As the new year dawns, leaving behind yet another challenging year, Bernadette Petrie tells us that by focusing on how we want things to be, we can visualise a better future and make it happen.

Regular readers of my column will know that in 2010 I was admitted to the Glasgow Priory, suffering from what doctors called a manic episode. There I experienced a spiritual awakening and began a long, slow journey of recovery. However, following the temporary bliss experienced in the Priory, I soon discovered that my thoughts and attention could switch randomly and even after my ‘awakening’, I didn’t always create joyfully. I had creative power,
but I didn’t like all I was creating.

I began working with Melody Fletcher, an excellent energy coach, who helped me understand the law of attraction so that I could harness it effectively. Not one to beat around the bush, Melody was always direct, asking me: “Bernie, where is your focus?” Squirming, the penny would finally drop, and I would well and truly feel, for that moment, reawakened.

With practice, I began to see that if I focused on how I wanted things to be – something would happen that way. My relationship with my husband transformed, and I experienced my children getting on far better. Problems which would typically have had me fretting for days began to work out easily and effortlessly. All by simply shifting my focus. 

We all want things to feel better, but in the first instance, we have to focus. If you are skiing down a mountain, you don’t focus on falling – unless you want to fall! Instead, you focus on the next turn. Or, for me, in my early days of skiing, I focused on the joy of getting to the bottom – for a hot chocolate! I can’t tell you how many times I skied, in my imagination, as a graceful skier to help my actual skiing. I began to realise other things could do with a similar focus.

There is a better way than worrying about how things are now; there is a better way than focusing on the challenge, the hardship and the angst. Some may call it dreaming or fantasy, but another word for it is visualisation. There is so much evidence of its creative power, and inspirational people such as Jim Carrey, Andy Murray and Martin Luther King have been doing precisely this.

Focusing on how we want things to be, is far more beneficial than stewing about how things are. I am not talking about living in denial; I’m talking about paying attention to how you want to feel in the moments you can, especially before they happen. Believe me; you will be blown away by the changes. Melody would tell me: “Focus on how you want your relationship to be – see yourself communicating and laughing. Focus on how you want the experience to
be – see yourself as if it’s happening the way you would love it to happen.”

You are a powerful creator, either way, your focus will manifest – so why not make it beautiful? If something in your life isn’t quite how you want it to be, focus on how you would like things to be instead. Do this as frequently as possible, let the feeling of that desired reality sink in, and then keep moving forward.

Our focus really is powerful so let’s harness it for the better.


 

You can buy Bernadette’s book from: NØRDEN 82 High St, North Berwick.