Personally...from the President

Finding Now

We humans struggle so with such earnest and angst about problems, issues, decisions, and judgments, when 99% of it is an illusion. And even that awareness can be equally upsetting.

I've found in my research that this 99% illusion is primarily composed of our inability to or lack of focus on the present moment. NOW is who you are. NOW is where heaven is. NOW is simultaneously the way and the destination. NOW is home.

Take a look at what you have been worrying about. Is any of it actually happening NOW, or is it really happening in the past or the future? One double-edged capability we all have is to put our thoughts and our feelings into the past or the future. If I was to ask you if you are in the present moment when you are crying, you'd say "yes" because that sorrow seems to be heppening right now. If you are in physical pain, you would most certainly claim to be in the present moment, if for no other reason than the pain itself seems to force you there. But this is, once again, an illusion.

Pain, suffering, grief, jealousy, anger, and the rest of what we refer to as "negative" emotions are really all connected together in a sort of past-experience matrix. The fear of pain, suffering, etc. is a future projection connected to that matrix. Pain, especially if it is excruciating, convinces us that the NOW is painful and forces us into a "future" where that pain is gone. And with chronic pain, depression sets in from living in a desperately desired future that never comes.

The big "SECRET" is that we are all hard-wired for joy, and that joy is only found in the present moment. I say "hard-wired" because joy is the basic and primal driving justification for existence. ALL of our attention, intention and our striving is for one purpose, and one purpose only: JOY. As famed mystic and intellectual, Alan Watts said, "Ecstasy, by one road or another, is inevitable." I would venture to say that the reason this is hard-wired is because THAT is WHO WE ARE, and this is reflected in our brain-body-mind.

The "road" Watts refers to is made of decision and intention. We decide to leave the past and the future, and intend to experience joy. The space between leaving the non-present, and entering into the now, is what we call "time". Have you noticed that when you are fully in joy, or even just really happy, time fades away. And yet, when we are in pain, time seems to go on forever.

One conundrum of human existence is that joy is the only thing that brings us into the present moment. It is always an option, and as such is just a decision away. It may be a chirping bird, the sweet scent of a rose wafting through the air, fluffy clouds in a deeply blue sky, infinite stars in a cloudless sky... or, the sense of breathing in the sweet, living air, the faint pulse of your heart in your knees, the wonderful healing heat of rubbing your hands together. Whatever it is, it can immediately bring you to now.

This is a skill. But there is an over-arching principle here that is important: What you pay attention to expands. The more joy you decide to perceive, the more joy becomes apparent, and will crowd out any pain and suffering. Continue to be with joy, and soon your life will reflect back to you more and more reasons for joy. And because joy is who and what you are, this can happen very quickly. Appreciation and gratitude are more skills to apply in getting to now.

The other "secret" that we all really know is what some call "faith", others call "contextualizing". We have "faith" that what we think is happening to us is positive and leading us to more joy, more healing, more happiness. Referring back to Watts' statement that "ecstacy is inevitable," we all get there, either in life or by death.

For example, one person is coping with an aching knee and "has faith" or contextualizes that he is "getting old" and the knee is breaking down. Alarmed, he visits his doctor who runs a couple of tests and although there was nothing conclusive, the knee may be arthritic, and subscribes various drugs for the pain and inflammation. Further alarmed, this person has now decided he has arthritis in his knee, and if he doesn't take the drugs the pain is worse. Soon, x-rays show that the cartlidge in the knee is shrinking, and soon the doctor recommends surgery.

On the other hand... a person with a pain in his knee has faith that it is a new energy pattern to improve or heal a weak knee. The person is excited about having a healed knee, and in a few days, the pain is gone, and the knee feels stronger.

In the first case, the person has stepped away from the present moment into futures of pain and suffering. In the second example, the person has chosen to step into the joy of the now and the healing of the knee.

In both cases, where the attention went is what expanded.

Allow the option of joy at every opportunity. Exercise that skill and it will grow stronger and more effective. Let the pain and worry of life be a cue to find the joy, and soon the Real Ecstatic You is revealed in all its wondrous healing glory.

In vibrant health,

Boyd Martin, President
Subtleenergysolutions.com

Personally... from the President

The Feeling Imagination

A good friend of mine--we'll call her Frieda--recently found out that her car was on the verge of breaking down, needing a transmission, new suspension and brakes. But these repairs would more than total the car's worth. Because she is nearly 80, her friends and family, along with me, pleaded with her not to drive the dang thing as it just wasn't safe. Frieda gave in, and in the next few days came to me very excited about being able to get a monthly city bus pass discounted for seniors.

"I just love the bus!" she'd say, and then head out all over town with this new found freedom. Her enthusiasm for having that freedom impressed me.

A few weeks later, Frieda excitedly strolled up to me, "I've got some great news! A friend of mine has three cars and is letting me use one of them--she's paying the insurance for me!" She had also talked to another friend who owned a garage and had said he would give her $500 for her old car. "But, I decided it felt better to give it to Father Joe's Ministries--they'll tow it, you know!"

At first, I wondered why she didn't want the $500, since she's on a very restrictive fixed income, but then Frieda's story was dawning on me. She was doing what felt abundant and right. And, the bus pass to car transition was equally interesting. She was so into the feeling of freedom with the bus pass, she ended up magnetizing even more freedom in the form of a new car.

Frieda's story is a perfect example of how feelings and the imagination team up together to create a personal reality. And it truly is a team effort. Imagination without feeling--light daydreaming, or escapist fantasizing, does little to move the physical events in any particular direction, except maybe to create more opportunities for escape.

But, imagination WITH FEELING, is a whole other animal, and I know this from personal experience, but now and then it's a good idea to remind myself of it, because it's a two-edged sword to say the least.

The Universe is a neutral medium. As Manuel Ruiz, Jr., the Toltec shaman says, "Life is a canvas. You hold the paints and the paintbrushes. Make your life your masterpiece!"

The Universe is constantly responding to your decisions, your desires, your fears, but most directly to your feeling imagination. Quantum physics became famous for the discovery that the Observer (in an experiment) changes the outcome of an experiment by simply observing it. The implications of this discovery are vast. This ultimately means that you, simply by the act of perception change the way atomic and sub-atomic particles behave.

Research done by the HeartMath Institute has further shown that imagination directly changes DNA, and is able to turn gene expressions on and off. Add to this the discoveries of Dr. Masaru Emoto that water responds directly to human feelings, and that the human body is 93% water, AND, that negative human emotions disrupt the geometries of water, and positive emotions enhance the geometries of water... Well, you've got a deep connection there between how you feel and what manifests in your life.

The way we change our inner emotional state is by purposely using our imagination. Think about that. Now consider Frieda's inner life. She lost her means of transportation, which equated to a loss of freedom to her. Rather than feeling restricted, she chose to feel freedom, and got herself a bus pass that made her feel even more free. As she rode around in the bus, she continued marveling at the freedom she had, and, bippity-boppity-boo, she manifested a car.

The power of the human mind is in the imagination. The imagination is the direct sub-atomic driver of physical reality, and feelings are the amplifiers of imagination.

Note that nowhere here are we talking about doing anything to "make stuff happen." We're just imagining with feeling and then responding. If that ends up being action taken, then it is action in alignment with how the universe is responding to the feeling imagination. To only take action in order to "make something happen," is an uphill battle, because there isn't any power of imagination or feeling (other than maybe frustration, which just slows things down more).

So sit quietly in your heartspace, imagine what your life could look like. Feel what it would be like. And before you know it, you'll be dancing in that world, and it didn't feel like you had to do anything!

In vibrant health,

Boyd Martin, President
Subtleenergysolutions.com