My husband is my inspiration!
It seems that for years my husband has been struggling in his career. I mean, he's been doing well, moving upward, so in many respects succeeding, but he hasn't been happy. He would work long hours and stress and struggle and it was hard on his health and hard on our family. My husband has been in the electronic games industry for at least two decades, riding the waves of changes in gaming. He loves games and is passionate about them, so why was his job such a constant struggle?
Then one day my husband had a realization. He was sacrificing so much for his job, too much. He wanted more time with the family, and more time enjoying activities out side of work that he was passionate about. He has always been a gamer, been a Dungeon Master and player. He enjoys all kinds of games from board games to card games to role playing games, but ultimately, what he really was, was a story teller. What he loved to do most was to create believable characters in rich environments and then share those stories with friends in interactive ways. He could provide the world and the obstacles and a variety of choices and then let his players run amok in his kingdom, bringing the world alive to discover whole new depths of mysteries and magic.
It was the day that my husband said, "I'm a DM. I want to tell stories and pursue crafts, like miniature painting, that supports what I love today, instead of spending all my time doing other things with my time and never getting around to it." He decided to refocus his life to make room for gaming, instead of constantly sacrificing what he loved for what he felt he "should" be doing.
And that was the key because what he thought he should be doing, and what the Universe had waiting for him were two entirely different things. Once he made this choice, the world opened to him and his life became wonderful.
He added more gaming into his life, DMing for his local game store, for co-workers and friends, devising new ways to deliver his stories. He joined games that others were running that he just didn't think he had time for before, but now he knew he really didn't want to do without. Thus came opportunity. He made some very good friends and found opportunities in line with his passion knocking on his door.
Now don't get me wrong here, it wasn't easy. There was a lot of hard work to be done because he did this in addition to a very demanding job and without neglecting his commitments to family. He did it all, but he did it with a new found joy and purpose that has led to many great improvements in his career and in the happiness of our time together as a family.
He is now an Imagineer for Disney and I can't think of a job that could possibly be more fun and family friendly than that! He generally works reasonable hours. No more of the 80- to 100-hour work weeks that the games industry all too often demands. He does excellent work and is appreciated for his efforts. He gets to work with a really spectacular bunch of incredibly intelligent and gifted people who are also passionate about what they do. He has time for family and time to game and pursue those related hobbies with the family. He's learning every day, both on the job and off, and from where I stand it looks like he's enjoying just about every minute of it.
We look back together at the choices he has made in his life, and we can pinpoint the moment that everything changed for him. The one decision. To follow his passion. That decision, and taking action on that decision, led him down a path that opened up a world of possibilities for him, and for us as a family.
I look at my life now and I know that I need to make some changes. My husband is my inspiration, and I realize I am in the cycle he was in before he made this life change. All too often I put aside my passion to focus on what I think I "should" be doing with my time, instead of pursuing my mission on Earth.
What is my passion? What is my mission? For me, my passion is my children. For me, my mission is to educate children as thinkers and doers. To help raise the next generation of children in my life with a quality Leadership Education, and to help pass on the word to as many adults as possible that they too can pursue a Leadership Education if they so choose. That we are all thinkers and doers capable of greatness. That the path to a strong country full of liberty and freedom is to have a nation of citizens who are truly educated and inspired by the great thinkers of the past and of the present. To understand our founding fathers and mothers and know what they have sacrificed for us, and why it is important to remain free. To join the Great Conversation and keep going this amazing experiment in freedom and liberty because all humans are capable of understanding and genius.
To this end, I've opened a private school in Southern California, The Whole Brain Academy of Arts and Science. I'm selling books because that is in line with both my passion and my mission. I believe that I am finally on the right path, and the Universe will let me know if this is true.
I hope you'll check out our new website and my blog there too, and maybe buy a book or two for yourself, or your children, or your school or community. It's time to take back our voices and join the Conversation, and insure that our children are ready to rise to the challenges ahead of them.
www.wholebrainacademy.webs.com
Monday, September 19, 2011
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Do I Really Need Another Program, Another Book, Another List?
After seeing the movie, The Secret, I got all excited about this whole concept again. This manifesting things in my life, conscious living. So of course I looked up the folks from the movie on the internet and looked at all the cool stuff out there. I like the idea of making Vision Boards, or Dream Boards (this is where you make a poster of the things you want to achieve/have and then use that to focus your positive energy), so I finally settled on the MindMovies2.0 program.
With MindMovies2.0 I could make movies with stock footage, affirmations and music to make a little multimedia extravaganza out of my Vision Boards. Sounded like fun, the launch price was half off and included a cornucopia of exciting freebies.
I don't know if MindMovies2.0 is any good, I haven't gotten to it yet. I downloaded all the free programs, books, audios, went to all the websites, joined the lists to get the freebies... and... well, I just can't get through them all and I haven't even made it back to the movie thing yet.
What strikes me about all this is that manifesting is inherently easy. There's just not a whole lot to it. Simply define, visualize with feeling, let it go, act on the opportunities the universe offers and receive.
All these programs promise new information and new secrets to be revealed and all kinds of new fun things, and for the most part, they're all just variations on the same theme. That's okay though, because I have found that the hardest part about manifesting for me is staying focused, staying positive so that I don't go countering my own intentions with self-defeating thoughts and feelings about my goals. The down side is that there is so much out there to look at that seems interesting that I'm putting too much attention on the research and not enough attention on just getting my work done. For example, if I don't finish that book it's never going to get published. I can pray, meditate, wish, visualize with all the feeling I can muster what a great experience it is to sell that book for a bazillion dollars, but if I never write the book.... nothing happens, how could it?
Now I understand all these fine folks are well meaning. They've had great gains and positive experiences and they want to share them with you. They also have goals of their own and this seems a worthy way to give service and get the money they need to manifest the prizes. I'm just feeling a little overloaded and overwhelmed. I bought one program that looked fun, and then got bombarded with a whole bunch of others and a constant stream of email shouting at me to ACT NOW! Get it while it's hot!
Every time I see another email about Manifesting and The Secret, the first thought that jumps into my head is, "Do I really need another program? Isn't this a really simple process? Could there possibly be some other thing that I've somehow missed? I don't think so."
I've decided to keep it fun. Go back to the beginning. There was a time that I was manifesting consciously and getting amazing results, (see my previous posts). I can see how my attitudes and ideas have brought about so much in my life, whether I liked it at the time or not.
I really really DON'T need another book, program, or email subscription to remind me to keep on track. It's great when you're starting something new to immerse yourself in the concepts, but now I'm ready to move on. Pick the fun things, like making Vision Boards and trying out the Mind Movies (finally), and spending the bulk of that precious "free" time actually achieving my goals.
Cheers!
Kelle
With MindMovies2.0 I could make movies with stock footage, affirmations and music to make a little multimedia extravaganza out of my Vision Boards. Sounded like fun, the launch price was half off and included a cornucopia of exciting freebies.
I don't know if MindMovies2.0 is any good, I haven't gotten to it yet. I downloaded all the free programs, books, audios, went to all the websites, joined the lists to get the freebies... and... well, I just can't get through them all and I haven't even made it back to the movie thing yet.
What strikes me about all this is that manifesting is inherently easy. There's just not a whole lot to it. Simply define, visualize with feeling, let it go, act on the opportunities the universe offers and receive.
All these programs promise new information and new secrets to be revealed and all kinds of new fun things, and for the most part, they're all just variations on the same theme. That's okay though, because I have found that the hardest part about manifesting for me is staying focused, staying positive so that I don't go countering my own intentions with self-defeating thoughts and feelings about my goals. The down side is that there is so much out there to look at that seems interesting that I'm putting too much attention on the research and not enough attention on just getting my work done. For example, if I don't finish that book it's never going to get published. I can pray, meditate, wish, visualize with all the feeling I can muster what a great experience it is to sell that book for a bazillion dollars, but if I never write the book.... nothing happens, how could it?
Now I understand all these fine folks are well meaning. They've had great gains and positive experiences and they want to share them with you. They also have goals of their own and this seems a worthy way to give service and get the money they need to manifest the prizes. I'm just feeling a little overloaded and overwhelmed. I bought one program that looked fun, and then got bombarded with a whole bunch of others and a constant stream of email shouting at me to ACT NOW! Get it while it's hot!
Every time I see another email about Manifesting and The Secret, the first thought that jumps into my head is, "Do I really need another program? Isn't this a really simple process? Could there possibly be some other thing that I've somehow missed? I don't think so."
I've decided to keep it fun. Go back to the beginning. There was a time that I was manifesting consciously and getting amazing results, (see my previous posts). I can see how my attitudes and ideas have brought about so much in my life, whether I liked it at the time or not.
I really really DON'T need another book, program, or email subscription to remind me to keep on track. It's great when you're starting something new to immerse yourself in the concepts, but now I'm ready to move on. Pick the fun things, like making Vision Boards and trying out the Mind Movies (finally), and spending the bulk of that precious "free" time actually achieving my goals.
Cheers!
Kelle
Thursday, August 26, 2010
When Opportunity Knocks
After watching "The Secret," reading tons of books, blogs, programs, listening to audios from many different sources, it seems that all the gurus are saying pretty much the same thing. How I have come to understand the Law of Attraction comes down to this formula:
1. Define what you want.
2. Imagine what you want in the PRESENT TENSE with as much emotion as you can attach to it.
3. Let it go. Let that idea go out there into the Universe and don't dwell on it.
4. When opportunity knocks, open the door.
5. Receive.
The biggest problem I have been having personally is that when opportunity knocks I'm afraid to say no. There was a while there that my life was going really well. By that I mean, I was very happy in my day to day life. I was taking care of my children and pursuing my art and my writing. I was moderating a Science Fiction Writer's Workshop once a week, making fun illustrations, doing some batiks and spending enormous amounts of time with my family and friends.
Then for some reason I decided I still hadn't "made it." You know, that golden ring hanging just out of reach that surely will bring you great wealth and security. We were doing okay, and like I said, I was truly happy. However, we weren't saving any money for the future. The kids are going to get older and there will be college expenses, and what about unexpected expenses and how are we going to retire someday? Mostly I think I felt like I "Should" be contributing more to our financial security as a family. (I'd talk more about that, but that's a whole other rant about expectations placed on women today).
When opportunity knocked I felt like I had to do it. Like maybe I don't have a right to be happy in my place as wife and mother and friend, maybe I have to put Successful Entrepreneur on my resume too doing projects for other people instead of following my own passions.
When a friend had a really fantastic idea for a website I said yes, yes, I'll do that art. When another friend heard about the first, yes, yes, I'll do that too. I mean, one of these projects could be that thing that gets me to that magical peak. And more projects heaped themselves on my doorstep and I thought that for sure, if one of these just panned out a hit I'd be set. All the while thinking, "I really don't want to do this. This isn't my project. I was so happy. Do I have a right to be happy when my husband is struggling to support us?"
Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the work, it's not like I suffered. It's just that it didn't feel right. It wasn't "my thing." As long as I was working on other people's projects, even when I had some ownership, I felt like I was spinning my wheels, like I didn't have control of my own future and I wasn't sure that working on these projects was a future I even wanted beyond the material security. The more I seized opportunities just because they presented themselves, or because I felt like I "should" help this or that person, the more I felt like I was failing. Success was still something out there in the future somewhere. Once I had success, then I could be happy.
Wait. Back up. There it is, I said it: "Once I had success, then I could be happy." Thing is, I was happy before I started down that path. I just didn't think I deserved that happiness. I look back at all that time I could have been spending pursuing my own passions, and maybe they wouldn't have panned out, but damnit, I would have been happy doing them and heck, maybe I'd be rich right now, who knows?
So I'm looking back at the step in the Law of Attraction formula where we act on inspired ideas because we don't know how the Universe is going to deliver our wishes. Yes, absolutely, when opportunity knocks whip that sucker open with all your might, but if what's standing on the other side isn't your passion, it's knocking on the wrong door. It was meant for that guy or gal down the street who would love nothing more than to have that opportunity.
How do you know which opportunities are the right ones? If you're following your passion and doing what you love, those are the right ones.
Lets put that to the test, shall we?
Right now I'm working on an illustrated kids book/app that I plan to release in the Apple app store. I'm also meeting with a friend once a week to work on our writing together. I'm working on an urban fantasy novel. I'm having a lot of fun! I'm really enjoying myself, feeling good about my work for the first time in a long time, and yes, I am happy.
I said it here on August 26th, 2010, just 4 hours before I turn 42 years old. Should I give finishing these two books a deadline to get them done and out there? I'm not sure. Some gurus say yes, some say no. Right now I'm with the nos because at this moment I'm having so much fun doing them I don't want to ruin it with self-inflicted stress, but if I change my mind I'll post it here. When those books do go out I'll come back and explore this blog and see what I can add to the idea of following your passions first.
Define your desires, ask for them, let them fly free and wait for the Universe to bless you with those inspired ideas to act on. If you really want to be successful follow your passions and receive abundance with joy.
Cheers!
Kelle
1. Define what you want.
2. Imagine what you want in the PRESENT TENSE with as much emotion as you can attach to it.
3. Let it go. Let that idea go out there into the Universe and don't dwell on it.
4. When opportunity knocks, open the door.
5. Receive.
The biggest problem I have been having personally is that when opportunity knocks I'm afraid to say no. There was a while there that my life was going really well. By that I mean, I was very happy in my day to day life. I was taking care of my children and pursuing my art and my writing. I was moderating a Science Fiction Writer's Workshop once a week, making fun illustrations, doing some batiks and spending enormous amounts of time with my family and friends.
Then for some reason I decided I still hadn't "made it." You know, that golden ring hanging just out of reach that surely will bring you great wealth and security. We were doing okay, and like I said, I was truly happy. However, we weren't saving any money for the future. The kids are going to get older and there will be college expenses, and what about unexpected expenses and how are we going to retire someday? Mostly I think I felt like I "Should" be contributing more to our financial security as a family. (I'd talk more about that, but that's a whole other rant about expectations placed on women today).
When opportunity knocked I felt like I had to do it. Like maybe I don't have a right to be happy in my place as wife and mother and friend, maybe I have to put Successful Entrepreneur on my resume too doing projects for other people instead of following my own passions.
When a friend had a really fantastic idea for a website I said yes, yes, I'll do that art. When another friend heard about the first, yes, yes, I'll do that too. I mean, one of these projects could be that thing that gets me to that magical peak. And more projects heaped themselves on my doorstep and I thought that for sure, if one of these just panned out a hit I'd be set. All the while thinking, "I really don't want to do this. This isn't my project. I was so happy. Do I have a right to be happy when my husband is struggling to support us?"
Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the work, it's not like I suffered. It's just that it didn't feel right. It wasn't "my thing." As long as I was working on other people's projects, even when I had some ownership, I felt like I was spinning my wheels, like I didn't have control of my own future and I wasn't sure that working on these projects was a future I even wanted beyond the material security. The more I seized opportunities just because they presented themselves, or because I felt like I "should" help this or that person, the more I felt like I was failing. Success was still something out there in the future somewhere. Once I had success, then I could be happy.
Wait. Back up. There it is, I said it: "Once I had success, then I could be happy." Thing is, I was happy before I started down that path. I just didn't think I deserved that happiness. I look back at all that time I could have been spending pursuing my own passions, and maybe they wouldn't have panned out, but damnit, I would have been happy doing them and heck, maybe I'd be rich right now, who knows?
So I'm looking back at the step in the Law of Attraction formula where we act on inspired ideas because we don't know how the Universe is going to deliver our wishes. Yes, absolutely, when opportunity knocks whip that sucker open with all your might, but if what's standing on the other side isn't your passion, it's knocking on the wrong door. It was meant for that guy or gal down the street who would love nothing more than to have that opportunity.
How do you know which opportunities are the right ones? If you're following your passion and doing what you love, those are the right ones.
Lets put that to the test, shall we?
Right now I'm working on an illustrated kids book/app that I plan to release in the Apple app store. I'm also meeting with a friend once a week to work on our writing together. I'm working on an urban fantasy novel. I'm having a lot of fun! I'm really enjoying myself, feeling good about my work for the first time in a long time, and yes, I am happy.
I said it here on August 26th, 2010, just 4 hours before I turn 42 years old. Should I give finishing these two books a deadline to get them done and out there? I'm not sure. Some gurus say yes, some say no. Right now I'm with the nos because at this moment I'm having so much fun doing them I don't want to ruin it with self-inflicted stress, but if I change my mind I'll post it here. When those books do go out I'll come back and explore this blog and see what I can add to the idea of following your passions first.
Define your desires, ask for them, let them fly free and wait for the Universe to bless you with those inspired ideas to act on. If you really want to be successful follow your passions and receive abundance with joy.
Cheers!
Kelle
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
For the Kids
I've been wondering lately if I'm doing my kids justice with this whole Law of Attraction thing. I've tried to emphasize to my children that they have choices in life, tried to identify their needs and help them to find creative and positive ways to get those needs met while also honoring the needs of those around them, and even helped them to set goals and encouraged them to achieve them even when there was no end in sight and we didn't know how to make it all come about.
With the younger kids it seems almost easier because they don't have much lack mentality built up from life's disappointments. We practice Non-Violent Communication as taught by Parenting Coach Bill Stierle.
We've learned over time to help the kids to identify their needs, how they are feeling, and we explore how they affect the people around them. It seems the toughest issues for our youngest is, "How do I get that toy away from my friend and into my own hands RIGHT NOW!?" We teach our children about sharing, taking turns, and positive ways to get what they want, while honoring what their friends want as well. It's not always easy, but they eventually get it.
My older kids, however, are just moving into those rough teen years. My 13-year-old is all ready shaving and has a girlfriend, and my soon-to-be-12-year-old starts middle school in two weeks. With the changes in biology and all the raging and shifting hormones even simple tasks can seem impossible while their minds are fixated on these new teen needs. Being accepted by their peers is of paramount importance to them. It seems all their attention is focused on how to fit in with the people they want to be around. What better way to build a person's self-esteem than to teach them how to go for the things they want in life with the understanding that they are worthy of happiness, friendship and acceptance, a safe environment to live in, that they are free now to explore their interests and set themselves up with a rich and rewarding career and life. To keep their eye on the prize even as their lives heave and shift around them.
Of course, as parents, we can never understand right? I've found that always keeping the dialog open with my kids about growing up, about our bodies, about our life experiences, goes a long way. I believe that parents should be the authority figures in children's lives, they do want and need boundaries; but I also believe that there are no better people to hear their feelings where they know they are always safe to say what is on their minds than Mom and Dad. We will always love them. Even if we don't like the behavior, we love the child, and that is so important to get across.
As my kids have grown I've been torn between the idea that kids left with too much time on their hands are going to entertain themselves with things you'd rather they weren't doing, and at the same time I don't want to over schedule them so that they have no free time to be kids. There's a tough balance to find! I have to trust them out on their own with their friends and I've found that the best way to be able to do that is to have an open dialog where they know they are safe to tell me everything. Where they are confident in themselves that they don't need to do really stupid things to gain acceptance, because they can accept themselves and know that they are loved unconditionally.
By the Law of Attraction they bring into their lives good, positive, intelligent people, great opportunities, enjoyable outings and activities. When kids know they have choices, when they feel they have the right to pick and choose thier friends, their goals, their environments, then they have the freedom to be themselves and achieve great things. For teens the world is their oyster, the potential is limitless and they're just getting to the age where they can really start to understand that and how it serves them.
Too many children don't know they have choices. They feel trapped and limited. They let the world push them along and toss them onto any nearby shore, waiting for some unimagined future where they will someday have the power to pick something better from the flotsam around them. They see what is right before them and think that is all there is, their only options. Stuck in circumstance.
Circumstance though is what we make of it, and certainly what we have attracted into our lives, like it or not. How do we teach success to our children? Set them up for success. Start the dialog and then help them with little victories that they can expand on and grow.
My eldest son started by wanting an ipod Touch. It took a long time, but he eventually got it. Now he's set his sights on creating his own gaming website. How can a 13-year-old make his own business? Well, he's gotten different friends on board to do various jobs in the project, he's learning about programming and business, he's even thinking creatively about marketing and tie-in products and how he can make his site more fun and engaging. He's building the kinds of games that he and his friends like to play. He's known for years he wants to own a business, and all ready sells gum and candy and is constantly looking for the right products to fills the needs of his peers. He looks for what people want, tries to fill that need and in the mean time works to fill his own needs. He knows he can do it. He's all ready successful in his mind and what the mind can conceive he can achieve.
Greatness lies is believing you can, knowing you have options, asking the universe for what you want, keeping open to the possible ways in which it may manifest and taking the actions necessary.
I think I'm doing okay with my kids, time will tell.
With the younger kids it seems almost easier because they don't have much lack mentality built up from life's disappointments. We practice Non-Violent Communication as taught by Parenting Coach Bill Stierle.
We've learned over time to help the kids to identify their needs, how they are feeling, and we explore how they affect the people around them. It seems the toughest issues for our youngest is, "How do I get that toy away from my friend and into my own hands RIGHT NOW!?" We teach our children about sharing, taking turns, and positive ways to get what they want, while honoring what their friends want as well. It's not always easy, but they eventually get it.
My older kids, however, are just moving into those rough teen years. My 13-year-old is all ready shaving and has a girlfriend, and my soon-to-be-12-year-old starts middle school in two weeks. With the changes in biology and all the raging and shifting hormones even simple tasks can seem impossible while their minds are fixated on these new teen needs. Being accepted by their peers is of paramount importance to them. It seems all their attention is focused on how to fit in with the people they want to be around. What better way to build a person's self-esteem than to teach them how to go for the things they want in life with the understanding that they are worthy of happiness, friendship and acceptance, a safe environment to live in, that they are free now to explore their interests and set themselves up with a rich and rewarding career and life. To keep their eye on the prize even as their lives heave and shift around them.
Of course, as parents, we can never understand right? I've found that always keeping the dialog open with my kids about growing up, about our bodies, about our life experiences, goes a long way. I believe that parents should be the authority figures in children's lives, they do want and need boundaries; but I also believe that there are no better people to hear their feelings where they know they are always safe to say what is on their minds than Mom and Dad. We will always love them. Even if we don't like the behavior, we love the child, and that is so important to get across.
As my kids have grown I've been torn between the idea that kids left with too much time on their hands are going to entertain themselves with things you'd rather they weren't doing, and at the same time I don't want to over schedule them so that they have no free time to be kids. There's a tough balance to find! I have to trust them out on their own with their friends and I've found that the best way to be able to do that is to have an open dialog where they know they are safe to tell me everything. Where they are confident in themselves that they don't need to do really stupid things to gain acceptance, because they can accept themselves and know that they are loved unconditionally.
By the Law of Attraction they bring into their lives good, positive, intelligent people, great opportunities, enjoyable outings and activities. When kids know they have choices, when they feel they have the right to pick and choose thier friends, their goals, their environments, then they have the freedom to be themselves and achieve great things. For teens the world is their oyster, the potential is limitless and they're just getting to the age where they can really start to understand that and how it serves them.
Too many children don't know they have choices. They feel trapped and limited. They let the world push them along and toss them onto any nearby shore, waiting for some unimagined future where they will someday have the power to pick something better from the flotsam around them. They see what is right before them and think that is all there is, their only options. Stuck in circumstance.
Circumstance though is what we make of it, and certainly what we have attracted into our lives, like it or not. How do we teach success to our children? Set them up for success. Start the dialog and then help them with little victories that they can expand on and grow.
My eldest son started by wanting an ipod Touch. It took a long time, but he eventually got it. Now he's set his sights on creating his own gaming website. How can a 13-year-old make his own business? Well, he's gotten different friends on board to do various jobs in the project, he's learning about programming and business, he's even thinking creatively about marketing and tie-in products and how he can make his site more fun and engaging. He's building the kinds of games that he and his friends like to play. He's known for years he wants to own a business, and all ready sells gum and candy and is constantly looking for the right products to fills the needs of his peers. He looks for what people want, tries to fill that need and in the mean time works to fill his own needs. He knows he can do it. He's all ready successful in his mind and what the mind can conceive he can achieve.
Greatness lies is believing you can, knowing you have options, asking the universe for what you want, keeping open to the possible ways in which it may manifest and taking the actions necessary.
I think I'm doing okay with my kids, time will tell.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Something Good Today
At the age of 19, I had just gotten the perfect work-at-home job. I had focused on what I wanted and by the Law of Attraction, it came to me. See my previous post "The Perfect Job" for details. This process had worked so well for me, but I still had that itchy little feeling in the back of my head that maybe, just maybe, this was merely coincidence or random good luck. So I decided to test it.
I know from my Sunday School days that you're not supposed to "Test" God, and I felt certain that was exactly what I was doing. I apologized to the Universe and decided to do it anyway. I sat in my chair at my desk and prayed for about 5 minutes. In my prayer I even said, "this is a test, because I really want to know if this works." I thought about my boyfriend. He'd been feeling down lately and I thought wouldn't it be cool if something really nice happened to him today to cheer him up. I thought about why he was a good person, so deserving of having something good happen. I repeated the line, please let something good happen for my boyfriend today, several times and I imagined what a wonderful thing this would be and I felt very happy about it all. Then I opened my eyes and started work for the evening and promptly forgot all about my little experiment.
My boyfriend, meanwhile, had left our little cabin and gone to meet for dinner with a friend he hadn't seen in a while. Hours later, when he returned home, he told me about the very strange evening he had had.
My boyfriend had met with his friend at a diner. They had a nice dinner and sat around talking and sipping coffee for hours. Finally it was time to go and he asked for the check. The waitress gave them their check, but it only had one meal on it, his friend's, and not his. He asked about the error. The waitress was a tall woman, wearing a big smile and a nice white button-up shirt with pretty little flowers, and a big rhinestone pin that spelled out "Jesus." She said, "No, that's no mistake Sugar. Jesus told me to do something good for you today so I all ready took care of your bill." My boyfriend was amazed, he needed the break, but still tried to pay. She wouldn't take his money for the bill, but he left a nice tip.
Now here's the most interesting part of my "test." Being that this happened so many years ago, I can't remember now the exact line that I was saying in my 5-minute prayer, but what struck me the most at the time was that what the woman said to my boyfriend, and what he then repeated back to me, was EXACTLY the line I had been praying. She also knew the table this person she was supposed to do something for was sitting at and his name, but it took a while for her to figure out which of the two men at the table was the right one.
So I was looking for proof, and let me tell you, I certainly got it! Message received loud and clear!
Why then, I've wondered so many times since then, can't I do this kind of thing every single time I try. I think the secret lies in the fact that I didn't really know what I was doing. Sometimes I do it right, and sometimes my very next intentions counter what I had asked for. Sometimes I want something so bad I dwell on it, and then the negative "what-ifs" come in. The lack thoughts that draw in more lack.
Today I think the key to really being successful with the Law of Attraction, of making your intentions solid and real, is to master detachment. When we are so caught up in the outcome that we worry and stress, then we are bringing about more worry and stress instead of the original intention.
The other big problem I've had all these years has been trying to decide what it is that I really want in life. I get so wrapped up in the "what-ifs" in so many ways that I can't decide what the right thing is. Do I want to go here, or do I want to go there? If I don't know, how will the Universe deliver?
Well, in a few days I'm going to be 42 years old. One of the benefits of getting to middle age is that I am becoming really clear about exactly what it is I do want for the second half of my life. I've lived so many great adventures, though now the mystery and excitement of stepping blindly no longer entertains me. I'm ready to create something beautiful and bring joy to as many people as I can.
Cheers!
Kelle
I know from my Sunday School days that you're not supposed to "Test" God, and I felt certain that was exactly what I was doing. I apologized to the Universe and decided to do it anyway. I sat in my chair at my desk and prayed for about 5 minutes. In my prayer I even said, "this is a test, because I really want to know if this works." I thought about my boyfriend. He'd been feeling down lately and I thought wouldn't it be cool if something really nice happened to him today to cheer him up. I thought about why he was a good person, so deserving of having something good happen. I repeated the line, please let something good happen for my boyfriend today, several times and I imagined what a wonderful thing this would be and I felt very happy about it all. Then I opened my eyes and started work for the evening and promptly forgot all about my little experiment.
My boyfriend, meanwhile, had left our little cabin and gone to meet for dinner with a friend he hadn't seen in a while. Hours later, when he returned home, he told me about the very strange evening he had had.
My boyfriend had met with his friend at a diner. They had a nice dinner and sat around talking and sipping coffee for hours. Finally it was time to go and he asked for the check. The waitress gave them their check, but it only had one meal on it, his friend's, and not his. He asked about the error. The waitress was a tall woman, wearing a big smile and a nice white button-up shirt with pretty little flowers, and a big rhinestone pin that spelled out "Jesus." She said, "No, that's no mistake Sugar. Jesus told me to do something good for you today so I all ready took care of your bill." My boyfriend was amazed, he needed the break, but still tried to pay. She wouldn't take his money for the bill, but he left a nice tip.
Now here's the most interesting part of my "test." Being that this happened so many years ago, I can't remember now the exact line that I was saying in my 5-minute prayer, but what struck me the most at the time was that what the woman said to my boyfriend, and what he then repeated back to me, was EXACTLY the line I had been praying. She also knew the table this person she was supposed to do something for was sitting at and his name, but it took a while for her to figure out which of the two men at the table was the right one.
So I was looking for proof, and let me tell you, I certainly got it! Message received loud and clear!
Why then, I've wondered so many times since then, can't I do this kind of thing every single time I try. I think the secret lies in the fact that I didn't really know what I was doing. Sometimes I do it right, and sometimes my very next intentions counter what I had asked for. Sometimes I want something so bad I dwell on it, and then the negative "what-ifs" come in. The lack thoughts that draw in more lack.
Today I think the key to really being successful with the Law of Attraction, of making your intentions solid and real, is to master detachment. When we are so caught up in the outcome that we worry and stress, then we are bringing about more worry and stress instead of the original intention.
The other big problem I've had all these years has been trying to decide what it is that I really want in life. I get so wrapped up in the "what-ifs" in so many ways that I can't decide what the right thing is. Do I want to go here, or do I want to go there? If I don't know, how will the Universe deliver?
Well, in a few days I'm going to be 42 years old. One of the benefits of getting to middle age is that I am becoming really clear about exactly what it is I do want for the second half of my life. I've lived so many great adventures, though now the mystery and excitement of stepping blindly no longer entertains me. I'm ready to create something beautiful and bring joy to as many people as I can.
Cheers!
Kelle
Friday, August 20, 2010
Whether You Like It Or Not
The Law of Attraction works whether we want it to or not, whether we're paying attention or not. What you think about is what you are and what you are becoming, regardless of what you're wishing, hoping, praying and meditating for. What you think becomes your personal reality, the Universe is listening.
What have I been thinking about? I'll tell you, and it's not pretty. Five years ago we moved from a nice big 4-bedroom house in a suburb of Seattle, to a tiny, dark, hideously overpriced 2-bedroom apartment in Santa Monica.
Now there are a lot of really fantastic things about living here in Santa Monica! The schools are exceptional, the beaches are beautiful, the weather is a pleasant 72 degrees practically year round, there's so much to do and see, and frankly, I love the people here. In so many ways my prayers have been answered by moving here (though I did drag myself here kicking and screaming, not wanting to leave the comfort of my known misery in Washington for the unknown of California). The one big drawback in a paradise like this is, so many people want to live here space is at a premium. So we live in a tiny apartment and bless our good fortune of getting to be here, while at the same time cursing the toe stubbings and maneuvering it takes to live with six people in a thousand square feet of space.
We first moved to Santa Monica and jumped into an apartment, hoping to find a good house to live in from there. Five years later, we were still in that 2-bedroom apartment. I need to back up a little bit here and explain the biggest drawback of moving from a comfortably large house into a tiny apartment. It's the stuff.
When we moved, knowing we'd be in an apartment for a while, I donated a ton of stuff to charities, gave things away, threw things away and crammed as much as I could into a storage unit with the idea that it would all either come down to CA later, or we'd move back to WA. I didn't, however, move all the things from my husband's office, not sure what he would need, but confident that he understood our space situation.
He did not.
I drove the kids in the van down to California, the little red Saturn following behind with my husband and our three cats. We spent a glorious month living in a hotel on Venice beach, waiting for our furniture to show up so we could move into our apartment. We actually moved into our apartment a couple days before the furniture did, so I got a good sense of the space we had to work with.
Then disaster struck.
The truck arrived with all our things and guess what, my dearest husband had decided to bring to California EVERYTHING he owned that I hadn't all ready squirreled away to storage. His stuff alone would fill our apartment from floor to ceiling, then add to that my things and the kids things. We were stuck inside a mountain of junk.
I went through the stages of grief in my own crazy order. First denial. I could make this work, really, it's not as much stuff as it seems! Just have to get it out of the boxes, right? Then the depression set in as I realized that no matter how I would push and pull and maneuver it around it was NOT going to fit. My husband worked all day, long hours, while I was stuck to live in this dark cave. Then the anger! How could he?!! I could not live this way! We argued terribly, my husband saying we couldn't afford a storage unit, he didn't want to be parted from his special stuff. It finally came to a head, it was a storage unit or I was going to pack up the kids and head back to Washington. Didn't know how I was going to live, I just knew I couldn't live like this.
Finally my husband relented and we got that storage unit. It was small and it didn't solve the whole problem, but it certainly helped. We got a lot of thing out of the apartment and we could at least function and move around, but we were still living in piles of clutter. A few years of my simmering hate at the clutter and mess, we moved into another unit down the hall. This one was a much better layout and had more sunshine. We were also able to part with a more of our stuff. At last we had an apartment, that though cluttered, had a nice clear open living room. I was elated! We could move through this living room without stubbed toes and tumbling piles. Hooray for me!
Shortly after my happy party began, it ended. My husband, ever acquiring things, walks in the door one day with a giant gaming chair. He gives this chair to my eldest son. It sits in our living room like a 300-pound gorilla. I can't get rid of it now, it was a gift to my son. I fume, silently steaming until it feels as if my head is going to explode. I continue through the stages of grief and finally, after all those years, get to acceptance. I accept that I have no control over my environment, so why bother with it at all? I'll just ignore my environment as much as possible. Who cares if it's messy and cluttered? I GIVE UP!!!
The anger comes again and again. Every time I stub my toe, every time I have to twist sideways to walk through my once open and spacious living room.
I meditate, I define my dream home in minute detail, I imagine and visualize, write my affirmations down 10 times a day. All I want is SPACE. I want a bright, sunny, open space to live in, free of clutter and piles. Clean and glorious! I attached a lot of positive energy toward this wonder place. However, every time I open my eyes I'm faced with the reality of this clutter, this stuff, this horrid place that would be a paradise if not for all our things getting in the way.
Then came the day when the rent control was lifted from our building. While rents were going down all around us, our rent was going up. We had to move. We found a great place, an apartment that we had looked at when we first moved to Santa Monica, but it had been too expensive then. Now with rents going down, we could afford it. Off we moved to a bigger, brighter apartment with a significantly better layout. This wonderful new place has two pools, a jacuzzi and a gym. There are yummy restaurants right here and the grocery is just across the street. We have a Southern exposure and we're smack dab in front of the kids play structure. It's perfect. The best part of all about this place? There's enough space for all our stuff!
Enter the Law of Attraction. It would seem that all my immediate prayers had been answered, would it not? And indeed they were, because you see, even with all my affirmations, the bulk of my attention was on the boxes and the piles and the clutter that I hated. I put a lot of energy into hating all that clutter, certainly more than I put into defining my perfect home.
In the course of packing and moving I hurt my back. Two months later and here we are, still sitting in a maze of boxes and growing piles of clutter as things are pulled from boxes, but do not yet have homes. Oh, we have the space for everything all right, but my older boys are off traveling for summer vacation, my husband is working full time at a new job that's a commute away, and me... I've been stuck in bed with three herniated discs in my low back, while physical therapy and a mother's helper to watch the kids are sucking up all our cash.
The Law of Attraction works. It gives you exactly what you're thinking about, the thoughts that have your attention and your emotional energy. I got everything I was focused on, the good and the bad. Now to turn that around, to be mindful of my thoughts and feelings and use them for the good of all involved.
I am healing nicely. I am happy and grateful for my body's amazing power to heal. Yesterday I walked to the store with the kids (about a block), around the store shopping and then back home again with no pain at all. It was a huge victory for me. I believe I am healed, and now I need to start acting like it. Time to get this house in order, carefully, mindfully, and get what I really want. A nice, spacious, clean environment and a happy healthy family.
What have I been thinking about? I'll tell you, and it's not pretty. Five years ago we moved from a nice big 4-bedroom house in a suburb of Seattle, to a tiny, dark, hideously overpriced 2-bedroom apartment in Santa Monica.
Now there are a lot of really fantastic things about living here in Santa Monica! The schools are exceptional, the beaches are beautiful, the weather is a pleasant 72 degrees practically year round, there's so much to do and see, and frankly, I love the people here. In so many ways my prayers have been answered by moving here (though I did drag myself here kicking and screaming, not wanting to leave the comfort of my known misery in Washington for the unknown of California). The one big drawback in a paradise like this is, so many people want to live here space is at a premium. So we live in a tiny apartment and bless our good fortune of getting to be here, while at the same time cursing the toe stubbings and maneuvering it takes to live with six people in a thousand square feet of space.
We first moved to Santa Monica and jumped into an apartment, hoping to find a good house to live in from there. Five years later, we were still in that 2-bedroom apartment. I need to back up a little bit here and explain the biggest drawback of moving from a comfortably large house into a tiny apartment. It's the stuff.
When we moved, knowing we'd be in an apartment for a while, I donated a ton of stuff to charities, gave things away, threw things away and crammed as much as I could into a storage unit with the idea that it would all either come down to CA later, or we'd move back to WA. I didn't, however, move all the things from my husband's office, not sure what he would need, but confident that he understood our space situation.
He did not.
I drove the kids in the van down to California, the little red Saturn following behind with my husband and our three cats. We spent a glorious month living in a hotel on Venice beach, waiting for our furniture to show up so we could move into our apartment. We actually moved into our apartment a couple days before the furniture did, so I got a good sense of the space we had to work with.
Then disaster struck.
The truck arrived with all our things and guess what, my dearest husband had decided to bring to California EVERYTHING he owned that I hadn't all ready squirreled away to storage. His stuff alone would fill our apartment from floor to ceiling, then add to that my things and the kids things. We were stuck inside a mountain of junk.
I went through the stages of grief in my own crazy order. First denial. I could make this work, really, it's not as much stuff as it seems! Just have to get it out of the boxes, right? Then the depression set in as I realized that no matter how I would push and pull and maneuver it around it was NOT going to fit. My husband worked all day, long hours, while I was stuck to live in this dark cave. Then the anger! How could he?!! I could not live this way! We argued terribly, my husband saying we couldn't afford a storage unit, he didn't want to be parted from his special stuff. It finally came to a head, it was a storage unit or I was going to pack up the kids and head back to Washington. Didn't know how I was going to live, I just knew I couldn't live like this.
Finally my husband relented and we got that storage unit. It was small and it didn't solve the whole problem, but it certainly helped. We got a lot of thing out of the apartment and we could at least function and move around, but we were still living in piles of clutter. A few years of my simmering hate at the clutter and mess, we moved into another unit down the hall. This one was a much better layout and had more sunshine. We were also able to part with a more of our stuff. At last we had an apartment, that though cluttered, had a nice clear open living room. I was elated! We could move through this living room without stubbed toes and tumbling piles. Hooray for me!
Shortly after my happy party began, it ended. My husband, ever acquiring things, walks in the door one day with a giant gaming chair. He gives this chair to my eldest son. It sits in our living room like a 300-pound gorilla. I can't get rid of it now, it was a gift to my son. I fume, silently steaming until it feels as if my head is going to explode. I continue through the stages of grief and finally, after all those years, get to acceptance. I accept that I have no control over my environment, so why bother with it at all? I'll just ignore my environment as much as possible. Who cares if it's messy and cluttered? I GIVE UP!!!
The anger comes again and again. Every time I stub my toe, every time I have to twist sideways to walk through my once open and spacious living room.
I meditate, I define my dream home in minute detail, I imagine and visualize, write my affirmations down 10 times a day. All I want is SPACE. I want a bright, sunny, open space to live in, free of clutter and piles. Clean and glorious! I attached a lot of positive energy toward this wonder place. However, every time I open my eyes I'm faced with the reality of this clutter, this stuff, this horrid place that would be a paradise if not for all our things getting in the way.
Then came the day when the rent control was lifted from our building. While rents were going down all around us, our rent was going up. We had to move. We found a great place, an apartment that we had looked at when we first moved to Santa Monica, but it had been too expensive then. Now with rents going down, we could afford it. Off we moved to a bigger, brighter apartment with a significantly better layout. This wonderful new place has two pools, a jacuzzi and a gym. There are yummy restaurants right here and the grocery is just across the street. We have a Southern exposure and we're smack dab in front of the kids play structure. It's perfect. The best part of all about this place? There's enough space for all our stuff!
Enter the Law of Attraction. It would seem that all my immediate prayers had been answered, would it not? And indeed they were, because you see, even with all my affirmations, the bulk of my attention was on the boxes and the piles and the clutter that I hated. I put a lot of energy into hating all that clutter, certainly more than I put into defining my perfect home.
In the course of packing and moving I hurt my back. Two months later and here we are, still sitting in a maze of boxes and growing piles of clutter as things are pulled from boxes, but do not yet have homes. Oh, we have the space for everything all right, but my older boys are off traveling for summer vacation, my husband is working full time at a new job that's a commute away, and me... I've been stuck in bed with three herniated discs in my low back, while physical therapy and a mother's helper to watch the kids are sucking up all our cash.
The Law of Attraction works. It gives you exactly what you're thinking about, the thoughts that have your attention and your emotional energy. I got everything I was focused on, the good and the bad. Now to turn that around, to be mindful of my thoughts and feelings and use them for the good of all involved.
I am healing nicely. I am happy and grateful for my body's amazing power to heal. Yesterday I walked to the store with the kids (about a block), around the store shopping and then back home again with no pain at all. It was a huge victory for me. I believe I am healed, and now I need to start acting like it. Time to get this house in order, carefully, mindfully, and get what I really want. A nice, spacious, clean environment and a happy healthy family.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
The Perfect Job
Let's go back in time from my last post and explore a bit. In the late 80s I attended college in Anchorage, Alaska. I needed a job, and ended up working at a copy shop not too far down the street from the campus. I met a guy there who became my boyfriend and eventually we moved in together into a tiny cabin behind the hockey arena.
Life was good, for a while. We would walk to work together, worked the same shifts, even took lunch together. We didn't make much money, but each paycheck I would treat myself to some canvasses, or some new oil paints or brushes. I enjoyed painting, but I was really bad at it. I thought if I just had more time I could learn and do better. Thus enter my dissatisfaction. If only I had more time to paint!
I started imagining what my life would look like if I could paint more, daydreaming actually. What I really wanted was a job that I could do from home, that would afford me more time for painting and more money to buy supplies. I scoured the want ads in the papers, I looked into all those work at home opportunities, mostly arts and crafts ones. Nothing seemed to fit the bill, but I kept on looking, keeping my eyes open to any opportunity and imagining this happy life working from home and spending more time with my art.
One day at the copy shop a customer brought a bookmark up to me that had been left on one of the copiers. It was a picture of Lilith, with the caption "Feared and Fearless Lady of the Night." I told the customer that I'd hold on to it until someone came back for it. "No," he said, "you should just keep it. No one will be back for it, it's for you." Well, I showed it around the shop and folks said I should just keep it. This seemed really odd to me at the time. I couldn't get it off my mind, someone would surely be back for it.
A few days later a woman entered the store with a want ad. She was making copies and then asked me if there was somewhere I could post it in the shop. I told her we didn't have a job board, but asked her what the job was. She said it was for a home telephone answering service. "Working from home running a telephone answering service?" I asked, "Who do I have to kill? I'll take it'!" The woman was a little flustered, "Uh, uh, I have to interview you first."
So we sat right down at a table and had an interview. Turns out she needed someone to answer calls, set appointments and give out information for various businesses she owned and she didn't want to hire an existing service, she wanted to set someone up in a home business and teach them to do it her way. Is sounded perfect! However, she still had other folks to interview. She was also the owner of the orphaned bookmark, though she told me to keep it, she had lots of them. I held on to it and it was my reminder of this perfect job out there waiting for me, working nights, answering phones.
After a couple weeks and all her interviews, she hired me, the first interview she had given. I was thrilled! Within two weeks I had a telephone answering service set up for me, with all the training I needed and all the supplies, right in my own home. My prayers were answered far better than I had ever imagined.
The way the service worked, businesses forwarded their phones to me at closing time. This way after hours, customers would get a personal greeting and could still get in-depth information and even set appointments. I got to work from home, I made great money, my days were free and in the evenings I had plenty of time to paint paint paint. I took tele-classes from the college with plenty of time to study. I even got some exercise equipment and got into shape. See, some of the calls were coming in from 800 numbers for information and calls could come from any time zone, but really, there were some good long stretches through the wee hours when the phones just didn't ring. I stayed up until businesses opened and had all the phones forwarded back by 7 a.m. I slept while all my friends were at work, got up in the early afternoon to go to the health club and work out, and then met up for socializing until I had to get to work. My boyfriend even took the night shift at the copy shop so that we would stay on the same schedule.
Perfect.
Now when I look back on this, I have often wondered why this situation worked so perfectly and other times I haven't gotten what I wanted. With the reading I'm doing now, "Wealth Beyond Reason," by Bob Doyle, there are few things that jump out at me. First, I didn't constrain my wish by deciding that it had to come about in a certain way. For example, I didn't say what type of home business it had to be and I didn't say when it had to happen. I also didn't stress about it not coming to pass. I knew that I would find something eventually if I just kept looking and there was no negative emotion associated with not finding it. In fact, failure never even crossed my mind. I fantasized about this perfect situation and it was always a happy fantasy. Then I simply went on with my day. Eventually the opportunity appeared and I grabbed it.
Cheers!
Kelle
Life was good, for a while. We would walk to work together, worked the same shifts, even took lunch together. We didn't make much money, but each paycheck I would treat myself to some canvasses, or some new oil paints or brushes. I enjoyed painting, but I was really bad at it. I thought if I just had more time I could learn and do better. Thus enter my dissatisfaction. If only I had more time to paint!
I started imagining what my life would look like if I could paint more, daydreaming actually. What I really wanted was a job that I could do from home, that would afford me more time for painting and more money to buy supplies. I scoured the want ads in the papers, I looked into all those work at home opportunities, mostly arts and crafts ones. Nothing seemed to fit the bill, but I kept on looking, keeping my eyes open to any opportunity and imagining this happy life working from home and spending more time with my art.
One day at the copy shop a customer brought a bookmark up to me that had been left on one of the copiers. It was a picture of Lilith, with the caption "Feared and Fearless Lady of the Night." I told the customer that I'd hold on to it until someone came back for it. "No," he said, "you should just keep it. No one will be back for it, it's for you." Well, I showed it around the shop and folks said I should just keep it. This seemed really odd to me at the time. I couldn't get it off my mind, someone would surely be back for it.
A few days later a woman entered the store with a want ad. She was making copies and then asked me if there was somewhere I could post it in the shop. I told her we didn't have a job board, but asked her what the job was. She said it was for a home telephone answering service. "Working from home running a telephone answering service?" I asked, "Who do I have to kill? I'll take it'!" The woman was a little flustered, "Uh, uh, I have to interview you first."
So we sat right down at a table and had an interview. Turns out she needed someone to answer calls, set appointments and give out information for various businesses she owned and she didn't want to hire an existing service, she wanted to set someone up in a home business and teach them to do it her way. Is sounded perfect! However, she still had other folks to interview. She was also the owner of the orphaned bookmark, though she told me to keep it, she had lots of them. I held on to it and it was my reminder of this perfect job out there waiting for me, working nights, answering phones.
After a couple weeks and all her interviews, she hired me, the first interview she had given. I was thrilled! Within two weeks I had a telephone answering service set up for me, with all the training I needed and all the supplies, right in my own home. My prayers were answered far better than I had ever imagined.
The way the service worked, businesses forwarded their phones to me at closing time. This way after hours, customers would get a personal greeting and could still get in-depth information and even set appointments. I got to work from home, I made great money, my days were free and in the evenings I had plenty of time to paint paint paint. I took tele-classes from the college with plenty of time to study. I even got some exercise equipment and got into shape. See, some of the calls were coming in from 800 numbers for information and calls could come from any time zone, but really, there were some good long stretches through the wee hours when the phones just didn't ring. I stayed up until businesses opened and had all the phones forwarded back by 7 a.m. I slept while all my friends were at work, got up in the early afternoon to go to the health club and work out, and then met up for socializing until I had to get to work. My boyfriend even took the night shift at the copy shop so that we would stay on the same schedule.
Perfect.
Now when I look back on this, I have often wondered why this situation worked so perfectly and other times I haven't gotten what I wanted. With the reading I'm doing now, "Wealth Beyond Reason," by Bob Doyle, there are few things that jump out at me. First, I didn't constrain my wish by deciding that it had to come about in a certain way. For example, I didn't say what type of home business it had to be and I didn't say when it had to happen. I also didn't stress about it not coming to pass. I knew that I would find something eventually if I just kept looking and there was no negative emotion associated with not finding it. In fact, failure never even crossed my mind. I fantasized about this perfect situation and it was always a happy fantasy. Then I simply went on with my day. Eventually the opportunity appeared and I grabbed it.
Cheers!
Kelle
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
The Brief Case
As I think back on my life, the successful use of the Law of Attraction is not necessarily coming to me in chronological order. This makes sense, as I've always had trouble with keeping time, place, and order-of-events in line in my head, much to the dismay of my family and friends. Did it happen last week or last year?.. um... not sure. So, that disclaimer out of the way, here is how I got the briefcase I needed.
I attended the Art Institute of Seattle in the early 90s. The homework load was heavy, as was the constant rain that year. I was in the Visual Communications program, and also doing freelance graphic design work through the job board at the school, and the student studio program. I lived up on top of Queen Anne Hill and it was quite a trek down that long hill to the water front where the school is, and even more of one on the way back up, especially with a giant portfolio bag full of art supplies and media boards. The bag wasn't just heavy, it was awkward and cumbersome.
I toughed it out for two years and made my daily trek up and down the hill and occasionally hopped a bus if it was just too darn windy and wet. Getting to school and back was fine and all, but I also had a lot of client meetings for that freelance work I mentioned above. Going to meetings I generally took the bus and yes, that giant portfolio bag came with me too.
One day I had to go meet a client with layouts on a few sheets of 8-1/2 x 11 paper. It was pouring down rain and the wind was howling, so I didn't risk putting the work in anything I wasn't certain was waterproof. So, off I go with my giant bag, just to carry a few sheets of paper, to meet the bus that would take me to my meeting.
The wind kept grabbing my bag and pulling me this way and that, so I had to kind of twist to carry it. The bus came and after I stuck my dollar in the slot and turned around to head back to a seat, I accidentally swiped a lady with my wet bag. I immediately apologized, but she was furious and yelled at me, thinking I had disrespected her on purpose. Face red, feeling awful, I sloshed my way to an open seat at the back of the bus.
I had had enough. If only I had a nice briefcase that I could use when going out to client meetings. It would have to be big enough to carry 9 x 12 boards at least, and have pockets for the various items I generally need. And while I was at it, defining this life-improving item, wouldn't it be just perfect if it matched my nice leather datebook. I imagined this perfect bag and saw it clearly in my mind. I would look and feel so professional and together then, instead of tromping into people's offices with my giant school bag. Alas, I sighed, I had been to the art stores and the office supply stores many times and mooned over all those nice leather portfolio bags and briefcases and the truth was, I just didn't have the money for it. I let the idea go and got off at my stop, promptly forgetting about it.
Flash forward now a week or two later.
It was a beautiful day to walk home from school. I tromped happily up Queen Anne and off to the house my boyfriend and I shared with a handful of students. I was always trying to get my boyfriend to go for walks with me around Queen Anne, and I often walked with my friends. Though he'd always say that he'd love to go, "some other day," that day never seemed to materialize. This day I walked into the house and there he was saying what a beautiful day, why don't we go take that walk? I was thrilled. I deposited my school stuff and off we went on the one-and-only walkabout we ever took together through Queen Anne.
I had explored these streets many times with my friends, even had a once-a-week walking date with a neighbor girl, in our feeble attempt to get fit. This day my boyfriend and I took a long route around Queen Anne, enjoying looking at all the big houses and their various lovely gardens. Seattle in Springtime is a lush and beautiful flowering heaven. The smell of damp earth and grasses, the perfume of flowers and trees filled our senses. That rare sun shone down and warmed us as we traveled down side streets and up roads and back down, criss-crossing our way down the hill. We traveled along roads I had never explored before in all my wanderings. It was a perfect day.
Finally we were getting tired and thinking to start heading back home. We decided to switch over down one more street and loop around back up the hill. Just as we turned the corner there was a house having a garage sale. Well, "had" a garage sale is more like it. Now the signs were down in a heap and all the stuff was piled up at the curb with a big square of wood on which someone had spray painted "FREE STUFF." Sitting right on top of that pile, immediately next to that sign, a briefcase. Not any briefcase, THE briefcase. The exact briefcase I had imagined, the exact same color, texture and material as my datebook. Just the right size, multiple pockets to keep projects separated, and smaller pockets perfectly designed to hold my supplies.
At first I was afraid to touch it. I looked at my boyfriend, "Did you know this was here?" He swears he didn't, though he did know I was wanting a briefcase. He swore he had never been down this road before, just like me. "Why, do you want that briefcase?" he asked. Of course I did, but I was suddenly afraid to touch it, I couldn't believe that it wasn't a mistake. I'd walk over there and someone would run out of the house shouting at me, "Hey, what are you doing? Thief! Thief!" All these ideas raced through my head, interrupted by my boyfriend. "You gonna stand here all day? Just go get it so we can go home, I'm tired."
That was all the pushing I needed. I grabbed the briefcase, that free, perfect briefcase and marveled at my good luck, filled with a giddy joy. I used that briefcase at the very next meeting I had with that same client I had when I first envisioned it. I did feel more professional, and it was a whole lot easier to carry with me to meetings.
This is one of the situations I think about often. I think about how that briefcase came about and try to replicate that success, and it doesn't always work. That has been the big mystery for me over the years. Why did the Law of Attraction work for me sometimes, but not other times? That is what I hope to discover as I continue with these blogs and experiment with the process. How to make this work every time.
Cheers!
Kelle
I attended the Art Institute of Seattle in the early 90s. The homework load was heavy, as was the constant rain that year. I was in the Visual Communications program, and also doing freelance graphic design work through the job board at the school, and the student studio program. I lived up on top of Queen Anne Hill and it was quite a trek down that long hill to the water front where the school is, and even more of one on the way back up, especially with a giant portfolio bag full of art supplies and media boards. The bag wasn't just heavy, it was awkward and cumbersome.
I toughed it out for two years and made my daily trek up and down the hill and occasionally hopped a bus if it was just too darn windy and wet. Getting to school and back was fine and all, but I also had a lot of client meetings for that freelance work I mentioned above. Going to meetings I generally took the bus and yes, that giant portfolio bag came with me too.
One day I had to go meet a client with layouts on a few sheets of 8-1/2 x 11 paper. It was pouring down rain and the wind was howling, so I didn't risk putting the work in anything I wasn't certain was waterproof. So, off I go with my giant bag, just to carry a few sheets of paper, to meet the bus that would take me to my meeting.
The wind kept grabbing my bag and pulling me this way and that, so I had to kind of twist to carry it. The bus came and after I stuck my dollar in the slot and turned around to head back to a seat, I accidentally swiped a lady with my wet bag. I immediately apologized, but she was furious and yelled at me, thinking I had disrespected her on purpose. Face red, feeling awful, I sloshed my way to an open seat at the back of the bus.
I had had enough. If only I had a nice briefcase that I could use when going out to client meetings. It would have to be big enough to carry 9 x 12 boards at least, and have pockets for the various items I generally need. And while I was at it, defining this life-improving item, wouldn't it be just perfect if it matched my nice leather datebook. I imagined this perfect bag and saw it clearly in my mind. I would look and feel so professional and together then, instead of tromping into people's offices with my giant school bag. Alas, I sighed, I had been to the art stores and the office supply stores many times and mooned over all those nice leather portfolio bags and briefcases and the truth was, I just didn't have the money for it. I let the idea go and got off at my stop, promptly forgetting about it.
Flash forward now a week or two later.
It was a beautiful day to walk home from school. I tromped happily up Queen Anne and off to the house my boyfriend and I shared with a handful of students. I was always trying to get my boyfriend to go for walks with me around Queen Anne, and I often walked with my friends. Though he'd always say that he'd love to go, "some other day," that day never seemed to materialize. This day I walked into the house and there he was saying what a beautiful day, why don't we go take that walk? I was thrilled. I deposited my school stuff and off we went on the one-and-only walkabout we ever took together through Queen Anne.
I had explored these streets many times with my friends, even had a once-a-week walking date with a neighbor girl, in our feeble attempt to get fit. This day my boyfriend and I took a long route around Queen Anne, enjoying looking at all the big houses and their various lovely gardens. Seattle in Springtime is a lush and beautiful flowering heaven. The smell of damp earth and grasses, the perfume of flowers and trees filled our senses. That rare sun shone down and warmed us as we traveled down side streets and up roads and back down, criss-crossing our way down the hill. We traveled along roads I had never explored before in all my wanderings. It was a perfect day.
Finally we were getting tired and thinking to start heading back home. We decided to switch over down one more street and loop around back up the hill. Just as we turned the corner there was a house having a garage sale. Well, "had" a garage sale is more like it. Now the signs were down in a heap and all the stuff was piled up at the curb with a big square of wood on which someone had spray painted "FREE STUFF." Sitting right on top of that pile, immediately next to that sign, a briefcase. Not any briefcase, THE briefcase. The exact briefcase I had imagined, the exact same color, texture and material as my datebook. Just the right size, multiple pockets to keep projects separated, and smaller pockets perfectly designed to hold my supplies.
At first I was afraid to touch it. I looked at my boyfriend, "Did you know this was here?" He swears he didn't, though he did know I was wanting a briefcase. He swore he had never been down this road before, just like me. "Why, do you want that briefcase?" he asked. Of course I did, but I was suddenly afraid to touch it, I couldn't believe that it wasn't a mistake. I'd walk over there and someone would run out of the house shouting at me, "Hey, what are you doing? Thief! Thief!" All these ideas raced through my head, interrupted by my boyfriend. "You gonna stand here all day? Just go get it so we can go home, I'm tired."
That was all the pushing I needed. I grabbed the briefcase, that free, perfect briefcase and marveled at my good luck, filled with a giddy joy. I used that briefcase at the very next meeting I had with that same client I had when I first envisioned it. I did feel more professional, and it was a whole lot easier to carry with me to meetings.
This is one of the situations I think about often. I think about how that briefcase came about and try to replicate that success, and it doesn't always work. That has been the big mystery for me over the years. Why did the Law of Attraction work for me sometimes, but not other times? That is what I hope to discover as I continue with these blogs and experiment with the process. How to make this work every time.
Cheers!
Kelle
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Early Memories of the Law of Attraction, Serendipity and Intuition
The Law of Attraction is a new term for me, having only really heard that name for it recently. When we were kids we called it Coincidence or Serendipity, or even Intuition. Knowing when to turn, what to do next. Thinking of someone, and they call. Wishing for something and having it appear in an unexpected way. Maybe it's a Guardian Angel whispering in my ear. Here are some of my earliest memories of this.
This first one I'm not sure you would call Attraction. Maybe Intuition is more accurate, but I like to think it was my Guardian Angel.
I grew up in Wasilla, Alaska (yes of Sarah Palin fame, and yes, our family knows her family and the Palins and no, I'm not going to blog about it so please don't comment on that). It was a small community that grew rapidly over the years with the oil boom and the creation of the Alaska Pipeline. Though when I was in elementary school it was still very small.
Every day I would walk home from school, through the woods and then down that single paved road (other than the highway). I'd make my way to the top of this hill and I had two ways to go to get home from there. One way would take me around some buildings and down to my father's store parking lot and around to our front yard. The other way was a short alleyway down a small hill and straight to our back yard. This was clearly the quickest, most direct route. However, one day I just stopped and decided not to go that way. From that point on each day I would stop at this junction and decide if taking the short route would "feel right." If it didn't, around I would go the long way. I never doubted. It just seemed obvious.
My parents were active in the Iditarod, a 1049 mile sled dog race from Anchorage to Nome. Every other year they would spend a few weeks out at the Cripple Creek half-way check point and feed all the mushers as they came through. It was great fun for them, and we would always get the family of one of our friends to stay with us kids while they were gone. This year it was a friend of mine who lived nearby. I'll call her Sandy, but of course that wasn't her name.
We were walking home together from our elementary school and chatting. I tried to explain to her that we "might" be able to take the short way home, but when we got to a certain point I was going to stop and decide. To my surprise at the time, she thought this was quite ridiculous, (my first hint as a child that not everyone did this kind of thing).
I stopped at the top of the hill. Our house was right there, we could see it just a short hop away. I thought for a moment and, nope, not today. I tried to explain this to Sandy. I told her it just didn't feel right and we were going to have to take the long way around, couldn't be helped. Sandy, of course, wouldn't hear it. She could SEE the house, it was right there! Sandy refused to go the long way around and we argued about it. I was so angry! I felt hurt that she didn't believe me, and said I was crazy. I tried to convince her that it was really the same distance, really we should go together the other way, but ultimately (now here's my justification) I was so angry I decided fine, just let her go then. I wanted to prove both ways were the same distance and there was no reason not to go my way (thought of course I knew this wasn't true).
Sandy took off walking down the alleyway, and I ran as fast as I could the long way around. I was sprinting full out, fury fueling my speed! I had to beat her home so I could win the argument!
When I arrived home the police were all ready there.
I couldn't believe it, she beat me home. The long way home really was a lot longer. Sandy had been attacked by a rapist on the way down the alley, and stabbed in the arm. She had been molested, but got away before he could get her clothes off. Her shirt was ripped and her bloody arm all ready bandaged when I arrived.
I yelled at her, "I told you not to go that way! I told you it wasn't safe!"
This was a huge mistake because the police we on me in a heartbeat. What did I know? Who did this? They didn't believe me either, nor did Sandy's mother.
This was a lesson for me. Not everyone follows their intuition. Not everyone believes. Some people walk through their whole lives victims of circumstance. As a child it's really hard to create your own reality. Older people have had a lot longer to hone their powers of choice and effect. Sometimes, no matter how in tune the child is, the bigger, stronger, more practiced adult is going to get the better of them. I want to teach my children how to be safe, how to be positive, how to be sure of their own intuition, how to use the Law of Attraction to get the lives they want now too.
This first one I'm not sure you would call Attraction. Maybe Intuition is more accurate, but I like to think it was my Guardian Angel.
I grew up in Wasilla, Alaska (yes of Sarah Palin fame, and yes, our family knows her family and the Palins and no, I'm not going to blog about it so please don't comment on that). It was a small community that grew rapidly over the years with the oil boom and the creation of the Alaska Pipeline. Though when I was in elementary school it was still very small.
Every day I would walk home from school, through the woods and then down that single paved road (other than the highway). I'd make my way to the top of this hill and I had two ways to go to get home from there. One way would take me around some buildings and down to my father's store parking lot and around to our front yard. The other way was a short alleyway down a small hill and straight to our back yard. This was clearly the quickest, most direct route. However, one day I just stopped and decided not to go that way. From that point on each day I would stop at this junction and decide if taking the short route would "feel right." If it didn't, around I would go the long way. I never doubted. It just seemed obvious.
My parents were active in the Iditarod, a 1049 mile sled dog race from Anchorage to Nome. Every other year they would spend a few weeks out at the Cripple Creek half-way check point and feed all the mushers as they came through. It was great fun for them, and we would always get the family of one of our friends to stay with us kids while they were gone. This year it was a friend of mine who lived nearby. I'll call her Sandy, but of course that wasn't her name.
We were walking home together from our elementary school and chatting. I tried to explain to her that we "might" be able to take the short way home, but when we got to a certain point I was going to stop and decide. To my surprise at the time, she thought this was quite ridiculous, (my first hint as a child that not everyone did this kind of thing).
I stopped at the top of the hill. Our house was right there, we could see it just a short hop away. I thought for a moment and, nope, not today. I tried to explain this to Sandy. I told her it just didn't feel right and we were going to have to take the long way around, couldn't be helped. Sandy, of course, wouldn't hear it. She could SEE the house, it was right there! Sandy refused to go the long way around and we argued about it. I was so angry! I felt hurt that she didn't believe me, and said I was crazy. I tried to convince her that it was really the same distance, really we should go together the other way, but ultimately (now here's my justification) I was so angry I decided fine, just let her go then. I wanted to prove both ways were the same distance and there was no reason not to go my way (thought of course I knew this wasn't true).
Sandy took off walking down the alleyway, and I ran as fast as I could the long way around. I was sprinting full out, fury fueling my speed! I had to beat her home so I could win the argument!
When I arrived home the police were all ready there.
I couldn't believe it, she beat me home. The long way home really was a lot longer. Sandy had been attacked by a rapist on the way down the alley, and stabbed in the arm. She had been molested, but got away before he could get her clothes off. Her shirt was ripped and her bloody arm all ready bandaged when I arrived.
I yelled at her, "I told you not to go that way! I told you it wasn't safe!"
This was a huge mistake because the police we on me in a heartbeat. What did I know? Who did this? They didn't believe me either, nor did Sandy's mother.
This was a lesson for me. Not everyone follows their intuition. Not everyone believes. Some people walk through their whole lives victims of circumstance. As a child it's really hard to create your own reality. Older people have had a lot longer to hone their powers of choice and effect. Sometimes, no matter how in tune the child is, the bigger, stronger, more practiced adult is going to get the better of them. I want to teach my children how to be safe, how to be positive, how to be sure of their own intuition, how to use the Law of Attraction to get the lives they want now too.
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