Keep Your Vibration High by Taking Your Thoughts Captive

I’ve written often about the concept of vibration on this site. Basically, your vibration is the level of your emotional state. That makes a difference because your external circumstances reflect what your internal vibration is. When your vibration is high, with emotions like love, joy, gratitude, and peace, you experience joyful circumstances and are given more things to be thankful for. When your vibration is low, with emotions like doubt, fear, anger, etc., you are often faced with circumstances that bring about more of those negative emotions. I realize this truth more every day, as there are countless Bible verses to back this up, and I see it play out in my life experience.

It’s a simple formula. Instead of trying to control the circumstances in life (which is very difficult to do), we are solely responsible for controlling our inner state of being. I find this very comforting since I have full control of my inner state. I think you should find this very comforting too. The problem is that it is sometimes easier said than done. Many people have learned this same fact. Yet it is often difficult to control their emotions. As much as I’ve learned and shared about this regularly, I feel your pain and often have that same difficulty. Instead of trying to control my own state of being, I allow people or circumstances to dictate how I feel. It happens much less than it used to, but I am still learning in this area as well.

So how does one best control their emotional vibration and bring it to a level that will allow the manifestation of the ideal life? There are plenty of suggestions out there. One of the best I’ve been taught is from Esther Hicks. If you want to learn about the Law of Attraction and how to apply it, she would be one of my first recommendations. I have learned so much from her that has enhanced the quality of my life. She has a ton of videos on YouTube, as well as a couple of great books too. In one of those books, she shares the concept of the emotional guidance scale. At the top of the scale are the highest emotions, such as the ones I mentioned earlier. At the bottom of the scale are the lowest emotions, also mentioned above. She suggests using this scale as a guide. The recommendation is to have regular check-ins with yourself to see where you stand on the emotional scale. She then challenges you to deliberately think thoughts that bring you higher and higher on the scale until you are in the highest emotional state. One of the most important suggestions is to take things one step at a time, and not try to go from a lower emotional state immediately to the highest. That could be frustrating and end up defeating the whole process. For example, there are 22 emotions listed from lowest to highest. If I am at level 7 for example, which is contentment, instead of going directly to number 1, I should go to level 6 which is hopefulness, then to 5 which is optimism, and eventually work myself up to the highest emotions. Even if I am much lower on the scale, this is very helpful. For example, if I am feeling frustration/irritation which is level 10, it’s almost impossible to start feeling joy immediately. However, if I go up just one level, which is pessimism. Pessimism is still a negative emotion, but it’s better than being frustrated, so I am already feeling a little better than I was. Then I think thoughts that move me up to the next level which is boredom, and so on, until my emotional state has gone from bad to good, to awesome. Here is an excellent article I found that further explains and helps practice the process.

This process has been very helpful to me. However, like I mentioned before, it is sometimes more easily said than done. Sometimes, especially if I am lower on the emotional scale, it takes a long time to start feeling the higher emotions. That sometimes leads me to give up and I end up further down the list again by getting frustrated. Recently, I found other information that I believe is even more helpful than what I mentioned above. Now I am not going to argue with what Esther Hicks says. She is extremely successful, as she has used the Law of Attraction to bring major blessing into her life, and into the lives of millions of others. Her suggestion is excellent, and I know from experience that it works. However, what I am about to share has worked even better for me, and it has taken away the sometimes long and frustrating process of gradually working my way up the emotional scale.

The only problem with what I am about to share is that I don’t remember where I found this excellent information. I do so much reading and research on this topic, that I sometimes don’t save my sources. I cannot properly cite where I found this wonderful information. I can simply tell you that I can’t take credit for creating this idea myself. However, I can also tell that you that it is incredibly powerful, and it has really helped me increase my emotional state, and its resulting manifestations. Here it is… instead of starting from the emotion you are currently feeling and working your way up to the highest emotions, consider this… those highest emotions of love, joy, peace, and gratitude are your natural state! I recently wrote an article about that topic that you can check out here. Remember that the spirit of God lives in you. And the fruits of the spirit are those emotions I just mentioned. Love, joy, and peace are what you naturally are! The only reason you are not feeling that way all the time is because you allow other emotions to block those out. Here’s an illustration. I live outside of Buffalo, New York. This city is known for its snow (over 90 inches or about 250cm per year). From November to April we almost never see the sun. However, it doesn’t mean the sun is not there. The sun is still shining. We just don’t see it because there are clouds, and snowflakes that get in the way and prevent us from experiencing the light. (just for the record… from June through October the sun shines regularly here, and the weather is more beautiful than in many other places).  It’s the same with our emotions. The light of God is always there, right with us. If you are not seeing it and feeling negative emotions, it isn’t because that light of love and joy has disappeared. It’s just that the negative clouds and darkness are blocking the light and the corresponding positive emotions.

2 Corinthians 10:5 says that we “take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ.” That means we watch our thoughts to make sure they line up with the truth of what Jesus says. In fact, another version says that we take it a step further, and “We capture, like prisoners of war, every thought and insist that it bow in obedience to the Anointed One.” Here’s how I use this with what I was discussing earlier. I first reflect on who I am. I am a child of God, created in His image. I have all of His attributes. For that reason, I reflect on the fact that love, joy, peace, and gratitude (the highest emotional vibrations) are my natural state. In fact, I Thessalonians says they are God’s will for my life. In other words, God created me and you with the intention that we would live in love, joy, and peace, and have plenty of reasons to be thankful. When I get into this mode of thinking, I am starting off with a bright and clear sunny day. I am already feeling amazing! Now, I deliberately focus on my thoughts. If any clouds or raindrops come in, I cast them out. If they persist, I speak against them, reminding myself again that my natural state is love and joy.

I have found that this way of thinking and living is highly effective. As I start with my focus feeling and believing on the highest emotions, those positive manifestations begin to occur, and even begin to multiply! Then it gets even easier to stay in that high vibration. Instead of living in dark and cloudy Buffalo, I am living in bright and sunny Los Angeles! And even if there is some temporary smog that blocks the sun, if I continue to live in this state, it eventually burns off and becomes perfectly sunny and clear. I will say this though… the more you live in this higher vibration and continue to take your thoughts captive to maintain this high emotional level, the smog, clouds, and even storms tend to disappear. Even if they don’t completely go away (God says we will ultimately face trials in our lives) you can still deal with them on a much higher level and find positive solutions much quicker and easier.

Remember, you were created to live joyfully and lovingly. That is who you are. When you make the effort to control your thoughts and emotions to ensure you are thinking those kinds of thoughts, you will end up living those kinds of circumstances. The great thing about it is that it’s all in your control. So take that control and enjoy the blessings 🙂

Feel It Now

One of my major New Year’s intentions (I refuse to call them resolutions) for the past few years has been to “do it now”. This to combat my natural tendency to procrastinate. I’m still not perfect in that area, but I was able to drop it from my intention list for this year because I have learned to “act now” on a much more regular basis. It’s simply a matter of continuing that momentum.

In recent years, I have also been taught another concept, one that I haven’t quite mastered. However, when I follow it I am almost guaranteeing the realization of what I want to accomplish. I share this with you today because the same is true for you. If you can get the hang of this idea and utilize it regularly, you are personally inviting the manifestation of your dream life.

The concept is to “feel it now”. What this means is to determine what you want, and deliberately feel the feelings you would feel as if you already had what you desire. For example, I am looking to double my income this year. How will I feel when this happens? I will feel freedom from debt, major gratitude towards God, the good feelings of giving to others, the joy of knowing I can enjoy my favorite activities more, such as going out to dinner, attending sporting events, more travel, etc. The key for me on a regular basis would be to imagine already having the extra money, then feeling and being thankful, joyful, and free. If I do this on a consistent basis, I will rapidly speed up the manifestation process.

I am now practicing my mind-reading skills and can hear you wondering…how can simply imagining the accomplishment of my goal and feeling the feelings bring it about when I am not even close to having it yet? It’s all about something I’ve discussed frequently on this blog. It’s all about the subconscious mind. Manifesting your desires is all about faith and believing that something can happen. If you look back on all of your greatest accomplishments in life, you will see that you believed in its possibility, and you then worked to make it happen. When you envision yourself accomplishing a goal and feel the corresponding positive emotions, you convince the subconscious that it is actually happening. The coolest thing is that your subconscious cannot tell the difference between a real or imagined event, so it is taking your visions and feelings as true. As a result, your faith increases, and with faith all things are possible.

Another question you may be asking is…what about taking action? Isn’t faith without works dead? I have found that if you follow the steps above, and your faith is made strong, the action becomes automatic. People procrastinate mostly because they don’t know exactly what needs to be accomplished, and because they don’t have faith in their ability to make it happen. By imagining and feeling, you know exactly what you want, and you now have the faith in your ability to bring it about. At this point, I recommend you ask yourself what action you believe you need to take. Consider it and pray about it. Once you feel led to act, do so as quickly as possible. With the added faith and confidence you now have, your actions are much more likely to be successful. Even if obstacles arise (which they will) you will have the strength to get around them. As you see more success and see yourself getting closer to your goal, your faith and confidence will build even more, and you will be more eager to act until you reach your promised land.

I can write for hours on this topic. Until recently, I have known this information, but didn’t apply it consistently. Since I have done it consistently, I have noticed an almost immediate difference. It is amazing how powerful your feelings are. When you bring yourself to experience the positive feelings and emotions you will feel upon the manifestation of your goal, you will feel that way on a much more regular basis. That is because your dream will quickly become reality, and those feelings will be a regular, automatic part of your being. I challenge you to try this for yourself and see how true this is. Enjoy the blessings 🙂

A Thoughtful Way To Gain Complete Control

Do you ever feel like you are losing control of the way your life is going? I believe you haven’t been living if you haven’t felt this way at one time or another. It happens to the best of us, even the most positive people.

A question is, how can you maintain control of life and prevent the situations where you feel helpless? There’s two ways to do it. One is to act on everything and try to control all of the circumstances in your life. The problem is that trying to do that doesn’t work too well. You spend all of your energy trying to control things and people that you have nothing left to give.

Another way is to simply control your thoughts and emotions. You have FULL CONTROL of the way you think and feel. Here’s the cool thing. When your thoughts and emotions are positive and aligned with God’s way of thinking, it affects all of the other circumstances automatically. If your thoughts and emotions are positive, the outcomes will be positive as well.

You may ask…”what about action? I can’t just sit back and let things happen, right”? Very true. However, when your thoughts and emotions are right, the action happens automatically. And it will barely feel like your are doing anything because the actions you take will be natural and productive.

Remember again, no one can control your thoughts and emotions besides you. You have absolute control. It’s not that you have to fight to keep every single thought positive. However, make sure that a majority of the thoughts you have are good and positive. In fact, your emotional state is an exact indicator of the quality of thoughts you are thinking, as the two go hand in hand.

The key is to spend time maintaining your thoughts. Even if it’s just a few minutes at some points throughout the day, it is valuable time well spent. If you are already feeling good, load your mind with more positive thoughts and images. If you notice that your emotional energy is low, then instead of fighting the negative thoughts, displace them with thoughts of positive outcomes, love, gratitude, or whatever beautiful thoughts you can reflect on. You will very quickly notice a difference.

The best advice my father ever gave me was to focus only on the things I can control. And I have absolute, full control of my mind and the thoughts I allow to enter it. The same is true for you. Take advantage of the full control you have of the quality of your thoughts and feelings, and watch how everything else is positively and powerfully affected. Enjoy the blessings : )

Feeling Better About Yourself Is As Easy As ABC

Throughout my life I have been lucky enough to be able to travel and drive long distances to see relatives, the country, etc. Each time we take another trip new memories are created, and old ones are brought to the front of my mind.

There is a game that we often played, and still sometimes do today. It’s called the alphabet game. The object is to pick a topic, like animals, food, movies, or whatever, and name one that starts with A. Then the next person says one that starts with B, and so on.

I was having a very difficult day a few days ago (yes, even the best of us positive, optimistic people struggle sometimes). I was looking to find something to bring me back up, and I found a gem.

The article I read suggested using the ABC game to come up with positive words about yourself. It may be difficult for some, but contrary to popular believe, you ARE allowed to say nice things about yourself. I tried it, and didn’t have too much difficulty coming up with words for each letter of the alphabet. Even X was usable, as I improvised with words like xtra special, xtra nice, etc.

Does this exercise work? Yes, and it works almost immediately. I went through two rounds of the game, thinking of positive words starting with each letter of the alphabet to describe myself. Within minutes I felt far better about myself, and was right back to being my normal, positive self. I did this in mid-afternoon, and the rest of my day was happy and pleasant. In fact, according to theme of the article, this is exactly the purpose of the game…to help you feel more positive emotions about yourself, and about life as a whole. The reason being is that when you are at a high emotional level, you set yourself up for the positive outcomes you seek.

I share this exercise with you and challenge you to use it. Use it if you are feeling down, but also when things are good. This morning I used this as a gratitude exercise and came up with with words from each letter of the alphabet of things I am grateful for. The positive feelings surfaced quickly and easily, and now remain as I go through my day.

The more things you can be positive about and think about, the more things will go your way. The more you maintain positive emotions, the more you will set yourself up for blessings. I am constantly looking for ways to do this and to share, and as mentioned earlier, I believe I hit the jackpot with this one.

What great things do you have to say about yourself? Answering that question should be as easy as ABC. Enjoy the blessings : )

If you are interested, here’s a link to the article…http://www.discoveringpeace.com/abraham-hicks-and-the-emotional-grid.html

How Do You Feel About Your Wishes Coming True?

Think of one of your greatest wishes. How would you feel if it came true? That’s the question of the day.

Please don’t think of a one word, 10 second answer. Seriously think about it. How would it feel? What does it look like? Where are you? Who are you with? What are you doing? How does it sound? Can you taste or smell anything? How does it feel to the touch? Play this scene in your mind. Live it, experience it, and feel every positive emotion. It’s a great experience isn’t it?

What you just did is something known as creative visualization. Living out your desire as if it’s actually happening. What you also did was bring that desire much closer to you. How? It’s all part of the Law of Attraction and the power of your mind. The more your subconscious mind sees your wish being realized and feels the excitement and joy of it, the more it believes it. The more you believe it. And when you believe it, you are much more likely to put yourself in the position to make it happen. The Law of Attraction has a lot of factors. Basically, when you feel the positive emotions of your desire being realized, conditions align themselves to make it more likely. I see it a bit differently. I see it as God rewarding your faith, and arranging the situations to answer your prayer.

To make this work, spend as much time as you can today answering the introductory question…”how would I feel when”…you fill in the blank with your wish. Then spend as much time as possible feeling the way you would feel. Focus on those feelings of joy, accomplishment, freedom, energy, or whatever it is. It may not bring your wish today, but I can attest that it will make you more happy and joyful just from the enjoyment of this experience. And when you are happy and joyful, great things happen anyway!

I know from experience that this process works. Not only does it bring more joy to my day, but it brings me to my life’s desires, and I am amazed every time when they are realized! I will also say that if my exact wish is not realized, it either happens later, or I receive something better. The same is true for you. You can’t lose!

I would love to hear about what your greatest wishes are and how it would feel when they are accomplished (notice how I didn’t say if). I invite you to share, and I will certainly pray for their fulfillment. May every wish come true : )