Focus on Life™

Credit is something we prefer to get—at least when we want to pursue new projects and need financing. But how do you gain recognition and support for your projects? Are you looking for in other people what in actuality should lie within yourself?

Credit is a recognition of your past achievements and track record. It is your history talking loud and clear by your actions and deeds. You represent the things you have done and let other people to evaluate your performance by your past success. Where you come from is a good indicator to where you are heading as well, but not more—we change all the time. A good track record means nothing if you are not performing any more. Like in the fashion business: you’re only as good as your latest collection.

When you talk with your bank manager she is not giving you credit—you already have it. She just extrapolates your past achievements as a token and promise of a future success. In other words you are trusted because of your history. No wonder it is very hard for people doing things the first time!

And don’t take your credibility as just some ‘great’ achievements you have accomplished. You are a walking history of your past experiences. Everything you do, talk, think, express, wear, and even your very presence broadcast the message about you. It is not solely the clothes you wear nor any other single item. Some people can manage to get things done with their shorts and old t-shirt on where for others a nice expensive suit cannot do the trick. Do not confuse competence and experience with the appearance. It is easy to make window dressing but a bit harder to accomplish real action points. Which one you prefer: talking about the things you are going to achieve or demonstrate the things you already have done as a proof of your competence?

Small things lead to great achievements. Often it is more important to start doing things than just to wait for the perfect time and circumstances. Your actions are a good proxy of your intentions and dedication. Are you willing to take risks and stand behind your words? Wisdom is something that is derived from first-hand experience. Knowledge can be learned but it is not a proof of profound understanding and sound execution skills. Many things look easy but are a bit more complex when you get involved with the details. Credibility comes from the things you have indicated of doing and later have accomplished successfully. It is a sign of trust given by others of your future intentions based on your past experiences. You are your own credit!

We are all after happiness but seldom find it but only for a few glances or passing moments. Most of the time we are seeking to gain it via different things, people, or situations. We try to reproduce the moments and experiences we already had or we are just randomly trying to imitate someone else’s life with their choices. And all these methods fail to provide us anything but suffering and continuous seeking of happiness—they all are external to us.

Happiness is a state of mind that is independent of the circumstances or our surroundings. It is our natural state of being that we have learned to ignore while growing up. We have substituted the internal happiness for objects and desires external to us. They are conditional and related to some activities or specific points in time. What is common to all of these is that they are not present right now. They are projected to the future. This type of happiness is something that you’re always waiting for. Your constant mode is to achieve and ‘earn’ your happiness by actions or circumstances. In other words you are living in illusions filled by your expectations. Disappointments are a frequent visitor when you are dealing with your future projections based on your expected outcomes of the future situations or events. How much in control of your life you really are?

This ‘when..then’ -type of conditioning is very convincing but it is not really living. It’s about building dream castles and denying the moment. You are saying that I’m not happy right now and I’m substituting this moment for another one in the future. You are after the carrot that is always attached to the current moment—the stick stays in the future with the appealing prize as well. This takes many forms. We may prefer to work overtime and then compensate it back in the holidays. Or we are accumulating substantial wealth that we are hoping to spend after retirement. How can you enjoy your life later if you cannot do it now?

Happiness is not a destination—it is a journey. If you are not comfortable being in the journey you are suffering in the destination as well. Life is about experiencing and enjoying every moment you have. It requires that you are comfortable with uncertainty and change. We can only be happy when we have learned to accept the things that we cannot change and regard every passing moment as a gift that has some valuable lessons and experiences to give us. Only when being is enough you can be happy. As long as you need to achieve or become you are not going to find happiness. Life is about change and being in the moment—exploring the unknown.

We tend to be very practical in our thinking. It all culminates into question—how? How am I going to do it? How is it possible? How did you do it? Many questions and very little answers. If you were to know the means you would not bother to ask—you would just do it. But how have you done it in the past—without the answers before the action, that is?

One person’s impossible is other person’s business as usual. What’s the difference? A point of view—the other person cannot imagine a solution based on his/her past experiences, knowledge and understanding while for the other there is no mystery because it is part of his/her everyday life (understanding). In other words the doer believes and the doubter does not.

Ask a successful entrepreneur how he managed to do it, and often you may not find specific answers. They will emphasise their vision, passion, and dedication—they believed 100 per cent what they we about to create. And more importantly, they had the strong will and confidence in themselves that they can make it to happen, no matter what. And after all, how could you know beforehand how to do things that you have not done before? If you were to do only those things that you have done earlier, you would repeat yourself. So, is there any other way to create something new?

Your thinking is based on your past knowledge. We only know what we know, and we see and hear only what we know. Worries are produced in our mind and only by our mind. It is a closed system that exists only when you are thinking (of it or something else). While you are in the middle of some intensive action, you do not have time to think. You have to act. Try to think while hitting the ball in the golf court and you certainly do not make a dream swing.

Often thinking substitutes the action, and makes the realisation of our goals more difficult. It is not that one does not need to define the goals and plan things in advance, but it is important to realise when it is the time to believe on what one is doing and start to walk the talk (or the thought). Mind can produce different scenarios endlessly. Those what-ifs and hows have only one problem–they do not match with the outside reality. Only by starting to move one can keep a bicycle stable–the same applies to our lives as well. Paralysis by analysis cumulates the worries but does not provide any remedy for the underlying issues.

A different matter is when it is a right time to consider the how-question. If you want to make something big and major, it is not very wise to start by thinking how you are going to realise it. This would only result that you are not going to vision such a grand ideas and objectives after all. The road looks very cumbersome and also the visibility is very poor. You start to doubt and very soon the great venture has been turned into a farce—and all this can happen just in your mind! A sailor does not know the weather conditions for his entire route before starting to cross the Atlantic. He certainly knows where he’s heading and why he is doing it. He even may have a clear vision how he is going to sail the route and how long it is going to take. He is confident on his skills and competences to make it to happen. The how-question does not come to halt the action. In a word he believes himself.

Many times not doing is worse than doing something. While you are not making any progress you are still doing something—being in the same spot. Circling around the same area certainly consumes lots of energy but the overall impact may not be exactly what you wanted to have. Taking the first step is often the hardest. The sooner you do it the easier the consequent paces are. And like always before in your life you will figure out how to do it after all. How you did it? -is the question you can try to answer—afterwards. Just do it!

(See also Reverse Confidence )

Many of us are learning the lesson with money. Either we are tight to make the two ends meet or we have an uneasy relationship with prosperity.
Wealth itself is a neutral issue. It is not either good or bad. We ourselves create the meaning and its role. Its scope can be very narrow and limited or wide and very significant. Anyhow, it is all up to us. It has nothing to do with the energy called money or anybody else except us. We create our own reality – the energy is happy to provide us whatever we wish for.

Therefore prosperity and abundance are at our reach. We can make it to happen. Actually nothing can keep as apart from it - if we only allow it ourselves. And this is the big if. It is not the circumstances or the economical situation. Not the job or anything else in our outside reality. There is no one else to deal with but us.

Can you see yourself already living in prosperity? Wait – stop for a while and really consider the previous point. This is important if you are going to make it to happen. Are you able to visualise yourself living in abundance?

The only thing that keeps us separated from abundance is our own beliefs. We don’t feel that we are worth the wealth. We undermine ourselves and simply don’t believe it is possible to realise. Maybe we have had some bad experiences in the past and thus we are reluctant to try again. It did not happen then why could this time be any different? Or we regard anything even closely related to business or money somehow unrelated or impure when talking about spirituality and higher purpose of life. We want to associate ourselves only with unselfishness and spiritually uplifting issues - not with the material reality.

What are all the above? They are our beliefs and associations that we have created ourselves. We believe so – not the wealth or the money. Nothing has any meaning except the one we create for it. Our reality is relative. This means that we can decide to use money for our own selfish purposes or use it as a tool to build a better future for all of us. Actually have you ever considered the possibility that the most spiritually evolved persons should also be the wealthiest? This is not so outstanding claim as it first might sound like. Who would be better servant for humanity than a prosperous and humble multibillionaire that uses his / her wealth for unselfish purposes? Not even talking about how these people would run their businesses…

Can you now see yourself surrounded by wealth and abundance?

Common misunderstanding about wealth is that is difficult to gain. Or that one has to work hard to earn it. Who says so? Money doesn’t care if you don’t. Actually abundance is our natural state of being. There has been previous Golden Eras when gold was widely available for everyone who needed it. Lack and limitations are our own creations. We are meant to be living among abundance if we only allow ourselves. Some of us are very harsh and hard on ourselves. Our previous hardship has taken its toll and subconsciously we blame ourselves for the difficulties. We think that we have earned to be poor and to suffer. It is a lesson that we have to learn. In another words suffering by being poor is a thing that we need. Once again – if you believe so but certainly you do not have to.

Can you see all your friends surrounded by prosperity and wealth?

Wealth is energy like anything else. If you take good care of it and let it flow it will keep coming and become stronger. But if you use it for your selfish purposes and block the sharing of wealth it will drain. Life is economical. It gives for those who appreciate and cherish it. We do not own anything, rather being only humble housekeepers that take care of the resources and gifts provided to us. In another words we must feel to be worth the wealth. Be responsible and joyous about it. We must appreciate and use it wisely.

And finally the secret of prosperity. How to become wealthy? Simply by being one. First forgive yourself. Forgive yourself any hardship or shortcomings in the past. This is important in order to clear any old luggage out of the way. Secondly, love yourself. Love yourself from all of your heart so that you fill up with unconditional love so and it starts to spill over and finally you radiate pure love. Wealth loves to be around kind and harmonious people. You feel that you’re worth the wealth and it is a natural part of your reality. Beauty and wealth are as natural for you as any other part of your reality. And then the most important issue when you have now successfully prepared the ground for your prosperity: you know that you are wealthy. You must know this deep in your mind, bottom of your heart and solid as a rock in your behaviour. You must be wealthy. How does a wealthy person think, talk and act? This is the way you manifest your reality. A wealthy person do not worry about unpaid bills or low balance in the bank account. He knows that there is nothing to worry about. He / she is wealthy and everything is going to be alright. This does not mean that one should start to spend like a millionaire and take up new loans and so on. It simply means that since we create our own reality by our own actions, talks, and thoughts and these have to be in line with the desire of prosperity. We KNOW, FEEL and ACT with confidence that the wealth is on its way. Nothing can stop as from gaining it. We are creators and thus nothing can stop our prosperity but us. Just do it – you already are.

Our belief structures define who we are and how we interpret
the world. They are our point of view and allow us to view the
world through rose-colored glasses. We adjust the external
world according to our beliefs. Beliefs are our world, and they
are us. Hence they are very powerful and have a great impact
on us.

When we interact with other people, we interact with their
belief structures. If these beliefs are aligned, we feel under-
stood and the interaction is a very pleasant experience. On the
other hand, if others’ beliefs do not fit into our world, they
can threaten or distress us.

We stick to our beliefs. We lock into our bunkers, and try
to keep the base safe as long as possible. This is very impor-
tant because otherwise we are bound to change our under-
standing of our existence, which often means giving up
something and adjusting our life accordingly. We have a huge
intolerance for change and uncertainty. Questioning our con-
ventional ways of categorizing and seeing the world imposes
an immediate threat for who we believe we are and how the
world is constructed according to our understanding.

Until we give up believing and creating thought structures,
we are tied up and imprisoned by them. They bound limits to
our lives and prevent us from experiencing the external world
without filters and mental handicaps.

Life evolves like an ascending spring. Viewed from the side, it
reveals its upward spiral while the top view reveals a cyclical
continuation. Both ends vanish into the horizon without any
end or beginning. They are points that are relative to and only
limited by the scale of the observer.

Where do our feelings and thoughts arise, appear, and vanish?
There must be something that is not in movement in order to
become aware of these states.

We experience time (i.e., past, present, and future) but how is
it possible that we can become aware of these if we are a part
of them (i.e., the observer would be part of the observation)?

Where is that continuous self-awareness (i.e., I am) that is
ever present?

How is it possible to do self-inquiries for ourself? That means
that the observer is observing himself or herself (e.g., an eye
trying to look at itself).

Why can we change but our awareness of ourselves stays?

We build our world from five external senses—what is it like with more senses?

Life is breathing. It has three different phases—inhalation,
short pause, and exhalation. Internal and external action—
visible and invisible. Active and passive.

Breathing is living. Its intensity varies with scale. Some
breathe faster than others—their perceptions and realizations
are relative to their tempo. Small beings (e.g., cells) have dif-
ferent breathing cycles than large beings (with larger mass),
such as humans, when compared to each other. Still, the rela-
tive cycle is intact. This can be realized only in cross-scale
comparisons.

Life is a realization process (i.e., existence/manifestation)
in time. In other words, life is relative motion where the sub-
ject’s internal frame of reference is relational to its breathing
cycle. A self-conscious being has the potential to experience
various cycles at once (interlinked) and focus within a cycle in
any of the three directions. The subjective intensity remains
constant, but in relation to an external reference frame, signif-
icant relative time adjustments or movements can be experi-
enced.

In our language death means the opposite of living. Being
alive is to live, create, explore, and experience. Death is some-
thing where nothing is moving and everything stays still, a
total freeze or a complete stop. It is something where nothing
new is developed nor does anything change; death is simply a
state where nothing is created anymore.

In order to be truly alive, one should be familiar with
death. What does it mean not to be alive? Not to create,
explore, and experience? Stay still, hold back, freeze the situa-
tion, and maintain the status quo? Resist movement or
change?

How can we be sure that we are not already dead? To put it
differently, are we really experiencing, continuously creating
and exploring something new? We are not eager to explore
and break the boundaries. We are not so excited about any-
thing new and unknown happening. We’d rather not rock the
boat and stay still and lie low. We are uncomfortable with
change and prefer the current situation, no matter how bad or
awkward.

Change happens very slowly in the physical world. Drastic
renewal takes decades or generations rather than weeks or
years. Our mind is quick to draw scenarios and imagine
things, but real implementation of visible action takes
decades, if not centuries. We drag our history with us. We are
conservative and changing only with force. Someone who
does something only when under external pressure is not cre-
ating. Where is the freedom and joy of exploration? To put it
in brief—we are dead.

Everything we see, have, are, and live within is based on two
structures: the substance (i.e., the essence) and its representa-
tion (manifestation). The appearance is the structure that is
easy to comprehend and is the only truth existing for the
inexperienced.

Only the wise can separate the representation from the
substance. The ignorant regards the appearance as the essence
and creates more confusion around. Everything has this
twofold existence and, therefore, any act or deed can either be
banal or of essence. It cannot be acknowledged only from the
representation. The paradox is that being able to reproduce
the appearance has nothing to do with the substance—nor
does it have to do with the comprehension. It is easier to
reproduce and arrange the representation than to realize the
substance underneath. However, nothing has any real value
and meaning without the substance.

The substance never has a physical appearance. It can only
be associated with something tangible, but it cannot be cap-
tured by it. For example, what is a wedding ring without love?