What Goes Around Comes Around
I’ve been very busy… a side effect of having the center focus of my wheel as Planning. I’ve planned so much and am, therefore, executing on many interesting projects. It’s a good thing to be so productive. While I am definitely grateful for the abundance of activity, I’m also grateful that I had the foresight to add focus areas like Breathe to my 13×4 Wheel™! (I’ll be talking about that in an upcoming article, so stay tuned.) And it certainly helps when I get some support like I mentioned in my last article, Touched By An Angel.
Being so busy, I’ve had to rely heavily on the tools that I pre-programmed at the beginning of the year for my personal 13×4. So glad to have them!
And these are the two points I want to make today – first, about those tools and, secondly, about my 9th week focus area…
Thought Algorithms
My colleague, Tom Cassidy, says that he loves to work with and teach what he calls “Thought Algorithms.” What are thought algorithms? Well, I see them as akin to what is known as problem-solving algorithms. That is, applied to the mind rather than outside problems. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, “A problem-solving algorithm is a procedure that is guaranteed to produce a solution if it is followed strictly.”
So, it’s a science thing. Which means that when it is repeated over and over again, it yields the same results for everybody who does it. Otherwise it’s just a theory or an idea. It’s only a science if it works consistently over time.
There are tools that we use to stay focused during each week of the 13×4 cycle. This is the “T” part of the FAST Method™. Many of these tools are thought algorithms. You ask yourself a question to raise your awareness. Or you use a statement that makes you think in a different way.
Clearly, this part of the FAST Method™ is especially critical in helping you to stay focused on achieving what you desire. Choose and use your tools with utmost care… and thought!
Focus Area #9
F-ocus: Gratitude
A-ttitude: What is my approach to this focus area – what do I/we want it to be?
Wallace D. Wattles puts it well in his book, “The Science of Getting Rich“… that gratitude “brings your whole mind into closer harmony with the creative energies of the universe.” He adds that reaching your mind out to the creative substance of the Universe with gratitude causes a reaction of instantaneous movement back towards you. He uses a biblical reference to confirm his point, saying that it is a psychological truth as well: “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.” (James 4:8) After that, he goes on to make a very obvious point, which is apropos whether you dig the bible or not: “To permit your mind to dwell upon the inferior is to become inferior and to surround yourself with inferior things. On the other hand, to fix your attention on the best is to surround yourself with the best, and to become the best.” So, what goes around comes around.
Ultimately, the way I see it is this… thoughts of gratitude vibrate at a higher level and so having such thoughts will help you to attract higher vibrational responses from others (and the Universe). And that’s what I want.
S-tory: What is a story that illustrates the power of having this focus in my life?
One morning, during this week of focusing on Gratitude, I found myself standing in my closet, thinking, “I sure have a lot of clothes, and I’m grateful for that. But, if I’m honest with myself, more than half of these things are ‘not me’ anymore.” I realized that many of my clothes, though in nice condition, no longer fit the image I wanted to project of myself. While I felt grateful for the abundance of nice clothes I owned, I realized that someone else would be grateful to have them since I wasn’t using them. So, I pulled out whatever I hadn’t worn in the last year and gave them away.
Another blessing I counted, among many, that week was my financial abundance. I was able to use some of the money that was flowing in to buy 5 items of clothing that did fit in with my wardrobe. And, I sure had a lot more space in my closet to put them!
One more observation I’d like to share that has made me see the brilliance of focusing on something fully for one week and then switching to something else the next week… Even though it was during week 9’s focus on Gratitude that I had the urge to clear out my closet, clearly week 2’s focus of De-clutter had a subliminal role in my mind’s decision to do it.
T-ool: What is a tool I/we can use to maintain this focus area?
On Sunday through Saturday of that week, two recurring appointments would pop up on the calendar on my computer and on my phone.
At 9:00am, it would say: Gratitude: What am I putting in? (This is based on the concept of “you reap what you sow” and echoes the wisdom Wattles wrote about.)
At 5:00pm, it would say: Count the blessings!
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Click HERE for the next article in this series. –>
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Angela Loëb helps people rediscover and use their gifts so they bring who they are to what they do in life. http://angelaloeb.com
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