Gaia: Living in Language - Language of Success

Re: Labels

http://grayraven.gaia.com — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 18:14:29 GMT

Labels and their uses are what we humans do - we try to make sense of the world and classify it. The trouble is that life is a dynamic flux and not a static end product. Hence when we lable something we tend to create static end products that are understood by each person who encounters the label - individually. We all have our own semantic reaction to a label.

'Life, the Universe and everything' is the territory and as we explore it we make maps. We are map makers and map users. Labels are one example of a simple and short sign posts we place on our maps.

Re: Labels

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 22:56:09 GMT

Thank you both for your comments. I'm so glad it captured an audience and hadn't been rehashed too many times without me. I honestly hadn't questioned my use of labels before, or seen how ineffective and even harmful they could be toward any forward movement, whatever the issue.

Katin I love those two self checks you give at the end of your post. I wish I could insert those questions into the minds of everyone right now, just once, and see how the world would change. I've certainly more to observe myself and within myself.

Re: Labels

http://katin.gaia.com — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 23:21:53 GMT

Hey Zoe - Great post, and thanks - this is indeed a great spot for it! Words ascribing attributes - such as those about Jefferson in your quote - can be useful, as their context is usually pretty universal, i.e., everyone 'knows' what adjectives like "brave", "honest", "genius", etc. mean. But when you try to use a single word - a label like liberal, conservative, democrat, republican, etc. - to represent a set of bundled qualities, beliefs, or opinions of a person - or worse yet, the entire character and intent of a person - then you've got *massive* deletion of information going on. Line up 50 "democrats" and I think you'll find none of them agree with the entire democratic platform, in fact, I'll bet you'll find they agree with each other on fewer than 50% of the issues. Same for any 'label' group. 50 people labeled as 'democrats' are going to be as diverse and different in their values, pursuits, experience, and thoughts as 50 people labeled 'Doger fans'. We're a diverse set of humans, each with a unique crucible of experience and knowledge. The challenges and systems we are dealing with are complex and very large. Our personal needs and goals are different. Our diversity and different perspectives are an asset and strength, when properly applied and coordinated. Broad labels that attempt such large representation of a person or group of people are so massively simplified and so extremely inaccurate that they are actually useless, linguistically. Emotionally, however, as you've experienced, they are quite useful and affecting. They "rally teams" and instantly create a conflict model of "us vs. them". And each person is rallied to the core, since each person is interpreting the word as it means the most to them. Hmmm. Clarity, accuracy and actual communication between folks seem to be lacking here. Reality check, anyone? Check two things: (1) study up on nominalizations and extreme generalizations (stereotypes in some lingos), and see how they function linguistically and in the human brain interpreting them (i.e., notice that each human brain simply assigns its own meaning to the word, and there is no guidepost definition to help the brain choose otherwise), and (2) simply observe the effects that using these kinds of words have on people, groups, and outcomes. What do they produce in the end? Is that what you want to produce in your life, neighborhood, and your country? Thanks much for posting. This was a great topic to write about for me. :) Namaste, --Katin

Re: Labels

http://StuartPeterson.gaia.com — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 21:20:42 GMT

Zoe,

An interesting topic that is so relevant for our times. When ones labels something, it is an attempt to classify it, to identify our relationship to and with it, and many other things. So, why the effort spent on reducing and classifying things into concepts, knowing that at the most basic levels, all things are the same and integrally connected? To reduce the aliveness of any manifestation of creation into a concept is already a form of violence. And the term that you and others enjoy so much, more than just a saying, an aspiration to try and live by. and so...

~Namaste~

Love and Light

Labels

Sun, 09 Jul 2006 18:06:53 GMT

I think this applies here. It's a crosspost from a blog I threw together this morning. I'm hoping I'll get a little more feedback than I usually would if I post it on a fitting pod or two. I plan to follow up in a slightly different direction, but still following the "labels" theme.

from my blog of this a.m.

I'm struggling with the use of labels. Particularly, since joining this site, I've become sensitive to advertising with which political party/candidates I've aligned (yet at the same time making it obvious). I run into similar problems when it comes to the many philosophies I've been studying, my religious/spiritual preference, etc. I jaunt around town with a canvas bag with a few buttons that read things like "proud Minnesota liberal," "Wellstone," etc. In doing so, I know that right off the bat there are going to be people who look at me and tisk and think I'm a fool, a lefty (and I am a lefty, but that's not the point), and I will have done nothing for these folks other than to irritate them. I'm wondering if perhaps I ought to stick to some of my other buttons (literally and figuratively). My "I read banned books," or "VOTE," or "Namaste," or "Go green" buttons. Those give you something to think about without throwing up walls of separation that come with the labels. Am I helping or harming the cause when I adhere another DFL bumper sticker to my car? Isn't it almost like picking a fight? "I'm right, you're an idiot, and I'm going to advertise that you're an idiot." That may be a little extreme, but I'm really questioning how I identify and align myself and why. We all like to belong and identify with a group. It's just human nature (Catholic, Republican, Buddhist, existentialist), and certainly it's not all bad...but how much of it is?

Ok, poorly written as that was, you get my point. So here's my conflict. I can't sit on my hands and represent nothing that has a name. Also, those Wellstone stickers get my blood pumping EVERY time. They always get a clenched fist, in celebration, and a "damn right!" from me as I cruise or bike down the road. When I read the buttons, stickers, and shirts I agree with, I'm inspired to DO MORE NOW. I tell people, "way to advertise, love the cap," etc. When I come accross (most) those statements with which I disagree, assuming dialogue is not involved, I at least feel good that these people have taken some action are at least in some way involved (save for the ribbons splashed accross the nation). I like ALL activists (um...okay again, except the ultra right wing religious zealots (Pat Robertson comes to mind) and those fellows who were protesting the funerals of GI's as they thought it was punishment from God for being homosexuals...good freeking grief).

I think I'm leaning toward removing the DFL button (except during election seasons) in favor of a button about our loss of civil liberties (this DOES NOT have to mean I'm DFL) or my Go Green/Simplilfy, etc., buttons. My fave button right now - Namaste. Never heard of the word until just recently. Now it pretty well sums things up for me.

-I know my writing has been sloppy, my apologies.

Below is an excerpt taken from the Unitarian Universalist website UUworld.org. It is the summing up of a sermon titled "Was Thomas Jefferson really one of us?" that I found to be a great read. It is in regard to this topic (labeling) and applies accross the board to labeling ourselves and others. If you have a minute, perhaps you will enjoy the read as well. Food for thought.

-So many labels can be pinned onto Jefferson: hero, statesman, genius; slaveowner, racist, sinner; enlightened, tradition-bound. To call him by any single one of these is to leave out crucial parts of the story. To call him a Unitarian or a Universalist doesn't really give us a true handle on what he believed-which goes for all of the other Founding Fathers and celebrities on the lists of Famous UUs, regardless of whether they were official UUs or UUs by association or "UUs-at-heart."

The words "Unitarian" and "Universalist" are no more adequate than "Asian" and "American" when it comes to describing you, me, each other, or our ancestors. At best, the words are hints; they are not definitions. To use them carelessly-to be content with superficial assumptions and summary categorizations-cheats us of both the heartening and heartrending complexities of our truths.

From a sermon delivered at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashville, Tennessee

Re: Steps toward manifesting abundance daily

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 04:12:40 GMT

This was very beneficial to me as well. I printed it out just yesterday, and it will be one of those reminders I visit often. Thank you for the post. Very Real.

Re: Steps toward manifesting abundance daily

Mon, 19 Jun 2006 12:53:22 GMT

Thank you, Freewil, for sharing such a powerful reminder! To add to it...

Yesterday, I was listening to a Wayne Dyer interview, and he quoted Patanjali who said, "By passionately believing in what doesn't exist, we create it. And that which we call the non-existent, has just not been sufficiently desired."

Indeed, may steadily hold our focus until we manifest the deepest desires of our heart.

Transcending language through self-identification with trans...

http://cloudstarchaser.gaia.com — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 22:06:28 GMT

As far as language of success goes, one thing I've found handy is that sometimes when I feel defeated or like I can't accomplish something, I use language to self-identify myself with my language's transcendent word or concept and demolish my limiting beliefs. This is a process I call "Isolara."

So for example since I'm from America the transcendant word in English is usually God so to spark myself up I will isolarate and identify myself with God by going through good exercises such as saying a mantra like this:

I am God and God is me

I am Alpha and Omega, The First and The Last, The Beginning and The End

I am all that ever was and all that ever will be.

When you alter your mind to a state of belief that you are God, you have effectively transcended the entire language and language can no longer imprison you, make you feel guilt, or have a limiting effect your behavior.

Using Isolara of course depends on your culture and your personal preferences. Like it can also work when you become The Buddha or even just Eternity or The Universe depending on what word you like to use.

Plus it's great for ending arguments because once you've declared you are God you've effectively cancelled out any hope of linguistic resolutionby declaring yourself above all words.Like if people go, "Who do you think you are, God?" just go, "Yes," and there's not really much they can say! Haha it's just for fun though.

But this is a good tool to rise above language since often we let the language we think in limit us. So the next time you find yourself faced with limiting beliefs like "Oh this is too hard" or "Oh I can't do this because of blah blah blah" just concentrate on the fact that you are God and you will find a way to do it.

Re: Steps toward manifesting abundance daily

http://apocalypse-is-always-now.gaia.com — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 19:41:16 GMT

What a helpful post! It becomes easy to recognize the power of the mind for creation when we realize that at a sub-atomic level all matter is made up of the same base materials, energy and vacuum. I like to think of the positive thought process as the Energy and the negative as the vacuum.

Steps toward manifesting abundance daily

http://freewil.gaia.com — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 01:30:33 GMT

What is the most important factor in Conscious Creation?

The concept of Conscious Creation is now a well-accepted buzzword in
a variety of metaphysical circles; however, despite the
proliferation of this material, it seems many are still unable to
achieve the success they would like to use these principles. Why is
this so, and is there a missing component that is largely being
overlooked? What is the most important factor in Conscious Creation?

Answer:

The main missing ingredient is focus and consistency of effort. In
your modern lives, you are constantly surrounded by many, many
choices. Choices about what to eat, where to eat, what to wear, how
to wear it, different career and job opportunities, many, many
different ways of expressing yourselves and filling your lives than
in earlier periods of human history. Your abundance of choice leads
many of you to be distracted by other possibilities, therefore
lessening the amount of focussed energy being placed on the things
that you say that you want. This is one of the reasons. Another
reason is that for the most part, you simply allow life to happen to
you. You turn on your radios and TV's, you listen to the news, you
react to it in one way or another and you go about your day. Very
few of you start your day with any other purpose in mind than 'go to
work', 'take children to school', 'pick up laundry', 'go
running', 'pay my bills'. In addition to these general 'to do' lists
that you have, you simply go about your day allowing life and the
day to happen to you. However, each part of your life is a result of
thought. If you think you have a hectic, unstable, disorganised
life - take a look at your thoughts.

The most important aspect of learning to manifest is focus. What many
do who first learn of their inherent ability to attract to themselves
what they are wanting through thought, is to instantly think of the
biggest, best, largest, most courageous dream or thing they could
imagine, they instantly say " I want a large sum of money" or "I want
to become a movie star" or "I want that luxurious home in the
mountains". For those of you who are unaccustomed to focussing your
thoughts, these items will present great challenges. It is not that
they are difficult, for it takes exactly the same amount of focus and
decision to manifest a thimble as it does a castle. The difference in
the manifesting of the thimble and the castle, are the beliefs you
have about having and owning such things. So many of you are burdened
with feelings of lack of self worth, the conflicts that arise out of
manifesting your largest dreams, sabotage the manifestation of them
in the initial stages. When you think of such grand things, such
grand dreams, most of you immediately begin an inner dialogue in
which you tell yourself of all the reasons why you may not have the
thing you have dreamt of. You cite examples, you remember all the
other 'failures' from the past, the 'failures' of friends and
perhaps even try to convince yourself that the higher path, or the
spiritual path, is to go without and to learn how to be satisfied
with what you have. Although we would agree that being satisfied
with where you are is a beneficial quality to develop, but
satisfaction is not the same as stagnation!

It is not that we are offering to you that you should not think big,
that is the last idea we would want you to gain from our answer.
However, what we are saying is, you need to practice deliberate
creation, and we suggest that you start this with the creation of
your day. As we have already said, for the most part, you simply
allow your day to happen to you. In order to prepare yourself for
creating your life's dream, start with creating a day, and do it
consciously. For example, as you awaken each morning you can say to
yourself "today I wish to learn more about what I love and more
about what excites me" or "today I wish to discover more of my
talents". The list of possibilities is endless. Note this, the
MOMENT that you make this statement; you have launched a new
creation. As you say these words and INTEND to experience 'more of
what you love', your soul then sets about brining you those
opportunities. As you shift your focus on life away from being
reactive beings, in other words, simply responding to
what occurs in a day, and you become a creative being, setting forth
your intention for the day, you ability and confidence increases.

You may want to increase abundance in your life, as you make the
statement as you awaken "today I wish to experience more abundance",
your perspective will begin to shift. As it shifts, you will first
see the abundance that has always been there, as this happens, your
focus shifts onto the positive side of having, instead of being
focused on lack. As your focus shifts on having, you invite more
abundance to come into your life, you start manifesting new things.
The first stage of all manifesting is to shift your perspective so
that you can see that the thing you want is already there, perhaps
in a different form, but the essence already exists. For example,
for many of you, money represents freedom. As you shift your focus,
you will see more aspects of the freedom already present in your
life. You will begin to see other riches, abundance in the form of
love, friendship and other gifts.

Successful manifesting takes two ingredients, focus and self worth.
It is also important to remember that in your world of opposites,
each subject has two sides, giving each thing you want to manifest a
lack side. In other words, there is money, and the lack of it, there
is success and failure, there is health and there is a lack of
health. What we observe, is that the majority of you are focused a
great deal of your time upon the lack side of every important
subject in your life. You remember the criticism of one, but you
forget the praise of one hundred. We give you this promise, if you
can focus on what you want, and hold that focus intensely over a
period of 21 days, reviewing and updating you vision each 7 days,
you will be well on your way to creating what you want, it will be
yours! Remember, the key is to hold your focus!

What stops you from holding this focus are a couple of things.
Firstly, there is the fear of disappointment, the thought that
perhaps holding all this desire and focus may just simply lead to a
greater sense of disappointment than before. When this comes up,
most simply stop wanting the thing they say that they want to have.
The other great saboteur of conscious creation is allowing your mind
to wander off into all the 'logical' reasons why you can't have what
you want. You start saying to yourself: I am too old, too fat, too
uneducated, too young, not talented enough etc, etc. You then begin
to shift your focus onto the not having.

For those of you who have been aware of the universal laws of
creation, having a deeper sense that you are creator, your greatest
challenge is to live this knowledge fully. The belief that you create
your own reality is relatively new to this generation; therefore, it
has yet to gain wider acceptance. Until the population as a whole
gains this understanding, those of you who are aware of your ability
to manifest, are constantly challenged by the popular view that you
are a victim of random events and that life, like the universe, in
unpredictable and has a much greater power than you do. So many of
you are still believing that the Universe can exert itself against
you, even believing that misfortune and 'bad luck' is perhaps
a 'karmic debt' that needs to be paid off as recompense for some
nefarious deed in the distant past of a past life. It is not that
that you are not creating consciously, for indeed you are. So many
of you habitually choose to deny yourself, deny your divinity and to
deny your ability. This is conscious, it is a choice. When you do
not get what you want, you often go to great lengths to justify why
you cannot have the things that you want. Even those who love you
will support you in these beliefs concerning what you can and cannot
have. They will tell you that there is a lot of 'competition' or
that the 'market' is slow, or that your chosen path is
always 'difficult' and a 'challenge'. What you then consciously
choose to do is to agree with them.

It is not so that you are not consciously creating, much of your
self-deprecation and diminution is done regularly and consciously. Do
you dare to be different? Be not afraid of your light, of your
greatness, you are a child of God, you can create what you want!

Wishing all joyous creation;;;freewil

Re: Positive affirmations?

http://StuartPeterson.gaia.com — Sun, 07 May 2006 18:46:32 GMT

The highest level of (insert your favorite descriptor of behaviour here) you can expect from anyone else is the lowest level you personally manifest. Many "humans" are truly social creatures and subject to this because of our social addiction. The experience of entering a room where a conversation is in progress, and, observing that conversation evolve, or, devolve based on individual and collective desires, experiences, and relations never ceases to amaze this spirit. And from a personal standpoint, this spirit has reflected back upon that which manifested and had the pleasure (or shame / pain) of being able to relate it back to some action taken (or not) personally. That words have power to enable and create is being relearned by all. "We" certainally would not have been to our orbiting relatives if all the participants collectively agreed that it was not only impossible, but a waste of time and resources to even attempt. And why are "We" still loitering about on our Mother, instead of moving on? A lot of "negative" language being hurled about these days, surely not coincidental that billions world wide are spent on fear and hatred rather than on exploring our positive potential.

May we all: be blessed in all things; have our spiritual, mental, and physical wounds healed; know everlasting peace; experience joy in each moment; and join together in the warmth of Creations love.

Re: Positive affirmations?

http://apocalypse-is-always-now.gaia.com — Wed, 03 May 2006 18:40:55 GMT

I think we are all fakers, nobody is born a Yogi or a Carpenter or a baseball player. We begin by telling ourselves that we are able to do something, we try it and most likely fail. If our affirmations are weak then perhaps this is where we give up, but if we can still say "I can do this" then perhaps we persevere. At first our skill is not so good, we can do the thing, just not very well. We feel sometimes that we are in over our heads, that maybe this wasn't the best use of our time, but we continue to tell ourselves "I can do this". Our skill improves, along with our understanding of the undertaking, and soon we start feeling comfortable calling ourselves 'surfer' or 'welder' or whatever. Soon our skill matches the idea we had when we first said "I can do this" and we have arrived, but it took the first courageous "I can do this" and the willingness to fake it until we did.

Re: Positive affirmations?

http://katin.gaia.com — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 14:55:46 GMT

Yes, I think defining what postive affirmations are would be a fruitful path here. To me, making a statement that obviously contradicts reality, especially when you don't believe it, doesn't really do you much good. I think this is the concept Maile was referring to in her post when she said, "Merely stating the opposite to yourself will have little effect on these thoughts." If you are not good at something, merely repeating to yourself that you are good at it isn't going to make you good at it. And I hear Diversity echoing that: especially where there is skill involved, simply telling yourself you have the skill doesn't generate it on the fly. If I have never practiced karate, I can tell myself all day that I'm a kung-fu master, but when I step into that ring with a trained karate expert, it'll be obvious that I don't have the skills (even if I do have the spirit and the will and perhaps even the belief). And so I don't think postive affirmations have to do with that kind of 'false confidence' or 'fake presentation'. Now, Grace posted that great connected-chain concept: belief determines perception perception determines thought thought determines action action determines manifestations of reality And this is nicely clarifying for this conversation, I believe, because it allows us to ask, "which link(s) in that chain do positive affirmations affect?" It may be even more helpful to side-step the term "postive affirmations', which can have a charge to it from previous books, methods, popular press abuse, etc., and just say that what we are talking about here is the self-talk language you use: what do you say to yourself regarding what you are about to do? How does what you tell yourself affect your perceptions and your confidence? I think that self-talk reveals your beliefs. The quote that comes to mind is, "the man that believes he can and the man that believes he can't are both right." (attrib. to Mark Twain?) Certainly, simple confidence doesn't create skill. But performing skill without confidence will almost always bring failure. Thus, stepping up to the task with self-talk like, "I'm going to blow this. I'm not good enough to do this. I can't do this right. This isn't going to work," will most certainly affect the outcome. Your body and mind will perform in alignment to that belief. Changing your self-talk to something like "this may be possible. I might be able to do this. This could work out," shifts dramatically the kinds of strategies and resources you'll employ while engaged in the task. Heck, it'll dramatically affect your level of engagement in the task. [back to Maile's post] I think of the next level of self-talk - things like, "I'm going to make this work. I will be successful here. I'm going to experience the joy of accomplishing this," are really more commitments to yourself to stay in the game when things get tough, to go the extra mile again and again, to stay with it *until* it works, to continue gaining resources and refining strategies until you are successful. Of course, you can't activate those commitments in yourself if you still hold the belief that "I can't do this," so that intermediate step of making it possible that 'maybe you can do it' is critical. So there are definately different levels and kinds of positive self-talk: some open perceptions, some are commitments, some are merely negative-pattern interrupters.

Re: Positive affrimations?

http://lovesgrace.gaia.com — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 07:11:17 GMT

The power of affirmations is astounding. I have experienced one completely mind-blowing miracle following days of applying myself deeply in an intentional affirmation statement. Using language to create reality (seemingly backwards) is a lot of fun. Thought forms have a lot of power. Clearly & Intentionally spoken & written thoughts put into words are super-powers. It's bedtime, but I'll post again soon when I have time. I'm certain that defining what I mean by positive affirmations will make it easier with our pod to connect with what I'm asserting. Mindfully Wielding the Sword of the Present Tense, Maile PS let's see how does it go again...? this is how someone shed a little light on the related processes.... just one way of framing things that seems to help a lot of people: belief determines perception perception determines thought thought determines action action determines manifestations of reality It's really empowering and freeing when we begin to see our own beliefs as a witness. When we are unaware of our beliefs and thoughts, we are at a bit greater risk to identify directly with them and get a bit muddled, therefore, losing some of our un-stopable creative force.

Re: Positive affrimations?¿snoitamriffa evitisoP

http://hunterseekerfinder.gaia.com — Sun, 09 Apr 2006 07:09:28 GMT

Umm.. mind if I get real for a moment? First of all, what an affrimation?

You guys don't have children, do you? Were you two ever children yourselves?
Have you never seen kids do what they don't know their not supposed to be able to do?
They don't say to themselves; "I think I can, I think I can," they just do it.

I don't subscribe to the "I think I can" way of doing things either. If I can't do a thing its because I haven't learned to do it yet. Or just don't want to say... learn to knit.

Positive affirmations may work in an illusionary "fake it till you make it" way for awhile, but if you don't actually go do the thing while your chanting this stuff at yourself, you won't get it.

Other than that, corporations are using positive affirmations taught to managers for use on employees to yield more productivity and positive outlook from those employees. It's main function is to incite a positive emotional response in the employee. In a perfect world.

My children are more active, and alert because of it, so am I, and so are you. Our parents, at least the ones who didn't Dr Spock, used positive affirmations on us every day in healthy ways. (or not) And what results do you see in your lives from external affirmation? Well you don't appear to be insane, at least not by the words you've written.

I have a second degree blackbelt in Ken Do. When I am at my best during practice or matchups, language based thought is not even present, and thinking I can is not an option.

I can't speak to the mental health angle so I won't, but ask yourself this: If someone you know is down, or a little crazy, do you empathize and use realistic affirmations to assure them naturally? Or because a book said to do so?

Patrick.

Re: Positive affrimations?

http://simplicity-seeker.gaia.com — Thu, 23 Mar 2006 01:28:07 GMT

Darn, i guess I can't edit my previous post. I meant "on their own" not "on there own". Grr...

Please don't think less of me for this or any other slips ;)

Re: Positive affrimations?

http://simplicity-seeker.gaia.com — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 19:34:52 GMT

On there own, I'd say no. Under hypnosis, maybe.

The problem is that that there has to be more to it than just the words in most cases. You have to convince your subconscious to believe these new ideas, ideas that go against very deeply held beliefs that you've/it's accumulated over many years.

I've found a technique that works better, from the field of cognitive-behavioral therapy.

Say, for example, you are a person with social anxiety disorder. Negative thoughts flood your mind whenever you leave the house: those people are all staring at me, everyone knows i'm feeling anxious, everyone think's i'm stupid because i'm not participating in the discussion, etc. Merely stating the opposite to yourself will have little effect on these thoughts. They're well-established habits that aren't going to change just because you say so.

However, you can ease your way into changing your thoughts. You don't really believe the affirmation "people like me whether or not I participate in the discussion" so repeating it to yourself will do little good. But you do believe the same statement with "maybe" prepended to it. Anything's possible, right? Sounds silly, but it works well.

Positive affrimations?

http://katin.gaia.com — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 14:01:43 GMT

Do you believe positive affirmations work? How have they worked or not worked for you?