What you focus on, you give power to
The unconscious mind has an unlimited ability to hold information; it never sleeps, and it is always absorbing information and data. Your unconscious intends to protect you in any way that it can; it kept you from falling off the bed last night, didn’t it? It was aware of the edge of the bed and kept you away from it, just far enough to be safe.
The problem is that the unconscious mind (about 97 percent of the brain) is not very smart, at least in a logical way. For this reason, you need to engage the conscious mind so that you will act appropriately. The limitation is that the conscious mind can attend to only about five things at the same time, and everything else fades to the background. Now, five bits of information is certainly a lot less than millions of bits of information, so you must constantly decide what those five conscious things ought to be.
For example: If you look for all the green objects in the room, you will find them, and if you look for all the yellow, you will see all the yellow. If you sort for all the mean people in the world, you will find them; when you look for what is working in your life, you will see it. Focus on what you want. Go for what you want and keep your focus on what you have chosen!
How about your significant other or a good friend? Is there something about them that bugs you? Now be honest. Most people would say, “Yes, indeed.” Now take something that bugs you and visually move it to the background. Next, focus on something that you like and visually make it big and compelling, full of color and life. Let it slide into the foreground. Wow. How do you feel now?
If you choose to spend your mind capacity thinking and stewing about negative things, sure enough, you will feel negative. I do not presume that we live in denial; I offer the concept that we highlight what is working rather than what is not working–in other words, what you have rather than what you don’t have. It is interesting to note that depressed individuals focus on what they do not have. If you ask depressed people how they feel or what their thoughts are, they will tell you about things that are going wrong or things they do not have.
Do you have legs? Some people do not. Do you have food? Some people do not. Do you have a job? Some people do not. No matter what your circumstance, you have something to be thankful for.
Focus on what you have, what you want, what is good, and what can be changed, and move forward in your life.
