Economic Conditions Have Little to Do With Your Own Success and Well-Being

This is an important concept to grasp.

We have a tendency to look at economic conditions as a way of explaining and justifying why we may not be where we want to be. In truth, one has little or nothing to do with the other.

Your ability to succeed is totally within your control and is a result of your own thoughts, words, feelings and actions. Whatever direction the economy is moving in, whether in a downturn as it is at this time, or in an upward spiral, there are always opportunities for the individual who holds true to her vision to her ideal life.

It is this vision that will attract - through the powers of the universe - that which is vividly imagined, as Napoleon Hill would have said.

If you are watching the news and worrying about the current financial problems, while you are engaged in doing this, you are in a similar vibration and are likely to create a similar condition in your own life.

If you must stay informed about what is going on, fine. If you're going to watch the news, do so without getting emotionally invested.

Just sit back and, as you watch, think to yourself, "that's interesting." It is possible to watch the news or read a newspaper and not be emotionally connected to it.

Feeling bad for the people affected by what's taking place also puts you squarely in the same vibration. If you can do something to help, by all means, do it!

However, if not, get your attention back to your own ideal life's vision and focus your attention on what you want in your life.

You may wish to see the other people having a better experience than they are having but that's about all you can do because we each create our own reality and we can only control the circumstances in our own life.

It is crucial that in any circumstance, you're able to "flip" your attention and therefore, your "point of attraction" to that which you desire and away from that which you do not.

Notice, I did not say to try and fix it or change it, unless you can. Simply turn your attention away, toward whatever you do want.

The fastest way I know to shift your attention and, as a result, your vibration, is to make a list of what you are appreciating, what's working, or what you are grateful for in your life. This simple practice will immediately raise your vibration as a result of the change in your focus and what your putting your attention on.

It is important, especially in these challenging times, that we are watchful of our thoughts, words and actions. Keep your attention at what you desire and refuse to participate in discussions about what is wrong with our world. If you make a habit of doing this, pretty soon you will start seeing improvements in your own life.

Jim Donovan is the author of several international best-selling books and an inspiring motivational speaker. For a no cost subscription to his classic, Jim's Jems ezine, a bonus audio and special report, visit http://www.jimdonovan.com/

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Pakistan aid: US offers $2 billion more -- but attaches conditions - Christian Science Monitor

Washington

The US is offering Pakistan $2 billion in new military aid as part of a classic carrot-and-stick approach to what is perhaps the single most crucial country in the international battle with Islamist militancy.

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Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced at the conclusion Friday of a three-day “strategic dialogue” with Pakistani senior officials a new five-year military assistance package designed to prod Pakistan into taking a harder line with militants. Those extremists range from groups bent on bringing down Pakistan’s fragile democracy to Al Qaeda and other organizations more focused on international terrorist acts.

“The United States has no stronger partner when it comes to counterterrorism efforts against the extremists who threaten us both than Pakistan,” Secretary Clinton said in announcing the Pakistan aid package. The two delegations, she said, had “productive discussions” about the need to root out extremist groups that “threaten the security first and foremost of the people of Pakistan, of neighbors, of the United States, and indeed of the world.”

But the offer of new military aid came with a privately issued warning – the stick in the equation – that Pakistan risks losing this and other aid the US offers if the government does not adopt a more aggressive stance toward militants.

Despite whatever tough words the US had for the Pakistanis in private, prospects for a radically different approach from Pakistan toward the extremists groups are not good, some regional experts say.

“I don’t perceive Pakistan changing its objectives, and that’s really the core issue here,” says Malou Innocent, a foreign policy analyst focusing on Pakistan and Afghanistan at the Cato Institute in Washington. “Since 9/11 we have pushed, prodded, and threatened ... and it’s clear to me that Pakistan is not going to alter its internal politics or shift its security policies no matter how much aid the US gives.”

Pakistan has undertaken offensives into some militant strongholds, but it has not launched into others like North Waziristan and has left unscathed other groups the US is focused on, Ms. Innocent says. Those groups include the Haqqani network, which some US officials now consider the most powerful Taliban-affiliated organization in Pakistan; the Quetta Shura, the Afghan Taliban leadership located in Pakistan since being ousted from Afghanistan; and Al Qaeda.

During the three days of meetings, Pakistani officials emphasized their country’s role as a key partner for Washington in the international battle with extremism. But at the same time, they were adamant that Pakistan will do things its way and will not bow to American interests.

Pakistan’s foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, said at the meeting where Clinton announced the new military aid that the “prophets of doom” who predict an irreconcilable split between the US and Pakistan are “dead wrong.” But Mr. Qureshi also used his Washington visit to lay down red lines for the partnership, saying at a speech earlier in the week at the Brookings Institution, “Pakistan’s sovereignty is and will remain nonnegotiable.”

That comment appeared to refer to recent tensions between the two countries over a stepped-up US campaign of unmanned drone attacks against suspected militant havens in Pakistan’s northwest, and more specifically over a recent US helicopter attack that killed three Pakistani soldiers.

Pakistan closed a crucial border crossing for nearly two weeks over the attack, disrupting NATO supply lines into Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s military and civilian government have said that the country does not have the money or military equipment for launching large-scale offensives against militant havens. The US offer of a multiyear, multibillion-dollar military aid package – which would run from 2012 to 2016 and would be graduated in terms of the money offered – appears designed to answer that complaint and perhaps quiet that excuse for inaction.

But the US Congress has become increasingly impatient with Pakistan’s reluctance to go after groups like Al Qaeda, leading some analysts to anticipate resistance to another aid package to Pakistan. Congress last year approved a five-year, $7.5 billion package of civilian aid aimed at boosting development and strengthening Pakistan’s fragile democratic institutions.

Announcement of the new military aid package coincided with confirmation from Obama administration officials that existing US military assistance is to be cut off from a number of Pakistani Army units suspected of having committed abuses including torture and summary executions. The suspension of funding was issued in accordance with the so-called Leahy Amendment (after Sen. Patrick Leahy (D) of Vermont), which bars US military assistance to units committing abuses.

“This will turn into a very, very messy fight in Congress,” says Innocent of the Cato Institute. “After a decade, there is just a lot of frustration with the effort Pakistan has put forward.”

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