There is a simple joy in being a child.  Each day brings with it so many opportunities to learn new things and see the world from a new perspective.  The relative innocence that most children have is a gift in and of itself as it allows them to view individual situations and interactions with little to no preconceived notion of how it will play out in the end.  They trust that the world they are placed in will benefit them and be in their highest good.  I’m not saying that being a kid is all sunshine and rainbows, it is hard growing up.  But as we all look back on the troubles of our youth, it is much easier to see now how those challenges helped us to grow and learn.

It is unfortunate though, how one of the quickest things we learn is how to disbelieve.  We are taught that much of what we trust or believe is true is all just a figment of our imagination.  This education happens in the realms of our dreams, our hopes, our realities and our emotions.  We are told while we are little that it is okay to dream and play, but only until its time to grow up.  We are encouraged to hope for the stars and are told that we can be anything we want, but then we are educated into little boxes that various tests and social pressures place on us.  Dream the impossible, grasp for your deepest imagination, believe in the power of magic and miracles; but only until you’re 10.  Then you need to start working on being a productive member of society.

Nearly all of us have been through this and if you haven’t, please share with us what it feels like to not lose your dreams and beliefs as you grew up.  Throughout the ups and downs of our youth and adolescence, we are shown by society what is means to be successful.  We are shown our place in the machine and how we can best serve our purpose within the collective whole.  Sure, there are those that are set up as examples of free thinkers and creative geniuses, but by setting them up on pedestals their actions and behaviors are removed from those of the general populous.  Here, see what this great man did by thinking outside the box?  Don’t you wish you could be like him?  Well, you can!  Just follow these steps and you too can be a free thinker!*

*free thinking may not be allowed in your area.  sorry, get back to work.

There is a flaw even in this train of thought though.  I don’t think anyone can deny the fact that there is an overwhelming amount of influence coming at us on a daily basis.  If you have been listening to my moments at all here, you will have heard me talk about the need to filter the input and glean only that which resonates with you.  The same applies in this kind of situation too.  Despite all the influence and negative pressure, we are still responsible for our choices and our thoughts.  Believe it or not, we get to choose what we believe in and what happens in our heads.  The problem is, many of us have forgotten how to believe.

For quite some time now, I have been struggling with this myself.  I have been presented with a myriad of things that are outside of my current realm of understanding and belief.  I could see them manifesting around me and yet I found it nearly impossible to believe that they could exist.  I have been challenging myself to grasp new things ranging from the possibilities of human decency with each other to the powers of the mind to the reality of other planes of existence.  Regardless of how many times I was presented with the amazing kindness of others, I was skeptical of their motives.  When I found myself tapping into the deep reaches of what was in my mind, I doubted that the messages were real.  When I began to see, hear and even feel the presence of other forms of energy and life, I thought at times that I was losing my mind.  No matter how many times I was told to “believe”, I just struggled and felt lost.  How do you make yourself believe?

Recently, I had a bit of a breakthrough on this.  I started to understand and see the concept of belief in a new light.  You see, believing is not something we can be taught.  We can be taught what to believe in, but the ability to believe in something is a natural occurrence.  When we were children, we were not taught to believe in the beauty of things, we simply accepted them because that was how we saw the world around us.  It is not that we ever lose this ability, rather, we learn to mask it with an elaborate system of disbelief and deception.  So many of our early beliefs about how we should behave with each other, what we are capable of and what is out there beyond our understanding are painted over with a white-washing of generic truths and believable lies.  It is not that we need to somehow repaint our original beliefs back in, but rather we need to work on stripping away those layers of disbelief and deception.

Rather than try and paint a new reality onto my already muddied canvas, I am beginning to slowly strip away the many layers of junk.  Instead of pushing myself to believe in something, I am working to suspend my disbelief in it.  I am no longer trying to convince myself in the presence of things outside of my understanding, I am instead removing the doubt in their existence and leaving myself open to the possibilities that may come.

In doing this, I have been amazed at the results.  The less I try to force the thought that people are generally nice to each other, the more I can see that they are.  As I remove the self imposed pressure to be a psychic and live up to all my gifts and potential, the more I have experienced myself opening up to Spirit’s words and the guidance of my higher self.  I have also noticed that since I have stopped trying to convince myself that there are things such as faeries, ghosts, angels and other multidimensional beings, the more I have been able to connect with them.

I still hold to my statements from a couple weeks ago when I discussed the difference of a belief and an idea.  The dangers associated with building a system around any belief are real and can be extremely destructive and detrimental.  But if we are able to hold onto the core of the belief without dressing it up with specific practices and procedures then the original beauty of it will always hold true.  For some of us the idea of adopting a new belief is easy.  For others, like myself, it is a bit more of a challenge.  If you find yourself battling and struggling to accept something that is out of your understanding, try shifting your focus on it.  Don’t push yourself to try and believe, rather allow your mind to suspend your disbelief and be open to the possibilities that surround you.