All i want is Peace

We have grown up in a cynical world. We tend to dismiss the unseen and unexplained. We give little, if any, credence to the idea that the mind plays a critical role in our healing. Nor do we value the notion that we have mental abilities that can actually help us create a better life for ourselves.

As a race we have failed to wonder why mankind was endowed with the mental capacity to visualize, fantasize and imagine.

When we study nature, we see that every function of a particular species is carefully designed to meet a specific need. A good example is the human being’s ability to feel. Touch or sensory perception was not designated at random. “God does not play at dice,” said Einstein. Let’s consider the human skin for a moment.

As Paul Brand and Phillip Yancey relate in their book, Fearfully and Wonderfully Made , “The sensitivity of each square inch (of skin) is programmed to fit the function of that body part. Our fingertips, tongues, and lips are the portions of the body used in activities that need the most sensitivity”…whereas the “soles of the feet, thickened for a daily regimen of abuse, are far less sensitive”.

If nature has so carefully determined the assignment of such physical aspects, then why would the same care not be administered to our mental design? Why would nature bestow upon us such vast mental equipment, if not for essential use?
In facilitating personal growth for clients seeking relief from their hostile realities, I have come to rely upon the broad capacities of the mind as essential for recovery. Without the active engagement of a client’s psyche in the therapeutic process, little progress can be expected. Healing is not something one has done to oneself. It is a proactive process. It may involve a healthcare provider, but entails, first and foremost, the client’s personal decision to initiate the correction of a painful body or mind condition.

In other words one has to resolve to get well. As the famous philosopher, Goethe wrote, “…the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. A whole stream of events issue from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.”

The client must decide and then believe in their ability to get well or healing can’t happen. In order to believe, one must be able to envision the desired change first. This is a universal truth.

In the Western culture however, it seems most common for people to seek the “most gain with the least pain”. We seek the easy way out. Our advertising industry sells us millions of dollars worth of services and goods on the promise of an easier, softer way. But life doesn’t appear to work like that. On the contrary, it seems that strong character, self respect and confidence are instilled through hardship, during times when one has had to stretch to achieve the highest potential. Read the case histories of those you most admire. You will find most have had very difficult lives. In Hinduism, it is said that often a master is one who takes on the hardest life.

In order for true healing to be effected, the patient must show up and be an active participant. We must be willing to take responsibility — to respond — for the quality of our lives. One of the more beneficial ways to collaborate with the healing process is through the power of envisioning. Our imagination is a specially-designed tool which provides us with the ability to actualize our goals. When children are taught that it is wrong to participate in activities such as daydreaming, fantasizing or creative imagining, they are in effect being deprived of the intrinsic right to develop one of their most vital mental resources. This, in essence, creates a society of victims.

People who suffer from atrophied imagination lack the ability to envision themselves as empowered, self-reliant and autonomous. They can’t visualize themselves as capable of effecting change. On the contrary, because they can’t imagine otherwise, they see themselves as at the mercy of the world.

It is through creative mental meanderings that a child learns to develop his ability to realize their inner longings. The creative imagination is the first step in concrete realization. We have to dream it first. Positive things in life do not come through someone else “doing it for you”. Nor do they come as a result of how worthy you are. Witness the many “deserving” people you know who are living in scarcity and struggle. Our circumstances are determined by what we believe. And belief comes from our ability to see it, or not see it.

It means that whatever we visualize for ourselves is what will be. For “I am” is the universal mantra of manifestation. If I announce from belief that I am worthy, it means I envision myself as a worthwhile person. And I will act and others will respond accordingly. I believe it because that’s how I see myself and by announcing it, it is reality.

Athletes are a prime example of this principle. They actively use their ability to visualize themselves winning the race. I guarantee that there has not been an athlete who won at any competition, who did not first visualize themselves winning. It doesn’t happen.

Our task becomes learning to consciously utilize the power of invocation. Invocation is a natural force being used by us all the time, whether we are aware of it or not. Everything you have in your life you have invoked, one way or another. Because what you have in your life is based on what you believe you deserve.

Not what you actually deserve perhaps, but what you believe you deserve. And remember, what you believe is determined by what you can visualize for yourself.
Conscious invocation is a type of prayer. A style of supplication which includes visualization, gratitude and acceptance. We achieve our hearts desire first by allowing our inner longing to motivate us to visualize it as possible and real. We have to see it first on the inner plains before we can execute it externally. Second, we allow ourselves to feel gratitude for our visualized longing, as if it has already come to pass. This concretizes our image, and opens the door for manifestation. Only from such an expanded stance can abundance come.

(Lynne Forest is a healing practitioner in universal and metaphysical principles based in the US)