The visionary scientist Einstein said:
Where do you stand? Do you have a hot, rockin’ relationship with Life? Feel Life’s got your back? Do you cringe at stepping out in fear that a sinkhole will swallow you up? Or do you believe that Life is not up to much so it’s not worth thinking about?
I used to hang out in the Life’s unfair camp, not in the epicenter but nervously on the fringes. For the first two decades of life I stumbled over broken family dynamics and limped along with depression. And yet, if I’m honest, I had a deep sense in childhood that Life was friendly and suffering is unnecessary.
In retrospect I see that I’d had an insight into the true nature of Life. But I was unable to put my insight into words and before long dismissed it as I got caught up in the undertow of life. Consequently, when I looked out on the world, as much as it looked like an exciting place, it also appeared jammed with cruelty and injustice.
But over the course of my career, as I sought ways to help clients heal and transform, that tiny seed of childhood intuition gradually blossomed into an undeniable certainty that Life is like a magic carpet. Woven with jaw dropping threads of benevolence that has our back 100%.
I began to see that when we tap into these threads, what I call operating principles behind Life, then Life becomes a friendly place. Not in the sense that wars and injustice suddenly vanish. But because these principles help us see Life with fresh eyes and a deeper understanding.
If you’re a non believer, or on the fence, you might be thinking; “That’s all very well but Life still looks like a minefield and only the lucky ones pick their way through without much damage”.
So I’ve pondered how to best describe Life as a friendly place because insights are notoriously difficult to put into words, let alone describe how to have one. They come from beyond our intellect, from Big Mind, Universal Mind, or the Mind of God – whatever is your word for that power that’s greater than any one of us. And they always arrive out of the blue.
But not to worry, because if you’ve ever successfully turned on a washing machine or started up a car then you’re equipped to experience life and the universe as friendly.
Here’s what I mean…
Have you noticed that if want to turn a washing machine on the dial needs to be turned the in the direction that fits with the design of the machine.
And the same with a car. If want the car engine to fire the ignition key needs to be turned in the direction that works with the car’s blueprint.
If the key or the dial is turned in the opposite direction we end up with smelly, half baked laundry or stay stuck in the garage.
It’s the same with Life. When we work with the way life is designed things work out with greater ease. We live by insight and inspiration and end up bobbing along in the flow experiencing new possibilities opening up around each corner.
Q: So how do we work with the design of Life?
A: By understanding where our experience comes from.
When we believe that life happens to us we’re turn our compass needle away from with the way Life works and run the risk of either feeling a victim of circumstances or trying to control every nano event. But when we see (a glimpse is enough) that our experience is generated from thought – which projects out on the world. we turn our inner compass in the direction that brings us into alignment with the way Life works.
This adjustment doesn’t vanish wars or injustice, but what it does do is it opens us up to fresh insights about how to navigate our life and throws open the window on what’s possible in the world.
Where before we were stumped about how to move forward with a creative project, inspiration shows us how. Where before a relationship seemed forever broken, healing happens and we see the other person in a whole new light. Where before poverty and injustice seemed intractable, we acquire certainty and confidence that there is a way for this world to work for everyone.
The beautiful thing about this understanding is that we when we recognize that thought generates our experience we don’t need to change, let go, revise, analyze or defend our thinking for the world to become a friendly place. A friendly world view begins to arise the instant we become aware that our feelings come from thought. This insight triggers our emotions and nervous system to settle down and our perception to shift into a higher gear. Before long, and often sooner than that, the world begins to appear full of possibilities that previously weren’t obvious to us.
I frequently say that all that’s needed is one minuscule glimpse of this understanding for our life and world to transform. Because this understanding is not one we need to sweat or work at. The beautiful thing is that the more we see of the way Life works, the more we will see. That’s part of the design too.
