Life is a Spontaneous Creation

Security. This one idea drives humankind to distraction. We spend countless hours in anxious turmoil pondering whether or not we will have a secure life…will I have enough money, food and a place to live? Will my children be safe in the streets and at school? All this fretting causes us to fight hard to gain a sense of security and then maintain it but there is an idea I’d like to put forth that many might not have considered: security comes from stability, stability leads to stagnation and stagnation is the opposite of living.

Everything changes. The universe is changing, nature is changing, your body is changing, and your thoughts are changing…all life centers on growth and change. Seedlings transform into flowers, caterpillars change into butterflies, and children grow into adults all as life unfolds. To seek stability is to seek lack of change. The more regimented our lives become, the less we grow. We all know people who become situated into a routine. They go to bed at the same time, get up at the same time, drive the same car following the same route, go to the same places, interact with the same people, eat the same food, watch the same TV programs, etc., etc. Over time, these people become “set in their ways” and trying to introduce them to a new idea is like trying to pull teeth. The worst part of it is that this is what so many people think they want for themselves. The average person sets forth on a path to this very destination and they do so because they live in fear of not knowing what’s around the next corner. Life has become so frightening to most of us that we actively avoid living and, instead, simply exist.

The truth is there is no such thing as security in the sense most people mean it. No matter how old you get, how long you’ve been with your company or how much money you have, it can all change tomorrow and, of course, it is this idea that has us fighting so hard to hold on to what we have. Life is a spontaneous creation, though, that is changing with every new decision. How can something so flexible, so plastic, ever be secure? Rather than exhaust ourselves trying to ensure that we have what we have forever, why not work on creating an inner knowledge that we can always create what we choose from each moment? In other words, we live in fear that we will lose what we have and never regain it instead of realizing that if we got it once, we can get it again. This is how millionaires can go broke in a bad business venture and gain it all back within a year. They realize that if they got there once, they can get there again any time they choose. This is known as prosperity consciousness and it is something all of us would gain greatly from developing because it doesn’t only apply to money, it applies to every achievement. As my sculpting teaching used to say, “Don’t worry about messing up something you’ve made. You’re the artist. If you created it once, you can always create it again”.

Developing prosperity consciousness means realizing that you are the one creating your life. Your choices lead you in certain directions and you can choose to regain anything you have lost or you can choose to have that loss be permanent. Just like the artist with his clay, you can form and re-form your life as you see fit. This doesn’t mean the desired results will come over night but if you don’t lose sight of your goal, you will most definitely achieve it.

Miracles Are The Natural Order Of Things

Do you remember being young and marveling at the fact that birds can fly or clouds hang suspended in mid air? You were appreciative of the lush greenness of the grass and the trees and the glow of fireflies on a summer’s night. Remember how, now matter how quickly you tried, you could never catch the light in the refrigerator go off or come on and how excited you were when you saw 6 inches of snow cover the ground? You watched in amazement as the scrapes on your knees healed themselves and, though you didn’t see it, you managed to grow another inch before school started. Life is and always has been full of miracles. 

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How To Pray Effectively

Why do so many people’s prayers go unanswered? It really does seem like prayers are answered in preferential order, since some come to pass and many others don’t. Is God really going by some criteria that we have to meet in order to have our prayers answered or could it be that we’re just going about praying the wrong way?

From my observation, most people pray by begging for what they want. “Oh please let this happen.” Or “I really need this, please bring it to me.” If it’s something really important, we often barter for the service. “If you heal me of my cancer, I promise to always be nice and loving toward everyone!” Sometimes this works but more often than not, it doesn’t. I think it’s because this form of prayer places us in a position of powerlessness. We’re asking for things we don’t think we can attain on our own and that makes us feel powerless and this feeling often brings about results that reflect it. “But I am powerless! I can’t cure myself of cancer. I need intervention!”

Who told you you can’t cure cancer? In medical terms, it’s called spontaneous remission. People are diagnosed with cancer and return weeks or months later for a follow up and there is no sign of it anymore. There are many documented cases of people with Multiple Personality Disorder who have been diagnosed with cancer as one personality but show absolutely no signs of it as another personality. This is proof that we are more powerful than we give ourselves credit for.

The world is also full of examples of people who have gotten things in very unexpected ways. People who needed money for an outstanding debt, rain to soothe a drought, spontaneous healing of a serious illness, etc. These are examples of the right thing being synchronistically drawn to you so you can achieve your goal. Another way to phrase it might be, “The Lord works in mysterious ways.”

So how do we pray in an effective manner? The first step is to decide what you want and why you want it. For example, let’s say you want to pray for money to pay a debt. Why do you want it? The obvious answer is, “To pay my debt” but the real answer is probably more like, “To be free of the stress and worry this debt brings me.” Next, stop giving your power away and assuming you’re not capable of attaining what you want. This means no more begging. No more “Please do this” and “Please bring me that”. Then declare what you want as though it has already happened. “I am now completely free of the stress and worry of this debt because it has been paid in full.” Noticed I didn’t ask for the money, I asked to be free of the stress and worry and that the debt was paid but I didn’t specify how. In other words, I didn’t say, “I now have the money to pay off this debt.” Finally, and this tends to be the hardest part for people, don’t spend time getting in your own way. Don’t tell yourself how unlikely it is the money will show up in time or at all, for that matter. Don’t place limitations on it by deciding it has to come from a certain place or in a certain way. For instance, if you needed $500, don’t assume you’ll get a check for $500 at once. You might get $50 here, $20 there, $100 over there or the money might not even come to you. I spent 3 days in the hospital a year and incurred a bill for $1,200 that I didn’t have. Instead of trying to generate the money, I simply decided it was paid…however that was going to happen. Ultimately, the hospital ended up paying the bill, which was something that had never even occurred to me as being an option.

This method of prayer does work but it takes some practice to get used to. For so many, the idea that we don't have to go petitioning the universe for what we want and that we might not be worthy of having it is a tough one to let go of. My suggestion is simply to try it. It certainly can’t hurt you and it might very well improve the effectiveness of your prayers.

Quality of Life versus Quantity of Life

The obituary tells of 2 men—one died at the age of 90 and the other at age 16. If you had to choose to be one of these men, which would you choose? Let’s delve a little deeper. Matthew, the 90 year old lived a hard life of manual labor. His body was gnarled and painful from the hard work he had done most of his life. He was always in pain and very sick and the amount of discomfort he was in made him very bitter. His attitude caused even his family members to dislike him and he died alone and with no friends. Anthony, the 16 year old, had what most would consider a happy life. He was well-liked and had many friends. He enjoyed plenty of hobbies and interests and was healthy and robust. He died instantly in a car accident. Now which would you choose?

We seem to think that the longer the life lived, the better it must be but this certainly isn’t always the case. Why do we as a society have such a hard time accepting the idea that what matters in life is how much you enjoy the time you have and not how long you’re here? When interviewed about what they regret most in life, the overwhelming majority of senior citizens say they regret not doing the things they always wanted to do, such as travel to a place they’ve always had an interest in, learn to play an instrument, spend more time with their loved ones, etc. You never hear, “I wish I’d spent more time at the office.” Advice like, “Live every moment like it was your last” seems to fall on deaf ears as we muddle through life putting off all the things we enjoy in favor of all the things we dislike.

Is it any wonder that so many people are unhappy? Most of our time is spent doing things that stress us out and so very little time is spent doing things that make us feel good. In fact, we even teach each other and ourselves that we should postpone the things we enjoy until all the things we don’t enjoy are finished, no matter how long that might take. We live for weekends, holidays and vacations. In January, we sit and dream of our 2 weeks off in July and convince ourselves that that tiny respite is somehow enough to make everything alright…until vacation is over and it’s time to go back to work.

I think the mentality goes something like, “But the longer you’re here, the more of a chance you have to change things for the better.” The problem, though, is if you keep doing things the way you’ve always done them you’re just going to succeed in dragging out the unhappiness. In other words, if you’re assuming that living a life filled with things you don’t like is somehow going to give you the opportunity to have a life filled with things you do like, you’re only going to succeed in living a longer life filled with things you don’t like.

To have a different life literally only takes a second. All it takes is to decide to do things differently and then do them and the next thing you know, life has turned around and you’re doing the things you enjoy. No, this doesn’t mean you’ll instantly be able to tour Europe or buy a mansion but it does mean you’ll be able to fill your life with more enjoyable things right now instead of waiting for when you retire. After all, what if you don’t see retirement? My grandfather used to talk about his plans for retirement and how great it would be. All the fishing he would do and the things he wanted to experience. He retired at age 65 and shortly thereafter died. He never had the chance to do any of the things he wanted to do. What is the point in putting these things off when you don’t know that you’ll even be here 5 minutes from now? We keep planning for the future when the only thing we ever have is the present so why aren’t we making it as pleasant as we can?

There seems to be this idea that it’s just not that simple. That somehow life won’t let us be happy that easily. The problem with that thinking is there are plenty of people who do live the type of life I’m talking about and they’re ordinary human beings like the rest of us. They simply made a choice to live a life full of as many enjoyable moments as they could and they act on that decision every chance they get.

I remember hearing a local news anchorwoman telling a story about her son. She said, “When he was very young, around 8 years old, my son said, ‘Mom, I’m only going to take jobs I like’ and I thought, ‘How naive; how child-like.’ Part of me wanted to tell him that it doesn’t work that way but he was so young, I didn’t want to disappoint him. Now he’s in his mid 20’s and very successful and you know what? He did exactly what he said he was going to do. He only ever took jobs he wanted and never the ones that just came along and offered good money. I see now how wise he was when he was only 8 and wish I had had that insight earlier in my life.”

A tedious, stressful life that lasts 100 years or a happy, joyful one that lasts 30. Which would you rather live?