The Shocking Truth About Developing Good Habits (part 2)

In my last Newsletter I explored how the unconscious mind dictates much of our automatic behaviors, making it very difficult to break old patterns of behavior and establish new habits.  In this article, I will explore this further and provide a useful exercise that taps into our unconscious resources while reinforcing the development of a new habit.

The first step to changing our behavior in many ways begins with the awareness and power of the unconscious mind.  Although there are many ways to do this, the following is an exercise that is easy to do alone (or with a partner) and is designed to tap into the power of the unconscious mind.  Take the time to answer the following questions and write them down on a piece of paper.

Answer the following series of questions;Why do you want to develop this habit? Since motivation is key to beginning any new habit, being clear about why we wish to establish a new habit, makes it is easier for us to consider making a change in our pattern of behavior.  Be as specific as you can. How will it benefit your life?

What will you see that will be different?

How will you feel once this habit has been established?

What will you hear?

What will you notice about how others interact with you differently?

Include your health, your sense of mental well-being, your physical appearance, your social life, your work life, your family life, and any other aspect that might be affected in a positive manner in considering this.

  • How will not developing this habit impact your life?

In answering this, be very specific as to how your life will be negatively impacted by not developing this habit.  Use the same criteria that you used when considering all the benefits.

  • What steps will you need to take to develop this habit?

Break down all the actions steps.  Again, be very specific as to each step along the way.  What time will you perform this habit?  Under what circumstances? What will be the context under which you will perform this habit? In what sequence will it be performed.  The idea of context and sequence is vital here.  For example when I am in a particular place or circumstance, I will do __________.   Sequence is more about the order of how you will do something.  For example, as soon as I get out of bed in the morning, I will brush my teeth and then go for a jog.   Thereby giving your mind the context under which you will perform the habit, but also the sequence in which you will do it.

  • What obstacles can you foresee yourself facing in developing this habit? And
  • How will you compensate for those obstacles?

Here are two of the most important parts to consider.  If we don’t consider the obstacles that we will face and plan for them, when they appear, we will most likely defer back to our old habits since it is easier and they are always waiting to take over our automatic unconscious process.  Therefore, in planning for any obstacles, we are already mapping out a plan for our mind to follow when encountering any hurdles.  For example, when I get up in the morning I will brush my teeth, then  I will go for a jog, unless it is raining.  In the event of it raining, I will go to the gym and exercise on a tread mill, instead.

The last part of this exercise is to visualize the entire process from beginning to end, since the unconscious mind sees things in pictures.   See yourself performing the habit in the context that you will be doing it.  Notice every step that you will take along the way.  Notice what you do in the event of an obstacle. Visualize yourself already having established this habit 6 months into the future and notice how this new behavior has impacted every single aspect of your life. Then look back over the past 6 months and notice all the steps you took along the way and any of the obstacles that you needed to overcome to establish this new habit.   Make a special note of how you handled those obstacles.  Savor the good feelings that arise from this visualization and allow yourself to enjoy those feelings.   You may be surprised at what comes up for you during this visualization process.  Sometimes, an obstacle that you never even thought about appears, or some other vital piece of information presents itself to you that you never considered. Use this information to make any adjustments or changes to your mind map.  Run the process through again, having made these adjustments.  Now bring yourself back to the present moment and begin the process, exactly as you envisioned it with any adjustments so that it feels right for you.  Repeat this process a few times over the next few days, if needed.  You may be pleasantly surprised at the results.

Leslie is a holistic therapist and ADD couch practicing in South Florida.

Mystery Schools of the Western Mystery Tradition

The following is a guest post by author, teacher and founder of the Euypsychia Institute.

By Jacquelyn Small

“Robbed of its mystical tradition, an outer system  is like a rose without its perfume.”                                                                                                               – Esoteric Historian Caitlin Matthews

During times of rapid change and radical uncertainty, such as we are experiencing today, an inner process activates to link us back to the wisdom of our ancestors and open the way to the gods. Throughout history, the esoteric Mystery Schools are the preservers of this sacred inner wisdom, transmitted afresh for every Age.  The Ancient Wisdom teaches us the sacred meaning and purpose of our spiritual/human lives, and how to read the symbolic realities, which reside closer to our Source than our ordinary intellectual understanding does.  Our intuition knows this deeper work quite well, though our intellects often don’t have a clue!  So we just need to be reminded. 

A sacred Mystery is not just a lofty idea; it is a spiritual event – like a death and rebirth experience – which creates a shift in our psyches and moves us to a new place in consciousness. The ancient Mystery Schools are the timeless reliable “technicians of human consciousness” that restore the balance between our outer and inner realities anytime we start to run off-track. Mystery Schools are here for “old souls” who come together to help manifest a certain aspect of the evolutionary process for the sake of the world.  They are the inner side of “tribes” who come together to live in a different dimension of higher consciousness than we rarely experience in our ordinary daily lives.  And this Ageless Wisdom cannot really be taught; it can only be caught — gleaned from the crucible of each one’s own committed desire to become “a seeker on the Path,” and to remember who we truly are – spiritual beings living in an oh-so-human world. 

This time-honored esoteric wisdom is the ground floor of all the true religions and philosophies that have impacted our world. Its sacred knowledge holds steady a unitive consciousness that honors all spiritual paths and supports the inviolable laws of the universe.  Yet, our brave ancestors who were the guardians of the Ancient Wisdom often had to remain hidden as a matter of life and death, because the Ageless Wisdom teachings were forbidden by the early Fathers of the Orthodox Church.  This timeless wisdom of the subjective and higher worlds shows us how to access God directly without any outer religious authority’s indispensable demand for a priest or a holy mediator.  You can see why this was a threat to the Church authorities. 

When honored and followed as truth, these teachings imbue our lives with magic, enhanced creativity, and a sense of sacred purpose to our human lives.  And today, this spiritual path of Self-realization — known as ‘the Path’, or ‘the Way’ — is open to all who seek knowledge of this esoteric inner work, regardless of creed or religion.The metaphysical Sacred Arts of the Western Mystery Tradition are the “tools of the trade” for this deeper way of knowing ourselves and our world.  These sacred technologies include high magic, numerology, Tarot, sacred geometry, esoteric astrology, shamanistic soul retrieval, Native and Celtic rites of passage, alchemy, esoteric psychology and healing, Gnosticism or Mystical Christianity, the Mystery of the Holy Grail, Ancient Greek Pageantry, Mythical Symbology, Goddess Invocations, and Pathwork of the Jewish Kabbalah’s eternal Tree of Life.  There are more, I’m sure, but these are the ones I am familiar with. 

I am a teacher of Tarot, numerology, and esoteric psychology, trained by advanced Initiates in the Hermetic Orders of the Golden Dawn, the Builders of the Adytum, and the Theosophical teachings of the Master Djwhal Khul through the writings of Alice Ann Bailey. Eupsychia’s work is part of the Group of World Servers with a specific purpose of helping heal humanity’s emotional body that has been damaged by the conditions we’ve all undergone while living here on Earth.  Our work helps us heal and awaken to our whole nature, which is both human and divine.  I have been guided in doing this Eupsychia work for over 35 years. Musical breathwork is one of the most efficient and simple methods for entering into this blessed inner work. The word “Eupsychia” means “psyche’s well-being” in Greek.   

In the 4-day Eupsychia Mystery School, I teach you to read the Tarot cards and to understand their higher symbolic meanings, which gives you the wisdom of the 7 powers we have as God-made human beings; knowledge of the 7 law of the universe that guide our awakening process while here on Earth; and carries us through the first Initiations we undergo as seekers on the Path of Return to our Source. You will also learn to read the symbolic realities of number, the 12 astrological houses, and geometric design. You will leave this program able to do Tarot readings for yourself and others, based in the deepest understanding of who we are, and what our current task or issue is for our unfolding personal selves. The lineage of the Western Mystery Tradition can be traced back to Atlantis, Eden, ancient Sumeria, and the paradisal arctic Hyperboreans.  Some of the following may serve as a reminder of your soul’s own former training and ancestry:

.  the Greek Eleusinain and Orphic schools who utilized pageantry and ecstatic non-ordinary states to access the mystery of death/rebirth, art, and beauty; 

.  the Egyptian Hermeticists or Initiates of Isis and Osiris with their specific techniques for translating wisdom from the higher worlds into ordinary life, often through the arts; 

.  the Persian Zoroastrians known for battling the tension of the opposites of good and evil, or the higher and lower worlds; 

.  the Celtic Orders who sought the Mystery of Middle Earth and the Mystery of the Grail; 

.  the Knights of the Templar who were sacrificed by the Romans for their belief in spiritual knowledge transmitted directly; 

.  the Gnostic Christians and Essenes who underwent the Christian initiations and knew the real Jesus and Mary Magdalene and the true mission of The Christ who teaches us to ‘Know Thyself’; 

.  the Jewish mystics, begetters of the sacred Kabbalah and its eternal Tree of Life that teaches us the Divine Plan, “As above, so below”;

.  the Alchemists who created the philosopher’s stone, or the center of the Self, by ‘turning lead into gold’ through a purifying process of turning one’s shadow nature into light;

.  the Goddess Traditions of Greece and  Rome, that teach us the inner qualities and rites of passage of the unfolding feminine principle essential to balance masculine power and authority; A re-emergence of this great metaphysical Tradition is occurring now for today’s troubled world.  So you may be feeling the Call to re-unite with your own inner terrestrial/celestial lineage, pre-coded in your DNA. All this knowledge and wisdom already resides within you, only to be accessed by psycho-spiritual processes and the symbolic Sacred Arts that can reach deeply enough into your unconscious mind to access your very essence.

If this work is something that moves you, please consider joining us in our Mystery School work.

Warmest love, 

Jacquelyn 

 

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