From a Journey to a Lifestyle

According to Google, a journey is “the act of traveling from one place to another.” (This signifies that a journey has a destination and will eventually end.) When a journey is over, one normally returns to where they started. A lifestyle is defined as the way in which a person or group lives. When I first started this blog, I titled it “My Self- Healing Journey” because at the time, 2 1/2 years ago, I thought I would do some meditations, heal my MS and go about my life healed and happy; not really changing much in my everyday life other than adding moments of meditation. Boy, was I wrong!! And I definitely do not want to return to my original destination. I am slowly learning that the changes I am making/will make, will be lifelong changes. I’m sure I will tweak things as needed along the way, but I will never go back to business as usual. I cannot go unconscious in my everyday activities.

What does it mean “to go unconscious”? For me, meditation has been an integral part of my path, but I’ve learned that it can’t be the soul part (pun intended). It doesn’t matter if I’m “enlightened” and meditating 2 hours a day if I spend the rest of my day careless in my thoughts and actions. Dr. Joe (Dispenza) says, “In order to change our personal reality, we have to change our personality.” I struggled with this statement for a long time, because I wasn’t sure what was “wrong” with my personality. As it turns out, there is nothing wrong with my personality. However, I do need to take a long, hard look at how I’ve been living my life – on autopilot. I need to be aware of every thought and every action I perform each day. Not in a critical way, but more as an observer so I can live a life of love. I know that I will have negative events / thoughts in my life, because everyone does. What I’m learning is to shorten and minimize my reactions to them. As long as every moment is inspired by love for myself (first) and those around me I will be living my purpose and the things I desire will more naturally be attracted to me. The question I need to answer is, “Who are you being for the majority of your waking hours?”

When I started meditating, I believed I could envision what I wanted, believe it was going to be mine and the rest would take care of itself. This is a very narrow, inaccurate view of Dr. Joe’s “work”. (It’s work in that I have to be aware of all my thoughts and actions in a day. But it’s not work in that it’s enjoyable and makes life so much better.) Meditation on it’s own is amazing for reducing stress, lowering blood pressure and many other short term benefits. However, meditation on it’s own will not bring about the lifelong changes I desire. It is the catalyst that will stimulate my metamorphosis. “It becomes a practical application. We go back to our meditations again and again – not because we want to heal, but because we went back to our old self. Because we understand that before we can heal, we have to change.” Dr. Joe Dispenza. It is easy to feel positive emotions and love during and shortly after a meditation, but when my buttons are being pushed, how am I responding? Yes, at first it can be exhausting catching and changing the negative patterns I have developed over a lifetime. However, old bad habits can be replaced with new, better habits through practice and repetition.

According to Freud, the majority of our personality is formed in the first 6 years of our life. That’s also when many of our negative thought patterns are formed. When we go unconscious during our waking hours, it is easier to default to those old patterns. Scientists have discovered that it is possible to rewire the networks in our brains to create new rituals to change old habits. One of the most effective and easiest ways to access and begin changing the makeup of the subconscious mind is through meditation and mindfulness. To meditate means to reflect on, or ponder over. I can use meditation to reflect on how I am being in my waking hours and shorten the refractory period after a negative stimulus. And then if I carry that mindfulness into the rest of my day and in all my interactions, that will bring about the changes I desire. It is really easy to go down the rabbit hole of negativity, but it is possible to change and I AM changing!

Body, Spirit & Mind