Imagine the End Result….

“Imagination is everything.  It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.” ~ Albert Einstein 

Are you like me and have difficulty with visualization?  It’s the one common factor, the central notion if you will, found in all the teachings of the Law of Attraction, yet I cannot seem to accomplish it!  My problem is I am too detail oriented, I get bogged down very quickly with minute details of the visualization and I can never fully accomplish the end result.

When I was first introduced to the concept of the Law of Attraction through the movie and book “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne, I thought “how incredibly simple, thoughts become things!”  And so I began imagining my life into reality.  For a long time it worked, I cannot begin to tell you how many “things” I have attracted into my life, occasionally in the most astounding way!  But I have to admit, that life gets in the way of imagination and attraction.  Occasionally things go wrong, news stories are all depressing, social media is full of political and social rants.  Filtering these things becomes difficult, and I have become a victim of my thoughts on occasion, by allowing the negativity a door in, and when I try to visualize greater accomplishments I get stymied by the details!

Recently i have begun to make a concerted effort to filter out the negativity somewhat to allow my brain a break and allow my thoughts to become more productive once again.  Not surprisingly, while making this change I began to listen to Mike Dooley’s book “Manifesting Change” (as mentioned in an earlier post).  He struck a chord with me when he talked about how some people find it hard to focus on the end result when sometimes they are not even clear themselves on what the end result should be, or more critically, as in my case, many times people get caught up in the details and get bogged down before they even begin.  Mike has a great suggestion for getting past the “details” – Imagine the Feeling!  Ok that I can do!!!

Mike Dooley has his listeners do an exercise where you close your eyes and imagine a time when you received great news, remember that overwhelming feeling of joy?  How did you react?  For me that is easy – I remember the day I found out I had been promoted to Principal, it was via a telephone message from my Pastor.  I remember listening to it and breaking down into tears so much so that I couldn’t even talk!  My poor husband thought something was wrong, but I kept waving my hand at him and shaking my head to indicate “no nothing is wrong” but still I was crying uncontrollably!  That feeling of accomplishment, that joy was the greatest feeling I have had in a long time….and so I continue to envision that feeling.  Not the message that gave me the feeling, just the feeling.  The universe will align itself and create ways for me to feel that way again – the end result…and that is all you have to concern yourself with.  So far this has helped as I begin to align my thought toward my future goals, I’ve stopped sweating the small things and have begun to focus on end results and the FEELING that goes with it.

Stay tuned, because great things are happening….

Dream Big!

In an effort to use time wisely I have begun listening to an audio book on CD during my morning commute.  The book is Manifesting Change: It Couldn’t Be Easier by Mike Dooley, and ironically I received it autographed from Mike Dooley himself in 2010 for a tweet I tagged him in that year.  Unfortunately that was a year of incredible change for me, some good, some not so good and thus the CD collection was shelved and never listened to.  I recently found it among other CDs and decided to give it a whirl, after all I am probably Mike Dooley’s biggest fan!

Well, today chapter 2 was read to me by Mike as I slowly crept through downtown LA on my way to school.  I had one of those “A-HA” moments that Mike often talks about in all his books.  Chapter 2 is called “The Miraculous Mechanics of Manifestation” and the a-ha moment came when he talked about the creation of the universe.  The end result was envisioned by God, or the universe, or whatever entity you believe in.  (My choice is God, you insert whatever word works for you!)  Essentially Mike says that God didn’t sit there and draw up schematics for the various elements of the universe and our lovely little spot in it that we call planet earth, instead he envisioned the end result, the Adam and Eve if you will, and all things within that void that existed before time and space aligned itself to create just what was imagined!  Eureka!  Talk about a collision of science and religion!!!

I am a very visually oriented person, so generally speaking my brain works in visuals.  Some people give examples to explain things, whereas visuals pop into my head.  The best visual that I could come up with inside my head at the A-HA moment was a cryptex.  In the movie “The Da Vinci Code” based on a Dan Brown book, the moment of the movie that shows the inner working of a cryptex and what happens when the dials are turned resonated with me, because sometimes that is how life feels for me, like everything clicks in place and the secret is revealed!  So for me today, that A-HA moment was my cryptex to that age old quest by humans to understand our own creation…Of course God imagined the end result, there is no other way!

And so it is with us ladies and gentlemen, we were created in His image, the Divine exists in all of us, therefore by process of deduction it is only logical that if you envision, imagine, daydream about the end result everything in your life, like a huge cryptex, will align to create that end result for you.  That is a truly powerful feeling, and truly liberating at the same time.  For me in that one minute instant this morning everything became crystal clear!  My adage that I have lived by “Keep Calm and put it in God’s Hands” now actually makes sense!

So your homework children is to get out there and envision the end result, never mind how fantastical it sounds or the fact that you cannot possibly see how it is going to happen, that is NOT your job!  “How” is the universe’s job, your job is just to Dream, and while you are at it – DREAM BIG!

Link to Mike Dooley’s Book: Manifesting Change by Mike Dooley

Sometimes the only thing left to do is Pray!

I’m feeling a little nostalgic today….

My first teaching assignment in Los Angeles was at a Charter School in the Crenshaw area of Los Angeles.  I was the 8th grade teacher, my specific subjects were Literature, Language and Social Studies.  Like all new teachers I entered the classroom on the first day with my seating arrangements just perfect, students’ names on desks, bulletin boards to make Martha Stewart jealous and more enthusiasm than a Jack Russell puppy.  It didn’t take long for me to start questioning whether I had gotten in over my head!!!

The things they don’t teach you in University:  how to handle students fist fighting in the class, what to do when a student throws a desk/chair/scissors at you.  There were many days I was just struggling to survive in that room.  But I soldiered on, because that is what we do as teachers, and I needed the job!  I struggled to teach students who were disengaged, disadvantaged and disorganized.  One day I snapped!  I was trying to give the assigned reading for the next day but chaos was reigning.  I shouted, “Get Out!” (the lunch bell had just rung).  They all stopped and looked at me.  I never raised my voice.  “Get Out!” I said slowly and coldly; I actually frightened myself.  They jumped up and started for the door, and I went straight to my desk.  I sat there debating grabbing my purse and leaving, never coming back.  I put my head in my hands and cried.  I surrendered to God.  “What am I supposed to do here?”  I asked.

That is when I heard a voice.  No, it wasn’t God.  It was the quietest student in my class.   I’ll call him “Q.”  He was autistic, he didn’t communicate very much, he hardly did the work, but he was never unruly.  He was immersed in his own world of video game story lines with heroes in fatigues.  The only way to get work from him was to have him write about history as if Lt. Nathaniel Hawthorne was taking part.  Yes that was the name of his main character.  I guess he was paying attention in Literature!

“Forgive them,” he said, “Sometimes they just don’t know how to act.  They love you, but they don’t know how to show it.”  And then he leaned over and hugged me, “you look like you needed that,” he said and then he left.

I sat there for a long time in silence.  I know God spoke to me that day through a wonderful boy who saved all his words for when they were needed most.  That day I changed how I approached these kids.  They needed ME more than they needed Literature and random History facts.  My classroom became interactive and fun, the behavior changed, the grades started going up!  That class has since graduated from High school.  I am still in touch with many of them.  They continue to send me pictures of their Honors certificates and their cap and gown pictures, their baseball and basketball triumphs and they continue to share their sorrows too.  They became Mrs. B’s kids because I asked God to show me what I was supposed to do.  The simple answer through a child was “love them!”

As for “Q”, at the end of the year when everyone was giving me cards as we parted ways he handed me sheets of paper with writing and a drawing.  When I got home I read the story, it was about Lt. Hawthorne only this story was different.  It told how the hero went back in time and saved a baby who the evil forces wanted to steal.  Then he gave the baby to two loving people to raise because she was important to history; the baby was me, and I finally realized that the hero was “Q.”

Thanks “Q” for saving me and reminding me to Pray, Forgive and Love….

Fail Your Way To Success

A wonderful read from a fellow blogger, I hope you all enjoy it!

theGoodVader

The difference between the master and the beginner is that the master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried – Stephen McCranie

Why we fear the inevitable? Why we froze instead of getting prepared to face what cannot be avoided? There is absolutely no way you go through this life without failing.

Fear can be as useful or harmful as we allow it to be, but few things are more paralyzing than the fear of failure.

Some people think that the fear of failure is something we learn at some point when growing up, but I disagree. I believe that the fear of failure is something intrinsic to our nature. We, human beings, crave to succeed in every task we perform, and this is what allowed our ancestors to thrive in the African wilderness. But we have come a long way and in today’s world the repercussions of…

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How to deal with difficulties (or difficult people)

“What separates people…is not the presence or absence of difficulty, but how they deal with the inevitable difficulties of life.” ~ Jim Collins Good To Great

Maintaining a positive attitude in the face of difficulty is something I’m sure many of us could write volumes on!  When I was first introduced to the Power of Positive thinking through the book The Secret back in 2007 one of the things that frightened me the most about changing my thought patterns was that I couldn’t change the thought patterns of those around me.  It took me a very long time to discover that I am only responsible for how I feel and react to situations and in fact to the attitudes of those around me.

It isn’t always easy to remain positive when life is happening around you.  Turning on the news can bring you down, chatting with a co-worker can as well.  Sometimes there are difficulties in life, jobs come and go, traffic snarls happen, bad news is reported on Television and sometimes those closest to us have a different attitude than we do.  Not having challenges in life might make for a boring life.

I know some people are reading this and thinking, I could handle a boring life somedays!  But challenges are probably what brought you to reading a blog about positive thinking in the first place!  Your life does not have to be devoid of challenges to be productive and positive, your attitude must be that way and everything else follows.

The quote I used to start today’s entry is from a book I am reading Good To Great.  The book is about business, but the message is applicable in all industries and much of it in personal relationships.  The quote in fact is Collins way of summing up what he learned from a Vietnam POW, Admiral Stockdale.  Collins applies Stockdale’s attitude to managerial style, I apply it to life, which is what Stockdale used it for!  Stockdale said, “You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end – which you can never afford to lose – with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.” Sometimes those brutal facts are that there are negative influences in your life, or you have developed negative habits.  Don’t beat yourself up about it, just acknowledge it, accept it, decide on a better way and move forward!  Don’t ever let the difficulties of life prevent you from moving forward!

Does that mean you cut all contact with everyone who doesn’t share your positive vibe?  Of course not, but it does mean that you need to adjust how you react to those people, or perhaps the amount of time or situations spent with them.  I often view negative (sometimes downright toxic) people as my daily challenge to ensure I’m maintaining my goal of positive attitude.  Of course I don’t always succeed, but I’m always improving, and low and behold, so is my life!

Cheers friends, onward and upward we go, smiling through it all!

What advice can you give to others for dealing with negative people or situations?  What types of situations have you overcome with a great attitude?  I would love to hear your feedback!

Positive Attitude

“A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events and outcomes.  It is a catalyst and it sparks extraordinary results.”  Wade Boggs

Note:  This post was originally written at the beginning of last school year, and yet still holds true and bears repeating!

If you had asked me about 4 to 5 months ago about keeping a positive disposition around certain people I would have found it a real challenge.  Sometimes attitude is shaped by others around you without your knowledge, but never without your consent.  That may seem to be a strange thing to say, because how can you consent to something without having knowledge?!  The truth is the knowledge does exist but many people spend much of their time just floating through life without actively reflecting on their actions and thoughts.

About 4 or 5 months ago I was presented with a situation which changed my life.  The change was positive, but there was an aura of negativity about it in the beginning coming from certain people.  At first I was so caught up in the excitement of the moment, the realization of a dream come true that I didn’t stop to reflect that one of the players in this new situation was grooming my attitude toward these people.  It was only by quiet reflection that I began to realize how slowly and surely I had consented to having my attitude formed.  Did I have knowledge, of course I did, my mistake was in coasting on the wave of success and not spending those quiet moments of reflection with my own thoughts and feelings to counteract the negative energy sent my way.  I had begun to view certain people through a veil of negativity courtesy of someone else’s opinion.

Now months removed, I have discovered that by changing my thoughts, the events and the outcomes have drastically changed.  Those who initially reacted in a negative way toward my new adventure have slowly changed their minds.  Attitudes of those around me have altered, an air of positivity has permeated my work and personal space.  Those people who I originally cringed at the thought of, have now become participating partners toward a mutual goal.  I changed my attitude and the outcome followed.

Each day we are faced with challenges.  Our attitude can be altered by a driver on your morning commute, news from the radio station, an argument with a loved one, but it is only with your consent.  If you refuse to have your attitude altered those petty life moments will have no effect.  It is amazing to me how differently certain people are interacting with me now that my attitude has changed.  Instead of dreading interactions with them, I have actively begun to seek them out.  I have allowed them to see my inner self, and blinded them with positivity, they cannot help but follow!

I recently watched a video of an experiment done on a Berlin subway system.  A woman begins to laugh at something she reads on her phone.  What happened next is amazing!  Pretty soon everyone is laughing.  At first you can see some slightly uncomfortable looks, but then their lips twitch and they too begin to laugh.  What is normally a quiet, impersonal ride turned into a ride of friendship.  I bet everyone of those people went home or to their jobs with a positive attitude that they couldn’t shake!  Imagine if that could happen everyday, every where?!  What a blessed life we would all lead!

Happiness is contagious….Go infect someone today!

Hello world!

Boy, I didn’t realize how much pressure it is to choose a blog name!  So the first thing that came to mind was “Tammy’s Brain Drippings”, but there was something slightly macabre about that…The next thought was instantly pensieve as I am a huge Harry Potter fan and have wished for years to have one of those lovely contraptions that Professor Dumbledore had where I could just pull the thoughts out of my head and swirl them in a bowl to make sense of them!

So welcome to my pensieve where I will attempt to pull thoughts out of my head onto this screen…perhaps if we swirl them around they might make some sort of sense eventually!

First things first, I am a positive thinker, so posts to the pensieve will be positive in nature, albeit slightly reflective as well.  As a teacher I tend to be quite self-reflective, it helps us teachers get through those long days and get ready for another one!

Secondly, I have no idea if anyone will actually read any of this, but I’m writing it anyway – hey its a pensieve, its for me to sort my thoughts, anyone who reads is like Harry Potter sticking his head in.  (If you don’t get that reference you will have to read the book or watch the movie!)

And Finally, I am a highly confident individual and don’t usually need the validation of others (it is nice occasionally though!) So I will ask if comments are made on the posts to keep them positive and professional – Thanks!