My focus - My growth!
Hello all,
Namaste! Hope all of you had a great week where you were able to have the thoughts about exactly what you want in your life and were able to take steps to make that your reality for your life. Last week we were discussing how our thoughts create our reality. Before that, we were discussing how our words are indeed our law for our life. In this series now let us tackle the next topic. (As noted in my previous post, please put yourself, the blog reader at the 'My' position in the title and read the Blog from that perspective. So each blog reader again is saying, "My focus, my growth").
We have discussed many times how our intentions create change in our physical reality and how we should use our thoughts only to bring in what we want for our life. Thoughts that roam around in different directions also dissipate our mental power, effort, and energy. Now there is a very important tenet in Spirituality, which we are going to discuss here. The tenet is
'What we put our focus on increases in our life'. This literally means whatever we concentrate our thoughts on, increases in our life. But many times as human beings we are absolutely not aware of the existence of such a tenet. Remember, we discussed our mental power using the example of Chanakya so many times. His story literally shows how using our mental power we can capture what we want exactly for our life. But many times we don't use our mental power. Either we use it to pursue everyday stuff and activities, or we use it to pursue so many different things that all the energy gets distracted in million different directions.
My Focus: As a human being we have been given a powerful tool called the mind, which has enormous capabilities as well as capacities. It has been said as a myth that the brilliant scientist Albert Einstein used only ten percent of his brain capabilities. Even if it is a myth, think how much a human mind would be able to do if it captures its true potential?
But many times we humans don't even take the time to scratch the surface of the possibilities of what a human mind is really capable of. Along with the mind, we have been given another powerful tool, which we many times don't use. Our powerful capability to focus.
Let us take an example not of a human, but of a big cat like a lion or a tiger. Think the cat has spotted a prey, say an Impala (deer). What does the lion do? As soon as it spots the prey, it crouches it's body to the ground, it almost lies very low to the ground, eyes becomes totally focused on the prey, and then it waits patiently, till the prey is nearby so that the lion has the advantage of running and pouncing on the prey. Now think about the focus the lion has on the prey. It has nothing in its mind at that time, except its food in the form of the prey.
We, humans, have much more developed brain and mind than a lion or a tiger. So if the mind of a big cat can achieve its prey with that level of focus, think about the focus and mind power we humans have by virtue of our highly developed mind and brain. But due to this highly developed mind power, we also have more chances for distraction.
Now let us take an example of a human being who through their dedicated focus achieved strides in their life. This personality we already discussed in another post called 'The realm of Greatness', where we discussed how only a few people really achieve true greatness. This person has been a lion in the book of history due to the way he conducted himself and the way he stands apart from the crowd. Yes, of course, it is Abraham Lincoln, who from a very mediocre level went to capture the highest office of the land with his sheer focus and determination.
Abraham Lincoln: Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky. Later his family moved to the south of Indiana state in 1816. He was only able to go for a short period of time as he had to constantly support his family. So he had to stop his schooling. His mother Nancy died when he was nine years old and his dad later remarried another woman Sarah Bush Lincoln, whom Abraham became very close to.
Here Lincoln could have left his studies completely and could have just helped his dad in farming and hard labor. Instead, he always kept his love for writing, poetry, scribbling thoughts, and ciphering and loved his books and reading. So he self-taught himself whenever he got time in between his farm labor. There is even a famous story of Lincoln studying under the street lights as his home didn't have electricity.
In between, he also got a job on a flat river boat taking freight down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. Even then, he never left his passion for reading, poetry, and books. Remember, 'Whatever we focus in our life grows'. Here even though Lincoln was always doing manual labor, farming, and even river rafting freight, his mental focus was always on books, poetry, reading, thought process and analysis. He was a life-long learner. So as his mental focus on were these, slowly but surely they grew in his life.
There were many chances where he could have just led a simple life in states like Indiana, Illinois or another place. Instead, he worked as a postmaster for some time, studied law by himself, later to become a lawyer. He practiced law in the Illinois bar of Springfield for several years and was famous for his cross-examinations and closing arguments. Now, remember, he self-taught himself everything, even the law himself. What a focus and self-determination!
Even though his first run for the Illinois state senate resulted in disaster, the second run was successful and he was a four-term state senator, successfully completing his terms as a 'Whig' party representative. At that time itself, he had a strong stance against slavery and abolitionism. Later he wanted to run for the U.S. House of Representatives and at the first attempt failed. But in the second attempt in 1835, he was successful and served as a U.S. Congressman for one term. Later as he was not able to proceed with his political ambitions, he returned to Illinois to pursue his career as a lawyer. He practiced law for the next sixteen years. If it had been another person they would have left their political ambitions. But this was Abraham Lincoln determined and focused to his core.
My Growth: Lincoln could have just been a lawyer and could have led his life in Illinois itself. But here he was focused on his growth and that focus helped to grow his life exactly the way he wanted it to be. Again Lincoln tried to run for the U.S. Senate in 1855 as well as in 1858, almost twenty years after his one term stint with the U.S. Congress in 1835. Any other person, after sixteen years away from politics and two unsuccessful runs for the U.S. Senate would have left their dreams and just would have had a quiet life. Not Lincoln.
In 1859-1860, after a series of debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, the candidate called Abraham Lincoln who had great oratory skills and who could give speeches with a punch captured national attention. His speech at the Cooper Union, a private college in New York city got him more accolades, which eventually led to his election as the sixteenth president of the United States.
Now, from a, one term, not that well-known congressman he became the most powerful man in the United States. But the minute he became President, he had to attend to a civil war where the slave promoting south was at war with the freedom-seeking north. Even though he didn't have any military training he, as usual, read everything he could get his hands on and made himself aware of the military strategies needed for a wartime President. He successfully led the north in the war and defeated the south and integrated the whole country to become the 'United States of America'.
In between when the war was raging he understood the importance of freeing the slaves, as the warlords in the south had a huge number of slaves. After the war, the rehabilitation of slaves come into the picture and didn't want the north to become the masters of the slaves. So on January 1,1863, Lincoln issued a preliminary 'Emancipation Proclamation' freeing all the slaves.
In November 1863, Lincoln gave an elegant but very short speech at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania while dedicating a new national cemetery. Today it is adulated as the 'Gettysburg address', that reiterates the importance of independence and human equality. Lincoln never had a chance to witness the after-effects of the 'Emancipation proclamation' or the integration of the union of United States to a working whole, as he was shot point black on the head by a Confederate (south) sympathizer John Wilkes Booth soon after on April 14, 1865 and breathed his last on April 15, 1865. What a great President!
Analysis: Abraham Lincoln had a very tough time throughout his life. He was born into a moderate family and was never able to attend a proper school. Had to educate himself under the street light to become literate and later through his own efforts had to become a lawyer and pass the law as well as bar examination. It would have been much easier for him to have been just a farmer or a hard laborer. Instead, he loved his books, studies, poems, and scribbling. Even after the becoming a lawyer, he could have stayed in Illinois practicing his law.
Instead, he chose to become an Illinois state Senator, which he failed the first time. After becoming a state senator for four terms, he tried to run for U.S. Congress, once and won. But later two times failed to make it to the U.S.Senate, and the third time made if for one term. So for every win, he had he lost two times. He had so many failures in his life, if it had been another person, they would have just left the politics and would have had a quiet existence.
But then after sixteen years of being a lawyer, he again ran in the Presidential election to become the sixteenth President. Then again after four years, won the next election to rule the second term, though unfortunately, he was not able to complete it.
Look at the dedication, determination, and focus he had for his purpose and how with a single-minded determination he followed it for what he wanted to achieve. Even after sixteen years, he kept the flame alive for the desire of his heart, to be in politics. Abraham Lincoln put his laser focus on things he wanted to achieve and his life grew in many different directions.
Now, let us look at our own lives. What do we do? Many times we are more focused on other's lives than our own. Then what happens? Even though we very much don't want things that are other's problems in our life, as long as we are focused on it, that is what shows up in our life, time and again. We keep on trying to come out of the problems, but even then we get more and more stuck.
So what does it say? Instead, of trying to remove other's problems from our life, we should totally focus on what we want for our life. 'Whatever we focus on grows in our life', Period! So only if we keep our desires, passions, and interests front and center in our life it would grow in our life. As long as we keep on trying to remove other's problems from our lives, that is what we are focusing on. At that point, the growth is happening to the other people's problems in our life. Got it?
So let us all concentrate our focus on the things we want for our life, our passions, our interests and our talents so that they grow and become abundant in our life, with every kind of wealth and prosperity, while pursuing exactly what we want for our life.
I wish you a good weekend and I'll see you next Friday! 😉
Next week: My courage - My strength!
Note: Images from Wikimedia Commons, and Pixabay.com.
Ralph Waldo Emerson writes, "There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance ; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better for worse as his portion that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried".
All rights reserved to the author (SwaroopaStargazer) and SwaroopaBlog.
To my Blog readers: As all of you know, the European Union has passed laws regarding the collection of the user data. This is just to inform all my EU blog readers, I just use Google Analytics, which Google provides, to look at from where readers are reading my blogs. I also use Specific feeds to use their service for subscription list. I don't collect or intend to collect user data to sell or provide to third-party applications. Regards,
SwaroopaBlog.
Namaste! Hope all of you had a great week where you were able to have the thoughts about exactly what you want in your life and were able to take steps to make that your reality for your life. Last week we were discussing how our thoughts create our reality. Before that, we were discussing how our words are indeed our law for our life. In this series now let us tackle the next topic. (As noted in my previous post, please put yourself, the blog reader at the 'My' position in the title and read the Blog from that perspective. So each blog reader again is saying, "My focus, my growth").
We have discussed many times how our intentions create change in our physical reality and how we should use our thoughts only to bring in what we want for our life. Thoughts that roam around in different directions also dissipate our mental power, effort, and energy. Now there is a very important tenet in Spirituality, which we are going to discuss here. The tenet is
'What we put our focus on increases in our life'. This literally means whatever we concentrate our thoughts on, increases in our life. But many times as human beings we are absolutely not aware of the existence of such a tenet. Remember, we discussed our mental power using the example of Chanakya so many times. His story literally shows how using our mental power we can capture what we want exactly for our life. But many times we don't use our mental power. Either we use it to pursue everyday stuff and activities, or we use it to pursue so many different things that all the energy gets distracted in million different directions.
My Focus: As a human being we have been given a powerful tool called the mind, which has enormous capabilities as well as capacities. It has been said as a myth that the brilliant scientist Albert Einstein used only ten percent of his brain capabilities. Even if it is a myth, think how much a human mind would be able to do if it captures its true potential?
But many times we humans don't even take the time to scratch the surface of the possibilities of what a human mind is really capable of. Along with the mind, we have been given another powerful tool, which we many times don't use. Our powerful capability to focus.
Let us take an example not of a human, but of a big cat like a lion or a tiger. Think the cat has spotted a prey, say an Impala (deer). What does the lion do? As soon as it spots the prey, it crouches it's body to the ground, it almost lies very low to the ground, eyes becomes totally focused on the prey, and then it waits patiently, till the prey is nearby so that the lion has the advantage of running and pouncing on the prey. Now think about the focus the lion has on the prey. It has nothing in its mind at that time, except its food in the form of the prey.
 |
| Whatever we focus on, grows in our life! Image courtesy - Pixabay.com |
We, humans, have much more developed brain and mind than a lion or a tiger. So if the mind of a big cat can achieve its prey with that level of focus, think about the focus and mind power we humans have by virtue of our highly developed mind and brain. But due to this highly developed mind power, we also have more chances for distraction.
Now let us take an example of a human being who through their dedicated focus achieved strides in their life. This personality we already discussed in another post called 'The realm of Greatness', where we discussed how only a few people really achieve true greatness. This person has been a lion in the book of history due to the way he conducted himself and the way he stands apart from the crowd. Yes, of course, it is Abraham Lincoln, who from a very mediocre level went to capture the highest office of the land with his sheer focus and determination.
Abraham Lincoln: Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky. Later his family moved to the south of Indiana state in 1816. He was only able to go for a short period of time as he had to constantly support his family. So he had to stop his schooling. His mother Nancy died when he was nine years old and his dad later remarried another woman Sarah Bush Lincoln, whom Abraham became very close to.
Here Lincoln could have left his studies completely and could have just helped his dad in farming and hard labor. Instead, he always kept his love for writing, poetry, scribbling thoughts, and ciphering and loved his books and reading. So he self-taught himself whenever he got time in between his farm labor. There is even a famous story of Lincoln studying under the street lights as his home didn't have electricity.
In between, he also got a job on a flat river boat taking freight down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. Even then, he never left his passion for reading, poetry, and books. Remember, 'Whatever we focus in our life grows'. Here even though Lincoln was always doing manual labor, farming, and even river rafting freight, his mental focus was always on books, poetry, reading, thought process and analysis. He was a life-long learner. So as his mental focus on were these, slowly but surely they grew in his life.
 | |
| Abraham Lincoln -The sixteenth U.S.President Library of Congress [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons |
There were many chances where he could have just led a simple life in states like Indiana, Illinois or another place. Instead, he worked as a postmaster for some time, studied law by himself, later to become a lawyer. He practiced law in the Illinois bar of Springfield for several years and was famous for his cross-examinations and closing arguments. Now, remember, he self-taught himself everything, even the law himself. What a focus and self-determination!
Even though his first run for the Illinois state senate resulted in disaster, the second run was successful and he was a four-term state senator, successfully completing his terms as a 'Whig' party representative. At that time itself, he had a strong stance against slavery and abolitionism. Later he wanted to run for the U.S. House of Representatives and at the first attempt failed. But in the second attempt in 1835, he was successful and served as a U.S. Congressman for one term. Later as he was not able to proceed with his political ambitions, he returned to Illinois to pursue his career as a lawyer. He practiced law for the next sixteen years. If it had been another person they would have left their political ambitions. But this was Abraham Lincoln determined and focused to his core.
My Growth: Lincoln could have just been a lawyer and could have led his life in Illinois itself. But here he was focused on his growth and that focus helped to grow his life exactly the way he wanted it to be. Again Lincoln tried to run for the U.S. Senate in 1855 as well as in 1858, almost twenty years after his one term stint with the U.S. Congress in 1835. Any other person, after sixteen years away from politics and two unsuccessful runs for the U.S. Senate would have left their dreams and just would have had a quiet life. Not Lincoln.
In 1859-1860, after a series of debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, the candidate called Abraham Lincoln who had great oratory skills and who could give speeches with a punch captured national attention. His speech at the Cooper Union, a private college in New York city got him more accolades, which eventually led to his election as the sixteenth president of the United States.
Now, from a, one term, not that well-known congressman he became the most powerful man in the United States. But the minute he became President, he had to attend to a civil war where the slave promoting south was at war with the freedom-seeking north. Even though he didn't have any military training he, as usual, read everything he could get his hands on and made himself aware of the military strategies needed for a wartime President. He successfully led the north in the war and defeated the south and integrated the whole country to become the 'United States of America'.
In between when the war was raging he understood the importance of freeing the slaves, as the warlords in the south had a huge number of slaves. After the war, the rehabilitation of slaves come into the picture and didn't want the north to become the masters of the slaves. So on January 1,1863, Lincoln issued a preliminary 'Emancipation Proclamation' freeing all the slaves.
In November 1863, Lincoln gave an elegant but very short speech at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania while dedicating a new national cemetery. Today it is adulated as the 'Gettysburg address', that reiterates the importance of independence and human equality. Lincoln never had a chance to witness the after-effects of the 'Emancipation proclamation' or the integration of the union of United States to a working whole, as he was shot point black on the head by a Confederate (south) sympathizer John Wilkes Booth soon after on April 14, 1865 and breathed his last on April 15, 1865. What a great President!
Analysis: Abraham Lincoln had a very tough time throughout his life. He was born into a moderate family and was never able to attend a proper school. Had to educate himself under the street light to become literate and later through his own efforts had to become a lawyer and pass the law as well as bar examination. It would have been much easier for him to have been just a farmer or a hard laborer. Instead, he loved his books, studies, poems, and scribbling. Even after the becoming a lawyer, he could have stayed in Illinois practicing his law.
Instead, he chose to become an Illinois state Senator, which he failed the first time. After becoming a state senator for four terms, he tried to run for U.S. Congress, once and won. But later two times failed to make it to the U.S.Senate, and the third time made if for one term. So for every win, he had he lost two times. He had so many failures in his life, if it had been another person, they would have just left the politics and would have had a quiet existence.
 |
| Whatever we focus on, grows in our life! Image courtesy - Pixabay.com |
But then after sixteen years of being a lawyer, he again ran in the Presidential election to become the sixteenth President. Then again after four years, won the next election to rule the second term, though unfortunately, he was not able to complete it.
Look at the dedication, determination, and focus he had for his purpose and how with a single-minded determination he followed it for what he wanted to achieve. Even after sixteen years, he kept the flame alive for the desire of his heart, to be in politics. Abraham Lincoln put his laser focus on things he wanted to achieve and his life grew in many different directions.
Now, let us look at our own lives. What do we do? Many times we are more focused on other's lives than our own. Then what happens? Even though we very much don't want things that are other's problems in our life, as long as we are focused on it, that is what shows up in our life, time and again. We keep on trying to come out of the problems, but even then we get more and more stuck.
So what does it say? Instead, of trying to remove other's problems from our life, we should totally focus on what we want for our life. 'Whatever we focus on grows in our life', Period! So only if we keep our desires, passions, and interests front and center in our life it would grow in our life. As long as we keep on trying to remove other's problems from our lives, that is what we are focusing on. At that point, the growth is happening to the other people's problems in our life. Got it?
So let us all concentrate our focus on the things we want for our life, our passions, our interests and our talents so that they grow and become abundant in our life, with every kind of wealth and prosperity, while pursuing exactly what we want for our life.
I wish you a good weekend and I'll see you next Friday! 😉
Next week: My courage - My strength!
Note: Images from Wikimedia Commons, and Pixabay.com.
Ralph Waldo Emerson writes, "There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance ; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better for worse as his portion that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried".
All rights reserved to the author (SwaroopaStargazer) and SwaroopaBlog.
To my Blog readers: As all of you know, the European Union has passed laws regarding the collection of the user data. This is just to inform all my EU blog readers, I just use Google Analytics, which Google provides, to look at from where readers are reading my blogs. I also use Specific feeds to use their service for subscription list. I don't collect or intend to collect user data to sell or provide to third-party applications. Regards,
SwaroopaBlog.
Disclaimer: This is a personal blog. The opinions and viewpoints shared here are that of the author/owner only. Even though the author/owner will try to research well before posting the information, the author/owner of this blog does not make any portrayal of the accuracy or correctness of the content on this blog or the links provided. The author/owner will not be liable for any omissions or inaccuracies occurred. The author/owner will not be liable for any damages or losses due to the use or display of this blog. These terms and conditions can change at any time. This blog is purely for informational purposes only.
©SwaroopaStargazer and Swaroopa, 2017- Eternity.
©SwaroopaStargazer and Swaroopa, 2017- Eternity.
![Library of Congress [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lincoln_O-17_by_Brady,_1860.png){kind=link}
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