How To Close The Gap - Part 2
In Part 1, I wrote about accepting our desires and I touched on "Self-Concept".
If you missed it, you can find it here.
In this episode of the newsletter, I'm going to focus on Self-Concept and why it's so key to results.
As always I hope you find value in it.
What is Self-Concept?
In essence our "Self-Concept" is the amalgamation of our beliefs and assumptions about:
1. Ourself
2. Others
3. The World
It’s like a "beneath the surface" identity we take on in relation to the facets of our life.
Why does Self-Concept matter?
In the most basic terms, it matters because what we assume and believe creates our experience.
The mind creates experience in correspondence with our Self-Concept.
What we assume and believe dictates our behaviours / actions, reactions and results.
Our senses are how we perceive the evidence of our Self-Concept and what we've been imagining, assuming, believing or expecting.
We think into the mind, we feel the thoughts we're believing in and the mind shows us the evidence.
Whether we turn to metaphysics or modern physics for the science of this or choose instead to look to our own direct experience doesn't matter...
What we think, assume and believe is pushed out and mirrored back.
Even neuroscientists are coming around to admitting it's not about the brain at all; it's about the mind!
Regardless, our 'outside world' is not independent of our 'inside world' in the way it appears to be; it reflects our Self-Concept.
And whilst the ego - which in itself is just a belief - does a great job of preserving the illusion that we are separate to everyone and everything, it’s not how it is.
But the illusion (of separation) is nonetheless necessary for playing the game of life.
No illusion or perception of separation, no experience, no game.
But, when we become caught up in the illusion of separation and forget how the mind operates, our experience of the game can often feel more like a bloody battlefield.
For one, we may find that lasting happiness, fulfilment and inner peace remains elusive despite our objective successes...
And / or, we may go through our life with beliefs we've inherited about ourself, others and the world which are not true in and of themselves but which are playing out as 'true' for us because we believe them!
We may therefore spend our life fighting our own reflection in the mirror without even knowing it.
Resisting circumstances whilst perpetuating our experience of them because we're resisting them...
Or, we may live a version of someone else’s life based on "hand-me-down" beliefs we picked up and accepted before we could consciously question them or choose to reject them.
Beliefs such as:
?? Running your own business is hard.
?? Money is....
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?? People are...
?? Time is...
?? I am / he is / she is / they are...
Some of our beliefs may be helpful and others may not be but the point is that experience is an expression of our self-concept and beliefs and not the expression of what's actually true.
One example of how inherited beliefs play out is that we may choose or remain in a certain profession or career we don't love or enjoy because along the way, we picked up the belief that it's safer or more secure.
Or we may strive endlessly for years whilst being unaware we can't ever outperform our own stories!
Whether we accept it or not - and the ego belief is powerful - we’re always looking in the mirror or our own Self-Concept.
As Albert Einstein and so many other philosophers and modern scientists have said; "the illusion is powerful".
However...
If we're willing to accept that there is no separation - regardless of how powerful the illusion is - then closing the gap between our current experience and what we’d love becomes simple.
Which is not to say it’s always easy (because the illusion is powerful).
Key is to recognise we have a conscious mind for a reason.
To enable us to choose.
To choose from the infinite possibilities we may imagine.
To choose our preferences regardless of appearances.
And to recognise that nothing has standalone meaning without us.
We get to add the meaning to everything.
We get to choose this..
And the meaning we add leads our experience.
As science tells us and as ancient teachers have taught for Millenia, our assumptions collapse potential and probability into form.
And in every moment, we get to choose what to think, assume and believe...
About everything.
As conscious creators, we are free to choose the meaning and to choose our preferences regardless of appearances.
And when we remember who we really are as conscious creators, we're free to step back into our power and use our conscious mind and imagination as they’re intended to be used.
We can choose to shift our Self-Concept any time we like and we can choose to use our imagination and decide what we now wish to experience.
Just as we can choose to believe it's all BS, that it's much more complicated and that there's no substitute for hard work...
It's all up to us.
?? If you'd like to learn more or enquire about ways to work with me, ping me a message anytime.