Applying The Power Of Focus

The DVD and the book “The Secret” had everyone talking (including Oprah) about the “law of attraction”. It was based on the principle that you attract to your life what you think about (focus on). It implied that they had uncovered the hidden code to success and prosperity. The truth is the secret isn’t really much of a secret. The philosophy of using concentrated focus to achieve your dreams has in fact been well documented by psychologists and self help gurus for years. Both Anthony Robins and Deepak Chopra incorporate these principles in their counsel. Napoleon Hills “Think and Grow Rich” is based on this theory. So if there is no shortage of literature we must all be living out our dreams correct? Perhaps the problem lies not in the information but rather in the way it is or isn’t being applied.

Let’s look firstly at how focusing “The Law of Attraction” theoretically works. When you think about something consciously or unconsciously it sends a signal to your brain to find the best possible way to achieve it. Our minds were designed (by God in my opinion) to be goal seeking mechanisms that will do what ever it takes to make our wishes (focuses) become reality. Perhaps this is what is meant by “Ask and ye shall receive”.

What this translates to is, what we think (focus on) appears in our life. My first reaction to this was “well if that is the case, than I think frequently about finding more time so why is it not showing up? Ah but there in lies the problem. Ultimately I am focusing on the not having enough time and so that is exactly what is showing up. The same would apply to thoughts on money or relationships.

The fact is that we are always focusing on something, whether we are aware of it or not. You can tell what someone is focusing on by looking at the results they are getting in their life. The results you get are always the result of your focus.

So this all begs the question, why would we conciously focus on getting what we don't want? Well we wouldn't. When we focus on what we don't want it is an unconcious focus.  We don't even realise we are doing it. So we unconsciously focus on something we don't want, and then when we get it we feel like a victim and don't even stop to think that we created it in the first place. And what is more, we don't realise we could choose to create something completely different if we could only get out of the cycle of unconsciously focusing on something other than what we want.

This means that focusing on what you do not want, ironically, makes it happen. Focusing on not being poor makes you poor. Focusing on not making mistakes causes you to make mistakes.
Focusing on not having a bad relationship creates bad relationships. Focusing on not being depressed makes you depressed. Focusing on not smoking makes you want to smoke. And so on.

Your mind does not hear the “I want” vs the “I don’t want” it only hears the underlying emotion beneath it.

Then the next factor in the equation is how intensely and frequently you focus. The more frequent and intense the focus, the faster and more completely you will create what you have focused on, which is why intense negative experiences create intense focus on what you do not want, and tend to make you re-create what you don't want, over and over.

Ok now we have spent a lot of time on describing how we create what we don’t want now we need to get into the creating what we “DO WANT”

Firstly you need to figure out what it is that you are focusing on that is bringing about results that you don’t want. The quickest way to do this is to figure out what is happening in your life that you wish wasn’t and look at the thoughts you have about this.

Try to notice all the time what you are thinking. This is often referred to as self talk. Things like “well I deserved that, it was a stupid thing to do.” What will be the result of that focus? Probably you doing more stupid things.

Then you need to get really clear about what you DO want. What would your focus have to be in order to get that? What do you think people who already have “that” focus on?

After you've sorted out the things you habitually focus on that you do not want, and know therefore what you do want, you have to begin to notice each time you think about an outcome you do not want, and you then need to consciously change your thinking, right in that moment, so you are instead focusing on what you do want.

Remember, you do NOT have to avoid things to be happy and get what you want. The urge to avoid something is a result of having had a negative emotional experience regarding that thing, and trying to avoid things requires you to focus on them, which tells your brain to create them. Not good.

This is not an easy thing to do. The saying “nothing worth while is easy”. is principally correct in this case. Changing your focus takes practice and patience, but your results will be directly equal to the effort you put in. Be persistent, visualize the result you want and your mind will find a way to make it show up.

So that’s it! Eliminate the focuses that you don’t want, recreate them to be the focuses that you do want and sit back and wait for it to show up. Well not quite. There is one final step in the equation. You need to take ACTION. Your brain will come to the party, it will come up with the way forward if your focus has been pure and strong, but the one thing your brain can’t do is take the action for you. Taking action requires faith. Faith that the system works, faith that life was intended to be joyous and happy and that you have permission to live the life of your dreams. The words “Ask and Ye shall receive”. Sound so unconditional, but the truth is they ARE unless you think they are not. You need to take the leap of faith just once in order to prove the theory. In fact all truly successful people have taken this leap of faith and just refused to believe that it would do anything but work out, even though some of the time the opposite seems to be showing up. (We will talk about this next issue.) But their faith ultimately allows their focus to come to fruition and you can do the same.

This all may seem overly simplistic, or like too much work. In fact it IS simple, but not simplistic, and it does take some effort but anything worth while does.

The great Napoleon Hill, who spent over 60 years studying the most effective and most successful people of the 20th century, concluded that "whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve." He at first suspected there had to be exceptions, but toward the end of his life he said he had to admit he had not found ANY.

You may fail many times, and it is hard to change your conditioning. But at a certain point you will "get it" and at that point focusing on what you do want will become automatic and when that happens the possibilities become endless.

Lee Spencer

May 8 Issue of Optimum Life E-Zine

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