Our lives are like reading a book or watching a movie; our lives are built around the stories – stories we tell ourselves. We tell ourselves stories on “this is how life is” and then we experience it; we live the story. Further entrenching our belief that this is indeed how life is. But this is only how our life is while we tell ourselves this story.
What most of us don’t understand is that, since this is our story, we have the power to rewrite our story. We can rewrite our story to end ‘happily ever after’ NOT ‘just to exist’ or ‘face horrible experiences.’
Whoa! Really! Nah, I don’t believe it. Well, believe it! It is possible and there are many people who have done just that.
Instead of giving in to your anger, pain, self-doubt, hopelessness, ‘I am not worthy,’ and complete certainty that your life will never get better, write yourself a new story – a story you like!
Reframe your focus, start having fun and make the best of your situation. ‘Re-read’ your new story you wrote, commit to your intention/story every day. What you do, think and say are completely within your control.
The purpose is to Set Your Direction, then invest in the process – the action plan you will follow to rewrite your story:
1. Set your goal
2. Determine the process, your actions to achieve your goal
3. Put your goal aside
4. Invest in the process
Go over the details of your story again and again AND again! Practice, practice, practice!
What is the endgame? Why commit to the process, not the goal? Because life is about the journey…we can’t control outcomes. We can only control what we think, say, and do. When we’re focusing on what we control, we’re engaged in the moment playing to our strengths. We’re being, learning, and growing.
When events unfold the we want them to, we feel life is wonderful! When they don’t, life totally sucks!
More often than not, events do not develop as expected. Disappointed and feeling life sucks result in an increasing number of events unfolding in disappointing ways.
I’m not saying don’t have expectations. I’m saying just don’t give them the energy of attachment. Focus on the process, put love into your life and feel the joy of that love. Regardless how events unfold: Be happy! Feel grateful for the loving journey you’re on.
What if I told you this is NOT the way things are? It’s how we are. It’s our mental model; the stories we tell ourselves. It’s what and how we’ve learned to experience life. Since it’s what we’ve learned, we can learn a different way. We can create for ourselves a new story.
By writing a new story, we create and experience a new life. We begin to be aware and experience living our own mental models by choice.
Using mental models is one of the most effective and efficient ways we learn. We see and we duplicate (we duplicate what we see). It works best when we are aware we’re using a model and we chose the model for our specific reasons. However, we’re not always aware.
Parents teach their children to ______ (fill in the blank) yet the children model themselves after what they see their parents do. Their behavior is frequently in conflict with what they’re being taught.
It’s not the parents’ fault; no one is at fault. It’s not about fault, so let go of fault. Finding fault distorts, divides, and shifts the focus – missing the point. What have eons of unbroken chains of pointing a finger accomplished?
More often than not – finger pointing accomplishes nothing substantial. Instead, let’s ask ourselves: “What’s the best thing we can do now?”
A mental model is our belief that this is how the world works. Some examples of a mental model are “men don’t do housework,” “I’ll be happy when ______ (fill in the blank),” “I can’t get ahead unless I have ______ (fill in the blank).”
We have countless mental models. Some of our mental models may be in conflict with each other and we may not even be aware of these conflicts.
The problem isn’t that we have mental models. The problem is we don’t realize our mental models are just choices we made. We think this is how the world is. It’s NOT! It is only our model of how the world is! It’s the movie version of the story we wrote!
The more we believe in our model, the more we invest in it. The more we invest, the more results we get supporting our belief. Before we realize it, we believe this is the way of the world. We’ve built a self-perpetuating cycle. We’re a prisoner of our beliefs instead of realizing this is the way OUR world is and we CAN change it.
When we accept that, we can change our model. Mental models are difficult to change but they can be changed when we (1) Imagine how we want our world to be (the mental model we want), (2) Ask for it, (3) Create our action plan (Determine the needed actions), and (4) Follow through (invest in the process).
Our awareness affects our experience. Similar to when we learn a new word, we generally begin seeing it pop up frequently. It was always there; we just didn’t notice it before.
Our awareness shapes our perception and our perception frames our projection. We’re living the story we’re telling ourselves. I call it Life’s APP: Awareness, Perception and Projection.
“Imagination is more important than knowledge.
Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”
~ Albert Einstein
To paraphrase Einstein, I discovered and experienced the process. I experienced it through following the steps, investing in the process. I didn’t believe; I doubted. But I gave it the benefit of the doubt, invested in the process and now I know – It works! I strongly encourage you to do the same.
When creating a new mental model towards rewriting your story and replacing an old model you have that isn’t serving you well, you’ll initially gets results supporting the older model. This is normal and I have an efficient two-step action for this.
1. Dismiss the results with a “huh,” or some other non-judgmental acknowledgement and dismiss them. Don’t give them energy. Continuing to think about them, repressing, and denying these results are actually creating energy attracting similar results.
I’ve learned that acknowledging with a “huh” does the trick. I recognize and release without giving energy to multiply and I dismiss the result. Practice this; it’s an effective tool for responding to the occasional undesired or negative events.
2. Write down the results supporting your new model. Don’t trust that you’ll remember them. Write them down. It’s your choice. Remembering them will work but it will likely be a much slower and intensive changeover. Recording them puts it on the fast track.
I increased my results with a special “Grateful Happy Moment.” A little happy dance with my body, hands, feet and in my mind. Using this process increases my awareness driving home my new story.
We can’t begin to remember the events that started our first models of “this is how the world works” since many of our models started when we were young children. We didn’t have the awareness or discernment to realize this is how I’m making my world work. Now, we do!
Now, we realize our mental models are the results of stories we tell ourselves. Events happen. We tell ourselves a story about that event. We focus on it, giving it energy. Our focused energy attracts another similar event. We tell ourselves another story, similar to the previous story and before we realize it, we’ve created a mental model.
When used correctly, mental models are efficient tools for learning new skills and experiencing and increasing your happiness, joy, and love.
To summarize, mental models are how we think the world works. Our models are generally based upon the random emotionally charged events that have or are occurring and the resulting stories we tell ourselves.
Again, unless or until we choose our models, they are outcome-based, created prior to our having the awareness and discernment to ask, “What is the best thing I can do now?”
With this new awareness, you can now imagine the story you’d like to experience. Write it, play with it, practice experiencing it, give a “huh” to your experiences that support the old story while writing down your experiences supporting your new story you are creating.
I hear you saying, “It’s me? I tell myself stories!? Yeah, right!” I’ve said the same thing. I didn’t originate this insight. Plato and countless other spiritual and religious masters, mystics, sages, poets and others beyond count have done what they could to bring this to our attention, to share this with us.
A friend commented to Margaret Meade that she was fortunate, more so than one would think possible. Meade just had an uncanny knack for what she wanted emerging and coming to her. Meade commented “I am so blessed.” When asked why, Meade responded, “Because I expect to be.” Meade exemplified LFT’s message, this was the story she’d written for herself.
Do you feel so blessed that you expect what you want to emerge and come to you more than one would think possible?
I didn’t, until I started practicing LFT’s 3 step Game Changer. Don’t take my word for it. Doubt but follow the steps and see for yourself!
1. Love: We are loved, accepted and cherished just as we are. Each moment we practice accepting and loving ourselves, we are in Source Presence’s natural flow of love.
2. Purpose: We enter this world with a gift I call our Creative Intention. It’s our gift and our responsibility to lovingly nurture, develop and give to the world.
Our Creative Intention is unique to each of us. Others may have similar gifts, but each is slightly different. Just as a puzzle has similar pieces, wherein each piece fills its own space, the puzzle isn’t complete until all the pieces fit together.
By putting love into our work, we experience a natural progression from What we do to How we do it. The What is generally our career and hopefully speaks to our interests. The How is our perspective, the passion we can put into it. The How relates to the experience Source Presence has through us. The How colors the experience and emergence.
3. Path: We strengthen our journey by finding and committing to our path. There are always two paths: the Physical and a natural progression to the Metaphysical Law of Attraction.
I and countless others have used this process, and it will work for you as well. In starting to write your new story, just remember that initially results will be demonstrating the old story, acknowledge them with a “huh” or some such word and then dismiss them.
As your new story unfolds with the results you desire, write them down, make it special. What we focus on, gives our energy to help whatever it is to grow.
In Quantum Physics, this phenomenon has been so frequently documented that it is called The Observer Effect acknowledging that: As viewed, so appears. We live the story we are telling ourselves; our lives are the movie versions of our stories. If you are longing for a different life, it’s time to write your sequel!
Experience the natural progression and success in writing your own story. We are familiar with experiencing natural progression. We’ve experienced it in school, from the newbie to the experienced in our careers, in driving, and in countless other areas.
“All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered;
the point is to discover them.”
~ Galileo
Napoleon Hill understood Galileo’s statement and nailed it when he commented, “We refuse to believe that which we don’t understand.”
Our need to understand is perhaps our most substantial hurdle when transitioning from the Physical to the Metaphysical.