Oh, What a Relief it Is
I wish the Law of Attraction worked differently, don’t you? If only we could attract whatever we want by repeating our wish list over and over. By now I would have won the lottery, developed a killer body without doing a single sit-up and be married to Hugh Jackman.
Alas, it doesn’t work that way.
The Universe pays no attention to the words we say or think. Instead, it notices what we are paying attention to and delivers circumstances that are a match.
If I want to win the lottery because I am desperate for money, my intention might be to attract more money but my attention is not on prosperity, it’s on the lack of money. Under those circumstances I would attract more debt, not abundance. That feeling of desperation is the polar opposite of how a lottery winner would feel and therefore not a match.
Learning to manage your focus is the quickest pathway to achieving what you desire. The more fervently you focus on what you want and the more faith you have that it will be delivered, the more quickly it comes to you. Our minds, however, trip us up by telling us it cannot be that simple or by distracting us with worry (the opposite of faith).
The simplest and most effective way to manage your focus is by doing what Joseph Campbell advised us in the book of the same name: Follow Your Bliss. Do everything in your power to get happy and stay there.
Achieving happiness is not an overnight accomplishment. It is a skill you learn moment-by-moment, day-by-day and year-after-year. And you cannot go from being in despair to being happy through the snap of a finger or through repeating happiness mantras. You move from where you are to where you want to be through a process of finding relief, reaching for thoughts that make you feel better until you slowly stair-step your way to happiness.
When you are happy, you begin to naturally attract other things that are a match to that happiness.
I may not yet be rich, buff or mated to the man of my dreams but by following my bliss, I’ve made huge strides in my life. I’ll bet you have, too.
I used “follow your bliss” as the means to slowly pull out of a 30-year clinical depression. I had to learn to think better thoughts. This is a technique they use in mental health called Dialectical (or Cognitive) Behavior Therapy. In the depths of my depression, my daily focus was that of a victim. I continually looked for evidence to prove that life, starting with my childhood, had delivered to me a raw deal, that it wasn’t my fault or, on the worst days that it was ALL MY FAULT. In that state of mind, I continued to attract proof that I was right and I was miserable.
I didn’t go from depression to happiness overnight. I’m still working on it. The level of happiness I’ve achieved so far is the result of seeking thoughts that triggered feelings of relief:
• Does it feel better to think you’re a victim and feel depressed OR to get mad and want revenge? (A strange choice, to be sure, but revenge feels much better than depression.)
• Does it feel better to want revenge OR to be angry enough to take action to get better?
• Does it feel better to be angry enough to take action to get better OR to feel proud that you took action?
You can see that each step has the capacity to make you feel just a little bit better and that is the surest path to happiness. As you get better at managing your thoughts and your focus, you’ll find that the circumstances you are attracting improve, as well.
It’s like I always say, “If you want to change your life, change your focus!” Lottery ticket, anyone?
