Caching Out – The Affirmation Spot for Wednesday January 14, 2009

Today’s Affirmation:

“Release stress…I am releasing all stressful thoughts and feelings from my life.”
(Click the affirmation to hear the mp3 version)

sunrise7Did you know that when you look at the Sun you are not actually seeing the Sun as it is right now? Traveling at the speed of light, the Sun’s light takes about eight and a half minutes to reach the Earth. You are seeing the Sun as it existed eight and a half minutes ago.

You are seeing the Moon as it existed about 1.255 seconds ago. You see most of the stars in the night sky as they were decades, centuries, or millennia ago.

Sometimes we can think we are looking at what is when we are really looking at what was.

In your computer, there is a function known as caching that goes on constantly while you are using the computer.  This function saves into memory the last version of a visited web page. The benefit of caching information is that allows the computer to more rapidly access information than if it had to find it and load it all over again. This saves computer resources and time.

Your “mental software” functions in a similar way. You are constantly caching beliefs, feelings, and memories. You are constantly caching perceptions about people, things, and situations. Like the computer, this process allows you easily access information about your environment and saves valuable mindshare resources for other more pressing things. In other words, it is convenient not to have to rethink or reevaluate.

When a computer accesses a web page that has been cached in its memory it displays the version of the web page that was current when it was saved to memory. The browser may have to be refreshed to display changes made to the web page since it was cached.

When your mind “caches” things something similar happens. You may continue to see an old version of your reality and the people and things in it. Dogma forms and your perception becomes limited and inflexible. People never change and things never change. All new information is filtered to conform to your existing perceptions.

While convenient, this process denies the fact that people and things do change. A person who you categorized once as rude and obnoxious could have a profound change, but you would not recognize it because you see them through your cached view. A circumstance that once was very beneficial to you might have become toxic in your life, but you fail to recognize it because you are seeing it through a dated filter.

Worst of all, this process is nearly unconscious until you bring it to your conscious awareness. You have to remember to click refresh once in a while in your relationships and circumstances. Look with fresh eyes and see what is really there now.

Every moment in this universe is a totally unique and special event.  People are capable of change for good or bad.  You miss the diversity, opportunity, and potential when you use your cached files to view the world.

Click refresh right now.

Stay inspired!

Ray

2009 Affirmation

“This year I am absolutely committed to being the person I came here to be.”