Focus

That which you focus on tends to grow exponentially in your mind, in your speech, and in your life. That which you focus on, eventually becomes your life.

What you focus on you eventually create.  First you create it in your mind, whatever it is.  If you focus on it long enough and hard enough, you start to talk about it, research it, learn about it, and then you start doing something about it.  You take action!  The more you focus on it, the more you do something about it.  If you want something badly enough you will focus on it relentlessly and do whatever it takes to get it.  You will make it happen.  You will change your habits.  You will become what will attract that thing to you that you are focused on.

Do you want better health and a more beautiful body?  Do you want a better job?  Do you want to feel happier in your personal life or have a stronger, more beautiful relationship?  The truth is, you are going to have to get off your ass and do something about it.  You will have to change your focus.

The amount of success you have in any area of your life depends on your degree of focus.  The more you focus on something, the more it tends to appear in your life.

Are you angry?  Are you sad? Are you happy?  What is it you think about the most that causes these feelings in your life?

If you want to change any aspect of your life, change your focus.

The easiest way and best way, I think, to change your focus is to begin each day with a “Gratitude List”.  It’s something you can write down once, each day, or simply just think about.  It takes very little effort, but with consistency it becomes a habit.  If you do it every day while you are getting ready for work, driving to work, or even if you have to wake up an extra 15 minutes early to have the peace and quiet to do it, it will change your life.

We don’t have to look very far to realize we have a lot to be grateful for.  No matter how bad we think we have it, there is always someone else out there who has it so much worse.  We sometimes get so caught up in ourselves and in our own lives and thoughts that we don’t recognize what is going on around us.  Take a moment or two each day to look around, where ever you may be, and see and listen to what others are going through.

When I drove a cab, I saw many different people every day.  Each day I worked I was reminded how blessed I was.

I remember picking up a woman and taking her to a school for the blind.  She told me that she had four daughters and a pretty great life til a few weeks ago.  I asked her what happened a few weeks ago that made things so bad and she told me that she had fallen out of bed, hit her head and detached both her retinas because she had a problem with her eyes she didn’t even know about.  Her entire world was turned upside down.  I was blown away.  I didn’t know what to say.  I asked if she was ok, and her response was, “Hell no, I’m not ok!  I am so angry!”  She went on to explain all of the things going wrong in her life and everything that was upsetting to her and all the difficulties she was going through.  I didn’t know what to say.  I dropped her off and didn’t feel right the rest of the day.  When things like that happen to people, it reminds me how fragile life is.  It reminds me that something like that could happen at any moment to me or someone in my life I care about.  It’s an unsettling fact.

A couple of years later I saw her again.  I remembered her right away.  She was listening to a podcast by Joe Rogan and seemed positive and upbeat.  I was taking her to the school for the blind again, but this time she seemed happy, positive and strong.  I told her that I remembered her from a few years ago and could see right away that she seemed like a totally different person.  I asked her what made the difference in her life that made her go from completely angry and miserable to happy and positive.  She explained to me that once she accepted there was nothing she could do about her sight and started realizing she had always taken her vision for granted she decided not to take anything else for granted.  She started focusing on all of the things she had to be grateful for in her life and realizing how blessed she was.  She started listening to books on tape and pod casts that were upbeat and positive.  She told me she had never been happier or more grounded in her life.  She felt like she had never been a better mother to her four daughters and explained that she recieved phone calls from many friends, family members, and students she knew from the school for the blind every single week, asking for advice and telling her they felt drawn to her because she radiated positivity and strength.

Years ago, I worked in the medical transportation field.  I truly went home feeling blessed every single day to be who I was and to have the life I had.  I took people to dialysis every day.  I took people that were hurt, badly in car accidents, who had family members that were killed.  I took a 16 year old boy that decided to get drunk with friends from school.  It was the first time he ever drank, and they decided to go swimming in a pond.  He dove into what he thought was going to be deep water but was only an inch deep and snapped his neck.  He was facing a lifetime of complete paralysis.  I met many people with cancer, and took many people home to their families to die, some of them within the next 24 hours of their life.  I drove people to Hospice to die alone because they had nobody.  I went to care facilities every day and spoke with elderly people who had nobody to visit them because they didn’t have any family at all.  It tugs at your heart strings and really puts things in perspective.

No matter how bad you think you have it or what you may be going through, someone else out there has it much worse.  Knowing this, it becomes so much easier to realize how blessed you really are.

So many times in life, I have been so focussed and caught up in self-pity and misery and negativity and anger that that was all I could think about.  It’s almost as if I attracted more situations into my life to cause even more self-pity, misery, negativity and anger.  The opposite is also true.  The more I focus on positivity, gratitude, love, kindness, happiness and strength, the more I seem to attract situations and people into my life that causes more positivity, gratitude, love, kindness, happiness and strength.

What you think about the most and what you focus on consistently in your mind will absolutely manifest itself in your life in every way.  IT IS A CHOICE.  You, and you alone, are in charge of your mind, your thought process, and what you choose to focus on for every second of every day.

I have a bed to sleep in every night.  I have food to eat.  I have a way to make money and pay my bills.  I am able to take care of the needs of my children-not all of the wants, mind you, but all of their needs.  I was raised in a family where love and kindness were present in the home.  I am close to my parents and my siblings.  My children are healthy and make good choices.  I am engaged to an incredible woman and have a great relationship with her.  My health is great.  I can see, hear, walk, think strait, and for the most part I live pain free, physically and mentally.  When I didn’t have a car, I was able to ride a bicycle to work.  If I were to lose my job, I am perfectly capable of getting another job doing just about anything.  If I lost my car, I still have a bike.  If I lost my bike, I can walk or take a bus anywhere I need to go.  Each day I feel like my mind and body are healing more and more.

What are you grateful for?  What are you going to focus on today?  Will it improve your mind, your day, and your life?

Try out the Gratitude List every morning and see if it doesn’t help you change your mood and your focus the rest of your day.

Why not focus on creating the life you are excited to live everyday?

Focus on the good and the good will grow.

 

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