Energy flows (like water) where attention goes…
My attention is a gravitational ball of weight pulling everything else in towards it
Nature seeks harmony which is the world I want to see,so of course, I have a sense of pronoia that the universe is working in my favor because I know it. The evidence exists all around me that nature seeks harmony too. And what is the universe but nature? I often find when I allow myself to deal with problems as they arise, my mental wellbeing improves. It saves so much mental energy that would otherwise be wasted on worrying about something that was never going to happen. 

Of course, sometimes things DO happen that have to be dealt with rather that’s “good” or “bad”. Is it better to plan ahead for these things or deal as they come? Truly I don’t know the answer to that. I can see that lacking “forward thinking” could be detrimental. They say that’s why Neanderthals extincted. They lacked forward thinking and the ability to plan for crisis events. It’s no surprise to me then that I supposedly have more Neanderthal dna than most people. ☺️ I don’t think I see the value in constantly planning and worrying about the future, though. It doesn’t seem to serve us most of the time.Feelings of gratitude, reminding ourselves of the good that exists, the things that HAVE worked out, directly combats those paranoid thoughts that cause us to excessively plan and worry. 

Continuously thinking about what could go wrong can be paralyzing because it takes so much mental energy to worry. This can be seen on large societal scales down to the individual. I realized this mental energy drain only after it was gone with minor things in my life like when I no longer had to worry about pregnancy it alleviated so much mental anguish I didn’t even realize I was experiencing before. When I got laser hair removal I found that so much weight was lifted to not always be worried about if I had completed hair removal of my armpits or legs before an impromptu pool trip. (Now I think it’s ridiculous that we even worry about these things as women.) when I began to work from home I no longer had to plan all my meals for the week. 

I think this way of thinking, excessively planning and worried about the future is paranoia at its base. Paranoia, anxiety, fear- they’re all basically the same in my mind. They all derive from the idea that bad things will happen.

Whereas pronoia, which may be a new made-up term, is the idea that everything will work out; the universe is working in your favor. Statistically and historically speaking, that is the most likely result since everything had to work out for us to be here now. It makes good logical sense to hold this idea that everything will work out. It is evidenced by the decrease in “mental illness” also. Although, to be fair, this idea of pronoia itself could be considered mentally ill to the right person. Instead of “mental illness”, maybe it could be better described as a lack of mental distress. Less worrying equals more happiness? Who would’ve guessed?!

So we have logic and general happiness on our side. Now what about when we consider that nature is also on our side? The natural way is always looking for harmony, that’s why all of the natural world is constantly in flux and change. It’s a dance of balance. I think the level of planning we should be worried about is planning to participate with nature in its own larger cycles, preparing for the changing seasons, preparing food for those changes etc but it all goes back to being in harmony. This starts with observation without judgment. We can put ourselves in our own way with judgments. Applying a morality to something that just “is” will surely backfire. It reminds me that a wise guy once said, “be curious; not judgmental”. So I observe with genuine curiosity, and what happens? The best way I can describe what happens inside me is that I’m overcome with a sense of love for all life. I think it’s impossible to observe and not notice the interconnectedness of all life. And that reminds me that I’m in and a part of the interconnected and that to love myself I am also loving all. Would it make any sense to love only one cell of my body? No, I love all of the cells. Even or especially those that have lacked love for a long time.
I wonder if some people go through all their life never experiencing this feeling of universal love and oneness? 

With this oneness in mind, I turn back toward the pronoia idea that the universe is working out in my favor. Well, since I am a part of the universe, it makes logical sense that the whole (which is evidently seeking harmony) would want health and harmony within its parts also. 

What happens when we decide the odds are in our favor generally, and consciously decide to march toward the world we want, the one where everything works out and stop running from the world we are scared of, or the one where things don’t work out? (Maybe I’ll consider what “things working out” means to me and what divergences are acceptable because the odds it goes EXACTLY how I want are actually very slim!)

I believe the base world I desire to live in is also what the universe wants. Which is the way of nature to lean toward harmony. Caring about each other and the rest of the world is essential to our survival and the rest of life because all life is ultimately connected. 

I’ve been focused on diving deep into myself to learn more about my place in the natural world and realize there is no need to proselytize to others. If I’m focused on myself and really finding who I am and what I want then my internal world will seep out into the world I inhabit. I know I don’t have to “spread the good word” I can just “BE the good word”.

It could seem like that’s not “doing enough” or focusing too much on the individual self -placing the burden on the individuals with an oppressive intent. (This happens for sure! But in a shameful manner, what I’m talking about erases shame by increasing love.) I find that working on personal development has enriched me in a way that’s also helpful to my exterior environment. It’s a healing from the inside out. Our world as a whole can’t get healthier and more harmonized if we individuals are not healing and harmonizing. Meanwhile since I’ve been really focused on this idea, I’m happier, I’m more authentic which gives others permission to be authentic also. Being around happy people makes others happy. Being the change I want to see has so far resulted in a more regulated body because Im taking better care of my body through movement that I may have been too embarrassed to do as often as I do know (aka my weird yoga), I’m barefoot more and connected to the earth, erecting a little free library for the neighborhood, connecting with neighbors, food forest gardens, being a safe space for others, talking to others about sustainability and building community based on shared humanity. I am doing my best to be the person I want to interact with in the world. I feel more and more at peace the more I dig into who I am and what I value and being unashamed of it. Being the change means no conversion is necessary and isn’t that beautiful in itself? Imagine feeling better without requiring others around you to change for you? Everyone must change for themselves. That’s definitely true for me and I suspect it’s true for most people too. 

The placebo effect is truly amazing when you think about it. The belief that something will work changes the way we move in the world and our chemical processes inside our body that produce a real effect. The belief in a world where everything works out makes it all that more likely. Contrarily, the belief that it won’t work out has a similar effect. Energy flows where our attention goes like gravity pulling water. Gravity is heavy energy. And we can direct where we place the weight of our energy. My heaviest energy is in the world I believe is most likely, the world that all of nature seeks to find, the world where it all works out. Most times, even despite slim odds, it continues to work out. One day things won’t work out but what’s the point of worrying about that day while neglecting to appreciate all the wonderful times in between then?