Control
“You cannot escape the results of your thoughts. Whatever your present environment may be, you will fall, remain or rise with your thoughts, your vision, your ideal. You will become as small as your controlling desire, as great as your dominant aspiration” – James Allen
The line that caught my eye was “as small as your controlling desire” – it appears to be a positive statement if you look at it by itself because we are taught to control ourselves. Control your temper, control your thoughts, control your behavior, and so on. But really it is a negative concept because that control (not lack of control) is keeping you small.
From here I thought about how you have that small (sometimes loud) voice that denies you, tells you you can’t do this or that – that small controlling desire – is what keeps you from growing, it keeps you small inside your comfort zone.
Don’t speak up for yourself, you don’t want to draw attention. It’s what keeps the addictions for food, drinking, drugs, and so on going, because those desires control you. Eating addictions are a desire to control your body because you can’t control anything else.
I think that if we look at ourselves we will see that we all have this small controlling desire that is trying to keep us small. But once you are aware of that desire, you can notice and then make a conscious decision to change that thought to something that helps you to be as great as your “dominant aspiration”!
Thinking
“Seek not to change the world, but choose to change your mind about the world. What you see reflects your thinking. And your thinking but reflects your choice of what you want to see.” – From A Course In Miracles
It is amazing how the reticular activator works – you are thinking about a new car and all of sudden you start seeing that car everywhere. You find out your pregnant and you start seeing pregnant women everywhere.
The same thing is true about how you see your world – is it abundant? is it happy? Is it full of snychronicity? Isn’t is amazing that we have the “choice” to how our world works?
Believing
“Set out each day believing in your dreams. Know without a doubt that you were made for amazing things.” – Josh Hinds
Most of us are in denial about our genius, our gift that we bring to the world. We devalue it as not being important. But deep down inside we know it for what it is and we are terrified that it isn’t good enough and so we bury it under unimportant.
Believe in the gift for it is truly amazing. And the only thing that you will regret at the end of your life is if you don’t use it; because it is the “one thing” that you have that will make the world a better place by your living in it today.
Security
“When you know that you’re capable of dealing with whatever comes, you have the only security the world has to offer.” Harry Browne –
I thought that this quote was so interesting. I always wondered what the attraction was or how people knew that a certain person would be able to help them sort through the issues in their life to bring it back into balance. I think that you subconsciously sense when someone is totally grounded, and that is what I believe makes you capable of dealing with whatever comes.
Positive or Negative
“If fate throws a knife at you, there are two ways to catch it – by the blade and by the handle” – Oriental Proverb
I hadn’t heard of this proverb before but it is all about choice. The choice to see the positive and catch it by the handle or the negative and get cut by the blade.
Aid
“It’s not when you realize that nothing can help you – religion, pride, anything – it’s when you realize you don’t need any aid.” – William Faulkner
This speaks to me of the dark night of the soul, when your life experience has taken you down below the foundation of your life. You are sitting in the ashes of your choices, and you know that there is no way to “make it all better”. It is at that moment that you realize not only is it up to you alone, but also it is you alone that has the strength and ability to in fact make it better than it was before.
Targets
“Nothing can add more power to your life than concentrating all your energies on a limited set of targets.” – Nido Qubein
Misery or Strength
“We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.” – Carlos Casteneda
Triumph
“The difference between try and triumph is a little umph” – Anonymous
I love this. It’s a great line to pin up on the board for the beginning of the new year and new you.
It makes me think of two things, the first being the photo finish of a race – where it is a split second, a nose, which is all that makes the difference between 1st and 2nd place. A little umph at the end of the race can make all of the difference.
The second thing is when you give up (and thereby fail) at what you are trying to achieve. Visualize that you are stretching out your hand to grab it, you almost have it. Your fingers are barely touching it and you just need a little umph to get your fingers over the edge and and pull the object to you. As you stretch just a little bit further straining all of your arm muscles, you become frustrated and pull back, saying “this will never work”. Then the negative voices chime in agreement and we stop trying.
Whether it is Winston Churchill chiming in your ear, “never, never, never give up”, or the little red engine chugging up the mountain, “I think I can, I think I can” or even Yoda “no try, do or don’t do”; we need to have something in our toolbox that helps us gather our energy and put a little umph in our lives to help us along lifes journey.
Creative
“The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you will discover is yourself.” – Alan Alda
Today
“Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I’m going to be happy in it.” – Julius Henry “Groucho” Marx