You are 100% RIGHT about the State of Your Life!

I was just watching an old episode of Oprah which featured a British psychologist who created a foundation called the "Happiness Project". On the show he was discussing how the Law of Attraction works to give us each one of us the experience of creating our own life circumstances based not so much on how they "really" are, but on how we perceive them to be... I think what he has to say is fascinating:

"We have beliefs about life, and our perceptions gather evidence to PROVE that our beliefs are correct. So an "optimist" believes that good things can come from bad situations... So then the perception now works over time looking for [evidence to demonstrate] "what is the good that can come of this?" ...That's the function of perception - to teach us that we are RIGHT about EVERYTHING! Hence "pessimists" are RIGHT about life, AND "optimists" are RIGHT about life - it's about how YOU perceive it!"

Wow! So now that that has been said, here is an interesting question to get you thinking a little more about your own perceptions...

Rate the following statement on a scale of 1-7 based on how true it is for you right now, with 7 as absolutely true, and 1 as not true at all:

"If I could live my life over to this point, i would change almost nothing."

Think about that. Really think about it. If you could live your life over and change anything you had complete control over, what would you change? Bear in mind that you cannot get all magical now and live your life over changing what influence other people had, or change situations which were not under your control - it doesn't count to say "if I could live my life over I would make my dad be at home more when I was a kid" or "I would have a better relationship with my mother and help her not to be addicted to pain medication" or "I would have a spouse who didn't cheat on me". As debilitating and challenging as those examples are, they are not within the sole control of the person wishing it had been different. I am ONLY talking about experience, situations or choices that you have made along the way, which were (for the most part at least) exclusively within your control... What would YOU change about the way YOU have lived your life thus far?

When you really think about it, is there really that much? All of your choices up until now are what have made you who you are right now! Anything that you are grateful for in your life right now is, in part, because of the cumulative effects of ALL your past choices - do you really want to take those things out of your life? Talk about perceptions! Take a look at your life from the perspective of what you have learned, and who you have become, and the people who bring joy to your life now, and try to see how past "mistakes" have contributed.

It's really amazing to realize that nothing needs to change for me to be happy about who I am... Try it. I think you'll agree.

LOVE of SELF is the KEY to Attraction

Did anyone see the Oprah Winfrey show from last week on the subject of "Raising Happier Kids"? I sure did, and, though I do not have kids yet, boy am I ever glad I watched! On it, Martha Beck (...One of my heroes - Author of Expecting Adam and How to Find Your Own North Star) was talking about how children learn to love themselves by watching how their parents love themSELVES - not by how the parent loves the child - how the parent loves him or her SELF!!! Wow!

"The ONE thing you can do to teach your children to be happy is to love your OWN life! And then, love for others comes as a natural out pouring after that. If you raise kids and you only love THEM, and NOT YOURSELF, then they grow up to be people who cannot love themselves! ...They don't treat themselves the way YOU treat THEM, they treat themselves the way YOU treat YOU!"

-Martha Beck

Because our children (and everyone else, for that matter) are reflections for and of us, and they are constantly patterning what they see us do (to ourselves), if you demonstrate that you only love them (but not really yourself), then they cannot learn to love themselves (or you, very well), because they've watched you not love yourself!

...And it works this same way for everything! EVERYTHING! Not only the way our children, family, friends, co-workers, and all other people "love" us... But, this same idea also applies to how the UNIVERSE loves us! That is the essence of WHY the Law of Attraction works at different rates (and for different things - positive and negative) for different people!

We HAVE to learn to LOVE ourselves! ...It's the key to everything!!!

If the Universe sees and experiences US loving OURSELVES more and more, then, by the Law of Attraction, the Universe has NO choice BUT to love us more and more - give us even more to LOVE to love about Life and ourselves! It is LAW. ...And, in taking the "action" of actively loving ourselves more, we are effectively living the Law of Allowing as well - opening ourselves up to receive more and more because we are focused on LOVE!

Start RIGHT NOW! Think about something, anything, you love about yourself. Now think of another. And another... Think about it as much and as often as you can! Go to bed tonight thinking about it - try to get yourself to drift off to sleep while you are listing items you love about YOURSELF in your mind's eye... I guarantee that if you do, tomorrow will be a better day. I'm not quite sure HOW it will be, but I guarantee you it WILL be! It may even be a miracle - just like YOU!