“I have not failed 1,000 times. I have successfully discovered 1,000 ways to not make a light bulb.”

— Thomas Edison

The topic of success and failure came up recently in a conversation with one of my mentoring clients.

He said no matter which business strategies he tried in getting a new venture off the ground he failed. He said failure had been a challenge for him in just about everything he did.

I told him life is never fair or unfair; it’s how we choose to see life that determines our experience.

“You have not really been failing at all,” I told him. “You have only succeeded at what the world has labeled failing.” Perspective is everything isn’t it?

Arnold Schwarzenegger is credited with having said, “Failure is not an option. Everyone has to succeed.”

According to the universal law of cause and effect, he is absolutely correct.

The universe operates solely on the law of success, which I refer to as the “yes” factor: It takes our deepest thoughts and beliefs about ourselves and life and says, “Yes, if this is what you believe, I agree!”

It doesn’t matter if the beliefs are positive or negative because, either way, the universe conspires to help us succeed in bringing those beliefs to fruition.

This is not new information. In 470 B.C., Buddha said, “All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think, we become.” This is the yes factor in action.

I wonder how many of us take time to look at those areas in our lives that appear not to be working and realize we are succeeding at failing.

This is not meant to be a pithy statement; it is our spiritual reality. In “The Science of Mind” Dr. Ernest Holmes wrote, “If one appears to have failed, he should realize there are no failures in the Universe. He should completely erase the idea of failure by stating there are no failures. Now here is where it looks as if one were not telling the truth to himself, but he is declaring the truth about the Spirit that indwells him. This spirit never fails.”

In essence, there is only one Creative Law that we use in many different ways.

To say that life is either fair or unfair is to declare that the law is whimsical and judgmental, and it is not. It operates the same for everyone, just as the sun shines or the rain falls equally on each of us.

As attentive students we have the opportunity to look at all the different areas in our lives and witness the law of success working flawlessly.

As an example: You may be succeeding in your relationships, but when it comes to prosperity, you may be succeeding at failing.

You have used the same law of success, manifesting two different results.

The law of success is energy in motion, and, as Buddha inferred, your mind directs where it goes, so choose to direct the law in a manner that changes your experience of it. You can begin by introducing some new and conscious intentions regarding those areas where “success” has shown up as failure.

It can start with a shift in perception that changes not only how you see where you currently are but how you feel about it. Get excited because, irrespective of results, you have demonstrated your ability to use the law of success. Now that you are mindfully aware of it, you are its master.

If up until now your perception has been that “life isn’t fair,” I lovingly quote my dear old mom’s response to me as a kid whenever I droned that same sentiment.

She would say: “Honey, the fair is in Pomona. Get over it.”

Life may not always seem fair, but it is continuously offering us the opportunity to prove it is wonderful. Always remember, failure is not an option; you are hardwired to succeed.

Dennis Merritt Jones is a local spiritual mentor, keynote speaker and author of the book “The Art of Being: 101 Ways to Practice Purpose in Your Life.” Contact him at www.DennisMerrittJones.com.