Question #9: Do you devote more time to thinking about success or failure?

A NEW YEAR (A.N.Y.), a new way question series:

On January first, I posted our first article in this series explaining a new way to approach New Year's resolutions. Each day we will explore a different question that challenges us to understand ourselves better. The format will be as follows: I will post the previous day's question with my answer followed by the next day's question for contemplation.

Here is my answer:

Tale of Two Fires

I once was told a parable about two fires that burn in our mind: one called success and the other failure. Each fire’s survival is dependent on it receiving constant fuel and what the fuel for those fires are our thoughts. If you have a thought based on achieving success a log is thrown on that fire and the fire of failure diminishes. Likewise, if you have defeatist thoughts the fire of failure grows and you weaken the fire of success. This story, albeit fiction, does have an element of truth in it for the manifestation of our realities are based on the same principle. I have been fueling the fire of failure lately with my current financial situation. I have had terrible scenarios running through my mind on how to making things work out when my benefits expire. Little did I know how fueling that fire would manifest in my life other than my feeling anxious. One day, last week, I was leaving the house when I saw a man standing on the corner of our block. He was struggling with two bags; one held a sleeping bag and the other held a various array of his possessions. I remembered that I had these gadgets in the back of my car that are designed to help carry plastic bags. I walked towards him and offered him the gadgets. After a brief dialogue, I found out he was struggling to find a job; just like me. We chatted a little more and I was able to help with a few more items he needed and I left. As I was driving away, I marveled at the timing of his visit for I was just thinking earlier about losing everything that I owned. That was the main fear thought that I was fighting with and here before me was a living manifestation of that fear.

A-Ha Moment

A thought came to me a day or two ago about which fire I was fueling in my mind; was I focusing on what I wanted or what I didn’t want? Focusing on what I wanted would fuel my success fire whereas focusing on what I didn’t want fueled the other. With all this worry, I was throwing log after log on my failure fire and it was raging out of control. This is a key principal of the Law of Attraction; you get what you think about most of the time. If you think about what you want you get that, if you think about what you don’t want, unfortunately you get that to. This was my epiphany; I was contributing to my current financial reality with my thought pattern. The more I focused on what I didn’t want the worse my financial reality was becoming. I was not reacting to my reality; I was creating it. I was caught in a vicious cycle with this pattern. My reality was created by my thoughts and when I reacted to my reality I would create more negative thoughts. This would then worsen my financial situation and create more negative thoughts and make things worse. As the song says, I’d put another log on the fire! The only way to combat this cycle was to change my approach. When I felt myself react negatively to my reality, I acknowledge the pattern and quickly change my focus to be on what I wanted. So far so good! I haven’t had a significant change yet in my circumstances, but I can say that I feel better.

Did this response resonate with you? I would love to hear your take on the question and how it impacted you. Please post your thoughts below.

Tomorrow's question: Are you gaining or losing self-confidence as you get older?
Response posted tomorrow.

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