Practical Alchemy

The power within to change the course of our lives

When I was a child, one of the main things I learned from my mother was to worry. Now, I learned lots of other really good things from her, but I’d have to say that worrying about everything was at the top of the list. My home life was unstable, and each day a new drama would pop up, causing me concern and anxiety. It was a perfect environment for worry to thrive.

I remember watching her as she opened the mail. Sometimes she would exclaim, “What am I going to do?” Or she would get a call and hear something that made her upset. She would pace the floor and get very red in the face. She “awfulized” everything! Everything looked bad in the future to her. And it created fear for me.

I would find myself energetically “patrolling the borders” regarding my family situation to see if anything was wrong, getting ready to blow up, or if someone was going to get hurt. This awareness was on 24/7. I developed a keen sense of knowing what was to come and feeling energy around others and situations.

Then one day, well, actually, years later, I discovered something. I suddenly saw that I had a choice — I could choose to expect the worst to happen or I could choose to expect the best. The concept came to me when I was in a particularly challenging work situation, and the outcome didn’t look good. In my mind, lots of terrible things were going to happen, and I worried so much I couldn’t sleep. One morning after meditation, it dawned on me that expecting the best had as much power as expecting the worst — a 50/50 chance that things could turn out well. It was such a simple concept, but one I had never considered. I had always followed in my mother’s fretting footsteps.

Staying in the present moment allows us to expect the best, which in turn allows the situation to resolve itself in whatever way is for the highest good.

I immediately turned my attention toward expecting the best outcome, whatever that would be. I didn’t detail how it should happen; I just believed that it would. Each time a doubt or worry crept in, I would literally turn my attention toward the highest outcome. Not only did I feel immediate relief, but I was finally able to sleep. Shortly thereafter, the situation resolved itself.

Today, I know that staying in the present moment allows us to expect the best, which in turn allows the situation to resolve itself in whatever way is for the highest good. We really do have the power within to change the course of our lives.

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