Natural Brilliance: Doorway to the Answers You Seek

All of us who have looked closely into our lives have wondered if there is more to life than we see around us, more answers than questions.  Once we get a thought caught in our minds, it cycles and recycles. Our recurring thoughts often create doubt, worry, and concern.  We never really get the answer and stop the cycling until we realize we have two kinds of thinking, one for the known’s in life and the other for the unknown’s that come our way.

One kind of thinking originates in our computer mind. This is where all of our thoughts, experiences, and training are stored.  It’s like a real computer file. Everything we experience today will go into that file to be stored, available for use in the future.

The other kind of thinking comes from the transmitter mind, or Brilliance mind.  This mind has access to the whole universe, to what we call Universal Brilliance. Once we have that connection, we can quiet down, listen, and ask for what we need.  At that point we discover a bigger viewpoint.

It’s similar to an aerial view over congested traffic. When you’re in slowing or stopped traffic you can’t imagine what is going on. You might tune in to the radio and hear about what is happening from a helicopter above that can see the whole picture.  This is the kind of connection we need to make sense out of our lives.Every day we are working, relating to family, friends and co-workers, and always trying to figure out who we are and what is important.  We usually know what we love to do to relax but aren’t always aware of how we can contribute or what our special gift is in this life.  Making that Brilliance Connection helps us get a bigger picture.

We understand Brilliance to be the conscious, intelligent, creative energy that is within us and within all life. Brilliance has the answers to our questions that our past history from the computer mind cannot discern.  What we learned in the pat or from the school of hard knocks is not always sufficient to answer the questions about our purpose and direction. With new challenges and conditions, the files from our past are seldom enough.

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The Time for Brilliance is NOW

Have you ever watched the news and found your muscles tightening, your stomach clenching, or a tear in your eye?  Was your response generated by the number of soldiers and civilians lost in a war that day? Was it the gruesome reports of genocide in a foreign country? Or was it the steady flow of politicians, CEO’s, public servants or ‘regular folk’ who were once again accused of a wide variety of offenses, breaches of trust, or an even more heinous crime?

Our first response is to turn off the TV or blame someone or something for the horrible news. Perhaps you have thrown up your hands, like us, and said “How could they be so stupid?” or “How could someone do such a thing?” If we take the time to go to the next level of understanding and responsibility, we may find that we, too, are implicated; we, too, are a part of creating the world we see on our TV screens.

For every person slaughtered in a foreign genocide, we can identify a thought we have held – a thought that diminished another in order to raise our own esteemed status a little higher.  For every report of shaken baby syndrome and the subsequent shattered lives, we can locate that short but strong impulse to shake someone, to wake them up, to shut them up, that we have felt inside of us.

As the health care debate in congress continues, so does the tenor and tone of the accusations and discord. It looks like everyone is out there looking for the dirt on everyone else. All are hoping to gain some fame by broadcasting the inflammatory findings that will turn the tide, or at least make a big splash.

What is going on?  What do we need to understand at a new level? How can we create a world that is not distinguished by the most brutal events, but rather the most brilliant?

What IS going on? Our consciousness, the level and focus of our thoughts, beliefs, and feelings, is creating what we see around us. We tend to separate ourselves from these ‘bad’ events and we believe that we could not or never would engage in such occurrences.  Yet when we examine our thoughts in detail, we find that we engage in destructive habits of thinking every day.

We are part of the whole; we are connected to everything around us. We must change ourselves, our consciousness, before we can change the world.

There is more than we can see as this is a time of great change. There is a dynamic healing occurring as we come to understand that our thoughts contribute to the outer reality of life on earth. With our uplifted and expanded awareness of how it all works, we are creating this cleansing and healing. Much of the negativity that we perceive at this time is connected to this releasing of old habits of thoughts and patterns of being in the collective consciousness.

What do we need to understand at a new level? In all cases, we need to understand that everyone is doing the best they can with what they have. This understanding includes ourselves. We are all working with worn-out thought systems that need a fresh infusion of universal Brilliance. This natural Brilliance is what we breathe everyday, what we see as nature rejuvenating the earth in each season, and what is at the center of each atom that forms us.

How can we create a world of Brilliance? We need to be aware that as the dark clouds of old thinking dissipate, we have the opportunity to create a truly brilliant world. We are creating a world that reflects the best in each of us individually and collectively. This new understanding moves us into harmony with ourselves, and then with all of life.  The Time for Brilliance is NOW!

A New Life is Waiting

When Lynne was writing her doctoral dissertation, she interviewed a social worker who told her this story.  The social worker was doing a special weekly project at a local juvenile corrections facility. She was sharing the foundational principles we have incorporated into our Brilliance Formula with a group of their residents.

One of the boys was from a really rough public housing area on the south side of Chicago. He was telling his story in a matter-of-fact way. He talked about being 10 years old and coming home one day to discover his Mom and all of his brothers and sisters gone. The apartment was empty.  He’d never seen them since that day. He explained his understanding of what had happened when he said, “But, you know, I was a bad kid, and I was always out running with my friends. I didn’t go to school.”  He wasn’t sad or blaming anyone; this was just the way he saw it.

Another boy in the group, looked at him and said, “Robbie, your Momma didn’t leave you ‘cause you was no bad kid. Your Momma left you ‘cause she just didn’t know how to be no good Momma.” The social worker commented that it took her breath away.  Robbie, who was generally a big talker, was just stunned and couldn’t think of anything to say. It had never occurred to him that he was left behind because his Mother didn’t know better. Instead he had been seeing himself as a bad kid and had been living that out. He had not been to school since he was ten.

He started going to classes at the corrections facility and now he runs a service station. He has a wife and a little boy, and he hasn’t been in trouble since that group with the social worker several years ago.  His new life started the moment his friend told him that his family’s leaving him was not his fault.

What old thoughts and messages are you living from?  Who are you seeing yourself being in life? You may not be seeing a bad kid, but if you didn’t do well in school, you may see yourself as someone who always has trouble learning. If you come from a family with limited income, you may see yourself as always having limited financial resources.  If you are an oversized individual, you may be seeing yourself as fat and ugly and not measuring up to society’s dictates about how a body should look.  These patterns of thinking make us feel less-than, unworthy, broken, and heart-sick. We could go on and on with the mistaken beliefs that we are constructing our lives from.

It’s time to create our lives from who we really are. That means getting in touch with that innate wisdom that links us to all life. In our Back to Brilliance programs, we call this natural Brilliance.  It is the foundation of the human package that each of us has.  Our Brilliance gives us an instant connection to the infinite wisdom of the Universe. In any moment, we can choose to access our best and highest thoughts.  When you are upset, sad, or disappointed, your feelings are telling you that you are activating your old social records and programming. When you become aware of this you have already tapped your Brilliance and can see your situation from the truth of who you are. Choosing to focus on your Brilliant thoughts puts you back on course for the life you were meant to live.

What will your life look like when you aren’t focusing on these limited beliefs? What are your biggest dreams? What ideas light you up? It’s your choice. You can stick with your “old stuff” that is making you miserable, or you can open your life to your Brilliant possibilities. Take the challenge to make a new reality.

We are Mirrors in Our Relationships

Mirror, mirror, on the wall; who is the fairest of them all? The old fairy tale of Snow White had a great scene. The wicked queen asked the mirror her question and didn’t like the answer she received. The queen’s ugly behavior grew out of her ugly thoughts. Our relationships often serve as a mirror for us as well. If we don’t like what we see in our relationships, we need to check the mirror of our thoughts for some answers.

Question: Can I understand how I am a “mirror” in my relationships?

If we knew we had it in our power to feel good, to feel fulfilled, to be happy and stress free, we wouldn’t ask others to change to make us happy. And we wouldn’t need to control others to make ourselves feel better. We all wish for great relationships. We all want to be loved and accepted for who we truly are.

The great comedian Flip Wilson used to say, “What you see is what you get!” What we put our attention on is what we get in our relationships.

If we look at the flaws in others, we may find that we are more often criticized. If we complain about and blame others, we may notice that others also are blaming us. In our relationships, we all serve as mirrors for one another. If we are seeing flaws, shortcomings, and problems when we look at those around us, we are seeing a reflection of our own thoughts and attitudes.

When we shift our thinking and see through our natural brilliance, through the eyes of love, we will find that new view reflected in those around us. This is the process for creating the relationships we really want. When we focus on what is working, what we love, what we admire and respect in others, that is what we’ll find in the relationships we create.

Here are a couple of experiments to help you recognize the best in others and to create great relationships.

Experiment #1: Identify one or two things you really appreciate in someone you love, and tell that person how you feel.

Experiment #2: Acknowledge someone in your life who you rarely celebrate or recognize.

Negative Judgments Kill Relationships

Ever have those gnarly, negative judgments about others shooting through your mind? Join the human race! When these judgments start to take up more of your time or focus on someone you thought you really loved, it’s time to choose. Do you want to continue judging, or do you want to return to loving and respecting?

Ask yourself this question: Can I let go of judging others in my relationships?

Most of us have a habit of judging others in our relationships. How do we deal with this most common habit and barrier to healthy relationships? First, we need to understand and remember that judgments are just thoughts we have focused on and made real. We judge according to our expectations, losing sight of the fact that we all have separate realities and don’t see things the same.

When we get caught up in judging someone else, we tend to lose sight of the whole person and see only the problem we have identified as theirs. We judge others for the “big” stuff, from not taking out the trash to misplacing the newspaper to being a loudmouth. In our minds they could do better or be better.

We have experienced making judgments, and hundreds of assumptions, because we didn’t take the time to ask questions about what was happening or why someone said something. We all fall prey to the habit of judging others because of how they appear, talk, or where they work or worship.

But in our families, close friendships, or partnerships, we owe those we love or hold dear a better outcome than a fast judgment and the resulting disapproval, cold shoulder, or sermon from the mount. And, why are we on the “mount” anyway? What makes us more qualified to know how others should think, live, or act than they? It’s pretty funny when you think about it. We spend more of our creative energy judging others for being who they are than working on what we can control – our own goals, skills and talents.

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The Real Solution to Stress and Lack of Sleep

Sleeping well? Or, is the stress in your life waking you up, continuing to plague those wee hours of the morning? Imagine life 100 years ago. Yes, there were difficult times and life was not as easy as it is today with the conveniences of indoor plumbing and super-kitchens. But, life was not as hectic or rushed for most people.  Quite simply, there just weren’t as many things to think about.

Today we can watch the late news and the 24-hour news channels, or a late-night tear ‘em up movie. Some of us get connected to family and friends with late-night phone calls and can’t get to sleep because our minds are processing the conversations again. It’s hard to assess the real risk these news or life events we focus on 24/7 pose in our lives. But the side effects from lack of sleep are well-documented.

So, what is the real solution?

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Stress Relief for a Good Night’s Sleep

In today’s world, there are a million things that could keep you from sleeping soundly. Perhaps you’ve been hearing about the latest pesticide that causes cancer. Maybe you have heard that the lettuce from Argentina or some other country is contaminated.  Or, you could be thinking about someone in your family and what can be done to change or set things right again.

All of these thoughts can go whirling around your head, time and again, night after night, with new reports replacing the old ones. Bedtime musing may be helpful once in a while, but when it persists and you don’t get a good amount of that deep sleep, life generally becomes more difficult.  You may wonder how you can go back to sleeping well.

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Cleaning Your Own House

We all have beliefs and patterns of thinking that we have adopted throughout our lives. Many of these habits of thought have to do with our loved ones and other people in our lives.

People from large families may not believe they got all the parenting they expected because their parents’ attention would only go so far. All children have an idea of what a good parent is and what they want from their parents. If their expectation doesn’t match their reality, they feel a sense of loss which may be expressed through anger or a sense of unworthiness.

We can recognize the need behind our early thoughts and then add the understanding we gain as adults that we don’t have to let old thoughts and beliefs control our lives. When we do this we choose a new path toward healthier, happier relationships.

Another example is the expectations we have about our significant relationships. We have a list of how we want to be treated which is not always met by our loved one. In this conflict people often give up instead of working toward a mutually fulfilling relationship, free from old beliefs.

As adults we need to clean house and remove all the assumptions we created as children. Learn more about how to clean your own mental house by reading Chapter 5, “Break Free From Thought Patterns”, in our book, Activate Your Brilliance: 12 Keys to the Art of Living Happy.

Are You Caught in Trauma or Drama?

Yesterday Lynne was talking with a very good friend of ours who commented that she still finds herself paying too much attention to what other people say or think about her. This is something that we frequently continue to deal with in our lives.

First of all when anyone gets caught up in what they think someone else thinks about them, there is a gut clenching or very uncomfortable feeling that may range from sadness or despair to anger. Some people go to the anger first. When this happens to us it is our first indication that something is out of kilter.

We have come to understand that our feelings are messengers. Negative feelings tell us that our thoughts about whatever is going on are negative. In other words, we are making up something negative about another person, believing it, and perhaps acting on it. Whenever we experience trauma and drama in our families or jobs, it is because we have made our thoughts into facts.

We have learned to fact check from our natural Brilliance. Then we don’t have to personalize what other people are saying or thinking about us.  This is a huge stress eliminator. This makes stress relief easy for us.

Change Your Mind for Stress Relief

Change Your Mind for Stress Relief

The experts say that we are designed to experience stress and react to it. Stress can be positive and intensify our awareness. If you have ever played soccer or softball or tennis or any competitive sport, you know this kind of stress is actually exhilarating and can bring out our best efforts.

However, the stress we feel from job pressures and demands is not exhilarating. The stress you experience when getting bad news about someone you love might feel like a ball of fire in your gut and a tightness that takes time to release. The stress many of us have felt in long-term bad relationships can even lead to emotional disorders because our chronic stress reactions haven’t been released or resolved.

In other words, the stress that continues unabated, that we can’t get relief from, becomes distress to our bodies. That’s the kind of stress we have to get a handle on. If we don’t, we face the consequences of anger, depression, high blood pressure, and many more health problems.

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