Category: Habits

KICKING THE TIRES OF JUNE 16, 2020

S R Janssen
Image of succulents that uses an effect that make a photo look like a painting. Illustrates an experience that is not definite by concrete experience.
An experienced remembered from another place

My dreams, at least the ones I remember, arrive in the early morning, rattle around for a second or two, then exit leaving no trace. This morning’s dream lingered. It did more than linger; it clamored for attention. A set of serious men in grey suits were interviewing me for a job. They asked what school I attended before transferring to UCLA.

I was flooded with memories of my time there, yet I simply could not recall the name of that school.  It was a prestigious school, with a name once as familiar to me as my own. As I failed again and again to capture that elusive name, my distress increased. Finally, I just gave up, thinking that my three years at UCLA had to satisfy the interviewers.

The moment I woke up, I knew immediately that I had attended Otero Junior College for a year.  However, the memories I was recalling while dreaming were vivid memories of an experience I never experienced in a school I never attended. Nevertheless, I felt there was validity in the experience.

If there were anything more to that dream than simple reverberations from my recent reading then I leave it to my subconscious to sort, while I go clean the bathroom.

KICKING THE TIRES OF JUNE 12, 2012

S R Janssen

Shifting the experience of reality

This morning, I spent a while in bed savoring the flood of early morning sunlight through the window. Gradually, I began feeling the validity of the Neville Goddard book I read yesterday.  That state that I term “the fourth dimension” is feeling more real to me.  I am feeling my way into the validity of creating an experience by feeling my way into ownership of the desire. Now I believe, I can call into existence that which I own through the strength of my feelings. Metaphorically speaking, the game is to keep my attention focused on what I want instead of lending any attention to problems.

Accomplishing this state of imagination requires relaxation; in my experience, effort is inimical to creation through imagination and feeling. Shifting from dependence on physical senses to dependence on my feelings requires attention and lots of practice. Then this lesson from Don Juan[1]: the warrior’s pause that gives the world that one beat that allows conscious choice.

I have to laugh at the ways I operated from resistance and self-righteousness for so much of the time. So, every day, I spend a few moments of appreciation for my sense of humor, my ability to see the funny side of things and laugh.  I also appreciate the wonderful books in my life that fed me words of wonder, magic, beauty and faith in the basic well-being of the world.

[1] The sorcerer Don Juan, Carlos Castenada’s mentor