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This material is the information
and understanding which created the occasion to look at the twelve
steps of Alcoholics Anonymous as a way to recreate one’s life from
one of addiction to one of sobriety. That is, to view the twelve
steps as a approach to recreating oneself. It is the information and
understanding which subsequently gave rise to the Fifteen Creative
Steps/Guidelines for supporting the passion of another. Many of
these items are further discussed in related hyperlinks..
Starting point (Top)
Obstacles to what we wish to
create
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This understanding arises from
working with individuals to manifest their intentions and/or
access their unlimited creative.
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Come to find that both fear
and habits to obtain satisfaction/contentment stand in the way
as obstacles to what they wish to manifest.
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The issues are fear and the
desire for the warm fuzzy feeling
Fear
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Fear is the most obvious and
tends to be the more energetic issue.
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The existence of fear is
easily understood
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The reason for the existence
of fear relative to any one particular intention is harder to
addresses.
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For example, the fear of the
change that would come into our life if our intention actually
did manifest. Or the fear of giving up what needs to leave our
life [the sacrifice of creation] to make room for the new
intention to manifest. Or, we fear the unknown of the future
will give us a repeat of something we experience in the past.
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Often anger is used to mask
our fears rather than face the fears.
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To address fear, we need to
find a way to face the fear and/or remove its cause.
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Addressing issues of fear
require a slightly different approach than used here
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In any case, there is the need
to realize the existence of the fear to be able to face it and
address it.
Warm fuzzy feeling
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Somewhat surprising to see how
the mind used habits that produce a feeling of safety and
security, pleasure or contentment, which can be generically call
“warm and fuzzy feelings” to avoid manifesting what was stated
as a desired intention.
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Warm and fuzzy feeling is used
to describe these habits because they produce a feeling so much
like the desire of a child to cuddle up with their mother or
cuddle with a favorite stuffed animal or security blanket or to
be held by mommy.
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What give one individual a
warm fuzzy feeling with not be exactly the same as another
individual. We each have are own unique desires. But we all have
this similar desire. It is inherent to our being and the human
body.
Compromise our truth for a warm
fuzzy feeling
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Mind can be self defeating and
defeat its own desires and stated intention by habits that
produced these warm and fuzzy feelings
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We use these addictions of the
mind, that is habits of the minds that give these warm and fuzzy
feelings, to avoid facing displeasures or things we did not like
or want in our life.
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But these response patterns
and habits actually obstacles to defeat our stated intention and
interfere with the manifestation process.
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These habits were much like
addictions in how we used addictions to mask what we would
rather not face or feel.
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The question is, “Exactly what
is it that we do not want to feel in the manifestations process
that becomes self defeating even when we tried to manifest
something pleasurable?”
Issue of
our creativity and addictions (Top)
A connection with addiction
programs
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One of the readers of the
Releasing Your Unlimited Creativity material was an individual,
who has spent a fair amount of time working with people with
addictions within the twelve step program that evolved out of
Alcoholics Anonymous.
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Their observation was how much
the material could help individuals with addictions and was so
applicable to the issues the individuals faced.
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This was found curious since
the Releasing Your Unlimited Creativity material was about
creativity and understanding how we create our reality. It was
intriguing as to exactly how the material would be of interest
to people with addictions.
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It was an unexpected
connection when first discovered but in the end was only a
direct result of our creative spirit and its desire to express
itself.
An issue with a traditional
approach to addictions
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One view of those in addiction
programs seen addictions as something from which we are always
recovering
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The question asked about the
twelve step approach but no answer given, “When is the twelve
step program no longer needed such that the individual is strong
enough to stand on their own?”
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From a creativity perspective,
we need to be able to stand alone in the strength of our own
being to fully manifest our creative ability.
An observation about addictive
patterns
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We all have a very subtle
addiction patterns and we are all addicted to particular habits
of the mind that cause us to live the way we live.
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Most individuals are familiar
with addictions to substances that are used to numb the feeling
in the body such as alcohol, tobacco, drugs, food and the like.
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From a creativity perspective,
what is clear is that we also have subtle habits of the mind
that give the same sort of effect.
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In the same way the external
substance gives a certain feeling of pleasure that numbs the
pain, we have subtle mental patterns that give a certain levels
of security and comfort that numb the anxiety we feel about
living life and these subtle mental patterns in effect do
exactly the same thing as an addictive substance.
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Much of our life has had
experiences of pain, hurts, disappointments, unfilled
expectations, doubt, fears, betrayals, controls on our freedom
and a myriad of other thing we find we dislike about life and
don’t want to experience.
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The future is unknown and we
really don’t know what the next moment is going to give us.
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Hence we fear that the unknown
of life will give us more of the same.
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We fear the unknown and are
anxious about what the unknown has to offer.
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To avoid the feeling of
anxiety that can come with the unknown, we retreat to a habit of
the mind that give us a warm fuzzy feeling about the future .
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These habits allows us to
think we have life under control
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We live with the illusion of
the mental habit that we will not experience the things that
displease us because we are getting a mental high from the habit
that is numbing our anxiety.
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Hence we continue to recreate
the past and fail to fully embrace the possibilities of the
future.
Removing ourselves from the source of our life
(Top)
An observation from life from the
creativity perspective
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A realization based on all
that has been observed in and about life, studied, read and
observed in the lives of people how have used the Releasing Your
Unlimited Creativity material to manifest their dreams
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We each have incarnated here
for two purposes the second purpose follows only after alignment
with the first.
The
intention for our life
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Our first reason for being
here in the physical plane is that there is an intention, a
purpose or a set of experiences that we
incarnated to have.
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Our bodies are the perfect
vehicle to have these experiences and/or to do what we came to
do and we selected our bodies because they fit so well to the
experiences we intend.
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Our inherent
body wisdom, that same wisdom that grew us in our mothers
womb and grew us from an infant into an adult is perfectly
capable of guiding us to fulfill the purpose of our incarnation
if we only listen and follow that wisdom.
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Body wisdom is access through
feeling and in feeling
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To do so, requires us to be “out
of mind” or beyond mind and we need to allow ourselves to
just be with what is and just be who and what we are much like
the way of a very young child before they learn to control their
life to please their caretakers and what the external world
expects of them.
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Then in that state of just
being, become aware of what we feel and why we feel what we feel
Lost of being who we are
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Most of us have long since
lost that ability to just be with what is and who and what we
are.
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More importantly we have lost
the ability to list to our body wisdom.
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In fact, it has been observed
most individuals have developed mental patterns and habits that
allow the individual to think they are listening to their body
wisdom when in fact their mind has been always in control and
retains control
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Mind retains control with
these mental patterns that give the equivalent of the warm fuzzy
feelings.
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To be fully present in the
moment and be fully open to what the body wisdom has to offer in
the moment, we have to be able to sit and be with what we feel.
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We have to be able to set and
feel the anxiety that accompanies the unknown
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Most people have developed
mental habits that numb this anxiety long before we realize we
are in a mental habit that has removed them from the present
moment.
The origins of the addictive
habits
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As a very young child we
wanted the warm fuzzy feeling of being cuddle (or its
equivalent)
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Rather than face the anxiety
of the unknown of knowing whether or not we would be wanted or
accepted for cuddling, we developed the habit of going to a way
of being that gave us the assurance and security that we would
be cuddled and we would get our warm fuzzy feelings.
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Although we grew out of
childhood cuddling to some extent (at least some individuals
do), we always kept two things.
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We kept both (1) the desire to
have a warm fuzzy feeling and (2) the habit of going to a way of
begin that would give us security and remove our anxiousness.
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Hence we developed a coupling
between these two desires and developed an addiction to avoid
the anxiety of the unknown and get a warm fuzzy feeling.
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The particular habit we go to
doesn’t matter.
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What matters is that we avoid
sitting in the uncertainty of the unknown by habit and it is the
habit composed of not sitting with the anxiety of the unknown
and running to some way of being or thinking that is satisfying
by giving us whatever we consider a warm fuzzy feeling.
Addressing the addictive
pattern of mind which holds our creativity captive
(Top)
Addressing the addictive pattern
to get a warm fuzzy feeling
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Two primary ways to address
the habits which arises from the desire for this warm fuzzy
feeling
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One is to understand the
creative/creation process and realize the how debilitating the
anxiety of the unknown can be.
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It is to have the strength of
will and passion to do whatever is required for what we desire
to manifest including sitting totally alone in the anxiety of
the unknown.
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Obtaining the
strength of will and
passion to be able to sit totally alone in the anxiety of the
unknown is uses a slightly different process that what is
described here.
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The second is to have someone
give you the safe and secure space to experience being held such
that one can step past the addictive response pattern to face
what we need to face.
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This
safe and secure space to experience being held as we face
what we need to face lies at the root of the success of a twelve
step program.
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However, unless one
understanding how to manage the anxiety of the unknown, to do
what they need to do, they will be unable able to fact the
unknown and continually retreat to the habits of the past.
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To face the
anxiety of the unknown, we need to creatively learn to walk.
Learning to walk - facing unbalance
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To walk, you must become
unbalanced to move forward.
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Walking is a constant dance
between going into and out of balance.
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We never feel the unbalance.
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If we feel unbalance we think
we are going to fall and we experience “falling” as opposed to
“unbalance” because our mind has already raced ahead and brought
forward an existing fear (fear of falling) rather than allowing
ourselves to be present to “unbalance.”
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Our mind already judged the
state of unbalance as being a state of falling.
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Yet ever step we take requires
us to be in a state of unbalance
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We never allow ourselves to
experience the unbalanced state or that unbalanced feeling
because of the habit the mind has formed to allow us to walk
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We never remember the
unbalance we felt in our body and in our being in learning to
walk because we learned to walk before we become conscious.
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If we can remember the
experience of learning to ride a bicycle we will probably be
able to remember the feeling of unbalance we had as we wobbled
along.
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That same feeling was present
and is present every time we walk but we mask the feeling by the
mental habit of walking so we feel no unbalance.
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The mental habit of walking
that we developed numbs the unbalance we feel because the mental
habit give us the warm fuzzy secure feeling that we know how to
walk and will not fall. So rather than actually experience
walking as we walk and the going into and out of balance.
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We experience the mental habit
of walking which actually removes us from experiencing the
feelings the body is having.
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If we always felt unbalance
being on a bicycle like when we first learned to ride the
bicycle, we would most probably avoid riding the bicycle.
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However once we have developed
a mental habit that allows you to live in the unbalance of
movement, we are comfortable and ride the bicycle.
The need to learn to creatively
walk
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Our minds do the exact same
thing with the anxiety of the unknown.
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Rather than live in the moment
and face the unknown, we enter a mental habit based on a past
activity that gave us a warm fuzzy feeling that carries us into
the future such that the future becomes the present and we don’t
have to have the experience of the anxiety of the moment as the
future forms.
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Yet it is the anxiety of the
moment as to which of the infinite possibilities of the moment
will form that we have choice of infinite possibilities.
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If we are not open to the
anxiety of the moment but living within a habit numbing this
anxiety we are not open the infinite possibilities that can
manifest in that moment.
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Hence we become
trapped in a habit of the past that we are using to numb the
anxiety of the moment.
Learning to creatively walk
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To access our
creative power and creative ability to create what we
desire, we need to learn to creatively walk.
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We need to learn to step out
of the control of mind and into the unknown of our creative
endeavor.
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We do this by learning to feel
and use our feelings and an
internal compass to guide us into the unknown.
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Hence we need to be open to
feeling
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This leads to an entirely new
set of issues.
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Why did we shut down our
ability to feel and/or why did we raise the threshold to what we
feel
Becoming
open to feeling
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The key to becoming open to
feeling is the body.
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In allowing the body to feel
its most intense feelings we begin to see where we have blocked
and/or otherwise suppressed what we feel.
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Pain and pleasure exist on as
opposites on the same spectrum.
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You can only feel pleasure to
the extend you allow yourself to feel pain.
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If you suppress pain, you will
suppress the pleasure you can feel.
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but the issue is not to feel
pleasure or avoid
pain, rather it is to be open to what we feel to access the
information in the feelings.
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By working with the body and
open it to what it feels, we open the door to learning to
discern what we feel and what gives rise to those feelings. It
is here is the awareness of feeling and the discernment of
feeling we consciously access our creative power and ability to
enter the unknown to create what we desire.
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So you can expect the need to
do some “body work” which centers on the body feeling and
sensing.
Accessing our creative power
and creative ability (Top)
The second reason for incarnating
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The first reason for
incarnating is to have a set of experience that we incarnated to
have which includes some specific intention or intentions and/or
purpose.
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We will be lead to those
experience by properly
calibrating our internal compass for the feeling of a
fulness of being, what bring life into our body and allows for a
feeling of expansion.
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The second reason for
incarnating it to claim
our birthright which is to consciously co create our reality
with others and to consciously become the creative being that we
are.
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It is to learn to consciously
create the reality of our choice and to realize Creation is
magical enough to allow each of us to live true to the truth of
our own being and yet allow the other to remain free to do the
same.
To become a conscious creator
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To consciously co create our
reality means that we must be willing to sit in the anxiety of
the moment and open to the infinite possibilities of that
moment.
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We cannot create the future of
our choosing until we “clean up,” finish or change what we are
already manifesting.
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Unless one become conscious of
what they are doing here in the first place we cannot be in the
state of awareness to change what is currently manifesting in
our lives.
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If we are in a row boat
flowing within the current of a river, it doesn’t do us a lot of
good to come to the realization that we can change the direction
of the boat. The current is still going to carry you where it is
going.
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We need to realize two points.
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The first is that we can
change the direction of our travel
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The second is that we need to
get out of the river current before we can choose to go where we
want to go.
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Our life is in a current and
unless you come to the realization of that current we cannot get
out of it.
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We become aware of the current
in our life by being fully present in the moment and allowing
the current of life to take us where it is going so that we can
see the direction it is going.
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To do this effectively you
need to do two things.
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One is that you need to be in
the anxiety of the unknown of the moment and outside of any
habit of the mind that you use to numb this anxiety for the
illusion of the habit doesn’t let you see what direction you
travel.
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The second thing is to have a
very
clear intention for your life that transcends our
enculturated ego or the ego of who we think we are that we
developed in this lifetime.
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Being in the anxiety of the
moment going with the flow allows us to flow in a given
direction unencumbered by illusion.
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Holding to a clear intention
allows us to measure our progress relative to our intention so
that you can determine the direction our life is flowing.
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We need a reference point
outside both our boat and the flow of the river current to get
an understanding of the direction we are really moving.
Major issues of these habits
(Top)
Most are formed before we are
consciously aware
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These habits that we use to
escape and/or to avoid anxiety of the unknown are extremely
strong and quick
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Most of these habits go back
to very early in life to a time before we become conscious of
the habits that we formed.
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If we sometimes feel we are
stuck in habits of our childhood, we are completely correct
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But most of the habits go back
to the first 2 or 3 years of life if not earlier.
Mind cannot escape itself
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A second problem is that of
obtaining a clear intention that lies outside of the
enculturated
ego.
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What needs to be understood,
mind works to keep itself safe and to move toward obtaining the
warm fuzzy feeling
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This second problem exists
because many of the criteria that an individual uses for success
in life or about life come from the family, society and culture
in which they grew up and the experiences of life from our
family, society and culture are what causes us to create the
response patterns to move toward getting the warm fuzzy feeling
as our family, society and culture would give it to us.
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However, the current that is
carrying us [the intention for our life] may lie outside the
flow of the family, society or culture.
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We cannot look to any success
criteria from our family, society or culture to guarantee we
have found a reference point that allows us to see our real
direction of their life.
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If we are not willing to be in
the anxiety of the moment to look beyond our family, society and
culture to see where we are really going in life, we will not
have a reference point to access our birthright
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Accessing
our birthright lies within the ability to see beyond the
reason for us having our current physical body and it place here
in time and space, that equivalent river current, which includes
why we chose our particular family, society and culture.
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Once we know the current which
brought you into life we can turn our boat around and how we are
capable of turning our boat around to change the direction of
our life.
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Once we know where the current
of life is taking us and why our purpose for being here in our
particular body at this time and place, then you are truly free
to choose where we wish to go and how we wish to create our
reality.
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Of course, our choice may be
to just fulfill our purpose for incarnating which it to remain
in the current in which we find ourselves.
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Many come to find the
intention for our life was a very good intention all along.
The valley of contentment
(Top)
Why we don’t get what we want
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When pursuing their creative
endeavors, most people fall into what can best be called a
valley of contentment.
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It is as thought the
individual starts on a wagon train for Oregon
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But after struggling thought
the anxiety of the mountains of Wyoming they find a nice valley
in Utah or Idaho and decide to stop there rather than continue
on to Oregon
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They choose not to achieve
what they originally intended to do.
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The have become satisfied with
the pleasures of a current situation rather than the
continuation of their journey into the unknown of life to
manifest their stated intention
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The individual rationalizes
that they no long want their original intention but wanted to
being the valley of contentment and satisfaction all along.
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Then over time, they puzzle at
why the never create the reality of their choosing and sometimes
even feel they are powerless to create anything in their
reality.
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Rather than creating their
reality, they are content with following the nature course of
the ground that they walk over and follow its flow rather than
the flow of their own being.
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Rather than following the
river current of their life they follow the current of their
family, society or culture as long as they makes one warm and
fuzzy, safe and secure.
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Whether the individual becomes
addicted to a substance such a alcohol or food, or some habit of
the mind and way of being and approach to the world, they are
none the less caught in a habit that needs to be broken if the
want to create a new reality for themselves.
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The habits created by their
mind to move to what is consider warm and fully are like traps
and act just like an addiction
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The are like addictions
because of the warm fuzzy illusionary feeling of safety and
security the individual feels in these traps.
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Yet their mind created to them
to avoid the anxiety of the unknown. They have allowed
themselves to enter what could be called a valley of
contentment.
The essence of the
creative process
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From a creativity standpoint,
any new creation requires one to enter what can best be
described as the “chaos
of creativity.”
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Since the essence of all
creation is the transformation of energy to a new form,
something must always be given up or sacrificed to make room for
the new creation to enter.
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We can look at creation as
taking a old piece of cast iron, throwing it into a furnace, to
be melted and recast into a new form.
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That melting process is
seeming chaotic and all the old form completely needs to
dissolve to make a new cast
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The transition from new to old
is always chaotic and any chaotic situation always brings a
certain level of anxiety.
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The anxiety of creation in
this chaotic period is none other than the anxiety of the
unknown
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In the chaos of creation
before one begins to pour the equivalent of the melted iron into
a particular mold, infinite possibilities exist and the mold can
always be changed up to the point to when the pouring beings.
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There is an anxiety as to
whether or not the mold we want is present. We do not always
have the clarity of intention to know exactly what we want.
-
For some, it produces great
fear in individuals for they are afraid even thought they have
chosen, that they may not get what they want.
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Hence the mental habits which
made them comfortable in the past takes over and become the mold
for their future unless they have the strength of will to hold
to their intention and do not doubt to know they will manifest
exactly what they desire.
-
But it is also to have the
confidence to know that if I did not have clarity of intention,
we can always change what we intend and go back to recreate what
we experience.
-
The issue for creativity is
how does one break the mental habits that keeps them away from
facing the anxiety of the unknown to be open to the moment of
infinite possibilities realizing that the habit we are trying to
break give you a warm fuzzy feeling that you craves.
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