I’ve been reading The Power by Rhonda Byne, being the sucker for pop-new-age that I am.
The Power, if you hadn’t guessed already, is love. Duh. Basically it’s The Secret all over again, saying “love” instead of “positive thinking”. That’s cool with me, as I got it from the library instead of forking out the cash for it. It’s a nice orange colour.
Rhonda says that you should be feeling good lots and lots – like the positive thinking, feel super-happy and full of love more than 50% of the time, and hey presto! Your life attracts lots of awesome stuff and everything is better. And not just feeling Ok or feeling meh either, because they don’t count as feeling good – 51% of happy all the time. This makes sense to me. I think that thoughts control a lot of what happens in our lives, and even at the simplest level if we are feeling good we are looking for good and seeing only the good.
I’ve been keeping a track of my feelings this last week. I’ve always thought I was a pretty happy bunny when it comes to this stuff. Turns out, I am not! I would hazard at feeling OK (which means not really feeling anything) to Meh (which is a step down from OK – feeling a smidge of sad/stressed but mostly nothing) about 65% of the time. I’d say I am about 15% super happy, and 20% stressed/upset. How much does that suck?
So it’s research time – gotta work out what makes me feel happy and turn my feelings around, as I would much rather be happy.
What’s your feelings breakdown like?
Interesting question. I completely agree that our own feelings about our self and the world create what our experience is like. I usually feel like a pretty happy person, but never really did the research to measure – how much? I think I allow myself to fester into negative feelings in certain circumstances… which I know doesn’t help. But I believe we truly have a choice, in every situation.
Hi Kristen, thanks for reading. I think I allow myself to fester in negative feelings sometimes too – I know I have a choice about it really, and sometimes I realise this, but some part of me really enjoys festering – I can feel it! How wrong is that?! – so often I don’t pay attention to the fact I have a choice. It’s like watching a car crash – it’s horrible, but you keep looking.
Come on brain, wise up! Sigh.
I haven’t read the big orange book, but I am totally on board with the message. In the last year I discovered that feeling good was THE most important thing I could put my attention on in my life. Not productivity. Not getting things done. Not making money. Not figuring things out. Just can I help myself feel good!?
It was a big leap of faith – to trust that feeling good was going to be good enough. That it was enough. That I wasn’t doing something STUPID by focusing on making sure that I felt good.
It turns out it was the BEST thing I ever did for myself and as a result – amazing things came into my life. Why? Because I felt good! Because when I’m feeling good, I see more good things! I take better actions! I am more inspired and connected and willing to receive. Feeling good was EVERYTHING for me.
And for years and years and years, I just didn’t even really understand that I was meant to feel good. Or that I could feel good. Or that I was supposed to be good. Or that it was possible and maybe even a good idea to feel good. I just thought “this must be as good as it gets” and I was starting to get hopeless and bummed.
I came over to your blog here from the Goddess Circle post you shared. I’m glad I found this topic you started writing about. Thinking about my history with all this again this morning has helped to reconnect me to this truth that I now live with: My highest priority in my life is to focus on the good and the God and to take care of myself so that I feel good….because that’s where all other goodness flows from. Mmmm.
Mona Lisa – My good god, what an inspiring comment! Thank you so much! It sounds so great to focus my attention soley on feeling good, but all those things you mentioned – productivity, money etc. – seem so much more important somehow, which is crazy because the way you feel is how you experience life. I’m going to spend all the following week doing what feels good and nothing else, and see how it works for me. Thank you!