It’s a fact of this universe that we live in a realm of cause and effect. When push comes to shove, something is going to happen. We’re talking laws of physics here. Because of this physics thing, we can’t escape it: All our choices, whatever they may be, have consequences.

Our thoughts play a huge role in this cycle of cause and effect, too. Each time you think a thought about something — anything — you affirm that aspect of reality about that which you’ve thought. It’s this self-affirming aspect that makes our thoughts so powerful in leading us towards or away from our goals in life.

Our education systems are currently very process oriented. We spend a lot of time learning how to generate flows from milestone to milestone that take us from one place to another and another. If we get our flowchart right, we’ll finally arrive at our desired destination. In theory, that looks really good. In practice, it works well in planning manufacturing processes in factories, but it doesn’t seem to apply very well for the vagaries of life itself. Life, apparently, isn’t an assembly line.

I think a lot of people get caught up in trying to map their way to success. If you try to create a definitive route from here to success, I’m pretty sure you’re going to find life tossing in all manner of detours that cause you no end of rerouting. In the end, you’ll get bogged down in the details and minutiae of where you’re supposed to turn instead of focusing on where you want to end up. The reason this happens is that in focusing on the route’s twists and turns, the universe dishes out twists and turns.

I can almost hear somebody saying, “But you’ve said before that it’s the journey that matters.” Okay, I’ll take ownership of that because I think it’s true. It is the journey that matters, but it’s not the journey’s details that are important. What matters is our appreciation of the journey itself and what we take away from it in terms of our personal growth. In fact, I think any journey is simply the vehicle by which we grow. Everything that happens is merely potential for growth and realization.

So, here’s the deal. In a cause and effect universe, you always need to be the change you wish to create. Literally, be. Not want to be. Not think about being. Be. Be, be, be. Take a moment and mentally boldface Be for yourself a few times. I can’t emphasize enough how crucial this part is to our cause and effect universe.

The first element of Being the change you wish to create is to make affirmative declarations. This all starts with I AM. And if you’re not a native speaker of English, translate (not transliterate) this into the grammar of your own language. If you want to create health, you start by making the affirmative declaration “I AM healthy”. I AM is a declaration of an existing state, not a statement of desire for a future state. Using this form is crucial and is where a lot of us trip up on our way to manifesting reality.

Correct: I AM healthy.
Incorrect: I WILL BE healthy.

Why would “I will be <something>” be incorrect? It pushes our desired outcome into the future. It states that it isn’t true in the moment. I think it’s this last bit that is really important, and I think it is the reason why a lot of healing/success/whatever doesn’t happen the way people expect. I can remember healing sessions where I’d be thinking things such as “So-and-so will experience complete well-being”. It seemed like a great idea at the time, but it was always pushing the desired outcome forward. It wasn’t until I began using constructs such as “So-and-so is experiencing complete well-being” that my sessions saw incredible results.

The universe constantly reacts to our statements of fact. I’m not going to make some new-age claim that it wants to give us bliss or whatever. No, these are laws of physics. Karma is just an expression of this law of cause and effect, often manifested in our tendencies to bounce from extreme to extreme in our process of learning moderation. In changing the way we think, the universe isn’t conspiring with us; the grand dance of energy that makes up the universe itself is affected.

A lot of our authority figures have instilled in us this tragic sense of smallness, of insignificance. NOTHING could be further from the truth! Every thought you think affects ALL of Creation. You are not separate from Creation, you are a part of it. And, in case you hadn’t noticed, Creation hasn’t stopped. It’s an ongoing process. We are all immensely powerful co-creators of how this universe is playing out. How we frame our thoughts drives the very Engines of Creation themselves.

Our thoughts may appear to come from our brains, but every cell in our body responds to/interacts with them. We think something and every manner of physiological response occurs, from hormone secretion to changes in electrical activity. Because our thoughts trigger changes in trillions of cells in our bodies, we quite literally act as transmitters. It’s very correct to think of each of us as a walking radio station. Our mental chatter is constantly broadcast to those around us, as are our feelings and emotions. I’m quite sure that we’ve each experienced coming into somebody’s space only to be strongly attracted or repelled even before we’ve had any noticeable interaction with that person. That’s the power of our thoughts at work. We’re constantly transmitting and receiving.

Not only do our cells vibrate in alignment with the thoughts we think, we broadcast from our heart space. When you think “I” and point to your heart, you’re right on the money. Much of who we are is broadcast from our heart space (chakra, if you prefer). The energy emanating from this space creates a measurable field, and matter around us responds to the nature of our thoughts. Experiments with plants, for example, have shown measurable biological responses to human thoughts of love, hate, anger and sadness. To that end, we literally create around us a world that reflects our thoughts back to us.

Let’s get back to that whole Be the change you wish to create. How can we be something now that we wish to create in the future? The good news is that it’s actually really easy. It’s a little something I learned while studying hypnotism: The subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between something real and imagined. The answer, therefore, is to create a mental state that enables us to work directly with our subconscious mind.

Meditation is a great tool for accessing the subconscious mind. Meditation is a form of light-to-moderate self-hypnosis that falls short of somnambulism. Meditation can be greatly accentuated by establishing clear intentions prior to the meditation session. For me, that entails focusing on my goal, e.g., “I AM abundant and successful”, and using that focus as an icon of attention during breathing. Some have found great luck with using a simple goal statement as a mantra to chant or think over and over again during the session. Guiding meditation in this manner brings the meditation session much closer to a classical view of self-hypnosis because the Critical Factor of the conscious mind is successfully bypassed and acceptable selective thinking is established. Mantras used in this state are extremely powerful means of programming our subconscious mind.

Post-meditation techniques that assist in the manifesting process involve framing questions that prompt us to tacitly explore our options. Taking the above affirmative declaration and turning it into a question, we might say, “How can I maintain and enhance my success and abundance?” At this point, it’s not necessary to start mulling it over; the question itself is the vital step. From here, we observe our opportunities and act upon them as desired.

When we make affirmative declarations of state and then follow up with questions of how to maintain and enhance that state — all while being mentally receptive to suggestion — our entire being from emotional to physical broadcasts the intent of both the initial statement and an announcement that we want to discover means of enhancing that experience. The universe has no choice but to answer the call. Situations will arise that give you opportunities to grow and create beyond your current means.

With the subconscious mind not recognizing the difference between the real and imagined, then, we subsequently take a moment to guide our daydreams to imagine exactly the situation we wish to create. It’s important for us to daydream in present tense as a further establishment of our declaration of state. For our subconscious mind, this very literally creates that reality. Physiologically, this literally creates cellular memory of events that have yet to happen. From our subconscious perspective, we’re literally experiencing an event and our bodies likewise experience that event as reality. We end up with trillions of cells all broadcasting their familiarity and alignment with this reality.

You know what the result is, right? Cause: We create a reality in our subconscious mind. Result: Our universe is tweaked to accommodate said reality.

There are tricks to accelerate the mind’s acceptance of this “reality mantra” prior to our meditation session. The first thing is to write down what it is we want to work on as our goal. Be sure to phrase it only with positive affirmation, meaning that you avoid the use of any negative verbs or adverbs. “I AM free of cancerous cells.” “I AM 100% healthy in every way.” “I AM free of allergies. My immune system always responds appropriately.” These are all good examples of mantras to write down.

After writing down, read your goal statement 3-5 times. Then settle into your meditation pose. I strongly recommend something that is as comfortable as possible. Any position that creates resistance is one that will be less effective. I do 99% of my meditations sitting in the chair at my desk. If your “meditation switch” is turned on by assuming a lotus position, however, feel free. Whatever floats your cork. I like to touch the words I’ve written in order to create more of a physical matrix between my thoughts and body. Finally, I hold the paper to my heart space as I focus on the goal mantra. This further cements the mind/body relationship matrix and creates a strong cellular alignment to the mantra throughout the body.

Settle into your meditation, focus on breathing or whatever makes you feel good and then just focus on feeling. Experience your body. Experience your essence. For me, this works best when I let me awareness centre in my abdomen, focusing on my life force energy. I stay in this space until I feel that familiar “I’m meditating and feel good” well-being spread throughout my body, and then I begin my mantra.

Focusing on your goal mantra shouldn’t seem like work. Do it only for as long as feels good, for as long as feels right. If mental chatter comes up, fine. Observe it and let it go. Neither focus on it or push it away. It’s as much a part of your process as everything else, so just note it and get back to the moment. If your attention wanders, that’s okay. When you notice, bring your focus back to your mantra.

When it feels like time to quit, that’s when you ask your questions to maintain and enhance your goal. And you don’t need to ask the question over and over again, nor do you need to meditate on it. Just release it as you would a dove to flight and watch it go. Then get on with your day.

Pay attention to your day, the days and weeks to come. The more often you work through these exercises, the quicker the benefits come. As you become familiar with the process and get used to how quickly the results manifest, your excitement and acceptance of the process further speed things up. The results, literally, can be instantaneous. The only limiting factor is how much or little you allow to come to you.

And that, friends, is all a matter of the thoughts you think. After all, it’s a cause and effect universe.