Written over a hundred years ago, William James, who is considered by many academics to be the father of American philosophy, knew that it is what we think about and what we believe that orchestrates the ebb and flow of our lives. He was also quoted as saying “The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.”
Over a hundred years ago James sounded new and revolutionary but to us today we have heard renditions of his thoughts over and over and they tend to lose their punch with the constant repetition. But the validity of what James was talking about is just as true today and it is just as life managing.
Even though we all have heard the banter about being positive, keeping our chins up and believing in ourselves, these euphemisms have also lost some of their uniqueness and impetus for change because we have also heard them so much. But if we really take James and his ideas seriously then we stumble on the act of intentional creation. When we are deliberate about what we want and we set out with our attitude and our action to make it so in our life, then we are deeply invested into the act of conscious creation. We are consciously creating our lives.
We create more of what we offer to our lives. We create more of what we offer others and our world also. The act of offering is a feeling act, it is not really an act of giving money or action, although it could be that too. Offering from ourselves is a form of asking from the universe. When we love others we are simultaneously asking for more love to come to us too. When we project anger toward someone we are offering anger and simultaneously asking for more of that in our lives too.
But those who intentionally create their lives do so by offering what they most want to feel in this world. We always end up getting what we give, showing us that we receive in our lives what we most offer. We get what we give. And we always give from within. I am love. I am joy. I am so very good.
