Changing Our Minds, Changing the World - The Affirmation Spot for Tuesday March 4, 2008

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What Ray's reading right now:

April and I are reading A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose

. This is the latest Oprah's Book Club selection. Oprah and the author Eckhart Tolle are hosting a 10-week online course covering this book began last night Monday March 3. They recommend reading the book before the class. You can register for free at Oprah.com

Big March MP3 Affirmation Sale!

Take your positive thoughts with you wherever you go. During the month of March Download any two mp3 affirmations from The Affirmation Spot.com and get a third mp3 affirmation free. There are no limits! You can download 20 and get 10 free. Simply type the word "blog" into the coupon field at checkout. Thanks for getting your audio affirmations at The Affirmation Spot! Click here to view, hear excerpts, or download affirmations.Today’s featured affirmation is:

“I make my world. My world is what I make of it and I choose to make it a just place to be.”
Download an audio mp3 version of this affirmation right now.

Someone recently asked me what I thought some of the biggest challenges are to changing the planet. I think among the greatest challenges we face in changing the world (at least in the United States) is our federal government and the mainstream media.Motives are always difficult to infer, but results can be analyzed. It has become clear to me is that there are people in powerful places who have a vested interest in keeping all of us divided, disempowered, and dependent upon them. The biggest tranquilizer they use to keep us frozen is fear.Certainly, there are individuals in this world who seek to terrorize others, there is a global warming trend happening, and there is always the threat of a global pandemic. The problem is when "leaders" overstate the threat to keep people in a constant state of panic. As the peoples' power weakens, the leaders' power grows. It's a simple formula and one you should consider before giving your power away in exchange for some promised benefit - health, security, or others.

"Knowing these realities, America must not ignore the threat gathering against us. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof -- the smoking gun -- that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud."
~ President George W. Bush, October 6, 2002 making the case for attacking IraqHowever, our friends in government and the media like to seize on these realities, magnify them immensely, and use them as a mechanism of control. This can only happen when people respond with irrational fear.If we can train ourselves to take the next step and ask the next question; we can return reason, wisdom, and thoughtfulness to the discussion of these issues. We can determine just and sound courses of action."When we've finally gotten serious about global warming, when the impacts are really hitting us and we're in a full worldwide scramble to minimize the damage, we should have war crimes trials for these bastards -- some sort of climate Nuremberg."
~ David Roberts, Grist Magazine Staff Writer describing what ought to happen to people who deny global warming. First, serious conversation about serious change cannot happen in an environment where this kind of incendiary rhetoric is the core level of the discussion. Whatever motives people have when they say these things, the net result is to discourage debate, disempower people to think or act for themselves, and force ill-considered solutions -- that generally require more insitutional control of our lives.No one in human history has ever been more empowered by giving their power and freedoms to government for safekeeping.My own feeling is that, if we are to unite and change the world, we first have to empower ourselves by taking back control of our own thoughts. We must be more unwilling to be manipulated by the constant influx of fear-mongering that streams into our consciousness 24/7. We must be less willing to believe the fear merchants who sell us chicken little along with miracle pills and minivans.This constant diet of fear warps our minds towards isolation and makes it impossible to evaluate real threats. It also creates dissention and dehumanizes other people, groups, and ideas by globalizing the threat represented by a few.We can short-circuit their ability to control us by becoming strong, empowered individuals. This represents a first step towards uniting to change the world. Without that element, we are simply a large group of disempowered dependents clinging to each other in a world we do not believe we have the power to change.The second thing we need is compassion. We have to understand that even after we “get it” not everyone else is going to right away. It is easy to become frustrated at the pace of change and give up. We have to allow others to wake up at their own pace. You cannot force these things and sometimes trying only makes it worse.Here are a few practical ways to stop the fear merchants in their tracks and maintain the integrity of your own thoughts and common sense.

There are at least two sides to every issue - find them research them and come to your own conclusions.
Ask what the speaker has to gain by spreading the fear? What are his or her interests in having you believe there is a dire threat?
Think for yourself. Make it a habit not to just believe something because everyone else believes it. This kind of herd mentality is a form of control and is the arch enemy of your ability to think for yourself.
Take active steps to combat the fear with hope and positivity. Affirmations, meditation, prayer, or just a few quiet moments help you to calm your mind and replace the fear advertising with thoughts you want to think.
Look at the past. Have those spreading the fear been right in the past? What is their track record of credibility?
Know who you are and be who you are. A strong person who is certain of their own mind, their own goals, but willing to let other be the same is the most powerful agent for change there is.

If we are the master of our own thoughts, empowered, and compassionate, we can, indeed, change the world. We can be our own person and not get caught up in “The Matrix” being spun every day by our leaders in government and the media.We the people are and must be the source of power in this world...not government, not media, and certainly not an unaudited commercial scientocracy.Be peaceful Be positive Be prosperous!RayThe Affirmation Spot.com