Ideas to Ponder

Violence has been with us since any of us can remember. It is used exclusively to gain control or compliance over another. Interestingly enough, we as humans have assumed the role of being superior to our animal counterparts, even though we model their behavior when committing acts of violence against one another.

As with many other behaviors which are detrimental to our health and well being, we rationalize, and justify the behavior of violence making it OK in our own mind. We seek out people of similar mind to validate our ways. Individuals with addictions and those suffering from obesity for example protect their behavior similarly. Some behaviors originate from the reactive mind and other people have full control and choose disempowering behaviors because it is easier, familiar, or will get them the result they are seeking now.

Regardless of why a behavior is committed, facts are clear; we have entered this state of existence to expand and evolve consciously. The human state is far below the levels of awareness we have the potential to tap into. The earth is however the perfect training ground for us to transcend. Our purpose for being here becomes clear once you awaken from the material illusion. The only way to step from under the umbrella of materialism is to be willing to take on a new belief system.

Parents have a unique responsibility in that they have an opportunity to instill behaviors consistent with higher consciousness. The challenge they face, is that they must live it there self. An effective strategy then for ending violence is to teach parents & caregivers the importance of removing violence from their arsenal of parenting tools.

It is no coincidence that impoverished communities such as Oakland, California have high murder rates. It is common and normal for parents to spank and hit their children as a way to displace their own inner frustrations. When Life Coaching in these cities I remind people that poverty is not a financial circumstance. It is a state of mind. The state of mind of poverty is likened to a seed which contains many types of disempowering behaviors such as frustration, anger, hostility, fear, judgment, insecurity & violence. Embracing the belief (seed) of poverty will assure you of the accompanying thoughts and behaviors.

Once you fuse with this state of mind, it becomes your identity, at which point your behaviors become automatic ingrained in your nervous system. We are conditioned to act consistent with our identities. Many people become swallowed up by their identities such as the police officer who threatens to incarcerate his child if he does not turn off the video games! Many however, have splintered personalities. They hit their spouse or kids and ten minutes later they realize what they have done and break into tears apologizing, only to repeat this behavior the next day.

Understanding the importance of authentic emotional maturity can not be over emphasized. Aligning our thoughts with our behaviors is key to our spiritual evolvement.

Thinking violent thoughts is in the same category as acting them out. Thoughts are things and impact us just the same. Take for example the patient who mistakenly receives word from their doctor that they have pancreatic cancer and only has a week to live. Within a week’s time, the person dies. The doctor however entered the wrong room and the lady who we told this to was merely diabetic and otherwise fine. False positives are all too common. The placebo effect works similarly. Both demonstrate the power of thought.

The harmless feeling of frustration and anger that you experience while in traffic has the potential for violence. Just like the emotion of love has the potential for empathy and compassion contained within it.

Changing the behavior is a start but never enough. Many people stop smoking & overeating and never address the emotional causes, only to resume later on down the line.

Personal transformation involves becoming a new person from the inside out, which means transitioning from the mode of object referral; basing your identity on things outside yourself to becoming a self-referral oriented person; basing your identity on your essence, spirit. Contained therein are all the correct thoughts and behaviors. Once you condition yourself to go inside for the answer and realize that you are never alone, your correct life will begin to unfold.

Taking time each day to sit in silence is no less important than eating healthy and exercising. Giving your senses a break and giving your spirit exclusive access to the stage of life will accelerate your spiritual growth. It is like two antagonistic muscle groups; the triceps and biceps. When you exercise the triceps the biceps relaxes. When you exercise the biceps the triceps relaxes.

Stepping out of the world will bring you into infinite awareness, peace & calm. During this period of time it is common to experience flashes of insight & random feelings of joy. If you allow yourself to go deep, you will lose track of time, yourself and your whereabouts. When you arise from your meditation, your awareness of everything and everyone becomes enhanced and your intuition is at peak.

The more you visit this place, the more it will seem like home, and the farther you will grow apart from human conditioning.

Come to recognize the disempowering emotions contained within the seed of the ego, such as jealousy, fear, hostility, compulsion, anger, conceit, pride, arrogance, selfishness, guilt, regret, inadequacy & insecurity. Emotions have potential inherent in them. Realize this potential and when you find yourself feeling these emotions, remember the 5/95 rule. Focus only 5% of your attention on the problem and 95% on the solution.

If for example you remain angry too long the odds of you injuring yourself or another person greatly increases. Few people kill with a smile on their face. People who have committed suicide remained in the state of depression, far too long. Learn strategies for changing your state of mind to prevent the negative emotions from overtaking your awareness.

Controlling our state of mind is both challenging and exciting. It is challenging because most people go outside of their self for the answers. What makes it exciting is the realization that the answers have always been within us and the source and supply of help is inexhaustible, patient, loving, nonjudgmental and always correct.