My fingers can hardly type this morning. I had a piece planned, but wonder now how relevant I can make it. I just got back from the gym and found out about the terror attack in France last night – so far 84 killed. It’s horrific. The illness that has caught hold of our planet is ghastly and dumbfounding.

Charles Dickens once said, “All other swindlers upon earth are nothing compared to self-swindlers.” I do feel this is true. I’ve been robbed before. As everyone else, I’ve been burned or ‘done wrong’ in the past. But, these times have been but a fraction compared to the times in which I’ve done myself wrong. Even thinking of these murderers, I can’t help but think of how they lived so entrenched in the ego-mind, putting victim mentality and hate on steroids, that they lost sight of the love and good in the world, and lived in a constant state of turmoil and even rage. They believed their stories of hate so much that they felt there was no way out but to cause devastation to innocent lives and end up dead themselves. It’s tragic! They lost what could have been a beautiful life, left a wake of destruction and sorrow, and deprived innocent families of their loved ones. They will always live in our memories as true monsters.

We believe what we tell ourselves. I really want to see people begin to wake up to the fact that we are spirits with human bodies not the other way around. Believing you are separate in any way is belief in a lie. We are energetic beings connected to all other energetic beings, permeated by the Infinite Intelligence – one, only one – the body of God. It’s time to live that loving reality.

We can choose our thoughts, positive thoughts and create a positive mind. We don’t have to engage with every thought that pops into our minds. The ego wants to make us special and separate – “I am this,” “They are that,” “They are bad,” “I am better because…”. It’s a mind trap that can lead us to feeling separate, alone and misunderstood. If I could, I would love to shout this from the highest mountain – “Stop judging. Stop labeling everything in your world. It’s toxic. Pick and choose the thoughts with which you engage very carefully – the way you would pick and choose your way through a crowd or up a jagged terrain.” It’s time everyone rethinks the usefulness of the mind and lives guided by the heart – grounded in being, in presence for the moment, in wonder and love.

Let’s stop the madness in the only place we have true control to stop it – within ourselves. I’d like to share some of the places in which I swindle myself. And, as always, I’d love to know some of yours in the comments below?

When I don’t have faith in myself

When I don’t have faith in others

When I forget that I’m powered by God

When I forget that all is God

When I forget that thoughts manifest things

When I forget that words have power

When I live from memory rather than in the moment

When I don’t forgive

When I believe the illusion that we are all separate

When I don’t care enough

When I don’t give enough

When I don’t love enough

It’s so easy to let the world get pulled over our eyes. Look deep within and start to understand that what appears to be the person or any material thing is merely a shadow of reality. When you do, it will become easier to lighten up a bit, worry a little less.  Let’s remember that “an eye for an eye” will only make the whole world go blind. Please go out into the world today and feel blessed. Be guided from your true self within, your authentic core, and consider that you can start living less and less from memory, passing on egoic thoughts, to let life become a real and beautiful adventure into the unknown. Let’s stop the madness together.

Sandra M Bell
Author of “Lunchtime Joy Magnet” & personal coach