Cleaning up your vibration

Abraham talks a lot about “cleaning up your vibration”.  I’m kind of a literal guy; I hate having to read between the lines.  So, when I hear that phrase, I start thinking about what it means.

Abraham also talks about all of us being vibrational beings.  Well, OK, but I don’t feel myself vibrating.  What the heck are they saying?  What do they mean, in layman’s terms?

This post is my (current) interpretation.

We didn’t have anything convenient for me to pack as lunch today, so I went to work empty-handed.  No worries; I’d just eat out somewhere.  Today being “Whopper Wednesday” at Burger King, I picked up my Whopper Value Meal for $3.25 and headed to one of my favorite spots to have lunch; the parking lot at a local shopping mall.  The edge of the lot is lined with trees, and really quite pleasant.

I’ve been focusing lately on just feeling better about life in general, and as I munched on a few fries as I drove, I reminded myself to try to feel good.  Which got me thinking…

If I was to tell someone that I was feeling good, wouldn’t they expect me to have a reason?  And if they asked, what would I tell them?

Well, guess what?  Feeling better is the reason.

If you put in a little practice, you’ll find that simply deciding to feel better is enough to make yourself feel better.  In the beginning, you may feel it for only the briefest of moments before your habitual negativity kicks in, throwing up thoughts about all of the “reasons” you have no business feeling good.

You know just what I mean, don’t you?  Thoughts about problems at work, money worries, car problems, bad weather, bad traffic, bad breath (are you paying attention?) – whatever.

Chances are very good that you’ve trained your mind to focus on the negatives in your life.  Most people have.  That’s why there is so much conflict and chaos in the world.

But, you think those thoughts because of habit.  Abraham says that a habit is just a thought pattern you’ve repeated enough times that you believe it.

There’s nothing in that statement that has anything to do with having a reason to think certain thoughts.  You are allowed to think whatever the heck you want!  Even if you don’t have a good reason for thinking it!

Have you ever known someone who insists on maintaining a crappy outlook on life, even when they have plenty of “reasons” not to do so?  They might have money, success, fame, family, etc.  But, they still walk around with a frown on their face and a chip on their shoulder.  There’s no other explanation than that they choose to be that way.

Now, if you accept that premise, then you have to accept this one: you can just as easily create a habit of positive thought patterns as negative ones.

So, if that’s the case, what are you waiting for?  What is anybody waiting for?  Answer: I don’t know!

Actually, it’s not so much that people are waiting for anything before they train themselves to think feel-good thoughts.  It’s that the whole idea is foreign to them.  They’re not aware of the concept, let alone their own power to control their thoughts.  But you, on the other hand…

What throws the monkey wrench into the idea of just deciding to think positively instead of negatively – and making it stick -  is the world we choose to surround ourselves with.

Notice I didn’t say “the world that surrounds us”.  This is a key distinction.  You accept regular negative input because you want to.  Period.  You think it’s in your best interest.

For example, you watch the TV news every day.  Sometimes more than once.  You spend social time complaining (and listening to others complain) about…  problems at work, money worries, car problems, bad weather, bad traffic, bad breath, etc.  You read the newspaper, and pore over the obituaries, or the stories about whatever war is going on, or the sex scandals in Washington, or the financial scandals in your state legislature, blah, blah, blah…

ALL of this you do by choice.  NONE of this is required.

So, you tell me whether or not it has influence on how you think.

One quick comment: People do things every day that other people would say are irrational, and even crazy.  If their actions are extreme enough, we put them away in a hospital or prison.  But, actions are the result of thoughts, and those people do those things because they think it’s in their best interest, whether the thought processes involved are conscious or subconscious, rational or irrational.

And that’s the point.  To me, it’s irrational to watch the nightly news if you want to improve your outlook on life.  In computer programming, there is a term called GIGO; Garbage In, Garbage Out.  And, what is it we all have inside our little skulls?  That’s right, class!  It’s a computer…

I apologize for taking such a long route around the block to explain myself (if you’ve read any of my other posts, you may be used to it by now), but I’m wrapping things up.  I promise!

So, what do I think Abraham means by “cleaning up your vibration”?  They mean that you should be working to think thoughts that make you feel better.  Not feel good – you may not be able to feel good if you’re depressed – just feel better than you currently do.

And, when someone wants to know the reason for feeling better?  Tell them that feeling better is the reason.