By Carol Colvin

When my kids were little, it wasn’t unusual for one of them to come to me in a panic, insisting they had looked everywhere but their Ninja Turtle, their baseball cleat, or their prized Beanie Baby had simply vanished. It was nowhere to be found. Every time this happened, they were quickly given Mom’s lesson on the law of conservation of mass, which, in short, says that matter cannot be created or destroyed. Whatever was missing—the Beanie Baby, the cleat, the Ninja Turtle—was definitely still somewhere.

Sure, it was possible the neighbor’s dog had eaten it (in which case they probably wouldn’t want it back in its current form), or that a sibling had "accidentally" thrown it away—meaning it was either buried under the revolting mess I’d just cleaned out of the fridge, or it was already on its way to the city dump. Either way, yuck. But it still existed somewhere.

Thoughts are things too, just like Beanie Babies and baseball cleats. Every physical thing in our world started out as a thought or idea pulled from the limitless supply of "thinking stuff" that fills our universe of light. The law of Perpetual Transformation tells us that everything is always either coming into form or going out of form.

We can see this in the cycle of water: it floats as vapor, falls as rain, freezes into ice. Then the sun warms the ice into slush, then puddles, and eventually the water turns back into vapor. What moves water through all these forms? Energy. Fast-moving energy (heat) moves it toward vapor; slower energy cools it into ice.

When we really understand this law—and that it applies just as much to our thoughts—we realize we can create new things, new circumstances for ourselves, by applying the energy of our emotions to our ideas.

When my oldest son was 11, he needed to earn money for 6th-grade camp. The school gave the kids a fundraising option—selling wrapping paper or something else equally boring to most 11-year-olds. To him, the idea of knocking on strangers' doors trying to sell it was completely unappealing. He wanted to earn the money himself, but he wanted to do it his way.

He came up with the idea to sell candy necklaces. He figured everyone liked candy, and the "wearable" aspect, he said, would appeal to girls, who might buy them just because they were pretty. Valentine’s Day was right around the corner—a perfect time to sell candy—and he had a brilliant marketing plan: use his 6-year-old sister as his model and "the face" of the company. She was a big hit with the moms in our neighborhood, who often invited her over as an unofficial mother’s helper to keep their toddlers entertained.

I don’t know exactly how the original idea sparked in my son’s mind, but I imagine him picturing what it would feel like to knock on doors, proudly present his necklaces, and have people rush to grab their wallets. I imagine he got more and more excited as he put the necklaces together and mapped out his sales pitch. I’m sure he was already imagining the day he’d hand his hard-earned money to his teacher, beaming with pride.

And then the big day came: my little boy walked out the door, wearing a tray of candy necklaces around his neck like a popcorn hawker at a baseball game, with his adorable, irresistible little sister by his side, all prepped with her sales script. It was a banner day for me. I had watched an idea turn into a reality. I had seen firsthand how passion, hope, and energy transform thoughts into things.

By the way, he sold every single necklace he made—and took orders for more. Our whole family pitched in to help him get the extra necklaces delivered before Valentine’s Day.

People's ideas turn into things every day—into new car designs, into vegan meat substitutes that actually taste good, even into vacuum cleaners that suck up Cheerios while you sleep.

What ideas are floating around in your mind?
What new thing or circumstance do you need in your life?
Apply some energy to those ideas—and think up something amazing!

_________________

•   To discover how to start choosing more effectively now, read The Jackrabbit Factor (FREE!)  
•   If you want more step-by-step guidance on creating the life you really want, join me in the Mindset Mastery program.
•   If you want my help overcoming that giant obstacle right in front of you, learn more and sign up for Genius Bootcamp.