Our attitude toward anything depends upon what we think and much of what we think comes from the domain of the society we live in and our life-experiences within that domain. Of course, we are perfectly at liberty to entertain and develop our own thoughts, our own take on things but that quite often may lead us to go against the flow and worst case, may result in ostracization from our domain.
Yet, the secret of all power, all achievement and all possession depend on our method of thinking.
Magical Thinking
With the rise of sociology and anthropology in the 19th
century and thanks to later work by Freud, Jean Piaget and others, Magical Thinking theory was developed.
If you are a Magical Thinker, you believe that your ideas, thoughts, actions, words, or use of symbols can influence the course of events in the material world. Take “Law of Attraction” theory for example because LOA would be labeled “Magical Thinking”.
Magical thinking presumes a fundamental link between one’s inner, personal experience and the external physical world. Examples include beliefs such as: I expect to earn 1-Million Euros this year (2020) because the outcome can be influenced by my thoughts or by the manipulation of some type of symbolic representation of the physical phenomena of earning one million Euros.
Attached to religion and “primitive” cultures, “Magical Thinking” was considered developmentally inferior to the scientific reasoning found in more “advanced” Western cultures.
Let’s Turn This on Its Head
One of the childhood phrases that continually crops up in reminders is, “it’s not for the likes of us”.
Financial freedom is a prime example that I would hear my mother talk about. Riches are reserved and the “likes of us” have no claim to financial riches. My mother has a lot of riches in her life, yet financial riches are not one of them. She never believed it possible and anybody enjoying financial freedom may not be the most trustworthy of people. Her limiting beliefs are a huge ball of tangled wool kept forever tangled by the logic of her experience.
Counting the names quoted in Rhonda Byrne’s book and movie, “The Secret” there are twenty-nine, thirty if you add Byrne. Most of these still living, all attributing their huge successes to knowing The Secret that is The Law of Attraction. Magical Thinkers extraordinaire who, as Les Brown suggests, people who “get what they are”. They thought success, smelled it, believed it, asked for it. Their symbolic visualizations were so clear that they manifested success, repeatedly and continue to do so.
Take Lisa Nichols, CEO of Motivating the Masses. Her current net worth is estimated at $8 million (Feb 2020). Her journey started as a single parent living in poverty. Today she is a high-profile practitioner of LOA. She didn’t collect a takeaway called “success” because she already had the seeds of success within her. What she needed was the visualization to make it grow, the ability to listen and recognize the guiding steps she should take and the action to make it happen. In short, she needed unwavering belief in the power of the universe, and knowing she is at the center of her universe.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882) said, “Success comes from within, not without”.
So, that said, my success cannot be yours or yours mine, no matter how much we copy. Of course, we can learn practical things from one another, but success is not something that offers carbon copies.
To Be or Not to Be?
I like the works of Shakespeare and he posed a great question that I believe may be answered simply. We must “be” before we can “do,” and we can “do” only to the extent which we “are,” and what we “are” depends upon what we “think.”
If I think everything I do leads to failure I will get more of what I think. Ergo, more failure.
If every opportunity is questionable and I think probably a scam, I will see scams everywhere. I’ve had a highly successful life to date, and it will stay that way; success will continue to thrive. Whatever I visualize will be, I will do what is necessary because my mindset gives me exactly what I think because my outer world reflects my inner-world. That’s where my power resides.
There is A Magical World Within
It is a world of thought and feeling. Power, light, life and beauty. It is invisible to outsiders and its forces are mighty. It is a world governed by mind. When we discover this world, we find solutions for every problem and the cause for every effect. It is subject to our control; all laws of power and possession are also within our control. What appears in our experience is what we manifested within. In the world within we have infinite Wisdom, Power and a Supply of all that is necessary. It’s waiting to unfold, develop and express.
If we recognize our potential in the inner-world it will take form in the outer-world and there will be harmony and success.
This is not magical thinking and if you experience a lack of success or any other form of “lack” it’s because you are believing a story that isn’t true and if you don’t change your thinking it will become a never-ending story and not one with the happy ending of the movie with the same name.
Practical Visualizations
There is plenty of advice around about “How To Visualize” what you want. Most of the writing about this is useful but lacking in a key ingredient. Many websites and blogs will tell you to think about what you want to manifest into your life, find some relevant words and images and place them somewhere you will see them frequently. To an extent, this may work but there is more.
A New Fridge
I knew two guys who manifested a new fridge although that is not what they intended. Pasted to their fridge door was a collage of things they did want to manifest. It was a busy fridge door and they took the door off their fridge each time they were asked to speak at conferences and proudly showed their collage on the door to the audience. They talked a lot about the value of the images on that door but more about how the fridge wasn’t working as it should each time they removed the door.
One day they got married and lo and behold, they received a new fridge as one of their wedding gifts. As far as I was aware, they didn’t manage to manifest any of the items on the door, especially the income from their business that they wanted. Their external-reality fell far short of the internal-goal. They got a new fridge. Exactly what they worked for each time they showed that door in public. They got what they wanted but not what they needed.
The universe responded in kind because it’s the only way it does.
Where Did They Go Wrong?
In short, they didn’t. They put the message “out to the universe” that they needed a new fridge, but they didn’t think the message through. These guys were great speakers and highly-entertaining except that they spent more time dwelling on the fridge door than the things they really wanted to manifest.
Lack of Expectation
- Expectation is a powerful force for attracting what we want and equally what we don’t want.
- If you want money in your life, write yourself a cheque for the minimum amount you want.
- Look at the cheque frequently
Imagine seeing the balance on your bank account with the amount added. - Better still, take a real bank statement and add the amount you want to the existing balance.
- Be excited and show gratitude for the wonderful gift you have received.
- Say, thank you, say it loud and say it often.
- Expect the money to arrive in your account because know that it will. Look at that bank statement. It already has.
- If you have any doubts, you will receive more doubts. You get back what you put out.
Watch and Listen
How you get this money is not for you to decide. Watch for the signals, listen to your intuition when it tells you to do things to bring the money to your account. Don’t kick your heels impatiently waiting, instead, develop a, “I have it now mindset”. Look at your bank balance, you can see it. Dwelling on why I don’t have it yet will keep it out of reach until you fix your negative thinking.
To Your Advantage
One of the reasons why “self-help” of any description fails is because it is not a habitual way of thinking. Think about new year resolutions for a moment. How many fade away before Valentines day? Attracting what you want is not a one-time event. It must become habitual thinking. If you habitually think “lack”, you will forever be lacking.
Look at The Back of Your Hands
- What do you see?
- Go on, really examine what you see. Only what you see. Color, lines, hair, nails, rings, smell of perfume . . . take in the detail and forget the imperfections.
- Now close your eyes and see your hands in your minds-eye.
- Do you see them?
- If not; do it again until you do.
- You just visualized a perfect image of your hands.
Whatever You Want
Let’s keep it simple. Think about something you really want that could easily be held in your hands. Look at some pictures if you need to; get a clear image.
My current visualization for this is that I’m sat behind the wheel of a brand-new Audi car. I’m holding the wheel in my hands as I drive a familiar stretch of road. The car smells of “new car”. I can see the ring on the 3rd finger of my right hand. I can feel the gear stick as I go through the gears and I see the display in front of me.
This visualization is thoroughly enjoyable and accurate because it is something I want. I know what it looks like, I know what it smells like. My thoughts on this are powerful, I have it right now.
Practice makes perfect; it brings my visualization into being.
The End of The Day
This is an incredibly positive habit. At the end of each day, before sleep, think back over the days events. Start with the good things. What really went your way? Give thanks for those and joyfully expect more of the same the next day. If something didn’t go too well, replay the related events in your mind and edit the scene to run as you would like it. Know that as the fictional Jean-Luc Picard said, you can, “make it so”.
Change the way you look at things, the things you look at will change.
Toolbox
There are many ways to effectively explore and challenge your limits. We need a box of tools to challenge the boundaries and move forward toward realizing success.
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Namasté
I bow to the place in you that is love, light, and joy
Peace & Light
Steve Costello is a British Community & Youth Studies and Psychology honors graduate with over 30-years theoretical and practical experience in the Personal Development public and private sectors. He founded ExGro in 2018 with business partner, friend and clinical psychologist, Leo Faerberg.