“I had no idea what lay ahead…” Designer Ann Willoughby explores the amazing power of collaboration. Her rules of the creative road? Make a place where ideas flourish. And trust the process.
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Category Archives: mm magazine
power vs. force
In David Hawkins book, “Power Vs. Force: The Hidden Determinations of Human Behavior,” he states that mind can absolutely take precedence over matter. Citing a demonstration where human muscles weaken when exposed to harmful stimuli, a test was performed. Placing an artificial sweetener either on the tongue, kept in its package adjacent to the solar plexus, or hidden in a plain envelope, results found it made every subject test weak, and the contents of which to both tester and subject were unknown. The body responded accurately even when the mind was unaware.
He determined that “the mind knows far more than it knows it knows.“
Hawkins said, “For purposes, it’s really only necessary to recognize the power is what makes you go strong, while force makes you go weak. Love, compassion and forgiveness, which may be mistakingly thought of as submissive by some, are in fact, profoundly empowering. Revenge, judgement, mentalism, and condemnation, on the other hand, inevitably make you go weak. Therefore, regardless of moral righteousness, it’s a simple clinical fact that in the long run, the weak cannot prevail against the strong. That which is weak falls of its own accord.”
Hence the title of the book, Power vs. Force! And so it goes in life. POWER [the empowering traits of truth, love, sincerity] always triumphs over FORCE [the ego's cry for domination, judgement militia, domination, condemnation]. Even looks better, right!
Remember this simple clarity and you’ll always never lose sight of your high road.
a formal welcome to you all
I believe things happen for a reason, that everything is meant to be. You probably haven’t noticed, but our original welcome post went “poof,” and it’s nowhere to be found. It could’ve disappeared with a software upgrade or maybe I just deleted it by mistake. I took this as a sign that the proper welcome wasn’t meant to post until now. Without further ado, ‘welcome to Mental Messages,’ where all things move gently down the stream.
As you can see, MM is a work in progress, ever evolving, as are most digital entities these days and that makes it fun for us creatives. When I first launched, I created the header and tagline (design speak for the picture at the top of the website and the phrase that tells what we’re about), with a photo of young grass sprouting up from dark soil. Nature resonates with me. I find great solace when I’m surrounded by its natural beauty. The grass reflected a new beginning, a fresh start. The tagline read “downstream thoughts in an upstream world,” (which is also on the magazine cover), as I wanted it to relate our real world, “clarity in chaos.” As I settled in, “gently down the stream” began to emerge as the guiding principal for everything I approached, and it just kept working. And after all, MM is my dream, and that’s about making things good. So I dumped the upstream stuff. Too negative—life’s short—so there you have it!
One thing I’ve seen is it’s easy to get all up in your panties about little things. Life moves at lightening speed and sometimes it’s hard to stay focused, no less catch your breath and just be. I derive tremendous benefit from wisdom of the ages, the fundamental thoughts that have been around for centuries. After all, if it was understood a thousand years ago and it still rings true today, there’s got to be something to it, right? Inspirational quotes, stories and images bring me back to center. There I regain clarity and perspective I often lose when I don’t take the time to listen to my inner voice and connect with myself.
Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream. Wayne Dyer relates life to this old English nursery rhyme. It resonates with me so much so, that when I explain the philosophy behind Mental Messages, all roads lead back to it. I even created a graphic for my office way back when to keep me on track when I fall off the path. Here it is, sitting on it’s happy shelf.
Wayne explains that life’s not a race. We need to move gently in the direction of our dreams and the rest will come. Trust our intentions, listen to our intuitions and let go of the oars. No need to row, just go with the flow and you’ll find your soul’s journey. I’ll paraphrase, but here’s the gist:
Row, row, row your boat [don’t push it, who would do that? And row your own boat, not your fathers boat, or your wife’s boat, just row your own Goddamn boat!]
Gently down the stream [not up the stream, going against the current is hard. And gently, It’s a row boat, not a speed boat. This isn’t a race.]
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily [not sadly. And four times, none the less! Cheer up and stop taking yourself so seriously.]
Life is but a dream [not a nightmare. Mystics have said this for millennia. Believe them. Do what comes easy. Dreams are about what you love. Do what you love.]
I love this! Does life have to be difficult? It’s not supposed to be. But there are times when we get caught up in external influences and lose sight of what’s important. Enter: Mental Messages, inspiring you, sharing with you, keeping you on track.
Several years ago, I was introduced to Esther and Jerry Hicks and the teachings of Abraham (amazing stuff, they’re on my reading list, you’ll love them). In The Astonishing Power of Emotions, the collective consciousness Abraham uses the analogy of life being the stream and we being the boat. We’ve grown up thinking life’s supposed to be a struggle. Well, guess what: NOT! If we let go of the paddles and go with the current, there is no struggle, the boat will go where it’s supposed to go, it’s easy. This is the way it’s SUPPOSED to be—WITH the current, WITH the flow, gently down the stream. And when you get downstream, harmony awaits because you’re in alignment with the universe, and the universe will direct the course so things will work out the way they should. You’ll get downstream without a struggle. Because when we’re in harmony, we move in the right direction. We go with the flow, and that’s what life is, at its best.
This blew me away. It’s brilliant! So simple, clear, basic. True.
Remember, as Wayne said, life’s not a race. We ‘re supposed to enjoy the journey, gently down the stream, in the direction of our dreams. And when you let go, they will automatically come.
Mental Messages was created to honor the unlimited potential in us all and awaken the dreams that celebrate who we are or really want to be. With positive messaging, inspirational stories and timeless wisdoms, we aspire to inspire. With this philosophy we develop products to be poetic, beautiful, astute and relevant to honor the wonderfulness of you, facing you in the direction to fulfill your dreams, putting power in your hands to chart your course while you go WITH, not against, the flow.
Thanks for coming.