I've been working with the idea of "acting as if" what I wanted were already true. This is particularly useful in terms of self-improvement. What would it feel like, what would you do, how would you act, if the dream you had of yourself were already true? you were already in great shape, had a great relationship, were hardworking and focused, had a razor sharp focus and determination in your spiritual practice? To act like the person in great shape, you'd probably be eating well, exercising regularly, etc. By this, I don't mean imagining you are in great shape and trying to cultivate the feeling of satisfaction of that 24-7, I mean using that image to help you figure out what actions you'd be doing, if you were like that, how you'd think, etc. Research shows that feeling and self-image often follow action, rather than lead it.
That means, if you want to be something, rather than waiting until you feel that way, to take action, start taking the actions that kind of person would take, and that will shift your self image and self feelings to match it. I'm not sure if this works in isolation, I'm doing this as part of a whole regime of self improvement, including introspecting, meditation, and various practises. I feel like I've worked on myself enough that my subconscious mind is generally friendly towards me, usually amenable towards my requests. This is certainly not always the case, I think it is quite often not the case. So there may be some more basic work necessary before acting "as if" is really effective. I can imagine it being just one more self-help jargon trying to get you to believe something that you fundamentally think is untrue, just by repeating it enough, which can actually have the opposite effect.
I think you first need enough actual experience of the malleability of the mind, and of the subjectivity of our perceptions and beliefs, to be able to accept the "as if" mentality with the right amount of lightness and faith. Are you aware that all your beliefs are subjective? That other people's realities, which you can so clearly see are just biases, opinions, unfounded or half-founded beliefs, are no more or less true than your own? Can you hop into another person's perspective and see how it is just as true as your own? Are you comfortable revising your most cherished beliefs, when presented with good evidence that your beliefs are less accurate? Have you actually done this at least a few times? Are you aware that your current belief system is just as arbitrary as the last one? Have you experiences a place of neutral observing, where you aren't judging and labeling what you see, but just experiencing it, raw? or at least, noticing your judgments and preconceptions as they arise? You don't have to be perfect at these things, but if they're totally alien to you, then you may want to work on that a bit before you try and become a belief engineer and start acting "as if" what you want is already true.
If your in the habit of believing your own fantasy stories, the "as if" thing is liable to just be another tool of self-deception. A surface level mental tool that may be interesting for a little bit but not show long-term results, or only very minor ones.
In any case, most of this blog is apparently a caveat about the tiny big of wisdom I'm chewing on. I suppose that's the problem with sharing this kind of stuff generally. It's not useful to all people at all stages of growth/development. That's one of the problems I ran into when running the self-help circuit. The stuff people were talking about required some more fundamental skills to be able to use. We were looking for quick fixes, but the only real answer was through prolonged and dedicated practice. Don't try and find the shortcuts, the one you end-up short-cutting is your own growth. Try and go to fast, try and avoid the hard work, and you end up messing things up and taking longer than the slowpoke. You can go fast, as long as your willing to work with intense focus and devotion. But you can't go fast and easy. You get what you pay for, in energy and time, more than in money. Being rich and able to buy all the experiences you want from spiritual teachers is not gonna get you further that the poor person who doesn't take all the fancy courses, but proceeds with care, devotion, and sustained effort/focus.
It doesn't have to be a grind, but it does take all of you.
in peace,
me
