Painting the Scene

I've recently begun reading Lee Child's books featuring his character, Jack Reacher.  I'm enjoying the way Child writes and describes situations.  This morning I was reading the second book in the series, Die Trying, and got to a part in which Child described Reacher crawling through a narrowing cave in the side of a mountain.  I literally found myself flying through the words in a panic.

Child does an amazing job describing Reacher, who is similarly sized to me, crawling, scraping and nudging his way, inch by inch, through a very narrow tunnel in complete and total darkness.  At one point, the point where panic set in for me, Child describes the tunnel ending and being too narrow and shallow for Reacher to move his arms or get leverage to push backward and retreat.  Reacher panicked.  I panicked.  It was one of the most riveting series of descriptions I've ever read.  I was there with Reacher experiencing the situation and I couldn't stop until I found out what happened.  Child painted the scene wonderfully.

A couple hours later I sat drinking my morning coffee and it hit me.  I've never really read something that elicited such genuine emotion in me.  I fretted for Reacher.  I fretted for a situation that I felt myself in.  What if I read something that elicited the opposite emotions?  Why wait to read someone else's words to make me feel this way?  What if I invested as much emotional intensity and focus on painting the scene for the life I want?  Could I believe and visualize aspects of my own life with such fervent conviction?  Of course I can!

I am challenging myself here.  This train of thought is exactly in alignment with the Law of Attraction.  "What we can conceive and believe, we can achieve."  The Law of Attraction is an active approach to life, despite what the name implies.  I can't simply sketch a picture of where, what or how I want to be.  This would be such a perfunctory attempt to create my life.  I've got to sit on the edge of my seat with my mind completely focused on this conception.  I must block out the distractions around me; the naysayers, the critics, the myriad of interferences life throws my way and focus.  I must paint the scene with such definition and certainty that I find myself there, just like I did with Reacher.  I believe then, and only then, will I be able to truly bring it all together.

Locus of Control

There seems to be two different ideologies out there concerning happiness and success.  At times I have struggled to see how they're connected.  Recently, in a discussion with my partner, I mentioned my opinion that these ideologies seem to conflict with one another.  The topic concerns an upcoming decision I feel I need to make.  She, in yet another example of her brilliance, named the dilemma I was finally realizing.

In terms of happiness, some common thoughts revolve around the idea that we should make the best of any situation.

"Bloom where you are planted."

"Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out."

I understand the mentality here.  I've been in situations in which I repeated these thoughts to myself and they've helped.  I believe there is always a glimmer of hope in a situation if you train yourself to look for it.  In doing so, you train your mind to begin to see beyond the undesirable qualities of a particular circumstance.  But, my problem with this ideology is that it almost seems passive.  It's a "sit back and accept" mentality.  I disagree with that. 

Conversely, the other ideology focuses on making the effort to succeed.  It's about taking that leap of faith to create the life of your dreams.

"Control your own destiny or someone else will."

"The best way to predict the future is to create it."

This mentality is one of action.  One of grabbing life by the horns and making it what you want.  Do you see the contrast here?  It's acceptance versus action.  I am at the point in my life where I find real value in being the captain of my ship.  This is my life.  And, this one moment in time is a gift to me.  Why not make it the life I want it to be?  No one else but me has the responsibility or opportunity to make it worthwhile.

This is my dilemma: I find value in both ideologies depending on the situation.  My partner named this for me.  It's called Locus of Control.  This is a term used to describe whether someone feels in control of what happens to them.  That definition seems results-oriented, an afterthought.

I know I look at life with an internal locus of control.  I choose to place more practical value on framing my decisions with this mentality.  I know that I prefer to take an affirmative role in my life and make decisions.  I want to control what happens to me.  I also accept responsibility for the successes and failures that come from those decisions.  But the bottom line is that I want to create the life of my dreams.  After all...

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."