There’s a movement going on that goes something like this:

“Getting what you want is easy.”

“You think it and it flows to you like water.”

“If you believe it, you can receive it.”

“Imagine, visualize and have faith and watch everything fall into the line.”

“The Universe will bring everything to you…”

That is what I call the bullshit, paint-by-numbers, sugar-coated method of ruining naive, trusting people’s lives…

There is some truth in each of the statements above:

1) What is for you is for you and what is for someone else is for them… and you never have to fight, steal, beg, or borrow to have what you want.  Now, you can always keep yourself from getting what you want by living in the “I don’t deserve this” self-sabotage place but that’s entirely and completely up to you.  Nobody else has to help you with self-esteem and deservability issues.

2) What you think has extreme influence on what you do.  “As a man thinketh, so is he” and that’s not because thoughts become things in the way that far too many seem to believe.  It’s because we take actions based upon our predominant thoughts.  Our consistent actions then become habits.  Our enduring habits then become ways of living and, before long, we begin to think that we ARE what we DO.

3) Belief and faith are important because they set the tone for the risks you’ll take and the options you’ll allow yourself to exercise.  But belief without action is nothing.  You can believe you’re going to be a millionaire all you want but if you never take the necessary actions, you’ll be left with a ton of empty faith and no money.

4) The Universe… Hmm… let’s go there for a minute.  Energy is energy.  God is God but none of that means anything if you don’t understand that you get what you give.  What you put out there comes back to you EVERY time.  More than that, the Universe WILL conspire in your favor but if you don’t even know what your “favor” is really doing under the surface (meaning all of those limiting beliefs that are secretly running your life), then the Universe might just be helping you into a pit of pain.

5) At the end of the day, we control very little but we influence A LOT.  Spending too much time in our tiny circle of control and not enough time in our enormous circle of influence  is the surest way to experience numerous nervous breakdowns.

Let me be VERY clear about what needs to change about how we approach the Laws of the Universe:

1. Your path to your destiny, dreams, or desires does not and, in many cases, WILL NOT be easy.  It doesn’t have to be.  You CAN do hard things and there’s a sense of accomplishment and power that comes with being able to overcome the obstacles.
2. You get what you give.  If you bring mediocre to your attempts at success, you’ll get mediocre.  If you spend your time being  jealous and envious of other people, you’ll get jealousy and envy back.  If you walk around saying that life hates you, you’ll continue to get proof that it does.  You are the one creating your world so what you see REALLY affects how you experience life.
3. You call something into being before it EVER really is but it’s not faith alone that takes it from idea to reality.  It’s faith combined with purpose, vision, passion, commitment and persistence.  There’s a lot that goes into this “thinking from the end.”  This is not about wishing for a thing and waiting for its arrival.  It’s about intending a thing, speaking it into being, and with unwavering dedication and flexible action, taking daily steps towards the goal UNTIL it arrives.
4. No matter how much you beg, plead and bargain with the Universe, there’s timing to everything.  Your actions can slow down or speed up the process but they aren’t the only things determining the duration.  Be patient with life and believe that life works for you.  When you do this, you let go of the resistance of impatience and you embrace the openness of change.  You enjoy life in the process instead of waiting impatiently to arrive at the destination.

At the end of the day, it is up to you to decide if you’re not strong enough to stay the course, if you’re not committed enough to do hard things, if you’re simply not ready to take the risks necessary to ascend to a higher life.  You can choose to shrink, not grow, refuse risk and stay the same… and the Universe will love you all the while.  But it is not up to anyone or anybody else to make life easy, to offer you everything you need at the blink of an eye or to sugarcoat your existence by not offering you soul opportunities for growth (that usually come in the form of pain).  Why we live in a world where people would rather sedate their grief than feel it, I don’t know but true strength does not come from an easy course; it comes from a life fully lived and experienced.  That means the good, the bad and the ugly.  Don’t shy away from any of it.  You can and WILL do hard things… and the victory of it will enthrall you!