“Row, row, row your boat Gently down stream Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily Life is but a dream.”

Read on to make your life a merry one full of all that you have dreamed.

Known For Centuries

WYTUG is an acronym for What You Think Upon Grows. That what you think upon or focus upon increases is not a newly discovered fact; many have known it since at least as early as writing of Bible (Phillippians 4:8).

Many more since then have written about this simple and yet profound principle -- Norman Vincent Peale, Napoleon Hill, Agnes Sanford, Dale Carnegie, Joel Goldsmith, to name just a few.

Our thoughts are very powerful; they are our mental magic wands. What we dwell upon becomes our reality. This simple fact is what makes our thoughts so powerful. If you cast your attention upon poverty, you will attract poverty into your life. If you think about illness, you will get sick.

No matter what situation — health, wealth, peace, happiness — thinking about negative side will get you more of negative; concentrating on positive will get you more of positive.

Too simple, you say? It may be simple but it is not easy. Watch your thoughts for a half day. How often do you think of good and positive, and how often of that which you fear or do not want? Many of us think much more about bad things in life and imagine these fears coming to pass.

Not a good move! Fearing a thing invites it to become manifest in your life. Think miracles instead. Wonderful, enchanting, golden miracles.

Fear, Fear Everywhere

Why do many of us find our thoughts drawn not to wondrous, marvelous, triumphant, but to pessimistic, fatalistic, creepy?

Never mind fact that she already owns a Veterinarian Barbie, Lifesaver Barbie, Prom Queen Barbie, two Barbie Ballerinas and a Prince Ken... She's got Barbie's Beach House, a Barbie Steering Wheel, two Barbie autos that each seat four, a Barbie tape player, Barbie Hair and Makeup Model, Barbie Nail Designer Software, and a big box full of clothes. But Megan wants to have a *collection*, a peculiarly human urge understood well by Mattel Toy Company, which comes up with all this stuff.

It's too bad they don't make a Work at Home Mom Barbie. If they did, they could draw on life of Ruth Handler for inspiration. Handler, who passed away last week, is best known as inventor of Barbie doll. She was also one of most successful female entrepreneurs of all time, beginning in an era when women were expected to stay in kitchen and out of boardroom.

Like many of us, Ruth's career as an entrepreneur began by accident. Money was tight when she married her husband, Elliot. She was working as a secretary and he was studying industrial design. He decided to use his skills to make some housewares for their apartment. *She* decided that there was a market for them. They operated their first business out of their garage. Ruth handled sales, which reached $2 million within first few years... and that was in 1945 dollars. Today that amount would equal ten times as much!

Ruth and Elliot joined with another designer, Harold "Matt" Mattson, to form Mattel Company (named for Matt and Elliot). They manufactured picture frames. Elliot realized that he could take wood scraps from frames and turn them into doll furniture. This side business proved to be so successful that company changed its focus to toys.

The folks at Mattel credit Ruth with playing an integral role in their success. Her natural talent as a marketer helped company turn a profit its very first year as a toymaker. But her biggest was her ability to identify a market void and fill it ("niche marketing," which is what experts all tell us we should be doing.)