That reminded me of another friend/mentor I have. Whenever I ask her what she thinks about something, or what she thinks I should do, she always replies, "What do YOU think?" When I ask her what she feels about a situation, she asks back, "What do YOU feel?" Some friends I have...

This used to exasperate me, because I did ask those questions when I was feeling helpless and lost, when I needed the answer to be handed to me because I had no energy left to process my own thoughts. Whatever my circumstances, she always insisted that I ask myself my own questions, and answer them myself. Because what she thought and felt about them didn’t matter. She said they were not important for me. It took me two years to realize what she meant and to respect her for not insisting her own beliefs on me, not even once, not even when I was feeling vulnerable. Ironically, many people want to be her student, but the more they follow her, the more she keeps her distance.

But that is how I came to this conclusion. That we are our own teacher, our own guide, our own creator. We know what’s good for us, we know what we want, and we, without any doubts, create our own destiny, our own goals, our own desires. We learn to listen to our own hearts and follow it. We learn to decide what we want to believe about the things surrounding us, what we believe ourselves to be, and then become that.

What we believe, is. Such is the power of the mind that we can create and recreate and re-recreate our own realities. We can become whatever we dream of becoming, we can do whatever we believe we can do. If we believe. If we think we can. For once the mind starts thinking and holding on to a thought, then there’s no stopping the ‘creation’. After all, energy follows thought. And the thought (mental picture) once fed with energy, starts to take form. After all, like attracts like, and if we hold on to that mental picture long enough, it will materialize by attracting the same mental pictures, circumstances or opportunities towards it. That is how prayers and wishes are ‘answered’. By the strength of our belief, our will, and our mental picture. Not by some savior out there, waiting to save us.

Remember what I said before about the media dictating to us what to desire? Well, I think it’s time we question these desires that we have. See if they are our own, or if we were just drawn into thinking that we need these things, or influenced to becoming this kind of person. I think we should start listening to what our hearts are telling us. And ask ourselves what is important for us, and what is not.

We should also start accepting that we, our own thoughts, are creating the kind of life we have. Become responsible of our own thoughts, our own creations.  It’s not the government, it’s not our neighbors, it’s not our spouse or our in-laws, not our boss, and god forbid, not God who’s to blame. It is the thoughts we create, and along with it, our beliefs. After all, what we believe, is.

When we start believing who we are (or want to become), we start acting as if we already are. Acting ‘as if’ we are already what we want to become is an old magic trick in getting what we want. We fool our subconscious mind into believing that we are already that, and make it attract circumstances that will fulfill our desire or goal.

I’m used to friends asking me what I think about them, and asking me for advice. And I tell you, it’s tempting to just tell them what to do especially when I know what’s best and when I can see what’s wrong in a situation. But how can I, with my non-omniscient way of seeing things, know what’s really best for everyone? I guess, it’s the same tempting feeling you get when you want advice from someone. All you really want is to be told what to do so you don’t have to go through the thinking/feeling process. It’s so easy to dictate your own beliefs to someone, just as it’s easy to adapt other’s beliefs as your own without questioning them.

So what am I getting at here? We create our own beliefs. We create our own reality. We do this with our thoughts. We choose what to think, because what we think takes form, eventually. What we believe, becomes, and is.

Life is very simple. It only becomes complicated when it’s filled with unnecessary things, thoughts, desires, ideas (all found or coming from outside us). The trick is to get rid of all these, and look at what’s left. When all these disappear, then we're left with nothing but the voice of our own heart.  That’s what we should listen to.  That’s our own personal guide.  That's where our true beliefs reside.