The Metaphysician's Way

I heard a message the other day. It was delivered by a speaker who was talking about alcoholism, addiction and recovery. Not a particularly memorable talk, in fact one listener later described it as “sloppy”. In the middle of this talk the speaker made a reference to the way one introduces oneself before speaking at an Alcoholics Anonymous or any other 12 Step meeting – “Hi, I am Ken and I am an alcoholic”.  It is the typical preface to any commentary you might want to make into the group. Pretty much just a statement of fact and, as such, not particularly memorable either.

But then, this man of metaphysics made an extraordinary statement. He claimed that stating, “I am an alcoholic” wouldn’t make me an alcoholic any more than stating, “I am a millionaire” would make me a millionaire. What? “Hey… (the little metaphysician in my head screamed) …that’s not right!” Not right? Heck, those were the most metaphysically unsound words I had ever heard, especially considering the venue. This needs to be clarified – big time.

First, in the days and weeks and months and years of studied practice that it takes to become an alcoholic, I have never heard one person claim that the whole time they had aspired to be an addict by affirming, “I am an alcoholic”. I didn’t just wake up one day and say, “I am an alcoholic” and to prove it I’m going to drink two bottles of vodka today. That would have lasted exactly ONE DAY because in all likelihood I would have killed myself with the first day’s consumption. No, it took years of practice to work up to that level of alcohol intake and to a label of alcoholic. No one affirms that title until they have “earned” it. It is not an aspiration. And it is certainly not a mentally healthy way to try to trigger some kind of “opposite” response to transcend what I am affirming. It simply does not work that way. Period.

Second, as to the “I am a millionaire” statement; this is part of every abundance process on the planet. The old “act as if” or “pretend that you have it and you will”. This is biblical in origin and speaks to the very purpose of affirmation – I am claiming now that which I desire to be my reality. This is an aspiration and is the healthy and productive way to use the “I am” statement. We affirm that which we desire for the purposes of activating the process for its fulfillment in our minds and in our lives. The statement is both functional and descriptive from the first time I use it right through to when I am writing checks from my million dollar bank account.

A.L. Kitselman  said, “The words “I am…” are potent words: be careful what you hitch them to.  The thing you’re claiming has a way of reaching back and claiming you.” It makes no sense whatsoever to attach those words to any statement that is not true of me or that I do not want to be true of me. They will come back and “claim me”. To say, “I am an alcoholic” because I think, or someone has told me, it will help me to not be an alcoholic is not just metaphysically unsound, it is scientifically absurd. (See the works of Bruce Lipton, “Biology of Belief” and “Spontaneous Evolution”.)

Affirmations are a key piece in the creation of a daily practice that will help you transcend those habits and behaviors that are not serving you. You use them to claim what you desire, NOT to claim what you wish to release.

I hope you will join me on my radio show, Making It Out Alive on Spirit Media Network where we talk about the real tools and techniques that anyone can use to rise above these roadblocks and speed bumps of life to live a happy, balanced and successful existence from a point of conscious choice.

I glanced up from my breakfast at the Home Cookin’ Café this morning to see this big smile on my beloved Lisa’s face. “Are you that happy?” I asked. The smile grew a bit and she replied, “No, my spirit is laughing at my human.” Wow – what a great expression that is. In a moment of recognition that her thoughts were going somewhere she really didn’t want to go, Lisa’s higher Self laughed at her, as if to say, “Don’t go there”. 

Remembering always that our success at every level of our life is a function of our decisions and that our decisions are totally dependent upon our awareness, I found that simple statement – “My Spirit is laughing at my human” – to be an amazing demonstration of awareness. I am very clear that each of us is in need of more tools that we can use to short circuit that “ready, fire, aim” sequence that triggers our subconscious reactions. It is so important to gather and learn to use the tools that give us that “blink” of time that we need to allow the conscious, responsive mind to kick in and shift us in a more positive or thoughtful direction. How valuable was my beloved’s tool this morning in preventing her subconscious from taking her on a trip she knew was not going to serve her and, not only shifting her mental attitude, but shifting it with a smile? From the conscious awareness point of view, it doesn’t get any better than that.

Having that negative thought that begins the downward spiral of self-defeating thoughts – stinkin’ thinkin’ – may be the most common affliction of living life from our previous programming. The very first step in changing this process is developing the awareness that it is what we do. Then that awareness needs to have a new program that helps me to stop the old process and turn around, so to speak. Kind of like driving down the road and realizing I’m going in the wrong direction. When that happens, the intelligent thing to do is stop heading the wrong way, turn around and head in the right direction. It really doesn’t need to be more complicated than that with my thinking, but because there are not the visible signs to alert me that I am moving away from where I want to be going, the awareness piece is very important. But, where does that come from?

My experience as a Spiritual Counselor has been that most of us could use a hand there. It is not so much that we do not know what to do, as it is not knowing where to begin. That seems to be where I provide the most advice and help. It is not always easy to change your thinking on your own, in fact, for most of us, the opposite is true – it can be quite a challenge. My suggestion is to find a collaborator; hire someone who can demonstrate the right tools; ones that will suit you. I define what I do for my clients as being their full time advocate. Find that person. This is not about therapy or psychologizing old wounds. It is about discovering those habits that are not serving you and reprogramming your thinking.

The pathway to eliminating that self-destructive thinking, even when it has progressed into addiction is the subject of my new radio show on SpiritMediaNetwork.com, “Making It out Alive”. Join us for lively, informative discussions about real tools and techniques that you can use daily to reprogram your thinking and restructure your life for more success, stability and balance.

Namaste’
Ken Ludwig
www.MakingItOutAlive.com

I’m really not given to using my blog for movie reviews. After all, there are a gazillion of those – at least. But this afternoon my beloved Lisa and I went to see “Inception” and to say that we were blown away would be monumental understatement. So, the review? Best Picture; Inception. Best Actor; Leo DeCaprio. I can’t imagine how they can be challenged. But this movie was way more than a great flick.

If you occasionally like to go to the movies to shut off your brain and be mindlessly entertained, as I sometimes do, then Do Not go to see Inception. If, on the other hand, you want to be thoroughly engaged with a non-stop, can’t wait to see what’s next, beautifully executed movie – this is your ticket. I can’t remember ever seeing a more intelligent action movie – ever. Yes, you will want to pay attention to every minute and every scene – it is complex. Be assured that if you stay engaged the payoff is magnificent. This is one of the 5 best movies I have ever seen.

Okay – that’s all very cool, but there is more – much more. This movie revolves around the idea that a seed planted in the mind can gestate into the most powerful virus on the planet – a thought. And any thought can grow to define us – or even, perhaps, destroy us. The intricacies of planting that seed are amazingly set in a story that is truly an allegory for the actual, more metaphysical and even, esoteric process. There is resistance to implanting the thought. There are defenses to protect the subconscious from accepting an uninvited thought. There is even the metaphor of the thought you resist, persists. There is even a piece here that points out it doesn’t matter where or how the seed was planted, the thought cannot simply be made to go away – it must be changed.

I couldn’t even believe that even as I was in thrall to this movie, I was drawing conclusions and metaphors to Making It Out Alive and the reasons why I am doing this show on Spirit Media Network. You do not have to be a slave to your bad habits or to your addictions or to the meetings they claim will cure the addictions. No! You more precisely need to embark on a process of changing your thinking. Free of the good intentions of others and their fear based programs, move into the positive, life-affirming thinking that redirects your thoughts, your beliefs and your habits. This month, on August 17th, 24th & 31st, I will be presenting my acclaimed workshop, “ReWire Your Brain”. In this workshop I will show you how to get this process moving and how to embrace it as a new way of life to free yourself from those self-destructive behaviors and rewire your thoughts for a more productive and balanced life.  Click here to request more information.

You can get more details on my website, Making It Out Alive,  listening to my radio shows; Making It Out Alive, on Spirit Media Network and What We’re Thinking About, on Co-creatorNetwork.

My beloved Lisa and I just returned from four glorious days at The Elk River Guest Ranch outside of Steamboat Springs in Clark, Colorado. Mostly rest, reading, meditating – oh yeah – lots of snacking. Truly a very beautiful and quiet place. Good for the rejuvenation that we both needed.

I guess it has been pretty wet up there this spring. Everywhere you looked there were green meadows liberally adorned with wild flowers. One could not help but notice the devastation of the pine bark beetles on the lodge pole pine forests. From a distance, all you could see were acres and acres of tall dead trees; some bright red, indicating they had recently met their demise and others, a dull brown with all their limbs hung low. Then there were lots of skeletal trunks and branches of those long dead trees that had dropped all their needles. Fragile remains, all awaiting that last fateful gust of wind.

Interestingly though, as we hiked closer to these apparently dying forests, we were struck by Mother Nature’s abundance. Beneath the dead and dying canopy were all manner of small trees; firs and other pines not affected by the beetles, ground cover, clovers, wild flowers and grasses. Lisa commented, more than once, how we needed to accept and trust that Mother Nature knows what she is doing. And indeed, all around us was evidence of Her abundance replacing apparent scarcity; a continuity of life.

I found myself reflecting on that continuity in my own life. Am I, like Mother Nature, replacing that which no longer serves with new and more vibrant life energy? Clearly, I know that what grows in my life is that which I feed and choose to energize. When I think about rewiring my thinking to guarantee a fresh supply of new, life affirming thought and activity, I realize, once again, the magnitude of daily practice. Truly that which I have embraced as my daily practice has opened the flood gates for the Divine to operate through me and thus providing a never ending flow of ways to activate that practice in my life.

I feel so very blessed to have the tools I need to move myself into walking the talk of my practice. Whenever I am conscious enough to make the choice, I am well equipped to transcend all that exists in my life that is not serving me and move on to a higher vision.

Supplying those tools to others is my goal on my radio shows – “Making It Out Alive” on Spirit Media Network and “What We’re Thinking About” on Co-creatorNetwork.com. I hope you will join me in exploring the pathways to rewire your thinking and always being aware to cultivate a fresh crop of vibrant new thoughts.

More about Ken and his work at www.MakingItOutAlive.com

It feels rather odd to write about a movie star. I suppose I am as guilty as too many others of paying undue attention to our celebrities. More often than not, I am prone to make reference to “celebritards” or “celebutants”. You know who I mean; those people whose only claim to fame is their name or their lifestyle and the fact that some very unstable people with cameras seem to stalk them constantly. Of course, we all then take great pleasure in the endless stream of out-takes that the stalking produces on the parade of entertainment magazine shows that flicker across our screens.

But, Lindsay Lohan is different. This is a young adult spinning out of control, who at this very moment is surrendering herself to a Beverly Hills court to begin serving a ninety day jail sentence. By all accounts, she is petrified of the prospects of jail. As well she should be. In checking in with TV this morning for the weather, my beloved Lisa and I had the chance to hear a couple of “experts” disgorge their expertise on the subject of Ms. Lohan. Expert one proclaimed Lindsay to be suffering from addiction and far more in need of therapy than incarceration. Expert two judged her to be a criminal for driving under the influence and ignoring the courts orders of rehab and abstinence. Such are the witnesses of sound bite justice.

Having just celebrated her 24th birthday, apparently by flaunting the courts anti-party orders, I can’t help but view this young girl through the eyes of someone who spends a great deal of my time working with teens and young adults. At this moment, I am all for seeing her go to jail. She will, in all likelihood, serve a fraction of her sentence due to prison overcrowding, but jail is both sober and sobering. My own experience of jail near the beginning of my recovery was the very motivating fear I needed, at the time, to awaken my thoughts to unpleasant possibilities. That fear saved my life. It pushed me towards a better set of choices that resulted in 22 years of recovered living.

I know that path, but I was still on it in my late 30’s. Let’s consider how young Lindsay Lohan is and ask ourselves the question about how mature our own decision-making processes were at 24. I invite you to join me in holding Lindsay in the highest light that her awareness might be of how leaving this lifestyle of drinking and drugging behind will serve her far more than continuing down that road. Somewhere along the line, this experience might afford her the opportunity to help other young adults who are struggling with who they are and looking for validation outside themselves in substance and other forms of abuse.

Join me on my radio show, “Making It Out Alive” on www.SpiritMediaNetwork.com  to hear more about transcending our self-destructive behaviors and addictions. Move out of being in recovery and step into a world of recovered living. This week my guest, Tom Terwilliger, is a former outlaw biker who overcame his very destructive lifestyle to become Mr. America and a very successful Achievement Coach.  Join us Thursday, July 22 at noon MST.
 
www.MakingItOutAlive.com 
www.SpiritMediaNetwork.com

While warning us that it is not over yet, BP managed to get a shut off valve of sorts over the Deepwater Horizon oil leak earlier yesterday. As we approach the end of the third month of this amazing catastrophe we have at least a partial solution, for the moment. After all this time of scurrying about with feigned attempts at solution, this “test cap” may allow for the dispersal of the leaking oil into containment vessels while avoiding any more considerable damage.

I say feigned attempts because all – every last one – of the previous attempts to stop the flow of oil into the lifeblood of existence for the folks of the Gulf coast were known to be useless. That’s right – useless. In 1979 an experimental well called Ixtac blew in the Gulf of Mexico. Under different names, all of the methods that have been tried on the Deepwater Horizon spill were tried on Ixtac 31 years ago and they ALL failed. Not only did they all fail, they failed in 200 feet of water. What made anyone think they would work in 5000 feet? Obviously, no one did. It was all just for show.

So, why am I telling you all of this? I believe that all of the activity of this oils spill is a major demonstration for us all of the unsustainability of the fossil fuel model that is literally killing us all. It is killing us from the time we take it out of the ground all the way through burning it and spewing its fumes and residue into our air. Time to pay attention my friends. Petroleum based products are everywhere and they are fouling everything they come in contact with. This is our opportunity to start to become mindful of the products we use and the people we buy them from.

What can you do; what can I do to cut down my use of products whose collection, manufacture and use are destroying our health, our lives and our planet? Please, send me your comments, your hints and your websites that we might begin a raising of knowledge and consciousness here. I would love to be the conduit of your expression. I believe that the Metaphysicians way is to seek the higher good – the win-win – for the good of all. We have work to do. Let’s get at it.

Visit my website to send me an email at http://www.MakingItOutAlive.com. Listen to me on the radio at SpiritMediaNetwork.com or Co-creatorNetwork.com.  If we are in this together, then we are making it out alive – together. Namaste’

I keep running into what is best described as “interesting” opinions in the 12 step community around the idea that there is even the possibility of recovery outside alcoholics anonymous. AA members insist that those who don’t get sober and stay sober in AA are simply not working the program. Despite its reputation for being the most successful vehicle for long term sobriety, AA can boast a 10% success rate at best. I find it hard to believe that the other 90% just didn’t “work” the program.

The program seems to have become more important than its mission and has always rejected any inkling of flexibility and growth. Like so many other belief systems that become religious around their dogma and practices, people are repelled by and rebel against rigid systems of one-size-fits-all. There will always be common traits and behaviors exhibited by substance abusers, but they are as different in abuse and sobriety as they are individuals in every other aspect of their lives.

There will always be people who reject the idea of being powerless over any external substance. The whole idea of addiction as disease is more up for question than ever. I believe the greatest source of AA “failures” are products of their internal desire for more than just being sober; those who want to delve into the reasons for their attempts to self-medicate. And there is no shortage of people who just refuse to believe that AA meetings are the only therapy that will keep their incurable diagnosis in remission. But try explaining that idea to those who consider themselves AA success stories – and good luck with that.

On my new radio show, “Making It Out Alive” we’re going to discuss this issue from both sides. I’m going to bring you new, up-to-date information from those who believe we can absolutely transcend any and all addictions without having to embrace the idea that I am powerless over my behavior, addicted for life and hopelessly sentenced to a lifetime of meetings. Join me every Thursday for a new edition of the show – http://www.spiritmedianetwork.com/moa.htm.   

www.MakingItOutAlive.com, Providing New Perspectives for the Empowered Life

www.SpiritMediaNetwork.com, The New Spirit in Media/ Media that Makes a Difference

I interviewed a good friend for the new show. He is Dr. James Rouse, world class naturopath, nutrition and wellness expert. In fact James is the “Wellness Expert” for the QVC  network on cable TV. We have been friends for a number of years and when I asked him to be a guest on “Making It Out Alive” he jumped at the opportunity to talk about the great “disconnect” that addicts experience with their body. 

We talked about how those who suffer chronic addiction get so used to feeling bad that they rarely demonstrate any concern for their nutrition or fitness. The facts are that a great deal of “feeling good” can be accomplished simply by paying some attention to the food we eat. Even someone engaged in what we might identify as the hard-core addictions of substance abuse, can dramatically change the production and flow of the brain chemicals and hormones that are most responsible for feeling more confident, more alert and over-all, more positive. This is not about rehab or treatment programs. It is very simply about making a conscious decision to put food in our body that has scientifically been proven to increase the production of serotonin, dopamine and acetylcholine. The uptake of these hormones can immediately make us feel more balanced – just make us feel better.

 Listen to the show to find out more about this compelling subject.  It will air on “Making It Out Alive”, Thursday, July 8, 2010 beginning at 12N MST and will run until July 15th by clicking here! 

James will return in August to bring us more simple solutions to what sometimes can seem like the overwhelming challenges of self-destructive behaviors and addictions.  

Spirit Media Network, The New Spirit in Media/Media That Makes a Difference

Back in the day, my running mates was a group of four other guys. We called ourselves the “5 Aces”. It wasn’t a formal thing, like a gang or something. We were just five hippies having a good time with life. We were all children coming of age in the 60’s. Of course the sex, drugs and rock & roll culture was everywhere and we were all full and willing participants.

I honed all of my alcoholic and drug addict skills back then. The skills I would later perfect into a way of life. Not great skills and certainly not a great lifestyle, but it was what I practiced and what I got really good at. In the late 1960’s and early 70’s it didn’t matter where we went, what drugs we were doing, how much we were drinking or whose car we had, at the end of the night, I had the keys. I developed a reputation as the “king of the hill”; no one could out drink me or take more drugs than me and I lived “down” to that reputation for 20 years.

Almost 22 years into releasing those self-destructive behaviors, I realize how vital their experience was to my personal growth and my Spiritual journey. The pathway to moving out of abuse and fully into life is what I want to bring to the table with the launch of “Making It Out Alive”, my new radio show on Spirit Media Network. I hope you will join us and share your experiences and questions surrounding the journey to a recovered life. We launch on July 1st – keep checking in for the exact date of my first show. Namaste’