All of us are used to hearing bold claims of great transformation
and improvement occurring in our lives in just 5 minutes day: Get
the rock hard body you want, start your own lucrative home
business, and become independently wealthy, only in just 5 minutes
a day!
Is 5 minutes a day enough to truly manifest the positive and
enriching spiritual journey we all yearn for? When someone is
singing in the shower dreaming of being the next Andres Bocelli, or
occasionally playing alley basketball believing they're following
in the footsteps of Michael Jordan, it reminds me of devoting just
5 minutes a day to ones spirituality and well being. It takes so
much more to really live an evolved and enlightened journey, and
I'd like to explore some of these dynamics.
Positive affirmations are a great tool for transformation. One may
spend about 5 minutes a day doing positive affirmations, but what
about the other 23 hours and 55 minutes of our day?
The first step in living 24 hours a day positively is to take
personal responsibility and accountability for our actions. We
must look at what we do, and never scapegoat responsibility for
those actions and choices on others or circumstances. In short,
don't try and play the victim role, a little or a lot. You didn't
try and sabotage your coworker you're jealous of by accident or
because you're a victim. You chose to do so based on ego and
competitiveness. Qualifying this action by saying something like,
"She doesn't like me, I don't like her and I want her out of here"
is an excuse.
Cheating isn't "Oops I wasn't thinking," but a conscious choice of
the will. Many would defend, "I don't like to cheat, but it was
right there in front of me, and just couldn't resist cause I'm a
guy. No one's perfect. I had to lie to my wife, because she'd
divorce me if she found out." Keep in mind that most people don't
have the audacity to boldly proclaim, "Hey yeah, I just did
something rotten and I'm proud of it!"
There usually needs to be a rationalization, an excuse to make the
negative actions and choices OK, often as in being the victim as
victims are never to blame, as part of the definition of a victim
is someone who is innocent. This way, one doesn't need to grow or
take responsibility, as the excuse does that for them - it excuses
the actions! It's sort of like the legal equivalent of mitigating
circumstances in a sentencing hearing after a criminal court
conviction of the defendant. When any of us takes personal
responsibility for our actions and choices and does whatever is
necessary to atone for these actions and choices, we will be able
to move on to a better life. By living and learning, healing
occurs as we improve the way we interact with others and the world
around us.
Next, we need to watch our choice of words, and again, not make
excuses. "Oh I was screaming at him because he really made me so
darn mad," is a typical justification for negative words. The "he
made me" gives it away. The person doing the yelling is claiming
the other person made them feel a certain way, as opposed to simply
saying, I take responsibility for what I feel and say, and I need
to watch my words more carefully. A good thing to do in this
instance is to use a positive affirmation to bless and neutralize
these negative words. For example: "I bless the words I've said,
releasing them to divine light and love where they return to their
native nothingness. All is forgiven. My choice of words is now
positive and loving!" It takes consistent effort to speak
correctly, but necessary to living positively around the clock.
Watch your words always, and through diligence and consistency,
your words will heal and purify.
Also, we must try and redirect our thinking from being negative to
positive. How do we do this? When we find ourselves thinking
negatively, it is important to stop these thoughts dead in their
tracks. A good technique to accomplish this is to affirm something
positive! Replace the negative mind set with the opposite positive
thoughts! For example: If you're feeling depressed about your love
life, here is a good affirmation to say: "My love life is blessed,
and I meet my perfect divine life partner now!" Also, don't fight
with these negative thoughts, as that fight engages a battle
analogous to arguing with someone. As the argument escalates, does
anything healthy really come out of it? In short, you won't win
this argument. You may not be able to always choose your thoughts,
but you can choose your words, which help to redirect our thoughts
and reprogram our thought process and thinking!
Often emotions are overwhelming, confusing, and sometimes feel like
a stampede of cattle running over us. It is hard for any of us to
control what we feel. So how do deal with and heal our emotions?
First, acknowledging what we feel is healthy, and through that
acknowledgment, we become aware of exactly what it is that we're
feeling. How can we fix a problem if we don't know what the
problem really is? But we should not swim in emotions. Again, we
may not be able to control what it is that we feel, however we can
definitely control our choices and actions. More positive choices
and actions lead to a better emotional journey as anything we do
positively has a repercussion of helping us to feel better inside.
Becoming emotionally aware and healthy is perhaps one of the last,
and potentially hardest aspects of living an enlightened journey.
As most of us have been on a diet at one time or another, think of
the example of being on a diet. You're staring at that piece of
cheesecake. Should you eat it or not? How about disregarding the
calories and pretending they don't exist - just for today, please?
Or maybe you'll work out harder tomorrow to burn off those extra
calories. Ultimately, eating the cheesecake contributes to putting
weight on, not taking it off, hindering rather than helping you to
achieve your goals.
You might say, "But none of us are perfect, how can we really do
this?" Here's how: only focus on living one day at a time.
Yesterday is forgotten, tomorrow is a promise but not yet a
reality. All we really have is now. By living and focusing only
in the here and now, we can do it. Start by just living one entire
day from start to finish in a positive loving way. And by
mastering one day, we can master the next day, and continue to
build our magnificent journey, not in just 5 minutes a day, but 24
hours a day, any day of our journey!