“Consider the phrase, ‘let us entertain you.’ The entertainers present their talents, their show, the music but it’s you who decides to be entertained. For example, is there music you don’t like or songs you hate? They can be playing and you can hate them, shut them out or off, resist them, complain about them. Just because they are playing doesn’t mean you like them or are open to them.

It’s always your choice. You decide what to let in. You may not realize this, but you’re your own gatekeeper. You’re your own bouncer. You bounce ideas, plans, thoughts, feelings and others you don’t want to let in. The scripture says, ‘Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember?’ Mark 8-11 NIV And then there are these words to understand.

‘Whoever has ears, let them hear.’ The disciples came to him and asked, ‘Why do you speak to the people in parables?’ He replied, ‘Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.

DEVELOP THE POSITIVE ATTITUDE, MINDSET AND BELIEFS TO TRANSFORM YOURSELF

This is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. 

Otherwise, they might see with their eyes hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’  Matthew 13: 9-15 NIV And then this. ‘Ears to hear and eyes to see both are gifts from the lord.’ Proverbs 20:12 Scripture also says, ‘many are called but few are chosen.’ Please understand this as an example and as allegory. We see but do not see. We hear but do not hear.

Seeing and hearing and understanding comes from god, source, the universe, infinite intelligence whatever you prefer. We live in an amazing world. We create our reality from within. We determine what is. Notice, whoever has will be given more. Whoever does not have, that will be taken away. Law of Attraction or Vibration or Cause and Effect or Reverse Opposites is at work. Understand this.

DEVELOP THE POSITIVE ATTITUDE, MINDSET AND BELIEFS TO TRANSFORM YOURSELF

What you put out comes back to you whether lack or prosperity. It is up to you. If you can’t see or hear or understand you will miss out. A good student is open and receptive to the message. Only by making oneself available and allowing the message in can one even begin to appreciate and understand it. If you resist, are closed off or don’t like what you see and hear, you won’t’ let it in.

As students, as learners, as disciples we must recognize when we’re listening only to speak and present our view instead of listening to gain understanding about things we don’t know about. We need to recognize when we’re closed to new ideas and unable to accept information. We need to see when we resist and stop resisting. It is not the way of the head. It’s the way of the heart.

The head and heart can align and bring you into harmony with the lesson or teacher or master. Surrender yourself. Surrender or to learn how to be unattached does not mean giving your possessions away. It does not mean letting someone else control you. It means being willing to learn new ways to be, do and have things. It means being open and learning how to flow instead of fight. It is relaxing.

DEVELOP THE POSITIVE ATTITUDE, MINDSET AND BELIEFS TO TRANSFORM YOURSELF

A key to becoming a good student is to recognize when you’re not ready to learn and when you ARE ready to learn. Awareness is the key. For most this is a matter of ongoing management. The door is not always open. It is open and closed and open again. Then closed, and closed, then open. We need to discover when we close the door and open it to be available to new life changing information.

If we only understand the new opportunity or knowledge and experience as an addition to what we already ‘think we know’ then it’ just more information. It is additive but not necessarily transformative. Information alone won’t change us! We must be willing to apply it. If we don’t use it, we don’t know it. When I met the teacher in the first of these blogs, I ‘knew’ what to do! I was told what to do.

But I didn’t apply it, so I didn’t get any benefit from ‘knowing’ the right things. I resisted him and what he offered because I was scared, worried, unwilling, thought I knew better, or it didn’t fit my current model of the world and what was right for me. He presented, shared generously but I didn’t get it because I wasn’t ready to apply it. Since I didn’t apply it, I didn’t gain experience or understand it.

DEVELOP THE POSITIVE ATTITUDE, MINDSET AND BELIEFS TO TRANSFORM YOURSELF

Stop. Find a different way than I thought and behaved at 18. Be open so the teacher and lessons can come to you. When they come open, willing to learn, willing to change and ready to receive. Practice being a good receiver as well as a good giver. So many push the good out of their lives for this reason. They don’t know how to receive. I didn’t. I thought what I was doing was right.

I was convinced. Eventually, I learned it could be far easier and more delightful than I ever thought possible. I didn’t need to be afraid or resist. I could surrender my stubbornness and unwillingness and transform. Can you? Will you? It’s life changing when we are open and embrace it and use it. It’s a blessing to learn. Then information, the lessons can lead us to new ways of thinking and being.

Information doesn’t change us. Knowledge doesn’t change us. Only by using the knowledge can we begin to change. It’s in applying the knowledge we can learn the lessons. It’s THE experience. The learner occurs through the attempts, the defeats and the challenges. We learn from feedback and adjusting. Experience! Adjust and continue. Be open. Be curious. Be willing to try new things.

DEVELOP THE POSITIVE ATTITUDE, MINDSET AND BELIEFS TO TRANSFORM YOURSELF

Be willing to explore. Exploration IS the doorway to adventure!  Seek to be open and available without judgement or analysis. Analyze at another time but while learning it is not the time to evaluate what you are learning. There is a season for everything. There’s a time to swim and a time to analyze. Get this. Understand this. Stop trying to manage your learning when it is coming to you.

Be available to all of it. Later, review it. Analyze it. Discover what else is there. Eventually, make it your own. But when in the lesson or in the experience be totally in it. You cannot fit a square peg into a round hole. The new material won’t fit into an old, already filled, container. Don’t put new wine in old wine sacks. You can’t defend what you already know and remain open. That is not being open.

Stop defending, rationalizing, explaining, analyzing, overthinking, resisting, calculating, and just be open. The more you talk the less you listen. Stop defending, excusing, blaming and getting distracted. That’s just refusing to accept! The mind is full, it is occupied. It is busy. Two forms of matter can’t occupy the same space. The Master cannot add any more to it BECAUSE it IS full. Full means FULL.

DEVELOP THE POSITIVE ATTITUDE, MINDSET AND BELIEFS TO TRANSFORM YOURSELF

You can’t add more tea to an already filled cup. Some things take a very short time to learn; minutes at most, but they require an entire lifetime to master! Quick to learn and a lifetime to master is the principle. Mastery comes by successfully applying the information in multiple circumstances over a duration of time. Correct repetition breeds good habits. Some will not understand this. Do you?

Some will not appreciate the process. They want hacks, short cuts, quick fixes. The oak tree takes time to grow. For everything there is a season. Stop looking for the quick fix and fall in love with the beauty of it all. When you stop resisting things can occur faster. What you resist, persists. A trickle can become a raging river. Drop by drop the tub fills. Fall in love with it all. Loving is better than resisting.

Learning to be open and being willing to change can take a long time to master. It might or might not. Everything in its own time. Everything in the right time. Stop pushing rope. You can’t force things. This is so simple it can be difficult to grasp. Stay open, be willing. Many claim ‘we are open’ when they are not. I certainly have! Awareness is the key to change. Being curious means you are open to knowing.

DEVELOP THE POSITIVE ATTITUDE, MINDSET AND BELIEFS TO TRANSFORM YOURSELF

Many times, we fall but we get up and try again. Frequently, we will close the door to change thinking we’ve left it open. A closed door is closed. We each need to be able to notice when we shut down and resist. When we realize this, surrender. Stop resisting. Let go and release. Acknowledge what you noticed. Recognize you had a moment of opening up. Celebrating encourages more! It’s a blessing.

Pat yourself on the back for noticing you were closed. This is the beginning of developing the habit. The alert goes off. Respond to it instead of reacting. Learn to empty your cup and stay open. Then learning becomes so much more available. It becomes quicker, easier and more delightful even while the lessons may seem difficult. Transformation begins. You put new wine into a new wine skin. Get it?

It’s a blessing. ONLY when the student is ready (open, available and willing to change and learn) can the teacher and the lesson show up. Otherwise, you will continue to repeat the old lessons again and again and again until you do. Get it. You are the chooser. You decide what you allow and what you shut out. ‘If it is to be, it is up to me.’ Remember this. Celebrate everything!” Rex Sikes