"One of the reasons it has seemed so difficult for a person to change his habits, his personality, or his way of life, has been that heretofore nearly all efforts at change have been directed to the circumference of the self, so to speak, rather than to the center." ~ Maxwell Maltz
With summer upon us perhaps you are planning a vacation. Regardless of where you go, it's important to give your mind and body a little time off. With practice you can leave much of your "busyness" behind for a few weeks however, the one thing you can never leave behind is your consciousness. In other words--wherever you go, there you are--your consciousness is already packed and ready to go! The question is, do you know what's in your consciousness? Beyond the degree of your sense of being physically awake and aware of your surroundings at any given moment, your consciousness is the container for the sum of your beliefs, both conscious and unconscious. In other words, your consciousness is essentially bottomless and holds the imprint of every belief you have ever had (from the day you were born until this moment) that you accepted to be the truth about yourself and life in general.
It's ironic that the term "consciousness" is such a buzz word in the spirituality and self-help movement and yet few of us ever take time on a regular basis to truly explore the depths of our consciousness and examine what lies therein, let alone how it got there. Why? Because we are too busy, as Maxwell Maltz infers, obsessing on and trying to fix, heal, change, control or manipulate the conditions (effects) at the circumference of our life rather than dealing with the cause that lies at the center of our life--our consciousness. This is why fad diets and overnight "success and prosperity" programs don't generally work. While they may get some surface results they never last because they are not working at the level of cause--where both our conscious and unconscious beliefs are warehoused--where permanent change happens. The same can be said regarding any other area of our life where we might desire to see a lasting shift take place.
Instant gratification plays no role in lasting change. We build a new consciousness one thought one belief at a time; by becoming the conscious observer of our thoughts and feelings (which are only reflections of beliefs) and challenging the ones that don't serve us in our wholeness and then replacing them with ones that do. The practice is to master the mantra, "As within, so without--as above, so below." We are always becoming cause to our own effect because our consciousness is how we access, personalize, and utilize the universal law of cause and effect. It is the mark of a wise person who remembers that our deepest beliefs are on call 24/7. Consciousness never takes a vacation.
The good news is we can manifest most of our desired changes on the outside if we are willing to first build a spiritual and mental prototype for it on the inside. The other news is, once this shift in consciousness begins, the new belief system has to be maintained like a living, breathing, organism-we can't just build it and walk away from it because it's vacation time; we have to mindfully take it with us. A budding consciousness is like a growing child or pet; it requires our constant attention to sustain it. I suspect we all know that this is true however, I thought a simple reminder of some of the basic principles that support and strengthen a spiritually grounded life might be in order before we jump into summer.
Remember, we keep our consciousness healthy by maintaining it 365 days per year. In your away time I encourage you to stay spiritually engaged: Maintain a conscious connection to Source which is easy to do because, being Omnipresent, It is already wherever you are headed. Consider taking a book that feeds your soul and going to movies that inspire you. Practice mindfulness in all you do--be it driving your car, laying on the beach, ordering a meal or sitting on a crowded airplane--be present with the experience and witness the role your consciousness plays on your vacation. In other words, just remember that wherever you go not only there "you" are...but so too is the sum of your beliefs. Your consciousness really is already packed and ready to go. Be sure to show it a wonderful time--and wear sunscreen!
NEW BOOK release by Dennis: "Your (Re)Defining Moments - Becoming Who You Were Born to Be"