MANIFESTING: MAKING ROOM

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This is generally the time of year when I contemplate career goals. 

Though one year it was all done before the end of summer.

This year the theme that came up was letting go of that which no longer serves.  My first exposure to this concept was back in 96 when I came across Terah Kathryn Collins’ book The Western Guide to Feng Shui Room by Room.  Of all the statements that resonated [at the time] the idea that every item we see chatters at us, reminding us of who gave it to us and/or where we got it, and whether that item makes us feel good or bad was the most powerful.  Once I had that philosophy as a filter it was easy to decide what action I needed to take.

One Man’s Junk

I went through the house room by room and gathered everything I no longer used or needed, as well as items that didn’t leave me feeling good. As a reward for all that work, I was able to pass along every single item to someone whose son was moving into his first apartment and needed everything.

When it comes to getting rid of that which no longer serves it can be done for general purposes which is a great way to keep up on/prevent clutter but also works for a specific goal or area in your life in which you wish to see improvement.  The reason is simple.  If you are constantly looking at something that reminds you of who you used to be or who you are now it will be hard to become the you that you believe you can be.

Or to feel it because you are surrounded by items that may be telling a different story.

Career Part One

As part of my path in tech I switched Fortune 500 companies, bringing with me experience and expertise to do my job but leaving the loyalty for my former company behind.

I had to prove that last part but it worked out and I had a very successful career at the second company as well.

There came a point where we went through a merger and I was told I – along with my peers – needed to give a presentation to the members of my new team, many of whom were from the company we merged with.

Which had been a competitor.

This was so new colleagues could learn a bit about my background and professional experience.  As I was putting it together I came to see some of the certifications I had were no longer relevant outside that I’d earned them and they came in handy when I ran into legacy systems and/or customers.  How I handled it on the slide was to poke fun at them even while making sure it was understood I was proud of them and the work it took to earn them, and that they were steps along the professional path to get me where I was at that point.

A Senior Technical Consultant.

As I write in my bio, I learned the benefit of flexibility working in an industry where change was constant.

It’s why I was drawn to the industry to begin with.  I love learning.

Though the principles still apply, it hasn’t always been as easy in my writing career.

Career Part Two

I’ve written about a bit of a wardrobe challenge in the letting go department, mostly because I had no idea of what would be next.

Having a vision of where you want to go is extremely helpful when setting goals.

As I layered this knowledge over the particular goals I have and the path I’ve traveled this far, I came to see letting go felt a little different.  It required not only seeing myself as that person who achieved the goal, but required feeling like that accomplished individual.  That was a little harder to fake.

I understood the concept of fake it til you make it but wasn’t clear on the execution.

In spite of that missing piece I took physical actions I knew supported the concept.  

  • Got rid of items that sent the wrong message about my career goals. 
  • Reminded myself doing the basics on visualization and getitng rid of what didn’t represent the me that achieved the goal had worked previously.
  • Reminded myself of other challenging goals I’ve achieved to boost my morale and confidence.
  • Acknowledged every mini victory of change – no matter how slight – in how I felt after taking action.
  • Remained open to following whatever my instincts told me I might need to do even if it didn’t make sense. 

So long as it was in line with achieving my goal.

Along the way books were put in my path that deepened my understanding and provided new techniques to try. 

As I come to a point where I’ve just about cleared out that which no longer serves I remind myself of another important piece of the puzzle, albeit one that isn’t always comfortable.  To illustrate I will give a metaphor.

New Dishes

Let’s say you want a new set of dishes.  Let’s also say that you already have some in the cupboard but maybe they are hand-me-downs from when you got your first apartment or maybe your taste has changed.  You can go about this a few different ways.  

  • You could go buy what you want but then you have to figure out what to do with what’s in there.

This assumes you know exactly what you want and you have the means to get that other set.

  • You could take whatever is in there and pass it along.

In this case you may or may not know what you want but decide to get rid of the old because you don’t like how looking at the old makes you feel.

For this scenario you have options but if you’re the kind of person that freaks out at the sight of an empty cupboard you may find yourself making a rash decision.  

One you may regret.

You need to get comfortable with the real big empty.

In the meantime you could use paper plates or find other work-arounds.  Remember, this is just a metaphor.

When we let go of that which no longer serves – items that may be sending a message that becomes an emotional block to attaining the goal – we need to live with a between part until the goal finds its way into that space. There is no set timeframe on how long this between part may last.

One may have more inner work to do to align with the goal.

I’m not saying this is easy but it’s in this space we are able to grow into the person we need to be to receive the goal.

For a technique to help get through this between time, see Manifesting Blah: Feeling Can Help.

MORE THAN A HERO’S JOURNEY: BRINGING A STORY TO LIFE

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I’ve been sitting here contemplating the Port Gallatan Series from a few different angles including a stubborn refusal to let what was Hollow Shelter go without a fight.

The premise is just too good in my opinion.  It’s also close to my heart.

That isn’t to say in its current form it would fit the series and while I originally floated the idea – to myself – of reworking it so that it did fit the series, I decided it was probably too much work given everything else going on.  So, I let it go.

Or so I thought.

I was sitting here, minding my own business (pun intended) when a niggle of an idea for a reworked story came knocking on my consciousness. 

 I tend to pay attention to these as even if a new book doesn’t come from them I usually get information that is of benefit.  

Tune Out to Tune In.

For me, the best way to let something from the unconscious percolate to the top is to play Free Cell. The mindless repetition lulls – or perhaps bores is a better word – my mind to a daydream state whereby unconscious thoughts can be seen in the mind’s eye

Scenes

And heard

Characters

Within a short time I had a great way to totally revamp that story for a future Gallatan book.

It will have a different title by then.

Satisfied I was ready to go back to Blue Skye in the Rain when another random thought popped into my head.

The unconscious wasn’t done talking apparently.

The Hero’s Journey.

That was it.  That simple phrase.  However, it was accompanied by images of a newspaper article I once read that was about a movie.  In it the critic mentioned the movie being a “typical” hero’s journey along the lines of Luke Skywalker in Star Wars.

I’m thinking that writer didn’t enjoy either movie.

The writer in me tensed up.  By suggesting there is nothing more to a story than labeling it as falling into one of the 7 basic plots one risks sounding like a high school teacher trying to convince bored students the classic they are reading will change their life forever.

Oh, it may, but not always and not necessarily in a way that can be predicted.

When it comes to a novel, classifying it in such limiting terms not only denies the reader the oppoturnity to discover the adventure in the characters, setting, and subplots that make a novel entertaining, it diminishes the role of the writer in the story.  I, for one, do not think, “Hm, which of the basic plots does this fall into?” when I start a story.

Port Gallatan.

As with the Okcracoke Awakening Series, the first choice I made before the initial book was even fully formed was the setting.

I love the Carolinas for their rich history and love the peaceful Outer Banks Islands off their shores.

For the fictitious Pacific Northwest Port town I created something completely fabricated that was inspired by a number of ports I’d visited.

Combined with various East Coast towns throughout the Mid-Atlantic.

Though a reader may classify the storyline in such a way as to match one of the infamous plots I promise none of that was going through my mind when I came up with the idea.

I was sitting at a local haunt I went to (pre-pandemic) to have coffee and work when I came up with part of the story.  A lunch in a neighboring town weeks later gave me the other piece of the light-hearted plot.

To me, oversimplifying an aspect of a fiction work is cheating reader and writer both.  Far better, me thinks, to take the plunge into the adventure.

Now, back to my story.  (Grin)

MANIFESTING: THE LONG ARC OF COMING TO BE

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Note:  Early version excerpt from upcoming book at the end.

Sitting in a shaded area  getting ready to work on Hollow Shelter and pondering the newest manifestation mystery.  Or pherhaps a better word is conundrum because mystery implies I don’t understand it when I do whereas conundrum – to me at least – conveys I don’t know what to do with it.

If anything I’m a bit apprehensive because of what it means.

It was revealed last night

As I was pulling the curtains closed I happened to glance out the window and while I’ve done that dozens of times in previous months the lighting was just right to illuminate something I hadn’t noticed before.  

I recognized the scene!

Not because I’d seen it before but because I remembered it – from a movie.

One I saw in childhood while living in Florida.

It isn’t that any movies were filmed here that made it so familiar.  It was that I remember seeing a similar image

A grouping of houses similar in design to what I viewed last night

while watching a movie and thinking – I was 13 at the time – “Wouldn’t it be cool to live in a place like that?”

I can answer my former self since I’m living in one just like it.

I’ve written previously how many of the more dramatic manifestions in my life are tied to a time when I said “Wouldn’t that be cool if -?”  What makes this one startling is that I said those words as a kid and it still came true!

I meant it too – I thought the neighborhood in the movie – the houses and the quiet street – would be so cool to live in.

What makes this one different from the up north Michigan thought from earlier childhood is that that was more generic wheras this is far more specific and tied to details of lifestyle.

I considered the type of families who lived in such a neighborhood and what day to day life would be like.

And Now?

Is it what I hoped for?

A Point in Time

As someone who has moved around the country and traveled the world I have a pretty good idea what I like and don’t like in a neighborhood and much of it is dependent on where I am at a given point in time.

What’s going on in my life that will make or break a location.

I considered as I lay in bed whether or not my experience matches up to what I envisioned when I was watching the movie.  

Yes and No

I concluded it’s a lot like being on the outside and looking in.

Like I felt when watching the movie.

That’s because what I wanted out of a neighborhood when I was 13 and living surrounded by retirees

Almost no kids.

is a lot different than what I would want now.

Even as it’s the same.

Clear as mud right?

If you think about it needs and wants can be the same in a general sense across multiple generations.  Things like safety, walkability, close to services are on the lists of multiple generations looking for their ideal place to call home.  While I appreciate the basic characteristics that fit the childhood wish I no longer need some of them.

Why feel apprehensive?

It makes me wonder what else I said in childhood that may end up manifesting.

I can’t imagine wanting it now though the previous two weren’t bad.

The concern – that I may end up with something I no longer want – brought to mind a conversation I had with The Dude about six years ago wherein I expressed my frustration that by the time I get certain things I may not need or want them any longer.

This conversation led to the solving of the equation something I will be covering on the other site when I repost pages to do with the enigmatic being.

While I’m not going to worry – too much – about what else I might have wished for that may find itself in my future I will consider ways to master the key to it all

Releasing attachment to the outcome.

Which, since we are out of the way energetically speaking, enables the universe to provide what is best in the best way with the best timing.

Yes, I thought it would be cool to live in such a neighborhood, just as I thought while watching Desperately Seeking Susan in high school it would be cool to live in a loft but in neither case – though I got both – did I really care enough about getting it to set out with it as an objective.

I know detachment is key to manifesting and I know for myself every time I’ve said “Wouldn’t it be cool if -?” I had that detachment.  That doesn’t mean I can fool myself or the universe by saying those magic words.  It’s the detachment that’s key and for me that can’t be faked.

I know this much.  The process and steps involved with manifesting or bringing a goal to life are fascianating.

Right up my I love learning alley!

Book excerpt

This is from an early version of Hollow Shelter

I have about 30 pages now

Rock guitarist Clint Malek came to an abrupt halt.  He hadn’t expected anyone to be at the park.  Most everyone who would have been tempted to sit on the bench bearing the name of the donors who made it possible was at the regional playoffs rooting for the home team.  He was about to turn back the way he’d come when he caught the expression the woman was wearing, ID’d the emotion driving it.  

Despair.  

It’d been years since he’d seen painful confusion looking back in the mirror but not so many he didn’t recall wishing for someone to talk with at such dark moments.  The least he could do was offer.

Hollow Shelter will be available in the coming months.

Stay tuned

BRINGING A STORY TO LIFE: SOURCE

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Enjoying a bit of peace and quiet and a much cooler morning.  It got so hot during our heat wave that our food processor bowl melted while in use.  The round area that has the blade come through is now oblong. 

 I loved hearing Aaron say, “Oh, that’s why it sounded so funny.”

I was listening to music through headphones at the time and missed all that audio fun.  Thankfully, we live in a time when you can get replacement parts easily; you don’t have to buy an entirely new appliance.

As I listen to the sounds of the morning which include enough wildlife I sometimes feel I live in a zoo, I’m mentally sorting through projects in the queue.   It isn’t just that there are a number of possibilities it’s the order in which they should be done. 

Temporal Awareness.  At the start of the pandemic shutdown I wrote about what it felt like having my temporal awareness turned on its ear.  

As someone who already worked from home the inability to have any contact with the outside world for months on end was surreal.

I channeled that frustration into writing making it one of the more prolific times of my writing career.

I finished Beacon, Rainmaker, Mirror, and Redemption among other projects in a span of about three months. 

It came at a cost.

Burnout.

I know that work burnout was a common problem during the pandemic.  I read several articles in which people talked about the effects of being shut in or – if they couldn’t work from home – being completely overwhelmed.  And yet I couldn’t relate.

Career burnout wasn’t my burnout.

It took until yesterday to understand that my burnout was related but different.  It wasn’t career burnout so much as life burnout. 

 As someone who has worked from home for twenty-seven years, other than a period of incredible productivity, it wasn’t my career that was impacted.

Outside acknowledging the challenges of going from minimal outside interaction to none, I never considered the impact of total lockdown on my life outside my career.

Work Front and Center.  There was a cost to the constant attention on work from home in our community and in the world.  It hid the impact of what was happening outside that construct.

When you’re so busy focusing on making something work you can miss all the areas of your life that are being starved of critical energy.

 Missing the Signs.  Because my productivity  was not negatively impacted  I missed warning signs that not all was well.  Or, if I did sense something wrong I simply channeled it into my work, exacerbating the problem.

Open Is Closed.  Regardless of the state of the states I still work from home.  Thanks to the delta variant and other unknowns it’s business as usual as far as the pandemic is concerned.

Masks, social distancing, and good health habits.

This lack of real change and the knowledge that it will likely remain so for the foreseeable future had me turning to my de facto approach, writing.

Excuse Me.  An interesting thing happened.  Somehow the message from the nonwork areas of my life that were suffering got to the productivity camp and, as you can predict, everything shut down.

Few things cause panic for an author.  Writer’s block is one of them.

Because my attention was on the impact to my productivity I missed that the symptoms had nothing to do with writing.

There was no writer’s block.

Ignoring the symptoms since I didn’t map them to nonwork issues, I continued focusing on my career.

It never occurred to me it was soul burnout related to the pandemic.

Meet Me Halfway.  Apparently, my higher self has a clue.  It figured out I’m going to double down on the creative outlet as a coping mechanism – something I’ve done my whole life – so it plugged into that part of the energy spectrum.  This led to a series of “coincidences” that got the message through.

That while my body and mind were doing just fine, my spiritual health was in need of some serious TLC.

The Edge of Nowhere.  I decided to work with Event Horizon which does an amazing job of pulling me out of myself so I can solve issues unhindered by “noise.”  Sure enough I started to see where energy blocks were having a negative impact.  As with all Event Horizon sessions, a number of solutions were offered to address the situation.

I Can’t Hear You.  It was during one of the better sessions that I realized that while I gave myself suggestions to address issues I wasn’t following up.  I kept setting the stuff aside for later after which I would go back to writing.  Luckily for me, this time I listened.

One Thing Feeds Another.  As I followed through on the suggestions I was inspired to go back and do another EH session during which more insight was gained and more suggestions given.  This went on for a few days and I noticed those other energy blocks began to dissolve.

In some cases I didn’t even realize there was a block until it was gone.

Helping Hand.  I continued working with Event Horizon and continued to follow through on the suggestions and continued to see improvements including subtle messages from the universe that helped me on my way.  And then a funny thing happened.  The messages became not so subtle.  In fact, they got downright direct.

Read My Lips.  The universe has a fun way of getting the message across and I’ve long known that when we ignore the messages, they get louder. 

This isn’t always a good thing.

In this case the increased volume was relatively harmless.  A book that had appeared in my sphere of awareness months ago reappeared.  This time I paid attention and bought it.  I also got an email from a dear friend, the right words at the right time.  Interestingly, both sources had the same message

Don’t forget the basics!

It was through each of these messages I realized that in all the chaos I had forgotten to nurture my own spirituality.

I was so busy being there for everyone and everything else I forgot to be there for this.

Energy In Bloom.  As I read the book and did the exercises which included relaxation, meditation, visualization, grounding, I found the creative whispering increasing in volume.

The voice of the source – what goes into bringing a story to life.

Bruised But Healing.  When you are a creative, to create is to feed the soul. The worst thing that can happen is to turn off the spigot but just as damaging, as I’ve learned, is to turn it on full blast. I believe my soul understands this now. I recognize the need to find other ways to nurture that soul.  Especially when the avenues open to me are cut off by lockdown.

BRINGING A STORY TO LIFE: IN THE MOOD

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Timing isn’t always everything.  

I’ve spent the past week doing some serious multi-tasking and as things seemed to have settled down a bit I set my energies to finishing a scene I’d set aside because it isn’t the type of scene I wanted to work on while distracted.

An intimacy scene.

So much for best laid plans.  I’d no sooner gotten started when I got a text from the dentist with links to forms that needed filling out.  

I can honestly say the dentist doesn’t bring to mind the energies of romance or intimacy.

Finished with that I took a break to get a snack which reminded me I needed to come up with an idea for dinner.  Finished with that I set back to work on the scene when I got another text asking me to review a web change.

Not happy with the image I explained what needed to change then went back to the scene.  Andddd… another text regarding a separate dental form.

Back to the scene and – another text with the updated web image.  That one needed a slight tweak so I spent some time on that.  Happy with how it turned out I sat down to work on the scene only to find I’d lost the romance energy thread.  

Like seriously?

Amused I decided I would give readers a glimpse of how it might go for a writer in a typical day.

It is an entertaining consideration – all these interruptions – but the post does serve another purpose.  In putting it down on paper, the distraction – the idea of it – is no longer in my mind.

NOW I can go back to the scene!

The Day Before, a Dragon Core story is on track for an Autumn 2021 release.

Stay tuned!