Everything I believe is true...or is it?

Hey, how are you?

So, it is almost Thanksgiving in the States.  In Ireland we are just heading for Christmas.  It seems like Christmas in the shops gets earlier and earlier every year.  Kids had hardly gone back to school in September this year when my local grocery shop was full of chocolate Santa Clauses and reindeer!  

As usual, I thought it was crazy.  Even though I know better, I was complaining about how early they start the Christmas stuff to anyone who would listen.  I really believed it was ridiculous...until...Starbucks got in my favourite Christmas chocolate brownie!  Suddenly my beliefs changed.  Christmas should have been earlier!  I treat myself to one of these every week or ten days and now I could have five or six between now and Christmas.  How wonderful!  

So I had a belief, I had been seeing the proof of my belief everywhere I looked and taking about it to reinforce it.  This is how it works.  Our subconscious mind does not like us to be wrong so we usually end up focusing on the things that are happening around us that make our beliefs true.  How you perceive the world is completely based on what you believe.

Sydney Banks is one of my favourite authors. In his book, The Enlightened Gardener he says “Take that rose bush, for example. We are all looking at the same plant, but our perception of it varies according to the way we each think and see. One person may see a vigorous rose, another may see a rose that could benefit from a little pruning, and a third may see a mess that no amount of attention would save. The rose bush isn't changing; it's the way we personally perceive it that differs, the way each of us thinks that colors our perception.”

These thoughts are coming from our beliefs and how we react to the thoughts create our world.  So next time you are choosing to react to something remember you are giving it meaning, whether it be a person, thing or event.  It has no meaning, either good or bad, on it's own.

 Imagine, you are sitting in a chair with your eyes closed.  I come in and throw a glass of water at you.  There are so many interpretations of this...

I could have tripped,

I could be really angry at you and the glass of water happened to be in my hand,

I could have thought you looked very hot,

I could have been just having a bit of fun.

Regardless of my intent, you have a choice of how to respond, based on your beliefs.  If you believe I am actually trying to annoy you, you will get annoyed,  If you believe it was a terrible mistake, you will shrug it off, if you believe I was playing you might throw one back at me!

Your belief can be right or wrong.  You had your eyes closed so your response was all made up, in an instant, in your head.  Whether we realise it or not, this is true of every single thing that is happening around you.  It depends on how you are feeling in the moment and what beliefs, good or bad, get triggered in every moment.

So next time you see something that you generally react badly to stop for a breath.  Ask yourself is there another way to look at this?  Would a different belief about this make my life less stressful?  Is there a better way to respond?

Remember to Live Life Lightly!

Love from