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Self-Evaluation of Seven Basic Beliefs Underlying Your Perceptions of Life – Part 4 of 7: Inner Power

Posted on April 15, 2014 by Sandra Brossman

This is the image of a young woman on a beach at sunrise with her arms open feeling joyful and empowered

Welcome to Part 4 of a 7 part series in which you are invited to become aware of the Basic Beliefs Underlying Your Perceptions of Life! Even more importantly, you are offered the opportunity to transform your self-limiting beliefs of separation and fear into self-empowering beliefs of oneness and unconditional love.

Our basic beliefs are the fundamental concepts we have formed about ourselves and the world around us, based on the mental input we have received throughout our lives. They are the underlying thought forms deep within our psyche that support all our views of life. Our basic beliefs have a profound impact on the quality of our lives because they are the core of our personal values governing absolutely every perception we choose.

Many of our basic beliefs generate self-limiting thoughts because they are framed within our childhood perspectives, rooted in societal training, and do not reflect our whole self.

This week I invite you to become aware of your beliefs about your INNER POWER. “Power” is a word that generates unease within many of us. This is because when we think of “power,” we typically think of “power over,” not “power within.” If we are stuck in the “power over” belief system, we are subscribing to the illusion that we can control others or that others can control us. Depending on our personalities, we may be acting out the aggressive side of this belief system in subtle ways, such as criticism and judgment or, more aggressively, through overt attack and intimidation. If we are acting out the passive side of the “power over” model, we may tend to withhold our affection, attention, or approval of people in an attempt to get them to act in ways that conform with our expectations. Holding the belief that power means we have control over others is a perception of separation and fear that is bound to perpetuate many choices that are hurtful to ourselves and others.

Inner power, on the other hand, is the creative energy of universal love that is seated within the heart of every human being. While we each have a human body, we also have a personal soul connection to the energy of Spirit, which is unconditional, formless, unlimited infinite potential. Every one of us has the capability of tapping into this universal field of love every moment of every day through meditation, prayer, and mindfully choosing perceptions of love and oneness throughout our everyday lives. Remembering that we each have access to the oneness of spirit is extremely self-empowering because it provides us with an indomitable sense of inner stability regardless of outward circumstances.

The following is a Self-Evaluation of Your Beliefs About Your Inner Power. As you scan through the questions, simply ask yourself, “Do I relate to the statements of Separation, or do I relate to the statements of Oneness? The perceptions of separation correspond with fear and lock us into self-defeating behaviors, while the perceptions of oneness resonate with our spiritual truth of unconditional universal love and open us to our greater potential.

It is best to trust your immediate, spontaneous responses to these questions. When we analyze ourselves and deliberate over the answers, we run the risk of falling into the trap of self-judgment rather than pure awareness.

Remember, this evaluation is not an exercise in self-criticism, nor does it involve judgment of others. It is merely a tool to shed the light of self-awareness on the foundation of beliefs upon which we base our view points of life.

BASIC BELIEF #4 – INNER POWER

Do I believe that I have the power to create changes within my life, based on the perceptions I choose?

Separation: Believing that one does not have the power to choose personal perceptions and that thoughts and actions have no energy or impact on anyone; or believing one has the power to change other people.

Oneness: Having awareness and profound respect for one’s ability to direct divine energy through the power of thought; believing in personal inner power to create changes within one’s personal reality.

Which statements do I most relate to – Separation or Oneness?

Where does this belief originate? (I.e. parents, family culture, religion)

Is this my own personal truth now that I am an adult?

DO I CHOOSE TO CHANGE THIS BELIEF?

The following are affirmations to transform your perceptions of separation and fear into affirmations of oneness and unconditional love:

Feeling of Separation: Life’s a game – I’ve got to stay on top.
Affirmation of Oneness: I choose treat myself and others with kindness and respect.

Feeling of Separation: I am telling you this for your own good.
Affirmation of Oneness: I choose to help others by being a compassionate listener and setting a good example with my own life.

Feeling of Separation: I’ll tell you what’s wrong with you . . .
Affirmation of Oneness: I am open to seeing the spiritual goodness in all people.

Feeling of Separation: I want you to change.
Affirmation of Oneness: I am aware that the only person I have the power to change is myself.

Feeling of Separation: You should . . .
Affirmation of Oneness: I choose to release all judgment and criticism of myself and others.

Remember: Every single belief that you have stored into your brain is the result of constant repetition that has come from yourself – as well as from others. YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR BELIEFS THROUGH THE PROCESS OF AFFIRMATIONS. It does not matter whether you initially believe your affirmations. Affirmations are a mental stretch moving toward spiritual truth. With enough repetition, you will come to believe your affirmations of oneness.

Affirmations help us to develop the habit of consistent, positive self-dialogue. By making a commitment to the ongoing practice of repeating affirmations of self-love, you have the power to transform your self-deprecating beliefs about yourself into self-respecting perceptions that reflect the truth of your oneness with spirit and universal love.

Keep practicing – you have the power to heal your life!

I welcome any questions or insights you would like to share regarding your self-discovery process as you become conscious of your beliefs about your inner power.

Love and Light

Sandra

A portion of this message is an excerpt from the book, The Power of Oneness, Live the Life You Choose. To learn more about how you can align your life with spiritual truth, order the book at http://www.thepowerofoneness.com/products/

You are the Artist Painting the Picture of Your Life

Posted on September 24, 2013 by Sandra Brossman

This is the image of a painter with their palette of beautiful an colorful oil paints

Each one of us creates our personal reality through our perceptions.

Perception is how we interpret our environment through physical sensation. Whether we are conscious of it or not, our perceptions determine the way in which we see and experience absolutely everything in our lives. One way to understand our individual perceptions is to imagine that we are all born with our own personal paint brushes and a palette with an infinite array of colors. Our lives are the neutral canvas on which each of us paints our own individual pictures, depending on how we perceive our experiences.

The greatest divine gift given to humanity is free will

to choose our personal perceptions.

Will is defined by Webster as follows: to determine by an act of choice; the mental powers manifested as wishing, choosing, desiring, or intending. When we are aware that we can choose our perceptions, we empower ourselves to live consciously and, through our thoughts and imagination, we can choose how we want to perceive our experiences.

Each of us is an artist painting our own personal reality

through our unique perceptions.

We tend to label only certain types of people as “being creative,” such as dancers, artists, singers, sculptors, and chefs. The truth is that each one of us is an artist painting our own personal reality with the brush of every thought we have.

While we may all be looking at the same scenery, each person’s picture is different because we all sense life in a unique and individual way. One person’s picture may be delicate brushes with a few objects of pastel colors, another a very busy picture in broad strokes of vivid colors, yet another in all different shades of the same color with no objects at all. Two world-renowned artists demonstrate this contrast of world view beautifully. Picasso expressed his feelings through dramatic and bold art using seemingly random strokes of deep, vibrant colors. Monet’s art was a gentle expression of nature through pastel colors using delicate, intricate strokes.

This is why we can all experience the same thing, yet have entirely different responses. It also explains why ten people can interpret the same situation in ten different ways, each one thinking that he or she is “right.” It does not matter how anyone else sees the scenery, the individual pictures of how we perceive situations with our minds are what is real for each one of us.

Understanding that everyone has an entirely different way of perceiving their life experiences helps us to embrace another person’s point of view without judgment. It also helps us to appreciate the infinite number of ways in which each one of us expresses our feelings and views of life. Through our acceptance of the differences within each other, we honor the gift each one of us brings through the genuine expression of our true self.

You can read more about how we create our own reality through our perceptions on page 36, The Power of Oneness. Live The Life You Choose.

What are some ways in which you express your creative nature?

Love and Light,

Sandra

Letting Go of Our Judgment of Others

Posted on July 2, 2013 by Sandra Brossman

This is a vintage image of a glamorous women being judged

Nothing creates separation and discord among human beings more than when we judge each other. While this is true, judge is a word that causes confusion for many of us.

On one hand, for centuries humanity has received countless messages through spiritual masters from all walks of life instructing us not to judge. Two of the most well-known are the biblical verses citing Jesus as saying,

“Judge not, lest ye be judged,” and,

“Let he who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone.”

On the other hand, most of us would agree that we certainly need to use our judgment skills to navigate through this very complicated, polarized physical world of experience.

No wonder we are confused! In the strictly literal sense, some of the definitions of judge are:

a person qualified to decide on the relative worth of anything
to criticize or censure
a person designated to determine the winner

Wow! When we apply these definitions to how we engage with other people, it brings up a lot of questions. For example, who among us is the one person who is supremely qualified to decide on the worth of anything? Who among us appreciates being criticized or censured? And, how about, who among us is the ultimate judge of who is a winner?

In order to understand what is meant by letting go of judgment of others, we need to adopt a more neutral interpretation of the word judge. Rather than construing the word judge in a polarized way that involves attacking or assessing the value of another person, we can rise to a higher perspective by perceiving judgment as an act of discernment. We need to use our skills of judgment to discern situations, opportunities, agreements, and decisions to determine what is in our greatest good.

How do we differentiate between the polarized perception of judge versus the more enlightened, neutral interpretation?

A good point of reference to determine this is to ask ourselves, “What is the source of my judgment?” If it is coming from an intuitive space guiding us to make choices that are in our greatest good, we are most likely coming from a space of spiritual integrity. When we judge from this neutral perspective, we are assessing and evaluating objective things, such as a baseball game, a career opportunity, deciding on a financial investment, or choosing which college to attend. If we find ourselves subjectively judging another person, then the source of our judgment is coming from ego in that we have determined our superiority over some else. When we do this, we are, in essence, proclaiming ourselves to be the expert in someone else’s life. The ego perspective implies that we think we have the answers to someone else’s problems. Judging others is usually a sign that we have decided someone else needs to act the way we want them to. We are saying we are right, and someone else is wrong, which almost always creates conflict.

How can we let go of judging others?

We begin by reaching into our hearts (not our heads) to remember compassion. Compassion is a deep level of kindness in which we are open to trying to understand where other people are coming from by putting ourselves in their shoes. We acknowledge that we have not experienced their victories, their losses, their relationships, and their pain. We draw on our own experiences to understand other people more than we seek for others to understand us. We practice treating other people the way we want to be treated. We also take responsibility for the fact that when we judge another, we are also judging ourselves. Whatever we find annoying in another person is an aspect that, to a greater or lesser degree, we need to heal within ourselves.

Being non-judgmental requires that we choose to look beneath the behaviors we are witnessing and focus on the soul level of our fellow humans. There is a principle called the “Pygmalion Effect” (from the popular book of the same name or the movie, “My Fair Lady”) that exemplifies this state of grace. This principle states that if we expect the best from another and communicate such to them, they will respond by adjusting their behavior to match. The main idea concerning The “Pygmalion Effect” is that if you believe that someone is capable of achieving greatness, then you have created a space of potential for that person to achieve greatness. Stated simply, when we let go of judging others, we focus on the goodness (Godness) within everyone, rather than what is wrong with them. When we practice being non-judgmental, we offer others the opportunity to find themselves and to meet us partway.

The famous Sufi poet, Rumi, expressed this truth so eloquently when he said:

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I’ll meet you there.”

Love and Light,

Sandra

I welcome your comments, insights, and experiences on how we can let go of judgment of others.