Re: Anyone feel their life moves in patterns?
You’re telling me it sounds surreal, I just skimmed what I posted earlier and it sounds like a bunch of hogwash. I’m as cynical as they come, but from what little I’ve read about quantum physics it’s no longer a question in my mind. I first saw Dr. Wayne Dyer on PBS - he’s a very engaging speaker. He says the same things Brahma Kumaris and Baba Shivanand teach (Zee TV is always on in our house). These are age-old traditions just packaged for a western audience.
‘Positive thinking’ isn’t a hard idea to sell, and training your subconscious by repetitive thoughts and behaviors is an established practice in cognitive behavioral therapy. Instead, the fact that what you simply think can actually transform the chemistry of your brain is what’s surreal. For years scientists thought the brain was relatively immutable after a certain age, but now we know parts of our brain remain plastic into adulthood. This throws our self-limiting talk out the window - it’s never too late to learn a new language, to think differently, to change your body, etc.
You’re right about the effects of meditation, prayer and spirituality - it all involves the same mental focus/discipline (‘mindfulness’). There was a study that found that patients who were prayed for (without their knowledge) recovered faster post-surgery vs. patients who were not prayed for. Our religious beliefs (or lack thereof) aside, for me this further confirms that thoughts are energy.
All this does come naturally to some people. I scoffed when ‘The Secret’ became a bestseller, and when I eventually skimmed it I realized it’s a philosophy my mother has always practiced reflexively. She’s one of those people who decides something is possible without knowing how it’ll happen. And sure enough, favorable people and circumstances just seem to cross her path to facilitate exactly that. As ‘safe’ as it feels, I’ve realized cynicism isn’t cool anymore 