I was recently interviewed by James Rick for his Full Potential show. Here's James Rick's summary of what we said and his own commentary.
The problem with the law of attraction is that it’s so attractive. We want to believe that we can sit, feel, imagine and visualize all the good things we want to come our way and believe that they are going to drop out of the sky. And if they haven’t yet – you’re just not believing hard enough.
Laws, according to the scientific definition, work every time – no matter who is using them, without fail. Otherwise it’s not a law, it’s a theory. Well, I’ve applied the law of attraction to get water to jump into my mouth and transform watermelon into salmon and it hasn’t worked yet. But, I have noticed that the law of gravity has never let me down once, nor has the law of cause and effect – if I lift the cup of water to my lips and drink (cause) then I get hydrated (effect).
So I decided to have Lucy MaCarraher tell us The Real Secret which is also the name of her new book, based on scientifically proven “Happiness Habits” for not only feeling better but laying the foundation for DOING (causing) the things you want to show up in your life (effect).
HAPPINESS HABITS
Smile - It’s such a simple act, but smiling literally released endorphins and makes you feel better. This means you don’t have to wait for something to happen in order to smile, you can smile to make yourself feel better. The more you do it, the better you’ll feel!
Breathe Deep – Breathing deeply sends a signal to your brain and nervous system that all is well. Typical reactions to threats – like fight or flight – make breathing shallow and reinforce stress in the body – but breathing deeply reverses those signals and puts the body at ease. I’ve conditioned myself to do this so that I’m no longer uncomfortable in most social settings.
Be Kind – The act of kindness lights up the same areas of the brain as when you eat chocolate. Some simple ideas for follow through are to look for the positive in people’s work or actions. Verbally let them know how much you appreciate them. Get in the habit of writing thank-you cards on a regular basis.
Organization - Do you have a clean work environment (me neither) or a decent filing system? At the very least, by having an organized system (even if your work environment is chaos), you’ll feel less stress and more empowered through the day.
Set Goals – Our brains are hard-wired for setting and achieving goals. We run our lives on goal-directed activities, achieving goals and closure. In a way, that’s why email can be so addicting. Lucy recommends balancing short-term, daily achievements on a to-do list and long term goals that might take a year or more to accomplish. The balance is critical though – otherwise you’ll lose interest in goal setting. Many people forget what they should be doing because they don’t have a routine that reminds them. Solution: create a routine that incorporates everything you want to accomplish on a daily basis PLUS reminds you to set it up again the next day.
Healthy Eating & Exercise – Lucy has a clever strategy for eating healthier and exercising (according to the Hawthorne effect) – by simply focusing on something and taking note of it, you improve it. So if you’re not exercising or eating healthy – but you take note of it for 30 days, odds are that you’ll automatically begin improving how you eat and how much you exercise. Skeptical? Try it for 30 days!
Friendship - 5 close friends have been correlated to a good sense of well-being. At the same time, you should avoid or disassociate from friends or family members that bring you down. And if you can’t avoid them, be mindful when aggravation happens. Have a selection of thoughts or people that bring happiness in life – use these to press the right button. If you smile, you might see the humor in what someone is doing. Have some emotional and mental tricks that give you a new option before you act…like counting to 10 before you respond.
I take a bold stance on the movie “The Secret” and call it a lie. That might upset you if you’re a fan of “The Secret” or especially, if you’ve starred in it. I do plan to have stars from “The Secret” on the Full Potential Show and from what I understand, they’ll agree activating imagination and clearly defining what you want is only the first step. And a first step is nowhere near a complete process. A half-truth is only half the truth, no matter how you slice it. Lucy’s The Real Secret promises to deliver the other half. Scientifically-proven button pushing that will create the kind of foundation that makes real, results-oriented actions a reality.
Self efficacy, you have to have it to believe it, believe it to have it. Nobody is luckier than anyone else, but people who believe they are lucky see opportunities – where an unlucky person wouldn’t see the opportunity or won’t take action that leads to more positive results. If you’ve created your vision board and you know what you want (based on The Secret).. in the words of Thoreau:
"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them."
Do have a look at the full interview here and you'll find more about Happiness Habits on this blog and in your own copy of The Real Secret.
Posted by Lucy
