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It's Not What You Think
Jan. 30th, 2009 06:43 amCall it The Law of Attraction, The Power of Positive Thinking, or even The Secret; the theory is the same: If you think good things are coming to you, they will. You just concentrate on the good stuff, ignore the bad stuff, and the world will be your play thing, leaving you healthy, wealthy, and in charge. That's all there is to it according to most people I've talked with.
Just ask Jane. Jane's a woman I met recently who stumbled onto this in a big way. Her first big challenge is losing weight, and it's one that she's been fighting all her life. Jane believes that through this powerful "think it, be it" approach to things, she can sit around all day and think herself thin. Wouldn't that be great? I talked to her during this time and she looked bigger than ever, but was convinced that she was losing weight. She'd been using positive thinking for three months, and was sure it was working.
Proof? Well, she didn't want to step on a scale because that would mean that she didn't just trust that the Universe was getting her everything she wanted. She didn't want to taint the pureness of her good thoughts, don'tcha know. She could eat anything at all, have as many helpings of loaded mashed potatoes as she wanted, and still lose weight. She was living proof that this thing worked!
Except, of course, when she finally did step on a scale at her doctor's office, she had put on more than twenty pounds in those three months. The doctor took her off the Krispy Kreme diet, put her on a medically regulated one, and she's doing better, but she's not nearly as happy about it.
Let me rephrase that. She ecstatic that she's losing weight. She's not so happy that she has to actually do work to make it happen.
Then there's my friend Chuck. Great guy, seriously. He went to college, got a degree, became a music teacher, traveled the world, and led a great life. He stumbled into The Secret, and it changed his life dramatically. Suddenly he didn't have to work at having a good life anymore, he just had to think himself into better situations. Everything was his for the taking, and he just had to clap his hands and say that he does believe in fairies. This was awesome, and just what he was looking for!
When I met Chuck, he worked the night shift doing a minimum-wage data entry job. His wife, also once a teacher, worked at a Wholesale store as a lady handing out samples. They were over their head in debt, couldn't travel anymore, and still convinced that the big payoff was coming. It was coming, don't you worry, life couldn't get them down because they knew that all it took was thinking positive.
That was two years ago. Last I heard, the payoff hasn't yet come. He's still in a job he hates, his wife is still getting flak from management about eating the free samples, and both of them are unhappy.
That all being said, you probably won't believe me when I say that I'm not bashing The Power of Positive Thinking.
No, seriously. I have nothing bad to say about people thinking positively and wanting the world to bend to their whim. I think the concept is awesome. The problem is that, as with so many different things, people only listen to the simple part, and stop there. They think they can think the world into submission, and never get to the step that says in order for it to work, you have to actually work towards your goal.
Let me say that again, because it's important:
In order for The Secret to work, you have to actually work towards your goal. You have to be willing to take chances, follow weird urges, and generally change your lifestyle to focus on the thing that you're trying to achieve while keeping a positive attitude about it. Without actually doing something to change your life towards what you're trying to achieve all you have is a happy attitude, which is nice, but doesn't get you rich. Or skinny. Or a girlfriend.
Okay, it might get you a girlfriend. Which is good. But when she realizes that you're jobless but not submitting applications anywhere because you're sure a job will just fall into your lap, your happy attitude might not mean much.
In other words folks, it's not just what you think. It's also what you do.
Just ask Jane. Jane's a woman I met recently who stumbled onto this in a big way. Her first big challenge is losing weight, and it's one that she's been fighting all her life. Jane believes that through this powerful "think it, be it" approach to things, she can sit around all day and think herself thin. Wouldn't that be great? I talked to her during this time and she looked bigger than ever, but was convinced that she was losing weight. She'd been using positive thinking for three months, and was sure it was working.
Proof? Well, she didn't want to step on a scale because that would mean that she didn't just trust that the Universe was getting her everything she wanted. She didn't want to taint the pureness of her good thoughts, don'tcha know. She could eat anything at all, have as many helpings of loaded mashed potatoes as she wanted, and still lose weight. She was living proof that this thing worked!
Except, of course, when she finally did step on a scale at her doctor's office, she had put on more than twenty pounds in those three months. The doctor took her off the Krispy Kreme diet, put her on a medically regulated one, and she's doing better, but she's not nearly as happy about it.
Let me rephrase that. She ecstatic that she's losing weight. She's not so happy that she has to actually do work to make it happen.
Then there's my friend Chuck. Great guy, seriously. He went to college, got a degree, became a music teacher, traveled the world, and led a great life. He stumbled into The Secret, and it changed his life dramatically. Suddenly he didn't have to work at having a good life anymore, he just had to think himself into better situations. Everything was his for the taking, and he just had to clap his hands and say that he does believe in fairies. This was awesome, and just what he was looking for!
When I met Chuck, he worked the night shift doing a minimum-wage data entry job. His wife, also once a teacher, worked at a Wholesale store as a lady handing out samples. They were over their head in debt, couldn't travel anymore, and still convinced that the big payoff was coming. It was coming, don't you worry, life couldn't get them down because they knew that all it took was thinking positive.
That was two years ago. Last I heard, the payoff hasn't yet come. He's still in a job he hates, his wife is still getting flak from management about eating the free samples, and both of them are unhappy.
That all being said, you probably won't believe me when I say that I'm not bashing The Power of Positive Thinking.
No, seriously. I have nothing bad to say about people thinking positively and wanting the world to bend to their whim. I think the concept is awesome. The problem is that, as with so many different things, people only listen to the simple part, and stop there. They think they can think the world into submission, and never get to the step that says in order for it to work, you have to actually work towards your goal.
Let me say that again, because it's important:
In order for The Secret to work, you have to actually work towards your goal. You have to be willing to take chances, follow weird urges, and generally change your lifestyle to focus on the thing that you're trying to achieve while keeping a positive attitude about it. Without actually doing something to change your life towards what you're trying to achieve all you have is a happy attitude, which is nice, but doesn't get you rich. Or skinny. Or a girlfriend.
Okay, it might get you a girlfriend. Which is good. But when she realizes that you're jobless but not submitting applications anywhere because you're sure a job will just fall into your lap, your happy attitude might not mean much.
In other words folks, it's not just what you think. It's also what you do.
