When somebody asks you, "what are going to do today and why?" can you answer concisely with confidence, or do you have to fumble for an answer and make something up?
If we do not know what we are thinking at any given moment, and cannot define with certainty our purpose for just one day, then we may be moving down the road of life but our hands sure as heck are not on the steering wheel.
The power to create a better life lies within our grasp, and is as simple to do as knowing what we are thinking about. a universal truth called the Law of Attraction teaches that we bring into our lives those things we focus on most strongly. So the power to change our live is embedded in the power to choose what we think about.
And we can only think of one thing at a time, so we can change the way our lives are going with literally our very next thought!!!
Now I do not know about you, but that is a very exciting thing for me. I want the power to change my life to be under my control, not given over to parents, spouses, bosses, best friends, random events and stray dogs.
The issue is that with control also comes responsibility for the use of the power to direct my life. If I do not like where I am at and I know I made the choices that lead me here..., well, I own it. No pointing the finger at others and being a victim. I am where I am because I made the choices that built my life. This is not inherently good or bad, it just is. One of the most powerful tools I have found to improve my life is to accept where I am without judgement.
Allow me to make a very painful confession: I have not yet figured out what I want to be in life. This after a lifetime in higher education, multiple degrees, and reading hundreds of books about purpose, time management, leadership, etc. I am very good at consulting and coaching others, but the mirror is strangely blurry when I turn it to look at myself.
So what I write about in this blog, and in my forthcoming book, are not just abstract ideas to me. They are principles of power that have helped me in my quest to truly know myself. I hope they will help you as well to see clearly the lion in the mirror.
There is a well-worn maxim that states, "If you don't know what your destination is, any road will do to get there." A corollary statement is, " No matter how determined you are to get to a particular destination, if you are using the wrong map you will never get there!" The right map for us of where we want to end up is in our heads and hearts, if we choose to get to know ourselves well enough to find it and use it. We can change the reality we live in.
A quote from Ambrose Bierce succinctly sums it up,* “Cultivate a taste for distasteful truths. And...most important of all, endeavor to see things as they are, not as they ought to be.” *
Only by knowing and completely accepting where we are, right now, will we have the power to become what we want to be. The first step is to simply asking ourselves, "what do I want to be in life?" and then listen for what your heart and emotions tell you. I wasted many years of my life because I listened to my head and the social programming which told me I really wanted to be an accountant and MBA (Big Money! Job Security! Climb the ladder of success like everybody else!!).
Nope. I definitely did not want that...cost me the better part of two decades to figure that one out. Please listen to your heart and don't be as stubborn as me about changing your course when you find out you are going the wrong way. Love yourself right where you are, and then listen to your heart as you focus on positive creation.
A very wise man once told me there is only two times that are best to plant a tree. The first is 20 years ago so we can eat of the fruit and enjoy the shade right now. The second time is to plant a tree now, today. Then do it again tomorrow and every day thereafter for the rest of our lives.
The importance of the act is not in the end product of fruit and shade, but rather in the focused discipline of planting intentions and leaving our lives better each evening than it was when we woke up in the morning. It is the beauty and abundance that grows out of the conversations we have each day with ourselves about what really matters.
So as I ask you (and myself) in a humble and encouraging way, "What do you really want for your life? What do you want to invite and attract into your life, today?", and then really listen to what your heart tells you. Whisper or shout, it doesn't matter. Just take that idea and do one thing, today, to intentionally plant that idea into the fertile soil of your life.
Water that seedling, nurture it, love it. And then do the whole process again, and again and again...for the rest of your life.
Johnny Appleseed planted literally hundreds of thousands of apple trees in his lifetime, one small seed at a time.
Listen to your heart, plant your seed, and focus on just loving it today.
Do the same thing tomorrow.
That is how we can use focus and self knowledge to create the life we want, one loving idea at a time.
Namaste.
As always images are from Google and should have links/credits embedded in the image. If you like my work, please upvote, resteem, and leave comments...especially leave comments! I know this is a short treatment of a very deep topic, and I would love to continue our conversation:-)