Just outside of Philadelphia, lovely plants known locally as butterfly bushes appear each summer. Their blossoms attract butterflies that arrive to pollinate them. Nature provides many such examples of giving and receiving. Who is the giver? Who is the receiver? It’s easy to see that both the butterflies and the butterfly bushes give and receive. Together, they are achieving their individual goals.
If these plants were to approach their goal the way we have been taught, this is what it might look like:
Each summer, the neighborhood would be filled with butterfly bushes running around waving their blossoms trying to convince butterflies that they are the best butterfly bush around and that the butterflies should follow them home and pollinate their flowers.
Essentially that is what we are doing when all or the bulk of our efforts are geared toward the active pursuit of our goals. Yet, there is another world largely untapped and wholly at our disposal. It’s the other 50 percent: the receptive world.
So, the question becomes not how can I go get it, but how can I attract it? In other words, why would your goal, your dream, or anything you desire want you?
Have you ever thought of something you later find out somebody has patented, taken to market, written a book about, or done something with and you say, “I thought of that, too. I should have done something!”
An idea whose time has come finds its way to many people. But a goal will only manifest for those whose fertile soil can nurture and grow it.
When we develop the capacity to receive in the same way one would exercise a muscle, a goal is given a chance to plant itself, to establish itself, and to develop long, sturdy roots.
Today, don't chase after what you want. Instead, ask yourself what would make you attractive to your goal. Attract your goal to you just the way a butterfly bush attracts butterflies.
If these plants were to approach their goal the way we have been taught, this is what it might look like:
Each summer, the neighborhood would be filled with butterfly bushes running around waving their blossoms trying to convince butterflies that they are the best butterfly bush around and that the butterflies should follow them home and pollinate their flowers.
Essentially that is what we are doing when all or the bulk of our efforts are geared toward the active pursuit of our goals. Yet, there is another world largely untapped and wholly at our disposal. It’s the other 50 percent: the receptive world.
So, the question becomes not how can I go get it, but how can I attract it? In other words, why would your goal, your dream, or anything you desire want you?
Have you ever thought of something you later find out somebody has patented, taken to market, written a book about, or done something with and you say, “I thought of that, too. I should have done something!”
An idea whose time has come finds its way to many people. But a goal will only manifest for those whose fertile soil can nurture and grow it.
When we develop the capacity to receive in the same way one would exercise a muscle, a goal is given a chance to plant itself, to establish itself, and to develop long, sturdy roots.
Today, don't chase after what you want. Instead, ask yourself what would make you attractive to your goal. Attract your goal to you just the way a butterfly bush attracts butterflies.
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