Focus on the good. This seems like great advice. Since what you focus on expands, all you have to do is focus on the good to increase it, right?
Not so much.
There’s a fatal flaw in this logic. This flaw will be the basis of this article. The “good” thing is that by the end of it, you’ll have a better understanding of what is stopping you from being happy all the time.
Focusing on the good is a decent starting point in turning things around in your life, but I want you to be totally happy and remain that way no matter what.
So let’s get into it.
What’s Good?
Take a moment to think about what’s good in your life.
Feel free to grab a journal or open a text document and list out everything you can think of.
Just so you won’t take the easy way out, list at least 20 things.
You will be happy you did. Most people don’t realize that there are so many things in the world they are grateful for.
This exercise is your chance to see them all in one place.
It could be something as simple as popcorn or something like a rapper that made a classic healing album. 😁 Yes, that was a shameless plug. But focus.
Make your list.
With your list made, pay attention to how you feel right now.
That is genuine gratitude that you are feeling. See, you have more reasons to be happy about than you realize.
So how could focusing on these things ever be bad?
What Happens When You Focus On The Good Only
Look at your list again now think about each item’s opposite, if applicable.
For example, you may have on your list that all your bills are paid for this month. Its opposite would be, you have bills that you are unable to pay.
Another example would be that you’re thankful for a loved one in your life. Its opposite would be that the loved one is no longer in your life.
Would you consider these opposites bad?
Most would.
The problem is that by focusing on what you consider good, you’ve created the exact circumstances that will make you unhappy.
If your list has opposites, then if one or more of the opposites were to occur, you would no longer be in a gracious state.
This is because your faith lies in what’s on your list and many other things that exist outside of you.
What To Do Instead of Focusing Only on What’s Good
Since you are the one that continuously gives power to these things, then this power is yours to remove or give to something else.
Certain questions come to mind.
- How did I give power to these things and how do I stop?
- Where does this source of power even come from?
- What should I give this power to?
Let’s answer each of these.
1. How did I give power to these things and how do I stop?
In short, it’s based on your judgments. By judging something as good, you’ve inadvertently judged the opposite as bad. Else there would be no reason to judge it is good. It would just be.
I go into much more detail about the mistakes of judging in these articles:
- Why It’s Hard To Make Friends As An Adult, The Math
- Law of Attraction Mistakes That Undo Your Progress
- The Painting: A Modern-Day Parable
The important thing to remember is that you shouldn’t judge anything. In order to accurately judge something, you would have to know EVERYTHING about it including its past and future.
For example, a person may have judged that it’s hard to make a lot of money. Another may have judged that’s it’s easy to make a lot of money. Who’s right when they both are successfully making money according to how they choose to work?
They both are correct. Each one is bound to the rules he or she has set through judgment.
Yet another person may have not judged anything about this at all. He or she is free to make money or not make money, work hard or not work hard. Regardless, this person will remain at peace about what he or she is doing.
2. Where does this source of power even come from?
This is an excellent question. Before we answer together, you should try to answer yourself.
Where does your power come from?
Possible answers you may have said are yourself, God, the food you eat, the exercise that you do, all of the above, etc.
Which answers are the truth, if any?
First, let’s determine if any of these power sources are limited in any way.
Food is obviously limited. It has to be grown or prepared, which depends on many outside factors.
We should be able to agree that exercise is limited as well because nobody exercises 24 hours a day every day.
What about God?
There’s a lot of debate about who or what God is. So let’s come back to this later.
What about yourself?
Those that believe in themselves seem to be pretty confident and happy. Those that do not believe in themselves seem to either be sad at, mad at, or scared of the world.
We can almost conclude that the source of your power is yourself or the belief in yourself.
There’s just one problem, you didn’t create yourself. Or did you?
“JClay, this is getting too deep. I’m not ready for this.” Stick with me, even though I don’t know where this is going either. 😁
We’re taught that our parents made us and that their parents made them. Well, who or what made our parent’s parent’s parent’s parent’s parent’ssssssss?
Some may say science, but science does not create. Science attempts to explain what already happened.
So we’re brought back to God. Well, who is God? Who created God? Did He create Himself? If so, does that mean another God can create Him or Herself at any moment?
These are a lot of tough questions that won’t be answered right now in this article.
One question for you that can be answered is that if you can’t answer the above, how can you know with all certainty what is good and what is not? 😬
It’s best to leave the judging to whatever force did the supposed creating, because He, She, or It obviously knows more than you.
And this brings us to our last question.
3. What should I give this power to?
Life is giving and so is your identity.
You are the thoughts you give/share with others. For example, if you’re always speaking about music, you see yourself as a musician or a music lover.
It’s the same with the stories you share of your perception of your past. These are the things you are currently giving power to and identifying as.
Humans are very reciprocatory beings.
Give people compliments and they’ll respond with one of their own or even a smile-inducing smile. On the other hand, give people a harsh criticism and they’ll give a painful look or another criticism in return.
You are only giving power to the things outside of yourself that you think give you power (you’re reciprocating).
This is why some really focus on what they eat while others may focus on what they read. The possibilities are endless.
Yet the original question answers itself.
If what you give power to seems to be limited, yet you seem to always have more power to give even when you change the object of what you’ve given power to, then you must be powerful.
*please read that sentence again*
How else could you consistently receive power from what’s limited while endlessly giving it away?
You can’t unless you’re already full of power.
But again, you acknowledge that you don’t believe you created yourself. You also acknowledge that your parents don’t seem to be unlimited.
Then there must be something else supplying your power that you can return the favor to.
Let me know in the comments who or what that is for you.
The Important Things To Remember
The first thing to remember is don’t make any new judgments.
Every judgment creates a split in reality where only half of it will make you happy.
Why have half happiness when you can have complete happiness?
The second thing to remember is to forgive all of your previous judgments.
This opens your world and allows you to experience peace and happiness despite what seems to be happening in the world.
When you stop giving your power/focus away to other people and things, it remains with you. You then get to be a reflection of power to others so that they may do the same.
You may also enjoy: Make Your Words So Powerful That They Manifest Instantly.
