How to Release Emotional Attachment with the “I Don’t Care” Game
2012 March 29
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Here’s a new game for you to try. It’s called the I Don’t Care game. As you go about your day, observe what you think about. Any time you are aware of a thought, say to it, “I don’t care.” Say it to any thought, positive or negative. Bonus points for actually feeling like you don’t care.
The next level of the game is to say “I don’t care” to anything you observe in your reality that you don’t want. If something is annoying, angering, or scaring you, think, “I don’t care.” Again, bonus points if you actually feel like you don’t care.
This game will train you to remove emotional attachment from form. When you think a thought that feels bad, saying “I don’t care” to it helps you let the thought go. When you think a thought that feels good, saying “I don’t care” helps you avoid getting attached to that idea and using it as your reason to feel good. Ruminating on good experiences will cause you to feel worse and worse as you move away from them in time, because you aren’t in the Now, allowing even better experiences in. When you say “I don’t care” to something bothering you in your Now reality, it helps you remove your attention from it, so you stop creating it.
The only time you should ever “care” about anything is when you are caring about how you feel. And you can only care in the Now. When you remove your “caring” or emotional attachment from all thought and negative experience, you free your attention to be placed on the only thing worth caring about: appreciating the good things in the present moment.
The difference between apathy and knowing
When you say “I don’t care” to thoughts and negative experiences, the point is to feel “I don’t care, because everything is great,” instead of “I don’t care, because everything sucks.”
An example of the game
Picture yourself taking a walk.
Thought: I still have so far to go.
Response: I don’t care.
Thought: Did I lock the door?
Response: I don’t care.
Negative experience: Tripped on a crack and skinned your knee.
Response: I don’t care.
Thought: Did I look stupid?
Response: I don’t care.
Positive experience: Find $100 on the sidewalk.
Response: I’m getting what I want! I appreciate this so much! I am so blessed to be alive! (This is the only time you will ever get to enjoy getting what you want—if you are in the Now, paying attention to the good you have right now.
Thought: $100! What a manifestation!
Response: I don’t care. (This opens you up to more manifestations if you stay in the Now instead of keeping on thinking about the experience, even though it was good.)
Tuesday Tips is a weekly collection of ways to embrace the power of thought. Just the simple act of seeing life from a new perspective gives your mind new pathways for creation. The following suggestions can help you accomplish more with less work, think with less pain, feel with more purpose, and be at more peace.
1. Set up passive income streams.
When you forget about them, they’ll start making money. Some that have paid out big for me are digital downloads (which are easy to fulfill with EasyKiss), donations, Clips4Sale, affiliate products like Bluehost, Amazon Associates affiliate links, advertising on video sites like Blip, and publishing on Lulu.
2. Don’t fight.
It’s like putting a dent in a car. You can try to get the dent out, but you’ll always know it’s there.
3. Do it for fun, not to get it done!
If it isn’t fun to begin with, make it fun. If you can’t make it fun, don’t do it.
4. Know your upper limits so you can move past them.
In The Big Leap, Gay Hendricks tells us that there are four hidden barriers to greater success. They are: feeling fundamentally flawed, feeling disloyal and subsequently abandoned, fearing more success will bring more burden, and fear of outshining others. Any of these sound familiar? Then this book will really help.
5. Write a list of things that define you.
Then add to it all the things that you WANT to define you. Mix them in. Print it out. Bask in your greatness.
6. Remember how much you’ve already achieved.
Aurora has an awesome idea: when life gets you down, ask yourself, “Would twelve-year-old me think my life is awesome?” The answer’s generally yes.
7. Laugh off your “flaws”.
Also in The Big Leap, Gay Hendricks writes, “If you’re willing to adopt a playful attitude toward yourself and your shortcomings, you can make extraordinarily rapid progress.” The less serious you are about the things you don’t like about yourself, the faster they go away.
8. If you’re missing someone, pay more attention to yourself.
In the School of Life Design group, Katharine asks how to avoid feeling depressed when she misses her boyfriend.
9. If you think too much and can’t seem to stop, start training yourself into new thoughts.
When you’re hit with a mysterious depression, remember that you thought your way into that feeling, and you can think yourself out of it. More advice on dealing with depression in the group.
10. See everything in your life as a reflection of you.
If there is something you don’t like, it’s something you don’t like about yourself. If someone says hurtful things to you, you have been thinking hurtful thoughts about yourself. It’s scary to take responsibility for your reality, but much easier to navigate if you understand you are creating everything you experience.
11. When good things happen, say thank you and let them pass.
Just like negative experiences, there’s no need to dwell on the positive either. Because if you’re outside of the Now, thinking about the past, you’re blocking the things that want to get to you right Now. Allow the abundance to keep flowing.
12. Believe you’re in the right place at the right time.
The best advice on Twitter this week comes from Mia Astral: “You may not see it, but life gives you what you need exactly when you need it. Pushing for more, pushes away. Stay out of your way.”
Tuesday Tips is a weekly roundup of suggestions for harmonizing with the natural flow of life. Whether you access the flow with action, thought, emotion or stillness, it gets easier every day. The more you practice, the more fun it becomes, and the more you’ll find you had the knack for it all along.
1. Hang out with your friends.
That’s when all the good stuff happens in the background. You forget about whatever it is you want but don’t have, and you feel good because you’re with people you love. It creates the perfect weather for manifestation.
2. Speak only of things in the Now.
Talk only in present tense. Try “I like bowling,” which is about a feeling of “I have this” versus “bowling was fun,” which is about “I now lack and miss that and want the memory to make me feel good.” If you talk about the past, make it because you’re telling a funny story. You only get to tell it once!
3. Look for evidence that life is good.
Look for people kissing, hugging, laughing, and playing. Look for flowers and animals and ice cream and music. The more you look, the more you see; love actually is all around!
4. Take pictures of everything.
The more photos you take, especially of things you take for granted and the mundane, the more practice you get at looking at things from a different perspective. If you turn the camera around enough, you’ll find just the right angle to make your boring coffee cup look exciting. That’s the whole idea behind positive thinking—keep looking for the good until you find it.
5. Think of technology in a positive light.
We’re in a pivotal time in human history. Things are speeding up and more is becoming possible. Guide this transition with your thoughts. Instead of lazily reacting in fear or skepticism, think about what you want. For example, do robot car intersections scare you? Figure out why and what you might want instead. Alternatively, remember that the things we fear are usually the things we need most.
6. Stop trying to understand.
The mind can’t quite keep up with the evolution of consciousness, and it wasn’t designed to. Have you ever found yourself creating in flow (i.e., playing music, exercising, making art, or playing with flow toys) and then stopping your own flow because you’re trying to figure out how you did it? I do this all the time when playing guitar. I’ll mesmerize myself with my own fingers then stumble because I don’t understand how the flow works. But the mind will never understand. All we can do is gratefully experience the gift.
7. Use your stable reality as an opportunity for constant iteration.
Just as each day is a chance to start fresh, each moment in your home, with your partner, or at your job is a chance to iterate. The most stable parts of your reality are the easiest to take for granted, but also the easiest to improve with iteration since you’re around them all the time. Practice appreciating all the tiny details you like about your partner, home and job and you’ll find new things to appreciate every day. You never have to experience boredom or ennui if you’re always looking to expand what you like that you already have. It’s just like having a fully-grown garden, then choosing which plants to grow more of. Collect the seeds of your favorites and plant more.
8. Count to stop negative thoughts.
I have posted about this so many times, and I will continue to do so because every week it works better and better. When I first started silent counting, I wouldn’t do it very often because it seemed boring. I realized that was just my mind telling me thinking negative thoughts is more productive. Then one day I asked Kelly what to do when I was trapped in a negative thought pattern. She told me to count, because it always, always works. I asked, “What if I can’t count?” and she replied, “If you can’t count, you’re retarded.” Enough said.
9. Walk the tightrope of life.
As I learn to live in harmony with the flow of life, I become more aware of the feeling it produces in my body. It literally feels like walking on a tightrope. It’s the feeling of perfect balance, of being in the right place at the right time, and of trusting something outside of my mind to help me across. Walking a tightrope is a leap of faith. The more I practice, the more I think the rope is made out of “saying yes”. The more I say yes, the longer I walk the rope, the higher I go, the better I feel.
10. Practice feeling like you’re the shit.
You are. You’re the best. No one can replace you. You are amazing. You are perfect. You are in the right place at the right time. You are brave and beautiful and nothing can stop you but yourself. Feel the way you want to feel! Feel like you are the best! YOU ARE!
11. Use the Force.
I had no idea George Lucas and my ex-boyfriends were so right. The Force is the same as flow, the same as god, and the same as you. You have access to it at all times. It truly is magick beyond comprehension. How you use it is something only you can know, and something you must practice. But I bet watching Star Wars would give you a few pointers!
12. Just SMILE!
If you force yourself to do it for long enough, your vibration will raise. Fast. It works so well. It may tire your face but it’s way easier than feeling bad. You may think you look weird, but I know that personally, I look my best when I smile!
Tuesday Tips is a weekly collection of ideas that make me feel better about being alive. There are things to do, thoughts to think, emotions to feel and people to be. Whatever you believe is true, and these tips are designed to help convince your mind what your soul already knows.
1. Watch Rainbow Brite and love being alive.
“Everybody’s got a part to play to start each day in a beautiful way.”
2. Bulk delete photos from your iPhone!
Speed up your lifestreaming and help your phone run faster by trashing all your saved pix. No more importing to iPhoto necessary!
3. Don’t care about what anyone else thinks.
Whenever I find myself feeling bad around other people, I ask myself if it’s because I’m caring about what they think. Usually it’s a yes.
4. Rewrite your About page.
Define who you want to be and it’s a lot easier to get what you want. Check out the School of Life Design Lesson 1: Introduction to Life Design if you want help getting started.
5. Don’t feel scared.
Bashar says, “The only thing any of you will ever discover in the unknown is more of you, so what’s to fear?” The Now can feel scary, like an emergency, because often the only time we allow ourselves to experience the Now is during an emergency.
6. Practice the feeling of how you would feel when you weigh what you want.
Do you have some weightloss goal? Why? What is the reason you want to lose weight? Usually it’s because you want to feel light, flexible, free, playful, or confident. Practice feeling those feelings now and your weight will reflect that. Be it, see it!
7. Pretend you’re waking up in someone else’s body.
“Being in the Now” is a mysterious topic, but every day I find new ways to do it. One trick is to look around as if inhabiting your body for the first time. It’s alien as hell!
8. Be home, so the things you want can find you.
Another Bashar gem: “If you’re not living in the present by being who you are, then how can anything that is representative of the vibrations of the things you prefer find you if you’re not home?”
9. Trust the Now.
Trust that it’s perfect, that it’s what you wanted, and that it contains exactly what you need. This moment is a gift, handcrafted specifically for you. Don’t take it for granted.
10. Savor.
The best Twitter advice I read all week was “Savor whatever is in your Now Moment, and you will experience the Flow State.” If I remind myself in each moment to look for something to savor, I find so much that it’s overwhelming. So many of us fear the Now because if we were to all sit around appreciating the beauty of life all day, we’d pretty much all be crying tears of joy and hugging each other. It’s scary to feel such strong love for life, because what happens when the moment is gone? If you’re afraid to savor because it’ll hurt when it’s over, just remember that the next moment will be even better.
Welcome to this week’s edition of Tuesday Tips, a collection of the best-feeling ideas in the world. You don’t have to actually do anything to apply these suggestions to your own life, you only have to consider them with an open mind. Then whenever you need a little nudge in the right direction, the most resonant thoughts will be there to help you.
1. Sit up straight.
Push your shoulders back, tighten your core and be the boss that you are. The flow can’t get through very easily when you’re hunched over.
2. Fill your tank.
Pay attention. When you start noticing your vibration drop, you’ll notice it reflected in all of your reality. Your gas tank will be low. You’ll need to go grocery shopping. Your home will be messy. You’ll be tired. Even if you don’t want to deal with all the lack, even if you start getting nervous about how to pay for everything, just FILL YOUR TANK. Buy the groceries. Clean the house. Keep the momentum going. Don’t wait to run out of gas before you tend to your mood.
3. Stop trying too hard.
Let it come to you. Give up. Let go. If there is something you want to happen in this moment, stop thinking about it by counting in your head.
4. Tell a different story.
Listen to what you’re saying, in your thoughts or out loud. Are you telling it how it is, or how you want it to be?
5. Say yes.
Then look for evidence that saying yes will pay off. Try it as a game. Say yes to something you wouldn’t normally say yes to, then be on the lookout for surprisingly awesome situations. For more inspiration, watch Yes Man!
6. Get life design tips from other people.
Emma Wilson asks the SoLD group, “what is the most valuable lesson you have learned this week?”
7. Program your thoughts.
Make it easier to think the thoughts you want to think by taking time each day to write down the thoughts you want to be thinking. I like to think of lifestreaming as my programming language. It’s my source code—the code I use to talk to source energy.
8. Think of the best praise and highest compliment you’ve ever received.
Alyssa reminds us in the School of Life Design group that praise is especially important when we have trouble believing in ourselves.
9. What’s the most memorable piece of advice you’ve ever received?
If it’s still with you, it’s probably still relevant. I always remember my dad telling me “pay attention!” which I now realize to be integral to maintaining my mood. And every time I get stressed out, I hear him saying “relax!” What words have always stayed with you?
10. Aim to count to 10,000 every day.
Your ability to focus on counting is a litmus test of how much your thoughts are controlling you. If you can count to 10,000 in a day, I promise it will be the best day of your life! Apparently the founder of Second Life tries to count to 10,000 every day too.
11. Don’t make a decision if you’re feeling bad.
Often people will ask you to do things when you aren’t in the best mood. Instead of answering “no” on the spot, just tell them you’ll think about it. Then go get in a good mood and the right decision will come to you.
12. Don’t feel bad for wanting what you want.
Let yourself have it. Don’t deny your Self. Even if you don’t think you should have it, go for it. Saying yes to your most exciting desires is how to walk your optimal path.
13. Project certainty and others will listen.
When you know what you want with 100% certainty, don’t ask someone if it’s a good idea or if they want to do it. TELL THEM what you are doing and they’ll be more likely to join. When you ask someone “do you want to do this?” you’re saying, “am I sure I want to do this?”
14. Stop feeling paranoid by understanding that you can change the past.
You never have to worry if you blew out the candle or turned off the stove if you can change the past by changing your present.
15. Be impulsive.
Take risks and trust your gut. If you’re nervous or scared, remember anxiety is excitement with the brakes on! As Bashar says, “If you always act on the thing that contains the most excitement at every given moment to the best of your ability with zero expectation as to what the outcome ought to be, you will be walking the optimal path no matter how it looks.”
16. Lighten up.
None of this is serious. We’re just here to have fun. Smile, take a deep breath and say “fuck it!”
17. Know that everything is working out for everyone.
Love actually is all around!
Welcome to Tuesday Tips, the most fabulous collection of conscious ideas in all of Internetlandia. I have a stellar lineup of thoughts to provoke, inspire and move you to the next level. Align your actions, thoughts, emotions and being with the vibration of your true Self and enjoy the current of ecstatic energy flowing through you!
1. Collect every compliment you receive on the work that matters to you most.
I started printing out the positive feedback I get on my lifestream and taping it to my desk, right at eye level. The more I allow myself to accept compliments, the more I receive. It’s becoming easy to visualize my whole work area covered in kind words! Every day it gets easier to have faith in my work. I am so grateful for the support. Thank you.
2. Check out the School of Life Design Facebook group.
With 117 dazzling members, the SoLD group is bustling with love, advice, and fun! Get feedback on your web presence, discuss the place of drugs in your life, ask questions about specific problems, or just sit back and let the positive vibrations soak in.
3. Give your work away for free!
Then when you need something for free, you’ll get it! I always label my photos on Flickr as “Attribution Creative Commons” on my licensing preference page so anyone can use them. Now my photos are used all the time to illustrate various articles and blogs around the web. I not only get to see my photos actually IN USE, but I get tons of traffic from them too.
4. Make money off your music, movie and iPhone app recommendations.
I signed up with Linkshare to become an Apple affiliate. With Linkshare, I can generate links to apps, music, movies and more through the iTunes store, and every time someone makes a purchase using my link, I get a 5% cut. You can also generate links for other products and advertisers. Passive income FTW!
5. Focus your attention with lifestreaming.
Guide your life experience by publishing your photos, videos, music, writing, everything! Your attention is a constantly flowing stream of creative power. Lifestreaming is a way to consciously direct that power. It doesn’t matter one bit what you’re focusing on, all that matters is how you feel when you’re doing it. If you’re focusing your attention on negative thoughts, you’re creating more negative thoughts for your future self to deal with. If you’re focusing your attention on all the great things going on around you (even if they seem boring because you take them for granted), at LEAST you’re creating more great things to go on around you in the future!
6. Focus your attention with writing.
Writing is a particularly powerful form of lifestreaming, especially at night when you’re tired and losing focus. Just write. The more you practice, especially when you’re not tired, the faster and easier it becomes to get your focus back. It’s like a cure for insomnia and every other disorder in the world. Just direct your thoughts. Just smile, breathe, relax your shoulders and write about what you’re grateful for. If you’re in the habit of feeling good when you write, eventually the association becomes stronger and you start feeling good faster. (Want to start your lifestream today?!)
7. Write your job description.
You can have any job you want. But do you know what you want? Start creating the position of your dreams by filling out the following: Company, Location, Field, Job Functions, Job Level, Job Description, Specific Skills, and Rate.
8. Write your commandments.
Make up your own rules to life. Write your personal commandments, your creative commandments, and your relationship commandments.
9. Stop feeling guilty about buying media and not consuming all of it.
When you buy books, movies or music, don’t feel bad if you don’t read, watch or listen to the whole thing. You’ll still get whatever you need out of it—perhaps an idea, a new direction, or a pivot thought. It only takes a single moment to become inspired!
10. Take a placebo trip.
Practice the feeling of enlightenment. Block off 8-12 hours where you don’t have any responsibilities, your phone is in airplane mode, and you’re extremely comfortable. Consume something symbolic—a vitamin, a special brew of tea, or even a sugar cube. Then sit down and wait patiently for 30-45 minutes, looking for signs of altered consciousness. You will amaze yourself.
11. Feel better instantly with silent counting.
I’ve talked about it many times before, and I bring it up again because it always works. If you feel trapped in a negative thought pattern, just start counting in your head. Focus all of your attention on the numbers. You’ll feel better long before reaching 100.
12. Meditate every day.
Meditation is how I manage anxiety and racing thoughts. Even if I keep thinking during it, my thoughts still slow and 15 minutes of stillness always gives me a new perspective. It stops me from feeling rushed and always gives me more time. If you don’t feel like doing it one day, try doing it lying down in bed. 15 minutes of quiet a day is a small price to pay for peace in the rest of your life.
13. Be open and have faith.
The flow is always trying to get through. Just say yes to whatever your current reality is. Just say yes. Be open to the gifts the universe is trying to give you. It won’t come in a form you expect! You’ll be feeling bad, and you won’t want anything to do with the opportunity just presented. Maybe your friend will ask you to do something, or your partner will suggest going somewhere. Say yes! That’s the flow trying to give you a gift, trying to help you feel better! Trust that whatever just showed up, showed up at the perfect time, just when you needed it.
Traditionally, Tuesday Tips is a collection of ideas that make living life easier and more fun. But that makes a pretty silly assumption—that we need to think or work at all to make life easy and fun. Let’s go straight to the truth: life already is easy and fun. Now what? What do Tuesday Tips look like when we’re already enjoying our lives to the hilt? We celebrate them!
1. Celebrate yourself.
You’re already perfect. You’re already doing everything right. You’re right on time. You’re so loved. You are connected to everyone and you have infinite power. You’re a glorious individual perspective who won the lottery the day you were born. Put that shit online! Take pictures of yourself! Go hard! Express yourself! Let it all out! Be loud and be proud! Start a lifestream! Write a book! Make some art! Show the world your perfection. It flows out of you effortlessly!
2. Give yourself positive feedback.
Write yourself a love letter. Give yourself the positive feedback you crave. Once you do, it will start pouring from everywhere.
3. Pay yourself.
Don’t feel like thinking? Make money in your head. Practice silently counting as high as you can go, and then imagine you just effortlessly made that much money. How does that change your day? Do you approach your job and errands the same way, knowing you made that much money so easily? It really can come that easily with a little practice. Be it, see it!
4. Feel the way you want to feel.
Danielle Laporte’s post on “how do you want it all to feel?” really made an impact on me last week. It’s the most effective way I’ve found to attract experiences that make me feel the way I want to feel. I want today to feel like a sunny camping trip in southern Illinois with all my best friends!
5. Breathe.
If you ever get caught up in thoughts and forget about your inherent perfection, you can instantly tether yourself back into the Now by breathing consciously. (Try practicing with Pranayama.) Observe the flow of your breath and allow yourself to return to the present moment. Life really is easy. Let go of everything and let life love you. We all love you! Happy Valentine’s Day!
Tuesday Tips is a weekly strategy guide to the game of life. Strengthen your character by doing things that make you feel good, gain manifestation powers by directing your thoughts, attract the experiences you want by projecting the emotions you want to feel, and level up by just being you. Let’s play!
1. Support art and your art will support you.
If you want people to patronize your work, patronize theirs. Look for the value in what everyone’s creating around you. When you invest in someone else’s work, you encourage them to make more and do better, which in turn will inspire you to do the same.
2. Lifestream.
Documenting my experiences as often as I can has become the easiest access point to the Now that I’ve found this week. I release my thoughts and experiences as they come and don’t think about them much, because I’m always in the Now looking for new things to stream. It’s like literally streaming my head off—my mind is something I continually shed. Weird, and awesome.
3. Get what you want in real time.
Think about what you want, then stop thinking until you get it or forget it. Try it. It works. 100% guaranteed.
4. Win an argument.
If you want to win an argument, stop talking and stop thinking until you either win or forget. Also 100% guaranteed.
5. Stop reminiscing.
Even if memories of an experience make you feel good, they’re still pulling you outside of the Now. If you make a decision to stop thinking about the past, when you’re in the moment you’ll make a lot more effort to enjoy it because you know you won’t be thinking about it later.
6. Feel inspired.
When you can’t feel inspiration, meet it halfway. Take any sort of deliberate action to shake things up. Go for a walk, buy a book, or start a new hobby. As soon as you get caught up in the moment long enough to forget you’re not inspired, you’ll be inspired.
7. Go to bed feeling good.
You’ll have good dreams and you’ll wake up feeling as good as you did when you went to sleep. It makes it so much easier to get in an increasingly better mood every day, instead of having to start over every morning.
8. Trust your gut.
It’s always right. If you can’t make a decision, quiet your mind by counting or breathing and ask for the answer. You’ll hear it every time.
9. Feel the way you want to feel.
Danielle Laporte wrote this amazing article about choosing how you want your experiences to feel. Take the time to think about each segment of your day, then set an emotional intention. It WORKS! Here are some of her examples:
I want my money-making to feel like walking though a vineyard, surveying ripeness, a production of sun and earth for craft and pleasure.
I want my word to feel like gold bullion.
I want my laughter to feel like electric pineapple children.
I want the end of the day to feel like a happy quiet baby.
10. Effortlessly lift your mood.
Combine this mantra with deep breathing: “Breathe in and raise your vibration. Breathe out and release your resistance.”
11. Look pretty and be pretty.
Get a photo-timer app for your phone (I use this one) and photograph yourself doing mundane tasks. Smile while you do it. You’ll be instantly transported to the Now, where you’ll enjoy your task and create lifestream content while you’re at it.
12. Let life take the driver’s seat.
The more you let go, the more it flows. Make feeling good your only job and let life take care of the rest! It’s easy if you allow it to be.
Tuesday Tips is a weekly roundup of portals to the fun part of life—the Now. Whether you allow yourself into the current moment via doing, thinking, feeling or being, the end result is always the same: joy.
1. Lifestream your ass off.
Sharing little moments from my day helps me get used to not caring about what other people think. It also inspires me to look for fun moments and constantly check in on my mood. If I don’t feel like documenting my life, I could probably use a little mood boost. Often looking for something to photograph or write about will give me a jolt up the emotional scale.
2. Play “Now That’s What I Call… Now!”
Try this game: only talk about things that are in your Now. Nothing about people who aren’t there, no planning events in the future, no reminiscing about the past. If you never talk about anything outside of the Now, you never have to deal with anything outside of the Now.
3. Just laugh, dude.
When I have persistent negative thoughts that I can’t seem to shake, I try laughing at them. Nothing dark can withstand the power of laughter.
4. Think of yourself as valuable.
Imagine your favorite heroes coming to you for advice or services. What do you have to offer that you know they need, that no one else can provide? Focus on developing that part of your work.
5. Remember you are always creating with your thoughts.
When you want something, realize you are creating your lack of it. Change your thought of want to the feeling of having it. Say to yourself, “Isn’t it nice I have this now?” Picture it happening for a moment, then never think of it again.
6. Try the mantra “I don’t want anything.”
Your mind will always react with, “But I want lots of things!” And then you get to say, “Well, it’s your awareness of lack that’s creating it, so STFU.” Treated!
7. Silent counting always works.
Kelly is a master of silent counting, which is a method for quieting the mind. The other day she taught me that when she loses count, she just goes to the nearest 100 she can remember. Not getting frustrated when she loses her focus helps her not sweat the small stuff in daily life.
8. Count for money!
In need of a tidy thousand dollars or so? Direct all your focus to counting to 1000 and imagine each number being a dollar amount. When you get to 1000, consider the money on the way. Kelly actually did this on Sunday! The amount she received was actually $1021, but close enough…
9. Practice the feeling of getting a headrub.
It might not feel quite as delicious as the real thing, but it will still soothe headaches and worries. It’s just another way to prove to yourself that everything you want is within.
10. Associate feeling good with breathing and voila, you’ve pwned the emotional scale.
All that matters in life is that you’re still breathing, right? So any time you want to feel better, focus on your breath. Feel it go in and out of your lungs. Picture the patterns it makes. Observe the rhythm closely. Your thoughts will slow (maybe even cease!) and you will feel better within seconds. Your breath is your most basic access point to the Now.
11. Everything is perfect in the Now.
No matter where you want to go, you couldn’t get there if you weren’t where you are right now. Accept the gift of the Now by saying yes to it. Embrace it, look for all the things you love about it. Love this Now so much that you don’t want anything else. Whatever it takes to enjoy your present moment, do it! Then suddenly you’ll be where you wanted to go without ever moving a muscle.
Tuesday Tips is a weekly collection of ideas that make living life more fun. Explore ways to channel your energy, gain power over your mind, feel like a million trillion bucks, and be the perfect badass you know you are.
1. Look for evidence of your power.
If you haven’t had a lot of practice with manifestation, now’s the time to start! The easiest way to begin noticing the power of your focus is by looking for synchronous times on clocks. Look for 11:11, 12:34, 3:33, etc, then watch as every glance at the clock becomes synchronous. Then try cars! Pick a few of your favorite cars and intend to see them on the road. (I love seeing Hummers!) As soon as you start looking for them, your favorite cars will show up at the most serendipitous times.
2. Write!
On page 50 of Design Writing Research by Ellen Lupton and Abbott Miller, there’s an essay on the idea that writing is an extension of the body. “It is a physical by-product, a material trace of human activity [...] It is also akin to hair, finger nails, and the surface of the skin—each is a part of the body that is continually regenerated yet biologically dead, detachable, disposable.” In essence, writing is another form of bodily excrement, like blood, sweat, semen, and saliva. Get it out of you!
3. I made it!
Try using the mantra “I made it.” Think about what that implies. On one hand, it means succeeding at a goal or endeavor. On the other, it means “I created this.” Same thing, right?
4. See your mind and body as one.
If your body is tense, it’s a physical manifestation of your mind resisting. Margo in the School of Life Design group helped me understand that “since the mind and body are one, you can always tell how you are mentally by how you feel physically.” If you’re tense, you’re resisting. If you’re relaxed, you’re allowing. Margo also reminded me that silent counting is an immediate way to go from resisting to allowing.
5. Stop resisting.
There were lots of other great ideas on releasing resistance in the above thread. Jenny’s is spot on!
Sometimes when I am walking or in the car and I am getting worked up and resisting and not in the present… I stop and pretend that the whole world is a movie set just for me. I look for all the awesome details like the quirky old guy walking with huge headphones on and the precious little purple flower sticking up from a crack in the concrete. I think to myself ‘Yes!! This is awesome! This I all here for ME! This world is full of beautiful things for me to enjoy!’
6. Find the best feeling you can feel.
Danielle Laporte has a great advice-tweet: “What would feel really, really, good to feel? Intend to feel that way.” Essentially, picture feeling the best you can feel, and choose that feeling now.
7. Practice the feeling of freedom on your bike.
Kelly and I started commuting to work via bicycle last week. The 16-mile round trip joy ride through Austin reminds me of how much freedom I have. I can go anywhere, see anything, do whatever I want! And on a bicycle, I get to luxuriate in the scenery and people-watching, and I feel so much more willing to make stops along the adventure because I don’t have to worry about parking. Six months later, I am so happy to call myself a cyclist again!
8. What does 100% certainty feel like?
In a lucid dream, you can only “make things happen” if you have 100% certainty that you can. The same goes for waking life. Practice that feeling of knowing and you’ll find yourself feeling that same certainty about more and more things you want to manifest.
9. Listen to Halcyon’s morning blessing as soon as you wake up.
I find it hardest to direct my thoughts first thing in the morning. Often, I’ve forgotten all the good-feeling thoughts I collected the day before. Halcyon’s 12-minute morning blessing meditation has made my mornings so much easier and more blissful, I can’t recommend it enough. Don’t judge it in the afternoon or evening, because it won’t have the same effect. Just try it one morning when you’re not feeling as good as you want to, and listen the whole way through. By the end you’ll have tears of joy streaming down your face, I guarantee it!
10. Sleep more.
It’s ok. The world will wait. Everything feels better when you’re getting enough sleep, and nothing matters more than how you feel.
11. Surrender to the ability to receive.
In Halcyon’s morning blessing, he reminds us to “let go of the drive to achieve, and surrender to the ability to receive.” The things you want will come effortlessly if you allow them to. Let them come to you. Know that they’re all coming. Relax and bask in the Now. There is nothing you can do to get the things you want. It is an emotional journey every single time. Choose to feel good and enjoy this moment right now, and you will open yourself up to the gifts from the universe.
12. See your life through the eyes of god.
Tell yourself “I love you, you’re doing great.” And tell everyone around you the same thing.
