Living at Level Zero

In previous articles, I have described the Satanic Spin and how that gets you onto the Chemical Scale.  Once you begin paying attention to your own chemicals, unedifying emotions, thoughts, internal conversations, decisions, and actions, you recognize just how hard it is to stay close to Level Zero.  Satan messes with us constantly.  He never sleeps and never takes holidays.  He will try to make you spin every day.  He will try to drag you down the scale to poor decisions, several times a day.  It takes a lot of training to get to the point where you can maintain Level Zero for the majority of a day.  But when you get there, that day will be like no other day you’ve had before.

The experiences that come are hard to describe.  I cannot do it well without examples, and I cannot describe someone else’s experiences adequately.  Please forgive the extensive use of personal examples in this article, I hope they will help you understand what Living at Level Zero can be like for you.

Some days are better than others.  Many days are rough.  The days I will be describing here are normal, almost mundane days, but I experienced them in a totally different way because I was choosing and working to Live at Level Zero.

I wake up most mornings at a Level One or a Level Two on the Chemical Scale.  My mouth tastes funny, my back is usually stiff and sore.  I have a hard time concentrating on any particular thing.  Nobody else is awake yet.  I say a brief prayer that often could be described as “cookie cutter.” The order of the words is probably different, but the ideas are the same.  I try to make it meaningful, but that is often hard for me to do in the mornings.  I put on my exercise clothes, get a cold drink of water, and drive to the gym.  I keep the radio off and pray out loud most of the way there.  These prayers are much more conversational.  The topics are often the same, but there is meaning in these prayers because these topics are things that mean a lot to me.  I finish the prayer as I lock my car and walk into the gym.  I choose my workout for the day and put my headphones in.  I press play on the next episode of the Eternal Warrior Podcast and listen as I exercise for the next thirty minutes.  I finish my exercise and return to the car feeling much more awake and focused than the first time I got in it.  I continue listening to the episode as I drive home.  I’ll sit in my living room until the episode is done.  By this point, I’m usually Zeroed Out, but on the best days, I’ve got Warrior Chemistry in my veins.

I shower with purpose and intensity.  It is an odd experience to describe.  I enjoy long, hot showers like most people.  But on the days where I am Living at Level Zero, I have more important things to do.  My mind is focused on upcoming activities planning steps to take, as I get clean and get out.  These showers aren’t rushed, they are focused.  It is hard to describe.  They are done with purpose and a gentle but persistent intensity.

I make a simple breakfast.  Normally my mind is still pondering upcoming Passion Projects, or important activities as I’m cooking or pouring a bowl of cereal.  As I eat, I read from the Book of Mormon, following my study pattern which includes noticing and highlighting every time emotion and feeling words are used.  I focus on empathizing with at least one of those emotional experiences.  What would I be experiencing if I were in the same situation?  What things would have to happen so that I could be feeling the same way as this person?

I finish breakfast and reading and either write or work on a Passion Project until my 18-month old son wakes up.  Usually, I will try to read, work, or distract myself on my phone after I get him up.  On days when I Live at Level Zero, I give him all of my attention.  There is, again, a gentle but persistent intensity as I play with my son.  This is the most important thing I can be doing at that time.  He gets all of my focus as I change his diaper, fix him breakfast, read him books, and play with him until my wife is ready to wake up.

This gentle and persistent intensity of focus follows most of my activities throughout the day; school, work, cooking, etc.  Have you ever played with someone’s hair with intensity and focus?  Your fingers are gentle but your mind is sharp and present.  In those moments I recognize that giving my wife my affection and attention are the most important things I can be doing.  I don’t allow myself to daydream as my fingers move half-heartedly.  I don’t allow myself to think about what I’d rather be doing.  In those moments, it’s not about me.  It’s about being there for my wife.  The by-product is that I continue to Live at Level Zero.

Eventually, as I near bedtime, I am filled with a huge sense of fulfillment and excitement about what was accomplished that day. My day was full. I was busy by choice. I didn't rush from one activity to another, I moved from one to the next with deliberate focus. For someone who is as distractible as I normally am, having this kind of intense focus on one activity is uncommon. To have it for most of a day is a miracle that only seems to come when I am Living at Level Zero.

To Live at Level Zero requires consistent maintenance. You must keep doing things that help you Zero Out and doing your other activities with intention and purpose. There was a recent day where I did fairly well at maintaining a Level Zero until early evening. I felt I had some spare time on my hands and chose to spend time on my phone. It only took 30 minutes of combined time on Facebook and news to throw off the rest of my night. In only 30 minutes I was at a high Level 2 and proceeded to do several things against my value system that night.

It's odd, Living at Level Zero should be exhausting. It takes so much maintenance to stay Zeroed Out. Paradoxically, the things you do to stay at Level Zero are rejuvenating. Living at Level Zero gives you the energy you need to continue being Zeroed Out and doing things with a gentle intensity and focus. When I slip down the Chemical Scale and am no longer doing those things that rejuvenate me is when I have a "crash" like coming down from a sugar rush.

Living at Level Zero is not a daily occurrence for me yet. It is something I work towards and struggle to achieve. But when I do get to Live at Level Zero, the things that I get done that day are amazing. It's not so much the number of things that I accomplish, but how I do them. Each thing is done with purpose, mindfulness, and intent. It doesn't take years of training to Live at Level Zero for a day, but it does take practice and awareness of where you are at on the Chemical Scale.

To hire me as your life coach where we can create a plan to put the above principles into practice for you, follow this link.  Fighting Like a Dragon - Life Coaching

Letters to Heaven

Writing is a powerful tool that enables personal progression. Unfortunately, this is a tool that isn't used to its full potential by many. In this article, I will introduce a form of writing that is more powerful than just recording your thoughts and the events of the day. The particular form of writing I'll be focusing on is called Letter to God.

This letter is basically a written prayer. The simple act of writing down what you want to pray about, or for, helps you think more deeply. A written prayer is often more carefully phrased and more sincere than a spoken prayer.

Many members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are uncomfortable with the idea of writing a prayer. There is nothing wrong or sinful about writing a prayer. Our sacred ordinances, such as baptisms and the sacrament, are written prayers. The dedicatory prayer for the Kirtland Temple was received by revelation and written down so it could be read verbatim, then eventually became the 109th section of the Doctrine and Covenants.

Writing a letter to God is fairly straightforward. You start by writing "Dear God," or "Dear Father in Heaven," or whatever is comfortable for you and then you just write what's on your mind. You can share your experiences of the day, you can ask questions, you can record your thoughts and feelings, whatever is on your mind. I've met people whose most helpful, edifying, and uplifting letters were when they were just upset and vented at God about all of their problems.

Writing letters to God like this can be very helpful. It helps you think through your desires and prayers a little more. It is another form of accountability. It helps you remember things better. It can also be a very powerful form of revelation.

Another way that Letters to God are helpful is they can help you be consistent in your prayers without having vain repetitions. It is important to understand that while we are warned against vain repetitions in our prayers, repetitions are not bad. The 1828 Merriam Webster dictionary is a powerful resource because it shows what words meant when Joseph Smith was translating the Book of Mormon. In that time the most frequent use for vain meant, "empty or meaningless." Repetitions in prayer, or pray consistently for or about things that are important to us are good so long as we make sure they are full of meaning. Letters to God can help facilitate that process.

This happens when you write a prayer with the intention of reading and reciting that prayer several times. You follow basically the same pattern as any other Letter to God; you start with addressing Him however you're comfortable and then you thoughtfully write down the desires of your heart. You return to this letter often, usually once or twice a day. As you review the letter/prayer you look for ways to revise it and make it more specific, or to make it sharper, to better communicate the desires of your heart. As you pray in this manner with sincerity and consistency, you will see a subtle change in the power of your prayers.  The Lord wants us to ask, seek, and knock.  I think seeking implies repeated effort.  God wants us to ask with consistency.  He will test our patience a little to see if we really want what we are asking for as much as we say we do.  Following this pattern will help you pray with consistency for your deepest desires, to pray with repetitions, but not vain repetitions.

My favorite part about writing letters to God is when I receive a letter back. This may sound weird but it's not very different from the process of how Joseph Smith received most of the Doctrine and Covenants. Receiving a letter from God is simple but powerful. The pattern I follow when I want to receive a letter from God is I begin by writing a letter. In that letter, I ask any questions or share thoughts that I may have that I'm seeking guidance on. After I finish writing the letter I pause and try to get my head and my heart to a good place.

One of the things I have found is I have to be willing to receive the letter, I have to be willing to listen. And this isn't the kind of listening that you do with your ear but the kind of listening that you do with your heart. If I'm in the right place of head and heart and if God wants to communicate with me and typically what happens is I hear the words "Dear Bryton" come into my mind. Then other words begin to follow and I write them down exactly as they come.

At the moment you are receiving these words they may not all make sense. I've even had experiences where God told me words I didn't know what they meant and I had to go look up the definitions later. Write them down exactly as you received them. There was another experience where I was receiving a letter and there was a word that I didn't think fit in the sentence so I wrote down a different word instead. It was as if a concrete wall fell and stopped all communication. Nothing was coming, so I went back and erased what I had written and wrote down what the word was supposed to be. Then the barrier lifted and communication began to flow again.

After God finishes responding I go back and reread the letter. I've found that the content of the letters is similar in quality to my patriarchal blessing. These letters are personal. These letters are sacred. The things that are communicated to me come in a way where I don't doubt that it literally is a communication from my Father in Heaven.

Another thing I have found is there's nothing else that better prepared me to give Melchizedek priesthood blessings. The process of receiving a letter from God for myself is very similar to the process of receiving a priesthood blessing for somebody else. As I've asked other people who've had both experiences of receiving a letter from God as well as giving a priesthood blessing to someone else they have shared similar thoughts and feelings that the experiences are quite close.

Writing Letters to God is a very powerful and versatile form of writing.  It is something many do consistently as part of their Border Patrol.  I recommend that you try it.  If you write a prayer to your God daily for twenty-one days in a row, what miracles might you witness or revelations might you receive?

To hire me as your life coach where we can create a plan to put the above principles into practice for you, follow this link.  Fighting Like a Dragon - Life Coaching