At about 425 BCE, the Greek philosopher Socrates propounded what has come to be the foundational law of western philosophy and western thought.  at a time when everyone believed in the Gods on Mount Olympus and the causeless and chaotic influences of flowers rocks, trees and the elements, Socrates stated simploy that we live in a world of law govened by a system of order whether we understand the principles behind it or not. 

 

In what later became iknown as the "Socratic Method of Argument", he used his considerable, rhethorical skills to force people to think through the logical consequences of their thoughts anbd behaviors.  In his time this idea was known as the "Socratic Law of Causality" - today we call it the "Law of Cause and Effect".  We accept it as a part of our way of looking at the world, but in Socrates day it was a remarkable idea and hotly debated.  It was even one of the reason that Socrates was put to death. 

 

The Law of Cause and Effect says that everything happens for a reason.  For every effect in your life, there is a cause, or series of specific, measurable, definable, identifiable causes.  This law says that if there is anything you want in life, an effect that you desire, you can find someone else that has achieved the same result or effeect, and that by doing the same things that they have done over and over you can eventually enjoy the same results and rewards. 

 

Success, however you define it, is not an accident.  It is not a result of good luck versus bad luck, Even if you have not taken the time to clearly identify \how you god from where you were to where you are todayy, there have been a series of specific steps that you have taken that have brought you to where you are at this minuute.  And the fact is, they could have brought you to no other place.  You are where you are and what you are because of yourself.  It has been your choices and your deisions over the months and years that have inevitably deteermined the condition of your life at this moment. 

 

The most wonderful part of this is that at any time you can start making diffeerent choicews and different decisions, taking different steps anbd you will inevitably arrive at a differet place than where you are today. 

 

American is full of hundreds of thousands of people that come from different backgrounds with every conceivable type of handicap and liabllity but have gone on tio build wonderful lives for themselves.  Often people around them have ascribed their good fortune to luck.  Butif you talk to these people and you trace their storeis from where they began to wher they are now, you will find that luck had nothing to do with their success, and it has nothing to do with yours. 

 

The law of cause and effect cuts in both directions.  It also says that if there is an effect in your life, such as lack of money, problems in your relationships, an unsatisfying job or carreer, or any other difficulty, you can trace that effect back to things that you have done to cause it and that by removing the causes you can begin to remove the effects, sometimes as quickly as overnight. 

 

In it's simplest terms, successful, happy, healthy, prosperrous people are those that have discovered the lawas that govern our lives and have designed their lives so that htey are in harmony with those lawws.  As a result, they experience far more job and satisfaction, and accopmplish far more in a few years then the average person does iun a lifetime.  

 

You heard it said in poker that "The winners laugh and tell jokes while the losers say shut up and deal".  In the world around yoiu the winners around you are busy and actively working toward achiving their goals while the average people are putting in as little as they can and hoping that something good will come out of it.  Winners always ascribe their success to hard work and application.  Mediocre people always ascribe their failures to bad luck. 

 

Perhaps the most important corollayr to the law of cause and effect is this - "thoughs are causes" and "conditions are feffects".  You mind is the most powerful force in yuopur universe.  A man becomes what he things abouit most of the time.  You are where you are and what you because of your habitual ways of thinking.  You thoughs are creative, and tey ulitimately create your reality.  Si if you change your thinking you chyange your life.

 

The greatest thinkers of all time, going back to the earliest reccorded writrings of the earliest religions, the earliest philosophers and metaphysical schools have all emphasized the power of the human mind to shape individual destinies. 

 

Another version of the law of cause and effect is the law of action and reaction.  First proounded and explained by Sir Isaac Newton this law states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.  Put another way, actions have consequences. 

 

And this is important.  At the beginning, you can decide upon the actin.  You can control it.  But once you have launched a particular action the consequences are often out of your hands.  Once you have done or said a particular thing the consequces take on a power and a rforce of their own.  That is why successful people tend to be very thoughtful about what they say and do, and unsuccessfu people tend to be thoughtless, even careless about their statements or behaviours. 

 

The key to your enjoying modre of what people call luck is for your to engage in more of the actions that are more likely to bring about the consequences that you desire.  At the same time, you must conscientiously decide to avoid those actions that will not bring about the consequences that you desire, or even worse, will bring about consequences that you don't want. 

 

If your in sales, the actions of prospecting, presenting, following up and working continuously to cultivate leads and referrals will ultimately bring about the consequences of sales success, higher income, personal pride and greater satisfaciton from your carreer.  The more of these actions that you engage in, the more pleasureable consequences you will enjoy.  On the other ha,d the fewer of thses actions you engage in, the less often you will enjoy those consequences, which you want so much. 

 

Another restatement o the law of cause and effect is the law of slowing and reaping.  This law says, "whatsoever a man soweth, that also shall he reap".  It says that whatever you put in you get out.  It says whatever you are reaping today is a result of what you have sown in the past. 

 

The laws of cause and effect, action and reaction, slowing and reaping, are timeless ttruths, universal principles that have existed since the beginning of man of this earth.  All success, happiness and high achievement comes fropm organiszing your life in conformance with these timeless principles.  When you do, you will achieve satisfaction and enjoyment t levels seldom experienced by the average person and of course, people will start to refer to you as lucky.