Stop to consider for a moment how our world, as well as the universe in which our world exists, consists of circular and cyclical constructs.  Planets are round.  Our galaxy is a spiral of celestial bodies (stars, planets, etc.) contained within one of seven universes rotating around a grand central universe.  The electrons in an atom, orbit a central nucleus in an elliptical pattern. On this planet alone, we experience myriad circular patterns.  Our years, seasons, and clocks all follow a cyclical path, each ending where they began.  We have cycles of the moon, the water cycle, a woman’s monthly cycle, astronomical cycles, the human cycle of birth-death-rebirth.

It is in this same circular way that our thoughts and feelings become reality.

Without question, a thought is the most powerful creative force in the universe.  ALL creation – EACH AND EVERY physical thing we see and experience around us – began as a thought.  The great inventions of time and space had their genesis as an inkling in the mind of the individual who no doubt wrongly accepted credit for conceiving it and bringing it into existence.

I say “wrongly” because these creative thoughts do not truly belong to us.  All creation and creative activity is the province of Source.  The thoughts and ideas we greedily claim as our own are the mind of Source acting through us as a means to foster creation.  As Source is omniscient and all-powerful, so are our thoughts charged with the creative potential of Source, thus allowing us a measure of Divine prerogative in manifesting physical objects, art, literature, music, etc. out of the nothingness of thought.

Because as humans we are almost always thinking, we are almost always creating.  Like dropping a pebble into a calm pool, a thought leaves our minds and travels outward where it is qualified by universal energy and molded into form, eventually circling back to us as reality in the shape of some tangible object or personal life experience.

This is why joy begets joy, sadness begets sadness, and success begets success.  Have you ever noticed when you feel anger toward someone, you receive anger in return?  By the same token, when you are kind and patient, kindness and patience come back to you.  Whatever you send out into the ethers of space becomes qualified by universal energy, then boomerangs back, bigger, badder, and more powerful and real than when you sent it out.  (This makes me think of the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man in Ghostbusters when an innocuous thought goes out and comes back as a marauding corn-syrup-infused giant bent on destroying NYC.)

Such is the learning behind the Shaltazar message Moving to a Higher Circle.  The premise being the many storms we face in life are not new storms lining up to jar us from our waking slumber one after another, but the same storm coming around to meet us again and again until we accept the lesson it is trying to teach.  We can choose to react negatively or fearfully, resisting what comes, or we can choose to rise above the emotional turmoil of the storm, accept it, and wait patiently for the sun to reemerge as we know it will.

Shaltazar explains that negative or resistant reactions doom us to repeat the cycle of the prior storm, attracting into our experience more of what we just weathered (a la the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.)  On the other hand, accepting the storm and leaning its lessons allows us to graduate to a higher circle of consciousness.  As Shaltazar warns, however, moving to a higher circle does not mean there won’t be more storms, just that the temperament of the storms will be different – perhaps gentler or more manageable.

This speaks to the subjective nature of reality and the idea that the world is not as it is, but as we see it.  Viewed in this way, there is not one reality, but nearly eight billion realities all sharing the same point in linear time.  Consider this… if we were to take a snapshot of a typical American family of five consisting of mom, dad, a teenage daughter, an eight-year-old son, and a baby, then step into the perspectives of each family member, you would experience five different realities of the same chronological moment.

Dad might look at his kids and see a world of threats, financial or otherwise, looming in the future causing him to worry.  Mom might be watching her children, seeing instead a world of hope and promise.  Teen daughter might believe her life cruel and unfair given consternation over her hair, weight, complexion, social life, clothes, boyfriend, etc.  Junior might think life is a party as he advances to the next level of Legion of Doom.  Baby meanwhile is absorbed in the moment, consumed by all the wonderous images and sounds and smells assaulting his senses, experiencing unrestrained bliss and joy.  One moment, five different realities, which is what Shaltazar means when they say our world is how we choose to see it.

In a way what we’re talking about is the Law of Attraction – as you think, so you receive.  The problem is, because we tend to go through the day with our minds running unchecked, we mostly create by default, bringing into our lives whatever happens to be wandering through our heads at any given moment, much of which is negative.

Try this experiment: Carry a notebook with you for one day.  Throughout the day, jot down what you’re thinking as often as possible, especially when your mind is idle such as driving, brushing your teeth, eating, doing your nails, walking the dog, etc.  You might be surprised what you discover.

Odds are high your inner dialogue (or the film playing on the screen of your mind) looks something like this: “I’m fat,” “I’m dumb,” “I’m ugly,” “I’m overworked,” “I don’t have enough time,” “I never get what I want,” “I’ll never get this done,” “I think I’m getting sick,” “I hate my job,” “That person is a real jerk,” “I never have enough money,” “Good things never happen for me,” and so on.  In a nutshell, life sucks, poor me, somebody shoot me (or my boss, spouse, parent, etc.)

Because managing our thoughts requires effort and discipline, most of us find it far easier to let our thoughts manage us.  It is unfortunate that by allowing these dark negative images to predominate your thinking, you are actually creating more of what you don’t want, inviting the very things you wish to avoid into your life experience.  Which is why it is EVER so important to learn to maintain control over your thoughts and emotions, paying careful attention to what you’re thinking during the day, especially before you go to bed.  (Which is where the practice of saying prayers before bed originated.)

Perhaps the most effective thing you can do right now to make a difference in how you think is to seek out the feeling of gratitude.

If you were to stop and truly consider the perfection surrounding you – the inexplicable and amazingly fortuitous coordination of seeming unrelated daily occurrences –you would be forced to conclude that life on this planet is not a disjointed and haphazard assemblage of random events, but a carefully coordinated tapestry of evolution orchestrated by a generous and loving Creator.  For that reason, EVERYTHING which happens in your day is a gift with a purpose, even if it might not seem so at the time.  It’s like when your mom made you eat spinach.  It looked and tasted gross, but she knew it would help you become a healthy and strong adult.  So are the experiences and challenges Source sends forth for your spiritual development and growth.  What Source asks is not always easy, but universal will must be observed for us to continue to evolve.

So try moving through each day with words of thanks on your lips for all you experience.  Thank Source for the food which sustains you and staves off your hunger, for the blue sky, the sunshine, clean air to breathe, the shoes on your feet, the smile of a stranger, the roof over your head, the income that provides for your daily needs, the people in your life you consider friends or family.  If you really pay attention, there is much to feel grateful for every minute of every day.  By thus turning your attention to Source and allowing unconditional love to fill your heart, no space is left for doubt, self-pity, or sadness.

Here’s the key: even learn to say thank you for the things you DON’T want.  Remember, if it came to you, it’s something Source knows you need to grow and expand.  This is perhaps the most difficult concept for mankind, in our limited, circumscribed understanding of creation, to grasp.  By getting angry, resentful, or resisting the storms Source sends, we are second guessing omniscience, subverting perfection, and rejecting unconditional love.  Going back to the spinach example, we must choose not to spit our spinach back into the face of the Creator of all things.  Learn to embrace and accept EVERYTHING, without judgment or qualification.  In doing so, you may find you’ve advanced to a higher circle of consciousness where the next storm you face won’t be quite as ferocious as the last.

Mark Layne

Listen to a conversation between Jeffrey and Mark discussing the Moving to a Higher Circle message from Shaltazar on Insight Timer

Check out the Moving to a Higher Circle message