The message is simple, yet profound.
Joy is found within, not outside of your being. Outside factors may create hardships or difficulties but they do not have to negatively affect your outlook. Indeed, the practice of maintaining a positive attitude regardless of circumstances is instrumental in improving yourself.
Esther Hicks, one of my most treasured mentors, has a game which I think is genius. Its called “ Your Emotional Guidance Scale.“ Essentially, Ms. Hick explains in her book, “Ask And It Is Given,” that emotions vibrate at different levels. The lower vibrations of fear, hate, anger vibrate differently than higher emotions such as love, joy, happiness.
Like radio waves, our emotions send out messages that are received by emotions of the same frequency. We draw into our life what we emit out to the world.
Ms. Hicks recognizes that sometimes, we can’t achieve authentic vibrations at the higher levels. We might be stuck in an angry mood, for example. She recommends, trying to move up the scale… maybe to irritation. Still not exactly where you want to be, but as you work on improving your emotional resonance you can climb up your emotional guidance scale until you reach your desired emotion of happiness.
Incrementally, we can improve our outlook by deliberately choosing our reactions to align with our desired perspective.
Because, what we put out to the world, is what we will draw into our life.
Like attracts like, remember.
We want to eliminate all of the negative emotions that enter our psyche as quickly and efficiently as we can so we do not manifest them!
So, focus on what you WANT TO EXPAND in your life. If you want to be happy, then focus on all of the happy moments that enter your awareness. There is always something to be happy about! Here’s an example:
It might be a cold winter day, snow is falling and the driving conditions make you uneasy. You get into your car, cussing at the slippery roads and inconsiderate drivers on your commute. Now, it would be very easy to wallow in anger at this moment, spewing a little road rage as you go. But! If you can catch yourself going down that rabbit hole you can correct your course.
Instead of focusing on your uneasiness, perhaps you catch a glimpse of a neighborhood dog running and playing through the new snow and it brings a smile to your face. Or, you hear a song on the radio that reminds you of a happy event. Soon, your commute is done and instead of carrying stress into your day, you find yourself in a fantastic mood.
Its all in your perspective. What you focus attention on is what you will find.
A common mistake made by well-meaning people is to focus on what they DON’T WANT. “I don’t want to be grumpy today” But then they find grumpy-inducing situations:
“Snow? Ice? Ugh, I hate driving in this stuff!”
“Oh, crap, its slippery! What if I crash? What if that crazy driver behind me
doesn’t stop in time… what a jerk!”
And then they wonder why they can’t seem to pull themselves out of their grumpy mood all day.
The trick is to identify what you truly want, and focus on that:
“I want to find happiness today.”
“Oh, look at that silly dog. He is just the cutest thing rolling around in the snow!”
“The roads are slippery, I better go slow, thank goodness I left early. That guy
behind me seems to be in a hurry, I will let him pass.”
“This song reminds me of our first Christmas together. What a
happy memory. I love my husband so much!”
See the difference? Same commute, two very different experiences.
We pick our own life experience by choosing what to focus on! You may not be able to control life circumstances but you can control your reaction it them.
So, what do you want to be today? Well, simply focus on it… and it is yours!
