully direct our reality is powerful. It is extreme and for many people it is not what comes naturally. The processes and abilities involved to reach this stage take work and practice. Often this work will be hard. It becomes harder when we feed ourselves beliefs that everything should be easy. Ironically, when we embrace what is hard the experience becomes inspiring. No person who has broken through their own self-limiting beliefs has ever not been astounded. Breaking through challenges is not natural. If it were natural then it would not be perceived as a challenge at all. Take walking for example: How many of us find it a challenge to walk into the next room? Is there even a thought that it may be an insurmountable obstacle? For many people the act of walking is so natural that it registers not even a thought. Yet for those that are in rehabilitation, walking may not come naturally anymore. They need to train it, over and over until their body and mind understands what is required. Eventually, it can become natural.

Living life at a “high” level is never entirely natural. There is always a stretch or expansion that is pushing at boundaries and limitations. Yet when we embrace and accept what does not feel natural then it becomes natural. The bottom line is that achievement in any area of life is about working the body and mind to remember the forms of consciousness that are required to excel. As each level becomes entrained into the body and mind they become natural. This then opens the way to use this base to reach for a higher level of achievement. Without a stable base, none of these changes or understandings are natural – they become as impermanent as the wind.

Power without perception is of no true use for us humans. This is what happens when we become attached to words. We need to look clearly at what it is that is important to us – what holds meaning and value to us. Then we need to understand what characteristics of consciousness are needed to achieve these. All that is needed then, is to practice these characteristics until they become natural. Natural is not about “easy”, it is not about “hard”, it is about perpetuating what is important. It is a full time job, but when it has value, then there is nothing better in this world.

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Life Purpose, Mastery, Motivation, Unlimited Mind

The Integration of Power – Awakening Inner Mastery

Integration is the practice of aligning meaning and purpose into each facet of our mind, body and spirit. Each of these is reflected in the experiences, thoughts and actions that we manifest in everyday life, so this is the where integration is cultivated.

Knowledge, information and the ability to act on these resources is power. This power needs to be aligned and used toward our purpose, otherwise it is basically useless. For example psychic skills can be used simply to read that so and so has a friend who is talking about them, but to really push the level of personal and spiritual development these skills could be used to fathom why this individual is manifesting these experiences in the first place. Just as importantly these same abilities can be used to access the knowledge needed to reconcile and transcend the source of these experiences.

We need to look deeply and honestly at our goals and why we want them. At the core of our purpose is the desire to be free of fear – to stand fully in our power, complete in our knowledge that we are one hundred percent worthy to be standing on this planet. This will not come to pass unless we make ourselves worthy. We need to stand for what we know to be true and let go of that which is not.

It is easy to become confused when purpose is only expressed outwards. The world will change, our interactions with people and experiences will change. The relationships between these and ourselves will change.

Everything becomes clear when purpose is reflected inwards.

All skill, ability, knowledge, information and power is about self-mastery. Self-mastery is the ability to create the experiences that we want. From the spiritual, to the physical, to the mental, it is self-mastery that brings us step by step to what we want. Frivolous experiences have their purpose – they bring us release from the tension that is inherent in all practices of conscious expansion and stretching. They must be recognized however for what they are – a rest or a respite from the real journey. This truth will always be felt at the core of our being, and no other sensory entertainment will ever be able to hide from its call.

The integration of power occurs by making our lives revolve around our true purpose. Our true purpose becomes powerful when we focus our lives on revealing and expressing it. This is integration also.

Integration occurs at many levels, but essentially it is about action. If we are unclear of our purpose, if we are unclear of what has meaning, then we must prioritize reflecting on meaning and purpose. If we are unclear of how to align our skills and abilities with our every day lives, then we must prioritize reflecting on how our skills and abilities are able to help us – and by helping us, help the world. These levels of reflection and thought are integration in action. It begins with understanding the value of what we have and it then shifts into sharing what we have. Through out it all what keeps our intention moving in the direction of our truth is strength.

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Mastery, Motivation, Unlimited Mind

Pride and Strength – Balancing your Inner Powers for Mastery and Success

Pride needs to be tempered with true strength unless it begins to think that it can run the show. Pride that is uncontrolled will give in to lapping up praise and seeking the path of glory. To this end it will do whatever it can to avoid looking at any truth that could be perceived as limiting or negative in any way.

While pride can encourage us to excel and reach our potential, it can also prevent us from looking at what it fears – namely, being wrong.

The deciding factor about whether we control pride or it control us is strength. Where pride will avoid looking at perceived weaknesses, emotional limitations and personal obstacles, real strength is honest. Real strength will not hold back from acknowledging weaknesses, limitations, mistakes, hypocrisy or flaws. Its goal is not the boosting or soothing of the ego. Its goal is truth and personal development. It is weakness that allows pride to pretend that there is nothing wrong and that we are in control. It is more interested in images and illusions. Strength on the other hand is interested in real control, not simply the illusions of it.

Real control comes from being honest and acknowledging both strengths and weaknesses. It is only through awareness of our weaknesses that we can improve them. Pride would seek to keep us ignorant of them to preserve an illusion of mastery.

As much as pride can encourage us to excel, it does so because of weakness. It acts to protect discovery of this weakness unconditionally. The result is that this weakness does not get a chance to become strong, rather it remains hidden.

Strength throws the doors open to weakness – this is what gives it the direct opportunity to become strong.

It is the prideful mind that has the ridiculous notion that as long as it does not admit weakness, that weakness does not exist. This is as crazy a notion as closing our eyes and striving to believe that the rest of the world has disappeared. Crazy or not, this is how pride works. Pride is like a two edged sword, the solution is to develop a mind that can wield it skillfully. This is the difference between letting pride run the show, or letting the cultivation of self-mastery run the show.

There is nothing wrong with enjoying pride at a job well done, or a journey accomplished. The problem arises when we become so attached to the feeling of pride that we cannot let go of it in order to accomplish more.

Achievement and growth always involves effort and struggle in some way. This is part and parcel of stretching and expansion. It does not need to be something that we have aversion to. In fact when it is understood that our purpose has real meaning, this too can be a source of pride.

Essentially achievement is about priorities, and the reality of priorities is about strength. Inner strength will not allow any aspect that would prioritize limited gratifications to control the show. Inner strength has the ability to see and it also has the ability to deliver results. Pride on the other hand works well as an engine. It can be a great motivator – its weakness is in its inability to see things straight and true. Delegation of skills is the key here. Use pride as an engine and let strength steer the way. Recognize that pride, like a stubborn bull may quite often want to go its way and let strength show it who is in control.

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Life Purpose, Mastery, Motivation, Unlimited Mind

Destroying Apathy – Conquering the Barriers to Your Success

The battle within the self is between apathy and purpose. Apathy kills purpose. Purpose kills apathy. Apathy is a terrible and poor companion for life, business or romance.

Why anyone would choose it deliberately is ludicrous. It is only when we seek to avoid effort that we find reasons to justify apathy’s apparent control over us. It is mediocre at making excuses, but even less satisfactory at creating inspiration or meaning. There is not much going for it really. Its only power lies in the fact that we would deceive ourselves into believing it has power at all. In actual fact purpose and discipline have nothing to do with the existence of apathy at all. Real discipline, purpose and drive moves forward regardless of obstacles.

Walking the easy path is not in itself disempowering. It is the reason for the choice that decides whether we have power or not. If we are choosing the easy path because we cannot face the feeling of putting in the effort, then we are playing a self-perpetuating game of running from effort and seeking ease. This patterning will take us from putting in whatever it takes to find meaning and purpose and replace it with the game of always seeking what requires the least effort.

A mind that gives in to its fear of expending effort will not move, stretch or expand. All movement, stretching and expansion takes too much effort for it, and quite frankly the apathetic mind is quite all right where it is thank you very much. What results is a mind that is clouded, confused and slow to make connections. Trying to work with an apathetic mind is futile. What needs to be installed is a new managing director. One of those hotshot upstarts that knows all the lingo and has productivity as number one. The mind of the director is about results – period. If straight out firing the apathetic mind doesn’t work, if cajoling and begging it to get in line fails, then the director consciousness must look to see what will work.

The fact is, in creating a managing director mind in spite of the apathetic mind, consciousness as a whole has already expanded. It’s a sneaky trick to play on the apathetic mind, but before it knows it energy has already been funneled into creating the director. Where before it seemed like there was only one mind to make choices, now there are at least two. By choosing the managing director every time, the apathetic mind doesn’t get a chance to run the show. This actually suits it just fine because it has no energy to run shows anyhow.

Apathy destroys all purpose except that of apathy itself. We need to avoid influences that would try to sell apathy to us, for in doing so we sell our own mastery and self-control. It may seem laughable that anyone would willingly choose apathy over mastery, but reality has and is illustrating this very fact. Our civilization has embraced a fast food “everything is too much effort” culture and this attitude is literally destroying our ability to connect to purpose and meaning. This is a fact. Without the ability to move our mind, to exert effort and discipline for creating clarity and control, we have no means to communicate or explore deeper meaning. We need to enter the battle, summon our resources and destroy the form that is apathy. Its control is destroyed when we no longer allow its presence to dictate our actions. Its form is destroyed when we move from a mind that chooses self-discipline and control. We need to remember that if we do not choose self-discipline and control over ourselves, then something else will.

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Emotional Healing, Enlightenment, Life Purpose, Mastery, Motivation, Unlimited Mind

Inner Strength – Activate the Internal Power of Your Mind to Conquer your Destiny

Inner strength is the ability that prevents us from being corrupted by powers such as knowledge, information, sensation and opportunity. Without inner strength we will be drawn only to experiences that bring us pleasure and run from those that cause us pain. The journey will change from one that once sought truth and freedom, to one that seeks only to satisfy the senses. The path becomes a path of addiction rather than a path of truth.

The path of truth is a path that actively seeks truth. It is not about increasing and feeding our illusions. It is about purifying the mind and our perceptions to seeing through those illusions.

Spirit is not limited to only existing in pleasure – it exists everywhere and in everything.

Enlightenment is not confined only to feeling powerful, spiritual or expansive. It is about truth –the truth that “light” exists in all things.

Our definition of spirit, empowerment, unconditional love and truth becomes extremely limited when we isolate their existence to only a few select experiences and emotions. This is not truth. It is illusion.

Purification is training the mind to understand this truth, and it is strength that allows us to stay on our path when we are beset on all sides by sensory temptations.

The vigilance required for purification is not about denying pleasure or pain, it is about purifying regardless of the perception of pleasure or pain. When the attachment to these elements within the mind is purified, the experience of suffering, craving and aversion diminishes and is released.

This is the aspect that has corrupted many masters to be. It is no exaggeration that the path to truth has claimed the mental corpses of many who have started out with a firm and resolute vision, but then when illusions of power beckoned, the craving was too much and they gave in to their sensory reactions and impulses.

Each time we buckle under to illusion, we are creating obstacles and blocks to truth.

Inner strength may be moved or swayed, but always returns to the true path.

When we look at ourselves and say “only this is spiritual and all that is not,” then we are looking for a spirituality that is conditional and that does not understand oneness. This path is actively choosing ignorance over understanding.

Understanding is about seeing separation and then working out ways to perceive unity.

Choosing ignorance is about seeing separation and then working out ways to justify that separation.

These are the very reasons why we believe that people who are different are wrong. These are the very reasons why we believe that enlightenment must occur anywhere but here and now.

Strength is what keeps us here and now.

Without strength we flit from one craving to another like a puppet – completely unable to control our reactions. This is the path to self-corruption. It is the path that seeks more separation instead of unity, oneness and understanding.

It is only when we are strong that we can look the puppet master in the eye and not be swayed in the least. This is the strength that allows us to stay resolute on a path of truth.

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Enlightenment, Manifestation, Motivation

The Power of Intention pt 2

The space between the senses and the object of our senses is the place to observe and direct intention. This space is like an empty canvas and it is precisely this emptiness that is able to carry and contain the essence of our intention. It is like finding a free area of land to plant some new trees. When the foundations have been set it is possible to direct intention into areas that are not empty because we have created enough structures that allow room for further development and growth. This is similar to the process of developing focus and observation before branching off into other areas such as the psychic senses or manifestation. When we have developed the basic foundations or 1st level skills then we will find that the 2nd level skills are able to be developed.

The practice of intention can be integrated through the development of our most basic practices of observation and focus. To engrain our practice of focus with the direction of clarity and effortlessness, we observe and find the space between the mind that is focusing and the object of focus. Into this space we feel and direct what we believe to be the effects of clarity and effortlessness. We refine this process by questioning whether the clarity and effortlessness we are observing is the clearest it can be. If it is not then we seek still deeper. We “listen” and feel for the most genuine level of effortless clarity we can find. This is the process of stretching and remember that a stretch will always feel like this. It will feel like a long reach and at the very perimeter of the stretch it will feel as if our hold or grasp on it is tenacious. This is as it should be. A stretch must feel like a stretch, but through practice what at present may feel unstable will become stable. We then can use this stability to stretch further. In time we will be able to connect strongly to focus with clarity and effortless and the feeling and effect will be 100% genuine.

Directing intention into observation works in the same way. We find the space between the observer and what is being observed. Into this space we direct what we believe to be the most genuine feeling of objective mind we can perceive. We further direct this intention to continue to be alert to seeking a deeper more genuine level of objective observation.

In developing these basic skills we are also creating the ability to engineer and manifest consciousness. It is this consciousness and our mastery of it that allows us to create our reality. Practicing and experiencing the effects of directing inspiration, empowerment, love and clarity into the spaces in our consciousness brings purpose, reason and meaning into our lives. Directing beacons of intention that listen for information on how to integrate clairvoyance or clairaudience brings knowledge and communication into our lives.

Intention is very much the practice of how to use skills. If skills were like paints then intention is learning how to paint. The paint itself is the perception, belief or frequency of energy that we seek to create. The inspiration behind the painting is the reason or meaning that we choose to create in the first place. Each of these aspects needs to be understood if we are to manifest our realities effectively and congruently.

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Intuition, Life Purpose, Manifestation, Motivation

The Power of Intention Part 1

Intention is the directing of consciousness. It is moving the consciousness into areas with a desire to affect a particular result. Intention is a powerful tool for manifestation when used to gather the specific frequencies and knowledge required. Weaving the psychic skills with direction of intention allows us to gather the exact information that we need be it in the form of visions, sounds, feelings, smells, tastes or other forms of knowledge. Integrating this knowledge which can often be done immediately begins to elicit the changes that we desire. The process of refining the practice utilizes the exact same principles. If something is not occurring the way we wish it to then we direct our intention to gathering the information as to what needs to be added, subtracted, sped up or slowed down. This is a two fold development of learning how to manifest and learning how to gain precise information. In time the process of intention, information gathering and implementing this knowledge will occur simultaneously and accurately.

It is important to observe and access the information coming through with honest and open awareness. This is perhaps one of the main difficulties inherent within the art of manifestation. For example information may be coming through that to create a certain result energy needs to be built and gathered for 4 weeks. If this crucial detail is ignored then a person may believe that their manifestation has failed where as what has actually occurred is that they have simply not followed through on all the necessary requirements. The development of accurately and clearly perceiving information is also important. The mind needs to be directed with the intention to understand and hear, see or feel clearly and then we need to observe and allow ourselves to find this space within us. Through continuous training the mind understands exactly what it is that we are wishing to access and in time we can connect with these spaces effortlessly.

The understanding of how intention works is like how water finds it’s way through rocks. If there are many rocks the water will continue to weave around them until it reaches it’s destination. Similarly intention is a direction of the mind. When the mind finds an obstacle or distraction is must allow that entity to be as it is and simply find a way around it. In the case of the mind, intention is the place of knowledge as well as the consciousness that is seeking connection with this place. In time the two become one and this is the process that dissolves the illusion of location or separateness. This is when the acquisition of knowledge becomes effortless and instantaneous.

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Ascension, Enlightenment, Mastery, Meditation, Motivation

Spiritual Integration

Integrating spiritual realities into our lives requires at least in principle two things. The first is to send our consciousness through the window that opens and allows exploration of the spiritual realms and then we must train our physical body to experience and open up to this reality. Developing the psychic senses is a clear way to look through the dimensional windows, but in many ways this is simply the gathering of knowledge. The opportunity that a psychic sense such as clairvoyance offers us is to see clearly and truly how energy and entities are interacting and so understand how to affect the result. Likewise a skill such as clairaudience allows us to listen to the guidance of entities and energies and so understand how to create and manifest in a particular direction. The development of these skills is not by any means mandatory for spiritual development, they are simply extra tools for enhancing the journey. All of us have the ability to feel and observe and this is the most important principle of all.

In seeking peak experiences, spiritual realizations and empowerment we are actually seeking union with the true self. The true self is the peak, it is empowerment and it is spiritual realization. The process of observing and feeling allows us to move through the layers that obscure the true self from perception. This is the experience of realization and it is also the experience of true peace. When it comes down to it, it may be said that what we are truly seeking is inner peace and although the paths to realizing this experience are often different the principle is always the same. It is about meeting each atom of experience and allowing it to be exactly as it is. This reality of allowing an internal experience to be exactly as it is, is the energy of peace. We feel and perceive any particular energy and we do nothing. In doing nothing we allow these entities or energies to be exactly as they are. We ask nothing of them and so they experience peace and that peace is being formed and realized from within us. It is being created and shaped within us. The reason why we train our minds to become formless is so that we can take the shape of whatever form is manifested within us. When we hold our form there is a clash as two forms meet. When we allow our form to move and shift then there is no clash, only peace. As our consciousness is directed to connect with more and more energies and is given the opportunity to create peace, less fear arises simply because we know that we can meet and experience whatever comes our way. Without fear our mind and body becomes clear. Through this clarity the experience of our true self becomes effortless and furthermore because the experience has come through directly connecting with everything that comes our way integration occurs at the deepest levels of our being. There is no gap between spiritual and “normal.”

Since the accelerated way is through developing the psychic senses and then turning them within, we need to be aware of times when the development of these senses requires balancing with the physical body grounding and integration. In short I would recommend at least 3 times a week practicing grounding work. The essence of grounding work is connecting to the physical body, feeling and observing it and bringing the mind fully into it. The easiest way is to just observe the body during physical movement. Anything from walking, doing the dishes, showering or doing up your shoe laces. Observe your posture, the way you hold your weight and balance. Notice and objectively observe any physical tension and areas of relaxation. All physical manifestations are connections to consciousness and it is through these connections that the mind integrates with the body. The process of experiencing the physical and alternately experiencing the spiritual and subtle allows the realization of a consciousness that is expanded. Directing the mind to move between the spiritual, mental and physical provides the opportunity to observe the movement, the landscape and the spaces interwoven beneath and through these elements. Within these spaces and flows exist the essences that connect spirit, mind and the physical. Experiencing these paths of power allow us to find a unity between what we have previously perceived and experienced to be separate levels of consciousness. This unity and integration opens up the experience of spirit within the body, the physical within the mind and the mind through the spirit.

Integration is where real empowerment exists because it brings the experience back home to where we live. It is perhaps the most sustainable and realistic means of spiritual life because it does not seek to leave a single iota of being behind. All is met, the dark, the light, the ego, the personality and the higher self. With each meeting there is an opportunity for mastery through the experience of looking straight in the eye of whatever energy it is that exists there. We feel and choose to be open and the feeling and experience is allowed to be as it is. What is gained is a consciousness that is opening to a realization of truth.

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Motivation, Paths of Power

The Power of Willingness

Willingness is the consciousness that allows us to act. It is the first step in the process of achievement. In the very first instance we must be willing to acknowledge that we want to achieve a goal. We must be willing to observe that there is something that we desire. Desire forms a direction. Without desire there is no direction and so there is in effect no path. In truth of course there is always a path – just not necessarily the one we want to be experiencing. Empowerment is always about experiencing positive opportunity in our lives. It may be the positive opportunity of finding pleasurable people in the world or it may be the positive opportunity of realizing growth, inner strength and nurturing through an emotion, feeling or thought. Positive opportunity exists at all levels and all dimensions of consciousness. It is willingness that opens up the way to experiencing these opportunities.

Generating willingness requires that we reflect with sincerity. What is it that we seek in life? What is it that is wrong? What is it that is right? What could be better? What could be worse? All these questions allow us to see and reflect on the landscape upon which we have created our reality and ourselves.

If we do not feel that all is right, then what feelings or experiences could open the way to making things feel right?

If we have an inkling as to what it is that we seek in life, then how do we gain more perspective on that spark of inspiration?

If things could be better then how could they be made better?

If life has no meaning to us we need to ask if we want a life with meaning and if so we must ask what it is that could possibly hold meaning for us. Meaning and purpose is infinitely easier to access when we are willing to find it. This becomes the difference between thinking “there is use” and thinking “there is no use, but I’m going to create meaning and purpose regardless.” The former stops the creation of solutions and positive opportunity. The latter finds, creates and realizes solutions, positive opportunity and power. This is the reason why all the techniques and methods of empowerment, personal development and spiritual realization are useless without willingness. Without willingness we simply give up. With willingness we can create even from a state of despair or depression and forge a core of inner strength and power.

In action willingness can be defined as action to move mountains but it can also be shown in a quiet, humble affirmation that we want to feel better, that we want to heal or be free of pain. Willingness is not a matter of intensity, it is a matter of direction. All other aspects come from this.

The simplicity and ease of willingness is that we can form these directions right here and now and it requires no other action other than to acknowledge what it is that we do want. If we seek happiness then this acknowledgement gives us the opportunity to seek how to become happy. If we seek healing then this acknowledgement gives us the opportunity to seek how to become healed. Each step leads to a further depth of willingness, each step prepares us for a further experience of willingness. These small acknowledgements are like the seeds of a tree, they are moved through our minds by intention and direction and within the embrace of our willingness they gain the opportunity to grow strong.

Willingness needs to be nurtured regularly in order to realize a strong direction, but it is not something that requires iron-gloved discipline. On the contrary learning to communicate with the consciousness that is willingness allows us to develop it in such a way that it’s power becomes effortless effort. Developing this stream of mind opens up the way for realizing self-mastery that just “happens” rather than the kind that needs to be forced. The kind of empowerment, enlightenment, inner strength and focus that comes from this is also different from the kind that needs to be forcefully controlled. Instead of developing them we are flowing into a slipstream where they already exist and communicating our intent through them. When we are in this state we simply need to “be” and in being we act and create effortlessly because our essence is in congruency with the consciousness of power.

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Basic Techniques, Motivation, Paths of Power

The Power of Confidence

A master once asked me what I thought that I most gained from training with him. Many things came to mind and I mentioned his technique, understanding and expression of principles and teaching ability. He stopped me then and said: “The one thing that you gain most from me is the ability to have confidence in yourself. You trust that my ability is good and so you believe that what you are learning and developing is also good. Because of confidence in me you trust what I say, you trust what I show you – and so you develop confidence yourself.”

Over the years this statement has been reflected in my own teachings. I’ve seen students struggle to understand concepts but continue on trusting that I know the method and so having confidence in themselves.

An Aikido master once remarked to me that it was amazing how people would train the same basic technique for 40 years and still feel like they were scraping the surface of it, yet because of the confidence given to them by their teachers they would continue, knowing full well that the journey may not be completed in their lifetime and yet finding gratitude in the smallest increments of improvement.

I have often seen meditation practitioners who believing that they were getting no where simply gave up. What they were unable to see was the context and structure in which they were learning. They perceived elements such as the monkey-mind, lack of focus, agitating emotions and believed they were on the wrong track. Confidence waned and they dropped their practice.

I now see the remarkable value that confidence has in ones life because the fundamental thing that it give us is the ability to persist. If we believe that we are on the right track it is far easier to keep going. When we are in the dark, confused and unsure if we are going in the right direction, it is easier to give in to doubts.

This is one of the reasons why I encourage people to find teachers and mentors. Especially if our life reflects certain undeveloped skills or experiences which seem to just keep being allocated to the “tomorrow” folder. A time will come where most teachers or mentors would encourage us to develop confidence in ourselves. The sooner the better generally. Confidence is an energy which we release ourselves. It is simply that we do not choose to release it until we believe that we have reason to feel it. If we are doubtful people then we will perceive there being very little reason to release it. On the other hand confidence can be an addictive sensation so we may try to recreate situations and experiences where we can attain this feeling. We may try to dominate conversations and push our own views. This tends to cover up our own inner insecurity. There is a far more effective path. The path of self-knowledge.

Self-knowledge develops confidence simply because in knowing who we are we gain the opportunity to understand what gives us value and meaning, form our inner self into one united with deep purpose – and ultimately accept and love ourselves for who we are.

The path of developing confidence requires bringing sense to a universe that is seemingly senseless. In learning to control ourselves we learn to flow with what comes our way. We do not control the waves of life, we become master surfers and learn to direct our way through what is given to us. It is an exquisite balance of give and take. Ebb and flow.

Self-knowledge comes from connecting with experiences consciously. Being conscious we will see what is occurring. Self-knowledge comes from seeking information through books, people and other such resources. Path-notes that others leave are like journal entries that eventually unite all paths and thought. Seek the connection between all directions. Perhaps most importantly is to realize the mind which has already achieved full self-knowledge. This is also the mind which has attained true and pure confidence.

Work with this exercise:

Start exactly where you are. Expand your mind to encompass and observe your thoughts, emotions and feelings. Notice how they inter-react with your body.

Stretch your mind to effortlessly observe all the movement and flow within yourself.

Place no regulation on however your inner and outer landscape will express itself. Simply allow it to be.

At this point the eyes may be opened or closed. Allow yourself to see in your mind’s eye the you that is mastery personified.

See, feel and hear the essence of this being that is you.

How does it feel to know yourself fully and honestly?

How does it feel to meet every atom and point of consciousness with complete and effortless acceptance?

How does your inner master look?

Allow your consciousness to move completely into this reality.

Allow the dimension or mastery to be pulled completely into you.

Becoming the consciousness of mastery automatically shifts you to doing what a master would do to complete their journey. It draws in all the elements of meeting experiences consciously, attracting people, texts and other resources and integrating this knowledge at all levels of the body and mind. As consciousness opens up to being a master, aspects which may have been a struggle before will happen easier and with less effort. We essentially get out of our own way! As we begin to see that we are capable of being spontaneously effective, we realize a confidence that we can never achieve from attempts to control the external world. This is the power of true confidence.

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