You are the Creator

I know some of my religious friends will accuse me of blasphemy for saying this, but if you look beyond the superficial meaning you will see this is true - you ARE the creator.

As it happens, I AM religious and I do believe in God, the Creator.  But I also believe we are each the creator of our own world.  Working in tandem with God we do create the world in which we live.

In what sense?

In a number of ways.

The world around you is simply energy, and it is the way you interpret that energy that determines how that world appears to you.  When I look around me I see God's creation and see that it is very beautiful.  I see the lovely colours.  I hear beautiful sounds - for example the lovely sound of a blackbird singing.  I smell the wonderful perfumes released by so many flowers around me.  I interact with that world and, just like the God of the Old Testament, I see that it is good!

I live in the same world as everyone around me, yet at the same time it is a very different world.  The same energies are there for us all to see, hear, smell, taste and feel.  But we all interpret those energies in different ways.  I choose to see, hear, smell, taste and feel the beauty of the world in which I live.  I see that it is good.  It is very good!  And I always give thanks to God for this wonderful world.  For my Christian readers, remember what St Paul said in 1 Timothy 4:4: "For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving!"  I couldn't put it better!

I join with Louis Armstrong in singing this beautiful song by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss:

I see trees of green, red roses too

I see them bloom for me and you

And I think to myself what a wonderful world

I see skies of blue and clouds of white

The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night

And I think to myself what a wonderful world

The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky

Are also on the faces of people going by

I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do

They're really saying I love you

I hear babies crying, I watch them grow

They'll learn much more than I'll never know

And I think to myself what a wonderful world

Yes I think to myself what a wonderful world

So no matter what is happening in my life I am always thankful that I live in a wonderful world.  The same world everyone around me lives in, but where perhaps they see only grey colours, threatening situations, missed opportunities, I see the great beauty of this wonderful world and thank God every day for putting me in it.

That is one way I create my world, by tuning my senses so they recognize the beauty that is all around me, living gratefully for the privilege given to me to live in this beautiful world.  This actually creates the beauty, as beauty is simply in the eye of the beholder.  It is the same energy that surrounds everyone else, but I choose to see and enjoy the beauty.  A choice we all have, but one which far too few make.

I also create my world by choosing with what and with whom I will surround myself.  This, too, is at least partly my choice.  Yes, I recognize it is only partly my choice and that I must accept it is a shared creation.  Others may well control some of what surrounds me.  But I do have some choice here.  I can choose to mix with positive people or negative people.  I choose positive.  I can choose to read and watch beautiful things.  I can choose many of the things I have around me.  I choose to be happy by surrounding myself with things and people that make me happy.  And where I have no choice for some of those things and people I see the beauty in them anyway.

And I create my world by allowing those main choices (the choice of recognizing beauty, being thankful for it, and surrounding myself with all that I enjoy) to attract to me all that is necessary for me to continue to have a better life.  The power of manifestation - yet another way in which I am the creator of my own world.

You are the creator of your world too.  What kind of a world are you creating right now?  Do you look at it and see that it is good?  If not, begin working right now to change that world.  You have the power!  Use it!

Law of Attraction

I have often referred to the Law of Attraction in my blog posts.  But what exactly is it, what does it do, how does it do it, and how important is it to you and your own personal development?

First let me clarify.  The Law of Attraction is not something you can choose to use or to ignore.  Whether or not you like it you are "using" it all the time.  Whether or not you believe in it, the Law of Attraction is working right now and even as you read this it is bringing certain things into your sphere of influence.

The concept is actually very simple.  Like attracts like.  If you focus on certain things, those things are more likely to be attracted into your life.

Most of us, unfortunately, use the Law of Attraction in completely the wrong way, and that is why we get the wrong results.

Notice I said if you focus on certain things, those are the kinds of things the Law of Attraction will bring to you.  Not necessarily exactly the same things, but at least vaguely similar.  Also, maybe only indirectly.  Perhaps what will come into your sphere will be an opportunity to begin obtaining what it is you have focussed on.  But you have to recognize that opportunity.  Most people do not recognize it and therefore do not take advantage of it - and then they complain that the Law of Attraction did not work because it did not bring them the things they wanted.  That is a very lazy attitude, and if you are lazy you are unlikely to get very far in obtaining whatever it is you want.

Even worse, far too many people focus on what is wrong in their life rather than what is good and could be great in their life.  If you focus on what is wrong you will simply attract more of it.  The Law of Attraction will work.  It will respond properly to the instructions you are effectively giving it.  But those instructions are for completely the wrong things.

Take wealth, for example.  When you consider your own wealth do you focus on the fact that you are not wealthy enough?  That you don't have the money you need in order to achieve whatever you want to achieve?  If so, you are probably condemning yourself to losing even the wealth you currently have.  Certainly you are making it much more likely that you will lose it.

Jesus told his disciples "Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them." (Matthew 13:12).  There are a number of different interpretations of this, but one is that if you are someone who "does not have" it means you are focussed on that lack rather than the abundance you could have.  Focus on what you do have, albeit so small, and be thankful for it, and you will find it will increase - maybe directly, or maybe indirectly, with the Universe putting you in the right place at the right time to create more of that good in your life.

So take away these three things:

1. Stop focussing on things you do not want to have in your life.
2. Be grateful for all the good things in your life, and express that gratitude
3. Recognize that the Universe brings opportunities to you all the time to increase those good things in your life - look for those opportunities and be ready to seize them.

Do this and you will find that little by little you are using the Law of Attraction properly, and more and more good things will begin to appear in your life.

Gratitude List

Take a clean sheet of paper and start writing down all the things for which you are grateful.  Keep writing until you can think of no more.  And when you get to that point, don't stop the exercise.  Sit there quietly meditating, and allow more thoughts of gratitude to come into your mind.  Carry on overleaf, and even on another sheet of paper if you fill up both sides.  That instruction alone should give you some idea of just how much I believe should be on your "Gratitude List"!

When I went through my own reasons to be grateful, I listed one that will probably shock you.  My prostate cancer!

I can hear the cogs going round in your brain right now!  "How could he possibly be grateful for having had prostate cancer?"  Well there are many reasons for this:

• I am grateful for the way in which my prostate cancer surfaced.  It gave me symptoms (I understand it usually doesn't), and so I was able to get treatment quickly.  The speed with which I was treated almost certainly saved my life!
• I am grateful that I live in a country where I can receive good medical treatment and that I don't have to pay for that treatment.  That is something for which I should be very grateful, and I am.
• I am grateful that the cancer I contracted was one that can be treated if it is picked up quickly enough, as I know there are many forms of cancer that are much more difficult or even impossible to treat.
• I am grateful that I was insured against cancer, and that I was able to use the insurance payout to pay off my mortgage and start a part time online business.
• The list goes on ...

Every morning when I wake up I am grateful that I have been given yet another day to achieve something.  Another chance to change the world.  Yes, change the world!  Everything we do results in changes in the world even though we may not see them.  When I smile at a stranger I have no way of knowing what effect that smile may have.  But what I do know is that the effect is much more likely to be good than bad.  Perhaps the person I smiled at was feeling unwanted and unloved, but then the smile comes and they think "even this person who doesn't know me likes me and is smiling at me".  This may change their life completely, and for the good.  Another person may find the unexpected smile so uplifting that they smile at the next few people they meet, some of whom then have a similar reaction.  The ripple effect!  My smile may literally travel around the world and back, changing hundreds of people!  And no, I don't believe that is an exaggeration.  I truly believe that can be the case.  Not with every smile, but every so often.  And I don't just smile, of course!  I try in other ways to make the world around me a better place.  And so, as I said, I am thankful that God has given me another day to change the world, and I do what I can to change it for the better.

When I first taught myself to sell, I read about a door-to-door salesman who had what seemed like a strange habit.  Every time someone rejected him he thanked them.  Most didn't comment and probably thought no more about it, assuming he was just being polite.  But one day someone asked him why he always thanked the people who rejected him.  I think the "someone" was a trainee salesman who had been told to "shadow" him, as he was the best salesman in his company.  Then the salesman explained he really was grateful.  Like any good salesman, he knew his statistics.  He knew that most people would reject him, but a certain percentage would want to buy what he was selling.  I cannot recall the figures, but let's just say it was 1% who would want to buy.  One in a hundred doors knocked.  So our salesman saw each rejection as one step closer to that one sale.  He knew he had to meet 99 people before he found the one who wanted to buy.  The person who just said "no" was one of the 99, so now there were just 98 left!  How is that for a positive view on life?  How is that for a reason to be thankful?

If you do put down anything on your list that could look negative, like my cancer, or the salesman's rejection, make sure you write a bit next to it explaining why you are thankful.  I strongly recommend you do this.  It can make a massive difference to the way in which you view the things in your life that seem to be negative.  And it is your attitude to what happens which really counts.  Nothing outside you can make you miserable.  It is your reaction to what happens that either makes you happy or sad.  Personally I prefer to be happy rather than sad, so I try to find the good in everything that happens - as you probably realize from what I said about my cancer.

So spend some time now thinking about all the positive outcomes from what might look like bad things that have happened, and add those positive outcomes to your list.

If you have done this properly you should now have quite a few pages listing all the reasons you have to be thankful.  Just producing this list will make at least a small change to the way in which you react to things in the future.  And you should look at this list often, so you become more and more positive about your life.

Do this, and the Universe will see you are thankful for what it gives you.  And guess what?  The Universe gives more to those who who are thankful for its gifts!  This is one very important step in the process called "Manifesting", which you can use to attract to you the things you want to receive.  Make sure you do this regularly, make sure you are always thankful for the many good things you receive and you will find, apparently mysteriously, the good things you receive will gradually increase.

The Habit of Gratitude

"When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breath, to think, to enjoy, to love."

No, this is not something written by a "new thought" guru.  It was written by the Stoic Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, some time between 161 and 180 AD.  Marcus Aurelius was very much a student and practitioner of self-improvement.  He even wrote his "Meditations" (from which this quote comes) in Biblical Greek rather than his native Latin, purely to improve his fluency in that language.

How do you awaken every morning?  How do you feel?  What are your first thoughts and feelings?  Do you open your eyes, smile, and say "Good morning, God!", or do you keep your eyes closed, sigh, and say "Good God, Morning!"?  I hope usually the former, but perhaps at least some days it is more the latter!

The truth is, it really is a precious privilege to be alive, just as Marcus Aurelius said nearly 2,000 years ago.  So perhaps you should try to make your first thought when you awake a feeling of gratitude that you are still alive.  You have many things for which you should be grateful, but certainly being alive must be one of them.

It may not be easy at first to adopt this new habit.  But try to make it that - a habit of gratitude.  First recognize that you are still alive, that you are breathing.  That shouldn't be too difficult, even when you are half asleep and bleary eyed!  Then recognize that you have the ability to think.  Know that you have the right to enjoy this extra day you have been given life.  And feel the wonderful power of love around and within you.

When you first try to do this you will probably find it is quite erratic.  One day you will remember the moment you awaken.  The next day you will forget, and maybe only around midday will you suddenly remember that you forgot your morning "gratitude exercise".  When that happens, don't worry.  Simply feel and express your gratitude for life, thought, happiness and love the moment you remember to do so.  Just try whenever you can to remember to do it first thing so it colours your attitude to the rest of the day.

After a while you will find it starts to become a habit.  Some gurus will tell you that it takes 21 days to establish a habit.  But don't take that as gospel.  Otherwise you will be trapped into worrying when you miss a day and perhaps thinking you have to start counting towards 21 all over again, or at least deduct a few days from your progress towards 21.  The reality is there is no magic number to create a habit, not 21, or 30 or any other number.  So just keep doing it, and don't berate yourself when you miss a day, or even several days in a row.  Just keep going.  Express your gratitude every day, preferably at least when you wake up, but also later in the day - ideally in the latter case thinking of some specifics other than just life, happiness and love for which you have every reason to be grateful.

When gratitude becomes a habit you will find your life changes significantly, and for the better.  As I said before, we all have good reason to be grateful.  If you want to look for reasons to be unhappy I am quite sure you can easily find them.  But I also know you have many reasons to be happy.  So make it a habit to be grateful for those reasons you have to be happy.  By reminding yourself you have good reason to be happy, you will find you ARE happy.  And wouldn't you far rather be happy than be sad?

What you will also find is that things around you begin to change, and you will have even more reasons to be grateful.  Simply by feeling and expressing gratitude you will attract to yourself people and situations that will make you even more grateful, that will give you more reasons to be happy, that will increase the love you have for others and the love others return to you.

What a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breath, to think, to enjoy, to love.  It really is a privilege.  Recognize this, be grateful for it, and reap the enormous benefits you will gain as you do so.

Positive Energy

How alive do you feel right now?  How much energy do you have?

I hope you have responded with something along the lines of "I am very alive!" and "I am full of beans!"  If so, great!

But I suspect you have either not given such a positive response or at least admit that you don't always feel that way.

When you do not feel really enthused, full of energy, grateful just to be alive, and ready to tackle whatever challenges may confront you, why is this?

Stop reading for a moment, grab a clean sheet of paper and write down some of the answers that came to you.  Don't write them in a notebook - you need to write them on a single sheet of paper.  When you have done so, come back to me and we will discuss it further.  Ok, why are you still here?  Go and do it!

.......................................

Take a look at that list you have just written.  Now pick up that sheet and tear it in two.  Tear it again.  And again.  Keep tearing until you just have lots of small pieces of paper and you cannot read any of the sentences you wrote.

Feel good about that.  Those reasons are all gone.

In some cases because you have removed the reason.  It may still seem to be here in the physical world - but in the inner world, the world in which everything you can see around you begins, the barrier to an energy filled, happy and bubbly life has simply disappeared.

In other cases the thing you wrote about is still there, but you have destroyed its power to stop you living a fulfilled, and energy-filled life.

The reality is that nothing outside you really has the power to stop you being fully alive for as long as you are physically alive.  Nothing outside you has the power to stop you feeling grateful for all the good things you have in your life.  Nothing outside of you has the power to sap your energy.  It only has the power if you voluntarily give it that power.

If you really want to feel full of energy, that feeling comes from within not from the outside.  It doesn't come from your circumstances.  It doesn't come from the job you are doing.  It doesn't come from the people around you.  It comes from right inside you.

Let me ask you another question.  Do you prefer feeling great, alive, full of beans, and thankful for the wonderful life you have, or do you prefer to feel lethargic, miserable, and self-pitying?

If you want to feel great, then do it!  Feel great!  Nobody and nothing can stop you!

I agree it is nicer to be in great circumstances, be surrounded by lovely people, have everything you ever wanted.  Of course it is!  But the feelings you have in the moments when you have those things don't come from them, but from within you.  By all means arrange things as much as possible so you have the things you want, are in the circumstances you wish for, are surrounded by lovely, positive friends.  There are many things you can do to move towards that situation.  But recognize that right now you can generate as much positive energy as you wish.

The power to feel miserable, weak and deflated comes from within.  The power to feel happy, full of energy, and glad to be alive comes from within.  Choose which you want, and choose wisely!

If You're Happy and You Know It

Did you sing the song "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands!" as a child?  I know I did.  Well if I were to follow the words of that song I would be clapping non-stop.  And I would have been for at least the past couple of months.

Or have you seen the app that displays on Facebook your percentage happiness?  I see it coming up all the time for one of my friends showing numbers well below 100%.  I don't have the app myself, and I have no idea whether it has any basis in reality or is just a gimmick, but if it works and if I had it installed on my mobile I would be displaying 100% every day.

On the basis that madness is defined by deviation from normal I guess I should have been put in an asylum months ago.  I am quite sure it cannot be regarded as "normal" to be happy all day every day.  Fortunately the men in white coats haven't spotted me yet!

But why am I happy?  Not ecstatically happy, which would be rather exhausting after a while, but pleasantly happy.  Comfortably happy.  All the time.  Where does this happiness come from?

Perhaps you feel it is because I am wealthy.  Well I am not.  Depending on how you define wealth of course.  I have enough to get by.  Not as much as I would like.  Not enough to allow me to do all the things I would like to do by a long stretch.  I am working on that, but how I am doing it should be the subject of a different blog.  Wealth is relative anyway.  To someone living on the street and who doesn't have enough to feed their children, let alone themselves, a person who has a house, a job, and food in the fridge is wealthy.  By that definition I am wealthy.  But to someone who has a 10 bedroom house, a holiday home on a nice white beach that is warm all year round, and the money and time to flit between the two whenever he likes I am definitely not wealthy.  Again, I am working on it, but that is certainly not me right now.

Maybe you feel it is because I am in perfect health.  Well I am not.  I was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago.  I have been treated very successfully for it, but once you have had cancer you can never really say it is gone for good.  And the treatment itself left a few side effects.  So I certainly don't have perfect health.  In fact just after I originally wrote this article I suffered a viral throat infection.  Nothing very serious, but it did leave me with a very sore throat, unable to swallow without great difficulty, fever, and lethargy.  I did not ignore the signals my body was giving me.  I visited the doctor to make sure I was doing the right things to deal with the infection, took some paracetamol to deal with the pain, and had plenty of rest.  I have almost recovered now.  I was not pleased to be ill, but I was still happy.  And now I am even happier, knowing the infection has almost gone.

So why on earth am I happy all the time?  And is this something you can copy too?

Firstly, I recognize that happiness comes from within.  It is not something you are given.  It is not something that happens to you because of what is happening around you.  Look at some wealthy people who still seem to be miserable and you will see the truth of this.  Happiness comes from your frame of mind, nowhere else.  As long as you are looking for happiness to come from outside it will always be elusive.

Secondly, I am very grateful for what I have.  It may not be much to a lot of people, but when I look around me and see what some people have to suffer I know I can be very thankful.  Think about your own situation for a few minutes.  I challenge you to tell me that there is absolutely nothing for which you can be thankful.   The mere fact that you have the resources to be able to read this blog means you are in a better position than many people in this world.  Even the mere fact that you are alive! When you practice thankfulness you will soon find it makes you happy too.

Finally, I took a coaching course from a good, reputable company called "Frame of Mind Coaching".  They didn't show me anything radically new, but that is not really surprising.  In fact I guess I would have been worried if they had.  What they got me to focus on were things I already knew, but which perhaps I had forgotten to ensure remained fully grounded in my life.  I am quite sure my permanent change in state is very much down to the way they got me to dig deep into myself and get properly grounded again.  To me, this was what coaching should be all about and it certainly got impressive results.  If you would like to try them out, be my guest.  You can even get some free, no obligation coaching from them so you can see whether or not what they do is right for you.

Here is the link to get those free coaching sessions:

http://journal.frameofmindcoaching.com/assessment/482

Igniting the Law of Attraction

by

Jack Canfield

The practice of giving thanks is commemorated today in America as a national holiday. But if you want to live the Law of Attraction, appreciation shouldn’t be confined to a solitary day. It should be incorporated into your daily living.

Appreciation is the oxygen that breathes life into the three-step Law of Attraction process. It turns the spark of your desire into a full-blown flame that effortlessly attracts the things you want like moths to a candle.

Three Steps to Attract What You Want

The first step of the Law of Attraction is quick and easy: Ask.  As soon as you become aware of a desire, announce it to the universe. State your intention out loud, write it down, post a picture of what you want on a vision board, or simply think, “I want that!”

The next step is Believe. Believe that you can have the thing you want, and then release your desire to the universe. Trust that you’ll receive what you want or something better. Either way, the decision is in the universe’s hands. Detachment from the outcome occurs when you have total faith that the universe will give you exactly what is perfect for you right here, right now.

Affirmations are used to remove doubt about whether you’ll get or you deserve what you want. An affirmation describes your goal as already complete. It affirms what you want vs. what you don’t want. It also captures how you feel when celebrating your goal. This allows you to feel the actual feelings you’ll experience upon achieving your goal. For example, “I am feeling light and alive at my perfect body weight of one thirty-five.

Appreciation works its magic during the final step – Receive. Appreciation is one of the highest emotional states you can be in. It is the state of abundance. The Law of Attraction states that like attracts like. If you are grateful for what you have already received, you will attract more for which you can be grateful.

Think for a moment about your own experience with holiday gift giving. When relatives show sincere pleasure and appreciation for the gifts you give, no matter how simple, you want to shower them with even more. Gift giving becomes a delight for you as much as for the recipients. Contrast this with people who don’t acknowledge your presents or who dismiss them as not big enough, impressive enough, or “right” enough. Giving gifts to these individuals becomes an obligation. You don’t spend hours searching for the perfect gift. You settle for an item that’s adequate.

The universe operates in a similar way. Its best gifts go to individuals who vibrate at the highest levels of appreciation for the gifts they’ve already received.

To create the vibrational match with what you want, live in the feeling space of already possessing the things you want. Appreciate what you already have, and you’ll be vibrating in the same state of gratitude you’ll be in when the universe delivers what you want.

Appreciate the Smallest Blessings

Activate your gratitude by acknowledging the gifts most people take for granted.

If you have food in your refrigerator (meaning that you have electricity), clothes in your closet and a roof over your head, you are better off than 75 percent of the world’s population. If you eat three meals a day, you are far better off than the 1 billion people on the planet who eat once a day at most. Celebrate these simple blessings.

Do you have a phone? Be grateful – millions don’t. How about a car that allows you to travel to work or to explore the country? Is your family healthy? Do you have a computer and Internet access to stay in touch with the world, get access to education, and perform work for which you are paid? Do you have clean water to drink? These daily conveniences are gifts that most people in the world do not enjoy.

Daily Appreciation Habits

Here are five easy ways to make appreciation part of your daily routine:

1. Take 7 minutes each morning to write down all you appreciate. Starting your day this way primes you to be receptive and grateful for everything your day will bring.
2. Carry a physical token of gratitude in your pocket, such as a stone, crystal or some other small item. As you reach into your pocket throughout the day and feel the token, use it as a reminder to stop, breathe and take a moment to fully experience the emotion of gratitude.
3. Appreciate at least 3 people every day. Most people enjoy receiving verbal appreciation. But written notes are also nice because they can be saved and re-read.
4. Play the Appreciation Game. As the saying goes, “Every cloud has a silver lining.” Look for the good in all situations. When my wife was in a car accident a few years ago, she could have chosen to berate herself or question her judgment. Instead, she focused on her gratitude for suffering only minor injuries and for the help she received from other drivers.
5. Appreciate yourself. We all need acknowledgement, but the most important acknowledgement is what we give ourselves. In addition to celebrating your big successes, acknowledge your small daily successes, too. During my annual Breakthrough to Success training, I assign the Mirror Exercise as homework because your subconscious mind needs positive encouragement to pursue further achievements and to change any negative beliefs you hold toward praise and accomplishment. This powerful exercise requires you to appreciate yourself for the day’s accomplishments while talking to yourself in a mirror.

Appreciation Is Not Human Nature

Many people find that it requires great diligence to cultivate an attitude of appreciation. We are culturally conditioned to focus on what we don’t have, rather than appreciating what we’ve already received.

Decades ago, the University of Chicago conducted a fascinating study into appreciation. Researchers took soldiers who had recently returned from the World War II Pacific Theater and housed them in Quonset huts on campus. At first, the men were delighted with their housing, because they were ecstatic to be off the battlefield. After about 30 days, however, they started to complain about their Quonset huts. Rather than being grateful for a simple, yet safe, place to live, they began to focus on what they didn’t have. They became dissatisfied with not having more comfortable quarters.

It may not feel natural at first to focus on appreciating what you already have. But by faithfully using the appreciation exercises outlined in this article, you’ll change your conditioning. Giving thanks will become more than an occasional exercise. It will become a daily discipline that allows you to vibrate in more of what you want from life.

About the author:

Jack Canfield, America's #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul® and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you're ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now:  Free Success Strategies