by Streen

Remember, your focus determines your reality.”

—Qui-gon Jinn

There is a great paradox that accompanies emotion. In wanting, it will not come. In seeking, you will not find. In fearing, you experience what you fear! In all of these, your mind is then accepting the fact that what you are after, you do not currently have. So, you may wonder, how does one change this so that a situation occurs, as you would actually like it to. This is very simple. You cannot give what you do not have. In giving, comes the realization of having.

  If you seek happiness, give it to another, so that in doing so you realize that you had happiness in the first place.

 If you seek love, give it to another, so that in doing so you realize that you had love in the first place.

 If you seek inner strength, give it to another, so that in doing so you realize that you had inner strength in the first place.

 If you seek wisdom, give it to another, so that in doing so you realize that you had wisdom in the first place.

 If you seek basic needs, give them to another, so that in doing so you realize that you had them in the first place.

 Of course, there is a flaw in this method. If you give simply so that you can receive, you are once again accepting the fact that you do not have it, because your goal is getting it. The trick to getting what you want is not in putting all your effort into getting it, but in realizing that you had it all along.

 This is the Perfect Paradox.

 (From the Jedi Creed Archives)