If I understand the mechanics of my car, I can fix it when it goes wrong.
Likewise, if I understand the mechanics of a human being, I can fix myself when I go adrift.
Here are the three steps I used to resolve my unhealthy dependency on alcohol.
ONE
I placed Willpower, like a crowbar, into the crook of my prison cell door, prised open a gap and let some light in.
I relied on my will to fight the urge to drink.
The effort was unsustainable, but it bought me enough time to locate a key.
TWO
I am not my thoughts. If the crowbar created a gap, this unlocked the cell door.
The realization that thoughts ‘happen to me’ and that I am not beholden to them gave me licence to tell them to: “fuck the fuck off!”
I did, and they did.
The ritual of them returning and my rejecting them repeated but lessened as time passed, and I drifted slowly but surely into…
THREE
I changed my Themes of consciousness, the dynamite that blew the cell door to Kingdom Come.
“Everything is energy, and that’s all there is to it. Match the frequency of the reality you want, and you cannot help to get it. It can be no other way. This isn’t philosophy; this is physics.” Albert Einstein
“My brain is only a receiver; in the universe, there is a core from which we can obtain knowledge, strength and inspiration.” Nikola Tesla
“Everything comes to us if we create the capacity to receive it.” Rabindranath Tagore
Radios.
Match a radio’s frequency with the radio wave and hear the broadcast.
Change the frequency to change the channel to change the music.
A human being is much like a radio.
Imagine being surrounded by infinite thoughts, each having a frequency of energy and attracted to any similar energy signature.
My energy signature will draw in matching thoughts.
Humans attract thoughts and always will.
Our ‘Themes of consciousness’ resonate and thus determine which thoughts are attracted.
Example:
Anger attracts thoughts of violence.
Love attracts thoughts of generosity.
Five hundred nine days ago, I was in a pickle.
On the outside, I was an elegant swan floating effortlessly, but beneath the surface, I paddled like crazy.
My ‘themes of consciousness’ were a tangle of fear, regret, anger, disappointment, shame, anxiety, desire, craving, grief and despair.
A permanent tag team.
Each Theme attracted its reciprocal thoughts.
Each thought produced its equivalent emotion.
Each emotion urged a course of action.
I first learned to tell those thoughts to shut up, but then I understood how to change my ‘Theme of consciousness’, broadcast a different signal, and attract a better class of thought.
Today, I operate from a different mix of Themes, such as hope, acceptance, reason, willingness, joy, trust, forgiveness and gratitude.
I am excited, brave, and enthusiastic about life.
Life throws me challenges, but knowledge is power, and I am aware, alert and equipped.
Last week, I was the victim of road rage.
I felt angry and scared and then ashamed.
Lower ‘Themes of consciousness’ and their thoughts came hard and fast.
Anger swelled; my sour mood mushroomed out to the traffic first and then to my wife’s need for a lift.
The reaction was unfolding and growing.
But!…
There exists a gap between every life situation and my automated ‘reactions’.
A mini no man’s land between two border crossings.
This gap is the opportunity to interrupt the autopilot of my brain’s learned behaviour.
In the traffic last week, I stepped into this gap.
I focused my attention on my breathing.
I centred myself in the here and now.
I disengaged from the thoughts.
It was hard; They screamed for attention.
I reached, in desperation, for something higher and positive.
My fingertips found gratitude and latched on.
“Thank you for my car, my wife, this lovely hat, Winter..” and anything and everything I could think of!
Gratitude pioneered the way and helped me move to acceptance, surrender, and forgiveness.
After fifteen minutes of concerted effort, I returned to the higher Themes of consciousness.
Heart rate returned to peaceful.
Disaster averted.
Joy and happiness were restored.
A victory.
Thank you!
Themes of consciousness: The root cause and cure of much and a subject I will explore more.