Changing our mind set

Hi Folks !
I'm off again !

For a 20 - day Vipassana course in Igatpuri.
I seem to be having fun this year, zipping off somewhere or other every month.

In this post, I want to tell you about a book which I flip through when I am flummoxed over something.

It's available on flipkart and amazon and I want you all to buy it and read it every now and then until you learn its wisdom and become happy, independent individuals.

It's Louise L. Hay's ' You Can Heal Your Life'.

Have you read it?

You know, as we live our lives, childhood to youth to middle age to old, somewhere along the way, any new reaction to a stimulus, becomes an instinctive habit without our analyzing whether it is right for all times and all situations.

It could be hesitancy in face of older children or neighbourhood bullies, fear at raised voices, helplessness leading to a sense of persecution, wanting to gossip, be in the know, looked up to - there is a potent cocktail inside us and many of us take the easier way out by being the 'Poor- Me's.

It leads to a sense of being not-good-enough and a pervading lack of self love.

We feel we deserve all the bad things that are happening to us and invite a surfeit of physical, mental, emotional troubles and sickness.

Louise  dwelt on her illnesses, the dis-eases, came to the conclusion that it was her own thought pattern which was responsible for it, and decided to change the way she thought about herself and the world.

Changing one's thought pattern which was deeply ingrained was not easy, but she was helped by her own conviction and then the Universe stepped in 'coincidences' !

She healed her own cancer among other stuff and since the last scores of years, has generously spread the simple yet mind-blowing (literally, I feel!) path of recovery and joy to anyone who listens to her or reads and follows her gentle explanation.

Let me reproduce some gems from her Philosophy -

• We are each responsible for our experiences.
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• Every thought we think is creating our future.
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• The point of power is always in the present moment.
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• We create every so-called illness in our body.

She also says that the Universe never judges or contradicts us, on the contrary, it totally supports us in every thought we choose to think and believe.

I'd heard a similar story years and years ago -

The Indian Vastu ( A dwelling or a house ) Shastra (Science /Doctrine ) has a Vastu Purush, an image of a man sitting on his haunches covering the entire chart and he is supposed to be chanting only one word - 'Tathastu' - meaning 'So be it'.

So we were told to be careful of what we wished on ourselves or others - if it coincided with His ' Tathastu', it could come true -and we may have changed our minds by then !

Coming back to the book, Hay explains that every problem has a probable cause in our mind set.

She lists it all out in a neat alphabetical  chart and alongside, gives a new thought pattern to replace the old one too.

It goes something like this -

PROBLEM - Aches
                                      

PROBABLE CAUSE-  Longing for love. Longing to be held.
  
NEW THOUGHT PATTERN I love and approve of myself.I am loving and lovable.                           .      
The list includes every physical, mental and emotional issue we may have, right from acne to AIDS,alcoholism, anxiety,  bad breath, black and whiteheads,weight, hips and so on.

Her new thought pattern takes you on a different, hitherto not thought of path which is empowering.

I have tried out a few of these and they have worked.

This technique is definitely better than popping chemicals.

Read and think over this.

The next post will be by the month-end.

Until then, enjoy, be positive and spread a smile -