Creating Change By Elizabeth Wallmann-Filley PhD; C.Ht "Our thoughts are powerful stuff. They determine not only our immediate experience, but also set the stage for everything we have in life." Deep down, most of us have desires, needs, or goals. There are things we wish were different. Some of us want to have a different weight or body shape. Some people hope for a new career, more money, or a new relationship. Some people want relief from an enduring illness. The point is, most people have something they want to change. The translation of this want is really a desire manifest differently. Some people manifest their desires quickly, while others seem to wait a lifetime. A few individuals can simply think a thought and watch the consequences appear almost instantly. Can you image being able to lose those extra twenty pounds effortlessly, or have that perfect new job seemingly fall into your lap? These things happen, and they happen all the time. Manifesting is making real. It is making something evident that was once not visible. It is actualizing what you desire on the physical, tangible plane. The mystery has been how to manifest. How does one change or create anew, particularly something that has been difficult to shift or change in the past? Your thoughts are extremely powerful; we know this. According to the most conservative interpretations in research on health and disease, 90% of all diseases are directly related to an individual's thinking. Many argue the figure at 98%. We know that if a person believes he or she is incapable of having wealth, that individual will remain poor. It doesn't matter if you supply resources. The thinking behind every action will ultimately relate him or her back to impoverished conditions. We know that if a woman loses weight yet does not change her thinking patterns, the weight returns. If a man believes he is unlovable, he will continue to experience lonely conditions. Our thoughts are powerful stuff. They determine not only our immediate experience, but also set the stage for everything we have in life. Every individual's "thought energy" is directly linked with current reality and the ability to change, create, and manifest. Part of the problem is that many people are still tied up in what they don't have. A great deal of thought is spent in looking at what is not right: lack of health, money, friendship, or love. The translation of this statement is that "energetically" we are manifesting exactly where our thoughts reside. Many of us don't realize that creating positive change (or manifesting) has to do what with what is in the mind and heart. If we really want to create a change, our first line of action must be to take responsibility for our part in what our current conditions are. This is not taking the blame. It is accepting that we are participating in creating and maintaining the way things are through how and what we think. We have been taught not to dream. We have been trained to focus attention on what is wrong or bad in our lives. We have been taught that if we dream, we are crazy or just using fanciful thinking. The myth is that if we attend to what we don't want, it will change. These notions keep many people stuck in not having what they really do want. In order to truly change something, you first need to cease all judgment. I mean quit! Stop forcing, fighting, and being fierce with yourself: Refrain from placing yourself into good/bad thinking or comparing yourself to others. For one thing, judging, and thinking in terms of good and bad does not change what you have. If anything, it perpetuates it. If you want to lose weight, and keep focusing on your "fatness," you will continue to manifest weight. If you are lonely for companionship, and spend time thinking of your difficult conditions, you will continue to have them. Thus, the very first thing you will need to do is to practice accepting the way things are. Acceptance looks and feels like simple acknowledgement, no more and no less. The immediate next step is to place all your attention into what you do want. This means actively thinking about your desire and feeling it. Let your mind pretend. Let your heart experience that pretending. Let your heart desire! Let your body feel that desire. For example, if you want to lose some weight this month, let yourself really think about it. What would you look like? What would you be doing? What would it feel like as you go about your day? Go even deeper into the idea, and consider really how you would feel. How would your body feel as you sit, stand, or lay down? Start thinking about it every day, every moment of every day. If you catch your thoughts drifting back to your weight, simply shift your attention back to what you want. Let yourself see and feel yourself as you desire. What about money? Have you been experiencing yourself as financially deficient? Look at how much you have and visualize more. Let yourself appreciate money, in all its forms. Let yourself feel it. How does it feel to you to have more money? Do you feel more secure? Let yourself pretend to have more money and feel that security. If you have more money, do you feel more freedom? Let yourself pretend and feel that freedom. Now, what would you be doing? This year can be different for you. You can create positive and powerful changes in your life. It starts by examining your thinking and then allowing yourself the gift of imagining differently. This imaging connects to your heart and feeling centers. It also connects to your body. When you think and feel differently, you act differently and directly shape your reality. If you'd like to try this simple way of creating change, I suggest you pick one situation or circumstance you'd like to change. Next, develop a very clear idea of what you want. Let your heart and mind go completely. Allow yourself to have some fun with this, as new and clear pictures will come to you in a natural way. Part of completely letting the heart and mind go is to actively relax into now. Use a relaxation technique that works for you. It could be as simple as lying down and systematically relaxing each muscle group in the body. As your body/mind relaxes, you can more effectively imagine a new. Then, begin the practice of imagining the desired goal as if it already exists. This means feeling it, as if, including in your body. What begins to happen is a psychic and energetic shift toward that goal. For example, you may find yourself eating to live, not living to eat. Or, perhaps you begin to feel loveable (or acceptable), and other people begin to be attracted to you, seemingly out of nowhere. You can create new realities in your life. You can bring what was once nowhere into now here, by shifting your attention. Begin by directing your thoughts and your energy to what you want. When you place your attention on what you want, reality cannot help but conform.