Yeah, yeah, think positively and everything will work out.
That’s what we’ve been taught our whole lives in the personal development arena. “Be an optimist”, “See the glass as half full”, “Never have a negative thought”.
Then quantum physics discoveries come along, and we start to learn about Universal Laws and the power of emotions.
It’s not about happy thoughts, it’s about the happiness itself.
It’s not “Think and Grow Rich”, it’s “Feel and Grow Rich”. It’s not “The Power of Positive Thinking”, it’s “The Power of Emotions”.
And it seemed like Rhonda Byrne knew all that when she created the movie (and then the book) ‘The Secret’; but apparently that’s not the case.
I just posted a blog entry over on the Masters of the Secret blog, which was inspired by an email Rhonda sent out this morning. Part of the post says:
This is how her email starts out:
“How do I stop my negative thoughts?” – is a question that I have been asked many times. If you have ever asked this question then you will feel such enormous relief in knowing the answer, because it is so simple. How do you stop negative thoughts? You plant good thoughts!
She later goes on to say:
As you plant more and more good thoughts, the negative thoughts will be wiped out. Why? Because your focus is on good thoughts, and what you focus on you attract.
So don’t give any attention to negative thoughts. Don’t worry about them. If any come, make light of them, shrug them off, and let them be your reminder to deliberately think more good thoughts now.
The more good thoughts you can plant in a day, the faster your life will be utterly transformed into all good.
No wonder so many people have misinterpreted this movie as being an update of “The Power of Positive Thinking”.
Okay, I admit – I actually started this mission looking for those same feel-good ideals, and searching for a way to be positive all the time.
But the more I interviewed the experts, the more I realized IT CAN’T BE DONE!
And guess what… IT’S NOT MEANT TO BE DONE!
You can hear Dr. John Demartini explain the concept to me as plain as day in my interview with him, and in fact in the clip that we included free in our acclaimed talking ebook. You are not supposed to be 100% positive, you never will be 100% positive, and if you strive for more than a 50-50 balance you’ll experience the realignment and rebalance in another area of your life, because the Universe keeps everything balanced all the time.
Yes, it goes against everything we’ve been taught. Yes, it goes against what you think is the truth the first time you hear it… just like the first time you were taught that you should be positive, that went against everything you thought was true as well. (Perhaps we would have been better off not learning about the positive thinking in the first place — especially if we’re a 50-50 balance anyhow!)
But you absolutely know that positive thinking won’t change the world. Did you ever hear the joke about the optimist plummeting to his death from a tall building, who was overheard on the way down saying, “So far, so good…”?
Negative thinking won’t get you that far either. If everything upsets you or causes you grief, you’ll live a miserable existence; and, more than that, you’re stirring up negative emotions, and as I’ve already mentioned, emotions are key to manifesting or attracting your reality.
But really, balanced thinking (and living in the moment — but feeling AS IF the moment already contains the reality you want) is the way to go.
I go on in the Masters of the Secret post to talk about the Law of Polarity:
Think of two magnets. Put them one way and they attract each other. The other way and they repell each other. You can’t have the positive end of the magnet without the negative, and vice-versa.
There’s no such thing as a 100% positive magnet, just like there’s no such thing as a 100% positive you.
So don’t beat yourself up over negative thoughts. Don’t send yourself into a downward spiral because you think you “should” be thinking or reacting some other way. What will you have accomplished by doing that?
Accept the polarity of nature and work within it. You can keep the highs and lows balanced toward the middle of the scale if you don’t want to experience extreme bi-polar highs and lows, but know that the opposites in your life are meant to be there.
And start to realize that it’s not a case of the glass being half-full or half-empty; it’s always 100% full of two opposing elements (water and air, for instance), just like you are, and that’s exactly how it’s meant to be.
So… cheers! Here’s to a glass that’s 100% full.
Keep Unwrapping the Mysteries of Life!
