Focus = Clarity

How focused are you? Is your focus clear in your mind? I have some thought son the subject…

Hello and welcome to today’s Thursday’s Thought. In today’s Thought I’d like to explore the concept of your Focus equaling Clarity. I’m certain that you have taken your share of photographs, especially with cameras embedded in our mobile phones. As you are aware, photographs are clearer when they are in focus. When they are out of focus, they are blurry and indistinct. How many times have you been disappointed by the resulting photo when the focus was off? Faces or objects are blurred, maybe even unrecognizable. You end up tossing that one away because a poor-quality picture ultimately does not meet the ideal you had in mind when you took it. Scratch it up to experience. Maybe blame it on the camera.

The quality of your reality, the pictures of the reality that show up in your life, are also largely due to proper focus. In the first place, the idea must be clearly held in your mind. The result you desire and want to picture or manifest in your life must first be clearly and distinctly created in your imagination. It must be ‘in focus’; that is, the components must be defined, clearly seen, and envisioned.

In the second place, as you go about the ‘doing’ necessary to achieve that picture in your life, you must remain focused on your goal and not allow yourself to get distracted by what is going on around you. It’s simple really, but it always amazes me how unfocused people can be. If you ask someone to describe their heart’s desire, 90% of the time you cannot get a clear description from them. It is blurry and indistinct. Generalities but no specifics. Or a description of the picture by what’s NOT in it. I see this quite a bit in my hypnotherapy and coaching practice.

For example, this short scenario might be something I experience when I ask a client what they want in their life so I can assist them in achieving it. They might say, "I want health, wealth and happiness" so I’ll ask them, "So what does health mean to you?"

They’ll respond with, "Well, you know, to NOT be sick." and then I’ll ask them, "So what does wealth mean to you?"

They’ll respond with, "Well, you know, to NOT be lacking for anything." Then I’ll ask them, "So what does happiness mean to you?"

They respond with, "To NOT be sad or dissatisfied. I want peace." and then I’ll ask them, "What’s that mean to you?" and they respond with "Well, you know NO MORE war."

Now remember, I asked them what they wanted in their life and they responded with “Health, wealth, and happiness.” But when asked to focus on what each of these things meant to them, they responded with “Not this, not that”, etc. They were defining the picture, the ideal of what they wanted by defining what is NOT in it, instead of what IS in it. The trouble with focusing on ‘NO more war’ is that you are still focusing on war. The trouble with focusing on NOT being unwell is that you are still focusing on un-wellness, not wellness. The focus is on lack and limitation and NOT on abundance and potentiality.

Why does this happen? It happens because the subconscious mind does not process negatives. If I asked you NOT to think about a pink elephant in your front yard, what is the first thing you envision in your mind…a Pink elephant in your front yard. That’s also why when you tell a child NOT to do something, the first thing they usually do is exactly what you told them NOT to do. Most people seem to know what they do NOT want. Instead, focus your attention and intentions on those ideals that you DO want, desire, long for, and lust after. Make that focus clear and distinct.

When you do, you’ll get the picture you have focused on. How clear and exact are your ideals? How much desire, longing, passion is attached to them? How focused is the image in your mind? How focused is your desire to have that ideal be in your life? The complex thing about life is that it is wonderfully full of distractions. Here you are, focused on some purpose or goal and then this incredibly intrusive thing occurs. Life is full of distractions making it easy to lose focus.

Just remember, winners stay focused and your FOCUS should be equal to the CLARITY of it in your mind.