We cannot live only for ourselves.
A thousand fibers connect us
with our fellow humans.

Herman Melville

Most people on this planet want other people to be happy.  Unfortunately, they're never taught just what it takes to make others happy, just what it takes to allow others to find happiness on their own terms.  Many people think that they can bring happiness to others by controlling situations in order to avoid negative experiences, but they come across as controlling and manipulative people.  Other people think that they can make others happy by doing things for them, especially when they think that there's a possibility of romance for themselves.  These people, though, come across as overwhelming and dominating, and they tend to smother the objects of their affection.

Other people could be good people, but they allow their fears to rule their lives, and they thus rarely--if ever--show their positive sides.  They're the ones who treat us poorly because such treatment makes them feel that they have more control in their lives.  If they're rude to us, it makes them feel stronger; if they're indifferent to us, it makes them feel superior; if they're downright mean to us, it makes them feel like they're in charge of situations, and able to control us.  These are people who often are good deep inside, but we see only the stormy surface of the sea, for that's where they're living from.  They've worked themselves so far away from the peaceful depths of their selves that the peace simply isn't a part of the way they interact with others.

It's hard for us to tell where and how people lose their goodness, or when they make a decision that being nice is somehow "weak."  Since we see only the surface usually, we see that part that isn't nice, and it often makes us feel bad to have to have dealt with the people that show little goodness.

The good people, on the other hand, constantly make decisions to show their goodness.  They compliment others, they encourage others, they do things for others, they help when help is needed, they give when giving is necessary.  They don't spend their time trying to make themselves feel better at the expense of others; rather, they spend their time trying to make others feel good.

They usually aren't in the headlines--in fact, they rarely make the papers or newscasts at all, even though they constitute the majority of the people in any country.  Unfortunately, goodness doesn't sell newspapers, it seems, and the people in charge of the newscasts focus instead on the criminals and the people who have gotten in trouble and done awful things.

The good people are the ones who will give you a smile simply for the sake of sharing a smile, not because they want something from you.  They're the people who will let you merge in traffic, and the people who will hold the door for you, no matter what your gender or age.  Instead of getting mad in the checkout line when you're a dollar short, they'll pull a dollar out of their pocket and share it with you.

We all face obstacles in life, and we all grow up with certain emotional problems and deficiencies.  But we also all have choices, especially in the ways that we treat other people.  If we choose to hold on to anger and resentment, and if we choose to try to manipulate and hurt other people for our own sake, then we really can't consider ourselves among the good people of the world.  Then we're in the minority of people who are hurtful and resentful.  If we constantly choose, though, to put other people before ourselves and to do our best to help and encourage and lift up other people, then we put ourselves among the good people of the world--the people who are allowing their actions to reflect the goodness that some people call spirit, that some call God, and that others have other names for--that is the most important integral part of who we are.

Let that spirit shine in the goodness that you share with the people in your life today!  You'll love the way that it makes you feel.

As we embark on this adventure of living the Law of Attraction, we come very soon to the rather disturbing conclusion that there truly is no such thing as a victim, and that continuing to play the game of being a victim to anything or anybody guarantees only continued discontent from the relentless emission of low vibrations.

Oh sure, the rest of the world is still doing it, blaming "them" for what happened rather than their feelings; blaming "circumstances" for their bad luck rather than their feelings; blaming the drunk on the freeway, or the rotten boss, or the economy, or God for messing them up, rather than their feelings.

We may have been taught, and therefore have believed that we live at the mercy of others, or fate, or luck, or chance; certainly that is what most people on this planet live by.  But once you start to see the Law of Attraction in operation, you ultimately come to understand that there is no such thing as a victim; never has been, never will be.  There is no good luck, bad luck, good fortune, or coincidence.  There is no destiny, fate, or providence.  There is no big judge in the sky keeping score on how right or wrong you've been.  There is no karma from past lives nor penance.  That's all victim stuff.  And there is not a victim among us, only co-creators in thought and feeling, powerful magnets attracting like bees to honey the matching frequency of our ever-flowing vibrations.

You never again have to believe that circumstances outside of you control your life.  You never again have to believe that it is wrong to want.  You never again have to believe that some great power outside yourself is pulling the strings, or that anyone or anything other than you is in control.  You never again have to be afraid of "them" or "it," no matter who or what they may be, unless you so choose.

So how did we get in this mess?  You got it!  More than six billion people (plus however many more there have been over countless centuries) being born into vulnerable, lackful, fearful vibrations, all focusing on what they don't want and getting more of it.

It was never intended to be that way, but in our anxious state of needing to find a reason why things never seemed to go the way we wanted them to, we figured it had to be the fault of some factor separate from us:  the government, the economy, our boss, our marriage, our background, our education, our rotten luck, even God.

Or maybe it was because we weren't worthy, didn't measure up, were too filled with sins, hadn't been fully put to the test, or had not in some way or other paid our rightful dues.

The reality -- the real reality -- is that we are already worthy, there is no test to pass, and sin is nothing but a man-made abomination to foster control by others.

The real reality is we have come here to thrive, and prosper, and live this grand human experience in lighthearted joy, not in struggle and pain.  We have come here to have fun while we learn, to grow without suffering, and to harvest our desires in the absolute knowledge that we can have it all once we learn how to handle our energies . . . meaning . . . our emotions.

We came here with a guaranteed freedom of choice mandated by the very nature of our existence.  The time has come for us to exercise that birthright.  We are caught in no one's web.  We are bound by no circumstance.  We are victims to no conditions.  Rather, we are beings who possess the sacred ability to implement any outlandish desire our limitless minds can concoct, for we possess unregulated, unrestricted, uncontested freedom of choice, no matter what those choices may be.

It's wake up time.  It's time we remembered how to make those choices happen.  It's time to take our heads out of the sand and accept that it's no accident we get what we get in life.  It's time for us to stop creating from the improper default setting and remember the secrets of the ancient wisdom we once knew so well before recorded history, wisdom that allowed us to create our passions with simple intent.  It is time.

You deserve it all.  You deserve to have all of your aspirations realized, no matter what they may be.  You have only to want it and feeeeel it, and a whole new life of extraordinary happiness will be yours.  Not can be; will be!  That is a cosmic guarantee.

Lynn Grabhorn was a long-time student of the way in which thought and feelings format our lives.  Raised in Short Hills, New Jersey, she began her working life in the advertising field in New York City, founded and ran an audio-visual educational publishing company in Los Angeles, and owned and ran a mortgage brokerage firm in Washington State.  Lynn's books, which also include The Excuse Me, Your Life is Waiting Playbook and Beyond the Twelve Steps, have received high acclaim from all corners of the world.  Her last book was Dear God! What's Happening to Us?   Lynn passed away in 2004 at her home in Olympia, Washington.  For more information, please visit www.lynngrabhorn.com