Life Untwisted Blog

Releasing Your Imprisoned Splendor

5/30/2015

The philosopher Gurdjieff once said to his students, “All of you are in prison, and all you can wish for, if you are sensible people, is to escape…if a man in prison is to have at any time the chance of escape, he must realize first of all that he is in prison. So long as he fails to realize this, so long as he thinks he is free, he has no chance whatever.”

Gurdjieff was referring to the prison of mechanicalness that pervades the existence of most of us. That mechanicalness – that reacting to life in the same old ways as your conditioning dictates or as others expect you to – keeps you from realizing that you do not have to be at the mercy of life. You have the power to create your own life.

So, what does this have to do with writing? Everything. In order to write in an authentic way, we must not let ourselves be trapped behind the walls of convention. We must let our spirits be free to express in ways that resonate with the vibrations of our souls. We cannot limit ourselves by trying to express ourselves artistically according to the expectations of others. As writers, being aware of the danger if we choose to work from within this prison of convention is the only way in which the “imprisoned spendour” within us, as Browning describes it, is able to express creatively in the world.

PARACELSUS

Truth is within ourselves; it takes no rise
From outward things, whate’er you may believe.
There is an inmost centre in us all,
Where truth abides in fullness; and around,
Wall upon wall, the gross flesh hems it in.
This perfect, clear perception – which is truth.
A baffling and perverting carnal mesh
Binds it, and makes all error: and to know
Rather consists in opening out a way
Whence the imprisoned splendour may escape,
Than in effecting entry for a light
Supposed to be without.

- Robert Browning

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Are You Proactive In Your Life?

5/19/2015

Are you proactive in your life? Do you take the initiative to make decisions about what you want to experience or do you just react to circumstances?

In Unity we teach that we are responsible for the conditions in our lives. In other words, what we are experiencing is the result of the decisions, the choices, we have made. Of course, we can't control all the world "out there," but we can control the responses we have to it. This is an ability with which we are all equipped from birth—our ability to choose our response to life.

When we use our response-ability to decide on how we are going to feel or think or act, we experience more peace, more harmony. Does this mean that everything will come up roses? No, it doesn't. It just means that we are learning how to dis-identify from those circumstances or people so that we don't hand over our personal power by letting other people or circumstances determine our choices for us.

So if we don't choose to be proactive, what are we doing? We are reacting to life. We are using yesterday's answers to today's circumstances. Why would we do this? Because we are not mindful. We are not awake and living in the Now. We have allowed ourselves to fall asleep on our spiritual journey by "resting on our spiritual laurels."

Our spiritual journey is life-long, 24/7. Our response-ability is one of our greatest tools. Using it wisely eases the pain we inflict upon ourselves and allows us to embrace all the good that awaits us.

What Kind Of Change Can You Expect?

4/15/2015

If you want to change, you have to do the hard work.

Preparation
This means you have to invest energy in preparing for what you desire. You can't just wait until issues slap you in the face. You can't wait until meetings where you plan to discuss issues to give thought about and preparation toward the possibilities. Business meetings are ineffective when everyone is waiting on everyone else to get the ball rolling.

Pay Attention
Change is always fraught with details, and you know the old saying: The devil is in the details. If you want things to be harder than necessary or you want to waste time cleaning up after issues which you ignored, then continue to live in the illusion that things magically take care of themselves.

Get input
Whether you're talking about business or personal, input is a valuable resource. In business, you should always consider the expertise of those with whom you are working. Such teamwork is what makes a project successful.

Communicate
Communication is vital to experiencing change that lives up to your expectations. In today's world, there is so much communication and yet, people fail to communicate when it is sorely needed. Communicating with others, whether you are initiating or responding, is a sign of respect. Initiating shows your interest in their feedback. Responding shows that you respect their efforts.

Change will always happen, but the quality of that change depends on how much value you put on the process.

Why People Hate...

4/7/2015

People hate because they’re too cowardly to face their own fears. It is often easier to lash out at someone else than to undergo the pain of your own fears. Those who are so dead set against others’ for their ideas or beliefs are not really comfortable with their own. Consequently, they try to shore up their confidence in their own beliefs by repeatedly renouncing someone else’s.

Unfortunately, the energy wasted on hate does more damage to the hater than the hated. In order to grow spiritually, we have to have the courage to face our own demons—the fears within us that hold us back.

Spirituality vs. Dogma

3/31/2015

Strict religious dogma is the formatory mind in action. It defines spirituality through the perspective of man asleep, caught in the throes of his fears and sub-personalities. It separates everything into opposites, yes or no, black or white. Religion clings to literal interpretations because the formatory mind functions from a consciousness of security, sensation, and power. These are considered the three lower levels of man’s experiences and reflect a man asleep. Security and power create an “us vs. them” mentality, and sensation creates the opposites of boredom vs. thrills.

The religious formatory mind does not have the capacity to understand the intricacies necessary for spiritual thought. Spiritual thought requires the ability to blend those opposites into a new understanding and to think from a place which is free of negative emotions and preconceived notions. Spirituality requires a mind open to ideas that have never been considered before, ideas that carry you into new levels of experience, understanding, and love.

Don't Let Your Clothes Speak For You

3/24/2015

A most interesting paradox in our culture is connected to fashion choices, especially those made by teens and young adults. Everyone wants to be in fashion. So everyone hurries out to buy the latest fashion. Yet the driving need to be different, to be special, can’t be ignored so someone adds an extreme element to the current fashion. It catches on, and now everyone, at least in that age group, is doing it.

What’s the problem here? In trying to fit in, you become mediocre. Then, in trying to be special, you simply lead the pack into another mediocre expression. In other words, trying to fit in or to be special through fashion or any other outer means only winds up making you seem just like everyone else on the surface.

Wear what you like, but don’t let your clothes speak for you. Be yourself. Step up to the plate and be a responsible, compassionate human being. Think for yourself. Never judge others by what you see. Give them the same benefit you would want: look beyond the surface for the wonderful person whose clothes don’t even come close to expressing their beauty.

Marriage Is A Juggling Act

3/17/2015

What I’m about to say may sound crazy, but it isn’t. It’s a well-accepted concept among those who study the human psyche. Of course, anything you’re not willing to consider sounds crazy, so just give yourself a minute to think about this if you haven’t already.

Almost everyone, if they think about it, whether male or female, understands that they have an invisible partner. If you are male, you have an invisible partner that is female. If you are female, you have an invisible partner that is male. Where do they live? They live inside us and emerge through our attitudes. You can’t see them in the mirror. Now here is where it gets a little sticky. We each have a relationship with this invisible partner within us. Since this relationship is not acknowledged by most of us on the planet, something else is put in place to make us aware of it. If you are wondering what this something else is .... read on.

You can always tell how much collaboration there is between your invisible partner and you by what you think and feel about the visible opposites in your life. This is the real hidden purpose of marriage. It’s not how to get along with the person with whom you live. Marriage is the in-your-face way you are shown how well you get along with your invisible partner. I know that at first, this sounds crazy. Yet, the more you think about it, and I mean REALLY think about it, the more you will agree with me.

So the problem in relationships is never between two physical people. The problem arises from the relationship between thoughts and feelings — your inner male or female. If what you think and what you feel are at war, then more than likely, you are saying one thing and feeling just the opposite. There is no true marriage between what you think and feel.

Do relationships serve a purpose? Yes they do! They are the something else that gives us in-your-face feedback about the kind of relationship we are having with the inner opposite that hides behind our face.

Is this an over-simplification of the idea of hidden personalities and how they affect relationships? Of course it is, but at least it offers an incentive to examine relationships from a higher perspective. Marriage may be a juggling act, but knowing how many balls (personalities) you’re juggling can keep you from getting bonked on the head by one of them!

© Williamsen

How Do You Eat An Elephant?

3/10/2015

So much has been written about goals that I hate to even bring up the subject; however, there is an approach toward goals that can create obstacles rather than support forward progress. Let me explain.

Lack Of Clarity Not Uncommon

Often there is great emphasis put on long term goals. You are asked to define them specifically and hold tight to this image. This is just fine if you have tremendous clarity about what you want. If you are young and preparing for your higher education, and you know that you want to be a doctor of pediatrics and practice in a small town, then congratulations on your clarity!

However, most of us find ourselves over the years in situations that are not so clear. Let’s say that you are working in a job that doesn’t challenge you or even utilize your skills or strengths. You have never trained for a specific field, but you are a quick study. You have never met a challenge in any field you’ve encountered that you couldn’t handle. You’re sick of the job you’re in, and you want something that will bring out your passions. You have thought and thought, but you can’t figure out what job or field would allow you to use your skills and excite you.

So, how do you set a specific long term goal when you’re that unclear? You don’t. You can set a goal, but it has to outline your emotional and intellectual desires and not how they would manifest in the real world. You can desire a position where you can utilize your skills (write them out) and where you can be innovative. You can desire one about which you can be excited every day. It is good to establish these features of the position you desire; however, anything else at this point will only serve to separate you from your good. Forcing yourself to fill in the blanks is like trying to push a round peg into a square hole. It doesn’t work, and it won’t attract your true heart’s desire.

One Bite At A Time

There’s a joke that asks, how do you eat an elephant? Answer: one bite at a time. The same is true for goals, which means that the best approach when you lack clarity is to create clear short term goals. This is akin to “putting one foot in front of the other.” Take the most important of your skills, the one you enjoy doing the most, and begin doing research to find out how this skill is used in the marketplace. Stay with this short term goal until you feel a greater connection between your skill and the job market. Continue to refine your options by researching each of the skills you feel are important to your broad, long term goal until you home in on the possibilities. Then you are in a position to fill in the blanks in your long term goal with specifics that resonate with you.

My example was job-related, but the principle works in our day-to-day as well. Unless you have absolute clarity about what you want, don’t force yourself into a corner with artificial desires. Make sure they resonate with both your intellectual and emotional desires, and never be embarrassed by lack of clarity about something. Just take it one bite at a time.

You Have A Right Not To Flip Out!

3/5/2015

I knew this guy once who was always angry. If I carried on a conversation with him, I would find myself getting angry. I finally had to admit that I enjoyed being around him because he made me feel angry. It felt really good to be angry; it made me feel more alive.

So, here’s the deal, anger has a certain attracting power because it needs it to survive. Outer circumstances that can stir up feelings of anger are actually feeding it if we give in to the feelings. Like anything else that is alive, the anger within us needs food.

Anger, like all emotions, knows how to survive. It has an innate intelligence. It defends itself by using our intellect to rationalize that anger doesn't harm us, that anger is just a natural reaction when someone crosses us. When we succumb to this brainwashing, anger would do a happy dance if it could because we have just given it a “shot in the arm,” so to speak. We have diverted our energies to support it.

There are no accidents. Anger does serve a purpose, but it is not to attack the people or circumstances out there. Instead, we need to separate from the world of experience and take a hard look at this borrowed emotion called anger. As I said, it is what is drawing those outer circumstances to us that are supposedly making us angry. In the Bible, it says to “love those whom you hate or do you harm.” Why do you suppose that is? It is because these persons give us the opportunity to pull anger out into the light and take a good look at it.

I am no different than anyone else on this planet, but I do want to make the best use of the time while I am here. One of the things I can do is recognize that anger is an emotion that I borrowed from the example of those around me when I was young and accepted as part of who I am. In truth, it blocks my ability to create a better life, whether that is emotionally, mentally, or physically.

So what would you be like if no person, place, or experience could make you angry? I don’t know, but don’t you think it would be an interesting experience? Just the idea that you could decide what person, place, or experience has the power to make you angry would be a MindSlap! Would you be the same person you currently see in the mirror?

None of us has a full knowledge of the power of choice, but wouldn't it be interesting to see what would happen if you lived your life expressing this power? Rather than flipping out, you would more likely demonstrate the message in the song “Don’t Worry. Be Happy!”

Is Service A Lost Art?

3/3/2015

Has the value of service been lost over the years? I think so. This loss becomes especially evident when I go to a restaurant and the waiters act as if they are doing me a favor to take my order. Have you ever experienced waiters who are so locked up in chatting among themselves that when they’re forced to serve you, the look on their faces makes it clear that you are simply a nuisance? Maybe you’ve taken your car to be repaired, and the mechanic repairs the wrong thing. Whose fault is it? Ours, of course! What about the pharmaceutical companies who are supposed to be serving the greater good and yet, they take no responsibility and have no concern about the risks to their customers as long as their bottom line is lucrative.

Service no longer means what it did at one time. Today, it seems to mean doing as little as possible and getting as much as possible for it. Unfortunately, there’s a price to pay for this for the person who thinks this way, but also for the ones of us who have to put up with this skewed perspective.

Years ago in grade school our teachers taught us the dangers of being a Me First person. They said that this attitude was driven by selfishness, and selfishness does not care how it disturbs or affects anyone else. They taught that the consequences of living life with this self-centered attitude was to become a loser in the things that really matter. Although my didn’t say this and perhaps didn’t even realize it, she was teaching us the way of being in harmony with the natural order of experiences by having the right attitude.

So what difference does it make if we’re in harmony with the natural order of experiences or not? Well, it isn’t about philosophy; it’s about the quality of the experiences that you will attract to yourself if you continue to act selfishly. Life is energy, and energy attracts its own vibration.

If you want to spend your life fighting for what you want, keep on taking the Me First approach, and you will have to literally force what you desire into your experience and use the same Me First energy to keep it there.

So, can a Me First person change? Sure. Everyone can change, but it won’t happen in a flash. I am not going to lie to you: a Me First attitude is usually such an habitual way of being that when it goes into action, it is like a soft breeze that you don’t even notice. Shifting from this attitude will take time, but it will change your life.

If we all take stock of ourselves and eliminate the selfish personality within us, it would change the world. Don’t jump to conclusions, though, and think I’m talking about the need for each of us to work steadfastly on improving ourselves as being a selfish act in itself. It isn't. It’s only when you are looking out for your interests without concern at all for others that it is selfish.

© Williamsen

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Life can become so twisted
at times that we lose the balance in our lives and don't even know it until we land face down in the garbage we've accumulated.

"When we untwist our lives, the walls become halls." - Life Untwisted

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