All I needed to know about life, I learned from watching Oprah

As you well know, I am in a time of flux, or transformation, or reinvention. Starting from the ground up, I am re-imagining my life, for the very first time, the way that I want it to be. Too long have I been the person to do what was expected, or what was "right" or what was needed, sacrificing my own vision of myself for the good of the group. (No, wait your turn! I'll be off the cross in just a minute!)

I bring this up, because on this journey of self actualization I find myself exploring new ways of thinking. Well, not new per se, but new to me. And while I have not found need to subscribe to one school of thought completely, I have found some common themes emerging among the many, that seem to strike a cord inside of me.

The law of attraction is simple. If you dream it, it will come.

Well, maybe not that simple.

What I take from it is this, it is the things in life that you clearly define, articulate, and focus your energies on that ultimately manifest themselves.

How many times have we all said "God, I am having the worst day!" Which, as the day rolls on, is inevitably followed by compounding evidentiary support. Murphy's law? Perhaps. But if you look only for bad things, bad things are all that you find.

If you have a blemish on your chin, for example, and are extremely self conscious about it, every time you see someones eyes move, or hear someone chuckle as you pass, you are sure that the entire world is focused on it.

The Secret recommends making a vision board, and putting this board somewhere that you will see it frequently everyday. Clearly delineating exactly what it is that you want your life to be. This often takes some broadening of your definitions, and thinking about what you actually want."I want a job in Art." May actually be "I want a job about which I am passionate, and in which I am able to fully utilize my creative energies, and help others to do the same. In this position I want to feel confident, successful, and purposeful, to know that I am of use, and of inspiration to others." Or something, and so on and so forth for all of the areas of your perfect life. It is in this carefully defining of your goals, they argue, that you are able to view situations, opportunities, and possibilities very differently.

Have I lost you? I know, this may seem disgustingly esoteric, but stick with me.

Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat has a similar view on the topic of reordering your home. For each room you define what you want from it. What do you want this room to feel like? What do you want to happen in here? etc. And as they take each item in hand, they ask themselves is this helping me to create that feeling? Or is it standing in the way of my creating it?

Why can't we do this with our lives as well as our spaces?

The author also goes on to say that of all the clients he has worked with, helping to de-clutter their homes, a vast majority of them, in so doing, lost weight. Simply by cleaning out their houses.

This made a great deal of sense to me. If everyday you are surrounded by clutter, if every time you chose what is easy over what is good, if every time you walk through your door you are bombarded with it and its accompanying shame, guilt, feeling like a failure, feeling constantly overwhelmed, feeling like it is insurmountable, it stands to reason that these feelings inevitably spill over into other areas of your life. It becomes the self fulfilling prophecy.

Could it be that the vision boards have the same effect only in reverse?

to be continued. . .