“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness concerning all acts of initiative and creation. There is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans; that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too.

All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen events, meetings and material assistance which no one could have dreamed would have come their way.

I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets: “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now!””
— W.H. Murray

How easy is it for you to commit to things or people in your life? It’s usually easier to commit to something when it is free of challenges. The true show of commitment comes when things aren’t that easy. Commitment has to apply to the good times and the not so good times.

It doesn’t really matter what we are working with — marriage, raising children, careers and businesses, spirituality, weight loss, health and well-being. They all require commitment and they all can present us with the greatest challenges of our lives.

When you truly commit to something or someone, the universe does respond to that vibration and things will begin to happen in your favor almost by magic. The key is to remain firm and unwavering in your commitment. Keep the message strong and clear to the universe that this is your direction no matter what. That is the type of commitment that will survive the day-to-day reality and reap the best rewards.

Be bold and go for the gold because that is where the genius, power, and magic will be found.

“The Law of Cause and Effect is uninfringeable and no one escapes from it. This law operates in every situation, in every place, at any time within the created Universe, at every level of creation.”
— source unknown

With karma, desire is taken into consideration for the Law of Cause and Effect. So are emotions such as anger, hatred, envy, egoism, jealousy. These can lead to negative reactions in your life. So keep in mind that physical, emotional, verbal, and mental actions (and thoughts) have repercussions.

To take this one step further to understand karma, certain students of the Law of Cause and Effect would clarify that it is also our omissions that become part of our destiny. The things we “should have done” but did not do may trigger reactions that we could consider negative.

To put the Law of Cause and Effect together with the Law of Attraction, it would then be best to keep all thoughts and actions as positive and giving as possible to attract the same into your life. And to counter the negativity of omissions, live your life to the fullest by taking the chance on things your heart calls out for you to do — live your passions and good things will happen.

“And when you give, don’t do it with a heart of fear, but with a heart full of gratitude. You will be amazed at how it all works out. Open the gates of affluence in your life by giving a bit of what you have to those in need. As the great Teacher said, ‘Give and it will be given unto you.’”
— John Harricharan

The concept goes like this: Give time and you’ll get time. Give products and you’ll get products. Give love and you’ll get love. Give money and you’ll get money.

According to Joe Vitale in The Greatest Money-Making Secret in History, there are a few things to be aware of for this powerful concept to work. 1. It is giving without expecting return from that person. You will get something in return, but it most likely will come from a different source. 2. Give with your heart and with feeling. If it doesn’t feel good to give, you will only be attracting more stuff that doesn’t feel good to you. 3. Give what you want to receive.

Have fun and test it out. If you follow rule number two, even if nothing does come back, you will be left with great feelings for giving when you feel good about doing it.

“Thoughts are things; they have tremendous power. Thoughts of doubt and fear are pathways to failure. When you conquer negative attitudes of doubt and fear you conquer failure. Thoughts crystallize into habit and habit solidifies into circumstances.”
— Bryan Adams

Creative Visualization, Power of Your Subconscious Mind, The Law of Attraction, all very good books that deal with the power of your thoughts. You have thousands upon thousands of thoughts that influence your direction everyday, whether you realize it or not. Your thoughts form habits and your habits create your circumstances.

Have you ever really paid attention to the direction of your thoughts. Even as I write this message, I can note several different thoughts that pop in and out. What am I going to make for dinner? I have to remember to pay those bills. I wonder how my sister made out at the home show. Boy, is my back sore…Sometimes there are so many it is not easy to remain focused on my task at hand and process it all at the same time.

Thankfully, most of those random thoughts were fairly neutral (except for the one about my back). When we maintain a habit of positive thoughts, and focus on our goals, we will begin to see the opportunities in life unfold.

“In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart.”
— John Bunyan

I had often wondered as a young adult if there was really any point to praying. Over the years though, I have come to realize that there are many ways to accomplish the real power behind “prayer” (or mediation, focus, affirmations, etc.). And it’s also now clear to me why so many prayers have gone unfulfilled: Too many of us have not done it the right way.

When I was little, I was taught the words to certain prayers and I recited them. But the power of prayer isn’t about the words; it’s about the feeling behind the words. How many of us have been taught to memorize and recite the words, which we so diligently do; but by focusing so much on the prayers we’ve memorized, we have totally forgotten (or they were never explained to us in the first place) the feelings the words are meant to provide.

So I may not still formally pray like I was taught growing up. My intentions however are strongly reinforced with my feelings. When I sit in meditation and visualize something, I add the feelings that are associated with the visions. Feel the power of prayer and you may just notice a big difference in what you are praying for.

“When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened”
— Winston Churchill

I dug up this old quote because I keep hearing so much about fears these days. A lot of people are in the middle of a worry-fest and really need to release their fears around the situation. Why?

First because we don’t even know what we are dealing with yet, and therefore worrying is expending a lot of energy on something that we can’t even put a real name to, let alone do anything about right now. Secondly, it is a complete waste of her time to focus any of our thoughts into such an unknown territory. As this anonymous quote points out well, “Worry is like a rocking chair—it gives you something to do but it doesn’t get you anywhere.” And we all have plenty of better things to do and bigger places to go. Remember, “energy flows where your attention goes”. If you focus on negative outcomes (worry) you will attract negative outcomes. If you focus on solutions, you will attract solutions.

So my advice for those who fall into the common habit of worry; keep living and solve the issues when they come up, because if they aren’t real enough to fix right now, they may not exist at all.

“If you admire greatness in another human being, it is your own greatness you are seeing. [...] If you did not possess that quality you would not be attracted by it.”
— Debbie Ford

I have been writing a lot about how the non-positive focuses in our life tend to show us the less than complementary attributes of our personality and our life. We must also remember the opposite of all that works as well, and sometimes even more powerfully.

For example, when you think of someone you admire, all the positive things you attribute to that person are within you as well. If you admire Oprah because she is so influential, it is because there is something about you that helps to influence others. If you like Martha Stewart because she continues to go strong in her business despite all her past challenges, it is because you too are strong in the face of a challenge.

So keep thinking about all the people you admire in your life, see their beauty, because it is truly a reflection of what is admirable in you as well.

“The more you are liked — or the higher your likeability factor — the happier your life will be.”
— Tim Sanders

Tim Sanders calls this the likeability factor. I would also call it the Law of Attraction. But whatever you want to call it, I believe that it will make your life happier. His book shows you how to raise your likeability factor by teaching you how to boost four critical elements of your personality:

• Friendliness: your ability to communicate liking and openness to others
• Relevance: your capacity to connect with others’ interests, wants, and needs
• Empathy: your ability to recognize, acknowledge, and experience other people’s feelings
• Realness: the integrity that stands behind your likeability and guarantees its authenticity

When people like you because you are friendly, you can connect on their terms, you relate to what they are experiencing, and you live authentically, you tend to attract more people like you in your life.

“You get what you think about, whether you want it or not.”
— Esther and Jerry Hicks, Ask and It Is Given

There is a device at the base of your brain called a reticular activating device whose job it is to filter out information that we have concluded is not important and assists you in noticing the things that you have decided are important. Another way to see it is that it works in conjunction with your belief system.

For example, if you have decided that the world is full of mean people, you will primarily notice all the mean people in the world. If however, you have made it a belief that the world is full of love and miracles, you will notice more love and miracles than someone who believes otherwise.

This is also the Law of Attraction in work. Because you get what you think about, even if it is a negative thought (mean people) you will actually attract (and notice) more mean people in your life.

So do this experiment: Focus only on the things that make you feel good. Take an important relationship in your life that may not be as optimal as you would like it to be and focus only on the positive aspects of that person for one week. You will notice their behavior will actually change positively as well.

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity…. It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
— Melodie Beattie

Wow! The power of gratitude. Here’s a fun way to remember to be grateful everyday and to unleash this power for your life: Make a nice box, decorate it as you wish, or just buy one that you really like. Write little notes about all the things you are grateful for in your life and put them in this beautiful box. Now, everyday — you pick a time that works best for you — pull them out and think about each and every one of them with love and gratitude. Really feel each one.

Once you get the hang of doing it for the things in your life that you already have, throw in some things that you want to have in your life and feel the same feelings of gratitude. See what happens.