Thursday, August 17, 2006

Negatives, the Genius, and The Secret

Film negatives. While they won't be going the way of the vinyl record or Betamax anytime soon, it's a fact that many of us have done away with them due to the ubiquity of the digital camera. We can take pictures anywhere now through cameraphones, for crying out loud!

Anyways, remember how ghastly/ghostly images look in film negatives before they're processed to reveal their colors in all their Kodak glory? We know that they're images of real places, things, or people. Yet somehow, they look unreal...eerie even. I used to look at life like that -- in the negative. I was a closet pessimist; I wasn't surprised if bad luck befell me because I was expecting it. If something good happened to me, I'd blame it on luck. To me, the world was a shitty, negative place that had only a few pockets of color.

Until I found out about The Secret. It was introduced to me by the Genius several months ago. If memory serves me right, that fateful conversation went something like this:
G: Lizz...
Me: Yep?
G: Do you know The Secret? (Dumbass that I am, I failed to notice that he was speaking in Capital Letters.)
Me: Nope. What's the secret?
G: I'm a genius!
Me: I know that already. So what else is new? STFU and hand me a beer.
Hahaha! I'm kidding. The Genius would never say anything like that (btw, he's a smartass who's a tad shy, and for all his ingenuity,he would prefer to remain anonymous). But he did lead me to The Secret, and for that (among many other things), he has my undying gratitude.

If you believe in the power of positive thinking, if you believe that the mind can affect and effect changes within and without, then you already have an idea of what The Secret is. In my pre-Secret life, I actually looked forward to wallowing in self-misery. Is it any wonder then that the bad things I expected to happen did happen? The Secret reveals to us that the way we think changes the way we live; that how we think can actually be a major part in making our dreams come true. If this sounds like an out-of-this-world concept to you, you'd be right in a way. Because it involves the universe. It's related to the concept of synchronicity, but not serendipity. If your dream falls into the realm of health, relationships, wealth -- it doesn't matter. No job is too big or too small for the Universe to answer. Oooohhh, it's hard for me to explain it. Richard does such a better job at this.

Let me give just a couple of personal examples.

Like I mentioned before, I used to be super negative about myself and the world in general. I felt that I was never good enough for anyone -- even myself. I sucked at everything, or so I thought (and stop smirking, DJ Sir! I mean another thing entirely). Post-Secret, I've become not only more accepting of myself, but more appreciative. Does that mean I'm always in the pink of everything? Of course not! I still suffer from that voice of insecurity inside my head. The difference is, now I'm able to stand up to that terribly beautiful Medusa/Galadriel. She used to be able to reduce me to a pathetic, whimpering mass of sniveling fecal matter; now when she assails me with claws unsheathed, I can stand up to her, do battle, and say "I'm not as bad as you make me out to be." And I can say that with conviction. I can even laugh at her sometimes now.

Come to think of it, I guess I've been practicing some aspects of The Secret on a subconscious level. I used to work as an abstractor (look it up; it's NOT related to art) and I did that sort of thing for the same company (and its reincarnation) for about ten years. I liked the job and the working hours; but during the latter part of my final year there, I found myself becoming increasingly dissatisfied with it. Let's just say that it was becoming increasingly evident that it was a dead-end job -- plus the fact that the brown-nosers and the big-fish-in-a-little-pond syndrome were making me dread going to work. I started having thoughts that went something like "Fuck this, I can do better for myself given the chance." I can do better than this. These thoughts were constantly running through my mind at that time.

I had been doing freelance work for several individuals at the time, and before I realized what was happening, I began getting assignments left and right. So I happily bid adieu to the pathetic ego-trippers and the brown-nosers at my workplace and immersed myself in freelance work. It was through freelancing that I came across the Genius (or, as he likes to remind me now and then, he was the one who found me).

Be open to receiving what your heart desires. That doesn't mean wishing for something and then doing nothing but sit on your ass all day, just waiting for the universe to deliver it to you. You have to know how to receive...and that's kind of a difficult process, in my opinion.

But I'm getting there. :-)


17 comments:

Gumby said...

similar to readings I did several years ago, about being very careful of the words you send out into the universe. Such as, never say "I want xxxx", because that indicates a lack of "xxxx" and as a result you will never get it.

4 years ago, I took a weekend trip with my friend Greg (who coincidentally I am traveling with this weekend). And on the way, I said "Pokey will be my boyfriend." Within 3 months, he was.

Hold on...

I WILL own a house on Maui.
I WILL own a house on Maui.

Lizza said...

Oh, cool!

I will join you in your chant:

I WILL own a house on Maui.
I WILL own a house on Maui.

:-D

Prometheus said...

Sorry to disagree children, but Prometheus believes that no amount of 'positive thinking' works. He believes that the Medusa female is there to keep his ego in check, a self defense mechanism, to prevent him from pushing himself too far as he usually does.

Prometheus knows he's superjinxed. But that don't stop him from trying stunts. He goes ahead with them and takes failure in his stride, along with success (which is yet to shows its face).

He doesn't wanna piss of his Medusa, for she is the only female of the species who talks to Prometheus. So he's taking her out to the movies now.

As regards your Medusa, try telling her "Yo (female-dog), can't ya even insult me properly? How pathetic can you be? Moron" and watch her crumble.

PS:
Lizza will buy me a house on Maui.
Lizza will buy me a house on Maui.

Lizza said...

Prometheus, Medusa will always be here...but I can kick her ass now. She wants to meet your Medusa, by the way.

P.S.
Lizza doesn't think so.
Lizza doesn't think so.

Prometheus said...

Oh no.. My Medusa is Evil Lyn (from He Man, remember?) on steroids.. Idi Amin cried when he met her..

PS:
Lizza will buy me a hut in Soweto?
Dubai rents are murdering me!

Lizza said...

Evil Lyn? Jeez, why couldn't you at least have a darker version of She-Ra? LOL

PS:
Lizza will think positive thoughts for Prometheus - like winning the lottery - so that he can buy a mansion somewhere. :-)

Henry Bateman said...

The secret isnt really all that much of a big deal, I mean its been about as common knowledge for 400 plus years. There was this French Dude who said "I think, therefore I am."
Which reminds me of a very bad joke.
Descartes (spelling) walks into a bar, the Barman asks if he wants a drink, he replies "I think not", and poof, he disappeared.
Sorry.

Lizza said...

Haha! So if anyone offers you a drink, Henry, accept it pronto. :-)

Yes, The Secret has been around for a long time, but most of us never really pay attention to it. I know I didn't.

Penrick said...

Much to think about - but for now, I will own a house in Barbados. I will own a house in Maui and I will own a house in St. Lucia.

Sony said...

I'm a big fan of postitive thinking and standing up to the Medusas of the world.

And nice imagery with the negatives -- every once in a while I set my digital camera to the negative setting and take a few dozen shots. Then I use photoshop to inverse them and it's pretty amazing watching the transformation.

A little weird, but it's cool.

Nice post, by the by. I'm going to check out The Secret now.

Lizza said...

Haha, Penny! Good to see you here again. :-)

Hi Sony. I've never tried that particular photography trick. I'll give it a go sometime.

Anonymous said...

Awww. So, you had that feeling too? With our previous work I mean. Great minds, lol. It was good, worse then worst, huh? Didn't know though, that you had your own Medusa too, never would have known it if I did not read this entry.

gg

Lizza said...

LOL, gg!

Everyone has a Medusa, methinks. Even Andre. Wait, you're the Andre fan, aren't you? Or would that be N?

Anyways...

I liked our work just fine -- it was some of the people there who I couldn't stand anymore. ;-)

Nice to see you here, thanks for stopping by.

Anonymous said...

Well, abstracting was fun until the real Medusas (brown-nosers and ego-trippers) raised their ugly heads! But don't get me wrong, it was the best job i ever had! I don't know if gg or N will agree...

im

Lizza said...

Hahaha IM!

Yes, it was fun. And the docs were great!
Nampucha, inuman na nga lang tayo! :-D

Anonymous said...

sus, 100% agree of course! best job ever and ever! love the nyt, wwj, books of list, SACs etc. and of course, the eat-all-you-can, gimik in the middle of workday, parties at your house, etc. awww, am being sappy coz i miss you guys :(
inuman tayo pag-uwi ko for sure.

and yes, am the andre fan, N is the andy fan aka cradle snatcher! :-D

gg

Lizza said...

GG,
If you can haul N's ass back home, let's get together with IM, MG, RC, JR, and LR for a drink! :-D