Have you ever found yourself stuck somewhere and not even realizing it?
I certainly have!
At first you don’t even know that you’re stuck. Then all of a sudden you realize that you’re not where you want to be. It could be in an actual physical situation, like my friend Steve, who was driving his truck in wet and rainy conditions and he literally got “stuck in the mud.” It can also be mentally, emotionally or metaphorically where you wake up and you’re not where you want to be in your life. Perhaps your health is poor, your relationships are lackluster or non-existent and your business & finances need bypass surgery stat!
A couple of months ago, I found myself stuck and at first I wasn’t even aware I was stuck. I was in Microsoft Outlook and I was looking at my emails in my In-box.
Then all of a sudden, my In-box was gone. Poof! It was nowhere to be found and a number of functions that I could previously use or had access to, were now “greyed out.” I was no longer able to access them.
“What’s going on?” The landscape of Outlook was now different and seemed unfamiliar.
Just because you can’t see something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
What was going on was that I was unaware. I was not aware that I had clicked on something inadvertently and I was now in an “Untitled Folder.” My In-box still existed. I just couldn’t see it. I started to click on the link called “Folder” and unbeknown to me I was moving down. I progressed down into another “Untitled Folder” then I pressed it again and again and I was progressing down, dropping deeper and deeper into another Untitled Folder and then another and another. I couldn’t see my progression down but the fact of the matter was I was moving downwards.
I decided to send myself a “Test” email. I could hear it “ding” but I couldn’t see it anywhere, certainly not from where I was, stuck in Untitled Folder number 4 or 5. I started reacting, getting deeper into being frustrated, deeper into feeling stuck.
In life you can progress up or you can progress down.
You have a phenomenal component in your brain called the Reticular Activating System also known as your “RAS.” It’s like a massive search engine far greater than Google that searches and sorts for what information you put into it just like when you do a “Google search” when you’re searching for information about a subject, topic, place, response etc.
If you put in resourceful thoughts and questions it will lead you to connect with Divine Flow, Pure Awareness, Pure Creative Intelligence, Pure Consciousness and it will give you access to the optimal choices/actions you need for the optimal outcome.
Conversely if you think with your “Ass” instead of your head, you’ll have unresourceful thoughts and the ensuing limiting beliefs and negative emotions that go with them. You will be stuck in a boundary condition of thinking that gives you more limiting and poor choices/actions that will lead you to another lower level Untitled Folder, then another and another.
Are your thoughts, beliefs and actions progressing you up or are they progressing you down?
As I got more frustrated I blamed my computer, I blamed Outlook.
“The Outlook got me stuck!”
Really???
No, I got me stuck.
I got stuck and I took myself there. I kept reacting and “pressing” Folder. Each time I pressed, I created a new folder and progressed another level down. I just couldn’t see it.
In life we can go along a familiar path and not see that we’ve taken a wrong turn. We lie, cheat, manipulate, fool, blame others and ourselves. Before we know it, we’re in an “Untitled Folder” and each time we do it we progress down and down. We can’t see where we’re at and we lose sight of the In-box. We lose sight of the Divine and our connection with God.
When this happens we can end up in Ground Zero where we are “stuck” – we go around in circles stuck in delusion, denial, our ego and stuck in the mud like my friend Steve, physically, mentally and emotionally.
We get stuck like I did in “Untitled Folder Number 8”
If you get arrested, you get stuck being handcuffed in the back of a police car.
If you go to prison, you are stuck in a prison cell. 20 years in prison – “Untitled Folder Number 20 Years.”
When functions are “greyed out” on a platform like Microsoft Outlook it doesn’t mean that they don’t exist. What’s actually happening is you can’t see them in this moment or you can’t use them in this moment. You don’t currently have access or the privileges required to have access.
If your ATM card or bank account is blocked, you can’t use it. If you are incarcerated in jail, it doesn’t mean that people are not free to come and go in society. It means that you are temporarily blocked.
You can think with your “ASS” – stinking thinking, reacting, blaming, lying, manipulating etc. or you can think with your “RAS” – Reticular Activating System, your brain’s super computer that’s connected to the Divine. The choice is up to you.
When someone get arrested here in the US, they are told their Miranda Rights by the arresting police officer:
“You have the right to remain silent” (from the 5th Amendment of the US Constitution)
“Anything you say, can and will be used against you in a court of law”
“You have the right to an attorney”
“If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you.”
Prior to this happening there may have been a voice in your head going “Stop this behavior” or “What you’re doing isn’t right” or you get an insight or intuition that “This is going to get you into trouble” but we often push it aside, or ignore it. We have so much other NOISE and thinking going on that we don’t even hear it above all the uproar and stinking thinking and our reactions, feeling angry, frustrated and sorry for ourselves.
When I started pressing “Folder” on Outlook, I had no idea, no clue that I kept creating new Untitled Folders.
Luckily the voice in my head whom I call ‘The Director’ yelled, “STOP.”
“Stop clicking on the Folder link.” The voice was loud and clear.
Fortunately, I paid attention and stopped.
It was a sobering moment. I closed up my laptop, stepped away from computer and walked out of the room.
Are you stuck in an Untitled Folder? How do you survive this and come back to Life?