By Julia Pitsouli
Suppose you were asked “What was the moment of your greatest strength today?” What would you say? You might say it was the moment you managed something very difficult or when you felt a connection to others or maybe when you resisted the temptation of a forbidden delicacy. Or even the moment you stayed calm during a crisis. In fact all these situations contain the same kind of power, the power of decision making. We may not have realized it but every time we make a choice that is the moment of our ultimate power. It is then that we decide how to feel about and how to interpret the world around us. You see, it’s not the facts that are responsible for our psychological state rather than our own chosen interpretation of those very facts. This is our real power because the way we stand before each incident is up to us; for we are the only ones who can chose whether to get angry, nervous, stressed, or whether to feel connection or extension. Yet, where do all these choices lie for us to take our pick? Physics has the answer to this question. It is something called superposition and you could picture it as a place where all possibilities exist shouting to you “Pick me! Me, me!”
The package at the back seat.
Our eyesight is in fact selective although we may not realize it. If a negative concept of the world lies in our mind then, indeed, an unpleasant world it is we live in, selectively observing only what confirms our preconception. But we can always choose differently. “And then? What if we do? Will the world become a better, wonderful place?” you may ask. Well, probably not right away. It often looks as if the universe is testing us exactly when we are attempting to “repent”. In fact, it’s not fate that is testing us but merely the facts that we ourselves have set in motion. This is actually a law of physics which we learned about at school as the principle of inertia which we actually experience at every hit of the break. For example when you are driving at a considerable speed and you slow down abruptly, something left at the back seat might swing forth and slam you on the head. You have stopped (changed your way of thinking) but, due to acquired speed, the baggage representing your old way of thinking will keep on traveling (because of the principle of inertia) until you stumble upon it or until the baggage hits you instead! Still, this is one more moment of choice. You may decide to blame yourself or somebody else for it or use it as a tool for your inner peace by changing its interpretation. Will you receive it as if the universe is targeting you or will you see it as solid proof of the magnificent space that your mind is occupying from where you can make changes in the present? Thus, next time you hit the breaks the package will not come speeding at you. Instead a different quality of event will arise.The truth of the matter is that if for a series of years we have been producing a constant and repeated string of thoughts like, for example, believing that we are vulnerable and the world is against us, that life sucks and we must be aggressive in order to protect ourselves, then we live in an unpleasant reality that we built on our own through our thoughts. Until the moment comes that we chose differently.
The Greek financial troubles
If we start consciously to choose a positive attitude we can work miracles. Even solve the Greek financial troubles, which are not of accounting or financial nature as it seems but of a psychological one! Whatever it is we might be searching for, we want it for its psychological reflection upon us. We don’t want the money in itself as paper banknotes but all that it promises. The problem is actually created globally because of the belief that in order for someone to win, someone else has to lose. The source of all problems lies in the illusion that the individual prosperity is other than that of the fellow human being and that one must take from the other as there is no sufficiency. Take the laborer of the lowest income or someone whose wages have just been reduced “I don’t have enough. I don’t take enough from my employer.” he says. And the employer goes “I don’t have enough, I’ll ask the bank for a loan or the government for help.” And the bank goes “I don’t have enough, I’ll ask for support from the state.” And the state goes “I don’t have enough, I’ll ask for help from the IMF” And what do they find there? Abundance? Far from it! They also find scarcity and poverty (on a psychological level, naturally). This mentality, this belief in insufficiency leads to greed. So the problem ranging from the homeless to the IMF is the same all the way up the ladder: the belief in scarcity and the stiff, unchangeable mentality that individual interests are separate. This dominant but ineffective way of thinking will eventually be abandoned as completely and utterly obsolete.
I care!
One thing that is necessary if we are to solve these dire financial straits globally is a new way of thinking. And as a matter of fact a new attitude of life is gradually emerging. It has been timidly shimmering throughout the ages. Some spoke of it, some strove for it. Now it shines all the more brightly as all those who are sensitized realize that the only real interest is the common interest. Little by little throughout the world some chose to think with a different new way as to what is truly of “interest” and they identify that all springs from the mind and that the solution lies within the “with” and not without it. It is a mentality of “I care. I care about you!” not of shutting the door indifferent to what the rest of the world is doing. I don’t act carelessly throwing away, for example, my garbage because I don’t intend to come back at this street the next day. I care, I connect to the others or, to be exact, I acknowledge my deeper connection of everything with everything. So, little by little, something changes within our daily routine. What the society will eventually do step by step some have chosen to do in speed practically supporting the idea of common good. They know the saying is true that “No matter how far you have gone on a wrong road, turn back.” It is simple but, at the same time, so powerful: in order to get out of any desperate situation what we need is to make a new choice, make a new decision. The power of choice is the only one we have left-and it is enough. We create the whole universe with that. In other words, instead of putting up with the consequences of a gruesome reality, we can identify the power hidden in choosing differently and caring about the others. This is the essential solution to all dead ends: using the strength of our choice so that anything we may say or do will reflect in action that “I want a better world and I am creating it right now!”