Paying Attention

(Originally published 10 May 2012) 

Here's my huddle today: Pay attention to your successes!

. . .which makes more sense when combined with today's status quote: "Whatever you put your attention on will grow stronger in your life. Whatever you take your attention away from will wither, disintegrate, & disappear." (Chopra) What do you want to increase in life?

If we would all stop obsessing over the things we don't like in our lives—every molecule of fat in our bodies, every ounce gained, every out-of-place item in our homes, every rude driver (one of my peeves), every mistake made by us or the people around us—they just might show up less in our lives, or at least would cause us less misery.

The quote is from Deepak Chopra's The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, a very slim volume containing some profound wisdom. It comes from the discussion of the law of intention and desire. Our thinking can so easily get in the way of accomplishing our goals and manifesting our desires, because we waste our precious attention and energy on what we don't want instead of what we do want.

That was pretty much the point of my recent Positive Organizing blog, when I realized I want to stop focusing so much on getting rid of clutter, and put my attention on creating a beautiful, intentional, supportive environment. It's interesting that this lesson is harder for me than accepting my body as it is, and focusing on increasing my health and fitness level—which is a big challenge for many of my friends.

One of the ways we can stop beating ourselves up is to follow that piece of advice I got as a new teacher regarding problem students: Catch them doing something right! So let's consistently give ourselves credit for taking those babysteps & exhibiting the positive behaviors we want to cultivate. Give yourself a goodie and toot your horn on your team! You can also inspire a Spark Friend to join you in making progress.

Have a great day, Spark Buddies! Blessed Be, Amanda

[Note that these blogs were created on Spark People, so often refer to the site, Spark teams and Spark Friends, & in this case tools like huddles and status.]