Expand Your Mind Beyond The Times

“Every man is a creature of the age in which he lives and few are able to to raise themselves above the ideas of the time.”

— Voltaire  

Humans are products of their environment, and few are able to perceive beyond current times.  

One of the best ways to start thinking beyond current times is to study history. 

Who are your favorite humans from the past? From 2,000 years ago. 

From 500 years ago. 

200 years ago.  

Think of your favorite humans and then go read about them. 

Learn about the lifestyle they lived. 

Learn about how there were no bathrooms or running water. Learn about the slaves & emperors in Egypt, and the Kings of Scotland. 

Learn about Shakespeare and da Vinci & artists throughout the years.  

As you do your research you will be able to (in your mind) transport yourself to the time & era of those people.  

You’ll learn that things are always changing – and that the things today that so many people cling to as absolutely true – may not be true at all, and time will tell. 

Conformity is strong and always has been – but dare to think beyond today’s beliefs. 

Dare to think. 

Dare to research and come up with your own beliefs. 

Think Your Own Thoughts

“An entire sea of water can’t sink a ship unless it gets inside the ship. Similarly, the negativity of the world can’t pull you down unless you allow it to get inside you.”

— Thich Nhat Hahn 

From the time we are born, to the time we lose our own mind (death of individual mind), to the time we physically die, we are being told what to think. 

Parents tell us what to think. Newspapers tell us what to think. Governments tells us what to think. Television tells us what to think.  

Almost every child born with parents of one political party beliefs will inherit those beliefs. 

People think they have their own beliefs – but they almost never do. 

People’s beliefs are almost always inherited from their parents, and sometimes by their teachers.  

Ce la vie.  

Anyway, how can you break free from inherited beliefs and start thinking for yourself? 

You have to learn to think with yourself – within your own mind – to ask yourself questions and not just answer reactively, but to dwell in it, sometimes for days, weeks, months, and then brainstorm answers. 

This doesn’t happen overnight – especially in these shallow reactive emotional societies we live in. 

First, before you start thinking like a philosopher, you have to meditate. 

You have to let go of your thoughts and beliefs and just appreciate life beyond inherited beliefs, temporarily, as you continue on your journey.  

Here is a great beginners mediation guide. Also the word psychedelic comes from two Greek words that mean “Mind Manifesting.”

The Fragile Ego

“The ego is always on guard against any kind of perceived diminishment. Automatic ego-repair mechanisms come into effect to restore the mental form of “me.” When someone blames or criticizes me, that to the ego is a diminishment of self, and it will immediately attempt to repair its diminished sense of self through self-justification, defense, or blaming.”

— Tolle

The ego can be fragile – easily offended, easily angered, feeling threatened easily, quick to blame others…

Is there anything beyond the human ego?

Obviously, yes, but most of us grow up in environments that enforce & reinforce individual egos – in both inferior & superior ways; artificial identities.

We learn to identify with our race & country – & to feel threatened by other races & countries… We are taught to identify with where we were born & to imagine that our country & race is superior to other countries.

Is anyone’s country or race superior to another? No, but people are not taught this. People learn egoic identities from an early age & egos are reinforced time & time again until people genuinely start believing in lies: that their race & country are superior to other races & countries .. politicians especially reinforce theirs & others egos by preaching supremacy, & then pastors in churches reinforce politics by preaching supremacy by supporting racism, sexism, egoic ways of thinking…

the blind flow of the ego has led us all here… will we continue with the fragile & easily threatened egoic ways that cause wars, hatred, violence?

… or will something new emerge?

Something beyond the ego? …

21 Life-Inspiring Seneca Quotes

1 “There is no easy way from the earth to the stars.”

2 “As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.”

3 “Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.”

4 “Associate with people who are likely to improve you.”

5 “If you live in harmony with nature you will never be poor; if you live according what others think, you will never be rich.”

6 “Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.”

7 “Putting things off is the biggest waste of life: it snatches away each day as it comes, and denies us the present by promising the future. The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow, and loses today. You are arranging what lies in Fortune’s control, and abandoning what lies in yours. What are you looking at? To what goal are you straining? The whole future lies in uncertainty: live immediately.”

8 “Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life.”

9 “While we wait for life, life passes.”

10 “It’s not because things are difficult that we dare not venture. It’s because we dare not venture that they are difficult.”

11 “Life is like a play: it’s not the length, but the excellence of the acting that matters.”

12 “He who is brave is free.”

13 “Luck is what happens when preparation.”

14 “If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable.”

15 “It is not that we have so little time but that we lose so much. … The life we receive is not short but we make it so; we are not ill provided but use what we have wastefully.”

16 “They lose the day in expectation of the night, and the night in fear of the dawn.”

17 “People are frugal in guarding their personal property; but as soon as it comes to squandering time they are most wasteful of the one thing in which it is right to be stingy.”

18 (Above quote, expanded here.) “Were all the geniuses of history to focus on this single theme, they could never fully express their bafflement at the darkness of the human mind. No person would give up even an inch of their estate, and the slightest dispute with a neighbor can mean hell to pay; yet we easily let others encroach on our lives—worse, we often pave the way for those who will take it over. No person hands out their money to passersby, but to how many do each of us hand out our lives! We’re tight-fisted with property and money, yet think too little of wasting time, the one thing about which we should all be the toughest misers.”

19 “As long as you live, keep learning how to live.”

20 “To wish to be well is a part of becoming well.”

21 “Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.”

2024 With A Smile

“Everyone should smile. Life really isn’t that serious. We make it hard. The sun rises. The sun sets. We just tend to complicate the process.” 

Ram Dass

If you are like me & probably most people, you faced challenges & adversities in 2023, and it may have been depressing. It was for me at points of the year. Life happens to us all. The weather changes. 

Anyway, I am reminded today from Ram Dass to smile. Sometimes we overthink or live in a fog or may be afraid to act. 

The sun rises & sets as it does, and we humans sometimes go around thinking & overthinking things, worrying ourselves, complicating things, when simplicity is offered to us.

Sometimes reading Ram Dass quotes is like breath to my soul. 

I hope you have a wonderful 2024!

Begin Today

How much time do you spend waiting?

Instead of waiting, what do you think could happen if you tried?

Do you even know where you are headed?

Think about a better future. For yourself & for humanity. For this World.

What does it look like?

From here, is where you begin🙏❤️✨

“If” Inspirational Poem by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you   
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;  
 

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;   
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;   

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;   
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,   
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,   
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,   
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,   
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

Change Your Life By Changing Your Thoughts

You have the power to change your life by changing your thinking.

Is it easy? 

No, here’s Goethe:

“Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one’s thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world.”

It may be one of the most difficult things to do, but it can be done. 

Da Vinci, Einstein, Buddha, Jesus, Shakespeare, Bruce Lee, and countless others have spoken on this truth.

You have the power, but it requires responsibility: 

“You may believe that you are responsible for what you do, but not for what you think. The truth is that you are responsible for what you think, because it is only at this level that you can exercise choice. What you do comes from what you think.”
― Marianne Williamson

You may have heard “with great power comes great responsibility” but looking at the state of the world we can all see this isn’t true. 

What’s true is that great responsibility leads to great power, which begins with taking responsibility for your thoughts. Da Vinci defined this truth as “Science”.

Your world won’t change until you change your thinking.

How?

Begin by thinking about your ideal life.
What does it look like?
What’s your financial situation?
How are your relationships?
What’s your living situation like?
How is your health?

Visualizing your ideal life plants seeds into your subconscious mind, which when repeated begins to manifest in the physical world.

When a thought arises that doesn’t have to do with your ideal life, change it. This is humankind’s superpower, “giving birth to evolution” Einstein said.

Disciplining your thoughts is a practice. The more you work on it, the stronger your mind becomes, the more in control of your life you become.

The path of your best life awaits you, what are you waiting for?

Get to it.

Use Imagination to Create Your Life

“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.”
— Einstein


Einstein said imagination is the preview of life’s coming attractions, and imagination comes from within.


Our minds generate imagination, but are we doing the generating?

We are.
Our thoughts are shaping our future. 

“Nothing can harm you as much as your own thoughts unguarded.”
— Buddha

So how do you begin training your thoughts?

Begin by thinking about the life you want.

Check out this 3-Step Process to learn more! 

Sending Thoughts&Love Your Way.

21 Best Buddha Quotes Showing The Power of Your Mind

1 — “The mind is everything. What you think you become.”

2 — “All experiences are preceded by mind, having mind as their master, created by mind.”

3 — “All wrong-doing arises because of mind. If mind is transformed can wrong-doing remain?”

4 — “What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: Our life is the creation of our mind.”

5 — “To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one’s family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one’s own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.”

6 — “He is able who thinks he is able.” 

7 — “What you think you create, what you feel you attract, what you imagine you become.”

8 — “Everything is based on mind, is led by mind, is fashioned by mind. If you speak and act with a polluted mind, suffering will follow you as the wheels of the oxcart follow the footsteps of the ox.”

9 — “There is nothing so disobedient as an undisciplined mind, and there is nothing so obedient as a disciplined mind.”

10 — “It is a man’s own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.” 

11 — “Nothing can harm you as much as your own thoughts unguarded.”

12 — “What you are is what you have been. What you’ll be is what you do now.”

13 — “We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.”

14 — “The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, not to anticipate the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.”

15 — “Irrigators channel waters; fletchers straighten arrows; carpenters bend wood; the wise master themselves.”

16 — “Delight in heedfulness! Guard well your thoughts!”

17 — “You are a seeker. Delight in the mastery of your hands and your feet, of your words and your thoughts.”

18 — “In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true.”

19 — “The external world is only a manifestation of the activities of the mind itself, and the mind grasps it as an external world simply because of its habit of discrimination and false-reasoning. The disciple must get into the habit of looking at things truthfully.”

20 — “Whatever a monk keeps pursuing with his thinking and pondering, that becomes the inclination of his awareness.”

21 — “Drop by drop is the water pot filled. Likewise, the wise man, gathering it little by little, fills himself with good.”

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