You can always choose to perceive things differently. You have a choice. You can focus on what’s wrong in your life… or you can focus on what’s right in your life. If you focus on all the things that could go wrong, then you will miss out on all the things that could go right.
Our natural disposition as human beings is to think negative and to be attracted to all the dramas going on around us. You just need to check the news or newspapers and Voila! It’s on every page!
How often do you focus on what’s going right in your world? Not often at all, it’s almost as if we are wired to think this way because we have been conditioned by our negative environment.
You can make a difference, the next time you find yourself speaking about a problem or catching yourself being negative why not flip it on its head and do something completely the opposite.
Instead of focusing on what’s going wrong, which unfortunately most of us do… we can focus on what’s going right. That’s a paradigm shift in itself.
Opportunity dances with those already on the dance floor…
When you focus on what’s going right rather than what’s going wrong – you tend to create a habitual pattern for your brain that understands that everything in your life is an ‘opportunity’ and there are no such things as problems.
When you have a solution-focused mindset you don’t seem to get stuck in any situation, rather you find yourself filled with ideas and opportunities in ways that you have never imagined before.
If right now you are not where you want to be and you are getting less than amazing results in any area of life then sit yourself down and, in a journal, write down all of your points of focus in all areas of your life … what do you see? Are they ‘fear’ based? Are you focused on all the areas that are wrong in your life? And if you are – what can you do to shift your mindset to a new way of thinking?
Don’t be afraid to challenge your thinking. If you look at today as if it is not ‘just another day’, but a BRAND-NEW DAY filled with ‘opportunities’ … then guess what? You will find them. And when you do bump up against an obstacle that stops you in your tracks, you’ll realise that they actually aren’t meant to stop you, but rather point you in a new direction, a new route, a new opportunity, a new possibility and a new path. This sometimes get us stuck if we don’t focus on all the things that are going right for us.
Free will is the power of choosing…
We all have free will, we all have a deliberate choice in everything that we do … how we respond and react to every stimulus. Free will means that we can make conscious decisions that are not determined by any past conditionings, freedom is not only possible but also necessary if we are to become fully functional human beings.
The key to free will is self-actualisation, where the motivation to realise one’s own maximum potential and possibilities. This occurs when a person is able to take full advantage of their own skills and talents while still being mindful of their limitations. Conscious reflection on your own behaviour is seen as the best way of achieving your goals and learning from mistakes – this is free will.
The achievement of goals, acceptance of oneself and an ability to self-assess in a realistic and positive way, is how we get to free will. Accepting yourself and others without judgement, where you can demonstrate empathy and compassion for others. Free will is the ability to do wholeheartedly what you must do, where you have a sense of ‘purpose’ and the only way to get to that is to invest time with YOU! Knowing that you do have a ‘choice’ whether you stay or go, whether you say yes or no and more importantly how your respond to your triggers in your environment.
Trust and allowing are the same thing…
You want to allow things to happen but guess what? Most of the time we don’t trust that it is going to happen, so we get in the way of its arrival. Sometimes we just need to chill out … stop and smell the roses to allow things to take form.
This takes practise I know, and there’s a lot to take in here … focusing on what is going right, instead of what’s going wrong, so that you can be more open to opportunities. But when you’re exercising your free will you become in charge of your life!!
WOW… and yes, that can feel a bit heavy, and maybe a little bit of a burden, or too much responsibility. And then of course, I’m also telling you to stop pushing and chill out?
Yes, if you’re kinda confused, then you’re on the right track. That’s exactly what I’m telling you. In order to see opportunities, you need to focus on the good things in your life, and then, to enable the outcomes you want, you need to stop ‘forcing’ and start ‘allowing’.
Enlightened leader – Abraham Hicks, tells us that it is exactly this ‘allowing’ state of being that is out of balance for so many of us. Many of us have long lists of unfulfilled wants and although there is always room for improvement in clarifying precisely what it is that we are intending, we cannot begin to let any of our desires into our lives unless we allow ourselves to receive what we want.
Detachment is the beginning of mastery…
Detachment doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t want or have anything. In fact, it’s quite the opposite – whatever you are attached to, should not own you!
When we want something with our heart and soul, we hang on to it with all our might and we hang on to it and hang on to it … and wonder why it never comes to us. Faith plays a big part here; the secret is not to be ‘attached’ to an outcome or how it will come to fruition.
This includes our relationships with individuals, we get so involved in other people’s stuff – We tend not to be detached and allow others to experience their own consequences, instead we tend to take on the responsibilities ourselves.
Now that’s not focusing on what is going right, right? Step back – see the situation as their lesson (maybe if you’re entangled there’s a lesson for you too!) Quite simply, we learn from every experience if we choose to.
Deepak Chopra tells us about the law of detachment, you can choose your own words and actions but you cannot control the response to your words and actions.
To be the detached observer of all the things that go on in your world is the key in releasing all of your emotions that are attached to any outcome, then you my dearest will experience true ‘freedom’ of the mind and soul. Detachment is the beginning of mastery!
