Happy New Year

For many a ‘New’ Year is associated with ‘out with the old – in with the new’.

Good luck with that. Any ‘New Years Resolution’ has a limited life span before we fall back into old patterning.

Show me someone who is successful in changing their behaviour and I will show you someone who has released all ‘karmic’ charge related to certain behaviour patterns and can easily step into a ‘new’ future.

The old patterning may not be particularly healthy but it is something that we are used to, have become familiar with, even, on some level, addicted to. We are, after all is said and done, creatures of habit.

How to break old habits? First the challenge is to realise that we are locked into habitual behaviour patterns. Some obvious, some not so obvious. The idea of a New Year Resolution seems to be an awareness of some of the destructive patterns we are in and a desire to let them go. Yet if the conditioning that allowed such habits to present is so strong and deeply embedded in our psyche doesn’t change then those resolutions are doomed to failure.

There are many processes available today that claim to help you move beyond your conditioning. I have not tried any of them (apart from Clearing of course) so cannot comment on how efficient they are.

What I can say is that the people who reach out to me who have tried one or more of the methods available are still reaching out to me. If the other processes worked then there would be no need to ask for my ‘help.’ To me, the idea that going back into our past holds the answer to our present is of little or no value whatsoever. Rather if we can change the way we deal with information (thoughts, emotions etc) that we notice on a daily basis is the true foundation for change.

To me, change can only come about due to acceptance, or the practice of, what arises in each moment. For someone lost in any particular drama, the idea of acceptance is quite aliens concept that may signify, them them, surrender of aspects of the self. A giving in.

Yet this thought will only arise when the individual is still lost in a drama. It arises because the perceptions and understandings of the individual are coloured by the filter system of the personality, a personality that has developed over many years experiencing the world through conditioned eyes. This just serves to compound any association / addiction to certain ways of seeing the world and being in that world, a world that requires constant maintenance in order to be comfortable. A world that consumes all of your time and energy, even the need for ‘down’ time arises out of total identification with the reality that presents on a daily basis.

Any process that brings an awareness of the past yet teaches us how to better manage that past is really, just by acknowledging the past and giving energy to that past is as good as saying, “This is real, now what can I do about it” instead of acknowledging that any memories or emotions that show up are a result of my taking the perceptions that I have inherited or acquired and they have no substance if I do not continue to feed them.

We cannot change if on one hand we keep energising the past while wishing for something new. To allow room for anything ‘new’ to enter we should begin by making room for it! By stopping giving energy to that which no longer serves. By recognising that we do indeed live in a ‘make-it-up-as-you-go-along’ Universe. We are making up the world we live in on a moment by moment basis, mostly the creation of ‘our world’ is done on a sub-conscious level (? Habits) Many of the habits we follow are also collective habits. Habits that have been adopted by the many thus creating a strong senses of ‘this is real.’

We belong to a society that is constantly giving energy to the past, recreating on a moment by moment basis that which went before. When surrounded by this collectively held belief it is hardly surprising that we go along with that belief. For many this is enough, we may question various spin-offs from the collective but we are still following the majority. Yet what is the collective perceptions are not true, they are simply the product of collective belief! Does that make the true? Simply because many people give energy to them or is there something beyond the collectively held belief?

There appear to be various aspects of this collectively held belief that we feel comfortable with and other areas where we are not so comfortable. So we choose, based on our own past conditioning, that which is right (for us) and that which is not. We then try to impose our values of right and wrong on another (individual or country). Yet if the others values are different form ours it is only because they had different upbringing and conditioning to us, they believe themselves to be right and will oppose your trying to get them to follow your values.

We can see, all the time we come from a judgmental place, that conflict is inevitable. And this is one of the reasons why any New Years Resolution is doomed to fail if the individual is till caught in judgment or preferences that are based on the conditioned past.

You want change? Then begin by accepting all aspects of who you believe yourself to be, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Try not to judge these parts of yourself, try not to blame self or others, for we are all the products of a past conditioning over which we had little or no control at all.

Experience for yourself the many benefits that non judgment will bring into your life. Begin by simply noticing your thoughts and feeling and saying to yourself, “This is the feeling of….?” And then consciously change your mind, so that you are no longer feeding the past, simply acknowledging it.

And for those ‘serious’ about change, change means change, not a slight modification of your reality but a shift in perceptions of what is real and what is not. And, to start the New Year, a simple guided meditation to help you along the way.

Happy (?) New (?) Year (?)