Thoughts are Not Reality

I am enamored with the mind, the brain, all things within that magical space contained within the hard-headed skull at the top of our finite shapes. In my quest to clear out all things creating roadblocks in my life, heal them and free myself, I turn once again to the mind and the gazillion thoughts that roam the halls up there. This means, of course, I need to identify the obstacles, aka opportunities, face them, pull those suckers out and help others along the way do the same.

I realize there are multitude of books and ideas of how to do this but since this is my life, this is my version using my friend, Cecil's, intriguing input, among others. First, I pick my objective. That’s a laugh as usually it picks me. Today, for this blog, it will be my good ole’ friend, Fear of Financial Insecurity. We’ll call him FoFi for short. FoFi, which I am convinced initiated from past lives and a nudge in this one, is becoming an interesting character to me.

Meeting with Cecil for one of our brain/mind collaborations, he shared his latest enlightenment of how to change our mind and thought process, by realizing how Thoughts Are Not Reality. You know by now I gobbled that up like a hungry tiger.

However, it reminded me of Edgar Cayce, the great mystic, who would say, “Spirit is the life, mind is the builder and the physical is the result. For, thoughts are things.”

Now I have these two supposedly opposing thoughts; Thoughts are Not Reality and Thoughts are Things. This made me ponder about other concepts about the mind and thoughts I have heard over these years. There is also the idea that we are all living in illusion. But that’s another topic for another time.

For example, there is the idea that we, humanity, is behind the weather. IE: the more angry or hateful humanity is, the worse the weather so more storms, tornadoes, hurricanes, and such. Their solution is to think/feel peace, kindness, love and weather will calm down.

Another popular adage is: Think it, Write it, Do it. There are so many interpretations of how to deal with thoughts, and we have to pluck our way through them, finding the ones which work for us. There were many thought slogans when I was attending AlAnon which helped me make it through the day: One Day at a Time, First Things First, Let Go and Let God. All did, and still do, work wonders when I remember to use them. I believe I use them differently now. I think them, visualize the outcome, feel the peace they bring and let them fly the pain away.

I believe it was all of these, plus so much more, which have been with me on my journey to understanding the workings of the mind. I consider those roadblocks, those hangups, fears we’ve carried with us our whole lifetime, are only thoughts camouflaged as real.

When Cecil was sharing his newest revelation, I was eager to give it a try. First, he gave me an example of how to start out. He would stop and take note of what was happening which was making him uncomfortable. He would get curious about the actual situation. Were his reactions to what he was thinking or what was reality in front of him? His next task was to take note of what truly was happening. For example, he might be in a car at a stoplight, safe and sound, not at all a panic attack inducing moment. Following this realization, he could easily change the thought process going on.

Interesting idea, isn’t it? It became clear to me where this road would end, right at the feet of my sparring partner, FEAR, false events appearing real. Yep. Thinking of those hangups of mine always leads me down one of those cobweb strands to the center of the web, fear, hiding in the corners of the tunnels of my mind. Passing the webs and searching further down a tunnel led me to the golden reward...Trust! Who was it that taught me not to Trust all would be well anyway?

It has been so easy to think of myself in a negative way, leaning into those lies I have believed for so long, accepting them as truth. I can carry those thoughts/beliefs through to the end to become truth but I do not need to do that anymore. That thought is not reality.

The fact is soul contracts start our life’s path with the winding, yellow-brick, Wizard of Oz road, stretched out ahead. The coolest thing is Change becomes a magical trick up our sleeve, if we use it, because a different choice can alter the outcome leading us to find our way to Trust.

I have learned I can take those negative thoughts floating in my maze and take charge rather than letting them lead. I become the leader of my own thoughts. My life is changing because of it, including dealing with that ole’ buddy, FoFi. We laugh a lot more now as he doesn’t stir up fear like he has before. Trust is a gleaming, golden light at the other end of the tunnel and I am getting closer.

To reiterate: When something around me feels out of whack, it’s a good time to get curious about it, feel around to understand it more, is it real or a reaction to a thought. If necessary, I’ll remind myself it is only a thought, not a truth. That is the important point in this theory. Another angle could be; What is the gift it is giving me? What opportunity is it asking me to overcome?

For me it’s time to take control of it, understanding reality vs what the mind is feeding me. It’s time to imprint a new thought, one that is more fitting to my present reality. Consistency is the key. Now, for instance, whenever Fofi appears, knowing he has lost his hold on me, he accepts it and joins my visualization of him dancing around with me, laughing, joyful. I’m not totally free yet but I am close. I will never give up.

I feel it necessary to tell you of this old legend of the Middle Ages I read about recently.

“It seems that a citizen was arrested by one of the barons and shut up in a dungeon in his castle. He was taken down dark stairs, down, down, down, by a ferocious-looking jailer who carried a great key a foot long. The door of a cell was opened, and he was thrust into a dark hole. The door shut with a bang, and there he was.

“He lay in that dark dungeon for twenty years. Each day the jailer would come, the big door would be opened with a great creaking and groaning, a pitcher of water and a loaf of bread would be thrust in and the door closed again.

“Well, after twenty years the prisoner decided he could not stand it any longer. He wanted to die but did not want to commit suicide, so he decided the next day when the jailer came, he would attack him. The jailer would then kill him in self-defense, and thus his misery would be at an end. He thought he would examine the door carefully so as to be ready for tomorrow and, going over, he caught the handle and turned it. To his amazement the door opened, and upon investigation he found there was no lock upon it and never had been, and for all those twenty years he had not been locked in, except in belief.

“He groped along the corridor and felt his way upstairs. At the top of the stairs two soldiers were chatting, and they made no attempt to stop him. Passing other guards, he walked out a free man and lived happily ever after. He was a captive, not of stone and iron, but of false belief.

“We are all living in some kind of prison, some of us in one kind, some in another; some in a prison of lack, some in a prison of remorse and resentment, some in a prison of blind, unintelligent fear, some in a prison of sickness. But always the prison is in our thought and not in the nature of things.”*

I immediately saw one of my dark, dingy prison cells from the past filled with light and bright, colorful flowers, the door flung open to freedom. It’s all about choices, right? I, for one, am choosing to walk up those stairs hand in hand with Trust, leaving the Prisons of False Beliefs behind.

Come with me now. It’s time to choose differently. Climb out of the Prisons of the Mind, leaving the lies behind. Walk forth with confidence, knowing the patterns are broken. Believe in the power of Change

“I release you now. Your control on me is finished. I am free!”

Roda Grubb

Still Asking, Still Learning, Still Becoming

*The Mental Equivalent by Emmet Fox, p. 36