Endowed with Omnipotence: Discover the Power of Your Thoughts

INTRODUCTION

I became intrigued with the idea of the power of thought in spring 2008, when my mother gave me a copy of The Secret. The Secret , written by Rhonda Byrne, is a metaphysical book claiming thoughts have power. Up to that point in my life, I believed in the power of positive thinking and I believed in the benefits of optimism. I believed attitude equaled altitude. However, I did not believe thoughts contained actual power, nor did I believe that physical reality stemmed from the thoughts of the conscious mind. I believed that the conscious mind was synonymous with the brain, and I believed the brain to be nothing more than a lump of grey matter.

Little did I know in 2008, with my copy of The Secret opened to page one, that I was about to investigate ideas on the power of thought, physics, religion, psychology, anatomy, and philosophy in an attempt to discover if the mind had power over the physical world. Nor did I know, as I held page one firmly in my fingers on that summer day that my life, as I knew it, was about to change—for the worse. Restoring order to the chaos life was about to shovel on me would require that I unravel the enigma behind the power of thought.

By 2008, my husband and I had purchased over a dozen rental properties, an ambitious venture that we had built up over the course of several years. This endeavor had eventually enabled both of us to quit our day jobs in order to manage our properties. I beamed with pride over what we had accomplished. Unfortunately, that feeling was short lived. We lost nearly all of our assets, including many of our personal belongings, when the real-estate market crashed. My marriage crumbled shortly afterwards, which left me alone with two young children to care for, escalating bills, insufficient income, and an imminent financial collapse. My life spiraled downward in what seemed to be an unstoppable plunge.

At some point, near the beginning of my downfall, I opened The Secret to page one. Perhaps I drew The Secret to myself in my moment of need. I believe I did. However, I was not easily convinced of the power of thought in just this one book. While the material the author presented, on the power of the mind, intrigued me at a time when I was entirely discouraged, I felt the book left many more secrets unanswered. What exactly is the mind’s untapped power and what power do thoughts have? Do thoughts have the ability to create experiences in life and to what degree? How do thoughts bring about experiences? Do all thoughts have power or only certain ones? How was it that I kept trying and trying to focus on positive aspects, yet my struggles continued? If the mind has some super power ability, then why is this power not apparent to everyone? If thoughts have power, where was my power? For example, the power of my mind felt nearly impossible to summon when I wanted to achieve a specific result, yet somehow this power easily produced distress. As a result, I certainly felt incapable of summoning the power of my mind in 2008. What I did not know, however, was that the power of my mind was working in direct correlation with my predominant thoughts and beliefs at the time; I was actually creating my hardships.

To my benefit, during my days of despondency, a spark of thought lodged in my mind. Thoughts have power. I let that thought grow. Embedding that thought into my mind, or more precisely embedding any thought into the mind, does something miraculous. I am probably getting ahead of myself at this point. Nevertheless, it is sufficient to say that when you concentrate on an idea, that idea grows, attracts additional thoughts, and materializes itself in reality. When I embedded that one thought, as it turned out, I initiated my investigation into the power of thought, which enabled me to not only reinvent my life, but also, helped me begin to live an extraordinary life.

Part of my incredible journey includes writing this book; as writing this book was not something that I had set out to do. I set out to discover the truth. I wanted to know if thoughts contained power. I immersed myself in countless books on the power of thought, meditation, and ancient and modern philosophy. I looked for anything that could either corroborate or disprove the power of thought. I wanted the facts. I wanted to understand my world and understand how the power of thought could fit into what appeared to be such an orderly domain. I read the teachings of Buddha, Tao Tzu, the Bible, and countless books by self-help authors who had written about the power of the mind. I read everything I could get my hands on that shed light on the truthfulness of the power of thought. After several years of research, I finally learned the mind’s secrets.

What I discovered has the ability to change anybody’s life, at any time, and to any degree. I discovered that reality is an expression of your beliefs. What you believe to be true, and what you believe to be false, is exchangeable. When you exchange what you believe, you change reality. In these statements, all of life’s answers reside. Let me give you a glimpse, right now, into the relevance of what I mean, as these statements will be a major theme throughout this book.

If, at this moment, you were to write down everything that you claim as your personal knowledge, that list would be nothing more than a compilation of your beliefs and assumptions on matters. Examples of your beliefs include your ideology, your values, your personal theories, and your attitudes and opinions. In addition, all forms of assumed knowledge, also, are beliefs and assumptions, including scientific theories, universal laws, and even algebraic equations such as 2x=4. Some of those beliefs and assumptions might be shared globally or shared by just a few individuals. Who or how many people share your beliefs does not make your beliefs more accurate. A belief is a mental agreement or an assumption about reality, not a fact of reality.

Even simple arithmetic, such as two apples plus two apples equals four apples, obligates us to subscribe to a system of beliefs that defines what the numbers two and four represent and exactly what an apple is for that matter. The whole world might agree on the definition of an apple. However, we still do not have a fact. What we have is a congruent belief.

Our agreed to beliefs as a society fill dictionaries, encyclopedias, and textbooks. When we agree to share beliefs, we can speak of apples and numbers and know what each other means. Common ground is developed. Ultimately, though, the truths that we think we know within the physical world are altogether reducible to a collection of corresponding thoughts called beliefs, and beliefs under every single circumstance are exchangeable. When you change your beliefs, reality also changes to reflect your beliefs.

The relevance of this epiphany is that if there are no truths, if all we have are our beliefs and the experiences that result from accepting our beliefs as valid, then by deliberately changing what we believe, we can deliberately change reality. We can strip truth from our current beliefs and build new truths. As we do this, our experiences in life will change. Thus, we are in complete control of our experiences simply by managing the quality of our beliefs.

In a sense, beliefs give reality an outline that serves as both a guide and a boundary for physical experiences to take place. If you consider the scope of potential experiences any given person can have, then you will discover that the range is endless. You can be anything. You can do anything. You can believe anything about yourself and the world around you. Beliefs narrow your choices by providing you with a focus. As you focus on specific beliefs, an in-depth understanding of certain concepts can occur. You can come to understand the meaning of love, happiness, joy, and sorrow through experiences, which your beliefs help to stage.

Consider how themes narrow the scope of a research paper. Beliefs narrow reality in the same manner by restricting experiences to certain central themes. This narrowing permits in-depth self-exploration to occur. We can think of ourselves as an engineer or a schoolteacher, or we can think of ourselves as shy or outgoing, and then have the in-depth life experiences associated with those beliefs.

Reality then evolves from a succession of exchanged thoughts and beliefs as we reorganize our mental outline; as our thinking evolves, reality evolves. I can change my ideas about what I aspire to be. I can change my opinions of my own self-worth. I can change my beliefs about the people I love. I can change any belief that I have at any time. As I change my beliefs, my experiences in life will change to reflect the belief. Since we have absolute control over what we choose to think and believe, we have absolute control over what we experience in reality. Reality changes as our beliefs change.

As I made the connection between my beliefs and my experiences in reality, I started to wonder if I could change my situation simply by stripping it of truth. Could I change my thoughts and beliefs to allow new truths? Since there are no truths, and if my experiences result from my beliefs, then why not change what I believe to be true, in order to serve me better. For example, could I start believing that I could accomplish anything and stop believing I was stuck? Likewise, could I get myself to believe that I was prospering instead of struggling? My curiosity caused me to experiment with my thoughts.

I dug into my research even further, in order to understand how to manipulate my thoughts. I was interested in overcoming the destruction, but also I wondered if I could use the power of my mind to create my interpretation of an ideal life. There was ample material published that acknowledged the mind had power. Yet, most of this material offered an insufficient explanation as to how the mind’s power actually works. I wanted to know why the power was challenging to engage at times. I wanted to understand why negativity was easy to attract, yet my idea of a perfect life always seemed out of reach. I wanted to know why anyone would deliberately attract illness, financial crisis, heartbreak, or an unexpected tragedy. As I explored the power of thought, I discovered the answers to these questions.

Through my research, I discovered what the power of the mind truly is. There is a connection between the initiation of a thought and the eventual formation of reality. Hence, the power of the mind is the power a person’s thoughts have to create reality. In a sense, what each person experiences in reality is like a hologram of his or her conscious mind. Upon making this connection, I also came to understand so much more, such as how we evolve, what purpose feelings serve, and the influence physical action has on beliefs. Countless questions that seemed unanswerable sprung forth in illumination as I unraveled the mystery of the power of thought. I began to see with clarity my thoughts’ involvement in what had accrued in my life. I had been tossing my thoughts down like stepping-stones to my future. I saw this in myself. I saw this occur in others. I saw it in everyone everywhere. I became completely convinced of the power of thought.

The process of this discovery was not without challenges. My investigation took several years, hundreds of books, and diligent, faithful application of what I had learned. The reward was that a new world opened for me providing further proof, as I saw it, that thoughts do have power. Suddenly, I was able to direct my life towards previously inconceivable outcomes, such as deciding to write this book and actually writing it. I felt like a stallion whose blinders have been removed for the first time; I could see in directions that were previously blocked. I became unstoppable in my endeavors as I adopted the belief that whatever in life I want is mine for the plucking, as long as I am willing to put forth mental effort. As a result, I pieced my life back together thought by thought.

Life is now an open path to accomplishment for me and my thoughts are leading the way. The power I feel knowing that is exhilarating. Yet, as I began to plow through my obstacles, I noticed scores of others struggling. I had developed a higher knowledge of the power of the mind. However, I realized the knowledge was not mine alone to keep. Tucked away at the back of my mind, my knowledge clawed at me for release, as I saw others facing the same hardships I once tackled.

In September 2011, I began to record what I learned. The result is Endowed with Omnipotence: Discover the Power of Your Thoughts. My book presents the trail to harnessing the power of your mind. My intention is to connect you with your omnipotent power of thought, end your disparaging situations, and create the same path to achievement that I have found.

I will leave you with one final word before we dig in. The power of thought is more than the ability to create wealth, happiness, power, wellness, or love. The power of thought is greater than an ability to achieve success. Certainly, the power of thought includes these abilities. You can use the power of your thoughts to your own benefit and even change your condition, once you realize the power your mind has. However, if you believe the power of thought is limited to an ability to achieve success or that it is merely an ability to remain optimistic when faced with hardships, then you are in for an awakening. The power of thought is authentic. When you understand the power of your mind, you will come to know the true nature of your being, you will learn how you evolve, and you will discover that you are an infinite being.

CHAPTER 1

Understanding The Power of Thought, Beliefs & Reality

DO THOUGHTS HAVE POWER?

Y our mind has one function. That one function is to produce thoughts. In turn, thoughts have one function. Their function is to create experiences in reality. When I speak of the power of the mind or the power of thought, the power that I am referring to is the control you have over your thoughts. If you can control your thoughts, and your thoughts create reality, then you can design reality. When I set out to investigate the power of the mind, I wanted to know if the mind’s thoughts could affect physical reality. I wanted to prove or disprove this concept.

My quest for the power of thought started in 2008 with one question; do thoughts have power? When I began searching for that answer, my idea of thought power vaguely embraced a notion of optimism, positive thinking, a winning attitude, and I guess you could say general cheerfulness. As I became aware that the power of thought was something greater than optimism—that it was actual, realistic, attracting power—I was intrigued with the idea. Yet, I admit I was a bit skeptical. Early on, I did not understand how it could be true. I did not understand how mental thoughts could manufacture physical reality. The concept seemed bizarre to me.

If not for the devastation occurring in my life at the time, I probably would not have explored the power much beyond the first few books I read. I was not looking for a lifeline or for a quick fix. Rather, I was looking for my contribution to the problems that were occurring in my life. I wanted to change my situation. I thought the only way I could change my life was to take responsibility for my problems. Responsibility is a frame of mind, just as failure is a frame of mind. For that reason, I felt gaining control of my attitude seemed like a logical starting point. That objective caused me to investigate the power of thought.

I read countless books on the power of thought and used the techniques suggested by the various authors. The books I read instructed me that if I steadily thought of something its manifestation would soon follow. Instead, what followed was a series of botched attempts at manifesting results in reality; botched attempts, that is, according to my understanding at the time of how this power supposedly worked.

Initially, my understanding of the mind’s power was that thought lent towards a topic was all that was necessary to produce results in physical reality. With that loose interpretation in mind, sometimes the power of thought worked without so much as a blemish, and I was able to attract my desires. For example, I was able to attract small amounts of money and minor business successes. Other times I felt abandoned by this power, as my thoughts went unfulfilled, which in turn caused me to believe that the power of thought was grossly misrepresented.

For most people, exploration into the conscious mind stops near the point of their first failure, which also could be a summation of our undertakings in life in general. We have conditioned ourselves to believe that a failure means we are inept. Therefore, with the power of thought, often people become aware of the idea that thoughts contain power or that their mind has some untapped super ability. They attempt to conjure business success or a lot of money through the power of their mind. They fail to summon the object of their desire. The power is doubted and eventually dismissed. Fortunately, I did not stop at the point of my first failure. I was determined to understand if the power of thought was authentic.

I could have chalked up my life’s successes and failures to spontaneity, coincidence, luck, impulse, or accident. Nevertheless, I did not for one reason. Multitudes of extraordinary men and women have written about or talked about the power of the mind throughout history—Plato, Andrew Carnegie, Napoleon Hill, Buddha, Tao Tzu, Jesus, Albert Einstein, Henry Ford, Charles Haanel, Helen Keller—to name only a few examples. I wanted to know how each of these extraordinary personalities came to embrace the power of his or her mind.

Conversely, there are people who dismiss the power as though it is as irrelevant and bogus as a three-dollar bill. Although here is the perplexity, cynics and supporters both have beliefs that influence their experiences. People who believe in the power of their thoughts experience the power of their mind. People who do not believe in the power see no proof at all. There can only be one way, in which people’s beliefs can be in opposition, yet each group remains certain that their belief is correct, and that is, we experience our beliefs. The power of thought exists as a function of the conscious mind to experience its thoughts and beliefs in physical reality.

Through the power of thought, each person’s point of view can appear truthful because each person actually creates his or her personal truths through his or her thoughts. Thus, a belief in favor of an idea or a belief against an idea each produces a reality that supports the belief. The effect is the belief seems verified and authentic to each individual. For example, consider the separate perspectives of a disputing married couple. The wife might believe the husband is inconsiderate. The husband might believe the wife is ultra-sensitive. Each believes that his or her assessment is the accurate assessment. This happens because each person is the creator of his or her own perspective; a perspective is a lifetime collection of ideas on matters. Each person’s perspective is as unique as his or her fingerprints. Consequently, a person views his or her own thoughts as all the proof necessary to confirm his or her point of view. I am right because I think I am right. In a sense, this is like hanging a clock on the wall and then pointing to that clock as proof that time exists. Likewise, people create their own opinions. They, then, point to their opinions, or the opinions of those who agree with them, as proof that their assessment is correct.

The more I contemplated the role beliefs play in the portrayal of reality, the more clearly I began to see the power of thought emerge. It is a real authentic power. The power of thought works within your belief system. American Industrialist Henry Ford said, Whether you think you can or whether you think you cannot, you’re right. Ford understood that truth is an illusion. Truth is something you create in your mind. If you believe something is true, then you will experience it as though it were true. Consequently, reality is the ultimate masquerade party for the power of thought.

As I dug further into my research, I realized nothing was wrong with the power of my mind, as my initial botched attempts at creating success would seem to indicate. I was green. I was an amateur. I mistook my early failures at producing specific outcomes, as a failure of the power of thought. I assumed the power must not work if my thoughts did not produce what I wanted, such as money, abundance, change, or happiness in my life. However, I had never assumed command of this power. So content had I been for all these years to allow my compulsive thoughts to pound out reality that I overestimated my ability to take charge of my mind. Misunderstanding the power of thought, I arrogantly assumed I could demand of this power abundance and harmony, as if my mind’s powers were a genie in a bottle waiting for my arousal.

The power of thought is not a wish granter. You cannot summon money, fame, or happiness based solely on desire. The power of thought is a dynamic force that requires comprehension in order to control it. You see, the power of thought works whether you guide it or not, whether you believe in it or not, and whether you think it is working or whether you think it is not working. It works all the time, every time, without fail—infinitely. It only appears to be misfiring when it is misunderstood. If harnessing the power of your mind is truly desirable, then you must make the effort to understand how the power of thought works. Once you understand how your mind works, then directing your thought power becomes straightforward.

Understanding the power of thought reveals something else—something profound. The power of thought is much greater than an ability to attract abundance and harmony. It is much greater than a mere nod to optimism. Every question you have about yourself and the world around you is answerable through this power; the power of thought reveals our purpose for being here.

WHY ARE WE UNAWARE OF OUR POWER? A LESSON IN HISTORY

The idea might seem strange to you to consider that an omnipotent power is available to you, yet slips deceptively by your awareness. After all, if your mind has power, then why are you oblivious to it? Why are most people oblivious to this power? Why is the mind’s power unnoticeable?

Bear in mind that ours is a history plagued with blissful unawareness. An examination of our thoughts and beliefs over the years, decades, and centuries provides glaring affirmation of our stubbornness to examine the quality of our thoughts. We simply do not consider our beliefs to be anything less than factual; nor do we question our purpose for embracing our beliefs.

There are reasons that we take our beliefs for granted. Beliefs give a sense of consistency to an otherwise variable world. You can imagine how inconsistent reality would appear if it were not held to a particular point of view, such as if you had to redesign your beliefs each day. Consequently, your current beliefs lend a degree of credibility to your interaction with the physical world.

We can look to history for an example of how oblivious we are to the beliefs that shape our lives. Misconceptions, all throughout history, are easy to spot, especially at points where beliefs were aggressive. Rewind to the Salem witch trials of 1692-1693, which tragically resulted in over one hundred and fifty arrests, of which more than twenty men and woman were condemned to death by hanging. These unfortunate souls were thought to be witches. However, the physical actions of these unfortunate souls, such as the strange behaviors they exhibited, did not earn them a death sentence. It was the thoughts the pursuers had about the behaviors of the pursued that led to the consequence of the hangings.

A link exists between the thoughts we accumulate and the consequences that follow. A person does not act, nor does a consequence occur, without a thought providing direction. You think and then you act. It is not the other way around. You do not take action first, followed by the thought of the action. Thus, an existing state of awareness, a system of beliefs or an accumulation of thoughts, had to exist for reality to unfold as it did in Salem.

I brought your attention to the Salem witch trials to illustrate a point. Thoughts produce consequences. If the elders or townsman held no beliefs regarding the behaviors of the subjects in question, or if the concept of witchcraft had not mushroomed into a cultural belief, then the history of Salem, Massachusetts, would have been much different. However, at that time, beliefs in witchcraft were prevalent, and it was those beliefs that led to consequences in the physical world. The Salem witch trials provide an example of a reality that felt distinctly real and factual, yet contained only an illusion of truth based entirely upon common beliefs of the day.

You can make the point that the Salem witch executions were hastily carried out due to a lack of understanding the physical world coupled with an embracement of superstitious beliefs. Ah, but we are right back to the idea that thoughts and beliefs lead to experiences. The beliefs about the world and the beliefs about witchcraft led to the outcome of the hangings. Thoughts produce outcomes. All points in history are defined by prevailing cultural beliefs. Changes in cultural beliefs cause shifts in cultural happenings.

We view the Salem witch trials through the filter of modern beliefs as episodes of mass hysteria or religious extremism. The hangings seem archaic, barbaric, and antiquated. We can see today how erroneous beliefs can lead to damaging consequences. We could even convince ourselves that the thinking in 1692 Salem was defunct. Modern thinking, we tell ourselves, has thankfully led us out of the dark ages of preposterous thought. On the other hand, has it?

Ultimately, we cannot see the damaging consequences occurring now because of our own thoughts. We view our reality through our own personal beliefs just as those in Salem viewed the world through personal beliefs. Our beliefs are neither right nor wrong. They are neither fact nor fiction. They are not justified or contemptible. They are merely an inspection point through which we experience reality. Our beliefs today are just as comfortable as the beliefs held by those in early Salem. As a result, our beliefs blind us quite competently to the consequences that follow.

We do not link our experiences in reality to the thoughts that produced the reality. For example, while we might be able to understand very easily, now, how a belief in witchcraft could lead to an execution, we are unable to see how a belief that money is scarce could produce our own financial hardships. Nor do we see how a belief that we lack something, such as a formal education, discourages us from pursuing certain opportunities. We are oblivious as to how our beliefs cause us to have, or prevent us from having certain experiences, just as those in Salem were unaware of the reality they were manufacturing with their beliefs. Ultimately, though, neither the reality in 1692 Salem Massachusetts, nor the reality that you experience now, is ever laced with truth.

Thumbing through history books spotting false assumptions is relatively easy. All anyone actually has is a collection of thoughts on matters at any given point. Likewise, your knowledge now is nothing more than a summary of your existing beliefs. While you might feel confident of your beliefs, arrogance does not make your world more accurate or truthful. Your beliefs give you one thing, a framework for experiencing reality.

While beliefs and assumptions are easy to spot in others or easy to spot in history, they are not so easy to discover within ourselves. We, often, are blind as to how our most apparent beliefs shape our lives. How easy do you suppose it is, to identify small insignificant thoughts that govern your daily life? What thoughts, do you suppose, cause you to forfeit your dream life? What thoughts prevent you from trying? Do you think you could identify the thoughts that cause your financial hardships, your weight gain, your illness, or your struggles with relationships? Regardless if you are experiencing success or failure, health or an illness, abundance or lack, your thoughts produce every single experience that you have in reality.

Our thoughts and beliefs are no more apparent to us today than our ancestors’ beliefs were to them four hundred years ago. Most of us never stop to examine what we think, why we think it, and how the thought affects us. We are accustomed to accepting our beliefs as factual interpretations of reality.

We become stuck on the word fact. We think reality is somehow anchored by proofs and actualities. I know for a fact that I need money to start a business. The story I heard on the news is true. They are wrong about that political candidate. It has been scientifically verified. That theory is true. The idea does not occur to us that our point of view is alterable, and so we accept our situation as being fixed and constant. However, we can alter, exchange, and surrender every single thought that we have. When we alter,