Thoughts vs. Beliefs — a Huge Key.

Last Friday I hung out with my new friend Ricky (that I met in my Men's Group Circle*) along with a few others. Like usual, we talked about Law of Attraction and how to manifest things into our lives. Without Ricky realizing the significance it had on me, he mentioned that affirmations are not about thoughts, but about beliefs.

Okay, so that seems obvious. Or, if not obvious it seems like some "whatever" point, but for me it was huge. I feel I definitely lost track of my thoughts and affirmations these last few weeks. They started to feel like a chore I had to say to myself once or twice a day, and after I said them I'd go on my merry way.

But what is the difference between a thought and a belief? In all the psychology and spirituality I have read, our thoughts are a biological process. Electricity flows into our brain and we interpret what that electricity is by habit. So, in general, thoughts are just electricity in our brain. Most mammals have thoughts, even dogs were known to dream.

But what about beliefs? There is a type of magic to beliefs. Perhaps it is spiritual, or maybe it is just sub-concious behaviors that cause beliefs to come true? Who knows, and honestly, who cares. Its like: who cares how your kidneys work as long as they work! Take care of your Kidneys are you're golden.

The difference between "thoughts" and "beliefs" is: emotion. Beliefs are thoughts/ideas with emotion attached to them while thoughts alone are just electricity going though your brain organ. Sure, thoughts do mean something, there could be some emotion with them---but it is the thoughts that have passionate emotion (whether it be positive or negative) that drive the true LoA force.

With me, these last weeks, I went through a shit-ton of stress due to school. As I mentioned in a few previous posts, I was taking 3 tough classes along with working for two professors, and additionally I was a grader for someone's class. Literally, all my time was taken and I didn't even hit the gym once in that time period. I did enjoy lots of it, I was learning some great things like Matlab, how CDMA works (that is the same shit which goes on in many cell phones) and digital logic design.

But most of all, when I would do affirmations, I really wasn't feeling them. I had no passion in my affirmations. Distinctly, I noticed the affirmations did not manifest. What's worst is I had a more intense belief that the affirmations would not come true unless I really focused---but with all the time pressure I faced, I couldn't let myself sit down and do the affirmations.

The major lesson I learned is that my studies did not turn out the way I wanted. True, I was not able to put in the time to study so I really shouldn't be so hard on myself, but at the same time I do believe we attract into our life what was strongly believe the most. However, I am also realizing that keeping the faith and strength in affirmations is not easy. Negative beliefs are so much easier to adopt and I do not know exactly why. When the pressure of life sets in, we are some how more susceptible to outside influence---and most outside influence is rather negative, especially when it comes to academia, money, and women. I.e., since most people in academia and finance are over pressured, it can rub off on me, especially when, already, the stress and pressure is high in my life.

Again, as an aside, having a solid men's group to go to which keeps you on track in your life can undo much of the repeated negative exposer some of us have, especially if we are continually occupied in high stress environments.

Well so far I have talked about men's groups, affirmations & law of attraction, and how strong beliefs and emotion are needed to manifest your wishes. One thing I have been thinking about quite a bit and often is my old girlfriend Chrissy (aka Claire on previous posts). She has this super close friend named Raven who really didn't like me, but Chrissy and her were inseparable. I'd read their myspace and how they'd sleep next to each other and they always share myspace pictures, etc etc. Typical girl shit. Well, the thing about Raven is she is the "angry friend"... you know the typical cock-block, jealous girl. I found out through Chrissy that she never liked me and when we would meet she was always looking at me with a judgmental glare. (perhaps this was my fault, I manifested Raven through my own beliefs... but either way...)

Here is the trippy thing. I still think about Chrissy quite a bit, I also think about how much Raven got in the way. There definitely is emotion in those thoughts. There definitely is passion (even though I would like to stop thinking about her). However over the past few years, they would randomly pop back into my life. Sometimes they would make the initiative---Yeah Raven would too, I think she just likes to keep tabs. Anyway, in the weirdest way, Raven popped back in. While hanging out with Ricky, another friend dropped by. This guy I only met once before, but as it turned out he started talking about a girl he is dating. Guess who that girl is. Raven.

Jesus shit. They keep popping in the weirdest ways. In fact, the last thing I said to Chrissy before cutting her off is "You just keep popping into my life, what the fuck is going on?" However, I resolved to not interact with them.

So out of ALL the girls in my HUGE metropolitan area, of ALL the girls you see in clubs, bars, malls, concerts, of them all, this dude was dating Raven. And I met him randomly through a random friend. The probability is just too fucking low. It is too low for this NOT to be me manifesting it.

Without more of the drama and pointless back story, suffice to say after a disappointing affirmation use in academic studies this quarter, this Chrissy/Raven experience demonstrated the law of attraction still works. Even though I did not want Chrissy or Raven in my life, they popped in because I was thinking about Chrissy with lots of emotion even to this day.

This proved to me that strong emotion and beliefs are a KEY

Now, I don't care if they pop in or not. The point isn't them. The point is the Law of Attraction works, just be careful what you wish for. And for the things you truly want, take the time to ask for it. In a way, I was doing unintentional affirmations on how hard school is, how difficult getting A's are, how little time I had---I was doing this shit constantly.

Even though it was unintentional, it WAS an affirmation nonetheless.

So even though I'd take 10 seconds a day to go over my crafted affirmations, my brain had the habit of focusing mostly on negative, hard things like academics and bad relationships. BOOM the latter happens.

In short:

• Say your affirmations with Passion
• Make it a habit to think about them often.
  • That is, if you think about negative things like "how little time we have" or "how hard work/school is" habitually---change that habit.
  • Unless you want to go the rest of your life in haste and tough work, change the thought patterns.
  • It takes effort, but it obviously can be done.

  And don't think about negative shit!!

*As an aside: for those of you who don't know what a men's group is, it is a bunch of guys who get together every so often and make sure each man is truly on his path and being true to himself. Think of it as "Fight Club" but without the fighting.