What Kind of Genius Do You Want to Be?

One of our favorite spiritual teachers, Abraham-Hicks, is fond of saying that genius is nothing more than continued attention to the same topic. In other words, anyone can be a genius at anything given the right focused attention over a long enough period of time.

Now, at the beginning of the year, it is the perfect time to ask yourself the question, "What kind of genius do I want to be?" Do you look at works of art by Van Gogh and wish you could put paint to canvas like he did? Do you look at great business people and wish you had their entrepreneurial talent?

These are, of course, all outer talents that are apparent to everyone who looks. And, as Abraham-Hicks points out, any one of these outer forms of genius are available to anyone to has the desire and will to focus their attention.

But are there other areas-inner areas-in which you might want to be a genius? Maybe you don't want to become a great artist or business whiz. Maybe instead you'd like to acquire the genius to be comfortable in any situation life throws at you. What about the genius to control the way you interpret events in your life? Would the genius to throw off any and all sorts of negativity be useful in your life?

It really doesn't matter what you choose, but the idea of becoming the genius of your choosing is certainly attractive. It's a magnetic idea, isn't it? The idea that you have the power to become brilliant at anything is an idea that has real power. It's an idea worth a lot of consideration and focus.

But how can you really focus on anything when life is so distracting? Life seems to constantly throw monkey-wrenches into the best-laid plans. Unexpected events and expenses crop up, new emotions emerge, new inspirations pop up, and lots of momentary fascinations appear. How do you focus amidst all this "noise"?

One way is to choose a yearly exercise or aim that will focus your attention for a long period of time. And of course the beginning of the year is a perfect time to choose and begin this kind of exercise.

So close your eyes and ask yourself this question: "If I could be a genius at something by the end of the year, what would I choose?"

Sit with this question for a while. Sort through physical goals like money, fame, and acknowledgement (translation: rich and famous) and see how they strike you. Sort through inner goals like self-liking, freedom from what anyone else thinks about you, and acceptance of life and see how these strike you. Set these goals against the background of the rest of your life and see what you want the most. See which goal will satisfy you the most from your current perspective.

Then choose a goal. Don't worry so much about choosing perfectly. Think more of choosing wisely a goal that will provide the maximum useful experience. Your yearly aim isn't meant to be another pressure point that will make your life difficult, but more of an experiment that will reveal new vistas, emotions, questions, and answers.

In all of the courses that we teach, we never tell anyone "how it is." Instead, we set forth a number of hypotheses and our students verify through experimentation whether they are true. The same goes for your yearly aim. You desire to excel at something in life. The hypothesis is that you can be a genius at anything of your choosing through focused attention over a long period of time. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to create experiments that will help you determine whether you can, indeed, be such a genius.

In the game of life there is never anything to lose through this kind of experiment. There are only gobs of new learning and achievement to be had. Ready for something magical to happen in your life? Then jump in with both feet. Choose your desired form of genius and stay tuned for how to create experiments to bring that genius to life!