Our own minds can create for us an enduring state of feeling blessed… and that same brain can get wired up in such a way that we are conscious of being cursed all the time. We make a heaven and/or a hell with the same ‘components’ of our mind.
As Shakespeare’s Hamlet says, “…there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”
It may well turn out to be my most important life’s work to help us all thrash through how we can choose ‘the blessing of being’ over ‘the curse of consciousness’. Whilst it will come down to the way we think, there are actions we can take as well.
A prime example is choosing with whom we will spend most of our time! When we ‘Associate’ with uplifting and encouraging people, we learn to think like them and mimic what they do too. We’d become a better golfer by playing with those whose game exceeds our own, so why not ‘play’ with people who think more positively than us?
The other major association is the ‘meaning’ we associate with everything that happens to us. Are we being punished for something (according to our beliefs)? If so, we will suffer the curse of consciousness. Or is it something that is not personal, that can happen to anyone, and is part of life on Earth? If we choose the latter, we will become more resilient and will enjoy more of the blessing of being.
Mastering Emotional Intelligence is also going to be crucial for our ongoing sense of blessing. Imagine upping the amount of love and joy and peace you feel in your life – wouldn’t THAT be great?!
But it is the Imagination that is the engine of our future blessing. When we harness the power of the imagination to create a ‘bigger’ future, we can enter into an adventure with the blessing of being at its end. Too many of us have mastered imagining the worst-case scenario – using our own imagination against ourselves to catastrophise. Learning positive visualisation, or creative visualisation, is our most powerful ally in the pursuit of happiness.
A surprising friend on the journey to a sense of being blessed is ‘Organisation’. Being organised reduces stress, improves productivity, and, very importantly, helps us to structure our time effectively. Do you remember a time when you lost your keys? Can you contrast that with the stress-free state of always knowing where your keys are?
Finally, we can fully enter the state of being blessed or the appreciation of the blessing of being when we discover, nurture, and celebrate our unique talents, gifts, and abilities.
Society has a strong interest in homogeny. The more similar we are, the easier we are to manage. This is against Nature. The whole drive of our DNA is to create a unique creature every time we breed! Our very race requires uniqueness to move us forward towards… well, you guessed it, more of the blessing of being!
Make richer associations, master your emotions, harness your imagination, become more organised, and express your unique talent and then don’t be surprised when Life feels like a blessing – the blessing of being.
When you control your thoughts and emotions, you control everything. – Marshall Sylver
