The Metaphysician's Way

Years ago Peter McWilliams wrote a book called, “You Can’t Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought”. The book was written with great humor and more than a little tongue-in-cheek sarcasm. It’s a book I never got more than half-way through, but I have always remembered the title because I find great meaning in it. Yes, we can’t afford that “luxury” – and – we can’t afford it because at some level we should come to realize that we are always causing something to be created for us.

The great metaphysical teachers have all espoused some form of the idea that we should guard our thoughts for that very same reason. Our thoughts, of course, are the seed material for whatever it is that will manifest in our lives. Clearly when we meditate or pray or practice affirmations we have made a conscious choice to seek a particular demonstration. Our results may vary and I believe those variations might have a lot to do with what our underlying thought truly is. So often we come to our affirmations with the same confusion of the seeker from the bible who upon seeing Jesus exclaimed his faith, “I believe” at the very same moment his underlying doubt caused him to continue, “Help thou mine unbelief”.

At the core of those doubting or negating underlying beliefs is the conversation we have with ourselves. There is no more important conversation we will ever have than the one we have all day, every day with ourselves. What do I truly believe?

Ken Ludwig
www.MakingItOutAlive.com

Recently, I had a very interesting client experience that made me take a good hard look at how we perceive ourselves when we accept addiction. Most of us come to the point of accepting our addiction because we realize that it is the controlling factor in our lives and we surrender to needing help. That was certainly my experience – it was way longer and way more drawn out than that simple explanation, but, in the end, that’s a pretty good description.

This client came to me a few months back and he thought had a serious drinking problem. He had been to AA and it just didn’t work for him. He had found me on my radio show and thought I might be worth a try. From the very first session I had my doubts that he was an alcoholic. Before we were too far into our work I told him that I thought he was probably on the road to a serious drinking problem, but it really seemed to me that this was a classic example of an attempt to self medicate what was really troubling him. We began working on the underlying core beliefs that were the source of his self-destructive behaviors.

We are now several months down the road and amazing things are starting to unfold in his life. There has been a rewiring of his thinking around many of the beliefs he held that were no longer serving him and he has opened up to the possibilities of life.

Suppose those self-defeating behaviors weren’t really the out-picturing of our feelings of worthlessness, our feelings of despair, of defeat or failure, but were really our opportunities to step through those feelings. Suppose we were to discover that the self-medicating was really the wake-up call for our inner discomfort. What if it were possible to use my fears and my “issues” as a springboard into the next highest vision of myself?

In wanting to set aside our self-destructive behaviors we may find the key to seeking the guidance that each of us who suffer through this dis-ease needs. Sometimes admitting to an addiction can serve as an excuse to not examine the underlying causation. I think it is important to seek this clarity. My client stopped drinking to kill the pain. He only needed to examine the underlying issues and his drinking problem faded like an illusion.

Namaste’
Ken Ludwig
Making It Out Alive
kenludwig@MakingItOutAlive.com

What are you addicted to? Seems like we all have our little dependencies, don’t we? The truth is, yes – we all have accumulated a whole set of self-defeating, even self-destructive, behaviors over the course of our lifetimes. We could spend all day defining and categorizing those bad habits from benign to life-threatening, but the bottom line is that they are all learned behaviors that, for the most part, we have designed for our protection or self-medication.

By most definitions the “hard core” addictions are those that involve substance abuse, primarily drugs and alcohol. My experience is that alcoholism and drug addiction are not necessarily the result of covering or medicating pain or discomfort that is particularly “bigger” or more momentous than those that might lead to overeating or other self-destructive behaviors. However, the abuse of drugs and alcohol often times becomes a way of life that can have greater physically debilitating effects than other addictions. Still, once engaged, any form of addictive “pain relief” short circuits the possibilities of expanding into anything more than the limitations of the addiction, as it becomes the primary focus of our life purpose – consciously or unconsciously.

Even through my own struggles with booze and cocaine more than twenty years ago, I argued against the definition that these behaviors were a disease. As my awareness has expanded over the years it seems to me that the more spiritually founded expressing, dis-ease, is more appropriate. Likewise, while arguing against “illness”, I am okay with “ill-ness” – as opposed to well-ness. Certainly anyone who has experienced the day after effects of over indulgence in alcohol, coke or meth can relate to both dis-ease and ill-ness. They are apt descriptions of all the permutations of the symptoms. Who among us has not exercised the need to indulge in the hair-of-the-dog to kill the pain of the discomfort? Interesting, isn’t it, that if this is a disease we find it quite easy to ingest more of the symptom to kill the pain? Also, just as interesting to me, is the idea that if this is really a disease it would be the only one that asks us to make a decision to participate – to come out and play. Cancer doesn’t ask, “Hey, want to come out and play tumor and pain today?” Epilepsy doesn’t ask us if we would like to go find some public place to go and convulse and feel humiliated. No other “disease” on the planet gives us the choice to participate and explore excess.

Addiction always has a modicum of choice involved. We get to decide whether or not we will pursue our downfall, our guilt, our self-hatred. And, we get to decide before every opportunity to participate. So, I think my point is made; addiction is more about dis-ease, about ill-ness, about some underlying causation than it is about some infection or infestation or growth that would more define disease.

Back to an earlier statement that additions are learned behaviors. As such, I know that anything I have learned, I can unlearn and re-learn. I firmly believe that after an initial period of regaining control over the addicted life; facilitated by rehab or one of the myriad twelve step models, there comes a time to step back from the affirmation that “I am a behavior I have now ceased to participate in” and to start to pursue the resolution of the underlying causation. What is the underlying pain that I was medicating? What makes my feelings of unworthiness so overwhelming that I need to hide behind my substance of choice? What course might I take to short circuit these old subconscious programs and reclaim the power over my life.

The work I do is all about the next activities after initial “sobriety”. With all the knowledge science has provided us regarding neuroscience and quantum possibility I clearly know that we are all capable of taking back control; that it is entirely possible to leave the old pain behind and move forward with a new set of subconscious programs – that we have consciously created for ourselves.

Listen in to my conversation on “What We’re Thinking About” with Dean Taraborelli, Founder, Director and Teacher at the Sanctuary in Sedona.  Dean has a mighty story of being recovered and offers spiritually powerful experiential treatments to guide those addicted to self-defeating habits into freedom.

Holistic is an interesting word. In general usage as an adjective we apply it to various practices and constructs to imply or signify completeness. But the true and broader meaning of the word is to understand that the parts of something are intimately interconnected and fundamentally explicable only by reference to the whole. So a holistic unit in many senses is greater than the sum of its parts simply because the parts are only relevant when discussed in terms of that whole unit.

The word’s origin is from Greek – holos – meaning, all, entire or total. And the idea there is that all the properties of a given system cannot be determined or explained by its component parts alone.

In my practice I strive to have my clients understand that we are holistic beings. As such I like to simplify (rather than complicate) the idea that every aspect of our lives has a mental, emotional, Spiritual and physical component. Most importantly we need to understand that ignoring or disregarding any of these components interferes with the completeness of the whole. Since I am clear that the most often neglected component is the physical, I like to give the example that it is truly impossible to function at the highest level mentally, emotionally or Spiritually if I never feel at the top of my game physically.

All four components must be in integrity and alignment if I am to aspire to the next highest vision of the possibilities for my life. Using the above example of neglecting the body temple, ask yourself how you are treating your physical being. The easy questions, of course are, What am I eating? And – how much and how often do I exercise? But how about the not so obvious: Do I like my body? Am I engaging in self-destructive behaviors that have a negative effect on my body? Do I demand that others respect me physically? And there are many more subtle questions, for sure.

I love using the example of the physical because almost all of us can relate in one way, shape or form to the need to take better care of ourselves. Interestingly, embracing the best for my body temple is some of the easiest work to do for aligning the components of our holistic being. You can start with the very simple ideas of nourishment and fitness. Those two things are about making a decision, being willing to engage and then practice, practice, practice.

That’s a great start to bringing all of the components into integrity and setting the stage for doing the work of wholeness.

Namaste’ Ken

Making It Out Alive

We have all heard of suffering from the fear of failure. Most, I’m sure, have also heard some reference to the fear of success. But did you ever stop to think what that fear is based in? With a client today, we explored those fears and their source points.

All our fears have their roots in our core beliefs. For the most part, those core beliefs are something we have been carrying with us and building upon, since we were very young children. In the session today the client (let’s call her “Mary”) discovered some very big core beliefs that had equated, in her mind, success and failure as both being sources of great pain; pain that she had always identified as abandonment. What we discovered today was that the real issue was never being able to please her parents. Their inability to express any pleasure for their daughter’s accomplishments or any encouragement when she was challenged, over time became the child’s feelings of abandonment.

In truth, the issue was much deeper than that and at its core had nothing to do with Mary and everything to do with her parents. They had expectations of their daughter. Whether she suffered great failure or great success in her life, even as an adult, she still was not living up to those parental expectations. Either way, she was rejected; criticized for failing or criticized for not succeeding in the expected fashion. Not hard to figure out that Mary grew up feeling that there was little in life that was worth the extra effort. It mattered not if she gave her all and succeeded or failed, it was always going to be interpreted as not enough, and over time, Mary would come to belief that it was she that was not good enough. No use in trying, the result was always going to be painful.

Life had became a series of just-get-by jobs and relationships, nothing challenging or that required any real effort or growth – that way she avoided the possibility of pain; she stayed in her “safe zone”. Those jobs and relationships, of course, came and went and Mary started to experience an overwhelming sense of stagnation, desperation and self-loathing. She couldn’t even believe it when friends and even lovers professed their admiration and love for her. In fact, she barely heard the words enough to acknowledge them. She was not good enough to receive their affections.  

I think the big “auh-hah” was understanding that none of this was really about Mary; it was only and always about her parents and their inability to allow their daughter to experience life on her own terms and their inability to congratulate and encourage her. Still, the beliefs are there and must be dealt with.

There is no cookie-cutter approach to helping Mary change her core beliefs and we will probably be working on them for a while to come, but we did decide on a couple of simple exercises to get the ball rolling. First, Mary is writing a letter to her mother, who is the biggest energy here and forgiving her, in meticulous detail, for all the slights and hurts that have affected Mary over the years. She will also forgive herself for carrying this pain around with her for forty plus years. In the end we will create a ritual for Mary to burn the letter and literally watch the pain dissolve and go up in smoke.

In order that Mary might start to free herself of her self-loathing thoughts she is going to start being aware of acknowledging praise and affection from others by demonstrating gratitude. A simple “thank you” when someone tells her how wonderful she is or how much they love and admire her will go a long way towards affirming that she does indeed deserve the words and is worthy to receive them.

We will get deeper, I am sure, into the other effects of these unworthiness core beliefs because I am sure that Mary has developed a whole set of self-defeating coping strategies that are now very much a part of her subconscious reactions to life. We will figure out the path to rewiring them as well.

If you would like to explore how to rewire your own thinking for more balance, more stability and more success in all aspects of your life, send me an email; KenLudwig@MakingItOutAlive.com. Please join me on Spirit Media Network and listen in to my radio show “Making It Out Alive” – it is a podcast, available on demand. You can also listen in on my live show “What We’re Thinking About” on Co-CreatorNetwork. 

There has never been any doubt that as a species we thrive in community. It is very interesting how over the past half century or so we have witnessed the dissipation of community as we have moved from cities to the suburbs and beyond. We seldom know who lives in the neighborhood if they live more than a few houses down. It is even more interesting to look at some of the other effects of that move away from the urban centers.

Certainly, our ever more obviously unsustainable addiction to burning fossil fuels has been dramatically increased. We must heat ever larger homes, drive our cars greater distances to work, transport all of our supplies and food over longer highway miles to larger and larger warehouses, stores and markets – that also must be heated – and cooled.

Then there is our health. The next generation is on target to be the first generation since they started keeping records of such things that will be less healthy than their predecessors. That would have a lot to do with our sedentary lifestyle. We drive everywhere because it’s too far to walk. We communicate via myriad devices that require, even prefer, no movement whatsoever. It would also have to do with that food that had to be transported hundreds of miles to arrive at our tables chock full of all the preservatives and chemicals it requires to keep it looking fresh and appetizing.

But there is an even more interesting movement afoot. Visionary developers are starting to notice the amazing benefits of building complexes where literally everything is in walking distance. Houses are smaller and require fewer resources to maintain and keep temperature controlled. Food is grown locally or comes a shorter distance from grower or supplier to consumer. Cars, though still viewed as a necessity, may become unnecessary as more and more places of business locate closer to these new communities.

The long term benefits of this new paradigm have yet to be established, but I think they are self-evident. We develop closer more intimate bonds with our neighbors and the category we call friends is ever larger. We draw closer as a tribe and support each other on a higher level. The collective consciousness becomes less hostile and the atmosphere is less conducive to crime, to self-destructive habits and addictions. Simply, we rediscover what it means to thrive in community.

It is that ability to support one and other that truly makes the difference. When we are closer together physically, we tend to feel more responsibility towards each other emotionally and Spiritually. We become more interactive socially and regardless of the unrelenting march of technology, the closeness of these new communities will draw us outside to play, to barbecue, to enjoy each other – to commune.

Join me on my radio show “Making It Out Alive” here we discuss all the aspects of life on this planet that will, can and do make life better for all of us. It doesn’t have to be a self-defeating rat race. We were sent here to enjoy this life – together.  To be further inspired and hear more about living this more spiritual life, listen in on my flagship show, “What We’re Thinking About”.

Making It Out Alive
Spirit Media Network
Co-CreatorNetwork

I heard a message the other day. It was delivered by a speaker who was talking about alcoholism, addiction and recovery. Not a particularly memorable talk, in fact one listener later described it as “sloppy”. In the middle of this talk the speaker made a reference to the way one introduces oneself before speaking at an Alcoholics Anonymous or any other 12 Step meeting – “Hi, I am Ken and I am an alcoholic”.  It is the typical preface to any commentary you might want to make into the group. Pretty much just a statement of fact and, as such, not particularly memorable either.

But then, this man of metaphysics made an extraordinary statement. He claimed that stating, “I am an alcoholic” wouldn’t make me an alcoholic any more than stating, “I am a millionaire” would make me a millionaire. What? “Hey… (the little metaphysician in my head screamed) …that’s not right!” Not right? Heck, those were the most metaphysically unsound words I had ever heard, especially considering the venue. This needs to be clarified – big time.

First, in the days and weeks and months and years of studied practice that it takes to become an alcoholic, I have never heard one person claim that the whole time they had aspired to be an addict by affirming, “I am an alcoholic”. I didn’t just wake up one day and say, “I am an alcoholic” and to prove it I’m going to drink two bottles of vodka today. That would have lasted exactly ONE DAY because in all likelihood I would have killed myself with the first day’s consumption. No, it took years of practice to work up to that level of alcohol intake and to a label of alcoholic. No one affirms that title until they have “earned” it. It is not an aspiration. And it is certainly not a mentally healthy way to try to trigger some kind of “opposite” response to transcend what I am affirming. It simply does not work that way. Period.

Second, as to the “I am a millionaire” statement; this is part of every abundance process on the planet. The old “act as if” or “pretend that you have it and you will”. This is biblical in origin and speaks to the very purpose of affirmation – I am claiming now that which I desire to be my reality. This is an aspiration and is the healthy and productive way to use the “I am” statement. We affirm that which we desire for the purposes of activating the process for its fulfillment in our minds and in our lives. The statement is both functional and descriptive from the first time I use it right through to when I am writing checks from my million dollar bank account.

A.L. Kitselman  said, “The words “I am…” are potent words: be careful what you hitch them to.  The thing you’re claiming has a way of reaching back and claiming you.” It makes no sense whatsoever to attach those words to any statement that is not true of me or that I do not want to be true of me. They will come back and “claim me”. To say, “I am an alcoholic” because I think, or someone has told me, it will help me to not be an alcoholic is not just metaphysically unsound, it is scientifically absurd. (See the works of Bruce Lipton, “Biology of Belief” and “Spontaneous Evolution”.)

Affirmations are a key piece in the creation of a daily practice that will help you transcend those habits and behaviors that are not serving you. You use them to claim what you desire, NOT to claim what you wish to release.

I hope you will join me on my radio show, Making It Out Alive on Spirit Media Network where we talk about the real tools and techniques that anyone can use to rise above these roadblocks and speed bumps of life to live a happy, balanced and successful existence from a point of conscious choice.

I glanced up from my breakfast at the Home Cookin’ Café this morning to see this big smile on my beloved Lisa’s face. “Are you that happy?” I asked. The smile grew a bit and she replied, “No, my spirit is laughing at my human.” Wow – what a great expression that is. In a moment of recognition that her thoughts were going somewhere she really didn’t want to go, Lisa’s higher Self laughed at her, as if to say, “Don’t go there”. 

Remembering always that our success at every level of our life is a function of our decisions and that our decisions are totally dependent upon our awareness, I found that simple statement – “My Spirit is laughing at my human” – to be an amazing demonstration of awareness. I am very clear that each of us is in need of more tools that we can use to short circuit that “ready, fire, aim” sequence that triggers our subconscious reactions. It is so important to gather and learn to use the tools that give us that “blink” of time that we need to allow the conscious, responsive mind to kick in and shift us in a more positive or thoughtful direction. How valuable was my beloved’s tool this morning in preventing her subconscious from taking her on a trip she knew was not going to serve her and, not only shifting her mental attitude, but shifting it with a smile? From the conscious awareness point of view, it doesn’t get any better than that.

Having that negative thought that begins the downward spiral of self-defeating thoughts – stinkin’ thinkin’ – may be the most common affliction of living life from our previous programming. The very first step in changing this process is developing the awareness that it is what we do. Then that awareness needs to have a new program that helps me to stop the old process and turn around, so to speak. Kind of like driving down the road and realizing I’m going in the wrong direction. When that happens, the intelligent thing to do is stop heading the wrong way, turn around and head in the right direction. It really doesn’t need to be more complicated than that with my thinking, but because there are not the visible signs to alert me that I am moving away from where I want to be going, the awareness piece is very important. But, where does that come from?

My experience as a Spiritual Counselor has been that most of us could use a hand there. It is not so much that we do not know what to do, as it is not knowing where to begin. That seems to be where I provide the most advice and help. It is not always easy to change your thinking on your own, in fact, for most of us, the opposite is true – it can be quite a challenge. My suggestion is to find a collaborator; hire someone who can demonstrate the right tools; ones that will suit you. I define what I do for my clients as being their full time advocate. Find that person. This is not about therapy or psychologizing old wounds. It is about discovering those habits that are not serving you and reprogramming your thinking.

The pathway to eliminating that self-destructive thinking, even when it has progressed into addiction is the subject of my new radio show on SpiritMediaNetwork.com, “Making It out Alive”. Join us for lively, informative discussions about real tools and techniques that you can use daily to reprogram your thinking and restructure your life for more success, stability and balance.

Namaste’
Ken Ludwig
www.MakingItOutAlive.com

I’m really not given to using my blog for movie reviews. After all, there are a gazillion of those – at least. But this afternoon my beloved Lisa and I went to see “Inception” and to say that we were blown away would be monumental understatement. So, the review? Best Picture; Inception. Best Actor; Leo DeCaprio. I can’t imagine how they can be challenged. But this movie was way more than a great flick.

If you occasionally like to go to the movies to shut off your brain and be mindlessly entertained, as I sometimes do, then Do Not go to see Inception. If, on the other hand, you want to be thoroughly engaged with a non-stop, can’t wait to see what’s next, beautifully executed movie – this is your ticket. I can’t remember ever seeing a more intelligent action movie – ever. Yes, you will want to pay attention to every minute and every scene – it is complex. Be assured that if you stay engaged the payoff is magnificent. This is one of the 5 best movies I have ever seen.

Okay – that’s all very cool, but there is more – much more. This movie revolves around the idea that a seed planted in the mind can gestate into the most powerful virus on the planet – a thought. And any thought can grow to define us – or even, perhaps, destroy us. The intricacies of planting that seed are amazingly set in a story that is truly an allegory for the actual, more metaphysical and even, esoteric process. There is resistance to implanting the thought. There are defenses to protect the subconscious from accepting an uninvited thought. There is even the metaphor of the thought you resist, persists. There is even a piece here that points out it doesn’t matter where or how the seed was planted, the thought cannot simply be made to go away – it must be changed.

I couldn’t even believe that even as I was in thrall to this movie, I was drawing conclusions and metaphors to Making It Out Alive and the reasons why I am doing this show on Spirit Media Network. You do not have to be a slave to your bad habits or to your addictions or to the meetings they claim will cure the addictions. No! You more precisely need to embark on a process of changing your thinking. Free of the good intentions of others and their fear based programs, move into the positive, life-affirming thinking that redirects your thoughts, your beliefs and your habits. This month, on August 17th, 24th & 31st, I will be presenting my acclaimed workshop, “ReWire Your Brain”. In this workshop I will show you how to get this process moving and how to embrace it as a new way of life to free yourself from those self-destructive behaviors and rewire your thoughts for a more productive and balanced life.  Click here to request more information.

You can get more details on my website, Making It Out Alive,  listening to my radio shows; Making It Out Alive, on Spirit Media Network and What We’re Thinking About, on Co-creatorNetwork.

My beloved Lisa and I just returned from four glorious days at The Elk River Guest Ranch outside of Steamboat Springs in Clark, Colorado. Mostly rest, reading, meditating – oh yeah – lots of snacking. Truly a very beautiful and quiet place. Good for the rejuvenation that we both needed.

I guess it has been pretty wet up there this spring. Everywhere you looked there were green meadows liberally adorned with wild flowers. One could not help but notice the devastation of the pine bark beetles on the lodge pole pine forests. From a distance, all you could see were acres and acres of tall dead trees; some bright red, indicating they had recently met their demise and others, a dull brown with all their limbs hung low. Then there were lots of skeletal trunks and branches of those long dead trees that had dropped all their needles. Fragile remains, all awaiting that last fateful gust of wind.

Interestingly though, as we hiked closer to these apparently dying forests, we were struck by Mother Nature’s abundance. Beneath the dead and dying canopy were all manner of small trees; firs and other pines not affected by the beetles, ground cover, clovers, wild flowers and grasses. Lisa commented, more than once, how we needed to accept and trust that Mother Nature knows what she is doing. And indeed, all around us was evidence of Her abundance replacing apparent scarcity; a continuity of life.

I found myself reflecting on that continuity in my own life. Am I, like Mother Nature, replacing that which no longer serves with new and more vibrant life energy? Clearly, I know that what grows in my life is that which I feed and choose to energize. When I think about rewiring my thinking to guarantee a fresh supply of new, life affirming thought and activity, I realize, once again, the magnitude of daily practice. Truly that which I have embraced as my daily practice has opened the flood gates for the Divine to operate through me and thus providing a never ending flow of ways to activate that practice in my life.

I feel so very blessed to have the tools I need to move myself into walking the talk of my practice. Whenever I am conscious enough to make the choice, I am well equipped to transcend all that exists in my life that is not serving me and move on to a higher vision.

Supplying those tools to others is my goal on my radio shows – “Making It Out Alive” on Spirit Media Network and “What We’re Thinking About” on Co-creatorNetwork.com. I hope you will join me in exploring the pathways to rewire your thinking and always being aware to cultivate a fresh crop of vibrant new thoughts.

More about Ken and his work at www.MakingItOutAlive.com