AYU-OK  Forum

Most of us walk around with a story. This is the story of who we are. Then there is another story…the story of who we want to be. Most of us have trouble believing the story of who we want to be because of the discomfort caused by who we think we are presently and an unwillingness or inability to face our own thoughts and beliefs about ourselves. 

Remember that if "bad" circumstances are affecting you, it is often not because of some "bad" way that you thought or behaved in the past, but it may be because you planned your life so that it would present certain challenges. How you respond to those challenges is the whole point of the exercise. The strongest steel is that which is quenched from great heat and the most compassionate heart is one which has seen great suffering in the world.

You reap what you sow, but most people apply this to circumstances that usually have a negative consequence, it has a far broader meaning than people know or want to admit. It is so broad, as a matter of fact, that if people really thought about it they might find the implications frightening, and yet, on the other hand, it is also a key to unlocking everything you could ever want.

In a nutshell here is the key to life, the universe is a perfect mirror reflecting back to you precisely and exactly what you have been holding at the deepest levels of your consciousness. That sounds so simple, but most people don’t ever think about it, or live their lives as if it were true. The very nature of the universe is that it has to give you what you ask for. This is why people of all faiths praying to God by different names still works. If a call goes out with faith, belief, and knowing that there is a God who will answer, the sincerity, belief and conviction of the intention causes the universe to respond. This is the way everything has been set up. It is the perfect system of justice.

So the reason people often don't have or get what they consciously want is because they have counter programs running deeply within them that put out the opposite intention into the universe. The forces of our feelings and beliefs from the past create the currents that orchestrate circumstances in our life today. This is essentially one of the ways karma works. Whatever we have energized in the past will manifest in our present and future unless we do something to change it.

When you finally realize that the universe is a perfect mirror, reflecting back to you precisely and exactly what you have been holding in consciousness at the deepest levels, your life will change. For one thing if you really pursue what this means you will do a deep soul searching, and begin to see how you have created your reality and how to create other realities.

Being aware of the mirror universe also causes you to become much more mindful through the day because you will find you are in the process of creation all the time. This is perhaps the most important and profound understanding you can have about life, because it affects literally every experience you have.

This understanding reduces everything down to a very basic process that is phenomenal. If something in your life is not working you don't have to waste your time looking outside of yourself for the cause, because it isn't there. You just look inside and even if you don't know what the cause is, as long as you get in touch with the feeling it creates you can clear the cause. This is most profound in it's simplicity.

Everything emerges from thoughts, words, actions, beliefs and feelings we have energized in the past. We live in a field of potentiality that creates and forms itself according to our deepest thoughts and patterns we have set in motion. And yet there is no will or consciousness other than your own making decisions for you. It is totally your will, beliefs, intentions and desires that impel creation and therefore your experiences.

Although, thinking of what your life can be is a good start, you must have the idea and vision of where you want to go if you ever expect to get there. If you don't have that focus then rather than being self-determined you will be subject to the patterns of your past or the whims of others.

You can either make a determination for love and harmony, or one of discord and pain. It is only when you start to awaken to deeper truths than what the 5 senses tell you that you realize how you arrived at where you find yourself today.

Everything you think and do everyday is feeding into the stories which you are scripting and then live by. The stories you tell yourself today are the scripts that will manifest tomorrow. When you understand how this works it will definitely give you a motivation to make you more mindful about what you think, say and do.

The trick is finding out what you are doing that is creating what you don't want and discovering what you can do to create what you do want. Start by becoming quiet and still and take your attention away from what you don't want, and place your attention on what you wish to experience. Once you decide what you want believe you can have it, believe you deserve it, believe it's possible for you and believe it is manifesting in your life now.

When the voice, vision and belief on the inside become more profound and clear than the opinions on the outside, then you have mastered your life.

Whenever you change the way you view life, the universe, just like a mirror, reflects your new view of reality. This may not occur instantaneously as, often, circumstances do not allow the new reflection to immediately manifest. In this case, the new reality is held, like a pressure within the aura of your body's subtle magnetic field. You then walk around in life, surrounded by this magnetic potential, your "karmic pattern," as it influences your circumstances to adapt into a form where the new reality will be able to manifest and operate.

Reluctance, sooner or later, produces manifestation. Therefore, if you don't like something in your life, the most powerful way to change it is to discover how, consciously or subconsciously, you have generated that reflection. Then change your point of view - the beliefs, viewpoints and energies that you put into your life - so that the reflection is changed.

We commonly use judgment to soothe the ego by justifying our own thoughts, actions and opinions, cultivating the perception that we are right and good while others are wrong and bad. Judgment is a way of conforming to what is commonly accepted, making it more likely that we ourselves will fit in and be accepted, or in essence, loved. People who annoy us are usually just reflecting that which we are trying to reject in ourselves.

Judgmental attitude creates feelings of likes and dislikes which give rise to negative emotions like hatred, jealousy, anxiety etc. If we get driven away by these emotions, we will not be able to settle in our own Self, our true nature is the Absolute Bliss

Judgment robs us of the ability to hear our inner guide. Once you let go of your attachments to being right (which could a set of beliefs /habits) you will see you mind will suddenly open up more and you will be able to benefit from the unique viewpoint of others without being crippled by your own judgment

In order to experience reality as it truly is with all its vastness and richness, we need to let go of judging others, situations, and ourselves. Many of us on the spiritual path to awakening know it isn’t helpful to judge; yet we do it anyway, and then we judge ourselves for doing it

As we let go of judgment we move out of the head and into the experience of our higher selves. This is a rich, clear, present space from which to experience reality as it truly is.

How can we be honest to others when we are not honest to ourselves, we play many roles in this lifetime and each role comes with beliefs, values and rules that we set for ourselves? Each role we play we change our ways to fit into that role, we sometimes have to hide the truth of who we truly are by not being our true self or sometimes even throwing in some white lies because of the circumstances we are put in.

Having integrity and being honest are fundamental requirements if you want to grow spiritually and follow your true destination of personal development. It’s not simply about being honest with people. Whilst that will make you a better person and a more accepted one it’s more importantly about being honest with yourself.

When we stop fearing who we truly are that’s when we can be 100% honest with others and ourselves. If we’re honest in all that we do and say, it means we are genuine, real and true whereas dishonesty symbolizes all that is fake, fictitious and unreal. Living your life honestly and with integrity means that you’ve decided to live openly and to show your true self to others and that you can be relied upon to be genuine.

Of course, being brutally honest all of the time can also backfire on you. There may be situations where telling the whole truth causes you to inflict a lot of pain and distress on somebody else, the compromises you might wish to make with regards to your total honesty have to be clearly thought through. Some may even say that it’s better to be brutally honest all of the time than to be indecisive in what you say or do which could make matters worse.

However, in taking the decision that you are going to live your life honestly and openly, you will find that your life becomes enriched as a result as you reveal your true self which in turn will be reciprocated in the respect and honesty you’ll receive from others.

4 key reasons why honesty can guide to enlightenment 

• Face Your Weaknesses: We all have weaknesses and shortcomings. No one is exempt from this reality.

• Face Reality: How is your life really?

• Drop False Personalities (your different roles): If you watch your ego in action carefully, you will notice that you spend enormous amounts of energy building and sustaining false images of yourself

• Honesty In Meditation: When you sit down to meditate, and start to watch your thoughts, you will realize how deceptive the mind is.

The need for honesty and sincerity cannot be over-emphasized. In the early stages it is recommended, to break the habit of unconscious lying and self-deception, that even white lies and diplomacy ought to be abandoned and complete forthrightness be embraced. Once accomplished, simple honesty will go a long way to helping you evolve to your highest spiritual potential.

What is often called the sixth sense, intuition can be defined as "the ability to sense or know immediately without reasoning". We all have hunches, gut feelings, or intuitive insight. The feeling one gets when first hearing about something or someone, or the first impression when we meet someone new...these are all simply our intuition.

Intuition is often considered the ability to synthesize and deduce from all of our accumulated unconscious experiences. Therefore, we "know" much more than we realize. It is also through the perception of our (other) five senses, which, allows us to "tune in" to our intuition. Those who pay attention, can find intuition a useful tool in their lives.

Intuition is a commonly tossed around term, but I think many people don't have a full-grasp on what it is and what it isn't. It's also essential to the spiritual path. As you walk deeper and deeper into the path, you find that rational reasoning is extraordinarily limited. You also find that your greater awareness is operating outside the tiny circumscribed area that is the purview of rationality. This is where intuition comes in to guide you to your deepest truths.

Keeping the Radio Clear of Chatter 

The mental noise that quickly over-runs an intuition. Your mind is too small to accept a slightly out-of-the-box suggestion. It's too caught up in reasoning to trust the guidance, so it blocks it out, stops it from integrating into you, and then transforming into the action of going into the store. I've found that following these simple little intuitions gives me a deeper sense of being on track with my life, and pretty soon, other things and opportunities begin to pop up. The intuition typically comes of its own will without any thought. Thought usually is a problem as it blocks out intuitions. Hence, meditation and any other healthful practice to clear your mind are really key to getting clear intuitions. 

In many ways, intuitions are your direct communications from your spirit, your guides, God, the universe, or whatever energy/inspiration source seems to be present in your life. Subsequently, you need to cultivate a sense of faith to allow them to come freely to you. Too much doubt (typically driven by fear) will stop you from receiving well or stop you from acting on the intuition. Acting upon an intuition is essential because it helps you to realize, manifest, and embody the spiritual communication. The further you go on the path, the more intuition becomes the golden chain link of sanity that helps pull you through the ups and downs of the path. 

But I'm So Confused 

It takes years of practice for many people to get the clarity they need to hear their intuitions clearly. If you haven't practiced trusting your intuitions, start small. Do it with what food you feel you should eat or where to go with a friend tonight to hang out. It doesn't have to be a big thing. Usually, intuitions are small things anyway that build up to big things over time. In many respects a big intuition is called a revelation, and too many of those things completely shake up and change your life anyway. You don't need that yet if you're still working through a lot of confusion. You simply need to start carving out a little space of trust so that intuitions can start to grow unimpeded. Pretty soon you'll start to see a little clearer and feel a little closer to where you want to be. 

Intuitive messages range from an inkling to a strong sign or message. 

Your inner self is persistent and consistent. It will keep trying to get your attention until you receive the message. An “inkling” is like a glimmer or fleeting thought that comes from somewhere inside that you can’t quite put your finger on. A “hunch” is a bit stronger in that you may feel a certain knowing about something. Intuitive urges are accurate information from a higher intelligence. An intuitive message ranges from hearing actual words, seeing a clear picture, or a deep inner knowing. Some people experience intuition as a feeling, others a gut reaction, some experience intuition as thoughts, others see images or have a dream, while some hear an actual message. Become familiar with how your inner self communicates with you. Then you will easily recognize it and begin trusting your intuition.

The best ways to cultivate your intuition are:

1. Be Quiet
Practice taking time out every day to experience silence. Calm your mind with traditional or active meditation. Release your need to think, analyze, and know everything. Listen.

2. Be Open to the gift of intuition and accept what is has to tell you. Many times, our rational mind thinks it has it “all figured out,” and that keeps us from reaching our true potential and experiencing new opportunities.

3. Be Creative
Creativity comes in many forms: painting, writing, dancing, design, cooking. Do something that helps you get into the “flow,” that place where time seems to fly by and the work is leading you. Creativity is an expression of your spirit and goes hand-in-hand with intuitive guidance.

4. Be Curious
When you ask yourself questions, you gain additional insight and clarity. When you ask a question like, “What is the next step I need to take?” Know that you already know what you need to know and the answer will be revealed.

5. Journal
While writing, you tap into thoughts, feelings, ideas and direction that you are not consciously aware of. Writing allows the truth to come forth and is an easy way to unleash and gain insight from your inner self.

Have fun with this and trust yourself. Once you become aware of how powerful your intuition really is and trust it, it will become your sixth sense—as trustworthy and commonplace as your other five senses!