A Mandala of Life - Changing the Future Now

“The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude.” ~ Oprah Winfrey

“The mandala is an archetypal image whose occurrence is attested throughout the ages. It signifies the wholeness of the Self. This circular image represents the wholeness of the psychic ground or, to put it in mythic terms, the divinity incarnate in man… I saw that everything, all paths I had been following, all steps I had taken, were leading back to a single point — namely, to the mid-point. It became increasingly plain to me that the mandala is the center. It is the exponent of all paths. It is the path to the center, to individuation. I knew that in finding the mandala as an expression of the self I had attained what was for me the ultimate.” ~ Carl Jung

An interesting idea to reflect on is that we are living now in the future of yesterday.

A mandala represents the sacred
 geometry in all creation

We made decisions, created plans, worked on issues, removed limitations in our beliefs for change, maybe moved to a new location or changed jobs, and whatever else to be here now. This also applies collectively.

What are we doing now to create or change the coming weeks, months and years in our life?

In our world?

The following is an excerpt from the keyword "future" in the book 333 Keywords to Change Your Life.    

Future as a Keyword for Positive Change
"The invitation of the keyword “Future” is to consider if our present life was the result of our previous and present thoughts, desires, and emotions. What if the programming of advertising, culture, limiting beliefs, and negative emotional experiences in the past affected our future then – and we are living it now? What have we already cleared? How can we change our future more powerfully than we previously thought?

What if by using faith, belief, affirmations, visualizations, meditations, a positive attitude, and a wide range of resources you could neutralize or delete past programming and transform your life today and in the future? What if you started to see results in the future – one week from now? One month? One year? For the rest of your life?" (1)

Changing Our Future Collectively
This also applies collectively. How are we creating our future by our collective thoughts, ideas, beliefs, and views? With all of the turbulence of news and views in the past year and ongoing this seems to be relevant. Peace in our lifetime is a beautiful goal. A vision of a world without war? Why not? End world hunger? Yes. Sustainable growth? yes. Biotechnology and stem cell research? yes. Innovation in solving global challenges? Yes! 1977 was forty years ago. Back then organic was a fringe idea. Now it is mainstream. Imagine an amazing world forty years from now. Does fear get in the way? Maybe we can replace that with love. Love of the earth. Love of the Divine Spirit. Love of others. Love of our self and all living things. And love of the future possibilities for humanity. 

Our love and our life can be like a mandala. We create patterns of thoughts and feelings. May these patterns be aligned with the Divine Spirit and sacred geometry of all creation. And so it is. Amen.

(1) Brown, David Lawrence (2017-01-27). 333 Keywords to Change Your Life (Kindle Locations 2960-2964). David Lawrence Brown. Kindle Edition. 

Why 333 Keywords?

People often ask why there are 333 keywords in the book that I wrote and self-published. It's an interesting story, and not as unique as I had thought. Many people see different number combinations on a regular basis. It's a form of synchronicity as well as a mystery.

For about fifteen years I have seen the number 333 on a regular, spontaneous basis. I know, it's not something that is your usual event during any given day or night. Many times I have woken up and looked at the clock and it is exactly 3:33 am. It took me a while to get used to it as a regular occurrence. It also has has shown up in a variety of ways over the years. My driver's license, the three digit CSV code on the back of my credit card, the room capacity at a P.F. Chang's, car license plates, gas prices, a Starbucks receipt, the time of text messages, are a few examples.

If you Google it, there are different interpretations of what 333 means. Doreen Virtue says that the true meaning of 333 "refers to the Trinity, and means that you are receiving divine protection, help, and guidance....if you are seeing a lot of 3's then it is an Angel Number sign." It is also considered a sacred number in numerology, has a geometry of three triangles and was mentioned in the writings of Pythagoras.

I can live in the question about the various meanings, and accept it as well as other possibilities that are not yet known. Another interpretation is that it is a message that I need to keep all three parts of my being in balance; mind, body and spirit. I'm working on it.

Since I am also fascinated with words, writing, and books, I thought at one point if I could find 333 words in the dictionary that could relate to making positive changes in life, then maybe a book would come out of it. And it did. Having a background in Internet marketing, I decided to use the term keywords. For each keyword in the book, there is an inspiring quote, an expanded definition, an affirmation, a one minute meditation, and three questions to provide ideas for journaling about the keyword or thinking about how it is integrated into your life. The book is 612 pages long.

The book has had several reviews and one in particular was done by a professional book reviewer, Tim Larison, quoted below. The price is $3.33. That just seemed to be the right amount for the Kindle edition on Amazon. There is also a free "Look Inside" feature.
Amazon Link: 333 Keywords to Change Your Life

"I received a complementary copy of this book for review purposes. The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.

“Words and affirmations can change your life,” writes David Lawrence Brown in his book 333 Keywords to Change Your Life. “Words that are positive in themselves or that elicit positive thoughts, memories, and experiences are important to add into our ‘self-talk,’ thoughts, goals, and communications with others.” For anyone who values the power of affirmations, Brown has created a wonderful resource to enhance your own spiritual growth.

Each of the “333 keywords” is a word you might think about on any given day. Say you are holding a grudge against someone and you realize forgiveness can get you out of your funk. Look up “forgiveness” in 333 Keywords and you’ll find a quote related to forgiveness (“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong,” – Mahatma Gandhi). You’ll find a three paragraph description of what forgiveness is all about, you’ll find a forgiveness affirmation, a one minute meditation related to forgiveness, and a writing exercise to help you through your own forgiveness process. Brown gives a similar treatment to his 332 other key words, with short one or two page treatments on words from Abundance to Yoga.

I was impressed with the amount of research that went into 333 Keywords. From my twitter feed you know I love inspirational quotes, and the quote associated with each key word is worth the price of the book alone. I also found the affirmations powerful, the meditations useful, and the writing exercises helpful for each key word.

333 Keywords is best used as a reference book, to take off the shelf when you need help in a particular area of your life. Or read a one word treatment each day as part of your spiritual practice. 333 Keywords is not a book to be rushed through – rather savor each word and the wisdom Brown imparts related to that word.

“Everyone has their own journey in life and we are blessed with the freedom of choice as to how we want to live,” the author writes. “Whatever we need to change, or work on, or seek improvement in, affirmations and keywords can help us on the journey.” Brown’s 333 Keywords will certainly aid in my spiritual journey – it has a prominent place on my bookshelf and I will refer to it often." - Tim Larison , Amazon Review