Discover the Effortless Way to Be at Peace With Yourself

[4 min read]

For 20 years, positive thinking was the best tool I had to feel ok about life. Be positive, think positive, have fun, be fun, be nice, like people, get people to like you, show people how fun and nice you are and how well you are doing at life.

Being positive was the example set to me from a young age, my family, society, the media. The goal was to be a happy person, to think positively, get positive responses from others, then you’ll be ok. This is the dream we are all chasing right?

Growing up in a culture of strict ideas of positivity, to feel negative was one of the greatest failures I could have. The sign of not making it in life, was if I had negative thoughts or emotions.

I had many strategies to keep negativity at bay, which mainly involved not putting myself in situations that made me feel negative, or who I had negative thoughts about. If I thought badly of a friend, I would either look for the reason why they were annoying me and blame them, try to think something nice about them, or make myself wrong for having these thoughts. It was a full time job managing all the thoughts and emotions.

I felt I was being directed around by this low level sense of something being wrong or that I was about to do something wrong, upset someone and be rejected. I held myself back from opportunities due to a sense of challenge due to feeling unworthy and not good enough. My sense of self-worth was so deeply tied up in what other people thought of me that my main life’s focus was set on ensuring people liked me and I didn’t displease.

So much of this was running for me and was totally unnoticed – it’s just what you do: manage my mind to be the best version of myself I can be and if I can’t be positive then something is wrong!

Then at the age of 28, by a stroke of unimaginable fortune, I met the Balanced View Training. I watched a talk from Candice O’Denver and I heard someone speaking about the nature of my mind in a way I had never heard before. It totally changed my life.

Candice’s teachings made clear that I was struggling in myself in pretty much every moment of life, and more than that I didn’t even notice it, as it was completely normalized for me and the society around me. I realized that I was completely vigilant to any hint of negativity. As soon as it would arise, I would pounce on it, and try to ‘fix’ it into positive or give myself a hard time if I couldn’t. I blamed myself, blamed others or my situation for any negative feelings. I was like a sorting machine–watching myself, my thoughts, my emotions, the responses from others, the stories I had about my life, how I was doing, what was needed to be well, at ease, happy and a successful human being and just fit in. I was so ‘in my head’ and didn’t even question this standard of living and using my mind – it was what was role-modeled to me and the only choice I knew.

I realized I had set the bar so low, and once I was introduced to the nature of my mind, open intelligence, a whole new world opened up. One where I could start to let the flow of my mind be as it is, be at ease in my own experience, in myself as I was for the very first time. I could rely on open intelligence in short moments repeated many times and allow the data stream (whether positive or negative) to be as it is.

“Wow!” I thought “this is how I want to live”. So I did! I took up the Training, I made a commitment to open intelligence. I wanted this freedom, peace and empowerment more than anything else. I wanted to reap the full benefits. Life started to become a true adventure, where I had all the support I needed through Balanced View’s empowerment network, the Four Mainstays, to get to know myself exactly as I am, for the very first time in my life.

I began to discover true well-being in short moments of open intelligence instead of going to the story about my experience or trying to think positively. I enjoyed a new relationality, true intimacy with myself and more and more people in my life. The peace I had been looking for in the popular ‘trend’ of positive thinking and trying to change my experience, paled in comparison to the profound true peace and sense of beneficial power I found in relying on open intelligence. I started to see how powerful and amazing each of us are, no matter if we are having positive feelings or negative feelings.

Rather than being preoccupied with myself, how I was feeling and keeping life limited to ‘what makes me feel good’, I was enjoying the openness and relaxation of open intelligence. A new availability and power to contribute to life very naturally came about. And the best thing is, my confidence in open intelligence and the benefits just keeps on growing. It’s pure gold. It is our human birthright to live this way – empowered to benefit ourselves and others without effort and to truly enjoy life.

My only wish is for all people to know open intelligence and live in the freedom, peace and power of their true nature, so I poured myself into the practice, living as open intelligence and sharing this incredible teaching with the world!

Join Us for the Facebook Live and Ask Any Questions

As you might be able to tell, I’m passionate about this topic! If you would like to find out more how the Balanced View Training can unlock true peace in your relationship with yourself and the world, please join myself and Jochen this Sunday for the weekly Facebook Live, at 9:30am PT / 6:30am CET. We would love to receive your questions and share anything I can from my own experience to support you. Post your topics to the Bright Community Facebook Group or on our Balanced View Facebook Page.

Take the Next Steps to Be At Peace With Yourself

Start the free Be the Power Course and access the Bright Community Facebook Group to start the journey to discover the always-on peace available to each of us in every moment of life. Through Bright, you can receive direct support from Trainers in response to any question, enjoy a thriving community, powerful trainings and new media.

In bright clarity,

Lizzie & the Bright Team