Have you ever had a visitor that you really wanted to get rid of and get rid of them quickly? The pest that shows up at the most inopportune times… I’m not talking about a person here, I’m talking about a thought that doesn’t serve you in any way, yet it persists in being there. A negative and non-resourceful thought that brings you down.
That “visitor” is like a magnet attracting the things you don’t want into your path of life. It’s true what we focus on we get more of in life. It’s a damn frustrating cycle to break free from indeed.
It’s an uncanny phenomenon but it’s true: The Universe has a way of supporting those who get crystal clear on what they want and then wholeheartedly go after it. Sadly, the same is true for those who focus on what they don’t want and keep that thought front and center constantly.
It may be a challenging concept to wrap the mind around, but like it or not, we are all the authors and architects of the results we experience in our own life whether we realize it or not. Every thought we have, word we speak (out loud and especially to ourselves), and action we take is a seed planted‚ a seed that will germinate and grow when the appropriate conditions are present. Like the farmer carefully planting the next harvest, we reap the effects of having sewn the seeds of past thoughts and behaviors.
There are no idle thoughts! Everything we see, everything we experience, has its origin and cause in the realm of thought. Understanding this phenomenon is the beginning of true wisdom. It’s when we begin to control our mind versus our mind controlling us. One of my favorite quotes is from Carl Jung and I think it speaks to this phenomenon: “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will control your life and you’ll call it fate.”
The challenge and sad fact is that most people are unaware of how they create their reality from moment to moment, because they are not sufficiently aware of their thoughts. Do you know someone who no matter what happens in their life, it’s never “their fault,” and so they blame external factors for the circumstances of their life? This disempowering perception all to often leads to victim mentality and over time, victim mentality becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
If we want to transform something in our environment – whether it’s our career, finances, health, relationships, or physical body – we must first transform how we think. When we change our thoughts, we automatically change our actions, thereby producing a shift in our environment. Why? Because the external world is a reflection of the internal world. When we understand this and take full responsibility for everything that happens in our lives, then we are creating an intentionally. Mahatma Gandhi recognized this Universal Truth which is why he encouraged people to: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
This cause and effect dynamic is the essence of the first Law of Supreme Influence. One important key to making this Law practical is the realization that, in any given moment, a person is either, ‘At Cause’ or ‘At Effect,’ there is no middle area. Being‚ ‘At Cause‚’ means having the awareness to recognize how our moment-to-moment “causes” produce the conditions of our lives, even if the “effect” isn’t experienced right away. In other words, when we’re ‘At Cause’ we get a result and we own it! Owning the result, desired or not, liberates and awakens the individual to make different choices. Conversely, anytime we blame or give an excuse, we’re ‘At Effect.’ The more we take responsibility for the cause and effect in our lives, the better our results!
“The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can’t find them, make them.”
~ George Bernard Shaw
What is manageable, and what you should focus on, is managing you! That’s your toughest job and it’s the difference maker… it’s where your power lies. These three little but extremely powerful statements of truth that author and coach Julie Ness-Bell shares in her great (must read) book: Performance Intelligence – The Five Essentials to Achieving The Mind of a Champion.
- Your Mind is Powerful
- You can Control Your Mind
- You have a Choice in every situation
Viktor Frankl said in Man’s Search for Meaning (another must read) “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
Choose wisely.
