ESCAPE THE BOX

Mental liberation is essential to the evolution of the human species.  The beauty of what we are lies in our ability to create with the power of our minds. It seems there are a small number of individuals who are threatened by a world filled with free-willed people.  So, we are corralled into social media platforms, force-fed lifestyle templates, and programmed to believe we have to live by the rules dictated in society.

Corporations, governments, and religious institutions have created a science out of orchestrating our every movement.  So many people are caught up in the daily grind, trying to survive.  They are blown by the winds and whims of popular opinion, broadcast news, and social media.  A group of my favorite poets called the Watts Prophets recorded a poem years ago titled “Keepin You Doing Things” (https://youtu.be/LmCX80CaCvM).

There are so many environmental pollutants and distractions. If you live in any major city, there is constant noise all around you, all of the time.  Even if you have a get away in the backyard or go to a local park, there is still energy popping off of the electricity lines or cell towers bouncing signals through airways. You could be deaf and still have to encounter the visual assault of billboards and advertisements that are everywhere.  How much stimulation can our human brains take before overload?  I think most of us simply shut down after becoming desensitized to it.  Just because we shut down doesn’t mean the information is shut out.  Our brains are still taking in and processing everything in our environment all the time.

The key is programming your mind, being conscious as often as you can of your environment and what is going on.  Most importantly, downloading all that information by sitting down somewhere in silence.  Yes, I do mean meditate.  There are several methods of meditation, but to reboot your brain you would want to sit in silent meditation for as long as you can. You will surprised at the thoughts and ideas and information that you will observe as you let your mind purge itself of all the junk. It might even be a little scary, but once you let it go, you see how much more clear you will think. You will be able to discern your feelings and thoughts from the millions of ideas floating around in your environment.

Whenever you watch television or a video, you are surrendering your mind to someone else.  Whenever you speak about someone, whether you like them or not, you give them dominion in your world.  Reading is the one activity that you can perform and have full control over what you take in. It’s hard to read something and not judge it. The only people who do not evaluate what they read are people who are programmed to follow and accept what they read as the ultimate truth beyond common sense or logic.

I want to live in a universe inhabited by mentally liberated beings.  People who have mastery over their emotions and reactions are thinking people.  They can tell the difference between their personal issues and the emotional limitations of others.  Mental liberation also looks like critical thinking and always asking why. There is always a reason and a motive for television programming, news items of the day, social media trends and such. We all need to keep our minds on what we can do to realize our potential. No one person is going to be everything or know everything. That’s absurd. As humanity, we have to support each other in becoming our best individual and collective selves. We can no longer afford to invest time or mental energy (conscious or unconscious) into people and ideas that do not serve us as a species.

FORGIVENESS

I took some time off, not from the vision, but the blog.  At first I beat myself up about it.  Then I realized that, although I deserved it, being hyper critical of myself in the situation was not going to illicit the kind of results I need right now.   The break was a necessary part of the process.  I struggle with the discipline of consistency. I forgive myself and move on, vowing to not repeat the cycle.

 

 

Some perceived setbacks are necessary incubating periods. Even to me that sounds like a crock of fooey.  As disappointing as it is to lose momentum and be inconsistent, there is only so much time I can spend beating myself up about it before I have to decide to move forward.  In the process, I chose to love myself through the experience.

 

 

With a military dad and a mother who had a military dad, the consequences of not meeting standards always involved a certain amount of yelling and punitive actions.  Throughout my adult life, I have played and replayed those admonishing voices in my head.  No one has ever been more critical of me than myself thanks to mom and dad.  However, I appreciate the distance it has brought me in life, but I recognize that this inner process is outmoded and needs to be adjusted.

 

That eight year-old in me, the one that works so hard to do things right and please those around me, needs to be motivated differently.  When I do not meet my expectations, I will encourage myself to stand up straight and try again.  I will smile at that little girl who bows her head in disappointment of failure and engulf her in love and acceptance.  Finally, what I have learned is that perfect execution is not necessarily the goal, it is the effort and the intention of NEVER bowing to defeat which is the ultimate achievement. Winning, being first, having success the way others experience it may not be my process.  I will keep trying in the way that I know how.  I am sure I will eventually make it to the model of success that is tailor-made for me.  I thought it would happen sooner in my life, yet I get the feeling that I am learning so much more from this journey that I have chosen.  My mantra is “As long as I’m living, I’m going to keep working toward the vision.”

I forgive myself for not working harder, for lying down in defeat, for feeling sorry for myself and for being lazy.  I do not excuse it. I recognize it and choose this moment to do something about it.  And so it is.

One Great Tool in the Arsenal

 

     Since I found myself in a slump for the past two weeks, I pulled up a book I had downloaded on my iPad two years ago.  I listened to the audiobook about ten years ago and four years ago I read the book.  Completing the exercises in the workbook is a totally different experience.

 

     Doing the work is a much more fulfilling activity than simply reading about doing the work.  This is the reason why we should equip ourselves with as much arsenal as possible in the war against stagnation.  For me, it is a fight, but one worth getting into because this is my life.  I'm not going down without a fight.  I'm not going down, period.

 

     It is possible to go overboard with the self-help books, tapes, workshops, lectures, etc.  So, if more information is being taken in than is being processed, then I would say it is time to slow down.  Take a minute to practice and apply tools before picking new ones up.

BE BOLD LIVE LIFE

 

     When I was three,  I was at a pool party with my grandparents.  It was a wonderful night; there were all kinds of people and, incredibly, they noticed me and made me feel special.  There was a magic show, and I remember having a front-row seat with my grandparents.  The Magician picked me to participate in his act, and when I was about to approach him, my grandmother pulled me back.  Her action was imperceptible to everyone but me.  No one understood why I did not go forward; I was confused and did not know what to do.  All I knew was that my grandmother’s action led me to believe that I should not participate.  The magician chose a half-dozen other kids; I watched as they received prizes, toy balloons and had the best time I had ever seen kids have.  That disappointment set so deep inside of me.

 

    Throughout my life there were so many times that I hesitated and was passed over.  Every time that feeling of disappointment and sadness seethed inside of me.  There were times, however, that I was able to bypass that programming and act.  The swim instructor challenged me to jump from the 12-foot diving board into the deep end of the olympic-size pool.  The only hesitation there was, was me telling myself to go for it.  It took years for me to become comfortable acting without hesitation.  My first impulse is still to stop and wait before I do anything or make any decision.  I have to consciously keep myself present and ready to act.

 

    One day, I want to be able to respond to the situation or request without hesitation and without doubt.  I work to stop beating myself up about that flaw.  Instead, I try to approach this condition of hesitation another way--turn every experience into an adventure.  I challenge myself daily to live fully, boldly and without fear.  The world has become my amusement park.  There is a thrill waiting around every corner and every situation as long as I live up to the challenge of no hesitation.

 

 

BALANCE

 

     Sometimes the greatest obstacle to our success may not be in our heads.  There are circumstances that we are unaware of at times that may contribute to the inertia in our lives.  The state or quality of balance is essential to our ability to move forward: balance of bio-chemicals, balance of emotions, balance of checkbook.

 

 

 

    For years I have dealt with anemia to one degree or another.  Anemia happens to be the imbalance or deficiency of iron from one’s system.  I was aware that anemia caused one to feel fatigued, but I never associated that condition with depression.  For months I have been struggling with trying to get things done in my life, but I just did not feel like it.  I have beat myself up mentally for not completing my projects on time, and I’ve harbored guilt about the physical feeling of not having energy.  I have been to the doctor, but never has my doctor advised me about or inquired about my mental/emotional well-being.

 

 

 

    Despite the oversight of my healthcare provider, I am taking action in creating more balance in my life.  The daily dose of iron has done wonders.  Once I complete a detox, I will be restored to my former greatness.  Exercise and diet, of course, are essential to daily emotional wellness.  There are holistic ways of coping with depression that do not require mood altering drugs.  Meditation is also a practice that can help create balance and peace in our lives.  If you feel stuck in your life and you know you have, and are willing, to do the work then there is a possibility that there is a health issue that needs to be addressed.

HEALING: YOU CAN’T GET TO THE MOUNTAIN-TOP WITHOUT GOING TO THE VALLEY

 

 

     This past week presented me the opportunity to share in the transformational experiences of sisters in my community.  It has been in the forefront of my consciousness that there are numbers of people who are hurting, yet our society encourages us to present our strong and happy fronts at all times.  Even the articles in this blog focus primarily on staying connected with the power within us.  Truth be told, we never know the true power until we allow ourselves to be weak.

     I am glad and proud that these women were brave enough to be vulnerable, to bare their souls so that they may begin to heal.  Everyone has a story and a struggle.  Not to diminish anyone’s experience, but no matter how rich, poor, aesthetically ideal or not, the challenges we face are relative to our threshold for growth and the accompanying discomfort.

     Before I became a fierce warrior woman, I routinely fought depression.  My childhood left scars that I did not know how to begin to heal for the longest.  By sheer will fueled with anger, I managed to accomplish far more than anyone thought I could.  When the anger no longer became useful, I participated in psychological counseling.

     Thankfully, my mother was available to facilitate my healing.  On several occasions, she would help me remember the details of my childhood that I had blocked out.  She was there to apologize and make me look at the rage eye to eye.  My dad too has been open and useful in walking with me down that emotional path I reluctantly go.  I realize that everyone does not get blessed with parents who make themselves available to that healing process and atone for the contributions they make.

     What I have learned is that healing begins with forgiveness.  It did not take me long to realize that I am forgiving myself for holding on to people, thoughts, and emotions that do not serve me.  No matter how wrong my parents were, they were entirely at liberty to extend to me an apology, or not.  I was freed from a mental prison when I released them.  I came to the understanding that they did the best they could under the circumstances.  They were growing up too and made quite a few mistakes, but their intentions were honorable.  From that experience, I become a stronger more resilient young woman.   

     Consider for a moment, before this modern era and industrialization, people relied on healers, ritual, and family to heal their feelings or emotions.  There was far more touching in the form of laying on of hands, hugging, holding hands and such.  People did rituals that brought together the unseen to influence the seen world in a way that made sense to them.  More often than not, there was always someone around: family members in multigenerational households, friends and community.  This new world made us fiercely independent and often alienated from ourselves.  These days we rely on psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors, and life coaches to connect us to the answers that lie within us.  Interestingly enough, our modern support systems all come at a monetary cost.  Few people trust their families or friends.  The courts are filled with families who fight bitterly.

     My heart goes out to those individuals who find themselves locked into a personal hell of their past.  From my vantage point all they have to do is let go.  I let go and stopped regretting a past I did not have control over.  I let go of feelings about situations that I could not logically take responsibility for.  I let go of thoughts, reactions, and emotions that did not match my current living situation.  It is easier said than done.  It takes practice, it takes bravery and it takes strength.

     Guess what?  Many people have had truly traumatic experiences and have found a way to grow and excel beyond the expectations of the people and environments who limited them.  I used to think about the ancestors whose lives were not their own, who suffered at the whims of people who tried to rob them of their humanity.  I think of the ways they triumphed despite the daily attack on their spirit and psyche that told them they were nothing and would remain nothing.  Those ancestors somehow reared generations of people who became leaders, innovators, visionaries and catalysts of change around the world.

     I figured, if Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass had the spirit to overcome physical and mental obstacles, I could accomplish some of the same with more resources.   

BE YOUR OWN LIFE COACH

When the new year begins, I'm so excited about the goals I set and the possibilities I see in my mind's eye. During a good year, I don't hit the blahs until around May/June. This year caught me struggling to remain positive about the struggle as soon as February.

 

Resolution Revolution SNL Skit

Think about it. What is it that is really keeping us from accomplishing our goals? Short of someone physically preventing us from moving forward, there is NOTHING stopping us from doing what we want with our lives.

No money? Find a way to make it.

No resources? Ask someone or seek out the people who can point in the right direction.

No education? Go to the library.

No clue? Ask somebody.

No energy? Eat right.

Bad health? As long as there is life, there is another opportunity to share the thought so that something can be done with it.

I can go on, but I will not.

For every excuse there is a solution. At the end of the day, our thoughts and our feelings about our situation provide the obstacles. Please accept this: WE ARE WHERE WE ARE RIGHT NOW BECAUSE WE ALLOW OUR THOUGHTS OR OUR FEELINGS TO PUT US HERE. Consider this scenario: I woke up this morning and when I thought about all of the things I need to do and the the problems I have to address, I felt defeated. I was tired even before I got out of bed. I asked myself "what is the point?" My grandfather asked me what am I going to do, my checking account is close to $0 and none of the employers I reached out to have responded. All day I thought about it and tried to figure out what to do. I got on the phone and talked about it to my friend who was having similar challenges. By the time I put my son to bed, I was mentally and physically exhausted but had done very little.

The problem with the above scenario is that there was no mention of waking up with a sense of gratitude for having another opportunity to get it right, despite what might have happened the day before. I spent too much time focused on problems and not solutions. To my detriment, turned to someone who got down in my hole of self-pity with me instead of helping me out. Finally, there was far too much thinking and not enough action. Even if the only thing I did was meditate, that would have cleared my mind-space for more positive thought.

Quite often we shut ourselves out from the game before we even get into the arena. Imagine for a moment, we are standing on the corner down the street thinking about the problems, the visions, the goals and the obstacles. We haven't even arrived at the gate! Is it acceptable to dwell on the thoughts "I'm depressed," "I'm overwhelmed," "I can't do it"? No! I have learned how to coach myself. We have to coach ourselves.  I’m not talking about the nice life coach that costs a million dollars a session; I’m talking about the loud coach with the whistle and spittle.  Get in your own face.

I think to myself. If I am not physically impaired, if no one is holding me down, if I have the use of my mind, I can get it done. I think about the athletes who manage to do remarkable things with their bodies. I am training and conditioning to do something as remarkable with my mind. When I begin to resist myself and the things I need to take to achieve my goals, I get really raw with myself.

Things my inner coach says to get my A in gear:

If you do not do this right now, today when will it get done? What else do you have to do that is more important than realize the vision? Your feelings are not going to get it done; action and work is going to get it done!

The pain and the resistance means you are making progress!You are

almost there! Hold it, keep pushing forward just a little longer! Don't

give up!

You tired?! You haven't even made it to the board room! You don't even have a contract to negotiate! Get real and do something or stop lying to yourself.

How bad do you want it? What does your dream mean to you? Is it worth fighting for?

At the end of the day, achieving my goals Is my only real option. The other choice is to give up and die inside. As long as I am breathing, I will do something that will take me closer to my vision. It is that simple. I do not worry about what other people say or think. If they are not trying to help me, they get tuned out. I love what the comedian Katt Williams said about that situation. He said in the face of haters and dream destroyers to "tune in to your STAR PLAYER." My star player  is me. I am my greatest supporter and motivator. I will not say that I do not need anyone or need help because I certainly do. What I emphasize here is that the source of our success lies within us. We have to want it more than anyone wants it for us.

To draw another analogy: this process is like being a recovering failure. There may be times when we fall off of the wagon and take a hit of self-pity, but there is nothing nor anyone who can save us from the sickness but us.

 

SOLITARY JOURNEY



I am an only child, so I learned to do things on my own a long time ago. There are times though that I would like to experience that synergy, that great flow of energy, when a group of like-minded individuals get together and feed off of each other. I have been lucky enough to have experienced it before on artistic collaborations. Those experiences were extremely challenging on an emotional level.   Right now, I am excited about meeting people who are stronger than me, smarter than me, more positive and more motivated than me. I like seeing how other people go about their task of being excellent.

There always comes a time in the process when we plateau or run out of steam.  I have managed to be strong for myself on several occasions, but I still look forward to having someone to lean on. In my quest to connect, I have partnered up with people who have voiced the desire to make change in their lives. That resonates with me profoundly. I get excited and happy form them because I know how it is to want to make progress in life, but not know where to start or have someone with whom to share the experience.

This year, I spent more than $100 on friends who said they want to make change in their lives. That might not sound like a lot of money, but considering my current financial situation, I would say it was a foolish decision. I wanted to encourage my friends and in return be motivated by their successes. Unexpectedly, what I began to hear is how hard it is.

I have been doing this for four years now. My first year, I kicked myself in the ass and said to myself that the minimum I expected from myself was to check in daily with my goals and weekly requests. With my minimum set, I hit the mark 85% of the time. By year two, I had a discipline and the idea in my mind that this is a life or death situation. I do not want to die inside because I do not try. I do not want my dreams to die because I crawled up in a corner to cry and feel sorry for myself.

 



I have learned through my friends and accountability partners that I cannot afford to try and help anyone else, if I cannot help myself. No matter how lonely it gets on this journey, I have to stay strong for me. There have been times when I spent so much time trying to encourage and motivate my partners that I failed to nurture myself. I find it mind-boggling that the more I reached out to help and encourage, the more resistance I received. I learned to step back, take care of me, and in some cases, just keep it moving. I feel bad for doing that, but I understand that sacrificing me does not help anyone, least of all me.

Yet, I see other groups of people who get along well, and seem to thrive as a group. I wonder what is it about me that disrupts the kind of unity I would like to experience. I know that I bring a certain element of conflict. I like to challenge people. I also like to say things that make people uncomfortable because I feel that once we, as humans, step outside our polite facades we are our most authentic. Sometimes people like to compete with me. I try to avoid the competition, but I don't mind it if it makes things interesting. All of those natural human emotions like jealousy, inferiority, and competition are fine with me. My personal process is to internally confront those feelings and turn them into what they should be: self-motivation, happiness for my partners as they are an extension of me, and a measure of what is possible in my life.

I never hold back on feeling good about someone else's success, for to do so would diminish the chances of my own success. In an ideal world, I would find my tribe of people who have a strong commitment to improving themselves to the exclusion of feelings or thoughts that enable progress. Yes, it gets hard. Yes, some days writing a word is like stabbing myself in the eye. Yes, my heart sometimes feels it is being squeezed hard when a friend achieves something I want. Guess what? I keep moving forward. In my mind, I fight those thoughts and feelings like I am Muhammad Ali. I am a bad ass bitch and I have things to do other than sit around being punked by my fears.

I'm in search of other warriors who are in the daily fight to beat down the thoughts and emotions that seek to destroy us. You want to join this army? Are you bad enough?

 





Don't get the wrong idea. I am a compassionate person; sometimes I have to unleash my woman warrior. Thank you for reading.

CHANGING HABITS

By Niki Billingslea

One of the “Eight Steps into the Master Mind Consciousness” states, “I decide to be changed.  I make a decision to surrender my will and my life to the Master Mind (God).  I ask to be changed at depth.”  Another one of the steps states, “I am ready to have my beliefs and attitudes changed so that my life can be transformed.”  Four years after taking my first Master Mind covenant, these words strike the very core of my being.

I think that four years ago I thought my life would change if I simply wished hard enough.  Ignorantly, I thought that my world would change and I would somehow be the same.  I was aware that I would have to do something differently, but I could not imagine that I would have to change.

Have you thought about what it means to change?  I used to think changing my life, my beliefs and my attitudes was merely doing things differently: exercise more, meditate regularly, eat healthy.  Sure, developing new habits help and facilitate a change, but those actions and habits alone do not create the deep change that is required to transform our lives.

Going back to my spiritual leaders, they say that all transformation begins with the thoughts we hold.  We have to root out the ideas that do not serve us and our feelings about the things we want to change but are unable to take action.  That is an overhaul that is no small undertaking. We have so many thoughts in the course of a day that to consciously deal with each seems daunting.

Meditation has become my salvation.  I sit and focus on the quality I am trying to create in my life.  The change that I think I want to make in order to allow for the condition I need to realize my purpose.  I meditate on it, I analyze it and I try to envision and feel it as much as possible.  Then, of course, I take steps to prepare myself for the situation.

An example, in my life, was the time I wanted a specific position at work.  The year before I was offered the position, I said YES to life.  I decided that any and every opportunity presented to me would be received with gratitude and taken advantage of.  All kinds of opportunities were presented to me--some which I had no idea how I could follow through with or fully take advantage of.

After saying yes for an entire year, with my last couple hundred dollars in the bank, and no idea of how I was going to get out of this situation without selling my soul back in a position I did not want, I received a phone call offering me the position I wanted.  Wow.  It was a wonderful moment, not because of the position but because my beliefs about what was possible were transformed.

In that year-long process, I had to push myself to do things I did not believe I could do--I was the technical and media director for a multi-disciplinary and inter-departmental project.  I was way in over my head, yet I honored my word and stuck with it.  Throughout the process, I had to keep telling myself “I am capable.  I can do it.”  I proved it to myself by preparing and learning the software I needed to execute the project.

Not all processes are so intense, but the best are.  A place to start is this web page dedicated to making change “Changing Your Habits.”