The Wisdom of George Costanza

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“It’s not you, it’s me.”
- George Costanza

Have you ever seen that Seinfeld episode where George Costanza decides to do the opposite of everything he would usually do, and suddenly his life works? In my humble opinion this is the most brilliant Seinfeld episode ever made, as it demonstrates what happens when we break out of our usual thought patterns and develop the courage to change our minds.

Changing your mind will radically transform your life. By changing your mind, you realize you have the power to examine each thought that passes through your awareness and decide whether it’s serving you or not. If you want an easy way to know whether or not your thoughts are serving you, just take a look at the external situations and relationships that make up the mirror that is your external “life”. Does your life work? Are you healthy, happy, joyful? Do you love what you do for a living? Are you in fulfilling relationships? Or are you experiencing “problems”?

The most liberating realization you can come to, is that there is no such thing as “problems”; only situations. Situations, whether you label them “positive” or “negative”, all arise out of thought patterns in your consciousness. Thoughts lead to actions, and actions lead to results. Your external life situation is just a myriad of results, which is why solely taking action to change these results without shifting the consciousness that created them, is like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. You’re still going down.

It’s easy to witness this in someone else’s life, whom you see move from job to job or from relationship to relationship. Sure, from the outside it may look like their lives are changing, but really they’re just re-creating the exact same conditions, while wearing a different hat. That is fine if you’re really enjoying the hat you’re wearing, but the reality is that many people are not.

So how do you break free from wearing a dreadful hat? The first step, is to find something about it that is not so dreadful, and then focus upon it. For example, George Costanza can begin to love himself by focusing on the things he’s good at, like quitting. Remember this George Costanza quote… “My father was a quitter, my grandfather was a quitter, I was raised to give up. It’s one of the few things I do well”. This is meant to be funny but it’s a great start. What you focus on expands, so once you begin to dwell on circumstances in your experience that are working for you, you’ll be led to more thoughts and experiences on the same wavelength of happiness and success. Your goal is to “feel good”. Your feelings are an inner guidance system that lets you know what you’re currently creating in your future experience, before it manifests. If you’re not feeling positive, trace it back to what you’re thinking and you’ll find the source of your discomfort. How would it feel if you decided to think “the opposite”?

Many people don’t realize they have the power to choose their thoughts. Instead, they react to their external world, which only reinforces it. Very few people currently see the correlation between their thoughts and their results. However, now that you know, the power of transformation lies in your own hands. Consequently, if things aren’t working for you, embody the wisdom of George Costanza and begin by thinking, and then acting in “the opposite” fashion of whatever it is that you would usually do.

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