“The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.” ~ Carlos Castaneda from The Wheel of Time

That’s brilliant. So, uh, what are you emphasizing? Any better alternatives?

Tony Robbins has a great exercise in his Personal Power CD’s. (btw: His (brilliant) stuff was one of my first introductions to self-development. I found myself up at 2 AM 10+ years ago feeling not-so-good and happened to see him going off on one of his infomercials as I channel-surfed (before I got rid of my TV). So, I reluctantly/embarrassingly bought his stuff then hid it in my closet so my roommates wouldn’t know about it. Hah!)

In his Personal Power program, Tony has you focus on everything that’s BROWN in your room/wherever you are. Brown brown brown brown brown brown brown. Go ahead and give it a try. Look around you right now and see if you can find ALL the things that are BROWN! Do it for 30 seconds or so.

OK. Now, what is BLUE in your immediate surroundings right now? Exactly. You have no clue because you’re spending all your time looking for stuff that’s pooh-brown. QUIT DOING THAT!

As Castaneda says, the effort is the same. Just choose to look for the things you WANT to see. Look for the good and that’s what you’ll see. Simple and really powerful.