Worry = Focus

Recently, I've been reading Maxwell Maltz' 1960s classic "Psycho-Cybernetics" (there is an updated version published in 2002) and came across a very important LOA concept:

What you focus on becomes the goal.

Makes sense, right? Let's explore it a bit further.

What you focus on—consciously or otherwise—becomes the goal.

Read that again.

Note the "consciously OR OTHERWISE" part.

I allowed this concept to float around in my brain for the better part of a week while I attended to mundane tasks such as vehicle shopping, attending the closing on Lot #2, and enduring a bout with bronchitis.

Because my parents died, I will soon be receiving an inheritance. In addition, I have a personal home on the market. Together, the proceeds form one big chunk of cash coming in and it gives me a pretty big financial boost. There is enough money to boost me firmly into whatever career I want to pursue and help me along the way up to get me to the point where I'll be able to "take it from there".

But that's IT. As far as I know in the "natural", that is, based on the physical known evidence in front of me, I have one chunk and that's it.

Of course, for all I know, I could be on the verge of a major lottery win. Or another unexpected chunk from somewhere. Plus I keep forgetting I really DID inherit a very sizeable amount, but because I chose to take the primary chunk of that in house rather than liquid cash, it doesn't feel like that much, and I'd have to sell the house to transfer it into cash.

Really, I am—on paper—quite well off, better than I think. I just keep forgetting that—probably because I'm not accustomed to BEING well-off (my parents were the ones who were well-off; all I did was benefit secondarily from their abundance). And I keep forgetting that this isn't the only money in the world I'll ever get. I'm not a vegetable. I can work. I can sell off stuff. I can make more money in the days to come.

But my brain keeps focusing on:

"Only one chunk and that's IT".
"Only one chance to boost yourself up and that's IT".

My brain seems to have an issue.

This manner of thinking leads to worrying that I might make the wrong choice. I've made wrong choices before. But I've always been able to get out of them, thanks largely to help from my now-dead parents, and I've always been able to take another chance.

But if I make the wrong choice NOW... that's IT. They're dead. My "rescuers" are gone. I have one chunk of cash to help me "make it". If I make the wrong choice, and halfway to "there" I realize it, I'm either going to have to keep going regardless (stuck) or if I find out the hard way because at the important crossroads of proving myself, I fail—then I fail, and I'm f***ed (rhymes with "stuck").

Make the wrong choice, and I'm stuck or f***ed.

Which leads to the realization that I've ALWAYS worried that I'll make the wrong choice (in careers, men, lifestyles, etc—we're talking major choices, not what's for dinner).

Boi-oi-oi-oinnnnngggggggg. Suddenly, I had an insight.

What is worry?

WORRY is SUBCONSCIOUS FOCUS.

Read that about 20 more times and let it sink in firmly like I had to. Because it didn't sink in when I realized initially that what we focus on consciously or OTHERWISE becomes the goal. Nope. It had to play out a bit further.

OTHERWISE = other than consciously, as in SUBconsciously or UNconsciously.

WORRY = consistent concerned focus on a negative outcome.

WORRY is SUBCONSCIOUS FOCUS on a NEGATIVE OUTCOME.

What we FOCUS on, consciously OR OTHERWISE, becomes the GOAL.

So... when we worry, we are subconsciously focusing on a negative outcome and that negative outcome becomes the goal. And our subconscious engages us in actions and behaviors to ensure that the goal is achieved!

The laughable thing is that I'm REALLY GOOD at manifesting stuff. Oh, there is plenty of evidence, plenty of proof of what I've "successfully" failed to do with my life, LOL! The trick is to learn to use my power for good, not evil.

When I worry, I am subconsciously allowing my brain to focus on something, and that thing unconsciously becomes my goal.

How scary is that?

So... what if I can't get into music school? I thought, when I was eighteen and applying to the College of Musical Arts. (I passed the auditions, the theory exams, and was practically a shoe-in, but I blew my entrance interview. Totally. So I studied art instead. Much, much later.)

What if I never get married?

What if I never find a guy to have children with? (or never get that baby lust desire to have a child?)

What if I never make it in music? What if I wind up one of those washed-up overweight former rockers who had to metaphorically cut off her hair and get a real job that I hate at 40?

What if my parents die before I get my manure together?

Just pull the "what if" part off, and there's the goal.

Can't get into music school. Never get married. Never have children. Never make it in music. Wind up a washed-up overweight former rocker who had to cut off her hair so to speak and get a real job I truly dislike at 40. Parents will die before I get my manure together.

Oy vey.

What if I make the wrong career choice and I wind up stuck or f***ed?

Make the wrong career choice and wind up stuck or f***ed.

Fascinating, isn't it? Objectively speaking, that is.

And there I am, unwittingly hurtling closer and closer to achieving a goal I wasn't even aware that I had.

The trick, I suppose, is to closely monitor what flitters through my subconscious, notice what it is specifically that I worry about, and then really work to revise it so that it works FOR me rather than AGAINST me. Such as:

Make the right career choice and wind up happy and successful.

I know that from this moment forward, I'm making the right career choice, the choice that brings me ever-increasing happiness and success.

Granted, it doesn't cover my previous or most recent choices necessarily. But that's OK. As long as I can forgive myself for any choices I made that weren't right, knowing now what I didn't know then, and move forward... and take comfort in the fact that despite their being the "wrong" choices, at least I was really successful in achieving the goals... I'll be OK.

I made a minor revision, then I output it in huge letters. It's taped to my bathroom mirror, it's printed on a business-card-sized slip for tucking in my wallet, and it's printed on a strip I taped to the bottom of my computer monitor:

I know… that from this moment forward, I'm making all the right choices. The choices that I'm now making bring me ever-increasing happiness and success.

(It could be revised even further to past tense: I've made all the right choices... your call.)

That ought to do it. :-)