The Impermanence of Temporary Happiness
For a long time now, I have been searching for ways to be consistently happy. Most often, this has taken the form of wanting something that I think will make me happy, like a shiny new bicycle, a shiny new car, a shiny new home, a shiny new man, a shiny new (fill in the blank).
I have had a lot of success attracting these shiny new things into my life. And for a while, I am happy that I have received them and made use of them in ways that made me happy. Pretty soon, however, the novelty and shininess begin to fade, and I am off in search of the next shiny new thing that I think will bring me happiness. Having spent a lifetime in this search, I have learned that “shiny new things” create only temporary happiness.
A Need for Sustained, Long-Term Happiness
So I began to look for a long-term happiness that I could depend on when the novelty and excitement of my newest shiny new thing wore off, and while I was waiting for the next shiny new thing to come into my life. I realized that I needed to take two steps to create this ever-present happiness:
1. Redefine what it means to desire something, to want something.
2. Have a profound sense of gratitude for what is already in my life.
When we desire something, we most often start out by focusing on what we think is lacking in our lives and what we think will fill that void or lack. But when we’ve identified the “void-filler,” we often go back to thinking about how badly we feel because the “void filler” isn’t in our lives yet. This simply creates more lack because we’re focusing on what we appear not to have, not on what we want to have.
According to the law of attraction, like attracts like, so you get more of what you focus on, what you put your attention on, whether it’s something you want or something you don’t want.
A New Way of Perceiving Reality
Now I know that because thought is creative, consciousness is primary, and physical reality is an effect of consciousness, and therefore, secondary. That being the case, if I can think of something, it already exists; I already have it. In fact, I have access to an infinite array of ideas that I can bring into my physical reality. Just because a thing is not physically present doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. It exists in my mind first, and then becomes a physical thing in my life.
Therefore, is there really such a thing as “lack” or “not here” or “no thing”? Not if we accept the notion that the thought of a thing and the manifested thing are simply different expressions of the same reality.
Initially, this new way of perceiving reality, where thought comes first and the physical world comes second, requires an act of faith because we don’t have any experience of thinking something into existence. Moreover, it takes time for the thought to become a thing, and that period of time between the thought and its manifestation is a critical one, where success or failure depends on how we view it.
If we believe that physical reality is primary, then that space of time will be viewed as empty, i.e., we don’t have the thing we desire. As stated earlier, focusing on what we don’t have brings more of that experience into our lives, and we short-circuit the creation process.
But when we view that space between the thought and its appearance in our lives as a gestation period in which the Law of Attraction and other laws are at work behind the scenes bringing the physical thing to us, then we wait with excitement and anticipation, like radiantly pregnant mothers-to-be anticipating our first babies. And when we start having successful experiences of creating something with thought, our confidence and trust in the process starts to grow, and it gets easier and easier.
Old Habits Die Hard
However, because this is a new perceptual paradigm, a new way of perceiving reality, the old habits of perception are going to be dominant for a while. Shifting perceptual paradigms requires vigilance, determination, and consistent effort to make the new paradigm the dominant one. But once that shift has occurred, there is a sense of empowerment, of inner power and confidence, that makes the entire process of manifesting, from first thought to its appearance in physical reality, a joyful and exciting one.
Two Steps Is All It Takes
To keep my attention on what I want to manifest, I often fall back on what I call childhood technologies. I play “pretend” or “make-believe” and spend time each day visualizing myself having already received the thing I desire. I bring in all of my senses – sound, sight, smell, taste, and touch – to create a vivid, emotion-filled movie in my mind’s eye. I live there for a while, feeling how I know I would feel, having already received the thing I am manifesting. At the same time, I must know without a shadow of a doubt that this “conscious creation process” is working behind the scenes to bring me what I know is already mine.
The second step I take is to feel profound gratitude for what is already in my life. I take a few minutes when I wake up in the morning and when I go to bed at night to express thanks for my life, for family and friends, a very nice roof over my head, yummy food on my table, the sunny day, the rainy day, and on and on. There are so many things to be grateful for, and acknowledging them sets the tone for my day as one of fulfillment and gifts received. It also raises my vibration, making me a powerful magnet to attract more good things to be grateful for.
But They Must Be Applied Consistently
These two steps have the potential to keep me happy most of the time, as long as I apply them consistently. This allows me to relax and enjoy life while I wait for my desire to manifest, instead of feeling badly because it doesn’t appear to be in my life right this minute. And when I’m relaxed, it’s easier for me to hear those intuitive promptings that lead me to take actions that bring me even closer to the physical counterpart of my “thought-desire.” An added bonus of doing these two steps regularly is the lessening of the time it takes for my desire to manifest.
Now, instead of my desires coming from a perception of lack, they spring from the infinite well of creative consciousness, and I can choose any one of them to manifest in physical reality. I’m excited and relaxed during the gestation period, and I always remember to give thanks when the shiny new thing does show up in my life.
Recent Comments