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I believe it was Earl Nightingale who used the expression ‘cheerful expectancy‘ to describe an attitude of mind in relation to our intentions and goals.  By ‘cheerful expectancy’, he meant the optimism, confidence and preparedness to receive or achieve that which we have intended.

An attitude of  ‘cheerful expectancy’ leaves no room for despondency, dread, failure or doubt.  What an absolutely marvelous attitude to have, wouldn’t you say?

Note that ‘cheerful expectancy’  leaves no room for failure.  The implication of this is profound!  Let me explain.

If you have an attitude that denies you failure, it means that regardless of the outcome of any intention or goal you’ve set, you will have succeeded!  Wow!  Is that empowering or what?

Now I know you’re probably thinking, ‘Here we go again, playing with words’ or ‘playing with your mind’.  Well, guess what?

You’re absolutely right!

I am absolutely suggesting, encouraging, actually URGING you to play with your words and play with your mind!  Because if you don’t, then you will effectively be leaving others to do it for you and relying on others who have already done it for you.

Yes, I mean all those people in your life, past and present, including your parents, teachers, bosses and peers, who have been feeding you with beliefs encoded in words and intellectual manipulations to influence your thinking.

Now, I am not suggesting that these people did any of this with malice but they probably did it to preserve a belief and value system that they had bought into and that compelled them to ‘recruit’ others, including yourself, into.  And, more than likely, they have succeeded.

Get this: You live your life according to words and intellectual manipulations i.e. beliefs, attitudes and judgments.  But these particular words and manipulations are not innate aspects of who you are.  Rather, you have learned or acquired them.  Which makes it equally possible and necessary for you to learn and acquire those words and manipulations that serve your true desires – desires for happiness, peace, abundance, love and freedom.

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So, the question that I am asking you now is this:

What words, what meanings and what manipulations (thoughts) would you prefer to have?  What attitudes are you prepared to choose now?

For instance, are you prepared to choose to

Use these words:  Every outcome is a success.
Have this attitude:  I have created this outcome and I will benefit from it no matter what!
Think these thoughts:  What is the success quality in this outcome?  What useful thing can I get out of this?

Wow!  How does that feel?

So, are you prepared to play with your words and your mind or are you going to keep letting others play with them?

Lucy Lopez

Awakening to Happiness!

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Is it not easier to be happy when your wants are few?

Henry David Thoreau

A man would go to Walden Pond daily to catch fish.  Unlike the other people who went to the same pond, this man did not use a boat.  Instead, he sat by the edge of the pond and waited for the fish.  Without fail, he would catch one and, here is the interesting bit, regardless of the size of the fish, he would pack up and leave.  Daily.

It’s not as if he was antisocial.  He would smile and acknowledge others but curiously, he maintained a routine or made an agreement with himself that as soon as he caught a fish, he would leave.

“So what’s with this guy?” I hear you asking.

Someone actually did ask Thoreau this question when he related this story in a lecture in March 1846.  What did Thoreau say:  Your answer is as good as mine.

Why did Thoreau choose to tell this story?  What message was he hoping to convey?

Now, I am not necessarily claiming to answer these questions but here is what went through my mind as I read this story and as I wrote about it.  It occurs to me that when a person makes a conscious choice about his/her actions and does so without attaching to a particular outcome, that person has established the conditions for his/her happiness.

In other words, regardless of the outcome, I am going to be happy, at peace.

There have been numerous times when I have felt disappointed, frustrated or very much a failure as a result of how things turned out.  Sometimes, this would cause me to give up what I was doing.  Other times, it would ensure that I did whatever I did with a degree of resentment.  Neither of these left me feeling particularly happy or satisfied.

On the other hand, when I have done something motivated by the sheer joy and thrill of doing it, with little attachment to the outcome, I have not only enjoyed the ‘doing ’so much more, I have been far less influenced by the outcomes, rather like the man and his fish.

Why did he fish?  Who knows.  Your answer is as good as mine.  But that he fished and accepted whatever fish he caught strikes me as the behavior and attitude of someone who knows how to be happy!

What do you think?  Why did the man fish?  Do you ‘fish’ like this man?

Lucy Lopez – Hire Me!

Happy by Nature, Aware by Choice!

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