How To Raise Your H.Q.- Part 2

Editor's Note: Please reference Part 1 of this article in the archive section.

As the saying goes, "An unhappy journey can never lead to a happy destination." But does being "happy" really influence outcomes and shape our future experience, or is it merely a glass-half-full, Pollyana-ish sentiment?

People have critiqued the notion that being happy really does influence one's reality in a, well, real way. "It's just a way of seeing the world with rose-colored glasses on," the skeptics say, or, "That's so naive to think you can just be happy and everything will work out." Sometimes yes, sometimes no. These people don't really understand the transformational quality of happiness on an energetic, vibrational level.

First of all, what does being "happy" truly mean? It runs deeper than pretending that you are ok, putting a fake smile on your face for the sake of appearances, or desensitizing yourself to negative emotion. In fact, these techniques tend to make things worse. Acknowledging the way you feel, and figuring out why you feel that way, is a key ingredient of finding true happiness. Emotions are an indicator of how high your energy frequency is (and how much in the flow of life you are). They are like the gas gauge in your automobile. The gauge doesn't create or use gasoline; it's simply an objective indicator. Similarly, your emotions are an indicator of your underlying core beliefs and energy frequency. If you pay close attention to your emotions, you may find a constant unease, or worry, or some other negative emotion underneath the surface that preventing you from being truly happy.

It's important to acknowledge emotions because if you are consistently feeling depressed, angry, irritated, etc. that should be a clear sign that you're vibrating at a low frequency, and attracting similar frequencies to yourself unconsciously. A chronic negative emotional response that is ignored inevitably yields in a negative manifestation.

When people use the term happiness, it usually signifies contentment, peace, elation, excitement, enthusiasm, passion, joy. Every single human being is striving for (from whatever their current point of attraction or emotion is), to feel these things.

Any of these emotions (which we can lump into the catch all term of "happiness") are an indication that your vibrational set point is high. Your energy is cleaner and purer and faster. So what does that get you? When you are vibration is high, you automatically attract similar high vibrations, and the Universe begins to work with you. You begin to see more synchronicities in your life. Things tend to work in your favor. You find yourself not struggling as hard with action steps. You feel more inspired. The right people come into your life at the right time.

Being in the flow requires that you cooperate with the Universe. The easiest way to begin to cooperate is to replace negative thought patterns and emotions with more positive ones. Then you are beginning to see yourself how the Universe (or God) sees you - as wholly good, worthy, abundant, healthy, and loved. Any perception that deviates from this is a false perception created by the egoic mind. It leads to more negativity and resistance, which takes you out of the flow.

Learning to find happiness in the moment is critical because it is literally setting energy patterns into motion that are paving your future experiences. And that's the true basis of the saying, "An unhappy journey can never lead to a happy destination".

Five Step Process To Breaking a Negative Thought Pattern

A simple, five step process to recognizing and breaking negative thought patterns:

1. Catch yourself in the act.

Most people don't even recognize when they are having a negative thought, because it is so ingrained in their thought pattern, that they don't even perceive it as "negative". They see it as Truth. As reality. Most people also erroneously assume that other people would have the same thought / reaction if faced with a similar stimuli or circumstance. For example, take the thought, "This traffic is so terrible. I am wasting so much time. I can't believe I have to deal with this."

This thought, while it may seem logical and true, creates a stress response in the body. The basis of this thought is, "I have been put into an unpleasant circumstance that I cannot control. I will attempt to fight back by reacting negatively and with resistance." Feel the emotional space of helplessness and anger that this thought places you in. If you hold this negative emotion strongly enough, and for long enough, you will find yourself in many, many other circumstances where you feel helpless and out of control, because Law of Attraction naturally continues to draw to you what you are most dominantly feeling. That's why it is so important to catch yourself in a chronic, negative underlying thought pattern.

2. Recognize that you are thinking the thought; the thought is not thinking you.

This gives you some immediate relief, as you now have some power back as you realize that you are thinker of this thought - it did not just think you (although sometimes it seems as if our thoughts are thinking us). This also almost instantly diffuses the negative energy associated with thought, because as you shine a spotlight on it, it loses its power. As you begin to observe your thoughts, you gain a more objective, detached perspective that helps you assess the situation more rationally.

In the example above, you may say to yourself, "I may not be able to control the traffic, but I can control how I feel. I recognize that this thought is not serving me, and I choose to not allow it to overwhelm me."

3. Consciously release the negative energy or emotion that is associated with the thought.

As you release the negative emotion and tension associated with the negative thought, it has less of a negative influence on your vibrational frequency. This is an extremely important step. Remember, this is not some intellectual exercise of seeing the glass half full. You are trying to consciously change your thoughts and emotions to change your vibrational frequency and energy pattern. Releasing negative emotion at its core releases resistance so that you begin to attract more positive energy automatically.

What are the underlying emotions of being irritated in traffic, for example? Lack of control, helplessness, anger, frustration - to name a few. Are there other aspects of your life that you feel this way? Chances are, one of these emotions might be a chronic negative emotional pattern for you. This is when you begin to see that it has nothing to do with the traffic. It never did. The traffic is just a consequence, a mirror, to what you are already feeling and vibrating. This is a powerful realization.

4. Replace the negative thought, with a more positive (but believable) one.

For this concrete example, you might say to yourself, "Well the traffic is bad, and I would rather not be here, but maybe I can use this time to take in some deep breaths and relax. Maybe I can listen to a nice song or program on the radio." Anything can be a meditative experience, if you will let it be. Releasing resistance and negative energy is all about accepting the moment as it is, rather than fighting it. The key here is to begin to soothe yourself by telling yourself things that you can actually sort of believe - otherwise the exercise will seem disingenuous and forced.

5. Feel the positive energy or emotion associated with the new thought and then place conscious focus and attention on it for as long as possible.

This is the last and most important step. Focusing on the positive emotion and feelings of the new thought is what allows a new energy pattern to replace the old one. You new thought might have made you feel more relaxed, less stressed, less anxious. You are now in a completely different emotional and vibrational place than you were a few minutes ago.

This now allows you to access all of the creative solutions the Universe has already created for you. At a higher vibrational frequency, these solutions become visible in a way they were not when you were in a bad place emotionally. You might think of a shortcut or alternate route that you had not thought of before. The traffic may become (seemingly magically) lighter - this is the Universe or your higher self working on your behalf. Another mode of transport or another way to commute might occur to you. Or you might find that you are actually enjoying being alone and relaxed with your thoughts for those few extra minutes- and your energy is better, which will have an automatic positive impact on all other areas of your life as well.

Whatever the case, you have now dealt with a seemingly negative situation in a much more powerful, intuitive, and effective way.

Why Your Ego Is Preventing You From Getting What You Really Want

Once you understand the fundamentals of the law of attraction, and get the basic concept that your thoughts carry a vibrational frequency that is attracting like frequencies, it is sometimes easy to get carried away in trying to force things to happen through your thoughts. You become obsessed thinking about something in an effort to make it happen. And then the thing you want most continues to elude you. What's going on here? If I desire something strongly, and the Universe is responding to my thoughts, then why am I not getting what I'm thinking about?

There is a difference between leveraging your thoughts, and paying attention to your emotions (which are always an accurate indicator of your vibration), and trying to force things to happen through your mind.

Pantangali, and other great yogic mystics, have described the process of creation through four basic elements: ego, mind, body, and soul. Your soul (or the non-physical part of self that is connected to all Energy) is what coordinates all the cooperative components of your experience. It is what does the creating, and the assembling of synchronous events, people, and circumstances.

The mind, ego, and body do not create. They are simply tools to help you decipher what you want. The mind can only observe, categorize, and collect evidence from the reality it is faced with, and use this information to formulate the desire for a change, or new reality. But it cannot make that desire come to fruition. Similarly, the ego can perpetuate the desire and make it stronger. And the body can use its senses to experience the current reality. But it cannot create a new one. So how does it all fit together?

To put in into the vernacular, you understand it when you get that both of the following statements are simultaneously true:

God helps those who help themselves.

Let go and let God.

You are the creator of your own reality- through your deciphering of the contrast in your environment, your ego and mind come to new conclusions and new desires. The key is to then release these new intentions and desires to the Universe (or your higher Self), and ALLOW their creation and manifestation into your experience. Letting go of your desire and releasing attachment from the outcome is a key aspect of manifestation that many people miss.

Sometimes hyper-focusing on what you want is detrimental, because you are still vibrating the lack of it, so your vibrational frequency is not really shifting. The Universe cannot give you what you want if you are not a vibrational match to it. When you take your mind and ego out of the equation, you get out of your own way. You have to practice setting forth an intention, letting go of it, and then trusting that the Universe will float it gently into your experience.