I recently came across the concept of Subjective Reality. It is a belief system which claims that there is only one consciousness. You are that singular consciousness, and everything and everyone in your reality is a projection of your thoughts.

None of the other people you encounter are conscious in a way that is separate from you. Nobody else can have intentions. The only intentions are yours.  You are the only thinker in this universe.

There is only one source of intentions in your universe – YOU.  The walking, talking bodies that you observe in your reality all exist inside your consciousness.  In simpler words, the concept of Subjective Reality claims the life is just another type of dream. A dream that seems solid because you believe (intend) it is.

When understanding the concept of Subjective Reality it is important to correctly define ‘You’. You are not just your physical body. You are the single consciousness in which this entire reality takes place.

If you were having a dream, are you the physical manifestation of yourself that you see in the dream? No, that’s just your dream avatar.  You are the dreamer.  The entire dream occurs within your consciousness.  All dream characters are projections of your dream thoughts, including your avatar. You can even switch avatars in your dream by possessing another character. In your dream you can do anything you believe you can.

Physical reality works the same way.  This is a denser universe, and hence changes occur a bit more gradually here.  But reality still conforms to your thoughts just like a sleeping dream.  The idea that other people have intentions is an illusion because other people are just projections.  Of course, if you strongly believe other people have intentions, then that’s the dream you’ll create for yourself. But ultimately it’s still an illusion.

We all have goals in life. We want to be rich, we want to be successful, we want to be famous, we want, we want and we want some more. There are many ways to get what we want. Some people inherit their money, some get lucky and win the lottery and some work hard to earn every penny. At the end of the day the heiresses, the lottery winners and the hard workers, have all achieved their goal of being rich. As for being famous, you can be famous for a number of things, some good and some bad.

Life is not about being rich or being famous, life is about the things you do to become rich or famous. Life is about how you stay rich and/or famous. When you are standing at the peak of the mountain, it’s not about standing at the peak, it’s about the climb. The steps we take to get what we want are what matter. Because a goal is something you achieve at one particular point in your life but the things you do to achieve that goal, those are things that make up your everyday life.

If all you really wanted was to get to the peak, you could have your self flown up, but the point is to make the journey. The joy is in the hard work. The things you are going to remember are the thing that happened on the way. The stress, the relief when you round a dangerous bend, the fortitude it took to keep going even when all you wanted to do was lay down and go to sleep.

There will always be obstacles in your way. How you faced those obstacles, how you overcame them, those are the stories that make up a life. To quote Miley Cyrus, ‘It’s not about how fast I get there; it’s not about what’s waiting on the other side. It’s the climb.’

A lot of people think black cats are unlucky. There is a popular belief that says a rabbit’s foot brings good luck. You should never open an umbrella inside the house and a three leaf clover is a sign a good fortune. I couldn’t help but wonder, why a rabbit’s foot? Why not a rabbit’s tail? Or ear? Why not a mongoose’s foot? Why is it ok to wear a raincoat inside the house but it’s not okay to open an umbrella?

Is there any truth to these beliefs? If yes, what gave these objects their power? How come a rabbit’s foot is lucky, but a mongoose’s foot is just a foot? What makes these objects special? Do they have some intrinsic power? Or is it that they are special because we believe they are. Do black cats really bring bad luck? Or is that bad things sometimes just happen and we blame them on the cat?

We associate feelings to everything in the world around us. We have convinced ourselves that cockroaches are disgusting. The scientific fact is that they are the cleanest insect alive. We associate fear and disgust with a cockroach. The cockroach itself is just a cockroach. Just like a foot is just a foot, we are the ones who believe it is lucky.

If holding on to a rabbit’s foot gives a person peace of mind, if it makes them feel a little more confident, does it matter if their belief is false? Is there something wrong with associating good feelings to an object to make your self feel better? Is it really such a bad thing to believe in something ridiculous if it eases your anxiety? No it isn’t. There is no harm in having beliefs, just remember that life is only as good, or bad as you think it is.

I was watching the news yesterday and saw a piece about the spread of Swine flu in India. There is mass panic in the country; it was the same situation in Mexico as well. This got me thinking about fear. Why does the virus always cause panic and worry wherever it surfaces. What are we so afraid of?

Are we afraid of death? At least three people in any city of the world die everyday, in road accidents. Rape and murder claim more lives than we can count. Still, we aren’t afraid of the road. We aren’t afraid of the hundreds of people we cross in the street.

Are we afraid of the flu? We know what causes the disease. The symptoms are clearly defined. If caught early on it can be cured. In a few months time there will even be a vaccine. Then there are diseases like cancer. We don’t know what causes it, the symptoms are varied and erratic and we may never find a cure to cancer. When we step out of our doors, we don’t even think about the fact that when we come home we may have cancer, or HIV or a hundred other dangerous diseases. So we’re not afraid of the flu, the flu is nothing new. We’re afraid because there is nothing we can do to fight it.

We can however, have faith. Faith in the fact that even as we read these words, smarter and sharper minds than ours are getting closer and closer to finding a cure. There is no point in panicking. There is no point making a hue-cry, because sometimes our fear is only a response to feeling helpless.

A few years ago, I read a book about a boy who was given a worry stone. He had had some tragedy in his life, and he was frightened of the changes swirling about him. Whenever he felt worried, he was told to rub this worry stone. Now that I’m hopefully a little wiser, I wonder about the wisdom of a worry stone. It was supposed to alleviate his stress, but wouldn’t accidentally touching that stone in his pocket, which signifies worry and fear, make him feel even more worried and fearful? It seems reasonable to me, since it’s the embodiment of all those negative emotions.

I think people should rethink the worry stone; it should be thought of as a comfort stone instead. Why not imbue this symbolic stone with such positive energy as hope, faith, peace, love, believe, or whatever other positive aspect you need. Rub your comfort stone to remind yourself to hope and to believe that good things are going to happen to you. Your “worry stone,” now a “comfort stone,” will be a constant reminder that your dreams can come true, and you can live a very peaceful and satisfying life.

Keep your comfort stone nearby – be it in your pocket, purse, desk drawer, or wherever you can easily reach for it. When you need some positive affirmations throughout your day, touch it and think good thoughts – positive and peaceful thoughts. Soon you’ll train yourself to automatically feel positive and peaceful, even during difficult times.

Turn your worry stone into a comfort stone; turn your life into a positive and peaceful direction by flipping negatives into positives!

The wind leaves a mark on the rocks that it passes over. It gives them shape and form. A tire leaves tracks on the ground it rolls over. The passing sun makes an impression on the world that passes below it. It marks the earth with both heat and shade. The people we meet shape us like the wind; they leave impressions and they mark us with both their love and their hate.

People leave footprints on our hearts. We remember the first time we were hugged, the first time we were scolded, the first time we fell in love and the first time we fought; each memory a different print left by a different person. These memories are what define who we are. They are the lens through which we see the world. It is the memory of getting burnt that reminds us to stay away from fire.

If any of these experiences were to change, we would not be the people we are today. If we had been scolded instead of hugged, if we had been rewarded instead of punished on any occasion; the lessons we took away from that moment would have been very different. Consequently we would be very different.

Some of these prints are seared into us. Feelings we will never forget. Others are like footprints in the sand. The tides of time wash them away. It is important to hold on to these memories, and more importantly, the feelings associated with these memories. It is only when we forget our childhood experiences that we truly become old.

The secret to eternal youth is not in the discovery of some obscure fountain. Eternal youth lies in the heart that has not lost the prints of its childhood feet.

Achieving goals takes perseverance. While some people may think all they have to do is click their heels and say “I believe” to get what they want in life, they’re in for a rude awakening. It takes more than just airy fairy thinking. There’s a lot of hard mental work involved in achieving your goals. You will face challenges along the way – not only challenges from situations and other people, but challenges from yourself.

Yes, sometimes we are our own worst enemy. We buy into the quick fix notions that if we just visualize what we want in a positive way, and then put it out into the universe, that our work is done. Not so. This isn’t a one way street. The universe isn’t a big vending machine in the sky; we have a responsibility to do our part. We must concentrate on what we want and focus on achieving our goals several times a day.

Achieving goals takes a lot of perseverance, which can be difficult to sustain. Keep your eyes on the prize, as they say, and that means not letting up. Keep believing, keep dreaming, keep positively affirming that your goals and desires are manifesting themselves. Persevere through the biggest challenge: negative thinking. You’ve probably lived a lifetime with the pattern of worry and negative thinking. You need to change that; when the least little negative thought crops into your mind, immediately stop and change it to positive thinking. Soon, with much perseverance, you’ll be able to change your negativity and doubt into positive thinking and the manifestation your goals. Work through the challenges your mind throws at you, in order to realize your dreams. Achieving goals takes perseverance. You can do it!