When our inner peace and well-being depend on forces outside

ourselves (circumstances, the marketplace, other people) the

stress and anxiety that result in personal conflict, and that get

in the way of our effectiveness, are always close at hand. Our

buttons get all too easily pushed.

But as we become more established in our true, awakened nature,

we are far less at the effect of those outer forces. We then bring

greater clarity, confidence, and focus to the problems needing our

attention. We are able to act decisively and generate results with

more consistency and predictability. In those instances where

events do not work out favorably, we are able to more quickly

make the adjustments needed to get things back on track.

The simplest and most direct method for making the shift back

to our true nature is as follows: As often as you remember

throughout the day, pause and take the time to breathe slowly

and consciously. Then bring your awareness slightly behind and

above your head. This is more the real you. From this place,

make your body, sense, and mind/personality objects of

observation. It is as if you are witnessing all that is arising within

your awareness.

If you are being bothered by a particular thought, belief, or story

(for example, “What if I fail?”) examine it objectively. Be very still

for a moment or two, and look at the belief as you would any

object from this detached place slightly behind and above yourself.

Do not judge it or analyze it. Become aware of yourself as the

awareness, or consciousness, that is looking at this particular belief.

Now be aware that what you are looking at, you cannot be. You are

what is looking.

The belief, “What if I fail?” is just a thought form arising within the field

of awareness that you are. When you stop identifying with it through

the practice of presence, you cease giving it power. Through applying

this technique many times a day, eventually the belief will lose its charge.

It will no longer be a button for you. No belief or thought form can

persist for long in the light of clear, sustained awareness, or conscious

presence.

After you have freed yourself from one limiting belief, then take the

next one that is causing conflict, and work with it in the same way.

The more you do this, the more your head will clear, and you will

come to a place of authentic inner freedom. Instead of living from

your mind and its worries, you will live from an alert yet relaxed

sense of awareness in the present. Then you will be able to use

your mind for the powerful creative tool that it is, but it will no

longer be a source of conflict or stress for you.

©Jim Dreaver, 2007