How are you?
My reply is "excellent" or "great" or something overwhelmingly positive.
When I was younger, I used to get angry at people asking "how are you?" Oh puh-leez. Nobody wants to know how you really are!! Nobody cares about the truth about how you feel! Why even ask, if you are forcing me to lie? Hrmph.
While I think this is still technically correct, I have a different perspective. "How are you" is a social nicety and a polite, simple, effortless way to interact. For me, personally, I try to see it as an invitation to create my own reality. If I say I am great, then I am great! If I say I am miserable, then my life starts to trend towards the miserable.
A word doesn't change that much, but it doesn't hurt anything to try. Another benefit is that the attitude may be contagious - if I am terrific, then maybe you are too!!
I read about this technique in one of those self-help books popular in the 1990s - like "Everything I needed know know I learned in Kindergarten" or "Life's little instruction book." It sank in when one of the transporters at the hospital was always doing this. "Super Steven" is his name - and he's always "fan-tastic"! When I'd interact with him, it would brighten my day maybe just for a moment. He has spread his light.
The Secret
One of the latest popular books is called "The Secret." It's in the genre of "The Power of Positive Thinking" - that is, your thoughts and intentions create reality. This book takes it a step further and suggests that there is a mystical power in your thoughts that connect to and manipulate the power of the universe. The universe supplies that which you think about, simply by thinking about it and aligning your thoughts with the creative power of the universe. It doesn't take effort, it just happens. The only effort is to focus your thoughts properly. Imagine that!
I think about this concept. I have done a lot of reading on living a good life, self-empowerment, self improvement, self-awareness and understanding. I have an interest in the mystical. I ponder the nature of God, of the angels, of Jesus Christ.
I am also an integrator. I have a natural talent for seeing the big picture and for integrating lots of little facts into a whole.
My current pondering is that there is some kind of universal truth out there. Something mystical that we do not understand. I am not even sure we can understand it, stuck in our mortal bodies with our limited brain capacity. It's bigger and vaster than us. All of these empowerment and spiritual ideals are ways we interpret the mystical truth.
Some people understand it as God and Jesus. Some understand it as Allah and Muhammad, others get in touch with it through meditation, and the Buddha. Aligning ones thoughts with it is another way. I do not know if the universal truth has a consciousness - the God interpretation takes this position, that there is a benevolent spiritual being that is like us. "The Secret" suggests that it is some kind of powerful force we can influence through thoughts.
I read a little about Edgar Cayce several years ago. He was an American mystic who would go into a trance and use the trance to know so many things that he would otherwise not be able to know. I wonder if he had a way of tapping into this universal truth and manipulating it to get at the knowledge he sought. you might also say he talked to Angels.
This theme comes up so often in the human experience that I have got to believe there's some kind of veracity to it. I am comfortable not knowing, yet it still intrigues me. I want to use it for good. I want to use it to have a remarkable life.
I am tired of writing for now, but I have some ideas I'd like to expand upon in the future about this subject.
Have a terrific day!!
No comments:
Post a Comment