Daily Archives: July 22, 2017
Thinking vs Focusing
While it does seem to be true that what you focus on grows, I have noticed that what you think about doesn’t necessarily happen. What’s the difference between focusing on something and thinking about something? If it’s on my mind, it might or might not come to be. If it’s not on my mind, it might or might not come to be.
For example:
It never occurred to me that my lawnmower would break down and even if it had occurred to me as a remote possibility, I never once thought that nobody would be able to figure out what was wrong with it and just fix it. And yet, here it is. My new reality, something I never once focused on.
I have a constant recurring fantasy that I win big in the lottery, and proceed to buy a huge family compound at the end of a dead end road, way out in the country, further south where winters are warmer, off the grid, self sufficient, with a nice big lake, separate houses for each of us, we are all debt free, and get to do whatever makes us happy. I think about this a lot. It hasn’t happened yet.
Suddenly I have an infestation of ants. Really? Ants? I keep killing them and killing them and killing them. Did I focus on ants and now the population has grown by leaps and bounds? No. Do I sit around and obsess about ants taking over my home? No. I just go buy more poison. Do I visualize them gone? Yes. It always surprises me when they show up again someplace else.
What’s up with that?
Despite the above situations, I do find that what I focus on grows. And I think this must be because when I focus on something, I focus more than just my thoughts. It occupies not just my mind, but also my time, my energy, and also any resources I have at my disposal.
I could think about my website all day long, but if I didn’t sit down at the computer and do some actual work on it, if I didn’t research and write posts, if I didn’t pay for web hosting, and spend hour upon hour trying to improve it, I don’t think it would be growing at all. It would just be a pipe dream.
It also occurs to me that if I put my money with my mouth is, did some research, put in a fair amount of elbow grease, consulted some professionals, and did a bunch of leg work, my ant problem would be resolved. And here’s the thing – I just don’t care about it that much.
And yes, winning the lottery would be really awesome and fun, but I have yet to buy even one lottery ticket. Not even one!
So, maybe what you focus on grows if you put your money where your mouth is, and put the pedal to the metal. Energy flows to where attention goes, but only if you’re willing and able to harness that energy and put it to work.
Positive thinking, creative visualization… these things are great. And they do seem to work really well some times. And I’m thinking that those times when they are effective tools are also the times when we actually use them to get ourselves moving and doing.
A True Story:
All day yesterday, I thought about this next post on the project. I thought and I thought, but when I got home, and it was time to sit down and actually do it… well… I didn’t. And again today, all day at work, I was thinking about it… focusing on it… it didn’t suddenly appear just because I had it in my mind. I had to actually sit down at the computer and do the work.
So, these are my thoughts and experiences. What do you think? Have any thoughts, insights, experiences, or ideas to share?
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