There is more than one level of mind. This is the essence of the Principle of Correspondence. There are at least three levels of mind. You have the ability to experience all three. How do you know that there is more than one level of mind? Have you ever noticed yourself talking to yourself? Of course you have. This internal conversation goes on twenty-four hours a day! It never stops. It wakes you up at night. It can even make it difficult to go to sleep. This internal dialog is very important in your life. You never do anything until you check in with your self - this internal conversation. What has this self been telling you about you? What are the predominant beliefs you have about you? The outside corresponds to the inside. As below, so above. All levels of our thinking correspond to each other.

Think About What You are Thinking About

This is an aspect to understanding the Principle of Correspondence; you can experience what you are experiencing. You can notice what you are thinking. You can think about what you are thinking about. This ability to notice your experience is an extremely powerful awareness. It is your link with the different levels of mind and their reflection in your life. Think about what you are thinking about. This is by far the most useful ability in effectively "living on the edge". With further noticing you will no longer be confined to continually re-experience the same in your life - seeing the same things, feeling the same things, doing the same things over and over. Your patterns of thinking become transparent, and as such, no longer have the power to unconsciously direct your life.

Awareness of this ability is a key to experiencing yourself as the genius you really are. This mindfulness of your moment by moment experience, and moment by moment thoughts can be expanded, and in truth, is essential to your continued personal or professional growth. Think about what you are thinking about.

There have been many labels used to describe these levels of mind. Conscious, unconscious, super-conscious or id, ego, super-ego to name a few. What you label them is insignificant. What is significant is the relationship between these levels of mind. An alignment or misalignment of the three levels of mind is a perfect expression of the Principle of Correspondence. Your unconscious beliefs are reflective of your conscious beliefs and vice versa. Take a moment every day to ask yourself, "What am I thinking right now and how is this a reflection of the results I have created in my life?"

Mind is the master power that molds and makes,
And Man is mind and evermore he takes
The tools of thought and shaping what he wills,
Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills,
He thinks in secret and it comes to pass:
Environment is but his looking glass.
---- James Allen

Thoughts are real. They take form in your life. What you "think in secret" does come to pass. Thoughts are the seeds of creation. It is with your thoughts that you create your reality. It is with your reality that you create your results.

Aladdin and the Magic Lamp

Recall the story of Aladdin and the Magic Lamp. This story is layered deeply with symbolism, telling of the understanding, even thousands of years ago, of how our minds create. Ancient masters, teaching in this timeless parable, forewarned us of "being careful of what we wished for" - there is a distinct possibility of getting it. A young Aladdin finds a magic lamp, rubs it and a Genie appears proclaiming, "Your wish is my command!". Aladdin symbolizes the function of the conscious mind; an endless struggle for clarity in deciding what to wish for. The Genie's function is to be a powerful, but impartial partner, not caring what Aladdin wishes for - symbolizing the unconscious mind's quality of detachment in creating magically and methodically what ever you command. Remember, the Genie doesn't care what you ask for, its only purpose is to create. All the Genie ever says is, "Your wish is my command." You can order a tuna fish sandwich or a seven course meal, the process of creation is exactly the same. What have you been telling your Genie? "It's cold and flu season." "I'll never get that promotion." "Nobody cares!" "I can't find my car keys!" "Life's hard." "There is nothing I can do about it!"

Your conscious mind is limited and only capable of one thought at a time. Reason and logic are its limited claim to fame, deciding with single-pointed intention what the Genie is to bring into reality. The unconscious mind, on the other hand, seems limitless in its function and power. This part of our mind holds contact with the pure potential of creation. It is capable of processing millions of pieces of information simultaneously. It runs our body for us, keeping track of the relative health and status of all our intricately interconnected physical systems. It stores information at an alarming rate, never seeming to fill up its memory bank. Its ability to imagine is only outdone by its inability to distinguish between what is real and what is not. This unconscious mind can send us a genius attack in the shower in the morning after having us wrestle imaginary alligators with the sheets the night before.

Auto-pilot and Programs

Our unconscious mind also holds the "auto-pilot" that can drive a car as we make a phone call and change a CD at the same time. This "auto-pilot" part of the mind operates much like the computer on your desk at home or work. It is programmed for survival and success, or what you tell it success is. From your first day you began to collect the programs necessary to survive. Through repetition and emotional involvement you collect your programs and the unconscious mind stores these programs as though they were reality. You have collected and created programs about everything in your life, programs about what it means to be a man or woman, about money, wealth, age, time, intimacy, commitment, love, friends, etc. - every aspect of life.

Before you knew how to drive a car and wanted to learn, you did not have the program necessary to drive. So you took lessons or practiced. Before you had a "program" to drive a car the conscious mind did the driving for you. This was a very difficult proposition at best, since the conscious mind can only think of one thing at a time. Everything you did to drive that car in the beginning was a conscious thought; how to park, change lanes, make left turns, pass someone, or just start the car! Driving a car with only your conscious mind was a chore. But as you were consciously learning to drive your Genie was paying close attention. Your unconscious mind was learning a "program" - how to drive a car.

It is estimated that 90% of our daily life is operated unconsciously for us by our "programs". Now with an unconscious "program" for driving a car, you don't even have to be consciously in the car to drive somewhere! How many times have you driven somewhere and had that strange feeling, YOU DON'T EVEN REMEMBER THE DRIVE THERE? Did you bother stopping at red lights? What route did you take? Don't know, can't remember the drive there - Genie in charge. How many times have you driven somewhere, gotten out of your car and realized THIS ISN'T WHERE YOU WERE GOING? Somehow you automatically ended up there.

Ever found yourself arguing with someone who wasn't really there? Genie in charge! Ever found yourself trying fruitlessly to break a habit? Genie in charge! Ever decided what kind of car you wanted, make model and color, then the next day you notice them everywhere? Did they go on sale the night before and everyone ran out and bought one? No, Genie in charge, just pointing out the perfect end result of your wish. Have you ever found yourself standing in the kitchen and you can't remember what you came in there for? Uh oh, Genie in charge! Simply put, have you noticed any patterns in your life? Genie in charge.

"Programs" aren't limited to just driving your car, this programmed part of your mind drives other areas of your life. You have "programs" about money, love, wealth, health, gender, being a parent, being a child, how you look, self-image, self-esteem, time, age, self-worth and everything else in your life.

Have you ever gotten somewhere in your life, say your marriage, and asked yourself ,"How did I get here?" or "This isn't where I was headed when I started, what happened?" Just like driving a car, the Genie drives our relationships to a very large degree, maybe 90% of the time we are on "auto-pilot". The Genie continues to impartially grant our wishes, WHETHER WE ARE AWARE OR NOT OF THE WISHES WE MAKE. Take charge of this Genie in your life. Listen to what you tell yourself today, these are the wishes for the future.

It is this "programmed" part of the mind that you must look closely at, for it is a key to experiencing the "genie-us" you really are.

You are the Sum Total of Your Thoughts

"You are the sum total of your thoughts" is another way to say, "as above, so below". It is known to a very large degree that you will act unconsciously on whatever the unconscious mind has been told - whether or not the information this part of the mind receives is based in reality or not. In fact, it is almost impossible to act in any way that is out of alignment with an unconscious belief or "program".

You Reap What You Sow

Imagine a fertile field of ground capable of growing anything. If you wanted to harvest wheat, what would you plant? Wheat, of course. You wouldn't plant rye expecting wheat. This is too simple. Yet, most people never see the far reaching implications of this in their life.

You have a fertile field of ground, and this field of ground will grow your anything your heart desires. This fertile ground I am speaking of is your mind. The seeds you are planting in this fertile soil are your thoughts. Without question, the single most important discipline in the quest for extraordinary results is the ability to explore and direct your thinking. Think about what you are thinking about. Like the soil of a garden, your mind acts as the medium for the cultivation of thoughts.

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."
- Albert Einstein.

What if you don't plant anything in a fertile field of ground, what will grow? Weeds, of course. Even if you start with totally weed free soil and you don't sow anything, weeds will blow in and take root. The average person is standing in the middle of their fertile field, cursing the weeds and hoping some corn will blow in this year! What a ridiculous scene! There isn't going to be any corn harvested until some corn gets planted. An aspect of this principle embodies the idea that what you sow, so shall you reap. Not sowing something mindfully will still result in a harvest. This harvest will consist of whatever happens to blow in.

"He who controls his thinking, controls his universe,"
- Napoleon Bonaparte.

Take Control of Your Thinking

Take control of your thinking. To do this, one must first be aware of what one is thinking. To do this, you must consciously decide to think about what you are thinking about. Take time every day to practice noticing what you are dwelling on. Create some quiet time to reflect on your primary thoughts of the day.

Learn to cultivate the ability to "do nothing" for a few minutes every day. This "doing nothing" time is for the express purpose of noticing your thoughts. At the end of each day, find a private place and a comfortable chair. Close your eyes and think about what you are thinking about. Ask yourself what the primary thoughts were that you dwelled on during the day. At first it will seem awkward, you won't even remember to do it that often. Yet, as with anything, it is the practice that moves us towards perfection. For the practice is the perfection.

At first your thoughts will drift, and seem disjoined. With dedication and practice it will begin to feel natural and you will look forward to this time of reflection. According to Jack Kornfield, Zen teacher and author, this discipline is much akin to training a puppy.

When first training a puppy it is necessary to be patient and understanding. Much like your mind, when you first train a puppy to stay in one place it will pay little or no attention and get up and wander off. So you go and retrieve the puppy and put it back and say, "Stay!". It then gets up and wanders off again. It doesn't do any good to scold or slap the puppy. This just cultivates a relationship of fear and distrust.

Similar to the puppy, just begin your quiet time or meditation with a kind request of yourself to stay focused on noticing your thoughts. When you discover your mind has wandered off on its own, just notice where it has wandered off to and call it back again to "stay" on the task at hand. Notice what you are noticing. Think about what you are thinking about. "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he", is an another way to communicate the Principle of Correspondence. What is the "heart"? The "heart" here refers to the unconscious mind. As you think in your unconscious mind, so are you. It is in your unconscious mind that your "beingness" is generated. To explore your unconscious thoughts is to create a doorway to understanding the results in your life. Strive to understand the underlying thoughts you have cultivated that relate to the results in your life. Remember, it is from your thoughts that spring your "beingness". It is from your "beingness" that springs your actions. And it is from your actions that spring your results. You become what you think about.

For creating the impossible while living on the edge:

1. Cultivate the ability to think about what you are thinking about. Learn to listen to what you are listening to.

2. Be the conscious master of your thoughts. Choose the thoughts you dwell on with the care and wisdom of someone who knows the power of single-pointed intention.

3. Wake up to another aspect of yourself daily.