Day 7 of the Diet

TRANSFORMATION. Congratulations. You made it. Spend today reflecting on what you have discovered about yourself, how it has changed your perceptions. Now you can share the experience with anyone you believe would profit from it. Additionally file this tool away and bring it out anytime you feel a little spiritual boot camp is in order.


The diet has put you in touch with the Primal Power of Being. This power is what changes us. It is the motive force behind everything. It is no less than our connection, at the most basic and profound level, to the creative life force that permeates everything and everyone. That power is God.

Day 6 of the 7 Day Mental Diet

Hang in there, only 1 more day to go. Then again, you may be experiencing such profound changes in your outlook that you desire more. Today’s teaching is on love and its power, its ability to change us at the core and the unique availability of love. Love is always available, if we are willing to take action. Faith without works is dead and just as with faith, love requires action. We must build up “by faithful daily exercise the true Love Consciousness.” This is a key ingredient in our daily diet since “Love and tolerance of others is our code.”

The path of enlightenment requires work, effort on our part. We start our day by “asking each morning in meditation that our creator show us the way of patience, tolerance, kindliness and love.” Do you start your day with meditation? No? Why not? Would you try to make a cake without flour? Drive your car missing a tire? Of course not. Meditation is an integral part of living on the Spiritual Basis. If you are not meditating daily, start at a simple level. Find a quiet place where you will be undisturbed for a few minutes. Take 2 or 3 deep breaths slowly exhaling. With eyes closed, consider what patience, tolerance, kindliness and love mean to you. Your mind will begin to visualize images, do not fight them or try to control them. In your minds dialogue stay focused on the task at hand. When your mind wanders gently bring it back. When it wanders again end your session and thank God for knowing Him better. What could be easier? Limit your sessions to 10 to 15 minutes. This is sufficient to start the day and we can all find this amount of time if we are willing. Of course if you have the time and are moved to longer sessions, then do.

Day 5 of the 7 day Mental Diet

…God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him (1 John 4:16). Today, attempt to greet everyone, and view everything through the prism of love. This begins by greeting all with a smile. You will not do this perfectly, no one but a saint could, the purpose is to be aware of love, experience the truly limitless capacity we have for it, to both give and receive. Observe how those whom you meet respond when you greet them with love and how your thoughts are altered when a situation or a bit of news is viewed through the prism of love. The path of love is the straight gate and the shortest way to the great Goal, to live on the Spiritual Basis one day at a time for eternity. Oh, and you are keeping this to yourself for the next couple of days, right?

Day 4 of the 7 day mental diet

Consider: “A man is sitting by a camp fire when a red hot cinder flies out and falls on his sleeve. If he blows that cinder off at once, without a moment’s delay to consider it, no harm is done. However, if he allows it to rest for even a single moment, under any pretense, the mischief is done, and it will be a troublesome task to repair the sleeve. So it is with negative thought.” Simply stated we have no control over the thoughts that surface in our consciousness or are foisted on us by others but we do choose how we will address those thoughts. Living on the Spiritual Basis the path is clear: When we turn immediately to a Power Greater Than Ourselves in prayer as soon as we become aware of the negative, regardless of its source, we remain unharmed, our sleeves hole free. We additionally avoid the trap of morbid reflection set by trying to figure out or understand why a particular thought crossed our mind; we just take the necessary action to address it. In time, this will become second nature.

By this point in the diet you are probably experiencing some difficulties, it may feel like everything is seemingly going sideways, you have more trouble now, more spiritual discontent than when you started the diet. Outstanding! You have shaken your world at its bedrock and when the shaking stops, a new and much stronger foundation will be in place. Stay the course and under no circumstance discuss what you are doing with anyone until you are done with the diet. Onwards through the fog.

DAY 3 OF THE 7 DAY DIET

Day 3: Having fun yet? The diet may be simple, but it certainly is not easy. Continue your vigilance, watching for morbid reflection and negative or destructive thinking. When you find your thoughts drifting into any of these areas stop immediately and supplant the negative and destructive with a positive thought and action where applicable. As you are beginning to discover, this is a strenuous effort and few would be able to do this for much more than seven days so take heart. The dividends you will receive are worth the effort. Consider every other diet you have ever been on, how cool would it be to drop that holiday weight in a week? Keep in focus the reason for this diet: to be aware and to learn to plant only positive, constructive, optimistic and kind thoughts in the garden of our consciousness; watered with the love and the guidance of the Creative Power of the Universe. Shhhh…remember don’t tell anyone you are on a diet. Follow this advice as well if you are considering starting a weight loss plan, an exercise program or even quitting smoking and your odds of success will increase exponentially.

DAY 2 OF THE DIET

  Day 2: If you are still considering whether to attempt this diet, take a moment in quiet contemplation and ask yourself why? Be gentle with yourself, avoiding morbid reflection at all costs.

Beginning today start measuring the emotional tone of your thoughts, becoming aware at all times of your thoughts and how they are affecting you. When you become aware that your thoughts are wandering, and everyone’s thoughts wander for it is one of the ways our subconscious speaks to us, ask yourself quietly why you drifted into that thought and how it affected you emotionally. Often they will just be random thoughts generated because of something heard, seen or smelled in the moment so do not give into  “paralysis through analysis.” Remember, often a cloudy day is just a cloudy day, nothing more. If you find that perhaps there is more to a particular thought and you cannot take a moment now, briefly note the thought and when you have the time, reflect on it for a few moments in gentle contemplation. There is a rule here that must be obeyed. The rule is we never struggle or engage in negative appraisal of these random thoughts or our thinking. We are simply observing what floats through our mind as dispassionately as we can; this is not an exercise in judging, only in observing and noting affects.

A DIFFERENT KIND OF DIET

 The seven day mental diet is a lesson in reaping and sowing. In the garden of our minds, how careful are we with the thoughts we plant and nurture in our consciousness? One of the fundamental truths of being is the thoughts we entertain will outsource into our lives. Consider: What are you reading? Watching on television? What topics do you consistently chat with friends and family about? What thoughts do you dwell on in private? These things comprise the food we feed our consciousness.

Day One: Be aware of the thoughts you entertain and the “food” you feed your mind. Be conscious in the moment. Keep notes if it helps, no extra points for spelling or correct punctuation. DO NOT tell anyone that you are on a diet, to do so guarantees failure. If the idea of doing this makes you cringe, than don’t. You are not ready. Just file it away and when ready, this wonderful tool of freedom will be available.

Improving the World

“Bless a thing and it will bless you. Curse it and it will curse you.” Regardless of circumstances, to be free we must bless anyone or anything that is causing us difficulty. If we harbor any seemingly righteous or justified anger, we ask in prayer for the willingness to see the truth. Hate and resentment is never overcome with more hate and resentment, when we harbor these things in our heart the object of our ire suffers not; we sip the cup of discontent and pain and reap its effects. All reap as they sow and by blessing that which is unlovely and objectionable not only sets us free, the world improves as well.

The Hardest Thing

Possibly the hardest spiritual direction of all is “to be still.” We have done all the indicated work regarding a difficulty or trouble confronting us. The prayers have been said. Forgiveness asked for and freely given. Meditations on receiving strength and direction accomplished. Now what? “Be still, and know that I am God” “Wait on the Lord: be of courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait I say, on the Lord.” What an order. As someone new to the path said to me years ago in all seriousness: “I need patience and I need it right now.” As my laughter subsided the thought crossed my mind, me too.

Flea Markets and Construction

Our consciousness is unsullied at birth; we are born pure in spirit, our Divine connection immaculate. But as we age and mature, our consciousness becomes layered with false beliefs in limitation, sin, sickness and all discord, obscuring our original perfection. Just as the lucky flea market shopper who stumbles across a life changing treasure hidden under layers of dirt and grime, we rediscover the Higher Truth we are born with. As we peel back the layers, employing meditation and prayer to scrape away bit-by-bit the fear, limitation, selfishness and unrighteous judgment that the world and our carnal pursuits have bound us with, our true self begins to shine through. Often it feels as if this is a task beyond us, the needed power lacking, which in fact, it is. Fortunately the innate connection we are uncovering and discovering again for the first time is power personified. By taping into this power greater than ourselves we receive not only the direction and guidance but also the needed strength to walk our path of enlightenment and awakening. 

It is easy to become overwhelmed by this undertaking, but the good news is we only need to accomplish what can be done in a day. The story is told of the mason working on an intricate tile floor in a cathedral. A visitor marveled at the work that had been done but was overwhelmed by the immensity of the area left to be tiled. When the mason was asked how he could do it, he replied, “I know about how much I can do in a day, so I mark out that much and don’t concern myself with the rest.” We employ prayer and meditation in the same way, addressing what is before us this day, leaving the morrow to care for itself.

A LITTLE THING

Ever tell a “fish” story? You know, the one that adds a few inches to or the number of fish caught. It can happen when we are talking about anything really, job, investments, kids, grandkids, accomplishments or our prowess in our “glory” days, etc. Usually the embellishment is small in nature and if we stretch logic, (kinda like stepping on that fish to make it legal) we sell it to ourselves all the while knowing in our heart of hearts that we are being a little less than truthful. We couch it in “it is no big deal, everybody does it” so we let it pass. The most troubling part is that it is truly a pointless exercise, for who are we trying to impress with this piddling deception, friends, acquaintances or even just someone newly met? How about God? Really? He knows the truth. Ourselves? We know the truth as well. On the cosmic scale these are small offenses but troubling nonetheless. Though not really a big deal in the over all scheme of enlightenment, they still make us cringe when one sneaks out due to inattention. Remember, the only thing we can do perfectly is to remain willing to grow and change. So just for today, be diligent and if one does sneak out stop and clear it up immediately and you will find after having followed this course of action a few times, your attention will be surprisingly sharpened.