The Magic of Creative Thinking

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The physical world (all we see around us) are made up of energy put together in specific ways to create the illusion of solidity. When you look around your house, your eyes convince you that you see a number of inanimate things, chairs, tables, windows, etc.  You see cars, houses and so on on the road. That is true as far as perception is concerned, but in reality you are looking at objects that have been created through ideas or creative thinking of  human beings. It was the thought that first constructed the furniture, the dress, the house, the automobile, the aeroplane, the computer!  All these were conceived originally from thoughts. In-fact all our possessions came from original creative thinking and visualization of some individuals.

Thoughts are therefore the original source of all inventions, possessions, wealth and all man-made things that we can see, touch and experience. They are also origins of our various ideologies in the world as we know it, be it capitalism, socialism, educational systems etc. – all originated from someone’s thoughts or someone’s idea. When you want to do something, you start first by thinking about it, then proceed to doing it, and your physical actions match the thoughts you had. It is said that “anything we can think about, can be created”. images-2.jpgIt is mind boggling to observe that all those images that were conceived in motion pictures, like in the Star Wars and the James Bond movies, are all physically coming to reality. The internet, the remote phones, Robotics, the driverless car, you name it, are physically in existence. We now talk about ‘Artificial Intelligence’ AI.

A thought is a form of mobile energy that tends to find physical expression. When we have an idea and creatively visualize it, we are radiating thoughts energy into the universe.  Following the visualization, the universe responds by helping us create or bring to reality these images as physical matter or event.

” Some people think that hard work brings success. This is not really so. Thinking is greater than hard work. Hands are merely helpers to the brain. Thoughts attract that on which it is directed….”  (Claude M. Bristol)

‘Creative thinking involves a way of looking at and solving problems from a different perspective outside the pre-existing boundaries of our minds, – in other words, ‘thinking outside the box’.

We are creators, created in the image of God. Creative thinking is the magic that helps us images-1.jpgbring forth new approaches and solutions to peculiar situations or problems in our world. It moreover, draws out our real potential. It’s amazing to watch a child creating through play. If unhindered, the child can freely produce some astonishing fabrications. He is not limited. He thinks outside the box.

At any point in time and age, new ideas, new solutions, new inventions are all locked up in humans- all of us, waiting to be magically manifested. Thinking creatively, is the only way of bringing out the best in humans in order to impart lives. This has been proven over and over again in the world’s development – be it the industrial revolution, the space age, or the present age of Artificial Intelligence, the Internet and associated Social Networks. The world can share what had been created originally from your thoughts, especially when these impact life positively. Without creative thinking, the world would still have been in the same place it was many, many, years ago.

Help create a better world! Think creatively for a better tomorrow!

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Noah Jovicevic (3yrs) in the act of creating!

Power in the Spoken Word

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Words are units of spoken or written representations of a language that convey meaning. Words are used to express ourselves and our emotions. Words are powerful and we hear expressions like, “I give you my word”; “Keep your word.” In both expressions, word is regarded as  a promise or an honour to be taken seriously.

images copy.jpegMost people do not know the power of the spoken word. Words are vibrations spoken out as a result of our thoughts.  Words therefore are spoken thoughts. Thoughts are powerful , but spoken words are more powerful since words are thoughts expressed.  Whatever we express manifests more quickly in the universe through the Law of Attraction and Law of Vibration

“Whatever man voices, he begins to attract” (Florence Scovel Shinn)

We could use a lot of scripture to portray the significance of ‘Word’.  We read that God created the universe by spoken word and it came to be. We also read that “the Word was made Man and dwelt among us”. Word manifests!  

Spoken words when uttered with emphasis, and strong emotions, manifest physical results.

Jesus said to them .“… If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you”. (Matt 17:20).

Jane Elliot’s “Blue-eye/Brown-eye Exercise”

After Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, Primary school teacher, Jane Elliot wanted to teach her 3rd grade class about racism. Because most of her 8-year-old pupils had been born and were being raised in a small all-white town in Iowa and had seen black people only on television, she felt that her all-white class cannot fully comprehend racism’s meaning. Rather than a lengthy discussion about it, she used what she called the “Blue-eye/Brown-eye Exercise”. On the day of the exercise, she told the blue-eyed children that they were the superior group and made them sit in front of the class and gave them extra privileges. She told the brown-eyed pupils that they were inferior and less intelligent group, and sent them to sit at the back rows. She used negative words to describe the brown eyes pupils and positive encouraging words for the  blue-eyed children. images.jpegWithin 15 minutes into the exercise, there was a direct noticeable change in the behavior and personality of the two groups – the blue-eyed pupils behaving more intelligent and more assertive, while the brown-eyed pupils became dull and confused, exhibiting lack of self esteem. The following day, Elliott reversed the exercise, telling the brown-eyed children that they were superior. A reversed change in behavior and personality occurred. Though this experiment became very controversial, the fact still remained that there is power in words! Other schools and establishments have used this same exercise and gotten similar outcomes. Words manifest! The above experiment teaches that we must be careful in what we say to our children. You may like to read more about Jane Elliot’s Blue-eye/Brown-eye Exercise in the internet.

Dr Masaro Emoto’s ‘Words and Water’ Experiment.

Some of you may have read about the water experiments by the Japanese scientist, Dr Masaro Emoto. Dr Emoto showed that water reacts to words. He showed that water differentiates between harmonious vibrations and non harmonious vibrations – vibrations of sounds, music and words. He proved this by freezing distilled water from different sources and water exposed to different vibrations. He then used special photographic techniques to document the crystals  …..

“The result was that we always observed beautiful crystals after giving good words, playing good music, and showing, playing, or offering pure prayer to water.”(Dr. Masaro Emoto).

Below are a few of the results from Dr Emoto’s experiments of the frozen water crystals with words said to it, or music played to it. 

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You Fool
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Thank you
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Amazing Grace song

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Emoto’s ‘Rice -Water’ Experiments

Dr. Emoto went on to conduct other experiments using rice and water called, ‘Dr Emoto’s Rice/Water experiment’. He placed portions of cooked rice in 3 little glass containers. To one he said “Thank you” and labeled it. To the 2nd he said, “You’re an Idiot” and labeled it accordingly. He ignored the 3rd container. Everyday for one month, he said ‘Thank you’ to the 1st container and ‘You’re an Idiot’ to the 2nd. He ignored the 3rd. At the end of the month, the contents of the glass container with the positive words had barely changed giving out a pleasant aroma, while the 2nd with the negative words had gone very black with a foul smell. The rice in the ignored container began to rot. Many people have since performed this experiment with astounding results. You can google Dr Emoto’s rice-water experiments to read, or see more on the subject. You can also perform the experiment yourself.

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Recreating Dr. Emoto’s rice-water experiment

3 years ago, inspired by this experiment, my son, Ugo, and his two daughters, Melissa and Michelle, carried out the ‘rice-water’ experiments themselves and the result was astonishing! Take a look and listen to the children describe their experiment after 30 days.

 

images.pngThere is certainly power in the spoken words. We live in a miraculous world and we are living miracles. When you consider that words have effect on water and that the human body contains  50%-70% water, we may begin to imagine what everything we say to ourselves and to others are doing to our bodies – our physical and psychological wellbeing and our outlook in life. We should pay attention to what we say to ourselves and others. Words of affirmation are very important. Say positive things about yourself and to yourself. Say positive encouraging thing to your children. Say good things to, and about others and mean these things when you say them. “Your Words are your Magic Wands”

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The “Butterfly Effect”of Life

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Have you ever wondered how significant your life is? Have you wondered if you make a difference – if what you do affects the universe, or, if your actions really do matter to this world you live in? Well, everything you do matters – your actions and reactions matter, not just for you but for everyone else!

The Butterfly Effect is the concept that small causes can have large effects. The expression was used with weather prediction but has became a metaphor used in everyday life situations. The theory was first presented by Edward Lorenz in 1963 to the New York Academy of Science and basically states that:

A butterfly could flap its wings and set molecules of air in motion, which would move other molecules of air, in turn moving more molecules of air—eventually capable of starting a hurricane on the other side of the planet.

Though it uses the fluttering of the butterfly as a metaphor, it is a theory that everything matters. Scientists have come to accept the authenticity of this theory and it has been accorded the status of a law:

“The Law of Sensitive Dependence Upon Initial Conditions” or “The Chaos Theory”. 

When you change even the smallest of life’s details, you completely change its outcome. This theory becomes even more authentic today as outer space scientists, using the Chandra X-ray Observatory, have observed that the space we think is empty in the universe is actually not empty but filled with unique electro-magnetic energy that connects everything in the universe!

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Examples of the Butterfly Effect :

Historians agree that the trigger for the World War 1 was the assassination of the Archduke, Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrio-Hungarian empire and his wife, by a young Yugoslav nationalist, Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo, in June 1914. This had the butterfly effect that led to the most brutal world war involving over 65 million military from 30 countries. This war among several other outcomes, led to the death of over 17 million people and another 20 million wounded or disabled. That war changed the face of the world!

The invention of the WorldWideWeb (www) in 1989 by the English scientist Tim Berners-Lee is another example with a butterfly effect leading to the present explosion in the social media, the Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Smartphones,…… connecting people all over the globe. You can think of thousands of the continuing ‘butterfly effects’ of this one invention. 

So it is with our lives. Think about the outcome of your life by the ‘simple’ chooses you made. Consider what triggered these chooses and where they’ve led you and people associated with you to, – the schools you attended, where you live, your work, how you met your spouse …..

Now, let us consider our bodies. Things we choose to eat, how we think, what we say, our emotions, and life styles, all have butterfly effects that result in the physical, physiological and psychological states we find ourselves in as individuals. These states in turn affect our health, our relationships, our families, our businesses.  Habouring anger, frustration and hatred sets a butterfly effect that not only causes malfunctioning of the body and ill health, but also unpleasant relationships.

Even the smallest step we take in our lives can change the course of our lives and those of others immensely.  A simple act of love or gratitude can have a butterfly effect that can lead to unforeseen consequences over time. Take a moment to think about this. Let us live our lives ‘awake‘, consciously knowing that our actions and reactions matter to the wellbeing of the Universe.

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‘Be anxious for nothing’

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As the year 2016 gradually comes to an end, the cities light up with decorations. Shopping malls bustle with people buying presents and gifts for loved ones. FullSizeRender.jpgAt this period, despite all natural and man-made turbulences and  political uncertainties, allow yourself to remember and believe that ‘all things work together for good’. As William Shakespeare put it, ‘Come what come may, time and the hour run through the roughest day!’ Things always have a way of working out – perhaps not the way we envisioned them, but they do work out all the same! You should thank the past for all the lessons it has taught you and apply these positively to the future.

Several months ago, I had a panic attack as I learnt of something that was happening with some members of my family. I imagined all the worst outcomes. I developed pain in my chest. My head was pounding. I could hear the thudding of my heart beats. I could hardly breathe. The more I thought it over, the more I feared for the worst. Sleep was out of the question. I would lie and ruminate over and over all that could go wrong. By the end of 3 days, I was miserable with anxiety fatigue. My blood pressure had gone up. Then, I realized I had to begin to practise what I preached. Believe it or not, all things did work out fine!

Worry and Anxiety 

Everyone worries sometimes but some people worry all the time. Worry is an adaptive function developed in humans for dealing with, and resolving problems. It allows us to think or imagine things over and over in our minds in order to come to a solution. images.pngWorrying is a function of the imagination. Without imagination, there would be no worry! If worry does not solve a problem or has the potential of solving a problem, then, learn to let go of it.Worrying can become habitual and chronic and in that case may negatively affect your mood and your health. images-2.jpegNote that most things you worry about never happen! Worry involves the thinking part of the brain – the Cortex.

Anxiety on the other hand, is a form of excessive worry with a very uncomfortable feeling of fear, apprehension, or dread. It is a feeling in your gut that something bad is going to happen. The root cause of anxiety is fear. The mind examines the issue at hand and negatively projects the future with the worse-case scenarios and gets terrified by these projections as if they must happen! These then trigger anxious feelings that flood the body with stress hormones resulting in any of the following physical symptoms –  rapid heart beat, shortness of breathe, tightening of, and pain in the chest, tommy ache, headaches, migraines, sweating and diarrhea…  Anxiety can be chronic and therefore becomes  a psychological disorder – Anxiety Disorder, requiring professional help. Anxiety arises from the mid-brain, the limbic area responsible for emotions in humans. Lots of issues can create anxiety – your job, money, family and health issues.

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; And the Peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and mind …”  (Philippians 4:6-7)

Transforming Anxiety 

Anxiety is your body reflecting the thoughts that you are thinking- usually thoughts of worse case scenarios! To transform anxiety or any negative emotion, you must learn to admit what you are feeling and how your body is reacting to it. Taking medications to calm anxiety is not a good idea since this can become addictive. Your body could rely on  the medications instead of your brain producing the chemicals that ease out the problem.

  • Anxiety is fired by emotions and the effective way to transform anxiety is to take the emotions to a neutral phase by finding something to feel positive about so you can gain new perspectives about the issue at hand. Positive emotions neutralize the hold that negative emotions have on the brain. Think of things that make or made you happy, things that make or made you laugh or smile. Think of some issues you worried about in the past that eventually worked out right. 
  • Avoid people who encourage negative emotions and project fearful scenarios. When unavoidably in the company of such people, change the subject or excuse yourself.
  • Breathe slowly and deeply to help neutralize emotional charges and reduce stress hormones.
  • Exercise – Simply taking long walks, cycling, swimming or dancing for 20 – 30 minutes can produce endorphins, the ‘feel good’ hormones that reduce stress and anxiety.
  • Listen to music that you love.
  • Go to somewhere that makes you feel calm and secure – a quiet park, a church, mosque or temple to breathe or meditate. 
  • Eat well to stabilize your blood sugar and drink lots of water.
  • Most importantly, practise gratitude. Be thankful for all you’ve been blessed with. Thinking about the good things in your life helps neutralize negative emotions. FullSizeRender-2.jpg

As you watch and experience the decorations and festivities associated with the ‘passing‘ of the year 2016, no matter what is happening in your life,  whisper softly to yourself, “This too shall pass!”

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Merry Christmas and Happy, ‘Anxiety-free’ New Year in advance!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Connectedness of all

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I see the world in all material and none material things around me. Everything and everyone are connected. We hear this all the time, but do we take a moment to think it over? This reminds me of the poem written by William Blake:

“To see the world in a Grain of Sand

And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand

And Eternity in an hour.”

One morning in April 2005, while I was in Zanzibar, Tanzania, I woke up peaceful and made my morning devotions. I looked around me and felt grateful for everything. I zeroed in on the beautiful wooden carved bed I was lying on – this bed that provided rest for me. I visualized the tree from which it was made – that tree from somewhere in the forest of East Africa perhaps among the spices of this ‘Spice Island’.

That tree in the forest had received sunshine and rain to grow like all other living things at the time. That tree must have provided oxygen, fruits, or served as home to some animals, insects or birds.

Perhaps some parts of that tree had been used by some people to cook meals for their families. Perhaps some parts have been used to make furniture, or build a home for some family. 

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The Zanzibari bed

The carvings on the bed had first been conceived in the mind of some local craftsman. That tree which is now my bed had been the hard work of some craftsmen whom I’ld never know and who would never know they were making it for me.  These men have fed their families with the proceeds from their workmanship. 

That tree, my bed has been polished or painted using bee’s wax or some other organic solutions.

 I went on to visualize  the web of connections with my mattress, the pillows and the sheets and the mosquito nets. I visualized the cotton farm, the laborers that picked the soft fluffy cotton. CSIRO_ScienceImage_10736_Manually_decontaminating_cotton_before_processing_at_an_Indian_spinning_mill.jpg I imagined the textile mills where even more laborers spun the cotton into yarns or thread and the production of the cotton textile – the textile which have now become the cover of my mattress, the bed sheets, and my mosquito net.

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A textile mill

I could go on and on about the web of life’s activities connected to my bed. There will be no end to this ‘connectedness visualization’. It is like spinning a ‘Web of Connectivity’ of all things in the world.

My bed, your bed, could be the centre of the Universe!