Wednesday, July 6, 2011

“What you focus on expands”

Someone shared this thought with me recently. Her words were in relation to diet and taking care of yourself physically, but they apply to every facet of life; the emotional and intellectual maybe even more so than the physical.

Since I’ve been home in New York, it’s been one giant, not-always-comfortable transition. I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want from my life and what I can do, with my own faculties, to achieve certain things. I’m definitely in a massive transition phase, which, unfortunately, has had me focusing more on the negative than the positive. It happens. My Germanic tendencies rear their ugly heads and send me spinning into dour territory. I need to shake free of the negativity and embrace the possibility—allllll the possibilities!

And so I keep coming back to the words this woman, who’s much younger than me. They’re incredibly wise, insightful and precocious. Here was her full message: “Make sure you're giving yourself plenty of credit for the things you ARE doing. We all tend to focus on what we aren't doing or feel we are doing wrong or don't do enough, but the universal principle is that ‘what you focus on expands’. The more you do those great works, and the more you acknowledge yourself for them, the more those things will show up in your life.”

10 comments:

  1. I completely agree with this young sage. Whatever we concentrate on (good or bad) takes over. So much of our internal peace and happiness is within our control. I read an interesting book some time ago, a random find at the B&N in Union Square, 'The Power of Your Subconscious Mind', very insightful!

    Take time to appreciate all that you are and and that you have, and have acheived... and be mindful of what you desire. It will come.

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  2. true!! and a great reminder for us all. I am often so guilty of negative spiraling too.
    Thanks for sharing, Aim.

    xx m

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  3. Beautiful post- thanks for sharing. I too have being going through a major transitional phase for the past few years (I'm ready for some stability in my life!) & have found the readings of Eckhart Tolle & Deepak Chopra to be helpful for much needed insight & perspective. I highly recommend "The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success", "A New Earth" & "The Power of Now". There's a great Eckhart Tolle Meetup in the city as well. The key to not getting caught up in negative thinking is to stay in the present moment as much as possible & realize that your thoughts are only thoughts! The future is scary because you think you can control it by "thinking" about it but that obviously is not true. Remember that uncertainty brings amazing opportunity & I'm rooting for you! Thanks for your inspiring blog, I've been dreaming of moving to Paris for years :) All my best, Colleen

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  4. She is so right on. The challenge is to catch ourselves RIGHT AWAY when we start going down that negative thought path. Old habits are hard to break.

    I follow a similar mantra: "Thoughts become things...choose the good ones!"

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  5. "Germanic tendencies" What do mean by these?
    As a German I feel slightly offended.
    Besides great blog, I share your love for Paris having lived there myself for 6 years and still going back and forth every other month.

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  6. Hey Amy,

    I'm a girl living in NYC while dreaming of Paris all the time. Few months ago I came across your blog on the internet and got hooked. You said everything I wanted to say about New York and Paris in a more articular way. I love your blog and it inspired me to follow and focus on my "coups de coeur" in life. Thanks for being so inspiring!

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  7. So true, Amy! I need to get those words tattoed somewhere I can see many times a day...

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  8. Oh yes!! See! That's what I was trying to say & a whole lot better, too, in the comment I made on the post about boredom. Yup -- where your focus is, there your energy goes. I hope that things will start to turn and you will find a re-energized momentum into greater positiveness. :) I know: sometimes wallowing a little, thinking a little, actually helps us sink down a little bit so that we can touch the bottom of the pool and use it to launch ourselves upwards. I am all for fully feeling our feelings. But it is true that you want to be experiencing upward movement, too, so here's to your launching upward and onward! :)

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  9. Such a strong message here. At first I thought it would be all about diet, like as though "focusing on your thighs makes them expand" :) I much prefer the true meaning! And your interpretation. The ball is in your court, just depends how you want to play!

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