Seizing Possibility By Seizing Control of Your Negative Thinking.

"Oh it's just humiliating. And no, I don't frankly care that I'm not alone and others are suffering, or that the universe is bigger and my problems are small by comparison. None of that helps. No offense."

That note came in a recent e-mail from an old newspaper colleague who is now unemployed and financially desperate. I'd called a day earlier to check in, but apparently my usual hope and optimism didn't go down well.

I don't know why I expected it would. Almost all of my former journalism colleagues have one trait that makes us clash when we talk about what's ahead for them. This characteristic is not reserved for journalists, but it is pretty widespread in the profession.

It's cynicism. I used to be one of the most cynical of all. As journalists, we always saw the negative, because that's where the news was. When I finally started seeing the world through new, open eyes, I had vast new power to control my success and enjoy life.

For the journalists who might see this, please don't think this is being written by some marshmallow who worked a couple of years for some puny paper before getting a job writing fluffy press releases. I got my first newspaper job when I was 15 and spent 25 years in the business. Reporting was the only thing I ever wanted to do with my life until the day came when I realized I'd done it and was over it.

I wanted out, and at least I had a choice. So many of my former colleagues who are forced to transition and re-invent actually expected to report for newspapers until the final days of their careers. Change of this magnitude was so unexpected that most are shell-shocked and clueless about what to do next.

Unfortunately, most have a handicap that will hold them back at every turn. It is the skepticism that made them good journalists and the cynicism that festered in the newsroom.

I have become the kind of person that I used to roll my eyes at when I was a reporter. And yet, I am happy. I make a living talking about manifesting success and believing in positive outcomes and all those things that I used to think were a load of bull. I now believe every word I say. I had to heal and overcome and open up. It was a very long process that began with my leaving newspapers to write my first book, then being forced to persevere as it was universally rejected. I was so embarrassed by my failure that I spent almost three years underground, ashamed that my old cynical colleagues might be laughing at how I'd left my career to fall flat on my face.

And yet.

I didn't quit.

Somewhere in all of that failure emerged a spirit that told me that I could do anything if I believed I could do it and did not give up. Someone suggested I read Think and Grow Rich, the 1937 classic by Napoleon Hill. Imagine a journalist buying a book with a title like "Think and Grow Rich." I thought to myself, "What a crock." But, it wasn't.

Hill's book introduced me to the concept of the Law of Attraction, which basically says that we manifest the reality we believe in. So, if I say my schedule is overwhelmed with speaking engagements, it is suddenly jam-packed. Back when I was a journalist, I would consider such a concept a total crock.

But, it isn't.

It just isn't. It made me a lot of money.

One of my old friends once said to me, "You don't actually believe that crap, do you?" and the answer is, "Yes, I do." Completely. With all my heart. I believe we have the ability to create success or wallow in defeat. That our mindset is something that we can program to be positive or negative, and whatever programming we do will deliver results in-kind. I have friends who tell me that I just don't understand the obstacles they are up against in this job market in a dying industry and I think of the time when I had no money in the bank. None. Nothing. And I had a mortgage and an electric bill and a bill for health insurance and... It all worked out. It just did. And, it always does.

In the world of self-employment, you have good years and bad. There are times when I don't have to hustle for anything, yet the business comes without effort. And there are times when I have to work it, work it, work it. But, as long as I keep my head in the game, certain that I will manifest success, guess what? I manifest success.

There is power in hope. There is power in positive expectation. I realize that everything I am writing can be twisted and mocked by the people I used to respect as friends and colleagues -- and that's all okay by me.

They're just being cynical.
Fawn Germer is the best-selling author of five books, including an Oprah pick. She's one of the nation's most sought-after motivational speakers on leadership and performance. Visit her speaker site at http://www.fawngermer.com or read her blog at http://www.hardwonwisdom.com .

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