Expecting Success

I’m told February is Expect Success Month. I suppose it beats expecting failure, right?

Lately, I’ve been hearing a great deal about the power of thought in achieving one’s dreams. A few years ago, I read Deepak Chopra’s The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success. It kind of changed my life. In seven steps that seem like common sense once you read them, Chopra outlines how to achieve balance, harmony, and success in your life. I highly recommend this book. I refer back to it whenever I feel I’m straying off my own life’s path.

I was at a party around the holidays and a woman I’d just met asked me, “Do you know the secret?” I glanced down to the glass in her hand and wondered exactly what cocktail she had clearly enjoyed just a little too much. As she continued, however, I realized she wasn’t drunk. She was instead an expert in expecting success. “The secret is about intention,” she told me. “If you intend to be safe, you’ll be safe. If you intend to be healthy, you’ll be healthy. If you intend to be successful, you’ll be successful.” She wasn’t just talking about thinking these things though. She further explained that when you have a firm intention, you actually take steps to make whatever you’re intending a reality. For example, if you intend safety while you’re driving, then make choices to follow the speed limit, wear your seatbelt, refrain from drinking or texting while behind the wheel, you are engaging in behaviors that will bring you safety. She maintained that this way of thinking and behaving will bring you what you desire in life.

I’ve done a lot of research into Wicca, and the notion of expecting success is present there too. In his Wicca for the Solitary Practitioner, Scott Cunningham lists the Thirteen Goals of the Witch. Goal number seven is “Keep your thoughts in good order.” This goal is about positive energy and intention as well. So you see, the notion of success being attainable if you believe it to be is not a new idea. 

I’m a firm believer in the power of positive thought. If you think negatively, you only see the negative. That kind of energy brings you down and closes you off to the wonderful opportunities the universe is constantly throwing at you. If, however, you think positively, your eyes are always open to the possibilities. I’d rather live my life on the Bright Side, not the Dark Side (even though the Death Star was kind of cool). It’s not always easy, and occasionally I do want to crawl into a cool, damp cave and label all my dreams as impossible. It doesn’t take long for me to shake out of that slump though and realize that without intention, positive thought, and goals, I’ll never climb up the next rung on my life’s ladder. It’s important to keep climbing, always climbing.

How about you? Are you a glass half full or half empty? How’s that working for you? Do you expect to be successful or do you find reasons why you can’t do something?

Christine
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