Have you ever woken up and known exactly what time it was, down to the minute? It’s an amazing mechanism, our internal clock. It’s a gift we have that we don’t appreciate and don’t give much thought to. If this intrinsic device is monitoring the outside forces without our control, what else do we have inside of us that interacts with the outside world?
Our autonomic nervous system is comprised of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. The sympathetic nervous system is also known as our “fight or flight” response. It is influenced and aroused by outside factors. When someone pulls a knife on you, your sympathetic nervous system will produce a rise in adrenaline and help your body to react in a way that is intended to help you find safety. The parasympathetic nervous system, on the other hand, is known for controlling the “rest and digest” process – the things your body does to keep you alive without any input from your conscious mind.
Perhaps these systems exists on a spiritual level as well. Perhaps this is the reason the “Law of Attraction” seems to work.
But I once watched a documentary about The Secret (or the law of attraction) and found it was more propaganda than anything. If you’re not familiar with the idea, I can summarize it in one story I distinctly remember from the film: A man spoke about how he had been drowning in debt. He told himself he had money even though he didn’t… then POOF! A mysterious check randomly landed in his mailbox and he was saved.
What’s dangerous about believing in this magical phenomenon? Your psyche, for one. If you think your perspective on the outside world alone is enough to manifest physical developments, you might as well spend your entire day convincing yourself your problems have already disappeared. This is a formula for living in denial that will only enable your problems to worsen by not properly addressing them.
Now let’s return to the internal clock and why that is significant. It regulates and interprets an external value without our control or conscious effort. I believe we have an internal spiritual “clock” – only rather than time, it monitors direction.
Keep taking steps, actions and initiatives that take you closer to where you would like to already be. Imagine you at that destination in life you would like to arrive at and shape your day according to that. Spend no time contemplating whether your effort holds any value if the fruits of your labor will never be fully ripe. The system of thought that avoids this destructive, purposeless doubt is known as faith.
When you shape your actions, thoughts, and beliefs to align with a successful outcome you are becoming the person you want to be. As you constantly dwell in a system of perpetual growth each new achievement will come to you without surprise. Your goals will be accomplished because you corrected yourself to attain them, not because you convinced yourself you were capable and your level of blind confidence was enough to fool the physical world.
Just as we have an internal clock to subconsciously monitor time, I believe we have a metaphysical tuning fork that informs us about the direction we are heading in. We know when we are shaping ourselves into the creator we aspire to be just as we know when we are crumbling into a creature of destructive habit.
I hope you take this day to direct your thoughts and actions toward your ideal self. If you take to the sea with your boat and allow the wind to shape your journey you will die lost and starving. Bring your map with you so that even the storms will not misdirect you. Do that, and one day those same storms will only be remembered for helping to shape the greatest captain who ever took to the sea.
Thomas M. Watt 