The Power of Choice

The content of this article may be a bit controversial, but it's something to think about. I relate to the third sentence. I've been looking for 8 months and keep getting those same questions from family members about why I'm not employed yet. Hopefully, there's something in this article you can relate to and find it helpful. THE POWER OF CHOICE "Find Your Perfect Job" published by The Renegade Job Coach -
Judi Perkins, Editor and Author

All articles are by Judi Perkins and written expressly for the
newsletter unless otherwise stated. You can send your feedback
to Judi@findtheperfect job.com
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I know a lot of you don't have a job. I browse the newsletter
sign ups every so often and so many of you select "unemployed. "
And here come the holidays, which means stretching the money to
buy gifts, answering questions from family and relatives about
your job hunt, why you aren't employed yet, what you're doing
about it, etc.

I don't care if you're just out of college or 55. You'll always
be a kid to your mother and as for everyone else, they're either
genuinely interested or they have advice they're darn sure you'd
benefit from if you'd only listen and follow it.

It's very easy to become tired of the questions, get stressed,
and perhaps want to say "Oh, just leave me alone, will you
please?" and "Can we please talk about something else?"

Those of you who have been reading me for a while, and may even
have read some of my stuff on Vault, know that while I provide
specific direction, steps, advice, reasons, and all that, I
absolute believe that what you think is what you create.

Hang with me here while I get a bit far out.

Everything is always in a state of flux, constantly changing,
dissolving, dissipating and realigning into new forms according
to the strength of force of whatever causal elements are focused
on them. Why do objects disintigrate, rust, or break down over
time? It's made of atoms which are constantly moving, even
though you can't see them and even though it might take 10 or 15
years or more for that item to break itself down.

Atoms manifest into substance, and substance is fluid. It's held
in place by the power of your attention until - or unless - you
create a new thought or desire or goal or manifestation. An
inhabited house retains its essence much longer when lived in,
while a deserted one falls apart much faster. Mountains
eventually erode into plains. Curse your car everyday, and it
will give you problems just as sure as plants respond better to
loving attention. I know a lady who was always afraid of her
house burning down. She constantly worried about it and talked
about it. In other words, she gave energy. Then one day her
house did exactly that.

Recognizing that all manifestion is an end-product, all we have
to do is turn our mental and emotional attention away from that
which doesn't. But let me be clear: it's a conscious choice.
That's why I talk about knowing specifically what you want in
your job. Focus your desire on achieving it. Know what it must
be composed of and what it looks like. We are in complete
control of the quality of our experience, and to a large extent,
the characteristics of it.

Your situation is what it is. If you don't like it, change it.
If you can't change it, change your attitude, because you have
the power to make that choice. Happiness breeds happiness,
sorrow breeds sorrow, and conflict breeds more conflict. So this
Thanksgiving, you can stress out, whine, think about how little
money you have, and how everyone else is employed and so lucky,
or you can think about something else - like how much you HAVE
instead of how much you DON'T have.

Because no matter what's going on with you, someone else always
has it worse.

Some people who have jobs, hate them and wish they were
unemployed, but it's nice to have a regular paycheck while
you're job hunting, isn't it? Some people are unemployed and
worry about money, but on the other hand, you have no
restrictions on your time - to go hiking or grocery shopping in
off-peak hours, or job hunt full-time. My point is, the grass is
always greener on the other side of the fence, so take whatever
it is you don't like, and choose to put a different spin on it.

There is something very profound about gratitude - expressing it
for the smallest thing and expressing it often. If you think
lousy negative thoughts, you have lousy negative things
happening to you. If you think thankful positive thoughts,
you'll find little windows of blessings opening all over. Try it
if you don't believe me.

That's not to say life doesn't get hard. Be thankful for that
too! Because it's in times of crisis that we learn who we are -
precisely because we have the ability to choose who we want to
be at that moment that crazy things are happening to us left and
right. Start looking at problems as opportunities. Make that a
conscious choice.

As Tim Allen said: "The world's a mean place. It's unfair, then
it's fair. It's hateful, then it's loving. It's a very peculiar
place on philosophical and metaphysical and religious levels. I
love human beings because we're very courageous in the peculiar
place that we live: reality."

So make different choices. It's not "Why don't I have a job yet?
" It's "Hey great! I got an interview!" It's not "I can't
believe they didn't hire me!" It's "Well, maybe there was
something about that place I wouldn't have liked. It's probably
a blessing I didn't get the job anyway. I know the right one is
waiting for me!"

Yes, yes, I know I sound like PollyAnna (um, that was a sappy
Disney movie with Haley Mills sometime in the 60s or something).

Here's an exercise for everyone - employed, unemployed, happy,
unhappy, whatever. I do this too, by the way. Pay attention to
your speech. Pay attention to your thoughts. Stay conscious in
the moment and see how many times you think or say something
negative. If you catch yourself, turn it positive.

Beyond that, look for everything around you that you can be
grateful for - nothing is too small. Try finding something to be
thankful for every half hour or every time it occurs to you to
do so. In fact, end every day with tallying up five things for
which you are grateful that happened to you that day. And yes, I
do this too, just before I fall asleep.

It can be as silly as discovering you still have strawberries in
the fridge when you thought you'd eaten them all, to suddenly
noticing how totally neat the clouds look scudding across the
sky; from calling your friend and finding her home, to
appreciating your mechanic who just told you that you didn't
actually need new brakes yet (not just for the money, but
because he's an honest and trustworthy guy!)

Think about all the things you take for granted: your car
starting (especially if it's old or falling apart or you live in
a very cold part of the US where batteries routinely fail), your
house, being able to buy food, having a table at which to eat
it, having friends to talk to, having furniture to sit on, a
television to watch, a pet to talk to and play with. Then be
thankful for those and stop taking them for granted.

From a child's simple prayer to exclamations of "Thanks a lot!"
the business of being grateful seems like straightforward stuff.
Yet in recent years, research and therapy has increasingly
targeted gratitude and other positive emotions. People who are
grateful experience less stress and depression and are less
materialistic and more spiritually connected. A sense of
gratitude also has been found to speed healing for people who
have experienced loss or trauma. This Thanksgiving, think of all
the things you have to be grateful for, and then when
Thanksgiving is finished, keep the gratefulness going.