The owner of a blog today gave us a topic to discuss and apply to our own lives.
"Think positively – and by positively, I mean simply “I want this,” instead of “I don’t want this,” – about one specific thing you want for one week. Then, next week, we’ll check in, and see what kind of progress has been made.?
I considered this and realized I was up against two of my issues: being positive, and asking for what I want.
When it comes to being positive, I've come to a place where what I think and say tends to be a negative: I don't want to run out of money, I don't want to be unemployed, I don't want to be depressed. It's like saying "don't forget your keys:" your mind skips the "don't" and hears "forget your keys." Kids do the same thing, so it's recommended that you start statements to them in the positive: "remember your coat."
As for asking for what I want, I run into a couple of difficulties. First, if I ask for something big, like enough money that I don't have to work if I don't want to (such as by winning the lottery), I then tell myself that many other people need it as badly as or worse than I do, so what makes me so special, what makes me think I deserve that? The other main issue is thinking maybe the Universe doesn't want me to have what I want. I am a non-diest and I don't believe in a pre-planned life or destiny/fate. Yet, I am having problems because I think the Universe is playing against me, which then makes me feel that it is hopeless even to try, to want, to wish — impossible to win.
I've spent the day not being able to state my want for the week. Plus, there are SO many things I want; however, most of them require me to do something, and I will cover under a different experiment.
Here is one want that has to come from outside of me. I want to be offered work within the next week, where I can work at least part-time from home often, and that pays me my preferred rate.
I've written this and sent it out to the quantum particles of the universe. I'll come back in a week and let you know how it goes.
I want to be thinner by ten pounds, because I am happy and healthy. There, I wrote mine too. Now I have e-mails to write!!!
ReplyDeleteJulie
Excellent *want*. It follows the SMART thingy (specific, measurable, attainable, etc).
ReplyDeleteRe the free will vs. fate: Soooo when things go bad in your life, do you turn to both free will to explain it (beat yourself up) AND fate (the universe hates you)? Have you taken the worst of both approaches, without the benefits of either?
Seems to me you're better off going back to seeing the universe as having no more personality than your kitchen table. :-) Free will baby!
Personally I believe I believe in god, so I must by definition believe in determinism. But I PERCEIVE myself to have free will, so I've decided that I must make all my decisions within the framework of free will (I need to have an ethical code, make moral decisions, think about consequences, etc.)
Switching tracks: Are you on LinkedIn? That's the one business-y thing I haven't done yet.
Julie: good for you. Is that your goal for a week?
ReplyDelete@London Mabel: I am on LinkedIn and I haven't touched it in a year. I definitely must revisit it, especially as I am developing an official professional online presence.
And yes, I do beat myself up and feel the universe hates me. :) And Julie is telling me her take, which is entirely predeterminism as far as I understand it. Oy.