Dear Friend:

The unconscious mind and the conscious mind, do we really have one of each?

Somehow, the unconscious mind has a way of making decisions and teaching the conscious mind how to act upon them. Growing up, I was always taught God gave you a brain-put it to good use. However, seeing my choices going in two different directions was very confusing as I was trying to make the best decision based on facts, circumstances and probability. All my efforts would be replaced by the word "Possibility." How do I live my life with what's consistent and what's possible? Notice the pattern of concern or worry.

So after many years of doing this, I realized the powerful gift I had to create personal change: I am a possibility. So I sat back one day with a pen and paper and said to myself out loud, "What is it I'm doing to make this vision seem so real?" That was the first question. Then I wondered whether I was just a dreamer. That thought was also a question.

So I realized the most powerful thing: you become what you think about, and the quality of the questions will determine the quality of the answers. Could it be that simple?
Remember: what's happening on the outside is happening on the inside.

So I asked another question: What are my desires vs. my beliefs vs. my necessities? All three are intertwined and separated by emotion. There must be a simpler way. I wondered if it was ok to actually think this way. This was another question. In realizing I have the power to choose my thoughts, I also realized I have the ability to be less affected by a problem if I choose to be. So what happens when I think about my Dreamlife? What I realized was that, when I was happy, I would make specific pictures in my mind that were in full color, and which seemed very close to me. And, when I was unhappy, I did the same thing, but with negative pictures. So I thought to myself, "Could this really be the answer to life?" I wondered what would happen if I did the opposite (yet another question) with my negative thoughts-pushing them far away in my mind and making them blurry and dull in color. Immediately, I felt less affected. Are you still with me so far? 

Because of this unique process, I believe this is one of several valuable tools for maintaining a positive outlook while creating permanent change. So as I moved forward in life, I trained myself to consistently snap my emotions into a state of happiness and contentment. It all depended on what I was focusing on at that moment in time. The mind can only think one thought; it's impossible to think of two things at the same time. O ur thoughts control our emotions, which in turn control our overall projection and view of the world, because as long as you're alive, thoughts will happen. Knowing there are 6.6 billion people spinning on this ball of dirt we call Earth, there must be others who have had the same thoughts and challenges.

This would ultimately become my identity. This was who I was meant to be, just waiting to be born-a God-given gift that I was to share with the world. I had finally found my purpose in life. This was why I am here.

I was questioning whether to just go along with the flow or with whatever everyone else gathered as beliefs from their families and pier groups. I decided to seek mind control.
Was I really onto something (yet another question)?
Who's right-them, or me? Am I thinking strangely? How should I act? Am I different?
Again, all of these were questions..

The Teaching of Buddha

Questioning destiny
This whole world of delusion is nothing but a shadow caused by the mind. And yet, it is from this same mind that the world of dreams and desire appear.
In this world there are three wrong viewpoints. If one clings to these viewpoints, then all things in this world will be denied:

1. Some say all human experience is based on destiny.
2. Some hold that everything is created by God and controlled by His will.
3. Some say that everything happens by chance without any cause or condition.

If all has been decided by destiny-both good deeds and evil deeds are predetermined, weal and woe are predestined-then nothing would exist that has not been foreordained. Then all human plans and efforts for improvement and progress would be in vain and humanity would be without hope.

The same is true for other viewpoints. If everything in the last resort is in the hands of God or blind chance, what hope has humanity except to submit? It is no wonder that people holding these concepts lose hope and neglect efforts to act wisely and to avoid evil.
In fact, these three conceptions or viewpoints are all wrong; everything is a succession of appearances whose source is the accumulation of causes and conditions.

By: Bukkyo Dendo Kyoki

The quieting of the mind
The quieting of my mind came the day I consciously chose what I wanted to think about. I took full responsibility for my bad habit of unhealthy thinking. Now, the big questions: Why do I think this way? How am I designed? How did I get programmed or wired like this? Who could I talk to without airing out my dirty laundry? Questions, questions, questions seemed to pound my brain. But here is the best part: every question reveals an answer, and every question carries with it a consequence. Ask a bad question, you get a bad answer
(try it). Ask a good question, you get a good answer. Ask an outstanding question, you get an outstanding answer. This is a very simple pattern. The brain can only hold one thought at a time. Now here's the challenging part: whenever you ask a question, the brain's primary responsibility is to give you an answer, regardless of whether it is right, wrong, or indifferent. And even if it doesn't know the answer, it stores that question in an area known as incompetent competence . Your brain moves what you don't know into the area of what you do know, and guess what the final result is: I know that I don't know.
And I also know that anything I have ever touched, tasted, smelled, heard, seen, experienced, or thought, is permanently stored in my brain and can never be removed.  

My Life
My life was going to be a mission, not a demonstration. Talking about the things I should do is the conversation of a person that's a spectator (someone not on the court). I knew I must be fully present in life and not go back to what I used to do. In order to go on, I must confront where I stopped and have the courage to move beyond my original view of myself and the world in which I live. I live my life now with what's consistent and what's possible, and the reason I say that is because every problem you now have was once the solution to an earlier problem.

Every problem you now have was once the solution to an earlier problem.

Welcome to Dreamlife coaching