Maybe pessimism is not the ‘kill all’ that we’re led to believe it is. Or, maybe it’s not an idea that is easily understood. For example, maybe a person calls their self a pessimist in order to appear rational, sensible or realistic, because they believe others value that quality. But maybe, on the inside, they’re anything BUT pessimists. Maybe, on the inside they’re anything BUT rational or realistic.

I’m just tossing these ideas out there because, what with the great success and storm of interest in the ‘Twilight’ stories and movies, I wanted to find out something about the author, and her mindset. I found the bit below, where she says she’s a pessimist, and it made me wonder, “Is she really? Or, is she just saying she is, so others will feel more comfortable with her?”

A reader’s question to Stephenie:

Did you think that your books would have such a huge impact on readers? —Gail Schulman, Warren N.J.

Stephenie: Gosh no! And I keep getting surprised. When Twilight hit the New York Times bestseller list at number 5, for me that was the pinnacle, that was the moment. I never thought I would be there. And I keep having moments like that where you just stop and say, wait a minute — how is this still going up? I'm waiting for the rug to be pulled out from under me. I have from day one because I'm kind of a pessimist. But it just keeps being huge and no, I had no idea. I still have no idea.

From: http://www.time.com/time/magaz...71,1834663-2,00.html

What do you think? Do you believe Stephenie really is a pessimist? If so, how do you think her pessimism will impact her life? One of the things prosperity teacher, Bob Proctor says is, never worry that you’re going to lose some good you get or that you want to get. Yet, here is Stephenie saying she’s “waiting for the rug to be pulled out from under me.” Do you think she’s really concerned? Do you think she's setting herself up for the "rug to be pulled out"? Or, do you think she’s just being humble? Maybe, inside, she really believes this is all just terrific? What do you think?

Whatever you think, we’ll at least be able to know somewhat how her life goes, since it seems her life is now being played out for all to see.

Phil

Twilight is making a lot of people rich. Is it possible that the vision, faith and purpose of others involved in the process are pushing it to the heights it has attained and she is just along for the ride?

I'm also just tossing the idea out as she is not the first person I have heard or read of who obtained success despite a negative attitude. Imagine if her editor or publisher had dreams and a firm vision of putting out a best seller. Someone's book has to be that best seller.

Perhaps the marketing director had a vision. Dan Brown has said he believes the success of The DaVinci Code is owed entirely to the marketing person behind it, and had they been the marketer of Angels and Demons instead, it would have been the book topping all the charts as opposed to The Davinci Code. He put the same time, love and effort into both books.

Could is also be that Twilight is simply a good book? Can a writer without a vision, but who is doing what they were put here to do, and loving it, write a great book? As I mentioned in another post, she wrote it for herself and had no intention of showing it to anyone. Her sister pushed her to publish it. I also mentioned the writer of The Crow, who lost his girlfriend in a car accident and put all his anger into the pages of that story, with no plans to publish it. It also became a huge franchise with multiple movies.

I think what Stephanie Meyer is saying what many people actually believe, that when you get rich you could lose it all at any moment. At the same time, the experience itself must contribute to her faith and belief. If people are constantly telling her how great she is, she may just come to believe it and her reality will enforce her belief. Nothing wrong with getting caught up with "what is" when "what is" is fame and fortune, right? She already has successful, and best selling, books outside the Twilight series, so while she may have been completely sincere when she said that, her reality will probably eventually sink in, she'll believe it and therefore keep going.

Then again, maybe I'm too much of an optimist.

They say that stories are successful when they resonate with mythic themes or the collective unconscious. Maybe Twilight has that (not that I've seen it or read any - I have seen a few interviews with the stars and clips about the tussle between two men for the love of a girl.) When I studied children's literature some years ago we did a whole term on myths and it was pointed out that Harry Potter story lines were Greek myths reworked.

Maybe the author of Twilight didn't realise the power of her writing because she was writing it for herself, but it tapped into the universe or the thinking stuff in a way that others relate to.

I think you can be doing something great without realising it - maybe it is even easier to do that way.

cheers
Pauline

quote:

Maybe the author of Twilight didn't realise the power of her writing because she was writing it for herself,...

I think you can be doing something great without realising it - maybe it is even easier to do that way.

I think I found something along that line of thought, from Stephenie, the 'Twilight' author. She says, in order to be happy when she writes, she has to get to where she believes she's only writing for herself.

From: http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow...tephenie-Meyer-Video

“The way I write, it’s what makes me happy. I can’t write when I feel like people are looking over my shoulder. So, I have to tell myself that this book I’m not going to publish. It’s only for me. It’s never going to leave my computer. And, I have to really believe that to be able to work on it.”

It seems to me, this is something we all can do. That is, with whatever it is we do (the 'action' part of life) first figure out how to do it in such a way as to FEEL GOOD in/with the doing of it.

This, to me, seems to fit with what we're learning, about how to manifest the life experiences we want.

"Ths Universe responds to how you feel." Esther Hicks

Phil

quote:

Originally posted by Phil:

I think I found something along that line of thought, from Stephenie, the 'Twilight' author. She says, in order to be happy when she writes, she has to get to where she believes she's only writing for herself.

From: http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow...tephenie-Meyer-Video

“The way I write, it’s what makes me happy. I can’t write when I feel like people are looking over my shoulder. So, I have to tell myself that this book I’m not going to publish. It’s only for me. It’s never going to leave my computer. And, I have to really believe that to be able to work on it.”

OMG That is it. That is the "thing" that has been kicking around in my head for the past two days! I decided Friday that I was in doubt and indecision and that it was time to spend a day or two contemplating my vision and being in earnest thanksgiving that I was getting it.

I learned a lot just spending that much time with my own thought. What you found there is like a perfect summation of everything I think I was being led to. It's more than I want to write about here, so I will make another post.

Thanks for finding that!

quote:

Originally posted by Sharma:
They say that stories are successful when they resonate with mythic themes or the collective unconscious. Maybe Twilight has that (not that I've seen it or read any - I have seen a few interviews with the stars and clips about the tussle between two men for the love of a girl.) When I studied children's literature some years ago we did a whole term on myths and it was pointed out that Harry Potter story lines were Greek myths reworked.

Maybe the author of Twilight didn't realise the power of her writing because she was writing it for herself, but it tapped into the universe or the thinking stuff in a way that others relate to.

I think you can be doing something great without realising it - maybe it is even easier to do that way.

cheers
Pauline

I both agree and disagree with that. I definitely think that "tapping into universal themes" can be both inspired and profitable.

However, the "reverse engineering" of formula writing often produces crap. Just because a literature professor (or student) can recognize similar themes in two different works does not mean that the differences are not important, or that anything with a similar theme will automatically be good. Scholars are good at hind sight, at seeing patters. But unless they are creators as well, they don't necessarily have any idea of the creative process.

In my opinion, Twilight is good because of the poignant and humorous way the author describes the heroine's thoughts and feelings in the book. Without that, who knows if these stories would have been as successful?

Regardless, she clearly wrote for the shear joy of it and was rewarded with wonderful experiences as a result.

My we all find something that we love so much that we do it "just for us!"

Love and blessings,
Rachel

I too have noticed when some people succeed at something that they are surprised. I think that a couple things are happening:

1 when you do something with passion, you let go of the need for an outcome, the present moment joy is all the reward and so the underlying vibration is in alignment with success on a wider scale
2.because the focus is not on a future moment being better than this one, life is free to manifest the underlying vibrations.

That's what seems to me to be consistent with LOA.

So the one saying she is pessimistic is an after thought based on one level of consciousness, and if her base belief is a negative one, she will return to that place in time also. But hopefully she can believe that she is worthy of success now.

It seems to me that too often we spend time doing what we don't really enjoy but think that it's what we need to do for success rather than being completely focused on the joy right now and letting the universe take care of the details.

Angelo, that is the best way of putting that I've seen so far!

The joy in doing can create benefits we haven't even imagined!

Thanks for that simple and clear idea.

Love and blessings,
Rachel

My take on in this is that we clearly cannot be absolutely sure what a person is thinking just simply based on what he/she is saying or behaving.

And we have a myriad number of thoughts bombarding us at any moment in time, and if there is one dominant thought, it shows up every time. that's what a CMI does, keeps our focus and feeling on what feels good about what we desire.

For me, I will much prefer to look at my feelings like a musical scale, the higher the scale, the better I feel, and the results improve. So, in that sense, pessimism is better than outright fear and anxiety, and feeling joyful in whatever degree is definitely better than feeling pessimistic. And up it goes.

And many who study A-H knows, contrast isn't a bad thing at all. In fact, it is what gives "colour" to our lives. the point is not to stay there indefinitely, but to go up the scale of emotions.

hi,
thanks for sharing such a wonderful story. i haven't read the book. my take on this is that the author was acting in the certain way without realizing it and was eventually swept into success and riches. whether she is ready for it or pessimistic is immaterial. As wally says, if we follow the principle whether on purpose or accidentally we will surely get rich. The law works for everyone without discrimination. I believe she is SOGR manifesting.
i don't have her address. i hope someone in this forum who knows will send her a free copy of SOGR so that she will see the light...... if she hasn't already.
Successfully yours.
Abdul.

Abdul,

I tend to agree with Kevsky, in that, it seems to me that people will often say something, but not really mean it.

Regarding this author saying she is pessimistic, I think the facts say otherwise. I think a real pessimist would reject doing anything creative in the first place. Being creative seems to take a bit of optimisim, or at least a sense of carefree-ness or the kind of inquisitiveness that pessimism seems to scorn.

The author now has 3 or 4 successful bestselling books. I think 2 or 3 of her books were turned into movies, and at least the first one was a mega success. I read she has another movie in the works. She has appeared on Oprah and many other TV shows. She’s been interviewed for magazines and on radio. In other words, I think she’s getting comfortable with success.

Just a thought.

Phil

I think what this illustrates is that unless the pessimism is so great that it kills ones ability to take action it is not a problem. She continued to write through it taking action and became successful. Great story

Hmmmm......

When all of our thoughts are a choice I think that I will choose optimism instead!

quote:

“The way I write, it’s what makes me happy. I can’t write when I feel like people are looking over my shoulder. So, I have to tell myself that this book I’m not going to publish. It’s only for me. It’s never going to leave my computer. And, I have to really believe that to be able to work on it.”

That is NOT pessimism by any definition I've ever heard. I completely agree that we can never know the heart or mind of another person, no matter what he or she may say (and, yes, "after the fact.")

She wrote from a place of joy. That's not pessimism. She focused her thought in a way that allowed her to feel happy. That is EXACTLY what thinking in the certain way is all about. She acted for the joy of the action -- writing -- not from a place of "oh, I must take this action in order to be successful."

That's just perfect because there is not enough action in the world to overcome or counteract thought that is focused negatively.

quote:

That's just perfect because there is not enough action in the world to overcome or counteract thought that is focused negatively.

Lightbulb moment, thank you Rebecca for inspiring it. This is exactly why I have not even started on writing my book yet.

Up to now, I had been telling myself that the book had to be new and earth shocking and successful and all that. No wonder I never found the courage to start writing it.



God bless you,

Caroline
My Gift To You: 50,000 Guaranteed Visitors To Your Site

quote:

Originally posted by Rebecca:
She acted for the joy of the action -- writing -- not from a place of "oh, I must take this action in order to be successful."

Very powerful point, and I place I really want to get to.