Mindfulness Archives - Journey Mindfulness

How to Manifest the Life You Want

by jimmeditates | Dec 27, 2023 | Uncategorized

Much has been written about manifestation, but I will start by sharing some of the best words and insights that I have found on the topic beginning some thoughts about love and fear. As Alana Fairchild writes on Peace and Prosperity in her Angelic Lightwork; “Healing fear requires love. Fear might relate to financial security, abandonment, hurt, or losing a loved one, cherished treasure or rare opportunity. To the insecure and uncertain part of us, fear might seem like the most sensible response, as though it will protect us. In reality, fear is counterintuitive. It closes us off and prevents us from remaining open to the abundance and generosity of the universe. At times, we need to decide whether we will give in to fear and put off our growth to another day. This is always our choice to make. Instead, we can move into the realm of the heart, choose to remain open, ask for clarity and run the joyful, challenging risk of becoming more fully alive. Your commitment to your aliveness will manifest what is best for you. Many gifts lie unopened on the path ahead. Ask for what is rightfully yours and continue to make your journey with peaceful knowledge in your heart.”

If you are open, here are some of the more notable teachings I have found helpful on the topic of Manifestation. As we head into the year 2024, which will be a very transformational year, these guidelines can help you start to create the life you want to live. We will start with Bashar, as he has become one of the more influential voices I have been consuming on the topic recently.

Bashar, is a dynamic multidimensional entity (Extra Terrestrial being, yes, like E.T.) channeled by writer, film director, & producer Darryl Anka. He is an amazing channeling talent, has been doing so for nearly 40 years, and if you have any doubts about his authenticity & ability, I suggest you simply listen to his teachings and lectures in many YouTube clips and podcasts, and see if Bashar’s words resonate with you. I personally find it tremendously authentic, and through Jungian synchronicity is how our podcast, Brave Journey Within with Jim & Jenn was created, which I share in the latest episode here.

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Bashar’s Formula-

1.) Act on your excitement, your passion, whatever is most exciting to you, in the moment. Do this every moment that you can.
2.) Do this to the best of your ability. Take it as far as you can go until you cannot take it any further.
3.) Act on your excitement/passion with absolutely no insistence, assumption, or expectation of what the outcome should be.
4.) Choose to remain in a positive state regardless of what happens.
5.) Constantly investigate your belief systems. Release & replace the un-preferred beliefs: fear-based beliefs, and the beliefs not in alignment with who you prefer to be.

I was reading Bashar’s formula and journaling about changes I wanted to make in my own life when I came up with the idea to start a podcast as something that would both challenge and excite me. One of my awesome client’s pushed back on me one day when I expressed doubt that a new podcast would fare well in today’s saturated market- specifically on the idea of non-attachment to outcome. Fact is when I was a guest on a podcast I enjoyed it tremendously. I had far more fun than I thought was possible. I was fearful of speaking in public and putting myself out there, which is precisely why I set out to give it a try. Do hard things and you will be rewarded.

The next step was meditating on my idea and I decided to bring in a strong Divine Feminie energy to balance out my masculine energy. Jenn Palmer, my wonderful co-host, is also a teacher to me as well as a seasoned Intuitive Energy Healer. She has special intuitive & psychic gifts that augment her energy healing and I thought her perspective would be a tremendous addition to the show, which it is. When we had our first meeting about the potential of a podcast, I sat down in her office, and the first words out of her mouth were something about watching someone called Bashar on a popular podcast called Next Level Soul. In that moment, I laughed out loud, because Bashar and his formula was literally the reason I was sitting in her office. That was a synchronicity, and the validation I needed to proceed with the show’s creation, and which Bashar states will explode once you start paying to signs and notes from the universe. Be skeptical, but be open to give this formula a real shot tto see for yourself if it works for you. Better yet please let me know if you get real results as well, as we would love to highlight them on our show.

If you wish to learn more about Darryl Anka and his remarkable UFO sighting in West Los Angeles in 1973 and how he became an inspirational and internationally renowned channel you can watch his documentary, First Contact on YouTube for free here.

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The next master teacher I want to highlight is Neal Donald Walsch, author of Conversations with God, An Uncommon Dialogue, Book 1 (1996) has a interesting take with his Be, Do, Have model.

Be, Do, Have, Paradigm.

Start where you want to end up. Be loving, Be happy, Be secure. Choose with intention how you want to BE. Before you walk into any moment decide to be happy, secure, and loving, then you will say, think, and do things that are happy, secure, and loving.

Walsch views The Secret, or The Law of Attraction as “sand-box metaphysics,” seeing how the book/movie focuses on the material, instead of things that actually matter in terms of higher consciousness such as World Peace, Love, and Safety on our planet. He says this tongue in cheek and nonjugmentally as he was in the movie, and focused on manifesting material things for years like so many of us. The allure of our dream houses, cars, wealth, and romantic partners that emanates from our imagination can lead us astray from things that actually matter and align with our values.

Now Walsch would say that if you focus on being love, joy, peace, and those types qualities in your life, then the rest will take care of itself in a way. The outer world being a mirror or reflection of your inner world. As within, so with out.

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness: and all these things will be added unto you.” – Matthew 6:33

My own interpretation being if you bring in the Kingdom of Heaven into your heart in the here and now then all other things, i.e. love, health, love, and abundance will manifest in a state of flow.

Walsch is a wonderful teacher, obviously he says some things that will challenge your belief systems, but that is what makes him great. One thing he talks about is the Platinum Rule, which is to “Do unto others what they would have you do unto them.” Something to contemplate as you ponder these aspects of being.

Also, “nothing that is human lacks dignity, only the way in which you hold it and do it.” N.D.W. Wherever you are in life right now, never lose sight of your own intrinsic value and worth. You are loved eternally.

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Dr. Joe Dispenza, New York Times best-selling author, researcher of epigenetics, quantum physics & neuroscience. He gained notoriety in the 2004 film What the Bleep Do We Know, which Wikipedia, the arbiter of truth (sarcasm) affectionately calls a pseudo-scientific film. That film resonated with me deeply although I could not put it into words at that time. You alone have to decide for yourself what resonates with you as authentic or true in your life. I will say this, the more spiritual I have become the more interested in science I have become. Spirituality intersects with science. Hence, Disnpenza’s work is quite interesting as it has evolved over the past twenty years.

Dispenza’s formula for creating the life you want to live has to do in part with creating heart coherence, something akin to metta or loving kindness mindfulness meditation. When you achieve this state through meditation your vibrational field and resonance starts to heal yourself and interact with the quantum field. There is a great deal of science and research behind his claims that you can look up but I will share the formula here. In very simple terms:

When you Create a CLEAR INTENTION + ELEVATED EMOTIONS = A NEW ENERGY.

So for example, a better job with a greater salary might be match with the emotion of feeling empowered. When you have written this down and sit in a meditation and truly feel into that intention, it creates a new energy, interacting with the quantum field that brings in the new job into your being. Thus, you begin to magnetize yourself to the opportunities you are seeking. One way this resonates with me is what Dr. Joseph Murphy said in The Power of your Subconscious Mind (1963), … “remember always, what you are seeking is also seeking you.”

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Dr. Joseph Murphy, was a new thought minister known widely for his affirmative thinking philosophy.

According to Dr. Murphy, the best time to impregnate your subconscious mind is prior to sleep and upon waking. Ideas worth remembering… The feeling of health produces health, the feeling of wealth produces wealth, how do you feel? You avoid conflict between your conscious and subconscious mind and the sleepy state. Imagine the fulfillment of your desire over and over again prior to sleep. Sleep in peace and wake in joy.

It was never intended that you should lead a life of indigence. You can have wealth, everything you need, and plenty to spare. Your words have the power to cleanse your mind of wrong ideas and to instill right ideas in their place. This process of transforming self-defeating core beliefs.

Some key points-

1.) Deposit thoughts of prosperity, wealth, and success in your subconscious mind, and the latter will give you compound interest.

2.) Your true source of wealth consists of the ideas in your mind. You can have an idea worth millions of dollars. Your subconscious mind will give you the idea you seek. (This idea speaks to our innate ability to create infinite possibilities in our lives).

3.) Envy and jealousy are stumbling blocks to the flow of wealth, rejoice in the prosperity of others.

4.) The block to wealth is in your own mind destroy that block now by getting on good mental terms with everyone.

Dr. Murphy’s Affirmation: “By day and by night, I am being prospered in all of my interests.”

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Julie Poole, Bsc; SQHP, a hypnotherapist and author of From Hoping to Having: the ‘3 Rs’ to Create Your Best Life- Remember, Reset, Receive (2022). Her book is wonderful, she has a really great personality that comes across in her audio book. She like others scoffs at the utilization of the term “Law of Attraction” as not a law but simply a reality. Thoughts are things. You either feed the bank of love and prosperity, or fear and lack. You choose, so choose wisely.

1.) Remember– One of the important things to REMEMBER is that you are an individuation of God, as a creation of God (or the Universe). As such you are very powerful, this concept is often described as the Mighty Divine ‘I AM’ Presence. So in order to manifest, one must remember who they are, and by who they are realizing or remembering your I AM presence. So you can call in this presence by saying: “I AM calling upon the divine intelligence within my being to come forward, you allow all the answers to flow to you empowering you into appropriate action.”

2.) Reset– This part involves establishing healthy boundaries. The only approval you need is that of your own. You matter. “I can please others, but not at my detriment. I matter, my needs matter, my desires matter, my opinion matters, my inner calling matters, my path matters my choices matter my heart matters.” Seek your own approval, and release all fear and negative beliefs and emotions that are not serving your highest good. You can work with energy with your intention by saying “I ask to release all negative energy, emotions, and self-limiting beliefs.”

3.) Receive– Aspects of this are fairly self-evident but worth mentioning. Kindness to yourself and others is a valuable way of being and helps emotions (energy in motion) flow.

“Energy expands itself, always.

What you think about, you bring about.

Thoughts become things.

Where attention goes energy flows.”

The above passage speaks to where you put your awareness and focus. Focus is a major aspect of completing any project or any goal.

Love and Acceptance are foundational keys as well to get into heart coherence as well. Love yourself, your body, your health. Be grateful. As Julie Pool concludes her book… “I can, I will, I am…

Say to yourself, and say it often,

I AM ALL THAT I AM

I AM a Divine Spark of Consciousness.

I AM manifesting all of my dreams, my goals, and my desires, easily.

I AM my best version of myself, now.

I AM creating my best life, now!

I AM aligned with all that I desire, now. I am ready now!

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I share these authors and teachers and their lessons with all of you in the hopes that some of these teachings may resonate with you, and I invite you to take what is useful to heart and use it for your highest good, and for the things that don’t resonate with you to gently leave them behind. Know that you can create the reality you want to live in. May you have a wonderful, safe, and prosperous 2024. Don’t get distracted by the chaos emerging around you, be mindful of the hurricane and know you can always find the eye of the storm. You are a creator, so create your life lovingly and to the best of your ability to navigate through all the obstacles you encounter. BE kind to yourself, and stay present as best you can.

Becoming a Truth Seeker

by jim | Feb 3, 2023 | Uncategorized

What is exciting to me is seeking the truth about the world and this thing we call life. Who am I? Why am I here? Who or what is God/Source/The Intelligent Infinity? What is the purpose and meaning of life? What do I find value in? What is meaningful to me? If the unexamined life is not worth living, what does a life worth living look like? These are questions that inspire me to constantly learn, seek wisdom, travel across the world, experience different cultures meeting interesting people, and practice deepening my awareness about the world and myself as an individual, and now as a single father to two beautiful children.

I was raised in the framework of the catholic church and felt a strong connection to the teachings of Jesus as a young child. If heaven existed, and I was taught it did, then I wanted to get there, although my concept of heaven would later evolve. I believed we have a soul, that resonated, and that in this life our soul has an experience in a body, an incarnation. While attending university I was told by a professor, Dr. Drew Leder, a medical doctor with a PhD in philosophy who identified as a “Jewish Quaker with Hindu beliefs in reincarnation” that reincarnation was a fact! A fact I did not believe with my Catholic Christian upbringing… until I did! Thanks in large part to studying the research on reincarnation by Dr. Ian Stevenson, a psychiatrist and professor at the University of Virginia’s Medical School. The work struck not only my intellectual mind, but perhaps more importantly my intuition as being true, sometimes you just know it in your bones and deep in your soul. This is what I understand to be true. You may feel different, and that is okay. There are many paths to God, or source, and whether you believe or not really doesn’t make any difference. Your actions in life do matter. Take what resonates and leave the rest.

One of the most challenging lessons I had to learn for myself on my own journey is when I started working with Dr. Wendy Hill to learn about hypnosis and complete my own inner child work. She agreed to teach me on the condition I went through the process. I had thought previously that this was unnecessary, the only thing that mattered was the present moment. However, I came across a roadblock with a client who suffered from tremendous anxiety and had hidden childhood trauma. While meditation could help retrieve some past memories of the trauma that had been blocked from conscience memory, I could not do this reliably. Hypnosis I later learned really was meditation but only more clinical in the sense I could use a current event and like a scalpel go back in time to the original wound to help the person heal their own trauma. That was fascinating to me. I could help lead others to heal themselves, which is how it works.

I had what I would call a great childhood, with really no complaints. However, we all carry baggage from our childhood that shapes who we are now, whatever age you are presently. This moment carries the past with you even though it is subconscious. My journey led me to confronting emotions. I had emotions, although often they were masked by anger. I know anger well. I had worked on my anger for years from a mindfulness lens. It wasn’t until I used hypnosis, that I discovered the root of my personal challenge with emotions. What I learned was that I had not learned to really feel emotions. I had learned to take care of other’s emotions, discounting my own. I could not feel love, not really, nor could I feel pain. There were benefits to this condition. However, this is what became my own personal self-defeating core belief. I was incapable of receiving love. The cure was simple, my truth, and the answer to my condition was to realize that I was loved. Love is always the healing frequency. While that may sound easy to some of you reading this, I can assure you, that truly loving yourself can be quite challenging, as we are often our own worst enemy. In the words of Dr. Wendy Hill, “it is all terribly wonderful.” If you are willing to explore your past you can experience the joy of the phoenix rising again.

What came next should be obvious, I listened to Foreigner’s “I want to know what love is,” over and over. It has been nearly three years since I went through my Renaissance experience with Dr. Hill, and it has opened my world to seeking even greater truths about myself, how I see the world, and how I can continue to grow and evolve. We all can heal. All you must do is ask. Everything starts with intention. When your intention is sincere and powered by love, you will inevitably be successful. As Paulo Coelho writes in The Alchemist, “When you want something, the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

We are in school right now and we all have lesson to learn. Our learning never ends, it simply grows. Seeking the truth about life requires a few things, including being open minded, curious, non-judgmental, patient, kind, having gratitude, and loving ourselves and others. While we may differ on our spiritual path, we can respect our differences knowing that in the end we all want to experience, peace, joy, and love in our lives

Embracing Fear & The Bangladesh Ferry

by jim | Mar 6, 2021 | Uncategorized

Fear is often defined as an unpleasant emotion caused by the perception of a real or imagined danger. The natural effects of fear can range from mild emotional distress to debilitating physical trauma. Our ability to address new and existing fear is a skillset that requires awareness and support. Without this ability, fear can thrive, wreaking havoc on your mind and body, while imprisoning your soul and preventing you from experiencing life in its true perspective.

Throughout the current Coronavirus pandemic, individuals have been required to respond to both physical and psychological threats, which were often veiled within conflicting messages about personal safety and social responsibility. Many of the response options have revolved around our personal judgments and ability to overcome our fears. Whether quarantines, social distancing, avoiding family or friends, education choices, government support, and trust in the medical industry, this year we have all experienced fear and it’s paralyzing effects.

While walking on a trail recently in Old Ellicott City, a middle-aged woman yelled at me when she noticed that my mask was resting just below my nose. It did not matter to her that I was more than the obligatory 6ft. away and following posted guidelines in the park, in that moment I was a physical representation of death, she feared me, I was a sabretooth tiger in her mind. Juxtapose that with another hike in the Patapsco Valley park where I was fully masked. A mountain biker laughed at me, saying, “Hope the trees don’t give you the virus, haha!” for wearing a mask in the woods. I laughed too, it was funny, and wished him well, but I was motivated by my own fear of being yelled at by another “Karen.” We never please everyone, don’t try.

Recognition of fear can be healthy, and even lifesaving, when approached with a balanced mindset. To recognize fear, one must acknowledge its existence to cultivate awareness of how we react so we can better respond to this unpleasant emotion. Fear produces emotional, cognitive, and physiological reactions. Fear and excitement feel the same in the body. We can learn to identify and use these signals (physical sensations) to shift towards a more functional and creative mindset.

Not too long ago a client in my clinical practice was faced with the prospect of his employment contract expiring. When I asked him what he would do if that scenario happened, he became angry at me as to why I (as a therapist) would “put that idea in my [his] head.” He was denying that it was a possible outcome and wanted to avoid the fear, pain, and unpleasantness. The contract was not renewed and the fear, worry, and emotional pain came anyway. He did what many do, his belief was that if he did not think of the negative outcome it would not come true. Live and learn, right? I have done it, have you? No judgment is a skill to cultivate.

Contrast that with a more resilient client who when confronted with a similar prospect faced his situation with a more calm, wise, and creative mind. He reached out to his network immediately and identified several potential landing spots for his services. He was able to embrace the possible change and work with uncertainty. Remember that both change & pain are inevitable, but suffering is optional. Had the first client prepared for the possibility of change earlier, then losing the job would have been less painful, for he would have prepared for that potentiality. His fear was valid. The second client did not lose his job and is continuing to thrive but is now more confident in the knowledge that options exist should things change, as they probably will.

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The Bangladesh Ferry Incident

When I was in Peace Corps Bangladesh, I lived in a village called Gopalganj, several hours south of Dhaka. To travel anywhere I had to cross the Padma (Ganges in India) river by ferry. Crossing a river by ferry is common and can be rife with danger. Try googling bagladesh ferry boats.

The process was this; take a passenger bus to the river, disembark, get on a small passenger ferry, and then cross the river while a second bus on the other side would continue the journey. On this occasion while crossing, a sudden, fast-moving, and fierce thunderstorm came upon us, causing the shallow draft boat to rock from side to side to the point I had to hold on to keep from falling off. If you can visualize the Viking ship from an amusement park going side to side versus front to back, not pleasant at all. At points during the pendulum motion, I was staring face to face with the fast-moving current. I quickly realized this was where my life would end, and if you have ever felt this or can relate… time stood still.

In that moment of stillness, a lifetime passed my conscious awareness. Some might say my life flashed before my eyes. I thought about my loving parents and family, and how terribly sad they would be, and how they would wonder what they could have done to prevent this tragedy. I didn’t see anyway out of this so I wanted to communicate to them that I loved them and to let them know I would be okay, I KNEW that somehow. A knowing beyond knowing.

I then remember smiling and being grateful for the life I had. I could not complain. I had wanted adventure traveling the world and I had found it. I also remember being in awe that the story of this life was coming to an end, we always wonder but never really know how or when our point of departure may occur, but this was the moment, and I found a tremendous peace in that.

I tried unsuccessfully to smoke a cigarette in the rain to calm my nerves a little and prepared to jump. One thing we were taught is that if the ferry vessel goes down it will suck you down if you don’t get far enough away. There were several other men standing around the back of the ferry with me smoking and nervously chewing betel nut. Inside the cabin of the small ferry were mostly women and children crying hysterically and wailing out loud and praying to “Allah” to save them from certain death. The atmosphere was charged with energy of the collective nightmare taking place. The ferry was overloaded of course with at least 150 people, maybe more, all believing that death was shortly upon us.

I curiously investigated the river as the boat rocked back and forth and was waiting for the precise moment to jump. I knew that jumping into the water meant death but there was at least a chance. My muscles began to tense. I was a decent swimmer, but the current was incredibly intense, especially with the winds of the storm. Michael Phelps would not have had a chance, but what the hell, I had nothing to lose. As I worked up the courage in my mind to make the leap a moment happened that changed my life forever.

I heard the words “DON’T JUMP!” vividly vibrate through my entire body.

It shook my soul and I stood there frozen. In that moment I heard God, the Creator, Jesus, Allah, Krishna, my guardian angel- call it whatever you want. I knew crystal clear, without a shadow of any doubt…that God or some angelic spirit had just spoke to me directly. I knew in that moment that the boat would make it to shore, which made absolutely no sense. This rickety overcrowded ferry in an already dangerous river in a storm with a shallow draft making a successful crossing defied my logical brain. My soul, or intuition knew we would live.

One of the old ferry men who had a weathered face with a white beard looked into my eyes just then and said “okay,” meaning we would make it. It made no sense to me at all, but his eyes looked calm amidst the storm, wailing, and crying of the women and children, and I was surely not alone in my catastrophic thinking. There was a lot of praying and negotiating going on with God in those moments. My brain knew instinctually that we should be dead at any moment, I hoped it would be quick… and yet my heart and soul knew that we would survive. My death was not happening today. I remembered the story of St. Paul and mused “I guess that is how that works.”

When the boat got closer to the shoreline I did not wait to disembark, I just jumped off the boat onto the muddy riverbank. I tried to climb up in the intense rain but kept sliding back down toward the water. I was covered in mud from head to toe, I looked ridiculous. Eventually I was able to claw my way up to the top. It was raining so intensely that all the mud just washed away as quickly as it appeared.

I was the only bideshi (foreigner) in the area, all alone, no one to share the story with. The bus conductor came up to me and apologized for leading such a hazardous journey on the Palash Bus Company of Gopalganj. I assured him that I had no complaints about him or the company. He was on the ferry with too, and I know he felt the same fear I did. I was just relieved to have dodged a bullet Matrix style on that trip. For the record I love the Palash Bus Company, and Gopalganj.

In one of the scariest moments of my life God revealed himself. Some people ask for signs. I did not on this occasion, but I did express gratitude to God for the life I had. I admit I was fortunate to have the experience, which is why I share it now. It is just impossible to doubt something like that when it happens to you. I do remember questioning myself- “Did that just really happen?” … “How in the hell did we just survive that?.” I spent a lot of time in my journal and in thought contemplating that event and my conclusion is that I had a purpose, it was not my time, and even though I did not know everything, I had lessons to learn.

We ALL have a purpose and lessons to learn. You do not need to believe in God, go to a specific church, or have the right faith. God made all of us in his image, we all come from the same source.

Years later having survived various challenges in life and now a pandemic I can honestly say that I am not afraid of death. My body will return to dust, but my soul and conscious awareness will continue to exist. It just is.

I share this story to hopefully inspire others in some small way. If you are still reading there was a reason, for there are no coincidences in life. Often in psychology we (professionals) fear talking about death and spirituality as some fringe aspect of life and the unknown but as a clinical therapist and more importantly a student of life, I have learned that many people have stories like mine but are afraid to share them even with loved ones for fear of being mocked and ridiculed.

I have heard far too many stories. However, science is increasingly studying the phenomenon of Near-Death Experiences, or NDE’s, and the research is beyond compelling. When we speak of mindfulness and conscious awareness, where does it begin and end? Perhaps the future and past are all wrapped up in this present moment.

Some people believe that all anxiety can be whittled down to a fear of death. If you are not afraid of death then you can begin to understand there is nothing to worry about. The happiest country in the world meditates on death five times per day in the tiny Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan. Think about that. When you are not afraid of death, you focus your time on living in the present, learning new things, spending time with family and friends. Mindfulness can help minimize distractions and prioritize paying attention in the present moment to meet fear and difficulty with kindness, love, and compassion.

Remember that the real meditation is the moment that you are living in right now, it is life. Do not be afraid to live, take risks, and fail. As my mentor Dr. Wendy Hill says, “from the ashes of your despair arises the Phoenix of your truth and joy.”