Dream Reality! (III) - Giving Yourself Permission To Do Well and Be Well

DREAM REALITY! (III) - Giving Yourself Permission To Do Well And To Be Well

“To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.” - Anatole France

To dream the waking reality you desire into being is similar to you giving yourself permission to do well and to be well. You see, we have always had the ability to control our lives! In fact we have always needlessly fluctuated between being at the controls using them wisely; not using them wisely or we have abdicated control to others, and then blamed them for things that went wrong.

Sometimes we have justified our own actions by saying: “If that hadn’t happened to me I would never have done what I did next!” Alternatively we have said “If this person or that person hadn’t acted the way they did I would have never done that!” And yet we are and always remain at the command centre of our own reality, we can respond we don’t need to react!

When it comes to beliefs, the precursor of our actions we are also in control! It has always been up to us to decide what we believe about anything! This “Dream Reality!” playground that we all live in has never changed! We have always and will always be in control of our own lives. Even when being tortured, people have stated, “You can hurt my body, but you can never touch the real me!

We use our imagination to anticipate what we think is going to happen next in our lives, instead of using it to prepare ourselves emotionally to expect what we want to happen. Therefore, we expect either the worst or a mixed bag of good and bad and then whatever we imagined happens! What we have given certainty to on an emotional level always. always. always, becomes our reality!

We are the masters of our own reality! The salesman, the media machine, the government and some religious leaders attempt to persuade you otherwise. They want you to think their way, rather than independently. They want you to fit in with what they want you to do and be. Just like Pinocchio’s “friends” who got him into lots of trouble, but regardless ... in your life you reign supreme!

You have a choice as to whether you believe or not what I am saying to you about my concept of “Dream Reality!” Nevertheless, I ask you which way of thinking and believing will serve you best? Believing that you have no control, some control or complete control of all of your life’s events and interactions? Just pause for a moment and ask yourself: How do you feel about what I am saying?

You must have heard the expression or maybe even used it yourself: “I’ve got a feeling!” It is used by people who are making predictions about the future. What are your feelings about your own future in light of what I have just said? Can it, will it be any different? Remember how many times you have expected people to be against you and then they were?

How many times have you imagined something awful would happen to you and then it did? How long will you allow this to continue? When are you going to begin to expect the best and always give a good meaning to when things appear to go wrong; because if you do, they will! When are you going to see yourself as the hero in your own story, because when you do, you will be!

 Love and light to you from Barnabas :) <3

Dream Reality! (II) - Life Has No Meaning Except The Meaning You Give It

DREAM REALITY! (II) - Life Has No Meaning Except The Meaning You Give It

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours.” - Henry David Thoreau

Here in my concept of “Dream Reality!” I am challenging us all to consider the possibility that we are directing the experiences of our waking lives in a similar way to the way things happen in our sleeping dreams. In those sleeping dreams we are in control of the characters and events and what determines how those dreams play out, good or bad, are our feelings within the dream.

In our waking dream I suggest that what happens in our lives is determined by our expectations and the meanings we give to what people say to us and the events of our lives. What can also help us also in our “Dream Reality!” is when those we meet in this waking dream are not as aware that they too can determine the outcome of events by insisting that their desires will come about.

We must believe that we are in control of our waking dreams, that the characters and events of our lives will always play out the way we expect them to, and to have the certainty that this is the case. This is like any other belief system ever taught, whether it will work for you is down to your belief that it will; that is to say your expectations!

When things do not work out the way that you want them to, your expectation (or faith) can come to your rescue by giving the event or what the person said a different meaning than the negative one that most people have. You can tell yourself that the whole universe is constantly conspiring to bless you and that what has taken place is just a dark place on the way to your personal triumph.

The alternative to believing that “Dream Reality!” works is to believe that there is as much chance that good and bad things will be said to you and that good or bad things will happen to you; alternatively the other way forward is to constantly expect the difficult situation to arise, for people to say upsetting things to you and that you are not in control of your life. Whichever way you decide to believe will determine the interpretation you give to the events of your life.

We get what we believe for; what we expect! Faith always works out, whether it is faith in the negative or the positive! So, to accept my concept of “Dream Reality!” to expect that you can manipulate your outcomes whilst you are awake, will only be of blessing to you, if you are willing to place your faith in the outcomes you want being achievable, realistic and above all certain!

“Dream Reality!” as a concept challenges us to believe for a better life where things will go our way, and where we have certainty that they will. “Dream Reality!” as a command, is what we all do every day if you believe the concept exists. I would prefer you to understand “Dream Reality!” as a command to live out your life in terms of fulfilling your purpose, the destiny you've always wanted rather than a wishful desire. However, it's your life and the meaning, the expectation and the faith you hold are all an inside job.

Love and light to you from Barnabas :) <3

Dream Reality! (I) - We Get What We Expect, Not What We Want!

DREAM REALITY! (I) - We Get What We Expect, Not What We Want!

“There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask, why? I dream of things that never were, and ask, why not?” - Robert Kennedy

In my introduction to my concept of “Dream Reality!” I told you that I was about to share with you an alternate take on life which I have developed through my recent studies. It has already helped me in the financial area of my life and I believe that if you suspend your disbelief for long enough to make use of my conclusions, “Dream Reality!” may help you in any area of your life.

I am suggesting that in the same way we have control over the events and people that appear in our dreams, we are also able to take control (all be it in a slightly different way) of our waking moments too. There is nothing to lose by running these ideas through your thinking, even if you don’t believe them and you end up rejecting them later, because it will help to give you a new perspective on life.

Many authors and speakers have taught us the value of having what they call a “Positive Mental Attitude.” In my book, positive feelings are much more valuable! The mere repetition of some positive phrase like “I am healthy” won’t bring you to health! What will bring you to a place of health in my view is: when you begin to feel the way you expect to feel once you are healthy. 

It is almost like we have twins doing our thinking for us, one always positive, and the other always negative. In this way of seeing things, we need to make sure that the bad twin doesn't high-jack our thinking. When we listen to our emotions, we will soon know which twin we are listening to.

An example of this could be that taking risks is fine, as long as we don’t allow fear of possible negative outcomes, to take over our thoughts. Mountaineers don’t climb mountains constantly fearful of losing their grip and falling off and it is in this way that they get to the top of mountains and then safely return!

We get what we expect in our dreams and in my “Dream Reality!” concept I am suggesting; that it is the same in with our waking reality too! Sadly we don’t get what we want in this life, so it is important to make the distinction between our expectations and our wants and needs. So the question must be how do we get our dreams to work out well for us?

If we can know how our dreams work out well, maybe we can apply it to our waking life? Well as I have already told you, my conclusion is, that our expectation creates our outcome, and our feelings are at the centre of our expectations. Are you ready yet, to follow the command to dream your reality? I will be back with more insights of this concept of “Dream Reality!” tomorrow!

Love and light to you from Barnabas :) <3

Dream Reality! - Introduction

DREAM REALITY! - Introduction

All our dreams can come true, if we “have the courage to pursue them.” - Walt Disney

A little while ago in an article I wrote called “Running On Empty” I promised you that I would be sharing “how things can and will change for you, as they are beginning to change for me” in the financial area of my life!

I am constantly reading articles and books and through the Facebook Group I run called: “Be Inspired!” I too am being challenged by what others post there. I believe that through my openness to new ideas and the conclusions I have drawn from my recent studies I am now able to share something of real value with you.

Despite what I have to say being applied to my life in the area of money; I believe the series of articles that will follow under this title of “Dream Reality!” will help us all with each and every area of our lives, whether it be Health, Relationships, Career, Money, Spiritual or Emotional. So here goes!

When we go to sleep we dream, and in those dreams we create characters and situations that exist for the purpose of our dreams. The outcome of the dream will always be based on the expectations we have of the way those people will act and how those situations will work out.

We are the authors of our dreams and as such we determine what happens in our dreams. Our scariest dreams are based on our feelings (within the dream) of a lack of control and the good dreams are constructed of the thoughts which we have in the dream, when we feel that anything is possible.

So what I am trying to express by the phrase “Dream Reality!” is that I believe our waking life is a dream too which we will wake up from when we die, with the same “Oh it was only a dream” expression that we use each morning we wake up and can still remember the dream just ended.

“Dream Reality!” is a concept and a command. I want us to first look further at the implications and applications of my statement that “our waking life is a dream too” and then eventually to consider how we can benefit from the knowledge that it is possible to follow the command to “Dream Reality!”

Love and light to you from Barnabas :) <3

Are we awake - I mean fully awake? by Andrew Paul Smith (aka Barnabas the Blogger)

Today I am extremely excited to report that my very first article that I have written specifically for Elephant Journal (that means no-one has ever seen this before) has been published today! Please so and read this article and share share share it with your friends! Love and light to you from Andrew Paul Smith 

http://www.elephantjournal.com/2014/04/are-we-awake-i-mean-fully-awake-andrew-paul-smith/Are We Awake - I Mean Fully Awake?

Running On Empty

RUNNING ON EMPTY (WITH A FUEL LEAK)

 My Dad told me many times “It will all work out, you will see!”

Well his actual works to me were “It’ll all work out lad, you’ll see!” From the day he died until now, I have kept reassuring myself and my family with these words! It’s got pretty hairy at times though I can tell you!

On more than one occasion I have had to remind my Dad by telling him out loud, “I believe it will all work out like you said Dad, but I need you to step in just about now and help if you can from where you are!” It's when my overdraft is within pennies of its limit, and Anne is days away from her payday and there is less than a gallon of petrol in the tank. My Dad used to quote Mr Micawber, in the Charles Dickens book “David Copperfield” who kept saying “Something will turn up!” and let me tell you it always does!

I am not ungrateful for the miraculous provision of money in these past eight years or so, since I left my full time employment. Although we haven’t had a summer holiday since 2007 or gone to as many music gigs as we used to, our lifestyle has remained little changed in the intervening five years!

I have taken the attitude that my work is spiritual in nature and my belief that being spiritual means not being motivated by the financial rat race. Furthermore I have believed that this is what brings me peace and for this reason I have been genuinely happy to live this way and yet it has become apparent to me that it has cost my family too much and now things must change!

For the first 6 of these 8 years my wife Anne worked two jobs (a total of 51 hours a week) thank fully she only has one now which has made things a little tighter. My daughters have contributed to the family budget (as they should) but they have believed that they can’t move out (the eldest is 28 and the youngest 23) to their own accommodation because of where that would leave our household budget; this is unacceptable.

A little while ago I noticed a few spots of petrol on the ground when I filled up and over recent weeks the spots have first turned into a puddle and now it has become worse, and the filler pipe is about to be repaired or replaced. I can no longer afford to “run on empty” and so I have been examining my beliefs around money and as a result I am about to share with you my conclusions. 

I know a lot of my online friends are in a similar situation as where I now find myself, when it comes to money. I am looking forward to sharing with you how things can and will change for you as they are beginning to change for me!

Love and light to you from from Barnabas :) <3