Manifesting 101: Encouragement

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There’s a theory in the world of manifesting efforts that when you put your intention out to the universe and back it up with action aligned with the intention the universe conspires to help you achieve your goal.  While I subscribed to this concept in theory I am now a firm believer.

What are the Chances?

Before I elaborate I’d like to point out that I’m a big Doubting Thomas.  Even after all the amazing experiences I’ve had 

Coincidences I like to call synchronicities 

I withhold judgment until I consider a number of angles, the most important – for me – being What is the statistical likelihood?

What are the chances this exact thing came at the exact moment I needed to see/hear/experience it?

I’m aware of the Reticular Activating System.  I’m not referring to this phenomenon.

I’m talking about examples of the universe conspiring to help me on the path to a goal by providing messages that either help me know I’m on the right path or provide a morale boost when I’m having a tough time continuing.

The encouragement I need when I need it.

It’s About Time

A significant component to the What Are The Chances? test has to do with timing.  What is it about the timing of the message that makes me feel it’s special?  I use this as one of the bigger markers testing validity because it’s likely the same information given at a different time would not be helpful.

Maybe not even acknowledged.

The example I’m about to share is timely indeed.

To provide a bit of context I’ll share that for as long as I can remember I’ve been fascinated by the concept of time.  In particular

  • Time travel
  • Multiple universes in which things turned out differently because decisions made at a point in time were different (i.e. turn left instead of right)

I’ve explored these ideas academically

I’ve had numerous amazing conversations with my physics and math teachers and professors

I’ve explored them through research

Hours in the science library at Stanford while researching for my doctoral thesis

I’ve explored them through my own works

Both fiction and non.

And Now?

I’ve been working on a project that’s turning into quite the time and energy sink.  

To the degree it’s taking a toll.  

Given I’m healing from severe burnout I had to take a long look at what I was doing through the lens of Is this really worth it?

As of last night I was having serious doubts.

While watching something to take my mind off my troubles I thought back to basics.  

So much for taking my mind off things.

If it was meant to be it will happen.  If not, it wasn’t meant to be.

A good maxim to remember when undertaking any manifestation project.

 I sent a mental message to God asking for a sign that would tell me if I should keep going.

I do not want to go back to the land of burnout.

 I went to bed confident at some point in the near future I’d have my answer.  

Jose Silva developed tools to address the concept of feedback from the Universe. Two that come to mind are the Glass of Water Technique and the Video Technique.

Ask and Ye Shall Receive

There is an amazing story in Lynn McTaggart’s The Intention Experiments about researchers affecting the past in a positive way.

Has to do with affecting a health outcome before a procedure took place – by praying about it years after it took place.

It’s just one of many examples of the effect of time on manifesting intentions found in her book.

It’s possible that though I hadn’t yet made the request for some sort of validation as to whether I should continue on the project the universe was aware it was coming and was ahead of the game.  I say this because the first message came before I was having any doubts.

The first message came in the form of an article about how our brains are connected to the Universe.  Specifically, our awareness of this connection.

It’s a concept I’ve covered in fiction and nonfiction work.

From the Popular Mechanics Article:  …when you have a heightened state of consciousness, Hameroff explains, it’s because you’re dealing with quantum-level consciousness that is capable of being in all places at the same time. That means your consciousness can connect or entangle with quantum particles outside of your brain—anywhere in the universe, theoretically.

Unfortunately, this piece is subscription only. I couldn’t find it captured elsewhere to share.

When I read the article I was still excited about the project.

I hadn’t gotten to the point of doubt.

This morning when I saw another article that fit perfectly with the project I came to see both were messages from the Universe encouraging me to keep going. I felt the encouragement and after being stunned by the coincidence of it felt better about the project.

The second article?  That time runs forward and backward in materials.

I’ve long felt time is not linear and that it ran in both directions.

Another theme found in my writing.

Wow!

To see science catching up with concepts I’ve known instinctively since childhood is pretty cool.  It’s also something I had to wrap my head around.

It’s quite a feeling to see something you’ve felt to be true –  something you’ve believed – find veracity through science

Like Perspective, Timing is Everything

It isn’t just seeing the science behind the instinctive knowledge it’s the timing – learning of it.  That each article is entwined with my project?  Not a coincidence.

Exactly what I needed to hear when I needed to hear it.

A beautiful perfect thumbs up from the Universe.

When Art Influences Art

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As I edit through the filter of my voice I smile.

The source of inspiration coming to mind in vivid color. 

I don’t know if this is because I have a photographic memory or if all creators vividly remember the inspiration that led to artistic release.

Consumable output.

In my case more often than not it’s a visual – an image – that inspires the written word.

Case In Point

From Bishop Pair

She had to admit, she was intrigued.  Senior cadets carried side arms that looked nothing like what she’d seen on Earth.  They also didn’t look like anything from any science fiction movie she’d ever seen.  They were much smaller and sleek in design.  Of course, she’d never seen one in use so she had no idea how they worked or performed but the confidence with which the senior cadets carried themselves left her guessing the weapons worked as they were meant.  To protect.

How I worded this was inspired by a visual from Patriot Games.

This scene – having been to Anapolis as well as the Citadel – translated in unique ways that allowed me to visualize military students through the eyes of one of their newest cadets.

Each time I read this scene images associated with the influence appear on what Jose Silva calls the mental screen.

The mind’s eye.

Life

When art influences art.

To Find Your Voice Ignore the Rules

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I’ve known I wanted to be a writer since I was 3.  What I didn’t know was the convoluted path it would take.  Even as I was praised as a storyteller, winning fiction writing awards beginning at 6 of years age, I was getting pushback, the harshest coming from a woman of influence – my paternal grandmother.

I now understand she was putting the burden of her need to live in reflected glory/accomplishment on my young shoulders.

My education drove very strict grammatical rules into my head.

Most of which didn’t and still doesn’t apply to published works.

I excelled.

Was reading college level at age 7 – tested 99th percentile in the country – qualified for the new Mensa for children program.

All of which did little to help with my dream of becoming a published storyteller.

Arbitrare This!

Oh – is arbitrare a word?

Fast Forward through a successful multi-decade career in tech to 2003.

Enter Fate!

A merger from hell led me to know that if it was ever going to be –

The Time to Write is Now!

I’d wanted this for as long as I could remember and yes – I remember being 3 and giving my mom a poem I’d written [to her] in gold crayon on a red construction paper heart I cut myself and declaring I was going to be a writer.

Yeah but

Back to 2003

Even as I was working to publish Kerry’s Game – I was working on a doctoral thesis in holstic medicine.

Another passion.

This necessitated I not only spend hours in the scary basement of the science library at Stanford

Hey – it’s dark and creepy in that corner!

It required I purchase a book on the accepted writing style and grammer for a doctoral thesis.

My Masters’ thesis didn’t require this.

Detour Ahead!

My literary plans were derailed by Fate when an adjunct professor who read my thesis encouraged me to turn it into a book.

Which I did.

And detoured further via EMF Sensitivity which led me to publish nonfiction first.

I had multiple individuals begging me to give them unfinished work which I refused to do – on ethical grounds among other reasons; as in it wasn’t finished.

Skipping around a bit – including the impact of Smashwords on the industry …

Once I  published and subsequently dealt with the fallout of that lifetime achievement award I returned to my original dream.

Published storyteller.

I invested in my dream.

Time and money.  LOTS of money

Classes and conferences and more time.  

I ran into rather interesting challenges.

No one told me not to quit my dayjob. Quite the opposite.

I received a hand-written letter from an editor at Tor-Forge explaining their slots for a particular paranormal fiction angle were currently filled and inviting me to submit more of my work for consideration.  

Aspiring published writer gold.

Fate intervened

Beyond the scope of this article.  

Then intervened again.

Cue Mark Coker founder of Smashwords.

The man who upended the industry I was just breaking into had watched his wife suffer the hoops of fire aspiring novelists are put through and decided to do something about it.

For details visit his site.

By the time I was listening to him speak at a conference in Anaheim I was self-pubished and on my way to a flourishing writing career.

My dream.

I didn’t feel an imposter.  That didn’t mean I wasn’t ill at ease. 

I was writing by someone else’s rules and the vernacular that went with those rules. I hadn’t found my voice.

Full Circle

It was while reading one of my favorite books [I’d written] that it came to me. I’d written my stories as if I was working for the Big 5 when I wasn’t!

Their rules. Their voice.

Smiling from the Aha! moment I began editing with the warm feeling of someone who has found their voice!

I can finally write as me as opposed to a representative of a corporate standards list.

Stay tuned!

Brief Update

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Hello all!  

Haven’t fallen off the earth. 

Working on a few projects – will provide an update soon – but for the moment I can say that one of the more difficult aspects of being a published author is editing something published years back without judging.

You have to keep reminding yourself it was your best work given information and experience at the time.

I’ve spent the winter months working as the seed beneath hard frost has been working and will soon be ready to share my growth.

Includes

  • Manifestation findings
  • New Projects

Stay tuned.

Music: The Food of Love

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Life can be so weird.

Eating lunch and reading The Isle of Future Past, a Dragon Core novel. 

And smirking as I note how easily I’m taken back to various moments of fingers to keyboard for this story.

It’s as if I slip inside my former “writing” self to feel see understand everything felt, seen, and understood at the exact moment I typed the scene.

What’s in a Name?

More than you might think.

For this particular reflection I’ll point out that for me one of the more challenging aspects of the novel is coming up with character names.

First names, surnames, nicknames.

Scenes and character characteristics are easy. 

Say that ten times real fast.

 Imagery of both flow into my consciousness, sometimes before the plot does.

As happened with the Hangover Series.

What stirred this hoopla of cognizance?

Anika.

What’s in a Name?  Seriously?  A lot!

While Anika is a common enough name in certain circles it never was in mine.  

So, where did it come from?

Transitions and the Band.

There came a time when my parents separated.  

My mom, brother, and I moved into a rental townhouse in an incredible school district.  Across from an auto factory it was – I learned from new classmates – the place where the poor people lived.

Wasn’t that kind of them to clue me in?

As I played b-flat clarinet I was more than happy to join the band.

Where along with the other musicians I could tune out life.

So, Anika?

We were a pretty small band.  What I noted immediately, other than the fact we were crammed – an obvious junior high afterthought – into a tiny room barely bigger than a storage closet…

Looking back I suspect it was a storage closet.

was that we had a saxophone player who was a female!

I started band in 4th grade playing drums but the nuns were adamant girls didn’t play drums and went on the war path until I capitulated and switched to clarinet.

I’d wanted to play saxophone after coming to physical exhaustion fighting the nuns but apparently that too was sacrilege and such is how I ended up – thanks to help from my dad – playing b-flat clarinet.

Emotionally and physically exhausted – and a bit heartbroken about not being able to play drums – I was ready to quit band altogether.  Upon hearing this my dad who’d won awards playing piano and who played drums zipped out that night to a music store and brought home a clarinet he put together and handed to me to give a try.

No Nuns But Same BS

Though a public school our conductor was less than enthusiastic about a girl who played saxophone.

When she refused to switch to clarinet or flute like the rest of us girls he tried dissuading her by putting her in the percussion section instead of with the woodwinds.

I will never forget that chin thrust out in defiance even as she was drowned out by the percussionists that included the lone brass player.

Or how succinctly she told him off for doing so.

Her name?

Danika.

I wanted to honor her spirit but didn’t feel comfortable using her name.

Go figure.

Each and every time I read the name Anika in my story I’m taken back to that day and that woman’s spirit

Being different and made to be an outcast not by our self but by someone else’s choice.

A spirit that helped me through a challenging time in my own life; a challenge she had no idea I was going through.

She was like a prickly cactus. We never got to be friends.

It’s a good memory because I still remember her telling him it was a load of shit putting her with the drums and a tuba so she couldn’t be heard.

Note:  I don’t feel I let myself down switching.  I weighed the reality of what I was dealing with and decided my dad’s advice – given years earlier when the nuns were calling me the devil’s child for being left-handed and threatening me if I didn’t switch to right – to pick and choose my battles – was best

My ambidextrous self approves.

After 13 years playing clarinet including Tchaikovsky in orchestra I took up piano and – for a very short time as balm for my soul –  tenor sax. Today I prefer to listen to music than play.

Expressing my creativity with the written word.

A Smidgen of This: Writing Real Life

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Just reading Redemption, a Dragon Core novel,and appreciating a scene.

Brought back memories.

I wrote from experience for this one.

In the scene the heroine is explaining to the hero she’s taking a “staycation” to do a bit of painting.

Gilotti’s – core to the plot of the series – are some of my favorite characters to write!

She elaborates she’s behind in unpacking because she spent Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays working.

So colleagues with families could spend time with them.

As did I

Once upon a time.

I drew from this experience for a plot device that fit nicely into the bigger novel picture.

Lived It

It started as a great way to earn money.

I was doing the work of a salaried professional while paid hourly wages.

I didn’t mind.

It was good money!

I was single; they had families.  

I had a lot more flexibility.

It was a great way to learn on the job.

I had to do some quick thinking for some of those emergency (sometimes middle-of-the-night) customer calls.

It became a wonderful yearly tradition.

I connected with customers and coworkers who were in the same boat including some out-of-the-country or from cultures that didn’t observe our holidays.

It played a significant role in becoming a Supply Chain expert.

I fielded calls from people across the globe – including C-suite folks – flabbergasted if not outraged the automotive industry as a whole followed GM’s mandatory 2 week shutdown and that it bled over into tech – and a number of other industries and companies.

When I told my boss at a subsequent employer I was more than happy to work holidays he was thrilled.

Then called me at home to ask what the deal was. There had to be a catch, right? Nope.

Plot Device

Though my character’s industry, along with the region she lives/works in, are different, it was easy to tap real life experience to create a believable scene.

Believable in the explanations if not arguments she gives as to why she’s spending her vacation working.

I have fond memories of those days.

Memories that live on in my work.

And maybe – just maybe – someone somewhere on our big blue marble remembers “that woman” who picked up the phone over the holidays.

And saved their sanity.

I worked Halloweens too.

So they could be home to take their kids Trick-or-Treating

C’est la vie.

Cool song by Emerson Lake & Palmer.

Plot Why Knot: A Piece of the Whole

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Untangle this.

Rereadinng Shadow of the Gods.

One of my favorite Dragon Core novels.

I love the characters.

Though I pay attention to every detail character development is a particular passion for me.

Characters are people and the myriad complexities associated with.

A brilliant challenge plucked from life.

A Little Goes a Long Way

Less is more.

Though I’ve included longer snippets  from novels in previous posts I felt – after reading this scene – it did the job nicely.

Illustrating my style.

Context

It’s Christmas

Hey, it’s after Halloween.  Tis the season!

Details

Cayden is a raven shifter.  Mica?  Human.

From Shadow of the Gods.

“I love you, Cayden.”

“If you think -.”

She gave him an understanding smile.  “What I think, Cayden, is that you have nothing from your childhood, though you definitely had one.  You did not hatch from an egg.”

He didn’t appreciate the levity but at least she had his attention.  Or that could have been that she’d unbuttoned the top two buttons of her blouse.

Spooky Fun At Work

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Happy Halloween Readers and Visitors!  Thought I’d share another “coincidence” and a bit of spooky fun.

In a recent post I mentioned that many times I’ve finished a novel only to see plot devices or the actual plot appear in headlines.

Well after I’ve published the story.

Yesterday I came across another in a string of “Oh look – what a coincidence!” headlines.

Great horned owl caught in barbed wire.

A 2 for 1 deal!

Two books, same series.

Dragon Core.

This series – one of my favorites – centers around the lives loves and adventures of shape-shifters in our midst.

The Headline Connection?

Not only do I use a bird caught in barbed wire as a plot device in Redemption, I have a bird of prey as a significant part of the plot for my favorite in the series Shadow of the Gods.

Though I use a cooper’s hawk, I was inspired to introduce this predator after a barn owl landed on my balcony one night.

It apparently enjoyed  watching us play Scrabble as it stuck around for quite some time, watching unblinkingly.

Experience

A source of inspiration.

There’s a bit of dialogue between Mica and Cayden in the presence of the hawk that was inspired by witnessing how one was showcased at a hotel in Arizona.

I really felt for the bird being stuck with such a grumpy handler.

These are just a few examples of adventures that guide my writing.

The Psi Side

Another example of art imitating life.

The Psi Adventure Series follows the lives loves and adventures of a team of paranormal investigators and while they live and work in San Francisco, I thought this Washington article timely and worth sharing.

Happy Halloween Everyone!

A Halloween Haunting: Her Sanctuary

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Which comes first, the chicken or the egg? This maxim became front and center when I recently ran across an article.

As my book was published years ago it begs the question nicely I think.

Thought I’d share the spooky fun.

Tis the season after all.

Passion for the Paranormal

The curious investigate.

As someone who’s visited numerous locations purported to be haunted I can appreciate the myriad of emotions guests of this haunted winery may experience.

  • Those seeking an experience are hopeful if not hopeful and apprehensive about the prospect of actually seeing a ghost.

Will they scream?  Run?  Freak out?

  • Those seeking to prove to all and sundry there’s no such thing as ghosts.

Everything has a logical explanation.

  • Those possessing an abundance of compassion if not outright pity who are determined to take action.

They’ve seen it on TV.  All they have to do is shout for the spirits to go to the light and they’ll set them free.

This last is particularly amusing because it suggests the spirits – if they are present – are somehow being held captive for the financial gain of those owning and/or managing the property/location.

I think there’s even been a movie made with that as a premise.

My take?  

There’s a reason some spirits are referred to as tricker spirits.

Life Immitates Art

What I truly enjoyed about the article is the irony. 

I used a haunted winery as a setting in my Psi Series book Her Sanctuary, drawing purely from imagination after touring various California wineries.

Years before hearing of this Kansas winery.

I wish everyone a a Happy Halloween and an entertaining spooky season.

Haunting Notes: Readers who have a passion for the paranormal will enjoy stories in the Psi Side.

Where truth and fiction entangle.

Manifesting 101: To See or to Write

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Vision Board V Ideal Scene

Thought I’d do a follow-up to my post about the success I’ve had writing goals down – in one form or another – to increase the likelihood of achieving them.

I pointed out that if we aren’t meant to have something no amount of writing is going to change that.

In the post I mention working with Shakti Gawain’s Creative Visualization Workbook to focus on two goals

  • Romantic relationship
  • Writing career

I used the Ideal Scene exercise to write out a day in an imagined future when this person was already in my life.

Writing it as if I was writing a letter to a friend telling them all about this romantic partner.

I had incredible success.

It was as if I’d projected myself into the future and wrote a day in the life he was a part of.

I used the page where you do a form of Vision Boarding to put images – either drawn or cut from magazines – for my career goal.

Using images from magazines I focused this exercise on my goal of being a successful writer.

While I know the Ideal Scene was a resounding success I had to put the Vision Boarding effort through a couple of filters before seeing that it, too, was a resounding success.

It just happened differently than I was expecting.

In short.

Though I’d long said I wanted to be a successful novelist – and I had been writing fiction stories for years – after completing the exercises in the workbook I set the workbook aside then turned my efforts to more immediate concerns which included the job I had.  

I was not being paid to write.

Passionate about success in whatever I do, I put tremendous effort into succeeding.

At the job I was being paid for – an aspiring technical consultant.

I went on to become a very successful senior technical consultant with expertise in network interoperability and global supply chain management.

And the writing?

Here’s the interesting thing.  I spent part of the time at the first Fortune 500 tech company I worked at as a tech writer.  Not only did I write content for proposals and other technical publications, I created the graphics for those publications.  All of this set me up for success as an independent writer.

Though I had no idea at the time.

But Wait!  There’s More!

The Vision Boarding worked too!

I recently took stock of my my writing career and realized I’d achieved everything I set out to decades ago.  It just didn’t happen how I thought.

I never would have guessed that Smashwords would come along though once it did I knew the writing industry would never recover from the fallout tsunami.

While attending an RWA conference in Anaheim years after Smashwords and Amazon upended the industry I looked around to see I was ahead of the curve on the direction things were headed because my business acumen – along with an ability to see the way the wind was blowing -had set me up for success in the new publishing landscape.

Both skills were honed while working in the tech industry with its rapid and constant change.

And that Vision Board?

I achieved everything I pasted into that workbook.  Just not how I thought it would come about.

Perhaps the highest irony is that while I thought I would be traveling for writing – I put imagery that showed travel along with writing on that page in the workbook- it was the other way around.  I was traveling for business and took the opportunity to work on my craft when time allowed.

Which when something matters you find.

In Conclusion

I achieved every career goal I set out to but the biggest takeaway is that the Universe was in charge of how that happened.

And when.

As for the Ideal Scene and Vision Boarding, I would definitely recommend either or both methods as tools to help achieve goals.  Just be prepared it may take longer than you expect and will lead you along paths you might not otherwise have noticed.

Or planned on taking.

Be well!

Note: I met my husband through work so my focus on becoming a successful technical consultant – doing what I could with what I had at the time – paid off.

It helped me achieve multiple goals.