Inspiraelevation

I woke up one day, and I wondered?

I wondered how I arrived where I was at that very exact moment in time.

Because, what I was seeing manifested in my life was alien to me.

My belief On the Present

I had stood firm in my commitment over the past couple of months.

I had made the changes that should have revealed themselves through a transformational experience.

That is what I thought.

Yet, I was seeing nothing in the present to reflect my recent efforts.

Things, instead, seemed to be going in the opposite direction.

Doubt is Sneaky

When seeds of doubt take root, they grow like weeds threatening to choke out the growing bloom. 

And I began to doubt change was possible.

The questions that rang incessantly in my mind were “how and why.”

1. How was I doing all the things necessary to create change, but there were no results to reflect my efforts?

2. Why was I experiencing this?

After some contemplation, inquiry, and seeking, I had a revelation.

When You Open the Present What you get is what you get?

There was no mistake or mix-up.

I had created the present I was seeing.

Everything I was, and I was experiencing in the present, I built it.

Whether I wanted to acknowledge it or not, my habits, over the last few years, brought me to this place.

Your life is not a FedEx Delivery Service.

Nothing I was doing to change in the present would bring a change overnight.

I was shocked by the lack of change, but it was undeniably a result of what I had invested in my life up until that point. 

And without a doubt, it would take me the same amount of time to reconstruct that it took me to get to where I was currently.

Accepting the Present

I now realized I needed to accept the harvest and understand my role in the cultivation. From there, I could redefine my vision of who I wanted to be, what I wanted, and why I wanted it? Above all, I had to believe the investment I was now making would manifest those desires, but not instantaneously.

NO matter what I saw in the present, it would not define who I would be if I continued to work.

No Fixadent and Forget It

I recently listened to a straight talk conducted by Peter Sage, who gives an excellent art exhibit metaphor related to this account. 

Suppose you planned to visit an art gallery and did not like what you saw. Could you demand the paintings be removed?

Absolutely not!

In fact, if you were to go into a museum and rage about the artwork, you would get thrown out and nothing would change.

You would still be angry now sitting outside the gallery. Unfortunately the art will still be on the wall. 

The Metaphor

Our lives are like a gallery. All the paintings are our experiences. We can’t change those; they have already occurred; they are, as one would say, history. So to fly into a rage because you do not like what you have created in your life is fruitless. Anger and frustration are not going to erase the artwork. 

“One cannot and must not try to erase the past merely because it does not fit the present.”
― Golda Meir, My Life

Here is the lesson of the metaphor.

In life, one must recognize the artwork on the wall is made with indelible ink and it is fixed. However, one does not have to stay in the room. No one is holding an individual prisoner to that room. Likewise we are not chained to our past.

Wonderfully, we are perfectly capable of walking into a new room, a new future.

From that point, we can paint the type of paintings we want. 

I want to motivate you.

Believe that whatever the present looks like and how impossible it may seem, your present does not have to define your future.

The life you live today is a reflection of your past.

You want to change your reality start today and define your future. 

You must be realistic and accept this truth.

*Lasting and effective change will take more than 30 or 90 days.

If you stick to it, you will wake up one day, and you will be pleasantly surprised at what you see.

“The future depends on what you do today.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

So, if you stick to it, you will wake up one day, and you will be pleasantly surprised at what you see.

You may even miss the exact time you start becoming and transforming into what you have been building.

Be assured that what you will see did not occur overnight.

Today I reaped what I sowed yesterday.

Tomorrow I will reap the harvest that I am sowing today, good or bad.

Recommended Read:

Meadows, Martin. “This Time Will Be Different: Short Book on Making Permanent Changes.” 

One of the most impactful movies in the late 90s was the Matrix. 

The Matrix was legitimately deep; if you have ever watched, you will have a more considerable understanding of what I am implicating. 

There was so much to wade through. On the surface, The Matrix was an action-packed thriller, so to speak. But, beneath the surface, it was a commentary on human behavior and its relation to the world. 

The entertainment value was certainly top-notch; the gems within the script were invaluable. 

Lessons from the Matrix: Programming

The film centered on programming!

The Matrix was one big mainframe, and all humanity was plugged into the mainframe. Although it seemed as if humanity lived their own existence, the reality was, they were not. Instead, they were responding to code. The lives they lived resulted from a program running within the mainframe. 

How did the Programming work?

Every human hooked to the mainframe was programmed to behave in specific ways that formed their reality. However, there was a universe beyond that perceived reality. In that reality (external) is where the code was run.

If a person realized that they were being programmed, escaped the mainframe, and learned the code. Then, they could use the code to shape whatever reality they wished.

Seems super complicated at first, but it’s not that complicated at all. 

The reality of Human Programming

From birth, we are programmed. 

What we know or understand is a byproduct of our environment. 

In the long run, we become the product of the environment we live in –James Clear.

So, we only know what we know. 

But when we expand our world, we welcome new information which permits us to reform our current knowledge. Our reality shifts and reforms. 

Glitches in the Matrix

Not all programming is positive. 

Not all programming that we have uploaded into our consciousness is practical. Sometimes it’s downright damaging, as the code is full of bugs and viruses. That is detrimental. Our code affects everything in our lives. How we approach life, others, and success. It all results from programming. 

Reprogramming is a Thing

Good news! If you can be programmed, you can be reprogrammed.

All the old code can be overwritten. But it’s likely to take the same process and the same amount of time to reprogram as it did to build the initial source code. 

If you don’t realize it now, you will come to realize that most of your programming occurs passively. You are a sponge. People are highly suggestible. 

Our five senses are inlets. 

Information enters our consciousness on a daily.

Our brain is constantly processing that information and formulating a response. 

Programming to Habit

We are creatures of habit. 

Essentially habits result from repetition. 

If you repeat something enough times, it will transform into a habit.

So If you receive a specific input enough time, it becomes part of your mental framework. That framework shapes everything you do. Thus, you have essentially been programmed. 

Transforming the programming

“One of the most practical ways to eliminate a bad habit is to reduce exposure to the cue that causes it.” _ James Clear

Change your environment change your life. 

Once you have eliminated the cue (triggers) you can start the reprogramming needed. 

You will see once you change the way you think success will be inevitable.

Goals are what we shoot for. Goals are our desires and dreams we wish to see manifested defined.

How Goals and Dreams Tie in

Individuals have dreams.

We have places we want to be, things we want to do, and ideals of who we wish to become.

And there is a belief that realizing these dreams will leave us fulfilled in a state of bliss. This is perhaps true but not guaranteed.

Nevertheless, a dream is merely a hope and a wish until something is done about it.

On Setting Goals

Until a goal is set, dreams will never be a reality!

Once a goal is defined, everything else follows.

Therefore, goal setting is so important.
The design of a path forward is mainly dependent on the destination, the desire.

Dreaming and Reality

While physically, we are somewhat bounded by reality (natural laws), our imaginations are unlimitable. In our minds, as the Star Trek Mantra reads,

“We can boldly go where no man has gone before!” That is amazing.

Wild imaginations (Unbounded Realities) Lead to Extraordinary Outcomes.

As noted in a previous blog post, shoot as far as you can. Then, even if you don’t land at some distant galaxy, you will have made it out of orbit.

You will have done the unimaginable.

And this is what separates people with meteoric successes from ones who live an average existence.

They were unafraid to dream big. That individual did not set the bar low.

Setting the Bar Low/Bounding Reality

Setting the bar low will ensure you will never get to the destination you hope to arrive at.

“We will only grow as big as we dream; that’s why we must dream big.” – Gabrielle Williams.

Take, for example, someone who asks you to put a number on your value to negotiate your pay.

If the individual has a fear stymying them from proposing a large number, they will give an unreasonably low number.

So they receive what they ask for, nothing more.

When One Realizes They Have Hogtied Their Dream (Bound Reality)

Suppose another individual comes in whom you perceive to have less value than you. For example, they have less experience, education, or know-how. However, they are asked the same question. But unlike you, they are unafraid to dream big and ask for a more significant amount of money. And so they are given a more considerable sum of money.

Then perhaps you are maddened by the propensity of someone else receiving more for doing less.

Should you be upset? No

Why? Because They asked for an amount they believed matches their perceived value.

Since they thought their worth was high, they placed a higher amount on their value.

It was their mindset prepared the soil to receive more.

Freeing Yourself from Reality

Ask, and you will receive.

The individual in the first scenario got what was asked by setting the bar low.

So, by all practical means, that individual should be fulfilled because they received what they said they wanted. But they are not.

While this is a difficult lesson to learn, the importance is that it is understood and changes made.

Final Words to You

Remember when dreaming, dream big.

Dream big, vivid dreams so big you must paint them because no one has the imagination to even visualize what you see in your mind’s eye.

Dream so big that anywhere you land beyond your current position will be breathtaking.

“Don’t put limits on yourself. Not every dream will come true, and not every dream is from God. But when your dreams connect with God’s plans, you’ll find open doors that you never thought you’d see.” – Max Lucado.

You get what you ask for.

So, ask with a wholly imaginative heart.