That Which You Really Are

And so we come to rest in the knowledge of That Which you Really Are. As you breathe in, you can acknowledge the grace that you've been given. Breathing out, you can release all that which no longer serves you. Breathing in, you feel grateful for all the gifts that you have been given by God, and which you have devotedly cultivated in yourself. I would remind you that there are many talents as well that you possess, but of which you are not yet consciously aware. Breathing out, you recognize the great opportunities and tremendous responsibility with which God has entrusted you with these gifts, in full faith that you would accomplish what you came to accomplish. Do not let fear paralyze you with a sense of unworthiness, nor possess you with trepidation that asks doubtfully, "how can I do such a thing as this?" Ask rather, "how may I better serve in this task which has been appointed me?" Place your complete faith in your desire to be helpful and harmless in the service of light, for you are called to be a lightworker. 

Rest content, my child: you are not asked to do more than that which you are capable of doing. You are asked to accomplish yourself, and this has already been perfectly accomplished by God, but you must come to perfect yourself. This is done by releasing all that which is not representative of the highest within you. 

You are an ambassador of the almighty and you have been sent, by your own free election, to this planet at this time to participate in its greater healing, to bring light to its darkness, love to its fear, good to its evil, and to transform the world of humanity into the Heaven of God's Children that it really is and always has been in Truth. You came to reveal that which is always already the case, but has been obscured by the misapprehension of the gross materialism of mortal man. It is given you, of yourself, to understand that mortal man has no power, and can do nothing to stop the advent of spiritual truth into the world. You are one of the world's realizers, and many will come to you seeking the light. Your responsibility is always to turn them in the direction of their own highest truth, to jog their repressed memory of who they really are, and never to use them for your own self-aggrandizement. This is not always so easy, but it is no harder than mastering your own mind and emotions, for by this, you learn that no one can offer you anything which you do not already possess, nor can you give anyone anything that he or she does not already possess. 

The overcoming of temptation lies in the realization, first, that it cannot command you unless you give it the power to do so. This is to say, it has no power over you but that which you imagine it to have. Now, the power of your mind being what it is, the recognition of temptation's powerlessness will come gradually, in stages, and as you overcome each particular instance that presents itself to you, you will get progressively stronger in the awareness that it can do nothing to prevent you from advancing towards your goal of perfection, which was your choice before incarnating, but which you are only now beginning to remember. Eventually, what seemed once to be an almost irresistible urge to engage in a particular temptation's offering, that took every ounce of the strength of your being to not succumb to, will become but a slight twinge, a thought, an idle wish, and you will know then, in the easy turning away, how far you have come by your own decision for perfection, and how near you are to your goal. In this way, the already perfect accomplish their own perfection. This does not require time, so much as a greater willingness than heretofore you have believed yourself capable of. Yet only a tiny seed of faith is required, for if that is a given, along with the nurturing elements that are conducive for its growth, it will grow into a great tree in the branches of which the birds of the air will make their nests, and the beasts of the earth will lay in the shade thereof. These favorable elements are the patience born of trust in a higher power, purpose and process, a masculine fortitude, a feminine grace and surrender, and a daily practice of prayer or meditation.

Retrain Your Brain in Just One Day

"Retrain Your Brain in Just One Day"

Extravagant claim, you say? I readily agree that there is no magic bullet when it comes to the incredibly complex task of rewiring the circuitry of the brain, for the simple fact that its current configuration is the by-product of years (and more likely, decades) of deep-rooted conditioning, much of which needs to be undone to give us the freedom to soar, instead of just staggering along through a life of quiet desperation. The conditioning of our childhood and early adult life may well have played a valuable role in our development, but outlived its usefulness as we grew older and underwent some drastic changes in our life-experiences. 

This book will point you in the direction of changing your mind, and thus your life, but here's the rub: nothing and no-one but yourself can walk the path to a new you. The ball is in your court. You are, and must remain, the only agent of lasting change in your life. Neither Buddha, nor Jesus, nor any other enlightened being can alleviate you from the necessity of taking responsibility for yourself and your present difficulties, as you perceive them. Not even God Himself will take this responsibility away, because that would be to deprive you of the free will to make your own choices and experience their effects. This is not about guilt or shame; this is about empowerment. You are not a victim of the world you see about you; that may have been a part you played, but it is not who you intrinsically are. Nor are you the victim of your brain's wiring, and this you will prove to yourself as you witness—one by one—old, mental and physical habit patterns that are productive of suffering falling away, and this not because of any magic (although it very well may seem like it to others), but because of your diligent application of these tried and true brain-training techniques that will be laid out in the pages which follow.

I cannot promise that these practices will instantaneously dissolve long-standing negative habits and addictions, although they may. I cannot guarantee that you'll be living the life of your dreams one year from now, although you might. But I can say this, if you stick with this program, you will be well on your way to becoming the embodiment of your highest self by the end of the first month of your practice. And what's more, by the end of just the first day, you will have already laid the groundwork for a new way to think, feel and perceive; a new way to live! Do not underestimate the power of what can be accomplished in one day. What you get out of the techniques I am going to share with you is directly proportional to what you put into them in the way of time, mindfulness, and enthusiasm. Be willing to suspend your disbelief with me as we embark upon an incredible adventure together—one that takes place on the inside, but will undoubtedly be evidenced by seemingly incredible changes on the outside. Step by step, new thought by new thought, we will be retraining our brains to think along lines that serves, rather than hinders us, in all that which we desire to be, do, and have.

Oblige me for a moment: what if it is true that the reasons you haven't followed through on your New Year's resolutions is not because of a lack of willpower? That the reason you haven't yet shed old addictive patterns, despite your best intentions, is not because of a lack of moral fiber? That the reason you haven't taken active and consistent steps to the prompt completion of an assignment or accomplishment of a dream is not because of a lack of time, resources, or support from others? 

What if the answer to these questions is much simpler and these obstacles to living the life you want so much more easily correctable than you could have possibly imagined before this moment? Because right now, I am asking you to imagine this: what if the solution to these and every other seeming problem you may be encountering has an answer that is only an enthusiastically supportive thought away? It may need to be reestablished many times, because of the sheer force of your past conditioning, but from the very first new thought you consciously place in your mind, you have begun to retrain your brain, and every successive thought in this new and positive direction only reinforces that first one, and the neural connections that support it. 

It is the thesis of this book that the implementation of new thoughts that go against the grain of the old, while not resisting the energetically established resistances from past thoughts, is the way out of the frustrating experience of feeling helplessly unable to change longstanding habits and addictions. It is also the way in to your own heart-mind, where those old roadblocks of resistant thoughts will quickly melt away before your inner vision and intention.

The rewiring of our brain is an occurrence happening all the time, the question is whether we want to do this volitionally, or just let it happen by default? 

Experience itself is constantly reconfiguring the neural networks of our brains in some subtle, some not so subtle ways, but if we want to make swift progress to a life beyond our wildest dreams, we must boldly take the reins of our own conscious evolution, and with the amazing force of intention, steer this great vehicle of life that we have been given in a way that is productive of power, peace, and purity, rather than of suffering. This is self-directed neuroplasticity. To highlight the difference between these two approaches, imagine a lump of play-do taken out of its container in a spaceship, and allowed to float around in the cabin. Without doing anything, it will shape itself in small ways as it bumps into random objects in the cabin, and upon re-entry into the earth's gravitational field, will be shaped far more dramatically as it slams into various items. This is like allowing the brain's neural networks to be shaped by the experiences of life, what we might call circumstance-directed neuroplasticity. The other option, is to take that lump of play-do and fashion it into whatever object our imagination can dream up. This is analogous to self-directed neuroplasticity.

The foolish person accepts his current circumstances as his lot in life, the student of learning seeks to improve his condition, struggles with his various difficulties and tries to wrestle them into submission by force of will-power. But the wise, the ones who have learned the great and open secret, do only this: they directly take control of their life experiences, by—somewhat ironically—surrendering, to all that it is and to all that it was, so that they may begin to proactively create what it will be in the future. 

This is a simple path of releasing what does not serve, based on our own experiences, and inviting into our lives, through our consciousness, what does. Through the God-given power of our own thinking, we have the ability to make the future now. Let's do it!

Chapter 1

What you resist, persists.

What you release, will cease.

These practices are as much of an art as a science, so I will ask you to be open-minded and flexible as you undertake them. Although they are a ritual of sorts, they should not become ritualistic. Your creativity will serve you better than anything else. Trust your intuition to guide you in making minor changes to the practices, as in this way you will make them your own, so to speak, and this will increase your devotion to them, and thus, their efficacy.

To begin with, have a seat in preferably loose-fitting clothing, in a relatively quiet place, if possible. I place a small pillow underneath my buttocks (this helps me to keep my back straight), put one leg's foot over the other leg thigh, alternating to the other foot and thigh if one of my legs begins to fall asleep. I ensure that my back is straight, gently rest my hands on my thighs, one on top of the other, with palms up. I encourage you to experiment to find a position that feels right to you. You may find sitting cross-legged, or in a chair with your hands on your thighs to be more comfortable.

When you are settled in a position which allows you to be relatively unconcerned with your body, take a deep breath, and silently announce your intention to your mind – that you are here in this place and time to release whatever it is that is holding you back from your full potential, or something along those lines. Our goal is to make friends of our minds, gently and lovingly instructing them every step of the way as a parent would a child.

The method is to start a twenty minute timer, although if you are new to meditation, you may want to begin with ten minute intervals initially.

Then sit quietly for just a moment, and allow a current difficulty you have been struggling with but are ready to have removed from your experience come to mind. Next, begin with these words, "I release the need to..." and complete the statement by describing with great specificity the difficulty or habit (I purposely avoid the term addiction here, because it has a tendency to lock us in to thinking that is "just who we are" whereas a habit is simply a repeated behavior that can be changed.) Let us use alcohol, for example, which may or may not be something you need to relinquish. In this hypothetical example, we might say mentally, "I release the need to drink alcohol." (I would discourage terms like alcoholism for the reason mentioned above.) repeat the statement again, and as you get better at the technique you may want to include additional statements as you progress such as, "I release the need to drink alcohol, whether beer, wine or spirits." (You also may want to include "or purchase it from" locations where you previously purchased alcohol, such as a gas station, or grocery store, and may find benefit in imagining yourself actually in the situations that would be a trigger for you. This does activate the triggering response, in effect priming it for rewiring. Ideally, an objective, detached state should be cultivated as much as possible, which helps to depotentiate the triggering circumstance. This builds the internal muscles that will serve you when you do find yourself in an actual triggering situation. Many athletes get an edge on their competitors by imagining their perfect performance before their competition for the same reason. Now remove the loophole that exists here by amplifying it to the extreme. End with: "...even one swill, or drop." So let's put it together.

"I release the need to drink alcohol...even one drop. I release the need to purchase any amount of alcohol—whether beer, wine, or spirits—at the gas station or grocery store." Let this sink into the subconscious. You may want to imagine social circumstances that are triggering, like a restaurant, or your friend's house on game day, and repeat firmly, but gently, this direction to your mind. You have let it tell you what to do for so long, now it's time to instruct it in the attitudes and behaviors that you would like to manifest. Be very honest in this, because problems often hide in the darkness of our own ignore-ance.

Let's assume you are just starting out. Your practice will be much simpler. It is important to not "bite off more than you can chew". If you are beginning, after repeating once or twice the statement beginning "I release the need to (engage in such and such--note that it does not have to be a behavior; it could be the need to always be right, or what have you)" take a deep breath and as you exhale, let your shoulders slump forward slightly (if you are deeply in the meditative state, it may be almost imperceptible) but let your muscles relax on the exhale (while still maintaining relatively good posture) and actually simulate the psychic release that you would achieve physically. This sends a message to the subconscious to unburden itself; to surrender. Start simple, it will not be more effective if you start with the complexity mentioned above. Rather, you should build up to that state by gradually adding to the practice. After you say "release" internally, bring yourself back up to your meditation posture.

In the beginning stage, simply do this, then move on to the next difficulty or habit, and repeat the procedure. When you have finished all that you can think of (3 to 5 is ideal), cycle back to the beginning and repeat for the duration of the 10 or 20 minute period.

When this has become comfortable to you, and before you add the complexities mentioned earlier, begin to incorporate the "I used to...but now" procedure, which is particular powerful in the rewiring process. For instance after you say "release"...engage in self-talk in the following manner: "I used to think I needed alcohol to loosen up, to increase my confidence, to relieve stress, to let my creative juices flow, etc...but now I can see that I never really needed alcohol to do achieve any of those results. I simply used it as an excuse to do them. I can achieve all of these positive effects naturally. Despite these positive aspects, I can also clearly see the trouble, embarrassment, and financial drain that alcohol brought to me." Again, radical honesty is crucial here, which may be temporarily uncomfortable, but as you continue, these feelings will diminish, until you can look straight at anything from the past without an internal cringe. 

Conclude this part of the practice with a statement with as much positive feeling as you can muster (don't worry if you have to fake this a little at first) such as, "I am so happy to be free from the desire and compulsion to drink alcohol! I celebrate my new life as a non-drinker!" This will help to release good-feeling chemicals such as dopamine. Rewards are always better than punishment when it comes to changing the brain. And then move on to the next problem. 

Play with these techniques, mix and match them, and find a routine that works for you. Keep in mind flexibility, creativity, are key in this technique.

Towards the end of the ten or twenty minutes, try incorporating a few positive affirmations, beginning with "I now make allowance for the possibility that I can kick this drinking habit for good." Or "I can do this." Or "I am now choosing to take my life back into my own hands." Or "I now embrace the notion that I am a non-drinker." Now is a good word because it gives a clear signal to your mind that you are reprogramming your brain in this moment. Also, the releasing you have done previously may allow for a little bit more positivity to well up. That positive emotion will really add power to the positive affirmations towards the end of the exercise. If there is any time left, you may want to just sit in the silence and enjoy the feeling of being so relaxed, which the releasing should begin to bring you almost immediately. If you are not experiencing it, stick with it! The natural bliss of your being will come to your aid to assist you when you have released sufficiently.

Ideally this practice should be conducted twice a day at least, with better results the more you do it. but one word of caution: don't push yourself too hard. You can expect a degree of mastery after about a week. Take it easy, gently. Think of it like a hot tub: enter into it nice and slow so that your system can acclimate to a different extreme. There will be much cause for distraction, both internally and externally, but they are part of the practice, too. Don't fight yourself, surrender to the process, and the whole thing will be much easier as you give yourself to it and creatively make it your own. Eventually, it will become something that you look forward to doing, as it feels so good to release what doesn't! And that's why we're here: to rewire our brain to feel good, to think positively, to be free.

At times, you may find that your brain is quite tired and will start spinning fantasies or many dreams out of the practice. That is perfectly alright, and your subconscious can be assisting you here as well. If you cannot complete the practice because of a deep fatigue and you need to go back to sleep, by all means do so.

If you are able to engage in light or moderate exercise (talk to your doctor if you are not sure), a 30-45 minute workout, such as jogging can greatly assist in the rewiring of the brain, and consolidating the gains you have made in practice. Here again, if you are just starting out, be gentle with yourself and gradually increase the distance and/or the times between stopping to walk. Listen to your body, and learn to respect the messages it is given you. Ideally, we want to toe the edge of our comfort zone and just take a step or two past it. If you are jogging, you may want to try different routes from time to time, as this will also be conducive to the rewiring of your brain.

Miracles of Love and Life

Greetings, dear one! 

Be not concerned with the ego, but lay it in My hands for I know how to teach its vast unknowing and to render it as harmless and helpful as I would have you be. It’s like your body: a servant. As such, it is a wholly neutral thing. Trust it not, but whatever else enters, you should trust implicitly My guidance. My child, I will never lead you astray. Your mission is to lay aside your wants, your needs, and all the things you thought to get by your volition. Leave all your hopes and wishes in My hands, for I know how to best meet each of them. My hope, as God’s, must surpass all your dreams. Where yours would hurt, My own can only heal. My wish for you is that you come to know your Will is one with God's, and one with Mine. And thus is the ego’s nightmare of fear translated to a dream of happiness, where children share the gifts their Father gives, not losing but only gaining thereby.

Put off the old man, the self, the ego; and put on you white robes of purity, the crown of glory, the sandals of Peace. Walk in the light for it surrounds you now, wherein you thought it safe to hide from God. He did not judge you; He only waited for you to come to yourself, then to me. He knew that if you once experienced the nature of God’s Love, you could not wait another instant. Fear must fall aside as you lift up your empty hands to Him, and ask His benediction on yourself. The gift of Love entrusted Me to give, I now share freely with you, asking but that you respond likewise and share it with all those with whom you come in contact with.

The miracle of Life is given all. The miracle of Love is given me to give to you who choose to join with me. Together, we can move mountains. Apart, we both are very lowly, and without the Power to accomplish anything. United as One, we must be about our Father’s Business. He offers to all the gift of the Atonement. Although few are ready to receive it now, I am preparing a place for all they who seek to find rest and refreshment for their souls. I am with you. And all of you are blessed, as Children of the Most High, Living God.

Your elder brother,

Yeshua (Jesus)