Tag: beliefs

Book Review

Liminal Thinking

‘Liminal thinking is the art of creating change by understanding, shaping, and reframing beliefs.’

Ever wondered how you ended up with the belief set that’s controlling your view of the world?  I have and, fortunately, so has Dave Gray.

liminal-thinking

 

Dave’s written a book about it: Liminal Thinking.

He uses six principles to explain how beliefs shape everything, and gives us nine practices we can  use to do something about it.

The book is easy to read and understand. I love his illustrations – they might inspire me to try a few myself.

If you want to create some change in your life, do yourself a favour and get a copy of Dave’s book.

You can get an overview of its content and Dave’s philosophy of liminal thinking at liminalthinking.com.

Peter Mulraney is the author of the Inspector West crime series, the Living Alone series of self-help books for men, Sharing the Journey: Reflections of a Reluctant Mystic, The New Girlfriend and Everyday Project Management.

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It is not possible for you to harm anyone.

Another of Jeshua’s ‘it is not possible’ statements to spend some time with.

How often have you believed that something you said or did or failed to say or do hurt or harmed someone? How many times has someone accused you of hurting them?

If this is a true statement, as Jeshua asserts, and you cannot harm anyone – it must apply the other way around as well. No-one can harm you. No-one can hurt you.

How many times have you believed that you have been hurt by another?

I know that I’ve been there. I’ve felt the pain of rejection, the pain of being overlooked, the pain of being the one not picked, the pain of being defeated, the pain of being the one slighted.

If Jeshua’s statement is correct, where does all that hurt come from?

Daisies

Let’s start with emotional pain, that feeling of being hurt as a result of something we want to see as being outside of ourselves. But it’s not outside of us, is it? The source of the hurt is always within – it’s the interpretation we make of the event, it’s our perception of what happened, and not what actually happened, that generates the pain or feeling of being hurt.

If that’s true for you, it’s also true for everybody else, whether they want to acknowledge that reality or not – and there are plenty of us who still want to blame someone outside of ourselves. But that’s okay. We’re all at different points on the journey. Some of us are reluctant starters. Some of us are stuck at various points wondering what to do next. It doesn’t matter. You can always start or restart from where you are.

What about physical harm? What if you hit somebody? Or worse, what if you shoot somebody? That harms them, doesn’t it?

The answer depends on the limits of your beliefs. If you believe you are the body, then the evidence clearly shows that you can harm another physically.

We know from direct experience that bodies can be hurt or crippled, and that sometimes the person associated with that body appears likewise damaged. But is it true that damaging the body is the same as damaging the person?

If you have moved beyond identifying yourself as your body, you will experience a different answer to the one implied by the evidence perceived through your eyes.

I think we would all agree that after his horse riding accident on May 27, 1995, Christopher Reeves’ body was broken – but was Christopher Reeves broken? For me, his life after that event clearly demonstrated that although his body was damaged, he was not. Read Christopher Reeves’ story and make up your own mind.

This is another of Jeshua’s statements that challenges us to push beyond the apparently true and delve into the deeper possibilities of life. And, it’s a reminder that, ultimately, you are responsible for how you feel regardless of the circumstances you call your life.

Frightening at one level. Liberating at another.

As always, you get to choose the level at which you experience life.

If you don’t like the experience – change your choice.

Thanks for dropping by, Peter

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Attachment

‘Loosen up. Let it go!’ fall_silhouette_2

How often have you heard that advice?

When you think about letting go of things, what exactly do you think about letting go of? 

When sages reminds us that we need to give up our attachment to the things of this world in order to open to spiritual or personal growth, I suspect that many of us think about material things, like people or objects you can actually touch.

I’m starting to discern that may not be what those sages mean.

I know there are a lot of things that I am attached to that are not material in nature. 

One thing I reckon we can agree on is that when you leave the planet you leave all your stuff – all the material things – behind. But there is another dimension of things that we are attached to that we may take with us, if we haven’t been able to let go of them. There are some things we can get very attached to that are not material – ideas and beliefs.

I can give up my Tissot watch but what about the idea of time? Can I allow for eternity or do I want to hold on to linear time with beginnings and endings?

I can give away my clothes but what about my body? Can I give up the belief that I am the body and allow for being something else?

I can give away all the books in my library but what about the story of my life? Can I give up the belief that my story defines me and allow for new experiences?

I can say I forgive you but can I let go of the hurt and pain I believe you have caused me to suffer? 

Can I allow for the unfolding of love in all circumstances or will I continue to insist that it all has to work out the way I want it to? Can I give up insisting that it’s the fulfilment of my ten year plan that’s all important and allow for God’s plan? Can I give up thinking I’m in control and allow for Life to live through me?

Can I let go of judging the form of the person or circumstance and choose to see the essence within the form in front of me? 

Our consumer society actually relies on the fact that it’s easy to let things go. The size of our rubbish problem is confirmation of that fact. How many smartphones have you owned? Where is the one you bought three years ago? We even have a name for people who can’t let their stuff go – hoarders. Extreme hoarding is regarded as a mental illness.

But how many of us are idea or belief hoarders?

How many of us have what are referred to as closed minds? You know – minds that are already made up and not open to anything new – despite the evidence. We have a term for people in that zone as well – fundamentalists. We usually apply that within a religious context but it can be applied within any context, including science.

I invite you to spend some time pondering the question: what am I attached to?

Feel free to share your thoughts.

Thanks for dropping by, Peter