When Oprah Winfrey featured the teachers from the DVD mvie "The Secret" on her show, the response was so overwhelming that she aired a second show to further discuss the Law of Attraction. While the hype continued with stories of people whose lives changed instantly after seeing the movie, the teachers who appeared did more realistically discuss the principles. I was cleaning up the kitchen while the show was on, and something that Dr. Michael Beckwith said so caught my attention that I stopped to scrawl it down on the back of an envelope.

A woman in the audience shared about how her friends seemed to be "jealous" of her successful attempts to move forward. Dr. Beckwith immediately responded with his now famous quote, "Mediocrity Always Attacks Excellence." He went on to say that the people close to us often don't want to see us move out of the "uncomfort zone." They would prefer that we stay there with them.

In my own life, I've experienced this in many ways, from apparent "jealousy" to downright sabotage. I have a tendency to attract men who are very insecure in themselves and either cut down or minimize my accomplishments. When I was married to my ex-husband, I enrolled in real estate school. I was almost finished and ready to take the exam, and his mother told him that I would be showing houses to men at night and he forbade me to go ahead with my plans. I never took the exam. I was young and going along with it was one of my biggest regrets for years because he became increasingly violent. His mother had cheated on his father for their entire marriage and I bore the brunt of his classic Freudian projection. One relationship in particular was very stressful. This guy had such a problem with my having a higher professional degree than he did that he accidentally on purpose knocked one of my awards off the wall and broke the frame. The difference in our education was not significant at all to me. It was a piece of paper. But to him, it was a threat to his masculinity. I finally did meet a professional man who was secure in his career and very supportive of mine. Unfortunately, there were other problems that ended the relationship.

In a recent blog, I shared my feelings about the lack of acknowledgement I've received from the people closest to me in life and my surprise at the overwhelming support I've received from perfect strangers. Although my late husband brought out the artist in me, he held back his enthusiasm when it came to my moving forward. He did continue to share his artistic skills with me and that more than made up for it.

When confidence is an issue, we need and appreciate approval from those we are with the most. We need to be able to draw upon support from our roots.I'm not sure that "jealous" is an accurate word to describe their negative behavior. I believe that it is rooted in fear; fear that we will grow away from them, fear of losing control over us and fear of being faced with looking at themselves and why they choose to remain stuck. We often stay stuck with them because we allow our own insecurities to let them keep pulling us back into the "uncomfort zone."

How do we get out of this trap? Do we have to leave? Not necessarily. We need to take a look at who we are spending our time with and whether their energies are consistent with ours. If not, we can open ourselves to connecting with other people whose vibration is in harmony with what we want and how we want to live. We can deliberately use networking methods to seek them out. Skin care mogul Mary Kay Ash was fond of telling her sales consultants to "hitch your wagon to a star." By this she meant that they should seek out another consultant who was successful and emulate them and she strongly encouraged mentorship. If you're having trouble finding someone you can identify success with, try the Internet. There is a major shift in consciousness happening and there are more and more resources appearing that can help you. And quite often, those who have resisted hopping on the chariot with you end up coming along for the ride when the natural pull of your vibration raises theirs. Natural law makes it inevitable.

When your "want to" is strong enough and your vibration is humming steadily enough, the Universe will provide by sending just the right people your way.

"When the student is ready, the teacher will appear" ~
Zen Proverb


Copyright @2007 by Parthena Black.
Also posted on my website www.mytarotdreams.com

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