NO AWARENESS IN SPIN-CYCLE THOUGHTS

"A problem cannot be solved on its own level. It cannot be done any more than you can lift yourself up by pulling upward on your legs. Something higher, something outside yourself, must be contacted.

"That something is awareness."
Vernon Howard, Psycho-Pictography

Sometimes when we encounter a problem, we are swept into twister thinking. Our thoughts spin, twirl and whirl around in our brain, seldom under control, seldom productive.

Perhaps we begin to worry about money and are then sucked into our usual, routine thinking about finances. Round and round we go, thinking in circles about poverty. The well-worn circles, the time-worn circles.

Or perhaps we are concerned about health? Into that tornado of illness thinking we are drawn. The same old thoughts, the same old fears, the same old channel.

Perhaps we are tenaciously seeking our life's purpose? Over and over, our thoughts reel around in the habitual hurricane of our mind. Old thoughts do not bring new solutions.

THE AWARENESS ELEVATOR

Imagine you frequently inhabit an eighty-story building. And you find that whenever you begin to worry about wealth, you routinely and chronically get off the elevator on the third floor; you pace there ruminating and exploring all your thoughts and concerns. Every wealth worry carries you to the third floor where you think only in third-floor patterns.

Force of habit may find you hanging out on the first floor or even the basement worrying about another set of concerns. To solve your problems, stay off those floors of fretting. You need to take the elevator to the top story and get out.

And worry there? Nope. You need to go higher, up to the roof. Think about your problem there? Nope. You need to visualize in your mind a leap of faith and imagine yourself flying away from that skyscraper of conditioned, old-style thoughts into the sky.

Up in the sky, you can look down on your challenges in a new way. High in the sky, you escape the weather patterns of your mind. Up there, you have the clean, bright, airy awareness where the solutions float around for the asking.

"Start walking . . . Your legs will get heavy and tired. Then comes a moment of feeling the wings you have grown, lifting."
Rumi

AND TODAY . . .

Remember Tarzan? He could fly from tree to tree high above the jungle. High above the quicksand and wild animals and other entangling dangers found on the ground. Today find your inner Tarzan.

When you encounter a problem today, sit quietly for a moment and envision your solution tree. Imagine the most beautiful tree you have ever seen. Up at its top is a new awareness, an awareness that holds the perfect solution. Stand up and say, "I AM. I am Tarzan in the jungle, not Tarzan of the jungle." Then imagine yourself at the very top of your solution tree. Enjoy the view. Begin to swing lightly yet strongly from the top of your tree to all the other solution trees high, high above the jungle.

You will swing from the health tree to the wealth tree. And from the self-expression and creativity tree to the relationship tree. They all hold golden nuggets of truth. Up here you are not in any danger of quicksand thinking or man-eating worries. Swing, fly, and soar in the lofty heights of awareness.

If your problem tries to pull you down to the ground of anxiety and concern and bother, smile and say, "I KNOW the answer is not down there. I am staying up here." This new place will hold the answers for you. Just listen.

To use the terminology of Vernon Howard quoted above, your swinging Tarzan is your "True Self." The one that stays mired down on the ground is your "False Self." The False Self never knows the best solution. Pondering and cogitating on the ground of old thoughts will not unravel and untangle your dilemma.

You have to fly high above. Claim your inner Tarzan and get up to the treetops now. Sound silly? Well, the origin of the word silly comes from "blessed" and "happy". Be silly. Climb your tree.

©Copyright 2002 Stephanie West Allen. Article reprinted with permission.
Stephanie West Allen, JD, brings humor and motivation to organizations. http://www.stephaniewestallen.com She coaches people in using the two Merry Maxims, WYTUG (What You Think Upon Grows) and LULU (Loosen Up, Lighten Up), to achieve health, wealth, creativity, and harmonized relationships. Contact her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Subscribe to her daily motivational ezine Upsy Daisy Daily by sending a blank e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .