It would be no news flash to those who know me that I have worked hard in the last few months to slow my life down. And lately, I've been feeling proud.

It is a rare, yet totally satisfying feeling for me to have about myself. As I have spent many hours digging deep, I have come to recognize a never before realized inner need for quiet. For "me" time. I'm proud that I now take time to be still, to listen to what my inner voice is saying, to appreciate, to breathe, to enjoy the moment. And I am able to know when I need that time to myself.  I have worked to be more spontaneous, to stop making so many plans, to just say "no" to things that don't align with my passions.

I love that I have learned to find joy in simple things I used to walk on by.

However, I might be in need of a balance check...apparently I am so "loose" now that I failed to notice that I wore two different colored shoes to work on Wednesday. According to my sister-in-law, that's a wardrobe malfunction of the worst kind, or in hindsight a reason to only buy one color of specific pair of shoes. (Hey---they were cute, comfortable and have lasted years!)

The weird thing to me is that I didn't even notice. And neither did anyone else. So maybe in my newfound appreciation of the world around me I had better glance down at my feet once in a while, eh? This honest mistake which took place right in front of me, below me, under me --- whatever --- led me to recognize an honest mistake that many people make every day.

They expend far too much energy on things out of their control.

I know, because I used to do it, too. If you let your thoughts go in the direction of  negative things, usually worrying about someone or something, or complaining about things you cannot do anything about--- it draws even more of those negative things to you.

I have been reading up on the Law of Attraction, learning about vibration and energy, and have realized the personal power of thinking differently.

Question of the Week #32 / Do You Put Energy Toward Things You Can Do Nothing About?

As a reformed (yes, I have graduated to that status) control freak, I know how much energy it takes to worry. I know all about the need for control -- in my case it was a safety thing. I thought for some reason it was my job to keep everyone around me safe, to prevent the worst case what if's from happening, to avert my family from possible physical danger and broken hearts. It didn't work.

As you can imagine not only was I wrong to think I could do this, it was impossible. For so long, my personal energy went to things that were completely out of my control. I was wasting all the space that I could have used for thinking good things, and filling it up with worry. Now I may have done this for "right" enough reasons, but it clearly was not my place and not good for me.  Or anyone else. I was wasting energy that could have been used for so many better things.

Point being...everyone needs to cultivate some quiet time to be able to hear what they are really thinking. If the inner you is a mean critic of yourself, you are feeding negative thoughts into the world, and attracting it all back to you.

If you are thinking the Law of Attraction is a bunch of hooey (like I once did), you've read the book The Secret, tried it, and it doesn't work -- I'll share the "secret" thing you may have missed. Even if you say positive things, believe you are thinking positive, act positive to those around you-- but your inner voice is still feeding you the negative .... I'm not worthy, I am not enough, I should have/could have done that better, then the inner voice will win every time.  You will be sending out the negative energy, and the negative will come back to you. In spades.

Why can't everyone just stop it then? Because we can't always hear ourselves. We all hide from our inner voice in different ways. For me, it was staying busy, keeping it at bay. For some it is doing for others, but never taking time to do for themselves. Whatever strategy you've developed over time to ignore that voice, you need to learn how to slow down and really listen.

Because if you aren't really listening to what your inner voice is thinking --- simply saying positive things but inside thinking the same old negative ones --nothing will change. You are going to have to dive deep, slow down, learn to listen to your real inner voice before you can truly change what you attract.

And the first step is to pay attention to where you are spending your energy -- your thinking energy. So, where is your energy going?

P.S. Clearly I am a work in progress, and have so much more to learn, absorb and observe. I'll start with this: Look down, check shoes.

"Worrying is using your imagination to create something you do not want."