A little kingdom I possess,
Where thoughts and feelings dwell;
And very hard the task I find
Of governing it well.
~ Louisa May Alcott

...that more or less describes my situation!

 
A colleague lent me this book ‘the Secret’ by Rhonda Byrne. The secret as it is called is the ‘law of attraction’ in terms of the mind—whatever we think of, we attract into our life; in other words, whatever we think about, we bring about. The problem, it seems, is that we are most often thinking about what we don’t want and not about what we want, and as a result, attracting ‘what we don’t want’. For example, instead of thinking about ‘money’ we are thinking ‘debt and lack of money’, so instead of attracting money, we’re attracting debt and lack of money! This idea also essentially means that we are the shapers of our own life experiences or destiny and whatever we’re currently experiencing in our life, is the result of our own thinking! This also in effect means that we can change our lives by changing the way we think.

Hmm… I must say this book got me thinking. I cannot easily accept such a simplistic view that our life is the end result of our thoughts alone or that whatever I ask for, the universe will send to me. At the same time, if I were to analyse this whole thing deeper, I do feel that there is some truth in it, there is something to be said about the power of positive thought—people who achieved the unachievable or got what they wanted, have been rarely those who thought they wouldn’t!

A thought I had was about people who pray at certain shrines and have their wishes granted. I wonder if it isn’t the very strength of their mental beliefs, that so and so shrine will answer to their problem, that does lead to the cure?

One thing this book suggests, I found a little worrying. It says that while you ask for or think about what you want, do not worry about ‘how’ you will get it. Say, if you want to become the next President, don’t think about the impossibilities or difficulties; instead, just think that this is what you want. The reason is, that when you think of impossibilities or difficulties, it means that you’re sending the message or as they call it ‘emitting the signal’ that you do not really ‘believe’ this will happen, and that being the message you’re conveying, that is exactly what you will get. What I don’t understand is, can I really achieve something or make it happen if I don’t think of ‘how’ or actually work towards it? The book makes a difference between ‘inspired action’ or doing something intuitively, which would be something the universe is prompting you do, and actively doing something, which suggests you aren’t really trusting the universe to do it for you. Are we then saying that one must leave aside hard work or real action? I couldn’t figure this.

Another point made in the book is that the universe apparently doesn’t differentiate between 'good' and 'bad'. If one asks for good things or bad things, it is all the same, and they will be granted, as long as the mind is faithfully asking and believing.

While all this in entirety is something I find difficult to digest, especially that we can make such far-reaching conclusions about the mind or the universe, based on so little real evidence, what I did find worth thinking about and worth maybe adopting and trying out, is the concept of ‘positive thinking’. I do feel that the more positive the mind, the more determined and strong one’s beliefs, the more the possibility that it will come true—I don’t know if that is because the universe answers you, but it certainly draws the best out of you and towards you.
posted by Sylvia D'souza at 10:25 pm 0 comments