Ivory tower,

How does one get anywhere? ....One step at a time!

On friday night a friend who  had read my blog commented,  that she felt I was living in an ivory tower
and it was all a bit of a yawn. I was impressed by her honesty. Because she has known me for 16 years she said it's all very well you being so happy but I should talk about my journey  and how I actually got there.

In order to respect the privacy of my family I don't want to talk about specific events but like everyone I've seen darker days. Like everyone I've had my share of heartache and I'm sure that in the future, life will present new challenges. If I wanted to I could focus on all the areas of my life that some would still call challenging, they're there for me just as they are for everyone else, but for me the biggest lesson I've learnt is to focus on what's working.

According to Abraham-Hicks you can have nine out of ten areas of your life working and one area that's not
and if you focus on the area that's not working, vibrationally that becomes your point of attraction. If however you have only one area of your life that's working and nine that aren't but choose to focus on the one point that is, then your point of attraction is a positive one and will lead you to the joy you seek.

People who spend their time talking about their past or present grief get stuck in that vibration, they have little or no chance of attracting anything better. However people who focus on their joy, however small will incrementally be walking towards more joy until eventually, the heartaches that once dragged them down no longer exist. I think of some of the happiest people I know and it's not that the circumstances of their life are perfect but they have disciplined themselves not to dwell on what is beyond their control.

On the other hand I know and have been the person who has had most things going well but enjoys the drama or is locked into a pattern (habit) of focusing on the more negative aspects. These people are unnecessarily miserable. It may sound strange but in many ways being happy is a discipline, it requires discipline not to engage in gossip or complain about anything from the weather to war in Afghanistan. Not complaining doesn't make these things right but it comes back to making peace with where we are. We can't always change circumstances whether it be a sick family member, a bad economy or a week of rain. The only thing we have control over is our attitude. We can choose to be grumpy, complaining or miserable and to expect the worst (don't worry you'll get it! ) or we can choose to find the silver lining and there always is one, even if it's that being sick teaches you to value your health and a week of rain will make sunshine seem glorious. Learning to appreciate the millions of little excuses for happiness will lead us moment by moment to happiness.

To my friend thanks for being honest. We all have our challenges in life but perhaps regardless of the circumstances our true challenge is just deciding on what to focus on today. So... at the risk of sounding like a Pollyanna ( apparently Pollyanna had a very nice life) I'm choosing to focus on all that's good.