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26 Simple Ways to Nurture Your Creative Life

#23: What You Focus On Grows

Attitude/Intention + Behavior = Outcome

By Chris Dunmire

Long before "The Secret" made the New Thought principle Law of Attraction a household phrase, I understood the concept in an intuitive sense through experience and observation.

It's funny; I didn't know "it" had a label, or that consciousness movements had been beating its drum for decades in books and seminars. What I did know by my mid-20s is if I wanted things in my life to change, I had to put forth the intention and energy to affect, or make the change.

In time, I began to understand the correlation between my thoughts and my reality. Time after time I observed that whatever I focused on in my mind soon manifested in my emotions, attitudes, and behaviors. Further, my behaviors led to some positive, negative, or neutral outcome once I acted on them. "You reap what you sow," suddenly made more sense.

(To be sure, the kind of "what you focus on grows" thing I'm going for here is not so much the dreamboard-manifesting-new-car kind, but rather, mindful cause-and-effect.)

Trust me, all this enlightenment hasn't kept me from becoming an expert at amplifying bad moods, escalating arguments, and deepening depressions. However, as yin and yang make a cavorting pair, I've also become adept at harnessing humor, practicing play, and cultivating creativity in a larger-than-life way as a result of my positive focus.

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