Wanting What You Have
I often say that listening to news broadcasts (particularly just before bedtime) is not good for the soul. The Law of Attraction says, “You get more of what you focus on.” Watching the news is a recipe for attracting unpleasant circumstances.
There is, however, a benefit to the never-ending exposure to tragedy around the world. If we choose, it can cause us to want what we have.
The key to happiness is not to have what you want but to want what you have. – Unknown
This can get very tricky because we have been trained to continually seek more than what we have, or to yearn for what’s NOT instead of what IS.
· Maybe we’d like to be rid of our boss but would we give up having a job in order to do so? That would certainly take care of the problem.
· You might hate the hassles of rush hour driving. Would you give up your car? There are other means of transportation.
· Perhaps we wouldn’t want a son or daughter in Iraq but would we give up having ever had that son or daughter in order to meet that desire?
There are two categories of life circumstances:
1. Those over which we have some control;
2. Those over which we have no control whatsoever.
Category #1 requires action. If we don’t like our boss (or co-workers or even the cleaning crew that comes in at night), then there are choices: (a) quit immediately; (b) seek employment elsewhere and then quit or; (c) learn to live with the situation.
Category #2 also requires action – it requires us to adjust our response to the situation, whatever it may be. You can react, which puts the circumstances in charge of your emotions or you can respond, which puts you in charge of your emotions.
Like many of you, I have people in my life who suffer from some form of emotional or mental illness; it’s becoming epidemic. (I blame the evening news but, as a disclaimer, must state that it’s a completely unscientific conclusion based on an illogical but nevertheless intense dislike for perfect hair and tropical tans.)
Over the years, I’ve had to take a long and hard look at how I’m going to respond to these circumstances. First, I had to realize that these illnesses are not happening to me but to people I love whom I have chosen to stay involved with. By the way, it’s always a choice, even when your children are the ones in trouble. Unless, of course, you’ve had them surgically attached in some way, a condition I’ve long suspected of parents I know who cannot seem to separate their lives from those of their grown children.
The response I choose, when I’m calm enough to make a choice, is to want what I have. Would I prefer my loved ones to be well and happy all the time? Of course! However, in order to achieve that, I’d need to be making new friends all the time, as I abandon any of mine who become impaired in any way. (Not to mention how many times I myself would have been discarded over the years.)
I want these people in my life. Sometimes they’re in pain, but they’re not always in pain and it’s important for me to enjoy the good times we have when things are going well.
It’s unfortunate that we don’t remember this about ALL of life’s circumstances. Sometimes it takes the contrasting aspects of an illness or tragedy for us to enjoy those times when things are going well.
So the next time you hear or see a human tragedy item in the news be grateful for it as you take a moment to consider all that you have and choose it all.
You get what you focus on. Now that you’re focused on what you have instead of what you DON’T, you’ll notice something funny. As you “surrender” to life as it is, much of what you’ve always wanted will start to appear. That’s because it’s a match to the good feelings associated with wanting what you have. And that’s the physical manifestation of the secret to happiness, wanting what you have.
