The Balance of our Thoughts

A recent Daily Teaching from The Secret stated that in order to bring what we want into our lives, we must change the balance of our thoughts. In other words, if we want something new in our lives, more of our thoughts need to be focused on this new thing that we want than are focused on the old thing that we do not want.

This was such a great reminder to me. One of the biggest challenges I find with following The Secret is changing my thoughts. When I really examine my daily thoughts, I've discovered that I am very often thinking about what I DON'T want. It's certainly not on purpose - it's just an old habit.

One thing I've been trying to do since reading this very useful Daily Teaching is, every time I notice that I'm thinking negatively or focusing on what I don't want in my life, I immediately begin thinking / day-dreaming about how life will be when I have my dream job.

Not only is this a pleasurable exercise, but it's also helping me shift the balance of my thoughts. I am still working on making my positive thoughts of what I DO want compose at least 50% of my daily thoughts. When I can do that, I'll then work to shift the balance beyond 50%, and then I think I'll be well on my way to attracting that which I want into my life.
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Persist...Persist...Persist

The Daily Teachings from "The Secret" is kind of like a daily calendar with an inspirational thought for each day. It's a notepad with 365 undated pages. Each page contains the day of the week, along with a quote or comment related to "The Secret." The pad is inside a hard cover with a lift-up top, and of course, has all the lovely packaging of any of "The Secret" items.

I bought the Daily Teachings to give myself a continual reminder to use the principles of "The Secret" on a routine and consistent basis. It's so enjoyable to open this up each morning and pull off my thought for the day. I'm always excited to see what I'm going to get and how it pertains to my current situation.

Anyway, a recent thought for the day began with "Persist...persist...persist." The gist of the Daily Teaching was to use "The Secret" principles routinely until they just become second nature. I thought of this as I experienced a few good things at my old job, even after I'd begun to think that I was not making progress.

It seems as if it's really important to persist in using the principles of "The Secret" even when things seem dark and as if nothing is really changing or happening. I think the happening is taking place behind the scenes, so to speak, and isn't always apparent until some time later. So, my goal is to persist...persist...persist. I can do it.

Focus

I was telling someone about my day today, and in the midst of the telling, realized I was focusing my story on the one hour of extreme unpleasantness I'd experienced. I had completely forgotten about the many hours of real enjoyment I'd experienced doing work I really, really love.

It was only after I'd complained about my day, and was onto another topic, that I remembered what fun I'd had working on a project. I told my listener about the fun part of the day, and as I was talking I realized how I'd let one hour become the story of my entire day.

When I really think about, I got to spend many hours doing the things I love most about work. I had a big writing project, which allowed me to:

• write topics of my own choosing.
• take difficult or technical topics and turn them into customer-friendly language through interviews and collaboration with topic experts.
• research subjects I don't have complete knowledge on.
• search the web for content ideas, statistics, etc.
• spend time quietly focused on the writing project, to the exclusion of all else.

I LOVED this part of my day. As I think about my Dream Job, writing and research are definitely a very large portion of my day.

Reorganizing

So, today is the day to get my thoughts reorganized so I'm fully prepared to handle the coming week.

My plan is to try to avoid the meltdown that was last week! Somehow, during that unpleasant week, I managed to just let go of everything useful that I've learned through "The Secret" and reverted back to my negative thought habits. Not helpful.

So today, I'm restating my current goal, using as many details as I can think of. I'm writing my list of 100 things to be grateful for. I'm writing this blog post. And, I'm planning how to use some of these tools during my work days in the coming week.

I want to be able to control my thoughts so I can keep them focused on positive outcomes. I want to keep my mind centered on my goals as often as possible. And, I want to enjoy my life right now - not at some distant and future date.

Clean Slate

Well, since this week was not one of my best examples of using and living "The Secret," I am simply going to start a clean slate.

I'm relaxing this Friday night, letting my mind rest on pleasant and kind of mindless activities, and I will take up the mantle of positive and focused thought in the morning. I'll use this weekend to clean my mental chalkboard and decide what I want written on it in my future.

I think it's time to restate my immediate goal and to revisit some of the techniques I know will help me get there. I guess I need to just regroup. My mind and thoughts have gone back to their old ways and negative habits, and I need to get them back on track and thinking the way I want them to.

I know I can do it, and I am determined to be successful.

PS Maybe now would be a good time to create a Vision Board!

Back on Track

Yikes!

I let myself get pretty far off track. This mind / thought control thing is going to take more work than I'd anticipated!

When I'm watching "The Secret" movie or reading the Daily Teachings, it seems fairly do-able to think about the positive things I want in my life. I mean, why WOULDN'T I want to think happy thoughts? Even on some of my so-so days, I can still manage to redirect my thoughts toward these hopeful outcomes.

Today was a doozy, though. I think it's going to take extra effort and extra attention paid to my First Aid Kit to get my thoughts and focus on track.

I'm guessing that some of the factors at play are:

• It may be a down cycle in my own personal rhythm.
• We're dealing with some extra difficult work situations right now, and many people are on edge.
• The darkest hour is just before dawn; I'm very close to reaching my goal, and have to work to not get discouraged or lose hope.

This train is bound for glory, this train.
This train is bound for glory, this train.
This train is bound for glory...all who ride it must be holy.
This train is leavin'...get on board.
All aboard.

Remembering Past Successes

Today's Daily Teaching from "The Secret" talked about changing one's inner feelings in order to manifest change in the material world.

Reading this gave me an idea:

After yesterday's Daily Teaching, which said that if we wanted to speed up our desired change, we should commit to writing 100 things we are grateful for each day, I'm implementing this practice. I am writing mine in a similar fashion to how one uses "The Secret" Gratitude Journal - the first half of the gratitude list is focused on things I currently have in my life and the second half is focused on things I WANT to have in my life, but written in the present tense as if they are already mine.

Well, it occurred to me that one thing I could do to combine both of these Daily Teaching suggestions is to change the feeling I get when I'm writing the second half of my 100 list. I can write how I feel when I have a success at work, writing about the many actual and pleasant successes I have actually experienced.

I am only on #36 of my list, so I still have a few more to write before I'm done for the day!