Abracadabra

When you were a small child you probably read stories, or had them read to you, in which a magician used magic words to perform powerful acts of magic.  Perhaps the word "Abracadabra".  Or "Open Sesame" (as in the story of Ali Baba).

The word "Abracadabra" is particularly interesting.  There are a number of conflicting stories about its origin, but one version says it comes from the Aramaic phrase avra kehdabra, which means “I will create as I speak”.  In other words, this "magic" word itself refers to the magical, creative power of words.

The Christian Bible also refers to the power of words.  Right at the start of the Gospel of John we have the phrase "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."  It goes on to say that everything that was created was created by the Word.

I began this article by talking about fairy tales.  Most adults don't believe in fairy tales.  In fact they may even refer to anything that they believe to be untrue as a "fairy tale".

Well, I DO believe in fairy tales!  Not literally, of course, but as ways to pass on inner truths.

The power of the word is such an inner truth.  Words create.  Use the right words in the right way and you can create opportunities.  You can create situations that will turn your dreams into reality.  Use words in the wrong way and they can destroy opportunities.  They can create situations that will turn your nightmares into reality.  Words are very powerful.  Far more powerful than you probably ever realized.

Very recently I wrote a blog about the ways most people "self-sabotage" themselves.  They say something like "I am no good at ...." and this creates a self-fulfilling prophecy.  This is the power of words used wrongly.  This is also true about the way people use words to hurt or help others, usually unintentionally.  I hope you are not one of the very many parents in the world who have said to one of their children something like "you will never amount to anything!".  This is so destructive!  This is like a wizard saying a magic spell that will cause harm to another.  It is just as powerful as such a magic spell in one of the fairy tales you read as a child.

Equally, saying to someone "you are so beautiful!", not as a pickup line but because you recognize the beauty within them, is like a magic spell turning an ugly frog into a handsome prince.  Not as quickly as happened in Grimm's tale of the Frog Prince, but just as surely anyway.

With the power of your words you can choose to create love, beauty, harmony and success all around you.  Or you can choose to create discord, ugliness and failure.  Which would you prefer to surround you?  It is entirely your choice - you can use the magic spell (i.e. the right words spoken at the right time) to create whichever you prefer.  I hope like me you will choose the former, not the latter.

Self Sabotage

"I am no good at ..."  Fill in the blanks - perhaps with "remembering people's names", "public speaking", "negotiating" ... anything at all, really.

Now, is this something you have ever said?  Perhaps out loud to others in an attempt to excuse yourself.  You don't want them to feel bad, so you say "I am no good at remembering".  So it is not that they are "unmemorable" but it is entirely your fault.  You say "I am hopeless at directions".  So it is not that they are no good at giving you directions, but just that you are really bad at following directions.

If you have never said anything like this I would suggest you are very much in the minority.

Perhaps, though, you have never said something like this out loud - but have said it quietly to yourself.  Not to spare someone else's feelings but because you feel guilty in some way and want to excuse yourself.

Whether you have said something like this out loud or simply expressed it internally, what you have done is to create a self-fulfilling prophecy.

If you say "I am no good at maths", then you will be more likely to fail at maths.  Perhaps you weren't particularly good at maths, but by saying "I am no good at maths" you are guaranteeing you will become even worse.  Every time you say this, or even think it, you will worsen your ability at maths.

If you say "I am hopeless at relationships", you will find relationships don't work for you.  You are destroying existing and future relationships simply by saying this!

If you say "I cannot dance - I have two left feet!", you will find no matter how hard you try to dance, it simply doesn't seem to work for you.  Perhaps you wanted to learn to dance properly because your partner enjoys dancing and you want to share in that experience.  But by saying this you are making it far less likely you will be able to share that hobby properly.

Now that you are aware of this problem, try to identify when it occurs.  Keep alert and I suspect you will be very surprised.  Unfortunately most people do this not just once or twice a month, not just once or twice a week, and probably not just once or twice a day!  They do it many times a day!  No wonder they find they are not able to achieve some of the things they would really love to achieve - they have a voice inside that tells them they are no good at .... (and the voice simply fills in the gap with virtually everything they want to achieve).

So stop sabotaging yourself!  Promise yourself right now that never again will you create a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure!  When you hear that negative inner voice starting to say "I am no good at ..." counter it with "I am really good at ...".  It won't necessarily turn you into a world expert but at least it will begin to counter the self-sabotage you have probably been conducting for most of your life!

World View

What is your world view, your "weltanschauung"?

Do you see the world as a hostile place in which you have to fight in order to survive?  Or do you see it as a nurturing place that wants you to achieve whatever you want to achieve and will work with you to get you there?

Whichever answer you gave is the correct answer.  Even though those two answers are complete opposites.  Why?  How can this be?

The reality is that the world in which you live is whatever you make it, however you perceive it.  For too many people that means it is indeed that hostile place even though it need not be this way.

So let me ask a slightly different question.  How would you like the world in which you live to be?  Think about this carefully, as you really do have the power to change it if you wish.  Not through any magical power, but simply because the world really is however you make it, however you perceive it.

If you believe the world is "conspiring" with you to help you achieve whatever it is you really want to achieve, then it will.  I happen to believe there is a universal law that the world around me is continually "re-shaped" by my beliefs and thoughts.  But you don't even need to believe this.  If you believe the world is working with you then you will be looking for and open to the positive things around you that will help you in whatever it is you want to do.  I personally do see the world around me as magical, and constantly wonder at the way this magic works for me.  But there is nothing really magical about the idea that there are things and people around you that will help you.  There ARE such things and people around you all the time and you simply have to open your eyes and see them.

But equally, if you believe the world is "conspiring" against you and working to put obstacles in the way of everything you want to do, then it will do that too.  Yes, because of the "Law of Attraction", certainly.  But also because if you believe the world is working against you then you will be looking for all the negative things and people around you that will get in the way and prevent you from achieving what you want to achieve.  Again, there is nothing magical about this.  Certainly there are such negatives out there.  Certainly there will be obstacles and setbacks.  But if all you can see is those negatives then that is simply the way your life will be.

So, I ask you again.  How would you like your world to be?  Do you want it to be hostile or helpful?  Hopefully, like me, you want it to be helpful.  Take it from me, if that is how you want it to be then that is exactly how it can be.

Yes, there will still be setbacks.  Yes, there will be disappointments.  I am no "Pollyanna" who believes that all that is required is to have a positive mindset and all will be right in the world.  I know that will not always be the case.  But my world view is still that ultimately everything around me can help me move in the direction I want to move if only I will let it.  Make sure you do the same and you can see an enormous and positive difference in your life.

Deception and Imagination

Have you ever played a party trick on someone where you get them to walk along something very narrow and set them up so they think it is quite high above the ground?  Not at a deadly height, but maybe waist height or just above?  And not so narrow there is a strong likelihood they will fall.  If so, you will know that the way they walk is very different from how they would if they knew they were only a few inches off the floor.  In some cases they will refuse to walk across it at all, even if promised a reward if they do so.

Why is this?  As already stated, the width is not so narrow they are likely to fall, so why should they worry?  Why should some people walk very falteringly and others refuse to do it at all?

The answer is two-fold.  First, they have been deceived about the possible consequences.  They believe those consequences are that in the unlikely event they do fall they could hurt themselves.  Secondly, their imagination then takes over and puts all kinds of pictures in their head about those consequences.

Deception and imagination.  A very powerful combination that conspires to prevent all of us achieving what we really want to achieve.

For many people, this spells the end of their dream.  They decide that it is not worth risking suffering those consequences and they give up before they have even started.  For many others, they start anyway, but instead of stepping out boldly and announcing to the Universe that they are here and ready to reap all the benefits they begin the efforts in the same way as those tentative and stumbling efforts of the victim of the party trick.  What they are doing by being so tentative is making it more likely that they WILL fail.  And when they do, that inner deceiver will say "I told you so!", setting them up to be even more nervous they next time they try to achieve anything worthwhile.

I am not suggesting, of course, that you should ignore all the possible negative consequences.  For any new project, for any dream you want to follow, you do need to list all the pros and cons.  This will allow you to make an informed decision.  Certainly consider what you will do in each case of those negative consequences, so you are prepared for any likely outcome.  But then weigh up those pros and cons and don't allow all the negatives to put you off unless you logically reason this is not for you - at least not at this point in time.  And if the decision is to go ahead, don't allow the great deceiver within you to magnify those negatives.  Don't allow your imagination to dwell on them.  You have sensibly considered them but now your focus must be on the postive outcome.  That is the only way you are really likely to succeed and achieve your dream.

Passion

A guest posting by Jimmie Perry.

We’ve all had periods in our lives when we are wondering how we would develop a sense of direction.  How exactly, or when exactly, we would develop that thing called passion that everyone was talking about?  Well, passion is something that we should all develop; we must understand this.  Very few people are born knowing what exactly it is that they will be doing for most of their lives.  Heck, many people don’t even know what exactly they want to do.  That is because passion isn’t something that one is born with.  Passion is something that is developed with time, experience, and commitment.  The method for finding your passion in life can be found by reviewing the life of one of America’s founding fathers, Good Ole Ben Frank.

We are not born with a passion

For starters, passion is not something that anyone is simply born with.  We don’t just come out of the womb and know exactly what we want to do for the rest of our life; it takes time.  Passion comes from a love for doing a certain activity.  A love, or hunger if you will, that stays with us for an indefinite amount of time.  Acquiring passion in any one area requires that we are presented with a desire to solve or understand a problem.

Passion comes from a desire

Most people do not know this about Benjamin Franklin, but he was extremely passionate about putting out fires.  He saw that the fires that were flaring up in his city of New York were causing a serious problem and he sought to find a way to reduce the damage that they caused.  Do you think that the passion to put out fires was something that Ben was born with?  There is no way that he could’ve known about fires at the time of his birth.  His passion for fires was something that he developed as he gained experience with them.  He saw that they were causing massive amounts of people to get injured.  He noticed that the fires weren’t being put out efficiently and that the fire squadrons played a big part in that inefficiency; there essentially was no system.  The issue that arose with fires gave Ben something to focus his energy on which in turn resulted in an insatiable hunger within him.  In short, one of the key parts of finding a passion is finding something that fulfills your desire to solve a problem.

Experience is key

It wouldn’t have been at all possible for Ben to solve the problem if he hadn’t been present when the fires were taking place; he lived in New York and was seeing the damage that the fires were causing.  Again, if he hadn’t been present when the fires were happening, he probably wouldn’t have had the desire that he had to solve the epidemic.  He wasn’t born simply thinking of new ways to make fires more of a rarity or thinking of new ways to make individuals safer; he had to see the fires for himself even to begin thinking of new ways to improve the human condition in that way.  The same goes for all of us; we must go out (or stay in) and experience the things that happen in this world.  We must see all the possibilities (or at least a great many of them) and once we do this we will gain a bit of insight into the things that give us our drive; the things that make us whole, if you will.  We don’t have to explore the world in a physical way.  The world has become increasingly digital in the past few decades and there are now multiple things that can be done in the digital world.  One never knows, you may find comfort in this space as well as your passion.

Cross things off your “Passion List”

A side effect of exploration is that it becomes possible to gain an understanding of the things that we dislike doing.  Our understanding of our dislikes can be leveraged in our quest to find our passions; as you cross things off of the list of your possible passion, you get one step closer to finding the thing(s) that you love and want to do.

Consistently pursue that passion

Remember that neither Rome nor Benjamin’s method for stopping fires developed in a day.  To be honest, Benjamin didn’t even make any major headway in his fire prevention system for a year.  Neither will the thing that is considered your passion be built in a short space of time.  It will require a decent length of time before compound interest begins to show that you are making any real headway into your project; while you are in the process, you may not even notice the progress that is being made.  The point is that once you find that passion, you should relentlessly pursue it.  Don’t allow any lack of progress or apparent failure to stop you from moving.

In short, passion comes, but it’s a process

Passion is something that we can all develop, but it requires a great deal of both patience and exploration before it is ever really found.  This point must be reiterated because so many have trouble understanding it.  Our passions are things with which we become infatuated.  They are problems that we can’t help but put forth countless hours and energy towards solving; they move us.  You will not know exactly what it is that you want to do right out of the gate.  None of us knows what it is that we want to do right away, without any thought or preparation.  If we did, think about how dull life would be; we would literally know what the future held for us.

With that being said, the key to finding our passions in life amounts to these three things:

• Experience: Go out and explore (or stay in and explore)
• Reduce: Reduce the number of things that you like doing to a select few
• Be consistent: Once you find your drive, pursue it relentlessly

------⧫------ 

Jimmie Perry is the owner of JimmiePerry.blog and an avid trader.  In his free time, he enjoys writing about the experiences that he has had, and trading.  He is also currently working on his degree in Business Administration from Madonna University.