The world is what you think it is

This year in Drum Circle we’re working our way through the seven Huna principles, as defined by Serge Kahili King in The Urban Shaman. 
 
The principles provide guidance on how to improve your life through healing relationships between mind/body, humans/nature, matter/spirit.  This is done by cultivating love, gratitude, and compassion to overcome negative fear driven emotions such as guilt, envy, and anger.  Thus, releasing the power that fear has over you and freeing you to shape your life with joy.

Put simply, they’re another way of packaging universal truths that remind us how to be healthy and happy.
 
This month, we’re working with the first principle… 
     The world is what you think it is
 
So, is today the oldest you’ve ever been or the first day of the rest of your life?  Do you see the glass as half full or half empty?  Or do you know that it’s refillable?
 
The world is neutral.  It’s only through the filter of our thoughts that it becomes good or bad.   Even quantum mechanics has shown that things can change based on how we choose to measure them. 
 
Perception and consciousness make things true.  Is the world scary or safe?  Abundant or not enough?  Are you healthy and happy?
 
We dream our lives into being using focus, imagination and intent.  So why not dream something fabulous?
 
You might think it’s naive to walk around thinking things are good when so much is wrong with the world, but what’s the alternative?  As I read recently, there’s no point worrying about things you can’t change, and no point worrying about things you can.  When left with the choice to feel good or bad, feeling good seems obvious.
 
Whether you think you can or think you can’t - you’re probably right
 
The placebo effect has shown repeatedly that our mind can heal just as well as medication.  Even in some studies when people knew they were taking a placebo. 
 
Loving and kind thoughts benefit our health.  Expressing gratitude is one of the most psychologically powerful ways to fight feelings of sadness, anger and depression.  Five minutes a day has been shown to increase longevity 5-10%.

Confidence, determination, love, and forgiveness make us well and increase performance.  When you perform an act of kindness, you strengthen your immune system, the other person's immune system, and anyone else who witnesses it.

But thoughts can also make us ill.  Negative fear-based thoughts like worry, anger and resentment deplete our immune systems.  Bad memories aren’t upsetting because of what happened, they’re upsetting because of what you think about what happened.
 
Be mindful of your thoughts, they are shaping your life

In The Four Agreements, Toltec teachings that overlap and complement the Huna principles beautifully, Don Miguel Ruiz explains that we’ve been domesticated.  Raised in our tribes we mindlessly take on their thinking patterns.  Both Huna and Toltec teachings encourage us to review our beliefs and question whether what we think is actually true.  What made you think that way?  When/where did you form that opinion?  Is it still true for you?
 
Thoughts are our choice, with practice we can shift and control them.  When people cut you off in traffic it’s no more personal than the wind changing direction.  Don’t waste energy getting upset, use it as an opportunity to practice.  Learn to laugh it off and your world, at least in your car, will be a happier place.
 
The world is what you think it is - and what you think is your choice.   You decide. 

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