Next week I am scheduled to give my regular week 2 lecture on Communication.  In this lecture we talk about the basic structures surrounding communication and the signs and symbols involved.  One of the things that struck me this time when I sat down to look at the lecture was the concepts about signs in the our external world.

Signs and the principle of external magnetism

In our heads we think up all kinds of stuff.  We make meaning (semiosis) by creating symbols that mean something.  Inside you, you have an internal belief system operating.  Some of us call this our spirit, some our soul and some something else entirely.  For this post I am going to say ‘belief system’ because it frees me up to focus on the subject matter.  Say, for a moment you had a dream to achieve something.  Like buying a home.  What if that dream was yours then it was taken away?  What would you believe then?  You would notice that you suddenly experienced the world in a way that you weren’t particulary used to.

People I have known (myself included) that have lost friends and relatives often wonder afterwards what went wrong?  I have noticed in myself and others that when this period of reassessment begins… we start to look at the world differently and change our view of it.  A traumatic event will do that.  As our outlook changes our beliefs change on what to expect.  We start to notice the signs of change.

Externally we drawn down events and match the happenings to our internal belief system.  You can be operating in a fearful state and you will find ‘external’ realities to map onto your own beliefs that confirm your fears.  You will draw on things that confirm your existing thoughts.  So, as you notice these inward beliefs changing… you will notice new events.  The magnetic way in which we create our beliefs is essential to understanding how to solve problems… because quite often what we think the problem is… the problem is.

Noticing the signs of change from the inside out

We begin to notice change as we seek new things in our thinking.  The change we noticed, some say, is attracted to us by our thoughts.  I am not saying we use extra sensory powers of perception to alter events (far be it from me to do that!) what I am saying is that what we think often attracts things we weren’t even aware of.  Once something lodges in our thinking, we notice new patterns that for some reason where hidden from us previously.  We are drawn to these things in our mind.    Noticing changes in these things often begins with looking inside yourself to notice what thinking has changed. 

What you think is a key indicator to what’s on your heart

That sounds mightily obvious.  But, the thoughts you have about certain things often correlate directly to what is in your belief systems.  The thing that blows me away is that often our beliefs are tied up somehow and we often don’t realise what we believe until something surfaces that belief. 

I remember once reading a newsletter about a child who was using running water for the very first time.  That article really effected me.  It was at that time that I realised I felt passionately about aid and helping those less fortunate.  Do I always remember them? No.  But every now and then I get a reminder and makes me realise a change in my thinking.   Why do I think this way?

Noticing the signs of change is difficult because involves a level on introspection on your behalf.  Why have you just now noticed a change in your thinking?  What does it all mean?  I have been led to believe that as we move forward in life answers become apparent.  I think to finish up here I will just say this: I live each day as though I had a plan… but know that I probably don’t have one!

*Image Credit: Fish

Ok so I am bit short on ideas at the moment.  But after my last post and some work I nailed during the week… I got to thinking.  How powerful are concepts in our lives?

A concept

Academic Peter Checkland coined the phrase, “a framework of ideas” to describe really what a concept is.  I think in our lives there are all kinds of ideas we make use of on a daily basis.   We have concepts of family, concepts of community, concepts of society and so on.  A concept is really a set of ideas.  Take the current media hype about petrol prices.   We have a concept of crisis that’s framing those issues at the moment.

Using another concept to create tension

Let’s now express the problem as an opportunity.  What opportunities could come from the high price of petrol?  More ethanol, hydrogen?  What about a new concept?  What about teleportation?  No need for fuel or even parking vouchers.  Just zap and you are there.  How about more working from home solutions… more flexible working hours… cars that run off water.   Every crisis breeds opportunity!

The concepts of what we think stuff is

In life there are things we build up in our minds that tell us what stuff is.  There are people, places and things that demand our conceptual attention.  Say for example you are an upwardly mobile single person who is getting older and older.  You have no partner and desperately want one.  What’s your concept of the future?  Do you see my point.  Why not start thinking ‘opportunity’ instead of ‘crisis’.

So here we are for some reason talking about change of concepts.  I am wondering if this blog would survive without commentaries… probably not.  That said, this was an interesting post and as I wrote it I realised… I need to use better concepts of the future… at the very least!

* Credit: Derrick

At the moment I am reading a book called Do what you love and the money will follow by Marsha Sinetar. I have found it interesting to read about how the actions have an impact on the internal pictures we hold in our minds. One of the things I have always assumed was that it was a matter of positive thinking to focus your mind on a goal. Perhaps though (as I am sure most of you already know), there is a deeper reciprocal relationship between what we think and what we do. One that we may never fully comprehend.  In particular, how do actions influence our unconscious minds?

If we have positive thoughts and our actions don’t match…

What fascinated me about what I read was that the symbols we hold to in our mind are confirmed by the actions we take (so the author said). So if we have a certain perception of business for example, our actions should reflect this inner belief.

When they don’t match we experience a form of what we call cognitive dissonance. When we act against our inner beliefs we feel a churning in our gut or at least we should. If we do this for long enough… what happens? Our hearts become hard and we lose ourselves. Here is an example that might help:
Say you you have a goal to be a leader. You visualise that goal, you see yourself doing it and being what you want to be. Most self-help (Christian or otherwise) will tell you to do this. You take confirming actions to line up with your vision and eventually you begin to move towards ‘realisation’ of that goal. Apparently, it’s a one way process that’s ‘intentional’. But what if it isn’t? What if the visioning process works both ways? Images float into our unconscious to and fro and whether we like it or not we are always doing it!

What if we get these goals from other people?

What I think the author is alluding to which I didn’t realise was this: I can be brainwashed to the point where I can believe unconscious things about myself that other people are affirming. No big revelation is it? However, it does mean that visioning could very well be a two way process. Thoughts can come to me from the outside and build a nest in my unconsciousness!  I have received external information, which I can process into a belief that resides on the inside.

People who have ‘visioned’ have often reported this process.  A process by which they suddenly realised and begin to expect something to happen to them based on a vision they created.  Delusional?  Some of the greatest achievements started this way. This external confirmation is mysterious.  I have experienced moments like this myself.  There is however something I think we have ignored in western culture that involves an inner knowing.  Even scientifically we have a code (DNA) that guarantees we have certain biases.

The other problem we have is that our unconscious minds also contain our desires

So while we may have desires programmed into us we can actually know our desires.  The things that stir us and the things that are natural giftings to us.  As Billy Joel says… you just recover when another belief is betrayed.  The world has conflicting beliefs running through it… beliefs that people are adjusting too constantly.  As these beliefs intersect and create new ones which are adapted, maintained and developed (or destroyed) newer beliefs emerge.  For example, my parents believed in getting married early and having children.  Most people today have a different belief.   Therefore the confirmation through actions is entirely different.

We confirm our beliefs through our experiences the author of this book argues.  That is, the actions we take send a message back to our unconscious that we are serious.  In the same manner that an ‘affirmation’ sends a positive thought out… actions send the thought as a received symbol back into the unconscious that, “hey I am really doing this”.  So there is a reciprocal relationship between the unconscious mind, the mind and the actions we take.  We knew that.  What I didn’t realise, because I am a very slow person, was this: the actions act as symbols to my unconscious mind that I am prepared to act on unconscious thoughts.  That is, the real me deep down there that’s trying to get out is looking for confirmation.  You will feel this when you do it… it’s like nothing else I have ever known.

Therefore, as I find something about myself on the inside and begin to develop it… I am developing the real me and I will find a level of joy in what I am doing.  If I don’t do it… I will find a level of discomfort, depression and perhaps even sickness.  I found a similar out by watching my children.

They often play and do things they want to do.  You hear them making their own little worlds and building realities to engage in.  They will pick up a pen and draw, they will paint or sing.  Who told them to do that?  Nobody.  It came from their inner being.  I encourage my children to be creative and follow these inner desires (now) because I have begun to realise that we already know what we want… the problem is it’s buried under layers of wrong thoughts and teachings.  Now to get the bugger out… that’s the trick isn’t it?

Where there is no level of unconscious awareness the conscious mind begins to build maps

So where no unconscious belief is found… your mind goes about building one.  If you say, “I am agnostic about God” that is your map… your belief.  If you value science over religion… your mind will affirm as much.  The opposite is probably the case.   That belief can be thought of as a castle that sits in your mind dominating your conscious thought.  Try and change it.  Make yourself say things you don’t believe and notice what happens.  Something on the inside gets you.  You start getting shirty!  Why?  The map you have in your mind is now attached to the unconscious you and is seeking confirmation from the outside world.

That thought you had might have been fed to you from books, television, people and/or whatever.   The question I always ask is this: how did that perspective form itself? Another post for another day!  These things are the hidden assumptions we shape our lives with.  And as much as we know some beliefs are clearly bad for us.

In closing this rather obscure post I would like to say this: I am starting to think that my relationship with myself and the world around is non-linear and bi-directional.  So much so that when we speak of ‘intentions’ and the desire to manifest new realities for ourselves we are almost always speaking of a shift in belief first leading to action that confirms to our unconscious that we are serious about it.   I am not a psychologist… but I have noticed that when a belief changes in someone’s life (a deep seeded belief) people’s actions almost always change… at least for a while.   So, action taking is important as it confirms that you are prepared to live from your true desires.  The question is: are we as people prepared to begin walking down this path?