“The really happy people are those who have broken the chains of procrastination, those who find satisfaction in doing the job at hand. They’re full of eagerness, zest, productivity. You can be, too.”
– Norman Vincent Peale 
 
I’ll Do it Later
Do you procrastinate? Do you have an ever-growing ‘I’ll do it later’ list? I do.  Or I did.

My list was mental rather than written. It was full of jobs that had been niggling at the back of my mind for goodness knows how long. Jobs that I’d notice again and again as I looked around my house or yard or office, and thought, “I want to get that done, but not now. I’ll do it later.” That item then went on my mental ‘do it later’ list.

This mental to-do list is not an intentional thing. It just happens. Chances are we all have them. Whether at work or at home, in the yard or in the car, something grabs your attention and you think, “I want to do that, but I don’t have time now.”

It may be that you don’t have the energy right now, or other things feel more urgent. For whatever reason it gets shunted off to the mental category of ‘later.’

There is an energetic problem with the ‘do it later’ list. It weighs on you, whether you are aware of it or not. As more and more items get added to your list, it gets heavier and heavier.

In time, your home or office aren’t supporting you energetically, they are draining you. As you walk around, seeing all those many things that need to be done, you just feel tired.

​What’s a person to do?

Written Lists Don’t Work for Me
There are some organized individuals who notice something that needs doing and write it down on a to-do list. They will use this list later and actually get those things done.

They never clutter up their brains with a mental ‘I’ll do it later’ list. They aren’t weighed down by jobs waiting to get done. They just do the jobs and cross them off their list.

I am in awe of these people, and I have tried to do this. Really, I have.

The difficulty I encounter is that my ever-lengthening written to-do list weighs on me too. I feel trapped by it. It is never finished.

I guess it is just the way my brain works. I get one item done and all I see are the many items still to be done. That list doesn’t inspire me to go on to do more. In fact,  just the opposite.

Mental Lists Do Work for Me
Despite the fact that a mental list can get heavy, the thing about the mental list that does work for me is that it is hidden in my memory. I don’t have to look at the whole thing all at once as I do with a written list.

When I work off a written list, I may have a feeling of completion when a job is done, but it is short-lived. As soon as I pick up the list to cross off the completed job, I see everything else that is still to be done.

My feeling of accomplishment is buried beneath everything else still on the list.

This may just be my own need for an attitude adjustment, or it may be that one size does not fit all. If anyone else has experienced the same thing as you’ve tried to organize your life, there is another way – try working organically.

Work Organically
This is how it goes. I invest an hour or even a half-hour, a day. I choose a location in my house or office, and do whatever job first comes to mind.  It may be a time-sensitive job that must be done that day, or it may be a job on my ‘do it later’ list, a job that has been waiting and weighing on me.

Whichever it is, when I get that job done, I feel a surge of positive energy.

It feels so good that I am inspired to get something else done. Whatever next grabs my attention. An hour goes by doing whatever jobs come up and I feel energized and content with what I have accomplished.

When the hour is over, I stop. This is important. That time limit keeps your energy fresh so that you want to continue the next day.

​When I am working organically, and I finish each job that steps forward to be done, I feel a sense of accomplishment. I get that satisfying feeling of completion. It energizes me and I want to do more.

Example of an Organic Hour
Here’s what an organic hour from last week looked like.

I stood in the kitchen and looked around. There were a few dishes to wash. I did so.

I saw that the counter surfaces needed wiping down. I got that done. That felt good.

I looked up and saw finger smudges around the handles on the white kitchen cabinets. This was something I’d been wanting to get to for a while. I cleaned them. That felt really good as I crossed it off my mental list.

Then I thought about how I wanted to touch up the paint on the cabinets. I’d ignored that job for quite a while.

I went down to the basement and got paint and a brush and touched up the paint on the cabinets. Wow, that felt good to get done!

I felt a surge of positive energy and a sense of completion.

My hour was up. The positive feelings inspired me to do another hour the next day and another the day after that.

Trust Your Inner Guidance System
As you work organically each job grows out of the job before. There is no need to keep track of everything that needs to get done.

Jobs will suggest themselves as you work. Priorities sort themselves. You do what next grabs your attention.

As you work organically you are trusting your inner guidance system.

​The more that you can work in alignment with your inner guidance system, the better you feel, and the more you create a pattern of alignment throughout the rest of your day. 

 “It is not about me, my self. It is about God, my Self.”
-Unknown
 
“Be in the world but not of the world.' The words are from Jesus. But I have not the slightest idea how to accomplish that or even if it's possible. The world will always poke you in the chest with its index finger.”
― Francisco X. Stork, Marcelo in the Real World
 
             
A few years back, I asked God for help in maintaining my inward focus at rehearsals for a women’s singing group I was a member of. There was a reason I needed this help.
 
Although I loved the singing and enjoyed being with the other women, my tendency was to focus my attention outward. I attended to all the people in the room, looking about, conversing, scattering my energies about the room attempting to control what I could not control. My ego self inevitably jumped in and started judging and criticizing myself. This all left me feeling off-center and out of kilter. I came home from rehearsals feeling tired and out of sorts.    
 
The morning I asked for help, I had the thought to bring my knitting to rehearsal, as I had seen some other women do. I did not knit while we sang, only during breaks. It was enough. It was the answer to my prayer.
 
As I focused my attention on knitting, I was delighted to find that it kept me focused inwardly. It helped me to relax, stay centered, breathe and think, “God.” I found that even as I carried on conversations with others the knitting held my attention and kept me feeling balanced.
 
When I was knitting my eyes were focused on the work in my lap. I could hold a conversation, I could look up and attend to who I was talking to, I could be generally aware of what is going on in the room, yet, my eyes were always pulled back to the knitting, my attention stayed focused. I was not scattering my energy, I was focusing it.
 
When I knit, and this was the important part for me, I was not trying to control what was going on in the room. Instead, I was controlling what was going on inside me. That was the only thing I truly had control over. Anything else was a waste of energy.
 
Knitting held just enough of my attention so that I was able to stay slightly apart, in a good way, a healthy way.
 
That was true then, and it is still true now. It is all about attention. Where your attention is, is where your energy flows. Spiritual development is learning how to selectively attend to your God Self within.
 
God is within each of us. When we feel centered, our focus is from our God Self. It is as if we are looking out at the world from our heart center. It can be almost a physical sensation in the area of the heart chakra. We feel deep compassion.
 
You may experience a slight feeling of separation from all that surrounds you, as if you are not wholly a part of it. And indeed you are not, for just as when I was knitting, much of your attention is focused elsewhere, experiencing from within. It is as if you are inwardly knitting.
 
In time perhaps, we can all learn to knit from within no matter whether we are knitters or not, but for now, knitting on the outside works just fine.
 
Photo by Rebecca Grant on Unsplash

Manifesting our desires into this level of existence sometimes seems a magical process about which we can only hope and wish. According to Huna teachings that is not the case. Huna teaches that the process of manifestation is a specific process which can be easily learned.

Since I learned of it, I’ve been using the Huna technique of breath energized manifesting to create funds for various specific objectives, a workshop I wanted to attend, several short trips and a longer trip I’m preparing for, as well as maintaining an emergency savings account. The money showed up in each case. For the workshop I received what I needed from an unexpected source, just in time, a day or two before the workshop. Other times the money arrived well beforehand, again unexpectedly, not a part of our regular budgeting. Exciting stuff!

So, let me share with you my version of the Huna method of breath energized manifesting. 

First, a quick recap. In the last few posts of Know Thyself we learned that the subconscious mind is in charge of the body and the emotions. It also responsible for gathering and storing energy to give to the conscious and the superconscious minds.

The conscious mind is in charge of the mental aspects of things, the will.

The superconscious mind is in charge of manifesting. It is Divine Will and so functions at a level that is beyond understanding, but for this discussion we will focus upon its role as manifestor.

 The process of manifesting according to Huna teachings is this:

1. The conscious mind determines specifically what it wants to manifest. Consciously taking the time to envision what is wanted and get the emotions and thus the subconscious involved.
2. Once the focus is clearly determined and visualized, the conscious mind directs the subconscious to gather surplus energy. The conscious mind can aid in that through consciously directed deep breathing. 
3. The conscious mind thanks the subconscious for giving the gathered energy to the superconscious for the purposes of manifesting this intention.
4. The conscious mind directs a prayer through the subconscious mind to the superconscious with the specific intention and visualizations. As the conscious mind conceptualizes and the subconscious ‘feels’ the intention to the superconscious, the subconscious allows the surplus energy to flow to the superconscious, supporting the physical manifestation of the intention.

It is important to note that only the subconscious can gather and give energy. The subconscious is positively engaged when positive emotion is experienced. The superconscious needs the energy gathered and given by the subconscious to build our design in this reality. As the conscious mind envisions the thought forms of the desired intention imbuing them with all the detail possible, the subconscious has an emotional response. It may be excitement, or joy, or contentment or some other positive emotion. If, as you envision your intention you experience any twinge of fear or negativity or disbelief, this must be cleared or the necessary energy will not be sent to the superconscious. The subconscious will dig in its heels, so to speak, and refuse to budge. The flow and manifestation of your intention will be blocked.

There are many excellent tools and healers available for reprogramming the subconscious mind. The tool I use most often with my clients is FasterEFT-V, which you can find out more about on our Resources page. 

All three selves must be in accord, all three pulling in the same direction for prayer to be manifested.
​
The manifestation process is not a mysterious unknown in Huna. It is consciously directed prayer, conceptualization and feeling, supported by intentionally gathered energy. It is a simple and effective process.


Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash 

"If you are not using Huna, then you are working too hard."
-Max Freedom Long

There are many different ways to understand ourselves but one of the most useful I’ve found is that taught by Max Freedom Long, best-known researcher of the psycho-religious system of Huna. Huna is based upon the ancient Hawaiian Kahuna healing and manifesting practices. The teachings and techniques available through Huna Research Inc. are surprisingly simple and practical. I have cherry-picked those parts of Huna teachings that I’ve found especially useful, and I will share the basics of what I’ve learned in these posts. For more in-depth research and technique please explore the many resources available on-line and at the Huna Research Inc. website.

Huna teaches that we are made up of three selves, the subconscious or low self, the conscious or middle self, and the superconscious or high self. The subconscious self manages the autonomic functions of the body as well as the emotional body. The conscious self is the reasoning intellect, the will. The superconscious self is our divine self, the divine will. The superconscious, being divine is that part of us which manifests and creates, supported by the subconscious and conscious selves.

Your three selves must be in alignment in order for you to successfully create in your life and maintain your creations. That means getting all three selves on board for whatever you intend to manifest. To do that we need to get to know each of our three selves intimately and how they are interdependent.

In the next few posts here in Know Thyself we’ll come to understand these parts of ourselves according to the teachings of Huna. Once we’ve become familiar with our parts we can explore putting them together. We may discover there’s magic in alignment!


Photo by Cinematic Imagery on Unsplash