Are we creating the life we want or are we reacting to life. This is the question I asked myself this week, as I dealt with the day-to-day duties of running the business of our Center. As I dealt with the world of finances, it was explained to me that there is a natural ebb and flow in all of life, and financial business is no exception to the rule. Life moves through many cycles. However, this explanation is not enough for me. I want to know: Am I just moving with the cycles or am I creating those cycles?

Since, the cycles of life are experienced and created by all of us, I would have to say yes, I am co-creating those cycles. If I find myself in a particular situation, I might not have created the situation, but I did create my presence there. I am where I am because of who I am, and it is how I decide to respond to where I am that makes all the difference in the world. It is my decision that colors the meaning of the experience, my action, and the outcome.

On the other hand, if I am just moving with the cycles of life in an unconscious matter, I am living in a program that causes me to react. Dr. Ernest Holmes, mystic, author, teacher of the Science of Mind and Spirit once wrote, “We are hypnotized into beliefs (programs) by the law of race suggestion.” Living in unconscious programs is powerless living.

Once we realize that we are in a program or belief system, this is the victory. We have now stepped out of living unconsciously and we can get to work. Dr. Holmes gives us a method for removing ourselves from the program. “The way to proceed is to begin right where we are. It is not scientific to attempt to begin somewhere else. One who understands the systematic use of the Law will understand that he is where he is because of what he is but he will not say, ‘I must remain where I am, because of what I am.’  Instead he will begin to disclaim what he appears to be. As his statements release wrong subjective tendencies providing in their place a correct concept of life and Reality, he will automatically be lifted out of his condition; impelling forces and sweeping everything before them, will set himself free, if he trusts in Spirit and the working of the Law.”

This method explained by Dr. Holmes is the method of taking our power back by realizing that we are in charge of how we think. We can re-program ourselves to think what we want to think. As we do, we will “automatically be lifted out of our conditions.”  Everything is thought and thought is either a subconscious program or a conscious decision. Most of us live in the subconscious program.

So, first, we have to believe that this is a mental Universe, a Spiritual system. Then, we have to truly want to change and we have to be willing to put the time in that it takes to re-program ourselves through meditation, Spiritual Mind Treatment and by taking our mental/spiritual work into life. It takes practice, sometimes lots of it.

“Stay with the One and never deviate from It, never leave It for a moment. Nothing else can equal this attitude. TO DESERT THE TRUTH IN THE HOUR OF NEED IS TO PROVE THAT WE DO NOT KNOW THE TRUTH.  When things look the worst, that is the supreme moment to demonstrate to ourselves that there are no obstructions to the operation of Truth. When things look the worst is the best time to work, the most satisfying time. The person who can throw himself with a complete abandon into that Limitless Sea of Receptivity (the FIELD), having cut loose from all apparent moorings (APPEARANCES), is the one who will always receive the greatest reward.”

It takes a bit of faith to begin this process and faith can grow. It begins with a willingness to change. As we build our confidence through practice, we will get stronger and stronger and finally our faith with progress to “a mental attitude against which there is no longer any contradiction in the mind that entertains it.”

I’ve reached this type of faith in many areas of my life. Scientifically speaking, I’ve rewired my brain to think differently. However, all scientific methods are truly spiritual methods. There can be no lasting change without a belief in a higher or greater Mind/Power that works through us. It takes acceptance, allowing, surrender and continued practice and LOTS OF SELF-LOVE.

Love and Aloha,

Rev. Rita