Kids, we need to talk about something – again – that we all know but far too many of us don’t actually do.
Here’s the rule: What you focus on is what you attract.
Here’s a fact: Social media sites act like … big swirling vortexy echo chambers.
Directive: Stop reposting every goddam meme you see about how shitty everything is all the fucking time and start using the tools of gratitude and desire to make what you want happen!
You attract what you focus on. You are what you eat. You see the bad when you look for it. What you pay attention to is what you get. Perception is everything. Lack-consciousness is a filthy habit.
Yes, we can say these things, and know these things with our brains, but if we don’t practice them with our hearts then we are going to be stuck in trauma and drama.
I totally understand that there are Things Beyond Our Control that are actively causing us harm and difficulty. I do. But posting 300 memes on Fecesbook about how bad your [insert dilemma here] is, or how misunderstood people like you are, or how awful the world treats people in your situation, does nothing but magnify your trouble.
If you want people to understand your situation/condition better, there are about a zillion info-graphics that show what a particular medical condition is, briefly what might cause it, and how to be a better ally to people suffering. That does everybody a lot of good, far more than a whole day of doom posting. Yes, please do educate us about this thing so we can all have more empathy because we know about it now, and maybe you won’t be treated so shitty because people have an opportunity to understand what’s going on with you. But enough with the endless “this is terrible and you just can’t possibly get it” posting, seriously.
Let’s call it what it is: The World Wide Coven.
You understand that the energy of thought is actually the most powerful energy in the Universe? It creates. It magnetizes. It pulls or pushes. It protects, it destroys. And we have given it an infinite playground in which to create.
You think because this is some big technological Thing it’s not a powerful natural force? Excuse me? It’s called Cyber Space ffs. Social media is like a big bubbling Cauldron, and when you throw something in there, it changes the brew. It intensifies things. You post a meme about how awful something is, and someone similarly afflicted sees it and says, “Oh, that’s exactly how I feel!” and reposts, and then somebody else sees it, lather, rinse, repeat.
Are you even familiar with the Law of Returns? The harm you do comes back to you three times worse than what you sent out. So you are posting this negative crap which is a form of digitized whining, and it goes into the whirling vortexy Cauldron, gets echoed, magnified, and intensified, and the energy of that sending returns to you three times more intense than what you sent out. You spend a day sending out posts and memes about how bad your life sucks, and bad stuff piles on top of bad, surprise surprise.
What you pay attention to is what you get. You are what you meme.
I’m reading a very interesting book called Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle. One of the very sciencey things they talk about is that stress has to go through a cycle in our bodies in order to complete itself. Being charged by a hippo? Run! Your body gives you every stress chemical and hormone in its arsenal to help you run fast and far and escape – and once you escape, you can relax and cheer and celebrate being alive. (Or if you don’t escape, well … see you in the next life.)
But what if what you’re actually doing is reading and responding to constant reminders of how bad things are, all the time, and there’s no running, there’s no escaping, just constant reminders of how awful everything is. How do you complete the stress cycle and get to the recovery chemicals? You don’t. Stress sticks, builds, holes up and starts doing damage. Stress is responsible for 80-90 percent of all illness in the US right now. All illness. Heart attack? Stress. Cancer? Stress. Migraines? Stress. Got it?
Stop feeding the echo chamber junk food. Please. Stop sending out pain. Stop sending out angst. So much trauma has happened in the past few years, we’ve been running on fight-flight chemicals since 2016 and it isn’t over. The New and Improved Pandemic (Now with New Infectron Technology!) is surging worse than the original flavor ever did. We can’t fight or flee. All we can do is endure, and that causes more stress. So hey, let’s make it all worse by reminding each other just how much everything sucks all the time in a vast echo chamber that can distill it down to a killing dose.
Above, I called Desire and Gratitude tools. That’s what they are. Tools for us to use to build our lives.
Check out some of the Power People, people in pursuit of real mastery, and look at how they post when things go wrong. “This really bad thing is happening to me, but I learned this thing from it, and that’s actually going to change everything, so I’m going to be more than okay, and here’s my plan.” Not “wah wah wah.” We can learn something from a post that says, here’s what I learned and here’s what I’m fixin’ to do about all this. We can take strength from the fact that this Power Person’s life is not actually perfect, and respect them for owning it, and learn from them how to deal with it into the bargain.
Power People don’t have perfect lives; in fact, a lot of them started with incredibly imperfect lives and problem solved their way into something better. Lightning did not strike, they didn’t take up with a fairy godmother; they just said, “Okay, enough of this shit, I’m finding a better way to live,” and did it. And step one is focusing on what is driving you forward, imagining yourself in a better situation so you can work toward it, no matter what your current situation is.
It’s not going to happen overnight. It could take months or years or the rest of your life – but each step you take toward it is going to create more good for you to build on.
Social media also works in the opposite way described above.
Laura and I often use it as a manifesting tool when we need to generate stuff. One time we asked the Cauldron for chandelier crystals – and we got more than we ever imagined we would. We manifested a new home for Laura and SoundWorks using social media type sites. We ask for what we need, and the Cauldron delivers. Usually magnificently. We ask in a respectful and upbeat way – “Hey, frienily, we’re looking for skeleton keys! Anybody got any they don’t know what to do with? We have a plan for them!” And we get skeleton keys. (We could use a few more, just sayin’.)
I want you to try an experiment, especially if you are a drama-poster. For one week, I want you to post only stuff rooted in your dreams and desires, covered in oodles of gratitude. Tell me something good that happened to you today. Post a picture of something beautiful. Tell me how much you love horses and how much you want to work with them. Show me a picture of your whatever collection and mention that if anybody ever found this super special one you’ve been looking for for 10 years they’d be your friend for life – and just see what happens. A Cauldron responds to what you put in it, so start putting in the good stuff.
Gratitude and desire are tools. Social media is another kind of tool. Social media, because it’s got the attention of billions of people, is a dangerously powerful one. Be careful what you post.