Two books have seized my imagination and thought-life lately. One is "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne and the other is "Thank You Power" by Deborah Norville. I do not know why either book caught my eye while I browsed but they did, on separate occasions. I did not buy either book when I first saw them. I went home, and found that I couldn't get them out of my mind. Something was telling me to buy these books. The funny thing is, I discovered them and purchased them separately, and had no idea that they went together so well.
Now let me add a disclaimer to this website. I am an engineer. I am a devoted proponent of science and a major skeptic. I do not believe in ghosts, Aliens, UFO's, Faith Healers, or any other subject that is commonly considered nonsense in our western, American culture. However, there are times when I cannot explain a process but believe in it anyhow. These two books (especially "The Secret") may come off as new-age, mythological, psychobabble. However, if you just seize on the fundamental principle that focusing your thoughts has a powerful impact on results you will see the logical basis. Sometimes science is unable to explain how this works, but the anecdotal evidence is overwhelming that a person's thoughts can often influence the outcome of a situation. It is an accepted scientific fact that prayer has a beneficial affect on medical results, even though God and Spirit of not accepted facts.
In a nutshell, here is why I believe that the law of Attraction and the Science of Gratitude are important: they change the way you think for the better if you embrace them. If you believe in the Law of Attraction and use the power of your mind to try to attract the person, money, job, or something that you desire, you may end up not receiving what you conceived. However, you never know until you try. We all know that we can sabotage ourselves with negative thinking. We have no idea what we can achieve by thinking positively and communicating that to others. We also have no idea how often we communicate subconsciously. Therefore, if nothing else, "The Secret" teaches us to efficiently focus our thoughts to achieve our goals and desires. It also teaches us to push out the negative thoughts that hog time in our brain focusing on what we don't want.
For me, that is the benefit. I have ADD; I am naturally unfocused and scattered. I also have a history of mild bi-polar depression. To top it all off, over the years I have developed cynicism and skepticism at levels above the recommended dosage. Therefore, if we could analyze my daily thoughts on a spreadsheet, you would see high percentages where I was focused on slow traffic, problems at work, and thinking about things that I do not want and how to avoid them. The percentage of time that I am thinking positively about my future would be about 1/4 the time that I spend thinking about what could go wrong and how to hedge my bets.
I wasn't aware of how negative my thinking truly is until I read "The Secret" and began to apply some of its principles. There is the other aspect to the book: that there is a natural force at work in the universe that responds to our thoughts and attracts to us the things we think about. That is where the book may veer off to the weird for some people. However, we can believe that the force is God, we can believe it is presently unexplainable (agnosticism), or we can believe that it is a heretofore undefined law of physics that helps explain gravity and quark movement. Ms. Byrne made the mistake of focusing on the Law of Attraction as if there aren't other forces at work. Therefore, this book is not a scientific text or a theological manifesto. It is great reading though, and provides a great method of visualizing the principle and applying it in various situations.
Both of these books mean the same thing to me: by changing my thoughts I will change my life. This is not new information for me. I have been through this many times on different levels. However, this time is more advanced learning. I am working on the finer details of thinking my way to happiness and prosperity.
You had mathematics in grade school. You had it again in High School, but it was more advanced: there was more information and a deeper understanding. Again, in college you were required to take some more math, and you ventured a little deeper into the subject. Then, your electives may have incorporated a finer understanding of some mathematical principles. With math, there is always a deeper level and a new application.
The same is true with your thoughts and thanks. I don't know if there is a limit to how deep you can go. I take that back, there is one limit I know of: yourself. If you decide that you have gone far enough, then that is all you're gonna get. However, if you remain open, there may never be a limit to how much you can achieve and receive from thankful thoughts and focusing on what you want.
"The Secret" has reminded me to "accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative." Deborah Norville's book on how science is proving the benefits of gratitude is the perfect compliment. I am finding the principles of both books jumbling in my mind. Seeking to think gratefully and communicate gratefully is profound. Sure, you've been doing it all your life. Or have you? That is an important aspect of your life to examine on a regular basis.
I think we all tend to reach moments of egotistical, ungrateful stagnation. Some people do not last long there, others build a homestead and refuse to budge. I know that as I examined my own life, I was shocked at how many opportunities I had missed to be grateful for and how rectifying that immediately and dramatically improved the quality of my life.
When I find my blood pressure rising and my fist clenching, I am now finding that switching my thoughts from frustration to gratitude for something feels good! I try to take a daily inventory now of what I have to be grateful for. I am trying to expand the list daily so that it isn't the same old stuff. From there, I try to focus on a few things that I want and communicate to the universe that I want them, I expect to receive them, and I am already thankful for receiving them. Now, all I have to do is get on with my life and look for opportunities to achieve my goals and express gratitude.
I sum up these two books by saying that the end result is: I feel good!
1 comment:
I use a book called the Course in Miracles as a daily devotional and similar to the titles you write about here, it teaches that EVERY thought has a consequence or manifestation in the world. That impresses me. Our minds are far more powerful than we know. Further, imagine what we could make happen if we ALL shared positive intentions.
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