Name It, Share It, Replace It!

The practice of this approach to contentment will take you to a new level of existence in all your relationships. At this stage, you are probably beginning to realize that this is not just a few exercises you can do today and forget tomorrow. It is in fact, a way of life that allows you to be yourself and make the needed changes in your life with the least amount of effort. These changes will be noticed by those around you, and all of your relationships will benefit. You will begin to attract new people into your life who are making similar changes; new relationships will develop. One of the very challenging areas of human life is that of attracting love, and the right people. The question is often asked, how? How do you attract the right kind of people into your life? First, you need to ask yourself the following question. What kind of people do you want to attract? Do you want angry, lazy, miserable people? Would you prefer to have kind, compassionate, and loving people in your life? If you want to attract people who are kind and loving, then you must develop these qualities in yourself. These are attracting qualities, and will attract others into your life who are of the same persuasion. This is the way it works! If you want to attract a kind and loving person into your life, then you must become a kind and loving person. Attracting Love The same principles apply to all relationships. If you want your relationships to be loving, then you must become loving. If you want love in your life, you must practice love. Furthermore, the first person you must love is yourself, because the fact is, if you do not love yourself, you will not be able to love someone else. What’s more, if you don’t love yourself you will not be able to let someone else love you. Remember, love goes where love grows. Start by being kind and compassionate towards yourself. These qualities are expressions of a spiritual reality, and are the essence of unconditional love. When you practice these qualities towards yourself, and then extend them to those around you, the kind of person you are will be evident for all to see. Those who meet you will seek out your company. In this way, you will attract those who are first of all able to love themselves, and in turn able to love you. This is simply the law of attraction; as the wisdom of the past and the hope of the future tells us, “Like seeketh like and taketh pleasure in the company of its kind”. (The Hidden Words) Be patient with yourself in this area, and keep in mind that you cannot fake love. Love attracts, and love grows in loving relationships if it doesn’t do these things, it’s not love. Wisdom As you begin to make progress on your journey, being aware of the relationship that exists between what you know, and what you think you know is important. You will also need to be aware of the different kinds of people in the world, so that you can separate what is true for you from what is false. The ability to separate what is true from what is false is a hallmark of the wise. The wisdom of the past will help you to get a perspective on yourself, and other people, and how you and they might fit into the bigger picture. The Persian poet, Ibn Yamin, back in the 13th century, suggested that there are four categories of people: 1. Those who know, and know they know (wise) 2. Those who know, but don’t know they know (asleep) 3. Those who don’t know, but know they don’t know (they will get there slowly) 4. Those who don’t know, but don’t know they don’t know (lost). Using This Wisdom In 2002, Donald Rumsfeld, the then US Secretary of Defense, used some of the wisdom of Ibn Yamin during a press conference when he said: “There are known knowns: things we know we know. There are known unknowns, that is to say, there are things we know we don’t know, but there are also unknown unknowns: things we don’t know we don’t know.” He goes on to say that it is the unknown unknowns that tend to be the most difficult to deal with. This statement initially sent journalists into a bit of a spin trying to figure out what on earth he was on about. The good news is that you don’t have to figure out what he was on about. What is important to realize is that like most human beings, there is so much you know but don’t yet know you know. This is basically because most human beings are asleep, or indifferent to this fact, and need to wake up before it is too late. The practice of this process will wake you up to this fact, and one day, the penny will drop, and you will "know you know". This is what wisdom is: knowing you know! Knowing You cannot get the full benefit of anything from thinking you know. This is because, while you are in this halfway condition, you will always be doubting yourself, and everyone else. The practice of the core steps, the exercises, and the other suggestions will help you move closer to a level of knowing, which is more like wisdom. If you stick with it, you will eventually be able to differentiate what attracts, and is good for you from what repels, and is damaging for you, no matter where it comes from. When you arrive at this level of knowing, you will start to experience the effect of wisdom. You will become part of the Ibn Yamin classification of people who know, and know they know. This is wisdom.