Lesson 5: Be Conscious of Your Consciousness

"Know what is right, and then do it."

This was the theme of one our speakers in church yesterday. He had been asked to talk about his experiences of joining the church, and I believe he said this is something his father used to tell him.

I am always amazed at the congruousness of life--how once you are awakened to the fact that everything in life is connected, you see it everywhere.

Today's lesson, as always, was something I needed to hear. It spoke to exactly what has been going on in my life. On page 6 we read, "We do far too little thinking and way too much doing. Our conscious mind will always have something to keep us occupied. There are a million tasks to divert our attention. There's another thing to do every time you turn around. But take a moment. Stop reacting to the endless bombardment of events and demands and face yourself. Look inside...It's not what you do, but how you think."

There are a million tasks to divert our attention. How true! In fact, it was these million tasks that sent me to the hospital three short years ago.

I still need to be reminded to take time to focus on what is really important and to "stop reacting to the endless bombardment of events and demands." Living stress-free is a choice,and we must choose it every day.

The exercise today is to spend 10 minutes focussing clearly. Take a deep breath. Let go of any tension. Focus on supportive thoughts.

I was grateful that I had already done that this morning. In fact, I have decided to do it every morning, and I will post here what comes up for me. I'm calling it Daily Gratitude.

You see, I realized the other day that I had been doing gratitude all wrong. In my mind, and occasionally on paper, I had been saying, "I am so grateful for this, I am so grateful for that..." But by phrasing it this way, the focus has always been on me. What we should do instead is bring the focus outside of ourselves and acknowledge the hand of the Universe (or God, or Heavenly Father, however you choose to name it) in bringing us all that we desire. So now I am saying "Thank you for this...thank you for that..." I did it for the first time this morning, and it was so powerful.

I also added something that I learned from Stuart Lichtman. Stuart teaches how to effectively communicate with our subconscious mind so that it will bring us precisely what we want. He teaches that we need to reinforce the good things by saying, "Yes, more of that please." That way you are giving positive feedback for the things you have already received and want more of.

As I said, the exercise this morning was so powerful--I am looking forward to doing it every morning!

As it says in Beyond Freedom, "we do far too much thinking and way too much doing." We must stop and think first about what we want to do that will help us achieve our goals. Only then should we act and move toward them.

Or, as our speaker yesterday said, "Know what is right, and then do it."

Daily Gratitude

"And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more." (Doctrine and Covenants 78:19)

Thank you for waking up early and having the energy and determination to get up and get going (more like this, please--thank you!). Thank you for the flexibility of my husband's job that allows him to go in when he wants. Thank you for a husband that is so amazingly supportive in everything I do (more like this, please--thank you!). Thank you for our car--for the technology that brought it into existence, for the money we have to purchase it and keep it running (more like this, please--thank you!), for the freedom it allows us to travel distances much farther than we could walk. Thank you for the gym--for the money that we have to pay for my membership (more like this, please--thank you!) and for the technology that allows indoor swimming pools to exist. Thank you for my parents, who had the money to join the club and pay for swimming lessons. Thank you for all my swimming instructors--including the ones that have written the books and recorded the videos that help me still today. Thank you for my Beyond Freedom, which challenged me to think of all that I wanted to achieve and to start achieving it! Thank you for Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, who wrote the book that changed my life (The Power of Full Engagement) and gave me the courage to step up and become physically active for the first time ever. Thank you to Tim Kanaley for setting the example and showing me that real people can do triathlons. Thank you for my beautiful children, who are so sweet and loving and supportive (more like this, please--thank you!). Thank you for the inspiration and realization that achieving my own dreams sets the example for my children to achieve theirs. Thank you for the technology that brought the Internet, for all the people that created blogging, for the money to buy this laptop (more like this, please--thank you), for the ability I have to type (including my mind, my vision, and my fingers), and for the inspiration to write in the form of "thank you" rather than "I am grateful." Thank you for Habiba Miller and Carol Look.

Thank you for my amazing, wonderful, powerful, fantastic, joyful life (more like this, please--thank you!).

She Only Had One Leg

THE STORY

We crossed paths as I was getting out of the pool and she was getting in--pushed in her wheelchair by one of the lifeguards.

It is not unusual to see a senior citizen with mobility challenges at our gym. The pool is frequently used by them for therapeutic purposes.

As we passed each other, I looked kindly on the woman. She had on a black, full length suit, a flipper on her foot, and a smile on her face. She cheerfully directed the guard over to the first swim lane, which was some distance away from the large open swim area, and set down some swimming equipment. I heard her say, "I'll go ahead and use this one."

That was when I realized that she would actually be swimming.

For some odd reason, when I first saw this woman--this woman with only one complete leg and just a stump at the other hip--I assumed that she would be undergoing therapy. I assumed that she would be like so many other senior women I see at the pool taking a class or just wading up and down through the water.

But when she picked an actual swimming lane, I realized she was different.

I could not help but watch as the lifeguard wheeled her into the water just far enough for her get out and hop along the rail into the deeper water. "Hop, hop, hop," she said sweetly to a young toddler who also could not stop watching her.

I do not know whether she was conscious of my eyes following her. I tried to be discreet--looking only when her back was turned and conspicuously drying off and getting on my sweatsuit at the edge of the pool so I would have a reason to stay.

I hoped that if she did catch me she would somehow know that I was not ogling out of morbid curiosity or even sympathy, but out of deep admiration and respect.

She reached the open area and glided effortlessly across it to reach her chosen lane, and there I stopped watching and turned to go.

I had seen what I had been waiting for.

I had seen the woman with only one leg beat the odds and the excuses and the rationalizations and justifications...and become a mermaid.

THE LESSON

There is hardly any force in the Universe more powerful than an excuse. An excuse will hold back the strongest man or woman from conceiving what is possible and achieving what they set out to do. An excuse will convince the greatest among us that we are small and should stay silent. I daresay that an excuse is, at the core, the only thing that lies between us and our goals.

You really can have what you want. But to do so you must eliminate from your mind all the excuses that keep you from it. "I don't have any money." "I'm too old." "I'm too young." "I don't have enough education." "I'm not the right sex." "I'm not the right color." "I have a family." "I'm single." "My kids are too young." I could go on and on.

The fact is that whatever your excuse, there is someone who is successfully doing what you want to do despite that same excuse.

For everyone that thinks they cannot swim, there is a mermaid to prove them wrong.

TAKE ACTION

Are you frustrated with the results you are getting in some area of your life? Take action!

Today's action step: Find someone who has overcome the challenge that you face and let their success motivate you.

Too old? Colonel Sanders was 60 before his idea for Kentucky Friend Chicken took off. Too young? Farrah Gray became a millionaire at just 15. No money? Dani Johnson was homeless at 19 with just $2.03 to her name and a millionaire at 21 (oh, and she didn't graduate from high school, either). Got cancer? What better example is there than Lance Armstrong?

Remember, if even one person has done it, you can, too. And if no one has done it, you can be the first.

© 2008, Margie Remmers, http://www.YouCanHaveWhatYouWant.com

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