In the final part of this series, we will explore the full potential of the mind in creating better personal realities. We will learn how to use the power of our beliefs and emotions to best effect, while remaining aware of the possible pitfalls of employing these unusual creative techniques. One of those pitfalls is trying too hard to make things happen, which can lead to frustration and failure, but the main challenge we must overcome is the constant resistance of the logical, conscious mind. As we noted at the start of this series, our desire to control our outer circumstances requires us first to master our own minds.
Belief Modification or Cognitive Dissonance?
Once we have recognized the extraordinary creative power of our own beliefs and emotions, and decided to change them - somehow - into something much more positive, we run into an immediate brick wall of doubt. If you are not currently enjoying particularly happy circumstances, then any time you spend believing that things are the way you want them to be is, in effect, a denial of your current reality. For mainstream psychologists (who, despite their years of training, have generally not realized just how powerful the mind really is) this amounts to cognitive dissonance. In layman's terms, you can't live in a dreamworld. And your conscious mind is going to constantly remind you of that fact.
In order to function properly in daily life, it is indeed important to deal with your world as it is. But if you never lift yourself mentally and spiritually above your current circumstances, those circumstances are not going to change. The easiest way for most of us to pull off the necessary balancing act is to confine our belief-modification activities to distinct meditative sessions - times when we do not have to take care of anything in the real world and are free to let our minds go. Once the session is over, we can let its effects linger on at a subconscious level while we return to everyday affairs, without focusing on any apparent inconsistency between the two. But what, exactly, should we do in such sessions?
Creative Visualization and Beyond
Maximizing our creative power requires letting our spirits soar to unprecedented heights. We need to go to mental places that are far beyond everyday reality and feel emotions we do not normally feel. This becomes an exercise in imagination - a skill that many adults left behind in their childhoods but need to rediscover. Yes, it's really alright to lose yourself in fantasy for a while. But don't make the mistake of obsessing about the details of your imaginary experiences. It does not matter whether your dream home is in Malibu or Monaco; it may be one thing one day and another thing the next. What matters here is the quality of the experience, not the details. Change the details as much as you want from one session to the next in order to make yourself feel the way you want to feel. Far from undermining yourself by giving the universe mixed messages (which is how Rhonda Byrne would look at it), this mental playfulness reinforces the belief that you can have anything you want, and that is a seriously powerful belief. This is, in fact, an example of what I call "success by implication": your implied belief in having what you want in general can be more effective than specific beliefs in detailed outcomes.
For logical people - so-called left-brain thinkers - this type of exercise is particularly difficult. The conscious mind keeps objecting that the reality you are trying to live in your mind is unrealistic. Or it insists on everything "making sense," requiring a coherent narrative for your imaginary scenarios. Either way, we need the logical mind to be quiet for a while so we can have the emotional experience that creativity requires. One of the most useful tools to help overcome this tendency is music, especially instrumental music. And the new audio technology of brainwave entrainment can help even more, by encouraging your brain to leave the Beta frequencies associated with waking awareness in favor of the more relaxed and creative frequency ranges of Alpha and Theta brainwaves.
The Two Keys to Successful Manifestation
Over many years of experimentation, my own experience has shown that success depends upon two factors: persistence and intensity. If you are looking to produce long-term changes in your life, you need to make long-term changes in your thinking. In other words, one or two good creative visualization sessions isn't going to be enough to give you a whole new life. But, having said that, the only way to accelerate the process is to boost the intensity of your sessions. This means feeling very strong emotions and really, deeply believing that the conditions you want to bring about are real for you. This is, of course, easier said than done, but when you have a few small successes under your belt your faith in the creative process itself will help lessen the doubts that constantly anchor you to your current reality. When you finally get out of your own way, you will be amazed at what you can do.
If you have enjoyed this series on meditation and abundance, you will find much more in this more complete guide on how to manifest abundance. And if you would like to learn more about the new technology of brainwave entrainment, you will find a thorough review of the technology and the best audio products at Meditation MP3.
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