The guru says:

Let’s start this important section with what may arguably be the BIGGEST of all philosophical life principles. It lies behind all right thinking and all good (intelligent, moral) living.

Briefly stated, the law is this:

What you give out is what you get back 

This appears in many forms, in many texts and religious creeds. You may recognize it in the Buddhist law of Karma or the Biblical phrase “As ye sow, so shall ye reap”. It is the philosophical or psychological version of Newton’s law of motion: action and reaction are equal and opposite. His mechanistic principle says you can’t push one way without automatically creating the counter-thrust.

There is a much slangier phrase today: “What goes around comes around”. All of these maxims and proverbs exist because we recognize that there is an important principle at work in our lives. The results of ignoring its presence in the fabric of the universe are inevitable confusion, dismay and negative outcomes.

Probably this law is even more important in its reverse statement:

What you’ve got is what you gave out! If your marriage is pretty poor, that’s because YOU are a pretty poor marriage partner (never mind the other person involved). If you are unhappy at work, YOU are an unsatisfactory employee. If people trick you with lies, it’s because YOU are not honest.

Stated this way, it is a very hard principle indeed to live by. Most of us would prefer to ignore it and blame all our troubles on other people. It’s easier that way. We duck our own involvement and fondly imagine that we are in the clear.

But then we moan about the quality of our lives and that things are not the way we would like them. That’s pretty stupid when the remedy lies within these few telling words: WHAT YOU GET BACK IS WHAT YOU GIVE OUT.

INFLOW is proportional to OUTFLOW

If you want some thing badly, then the amount of effort you are willing to invest to get it will determine your reward. The more you give out (energy, time, commitment, money, phone calls, whatever) the more you will receive in return.

The more strokes, that is the more single events of action that you carry out in your desired direction, the more “strikes” – in other words successes – you will achieve.

In purely business terms, it means the more times you reach out for customers, the more customers will respond. It’s purely numerical. If 100 phone calls results in x amount of dollars, then 200 phone calls will net you 2x dollars. It’s that simple.

Use this law wisely, to increase your revenue and returns a hundred-fold.

Force for the good

It isn’t just a negative law. It works perfectly well with good things. If you choose to be generous, loving, honest and kind people will tend to be generous, honest, loving and kind with you. A sweeter music begins to enter your life.

One of the first improvements you can make in disputes at work or in a relationship is to stop waiting for the other person to “come around”. Begin immediately with a more positive outflow towards others and they will, sooner or later, return it to you.

Funny Catch #1

There is one aspect to this law that those of us who know it observe over and over again. It’s a kind of cosmic joke. WHEN IT COMES BACK IT IS OFTEN FROM SOME PLACE YOU DON’T EXPECT IT.

You are generous with your family – but they continue to treat you as a sucker, a soft touch, and keep bleeding you dry. You continue to be kind and supportive, thinking someday they will return the goodness. They don’t. But then some forgotten neighbour dies and leaves you a tidy sum in her will.

This is an empirical phenomenon, meaning we see it but can’t explain it. But it sure is true.

Funny Catch #2

Unfortunately, when we start to introduce orderly and sweet things into our lives, we often awaken the negative elements. They can be driven out eventually by continuing with the good, though it will try your patience at times. An example would be the irritation and scorn which we might encounter from a spouse when we start to treat them with elemental courtesy and loving tolerance, instead of yelling and sneering (as we MUST have done to be getting it from them, do you see?)

You will see it also if you decide to put your affairs into apple pie order. Half way through the process, your house or apartment will probably look like a bomb has hit it, with stacks of boxes, papers to throw out, dirt from under beds and behind cupboards etc.

The answer, as always, is just keep going. Eventually tidiness and order will surface through the confusion. Don’t be put off by the disorder.

This effect is echoed in a healing principle recognized by all holistic and natural doctors and healers. When we start to treat a disease process the body often reacts sharply with an illness. It is as if the imprint of disease or disorder is being run out, like a play back. Then it goes away, usually for good. The trick is not to “treat” ie. not block the healing process.

Well, the things wrong in your life are a kind of disease process. You can think of this as a healing crisis at work. Don’t stop.