(76) Think Positively
POSITIVE THINKING - NEGATIVE THINKING – RIGHT THINKING
The starting point of making permanent and lasting changes in your life begins with understanding the difference between “positive” thinking, “negative” thinking, and “right” thinking.
Think of the person who sits down to play the piano. As he plays, there is no harmony, no balance and no real tune because he keeps hitting all the wrong notes. The player eventually gets fed up with the disharmony, lack of pleasure, and lack of enjoyment in his music and decides to go a teacher. The teacher says, "You have the ability to play, but you need to understand music."
Each one of us has the ability to play the game of life with balance, harmony, and joy, but we need to know the rules and the principles. Life works according to principle and physical law. If it didn't, you couldn't fly an airplane, because there would be no gravity, there would be no such thing as electricity, and one-plus-one would not equal two. The laws of the universe are totally dependable.
Universal law is not only dependable, but also unchangeable.
You can depend on it, and it will work every time. In essence, the universe will never let you down. It doesn't care how old you are, how young you are, how short, how fat, how skinny, your religion, your nationality or whether you are a male or a female. The Power, the Force, or the Energy is neutral, and we direct it through our own ideas and beliefs.
Your Word is Law
What we are saying is that your word is the law in the universe. But you need to know these laws. Without an understanding of the laws, through ignorance, you cannot create what you want.
The fundamental law to which all other laws conform is the Law of Cause and Effect. The Law of Cause and Effect says that the effect or result of any situation must be equal to the cause. The cause is always an idea or belief. Another way of describing the Law of Cause and Effect is the example of sowing and reaping, or action and reaction.
Or, put in a modern-day context- My ideas are created into my results.
The Law of Cause and Effect is impersonal, just like sunshine. If you are standing in the sun, you receive the warmth and healing benefits of the sun's rays. If you are standing in the shade, it seems like the sun isn't shining on you. But who moved you into the shade? Who moved you into the darkness? The truth is we are in darkness because of our ignorance.
The Problem of Ignorance
I repeat, the Law of Cause and Effect is impersonal. This is why we can see so many people who are basically good have so many problems and disasters in their lives. Somewhere in their life that person has misused or misunderstood the law. It doesn't mean the he or she is bad. It doesn't mean the he or she isn't a loving person. It means that through ignorance or misunderstanding, that person has misused the law. This can be applied to any natural law. For instance, aerodynamics or gravity will not kill you, but a misunderstanding of its function will, even if you are a kind, loving, positive person.
The universe is like a river. The river keeps on flowing. It doesn't care whether you are happy or sad, good or bad; it just keeps flowing. Some people go down to the river and they cry. Some people go down to the river and they are happy, but the river doesn't care; it just keeps flowing. We can use it and enjoy it, or we can jump in and drown. The river just keeps flowing because it is impersonal. And so it is with the universe. The universe that we live in can support us or destroy us. It's our interpretation and use of the laws that determine our effects or results.
We can only receive what our minds are capable of accepting. We can go to the river of life with a teaspoon, and someone else may go with a cup. Someone else may go with a bucket, and yet another person may go with a barrel. But the abundance of the river is always there and waiting. Our consciousness, our ideas, our frame of reference, and our belief system determine whether we go to the river of life with a teaspoon, a cup, a bucket, or a barrel.
If we are impoverished in our thinking and have gone to the river of life with only a teaspoon, we may curse the little we have in our teaspoon. We may curse others who have more than we do. But remember, - whatever we curse will curse us. The river is there, and it's overflowing with abundance. We can come to the river of life with a teaspoon, a bucket, or a barrel anytime we want to. What we take from the river of life is up to us. The only limitation is in our mind. The truth is we can have anything we want if we'll give up the belief that we can't have it. It's as simple as that.
