When I sent a notification email announcing my last blog, “Imagine a Stress Free Life”, inadvertently I wrote, “Imagine a Stress-filled Life” in the subject line. Many of you pointed out my slip saying, in effect, “Why would I want to imagine a stress-filled life? I already live one.” Well, as I learned, there are no mistakes. Maybe we live a stress-filled life because we cannot imagine anything but. According to the oldest and most powerful Law of the Universe we attract that to which we direct our attention. If I can only imagine what I experience then my experience controls my imagination and my life. My words then become testament to my beliefs and control my destiny.
I think it’s amazing that simple little statements of belief control our life experiences. My entire life I believed in “No Pain, No Gain.” I also believed in the great American Dream that I could have anything I wanted if I just pursued it with everything I could. So I struggled and sacrificed and put all my effort into everything I did. That was true whether the pursuit was a career, love, relationship, education, spiritual path, or social and recreational endeavors. All along the way, I delayed gratification and silently suffered, knowing that someday all my dreams would come true. Well, I’m still waiting. That’s because I had specific outcomes that would be realized as a result of my effort and sacrifice. When something didn’t turn out as I had anticipated all that I was left with was all the pain I suffered along the way. I then did as every good American would do; I pulled up my boot straps, put the pain to the side and started over.
Even when things turned out perfectly I wasn’t satisfied, knowing that there was more out there to achieve. I became addicted to the pursuit and the pain. I could never be happy believing in “No Pain, No Gain.” I just didn’t realize it. I even chronicled all my trials and tribulations in my book, Ascent Into Hell. My life was a constant struggle to climb out of my self-imposed hell only to find that when I reached the pinnacle all I found was a deeper and darker hell. Fortunately I met people along the way who were more than willing to help me; to point out the fallacy of my beliefs and to provide me with tools to help me get out of my suffering.
One of these people was Esther Hicks who channels an entity known only as Abraham. She summarized my life by stating if you believe in No Pain, No Gain, that’s exactly what you get. How simple! If we expect to experience pain in our efforts to move forward, we get pain regardless of whether or not our efforts result in us moving forward, going backwards, or staying put. If we experience sufficient pain, pain becomes part of who we are whether we want it or not.
When I realized that I was the source of my own pain and that I had a choice between happiness and pain regardless of the situation, I finally decided on happiness. My happiness is not dictated by my experiences. I have relinquished my expectations that my efforts will yield specific outcomes that I have deemed desirable. I have learned that many times I couldn’t imagine the extent to which I could be happy with simple pleasures. The Universe has provided me with experiences that far outdistanced any outcome I could have imagined. It took me a long time and a lot of effort to get to this point, and yes a lot of struggling.
Recently I attended a workshop presented by Dr. Michael Ulm who asked the audience if we believed in miracles. He stated that 25% of people believe in miracles while 25% do not. The other 50% do not know whether or not miracles actually occur. He stated that miracles occur all the time and we can have them any time we want if we believe in miracles, believe they can happen in our lives, and believe we deserve them. In other words, our lives could change instantly. We just had to surrender to the best the Universe has to offer. Oh no! I just realized that my transformation needn’t have taken so long. It could have happened instantly. I believed it would take time and so it did.
Today I fully believe that my life is a miracle and am grateful for every moment, every breath, regardless of whether or not the experience is desired. There is a purpose to my life and I admit that I do not understand why I have the experiences I do and that there is a plan greater for me, greater than my feeble mind can comprehend. Every action I take is for my greater glory and good without expectation of what the future should look like. I can never be frustrated. I can never be disappointed. I can never suffer. And in those rarer and rarer times when human frailties take over I have tools I can use to end the suffering instantly, including the Breath of Life and the Attitude Adjustment Routine. I then imagine the Universe providing me with everything I need and want.
Do you believe in miracles? Can you imagine a stress free life? Can you imagine having everything you ever wanted? What are you waiting for?
About Me
- Tony Piparo
- Tony has Masters’ degrees in Education and Kinesiology and a Ph.D. in Sport Psychology. He is an internationally recognized author, lecturer, and award winning researcher. He earned the prestigious American Psychological Association’s “Dissertation of the Year” honors for his thesis, “The effects of Stress on Concentration and Performance in Sport.” His books include, Kingdom of the Tiger”: A Golfer’s Guide to Playing in The Zone and Ascent into Hell. Tony works with golfers and athletes in almost every sport of all ages and ability levels. He also helps performance artists such as singers, dancers, and actors, business professionals, and students get the most of their efforts. He works with individuals from all walks of life deal more effectively with everyday living issues. The Peak is intended to provide readers with information and simple, powerful tools that help them reach the peak of life’s ultimate experiences, whether it be related to their mainstream pursuits or more esoteric concerns such as religious or spiritual convictions. While some postings will be specific to certain areas of life, others will be general and apply to every human endeavor
It really is as simple as you say -- believing and trusting that whatever happens is for your highest good. When I finally did that and learned to relax about life and just let the outcomes happen without judgment, things really began to turn around.
ReplyDeleteI love the saying you will see it when you believe it. If you believe life is a struggle filled with pain, that is what you get. I choose to believe differently.
I do believe miraculously good things do happen, but I know we create them with our own perceptions. I can imagine a stress free life. Stressful things are going to always happen, but how we experience them is all in our reaction to them. They do not have to stress you out and throw you off kilter. So wonderful to know this now.