Law of Attraction Insights from 10 Days of Silence and Meditation Part One

So my latest stint with 10 days of torture silent meditation has come to an end. Plenty of time with my thoughts, and there were certain issues I contemplated quite a bit, particularly as they relate to something like the law of attraction, manifesting and creating your outer world by way of your inner.

And I wanted to share these insights with you in hopes you will find them helpful. This will actually be a two-part post because not surprisingly, I had a lot more to say on each nugget than I originally anticipated.

Enjoy!

Improving Not ‘Fixing’

Whenever we talk about our flaws, our mistakes, etc…we chalk it up to being ‘human.’ This ‘imperfection’ seems to be the defining aspect of our being. We all have our character flaws, self-sabotaging tendencies, trouble managing our emotions,etc…

And it causes myriad problems, from dysfunctional relationships to getting stuck in very deeply ingrained patterns that lead to the same unwanted experiences over and over again. We inflict a lot of suffering upon ourselves.

So it’s no surprise the initial draw of personal growth ‘work’ is to address these issues so we can become healthier mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually. Something isn’t working for us, and we hope to find a better way. We know something needs to change.

It is important to acknowledge our issues, the role our behavior, thought patterns, beliefs and actions may be playing. We can’t change what we won’t admit exists. We have to take ownership and responsibility for our lives and what we have created.

But it is important to make the distinction between improving ourselves so we can lead a happier life, and looking at ourselves as broken and in need of fixing. There is nothing ‘wrong’ with us.

When we approach this ‘work’ from that angle, it makes things a lot harder. We bring a lot of resistance to the table. We beat ourselves up and are way too hard on ourselves for not being ‘perfect.’ It is hard to really practice self-love ( a very powerful manifesting energy) when we hold such a lowly view of ourselves.

It makes us think we can’t make any real progress until we ‘fix’ these issues completely; we create a vision for our future self that will always seem out of reach, and we will feel like we are failing every time we have our ‘human’ moments.

Big Shifts May Not Feel Big

Often times, big shifts in our energy come as a result of some pretty intense experiences that produce very powerful, dramatic displays of emotion–grieving a loss, dealing with a health problem or the end of a relationship. We finally face traumas and very painful experiences from our past.

We can go to some dark places; we can let out emotions that have been deeply, deeply suppressed. We may have been in deep denial about our lives and how we really feel, and when we stop doing that, the floodgates can really open.

There is a major purge and we know we are no longer the same, something has changed.

We may have some major epiphany regarding the origin of a limiting belief and all the pieces of the puzzle come together. We experience a major positive manifestation that finally brings us from intellectually understanding the myriad positive beliefs we are told we should believe to actually really believing them. The doubt is removed, and these positive perspectives find a permanent home in your vibration.

But it is really important to remember big shifts in energy, perspective and beliefs won’t always come as a result of these types of experiences. They can be more muted, more subtle, but significant all the same.

The meditation course I take is very, very intense. Hours of meditation a day, no talking, no distraction of any kind. It is just you and your thoughts for 10 days.

This can be a recipe for some pretty intense emotional release, and I have experienced that in prior courses, experiencing really profound changes that stayed with me long after I went home.

This time, however, my experience was very subdued. But the big shifts still came hard and fast without a single tear being shed; without any major swellings of emotion. There were intense moments of clarity; powerful realizations. It wasn’t a matter of suppressing emotion, it just wasn’t there, no matter what I thought about.

Just remember these changes can come in many forms.

Guard Your Energy Fiercely

Being totally removed from the world, spending 10 days in silence, really makes you see how much our energy is affected by the external, how so much of the ‘stuff’ we carry may not really be ours, but is thrust upon us from the outside.

Your mind is not constantly assaulted with information–much of which falls into the categories of harmful or just utterly useless–from social media, the news, and the jabbering of people around you.

You don’t have to listen to anyone else’s shit and you can’t spew any of your own. You’re not hearing or seeing anything that’s making you sad, anxious, angry, depressed, jealous, or fearful. You are not being bothered by other people’s behavior.

There is a quietness in your mind that remains even when you are having moments of racing thoughts. You can better get in touch with ‘big’ you. You have a great opportunity to really build momentum behind some higher vibrations without falling into the usual ‘one step forward two steps back’ pattern that comes courtesy of your mind not wanting to let go of the current stew of fears and limiting beliefs.

Obviously this environment is not typical, and my mind will likely not remain as calm and quiet as it was there. I accept that. I understand that being ‘in’ the world sometimes means being ‘of’ it as well.

But being in said environment makes it so glaringly obvious how a huge part of the work of inner transformation and manifesting is protecting our energy as best we can, fiercely guarding it from external stimuli that triggers our fears and doubts, that has us boarding a train of thought that is not serving us in the least, that erodes and undermines all the work we are doing to change our energy, to change our focus.

If going on social media makes you feel badly, for the love of God, don’t go on it as much, or don’t follow people who trigger you in some way, whether by making you feel badly about your body, getting you riled up about politics, or making you think your life sucks.

I’m not a huge fan of social media but I do see its value in both our personal and professional lives, and I use it to the degree to which I feel I experience this value, but not beyond that. It’s not a major aspect of my business, because I don’t like spending a lot of time on those sites. If that possibly means fewer people knowing about me, or passing up potential sales and clients, so be it.

The way people struggle with its presence in their lives, you would think engaging on it was mandatory, no matter how much you hate it.

If watching the news makes you feel terrible, don’t watch it. If you don’t like being around certain people, make an effort to spend less time with them; if you don’t like talking about certain topics of conversation, don’t talk about them.

We won’t be able to totally shield ourselves from everything that makes us feel negative in some way, but we can do a lot more about it than we think. So many of us blame external factors for our negative emotion, not realizing how complicit we are in allowing these things to enter our orbit in the first place. I don’t exclude myself from this tendency.

Beware This Well Intentioned Advice

You hear a lot of advice about always thinking bigger, always improving upon where you are, always striving to do more, to be more, never settling than anything less than the ‘best,’ never becoming complacent, etc…

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for making the most out of life, not wasting our talents and our time, in dreaming and living big; I understand the underlying ideas behind the sentiment. But because we are often acting upon this advice from a really fucked-up energetic space, it can make for some very restless, anxious, dissatisfied people.

If we are always supposed to be wanting to have, be and do ‘more’ we can never enjoy where we are in the moment. We can’t fully enjoy our accomplishments up until this point because we could always be doing ‘better.’ Instead of focusing on the three new clients you got this month, and appreciating them, your mind will already be thinking of how you can get six next month.

Constantly making ‘more’ of X, Y or Z the goal is dangerous because there is never any limit to ‘more.’ You can always make more money than you have now; you can always have more clients than you have now; you can always have more income streams; you can always have a bigger audience; you can always find more opportunities.

At what point will you feel satisfied? At what point will you feel ‘done?’ At what point will you feel like you have ‘enough?’  

Nothing outside of us can ever truly make us feel happy, fulfilled, successful and all those other wonderful feelings we so desperately crave. But realizing this can be a slow-going process, and we are still holding onto the belief it all lies outside of us. And with this belief, that point never comes.

So how can we pursue ‘more’ and maintain this ‘think big’ attitude in a way that feels better, that allows us to enjoy where we are in the moment?

That can be tricky but I think the best bet will be committing to letting our feelings guide us, prioritizing feeling good above all in our various endeavors.

When we let our actions, our choices and our behaviors be guided by this principle, we will always feel good about where we are because we are not being driven, primarily at least, by ego, arbitrary goals, being seen as a ‘success’, etc…Dissatisfaction with where we are now is no longer the primary fuel for obtaining ‘more.’

We are doing things that are making us happy, and we enjoy whatever we manifest as a result in whatever ‘amounts’ it shows up in.

And in this space, we may feel inspiration to do bigger and bolder things, to engage in activities that will increase our income, expand our presence, expand our business, expand our life in some way.

And again, we are doing these things because we feel the intuitive pull, because they seem fun, they seem like a good expression of our talents and our interests, they seem like the next natural step. We are following our fun, our joy and we can enjoy wherever we are in the moment.

And some of you may never feel that urge to do ‘more.’ You’re perfectly satisfied with where you are, it’s working for you. That’s totally fine too. You already have what we all really want anyway, which is to be happy. So mission accomplished.

One Thing Won’t Take Care of Everything

We have all been in this boat countless times. We feel drawn towards making some sort of tweak in our life, and we hope this one change will finally solve a particular problem ,or even better, create a massive ripple effect through the rest of our existence.

This new ‘thing’ will be ‘the’ thing. No more struggle, no more frustration. We finally get what we want.

On the surface, we know this isn’t true, but there is a deeper part of us hoping it is.

We hope drinking warm lemon water every morning or juicing will be the missing piece of the puzzle on our quest for our ideal body.

If we could just find the perfect multi-step skincare regimen, all would be right in our world.

If we do yoga every morning, we will be enveloped in a shroud of peace all our waking moments, never feeling a negative feeling again.

We are really, really hoping the latest personal development resource we are making use of, whether it be a class, a workbook, a coach or a program, will be the one that turns it all around for good, that helps us nip each and every issue we have in the bud for good.

Now this isn’t to say that one change can’t create a really dramatic effect in our life, it certainly can. But it is highly unlikely that any one thing will fix everything. Our ‘stuff’ can be complex, and different issues may require different approaches, tools, strategies and the like.

When you feel drawn to do something, to make some sort of change, be open to how it will impact your life; manage expectations. Know you will get at least one thing out of it likely, and appreciate that fact. And if you happen to get nothing out of it, that’s okay too.

So that’s that.

Your Turn

What did you think? Any nugget resonate in particular? Anything you would add? Looking forward to your comments as always.

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