Grinning in memory, I could still feel the weight of that magnifying glass in my then ten-year-old hand. Gazing through it, a hidden world of forests of grass and colonies of giant ants came magically into focus. By adjusting the focus, I too, had magnified pinpoints of sunlight so tightly they had burned holes right into wood.
Our minds hold similar power. Whatever we mentally focus on expands in our life, creating feelings and emotions to match our interpretation of it. Whether the object of our focus is a person, a job or a problem, once held before the lens of our mind, it can't help but grow larger than it currently is.
The secret that escapes many is that we are in control of what we choose to focus on. Despite appearances to the contrary, we have a choice - we can choose to focus on what is wrong in our lives, creating growing feelings and emotions of unhappiness -- or we can focus on what is right within our lives, creating feelings and emotions that give us increasing levels of joy.
Most people never realize they have a choice, they merely allow their mind to run on auto-pilot, letting their focus fall where it will. They then wonder why their best plans go up in smoke, their moods abruptly change with the winds, and problems seem to loom ever larger.
By retaking control, we can direct our mind's magnifying glass to intensely focus on things of our choice - successes, talents, loved ones, spiritual aspirations -- that create positive feelings and emotions, igniting our own constant flames of happiness within.
By first placing our attention on what gets our attention, we begin to see the true cause of unhappiness. We learn that the only reason we are unhappy is because we unwarily focused on something unhappy! Realizing that we CAN decide where to place our mental magnifying glass is the first step to becoming the driver of our lives, rather than remaining a powerless passenger.
Like the roundness of the magnifying glass, the magic of focus is circular as well. The quality of our life is based on our own perception of it. Our perception is created by what we focus on. What we focus on creates the feelings and emotions that create our perceptions.
While the kids in that circle were enchanted witnessing the magnifying glass burning leaves, I grinned realizing a lesson far more powerful was subtlety burning itself into their subconscious minds. And one day too, they'd be able to boil the importance of mental focus into six words.
Whatever gets your attention, gets YOU.
###
Mike Johnson is an energetic writer & entrepreneur. Learn more about Mike's offerings at www.MikeJohnson.biz