The Power of Positive Thinking

Kathy Crabbe, Love, 1998, silk dyes on silk, 7x7”.

I've been delving back into the Seth Books (channeled by Jane Roberts beginning in 1963). I read them before going to sleep; to invigorate my dreams and shift my consciousness. I always find a few nuggets of wisdom each time I flick through her books and this particular nugget (see below) stayed with me for a while; especially part 4, about how we plant the seeds of the future in the present. I've been consciously working with planting seeds of success in my own future and practicing gratitude (saying my blessings) for all I have in my present every day and it really does make a difference. I feel happier and more positive all round. It seems so simple, but sometimes simple things are the easiest to remember and put into practice. I am not advocating that we all become Miss (or Mr.) Sunshine 24-7, that's just plain annoying, but that we make some room in our daily lives for positive thinking alongside our daily practices.

One: I will approve of myself, my characteristics, my abilities, my likes and dislikes, my inclinations and disinclinations, realizing that these form my unique individuality. They are given me for a reason.

Two: I will approve of and rejoice in my accomplishments, and I will be as vigorous in listing these -- as rigorous in remembering them -- as I have ever been in remembering and enumerating my failures or lacks of accomplishment.

Three: I will remember the creative framework of existence, in which I have my being. Therefore the possibilities, potentials, seeming miracles, and joyful spontaneity of Framework 2 will be in my mind, so that the doors to creative living are open.

Four: I will realize that the future is a probability. In terms of ordinary experience, nothing exists there yet. It is virgin territory, planted by my feelings and thoughts in the present. Therefore I will plant accomplishments and successes, and I will do this by remembering that nothing can exist in the future that I do not want to be there.

From Dreams, "Evolution", and Value Fulfillment, Vol. 1 by Jane Roberts.

How to envision a new reality: Tips from the ancient dreamers

While reading the Seth Material (printed below) please be aware that this is channeled information received by Jane Roberts from Seth, “an energy personality essence no longer focused in physical form”. Many people find this kind of writing transports them creatively into other worlds and dimensions.

The text below about the ancient dreamers clicked with me instantly so I'd like to share with you how it relates to my work. When I began my current series of paintings, Journey into Intimacy I too radically slowed my pace of living; editing and simplifying, putting my painting and drawing at the forefront. My inner compass has always been guided by my dreams and I feel a natural affinity with the ancient cave painters, and with vedic scribes and medieval monks; creators of the illuminated manuscripts. I also believe that we can heal and create our reality using our thoughts, dreams and visions as a starting point. But now, with my current work I am expanding that personal vision, just as the ancient dreamers and cave painters did, into the external world. My dreams are my paintings and, like the ancient dreamers, invite you to step into a new world and envision a new reality.

My first painting on canvas from the Journey into Intimacy series is titled "Take me to your playground" (see above) which quite literally is an invitation, but an invitation to what sort of playground is unclear, leaving room for imagination - that part is up to you. Please feel free to share your thoughts, comments and visions below.

Notes from the Seth Material by Jane Roberts

There is a great underlying unity in all of man's so-called early cultures - cave drawings and religions - because they were all fed by that common source, as man tried to transpose inner knowledge into physical actuality.

The body learned to maintain its stability, its strength and agility, to achieve a state of balance in complementary response to the weather and elements, to dream computations that the conscious mind alone could not hold. The body learned to heal itself in sleep in its dreams - and at certain levels in that state even now each portion of consciousness contributes to the health and stability of all other portions. Far from the claw-and-dagger universe, you have one whose very foundation is based upon the loving cooperation of all of its parts.

These ancient dreams were shared to some extent by each consciousness that was embarked upon the earthly venture, so that creatures and environment together formed great environmental realities. Valleys and mountains, and their inhabitants, together dreamed themselves into being and coexistence.

The species - from your viewpoint - lived at a much slower pace in those terms. The blood, for example did not need to course so quickly through the veins, the heart did not need to beat so fast.

Gravity itself did not carry its all pervasive sway, so that the air was more buoyant. Man was aware of its support in a luxurious, intimate fashion. He was aware of himself in a different way, so that, for example, his identification with the self did not stop where his skin stopped: He could follow it outward into the space about his form, and feel it merge with the atmosphere with a primal sense-experience that you have forgotten.

In a fashion those ancient dreams, through their immense creativity, dreamed all of life's creatures in all of their pasts, presents, and futures - that is, their dreams opened up the doors of space and time to entities that otherwise would not have been released into actualization, even as, for example, the units of consciousness were once released from the mind of All That Is.

Dreams, "Evolution," and Value Fulfillment Vol. 1, A Seth Book by Jane Roberts