Tim Pim Blog

Over 33 years ago, a friend of mine asked our Zen master, What is the most important question? Our teacher very calmly and, with a sweet smile, slowly said, “The most important thing is…to find out what is the most important thing!”

Can the most important thing be found by separating different areas of our life and asking what is the most important thing here and there? For example, what is the most important thing in a hypnotherapy practice? Is it technique? Many people have excellent technique, and end up offending clients because the client feels manipulated.
Is it rapport then? Many people get into such deep rapport they loose their recognition of whose feelings are whose, or they are so accepting that they don’t take opportunities to offer an appropriate intervention.

Is it your outer activity at all? Or is it your inner state that is important? Once a famous comedian came before one of my teachers and confided that, though he made people laugh for a living, he felt dry and sad inside. My teacher asked, “What makes you think you give people anything of lasting value if you cannot feel true joy yourself? Make yourself happy, then you won’t have to do anything to make others happy. They will be happy just to see you.” Is this a relevant challenge only to comedians?

Another friend of mine gave a great talk to a large group of people. They felt very inspired and uplifted and many pursued him to tell him so. This, naturally, was extremely gratifying to him. Our teacher walked by and handed him a small peace of paper as she walked on. When he had a quiet moment to himself, he opened it. It read, “Do you love to talk, or do you love the people you talk to?”

Has the most important thing been found if there is stress and a lack of lightness and humor. Is it important to acquire success even if success is defined as helping others?
Is it important to keep track of your efforts, treating them as intangible property? My current teacher has said, ” If you do something as an offering, it stops being a burden.”

What is the most important thing?

©2001, Jack Elias, All rights reserved, Permission to reprint granted to Trek Assoc. 2/23/01

Jack Elias
Author, Finding True Magic: Transpersonal Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy/NLP
American Institute for Transpersonal Hypnotherapy/NLP
www.FindingTrueMagic.com

Jack Elias, a Clinical Hypnotherapist in private practice, is founder and director of The Institute for Therapeutic Learning, a licensed Vocational School in Seattle that trains and certifies Transpersonal Clinical Hypnotherapists. Jack presents a unique synthesis of Eastern and Western perspectives on the nature of consciousness and communication, teaching simple yet powerful techniques for achieving one’s highest personal and
professional goals. Since 1967, Jack has studied Eastern meditation, philosophy and psychology with masters such as Shunryo Suzuki Roshi and Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Before beginning his teaching and counseling career, Jack worked for 20 years in sales, marketing and financial planning.
Jack offers dynamic experiential workshops and seminars, and his Finding True Magic courses are eligible for credit at various universities.

Usually, whenever people get sick their overall attitude about the world turns from rosy to gloomy. When feeling ill most people are not excited about anything and look at most tasks as a chore. They do not talk much. They feel pessimistic. They dwell on their misery, pity themselves and feel there is no escape. This is exactly how Satan wants us to feel. He wants us to be miserable, just like he is. By adding a positive perspective and focusing on our eternal destiny, we can rise above this despair, knowing that such privations are minuscule and benefit us by strengthening and refining us.

Strong faith is the foundation on which a strong will to endure must be built. By developing unwavering faith in Jesus Christ, we will be better able to endure adversity well. Coupled with faith we must also have determination. Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary defines determination as “the mental habit of settling upon some line of action with a fixed purpose to adhere to it; adherence to aims or purposes; resoluteness.” The phrase the dictionary uses to put the word in context is “a man of determination.” Let us be men and women of determination, strictly obeying the commandments of our loving God; determined to succeed no matter what obstacle is placed in our paths.

In order to endure trials well, we must have discipline. We must not let ourselves become enslaved to TV, the Internet, video games and other frivolous pursuits. By engaging excessively in such distractions, we are idling away our precious time. With discipline, we can refrain from such amusements and engage in more worthwhile activities. By instituting stricter discipline in our lives, we will be better able to withstand the vices we could fall into in attempts to escape our trials.

Prayer is also essential in endurance. We must humble ourselves, get on our knees and thank Heavenly Father for all of our blessings, even our trials. Furthermore, in the midst of our trials we should pray for the strength to endure. If we have the necessary faith, determination and discipline, our prayers will be answered and we will receive the strength we seek.

At the end of the movie Return of the Jedi, Luke Skywalker demonstrates many characteristics essential for endurance. First, he obeys the command of both Yoda and the ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi by facing his father, Darth Vader, so that he can complete his Jedi training. While on the forest moon of Endor, Luke surrenders himself to The Empire’s guards, who take him to Darth Vader and The Emperor. He shows the courage of faith in the encounter, not knowing beforehand how the meeting will end or even if he will make it out alive. He has a determination to succeed, faith in The Force and faith that there is still good in his father. As the meeting begins, the Emperor tries to incite anger in young Luke by showing him the beating the Rebel force is taking outside the Death Star. The Emperor’s tactics work for a little while as Luke engages his father in a duel with their light sabers. After cutting off his father’s hand, Luke allows discipline to take over, throws his light saber to the ground and announces to The Emperor that he will never turn to the Dark Side. Seeing this, The Emperor tells Luke that since he will not turn to the Dark Side he will die. The Emperor then starts shocking Luke with what looks like lightning coming from his fingertips. Luke exhibits longsuffering in enduring The Emperor’s wrath. Unable to watch The Emperor kill his only son, Darth Vader feels compassion and with his last ounce of strength picks up The Emperor and throws him down a seemingly bottomless shaft of the Death Star. Luke’s faith, determination, discipline, obedience and longsuffering help him endure and succeed.

Seldom will we know the reason we undergo specific trials while they are happening. Later on, when the tribulation has passed, looking back we realize why we needed to go through it. In this life we will constantly be tried. We will be given line up on line the experiences necessary to prove ourselves faithful and strengthen us while on our eternal course. Whenever discouraged, we need only to remember the supreme example of endurance, Jesus Christ, who suffered more than anyone of us will ever will without a single complaint.

This article may be used for reprint as long as authors byline and live link is intact.

C.F. Bettridge has had a love for writing since childhood. She has written plays, poetry and many articles. Her latest e-book titled End Time Secrets can be found at http://endtimesecrets.com.