STIR THE MAGICK: CONNECTING TO THE UNIVERSE

Note:  Long

It’s been an incredibly magickal 18 hours.

I add the “k” because in my mind magic is associated with FX and Disney.  Add the k for the real stuff like manifesting!

Visualization and manifesting has been on my mind recently, not because I have goals – which I do – but because I’ve noticed how much of my environment and my life I visualized decades ago and then forgot about.

The whole Wouldn’t It Be Cool … ?

The view I have from my desk is identical to a magazine image I had on a different desk 11 years ago.

We were living in Scottsdale and because we knew it would be temporary were thinking of where to go next.  Thanks to my efforts with EMF Sensitivity, California was back on the possibilities map.  

Aaron and I loved So Cal and had visited San Diego for years, even before we were married, so that was high on the list.  But what type of dwelling?  Unable to nail it down I had two separate very different images on my desk.  One was a couple in a luxury high-rise.  The other was of a hallway near the stairwell of a house. 

 One was glamour and the other cozy.  

I liked both and could easily see us living in either.

I could not make up my mind so I left both images on the desk and gave it up to God.

We moved from that home to a condo in a luxury high-rise in San Diego.

The unit was identical to one I’d  seen in dreams off and on since long before I met Aaron.

We moved and then moved again and at one point I positioned my desk in a specific part of the house we now live in only to see it was an exact match for the other image.

Even the paint color is a match!

I was sitting on the sofa last night and noticing all the items and scenarios in my life I’d thought would be good or cool to have – and now I do.

Decades ago I was touring a model home in Ohio and saw a fireplace configuration I thought would be cool.  There is one of that exact configuration in my house!

I then considered the position Aaron and I were in on the sofa last night as we sat companionably, each doing our thing 

I was reading and he was playing some sort of game in between checking on the Browns score.

It was another would be good thing from childhood!

I used to spend the night at my paternal grandparents who I felt had a good marriage.  They would sit on the sofa at night each doing their thing – though my grandfather generally did the WSJ or some work rather than playing a game – unless it was the NY Times Crossword puzzle.  I remember thinking it would be nice to have that kind of marriage – where two people could sit in companionable silence and be together in peace.  I have that!

It felt good to see so much of what I wanted in life in my life though there has been one thing that’s bugged me for awhile.

A specific goal I’m having difficulty with.

Practice Is Englightening

I’ve written I began meditating again and it has led to all sorts of goodies including a new spin on a manifesting technique.  I immediately saw results with this technique which didn’t surprise me because I spent years doing similar work.  In spite of this I was having difficulty working on this one elusive goal.

Yesterday, as Aaron and I walked, I gave voice to my frustrations and concerns on this topic and he agreed to think on it and see if he could come up with any ideas.  At the same time I wasn’t going to sit around doing nothing.  

As I saw all the things and situations I’d created without really making an effort outside thinking decades ago it would be nice, it occurred to me that the reason I have been having such a challenge is because I already have the outcome of the goal.

I painted the journey but the universe tweaked the colors and the style of my image.

Deciding I would give it more thought today I went to bed.  As I was walking up the stairs, I asked God for help.

I told Him I didn’t like doubting myself or feeling scared about this topic and if there was anything He could do to help I would appreciate it.

Before bed, after the prayers of thanks, I had a random thought about an organization that might be of some help go through my mind.  Deciding I’d look into the situation today I cleared my mind and went to sleep.

This morning I had an email from the the organization.

I have not kept up my membership and hadn’t heard from them in 7 years!

The email contained information that addressed my exact goal – verbatim.

Stunned, I quickly thanked God.

Message received!

I’ll admit even for me this was a big one.  I had to just sit with it for awhile.

There is no way I could not interpret this as a direct answer to a prayer!

I put it in the context of a number of issues that have been resolved since reengaging in meditation and concluded that when you stir that magickal pot the universe conspires to help you.

So long as you marry action to intention.

Give it a try!

Magick awaits!

MANIFESTING: ACKNOWLEDGE THE WOWS

Note: Long

But worth it!

When it came to manifesting I was not a believer.

I associated manifesting with prayers and that led to all sorts of conflicts along the lines of why do some prayers get answered and others not.

It’s a Miracle!

I began to accept the possibility of answered prayers after the brain surgery.  

After all, over and over I heard it was a miracle I was alive!

Many people including the neursurgeon who saved my life shared personal stories, some of which defied explanation.

Including the fact after a feather from Fr. Solanus Casey’s pillow was placed in my paralyzed left hand I curled my fingers around it.

Please Stop!

By the time I was sixteen I was sick of hearing everyone else’s miraculous take on my trauma, and in spite of the stories, was no closer to believing the whole manifesting thing – for me.

Yes, I was alive but there were a number of circumstances that left me in a bad spot – attitude wise – for manifesting belief.

It Starts Small

One of my aunts picked up on my frustration.

Probably through the family gossip – I mean grapevine.

We were at her house for a post-Thanksgiving meal of spaghetti when she drew me aside and asked straight out if I believed in miracles.  

You can imagine my reaction.

Without waiting for an answer she told me she was an atheist turned agnostic until …

A miracle?

Ha ha – kind of.

Prayer Revisited

She asked if I’d ever heard of Novinas.

Nope.

She then shared someone gave her the Novena to St. Therese of the Little Flower when she was going through a particularly rough patch and that, desperate, she performed it in good faith.  

It isn’t that it worked so much as what it did to her and how that led to a conversation that changed things for me that is at hand here.

She said, “I don’t know what to think.  Was it a coincidence?  Did my belief factor into it?  My desperation?”

All questions that could be voiced with manifestation successes.

We had a really good analytical [read logical] discussion about it wherein I told her she needed to make up her own mind about what took place.

What Are The Chances?

I related the story to a couple of colleagues at work the following week.  

All techies and most engineers though not necessarily atheists or agnostics.

Of Note: This was the first time I had more than a passing interest in the possibility a desire could come to be by wishing/wanting/praying and believing it was possible.

Ahhh, that sticking point.  Was it possible or was it a coincidence?

A Rose is a rose is…

One of the aspects of the discussion was the sighting of a rose as a sign the prayer had been granted.

Roses in Michigan, especially at that time of year, were pretty common given they were in yards, flower shops, even grocery store sections.

This led to the role of belief in bringing a desire to be since the likelihood of seeing a rose was high enough to put the manifestation in the unrelated to St. Therese’s intervention category.

A type of placebo effect made it happen.

What I gained from this conversation was a way to measure the miraculous.

What are the Chances?

It helps to be friends with a guy who understands statistics so well.

My partner in EMF and other incredible life-changing “crimes,” Aaron.

If I experience a manifesting I think incredible, I will ask him “What are the chances?”

Statistically.

It helps me put it all into the miracle perspective jar.

Because perspective is everything.

I think life got tired of me trying to trip it up that way because it began peppering things in that were so amazing I didn’t even bother asking Aaron the likelihood.

To Receive, Believe

If I look backward I can say with a fair amount of confidence it started when I acknowledged the wow.

Not everything that manifests is miraculous but a lot is wow!

The more I acknowledged the wows the more wows showed up in my life.

The Image of Proof

To give proper context to this particular example I need to explain that due to an argument between me and the celestial entity standing in my kitchen in 2016, I learned what many experts in the field of manifesting and visualization already understood

If you desire something, hold a picture of it in your mind.

Close But…

We were living in a house that was perfect for us at the time but change was coming and that meant we needed to change where we lived.

That’s related to another Metatron-image story I will be publishing on metatronsuniverse.com.

I love fireplaces and I live in a part of the country where – climate change aside – fireplaces make things comfortable in the winter.

Hauling wood from a face cord in snow (in your pajamas) in the middle of the night because the power is out and it’s your only heat source isn’t fun but damn you’re glad it’s available.

The wood burning stove we had was perfect for heating the house but lacked the ambiance I was after.

What Do You Think of This?

Around this time I was beta testing the Event Horizon App.  To my surprise it opened a channel of communication to the Psi Side.

A lot of what I write during a session is what I see in my Mind’s Eye and as images are the language in common – no need for translation – it makes sense he tapped into this to communicate with me.

The image he projected into my Mind’s Eye, one I described in great detail in the session, was the epitome of a writer’s cozy space.

This writer, at any point.

Among other amenities, it boasted a fireplace with a design that was right out of a scene for a book I was working on.

The Dude didn’t come straight out and ask, “Is this what you want?”  He only wanted to know what I thought of it.  As our conversations are generally in the language of metaphor I told him it was way cool in terms of coziness, then put it out of my mind.

It wasn’t something I was wishing for per se.  In fact I had never once imagined/visualized anything like it.

Life went on and we moved and though I tried a few different locations in the new digs, I chose a room that – energetically – was my Goldilocks spot for writing.

Laptop on lap.

I was working on a book in the same series when I realized the fireplace The Dude showed me years earlier was in my cozy writer space.

And yes, we definitely use it for heat when the power goes out in the winter!

The Miraculous?

It isn’t that an image seen in an EV Session years ago ended up in my new digs.  It’s that The Dude used our new communication skills – solved equation – to test the waters.

We proved that just as he taught me, a picture is worth a thousand words!

Manifesting gold!

Note: There are times we try for something that isn’t meant to be ours. This will be the subject of a future post.

NOT THAT I WANT THIS BUT WOULDN’T IT BE COOL?

Finally getting around to another piece dealing with manifesting.

I’ve got a lot of writing andirons in the fire these days.

It has to do with manifesting by proxy.

You get to enjoy something but you don’t have to live it.

Let me explain…

Especially since prevailing theory is you have to work for something.

A theory that, a Midwesterner by birth, I am more than familiar with.

It all started with the phrase Wouldn’t It Be Cool…?

Come on, you can’t be that surprised.

However, there is a bit of a twist.  

I didn’t actually want what I considered would be cool.

The Scene

I’m 7 and watching Jacques Cousteau on some docu-show on TV.  I was actually bored until my dad pointed out that the people he was working with were raising their kids not in a traditional sense like I was living but on the ocean.

“You mean that boat is their home?”

That boat was a gorgeous sailing yacht.

“But what about school?”

That led to an in-depth discussion about homeschooling and what living a nontraditional life can teach.

Wow

No boring school?  No nuns?  No stinky classroom that was ungodly hot in the late spring/early summer?  Cool!

Where do I sign up?

I can see why my dad was good in sales.  He has a way of presenting a vision that really draws you in.  However, he didn’t like to deal with the devil.  

You  know – the details?

Knowing this I wasn’t too keen on his version of how we’d make it work.  

Living on a rusted out abandoned oil tanker in the Louisiana bayou doesn’t compare with what I saw on TV.

My vision was – living space wise – a bit more traditional.

My dad subscribed to Yachting magazine for years and I would lay on my stomach in the living room listening to Rubber Soul or Emerson Lake and Palmer Works I and flipping through the pages.

I also frequently listened to Queen’s Night at the Opera.

I was fascinated by the images in the magazines.

I loved the creative utilization of space – even as I was confused.

“Where do they put the toys?”

My dad explained – by way of answer – the dramatic differences in lifestyle between someone living in a post World War II tract home in a Detroit blue-collar neighborhood and someone following a dream by living it.

He pointed out things I believed sacrifices – no room for toys – were not considered such by those living the dream.

That night I stared up in the dark and thought about the kind of people who raised their kids living on the sea with a boat for a home.  The more I thought about it the more I decided it was cool.

Very cool.

They weren’t afraid to do what it took to live their dream.

I decided such people were brave.

I admired them for not worrying about what the neighbors thought about what they were doing since it was different.

Something I heard endlessly at school, in the community, and in my family.  

That circled back to courage because it takes courage to go against the grain.

Think Jonathon Livingston Seagull, a story my dad used to read to me.

Though I loved the idea of traveling the world and I didn’t mind going against the grain, I didn’t want to live on the ocean.  That didn’t stop me from watching documentaries or reading sailing and yachting magazines or befriending people who owned boats.

We had a Criss-Craft for awhile and used to take it out regularly on various Michigan lakes, fishing and water skiing.

Fast Forward

I’ve done my share of traveling – and boating.

Have a few friends who own sailboats.

Wouldn’t It Be Cool – By Proxy

Not only do I have friends who own various boats including sailboats, I know some who live on their boats.

One couple I know lives part of the year on a houseboat up in Alaska tagging ocean critters for research and conservation purposes.

Most incredible is that I know a family living the Jacques Cousteau way.

They make their living a little differently but they are living their dream in the way I always thought would be cool.

Even as I didn’t want it for myself.

When I first met them I felt an immediate rapport.  So many of our views about living a nontraditional lifestyle were in sync.

I like to say we did on land what they do on the ocean.

I told them I felt as if in meeting them I’d met celebrities from a childhood dream.

They are the most wonderful upbeat people living a wonderful dream.

A dream they built together.

Tune the Dial

I’ve mentioned the first line on my white board is Tune the Dial to remind me to start my day thinking about something or someone positive.  I also have a little drawing of a sailboat as a symbol of this family who followed their dream.

A dream more than a few people thought they were nuts for pursuing.

Thinking of them puts a smile on my face because thinking of them is thinking of what I admire.

Following their hearts and living their dream courageously.

They are the perfect inspiration but more, they are a manifestation from my youth.

One I can enjoy even though I didn’t do the work – living on the water.

Now isn’t that cool?

VISUALIZATION: IF YOU CAN’T PICTURE, DESCRIBE

Finally getting around to a post about an aspect of Visualization for manifesting an outcome.  I don’t know that it was what I planned to do this morning but after an email I got last night I decided to go ahead with it.

I do want mention the prayer success rate I mention from Grace Cathedral – 100% – was measured by success in prayers I said not only for myself but for others.

People who were trying to deal with/recover from an illness or trying to conceive, looking for a house, a job, etc. 

When I do meditation/prayer I do say things for myself but more often than not I’m praying for someone else.

Which leads to…

A friend informed me several weeks back she was facing a health challenge.  I replied with a promise to do Silva healing techniques and then explained what it was about and encouraged her to take the BLS so she, too, could learn the techniques and have others work on her case.

I also gave her the website to put her info in so others could work on her case.

I have my own version of healing that like my meditation/prayer style is a kluge of various techniques I’ve learned or absorbed throughout my life.  I do, however, frequently integrate the Mirror of the Mind technique when doing a healing.

I’ve had incredible luck with it for healing.

The technique involves visualizing the problem in great detail then sliding a frame over – in the mind’s eye – and visualizing the solution whereafter you only visualize the solution.  Since I do a kluge, rather than visualizing my friend and the specific image of an outcome, I visualized an email in which she communicated a very specific sentence.  Last night I got that email.

Two months or so after I began working her case.

This ties to the original post idea which is why I led with it as an example.  Now, I’ll elaborate.

I’ve written of having luck with Shakti Gawain’s Creative Visualization Workbook.

 Within it there are a number of techniques to try when trying to manifest an outcome.

One of the more successful techniques I’ve used is the Ideal Scene technique in which you describe your ideal scene/outcome as if it’s already happened in detail.

Though not too much detail.

ie., If you want a house, describe the neighborhood and the number of rooms, etc but don’t choose a specific address because the house may belong to someone else or is meant to belong to someone else.  Same with a relationship. Describe what you want in a relationship rather than a specific person as they may belong to someone else or are meant to belong to someone else. Same with a job.

The universe will have something ideal for you.

As I was considering how often I’ve had success with this technique I recalled a fellow Silva student who had difficulty visualizing.  No matter how many helpful suggestsions he got he just couldn’t bring to mind an image.  Knowing there are others out there with such a challenge I thought to share an alternate approach.

Describe

In my recent situation I visualized the email.

A bit of imagery involved but most people have received an email so I think it’s easier to imagine getting an email with specific information/news than creating a more complex image from scratch.

I imagined in my white framed mirror getting an email from my friend in which she wrote a very specific sentence to do with a test result she would be getting.

I also did other healing techniques for her.

Yesterday I got a nudge to ping her and see how things were going.  Last night I received a reply.  When I read the exact sentence I’d imagined receiving from her?  

Success!

I felt wonderful and excited.

I have consistently had good luck with Mirror of the Mind but this was a twist on a typical healing technique.  

Rather than visualize an image with the outcome I visualized the words/the message.  

It worked!

This morning I sent back an email in which I shared this success story.

In Silva we are advised to recall a recent success when working a case as it boosts future success rates!

I’m taking the opportunity to share the twist on the visualization technique with readers since I know some have difficulty picturing a specific outcome.

When you can’t visualize?  Describe.

Note:  If you don’t get what you are working on it may be that you are not meant to have it.  Popular philosophy on this is the reason is the universe has something else in store for you.

The universe has you covered.

Be well!

MANIFESTING GOALS: WHAT YOU DON’T IS IMPORTANT TOO

This is my third attempt at writing about an aspect of manifesting goals that came to mind while I was in the liquid think tank this morning.

The shower.

I was thinking of an email exchange with a friend who has recently attained a major goal.  

One he’d been working toward for years!

During that time in which we traveled parallel lanes as we went for goals we did what we could to support each other’s efforts.

Sometimes acting as a cheering coach, other times a sympathetic ear.

I recently suggested he read Neville Goddard’s Be What You Wish and while it may seem an odd suggestion if he’s achieved his goal, it’s actually a critical piece of the puzzle if he doesn’t want to lose what he’s achived.

Most people, myself included, think of the action items they need to do to achieve the goals.  What about what you need to avoid?

Whether you are on the path toward the goal, you have recently achieved it, or you’ve had it for awhile what you don’t do is as important as what you do if you want to attain and/or maintain it.  

Fortunately, you can use Neville’s approach for either.

Let’s say your goal is to be a successful consultant.  Depending on the industry some of the tasks you’d need to do would be take specialized training, subscribe to an industry publication.

Perhaps join a professional association.  

But what shouldn’t you do?

In a nutshell, you’d need to avoid actions, situations, and individuals that would negatively impact your efforts.

You’d do well to avoid activities that would distract you from what you should be doing as well as avoiding people who aren’t supportive of your efforts.

The last one can be trickier than you might imagine because it may not be obvious at certain points along the path to your goal.

As I thought about strategies that might help my friend in determining next steps I considered the importance – now that he’s achieved his goal – of finding people who can help him sustain it.  Not just people like me who are happy for him, but peers with whom he can share ideas and embrace this new place in his life.

People who would understand the enormous effort that went into it.

Since it may not be obvious where and how to find these people – outside professional organizations – it makes sense to go back to Neville’s strategy.

What would a person who achieved this do?  How would they spend their time and with who?

I’m not suggesting turning your back on friends but it is critical to be around people who can support who you are and where you want to go next.  

Who can help you maintain this new phase of your life.

If it’s related to a specific goal, it’s likely you’d want to narrow your search.

You recently passed the bar. What is the next most important thing to do?

If it’s related to a lifestyle goal, you would also want to narrow your search.

You moved to a new state.  What unique activities do the locals do that would help you feel the place home and feel like a local?

Perhaps most importantly, what do you need to let go of?

  • Unless there’s a valid reason you may not want to hang around college after you’ve graduated and passed the bar.
  • It wouldn’t make sense to tell everyone in your new state how much you miss your old state or why a certain store or brand or activity in your old state is superior to anything available in your new state.

While taking this step can happen at any point along the journey to your goal, starting early would be helpful.  

  • If you are studying to be a lawyer, subscribe to legal journals, join a professional organization, find and hang out with other attorneys
  • Visit the new state before moving if possible so that by the time you move it already feels like home.  If you can’t?  Read up as much as you can about it and/or subscribe to a magazine dedicated to a major city there.

No Time Like the Present

Sooner is better.

We go through a number of transitions along the path to our goal.  We grow and become.  If we embrace these changes up front by realizing ahead of time who we need to be, we bring the goal to life that much sooner.

Be sure to include what you won’t do or who you won’t be in your planning.

Letting go of that which no longer serves.

Don’t forget to celebrate your victory, but equally as important, hold on to what you’ve achieved.

Honor yourself.

SIGNS: ARE YOU TALKING TO ME?

I was recently having a back and forth with a friend about manifesting.  

Specifically, timing.

Time

One of my favorite concepts.

She reminded me that we are not necessarily in charge of the when of something.

Ironically, I was afraid what I was visualizing would manifest before I was ready!

She went on to share a method she employs when working on manifesting.

Show me a Sign

After telling me she is a fan of using signs as a way of validating whether or not she is on the right path she shared a personal take on the method.

From a recent email

“I have always looked for signs.  My favorite saying is…If God’s willing!  Meaning if my thoughts are to manifest He will have a hand in it!”

The other points she brought up left me feeling better about going forward with a bit of visualization without worrying my life would be turned to chaos because it manifested before I was ready.

All in Good Time

I’m aware many in the manifestation/visualization business have philosophies on the timing of things including phrases that help assure it happens in the best time for all involved.  In spite of this I have reason to be cautious.

Past experience!

I was still thinking on it the day after getting the email when I was presented with a decision.  Though I knew how I felt about the decision I wanted a bit of cosmic insight, so, I borrowed my friend’s phrase.

“God, if this would be good for our family…please give me a sign”

He did, followed by several subsequent signs, each leading forward until by the end of the day everything was resolved and all involved were happy.

In the days since I’ve thought over the concept of signs and how useful they can be, provided we don’t overly rely on them.

I had a friend long ago who used to see a sign in every shooting star and every coincidence.  This led her to make some poor life choices, then justifying it by saying “I asked God to show me a sign and right after I saw a shooting star.”  That is not what signs are about.

Someone’s Trying to Tell Me Something

Several years ago I had a rather interesting run-in with signs.  It started when I saw a bumper sticker in the parking lot of a store near our home.  It read Well behaved women rarely make history.  While I thought it catchy I didin’t do anything other than mention it to Aaron.

Told him I thought it amusing.  

By the end of the week I had seen that same phrase in several places on a variety of items including t-shirts, plaques, and other bumper stickers.  The locations were not near each other so there was no obvious connection.

Other than thinking the universe must want me to see it.

A short while after we met up with my mom and stepdad in San Diego.  My stepfather and I were in a tourist shop. Sitting on a shelf near the door was a plaque that read Well behaved women rarely make history.

I laughed and told him the phrase was haunting me.

Over the next six months I kept running into that sign no matter where I went, including other trips to other states!

What Does it All Mean?

Honestly, not much more than an amusing story.

However…

From time to time when feeling anxious about a career decision that phrase will pop into my mind. 

I can’t say I always use it as a Go! sign but I do weight the decision through that filter.

Skeptics Invited

When I was in high school I was friends with a guy who was pretty skeptical when it came to anything science couldn’t prove without a doubt.

He was a skeptic but he was also open-minded to the possibility there was more than what could be proved in a lab.

His mom and I used to have some great discussions about the coincidences and signs that had guided us along life’s path.

Neither of us was a skeptic though her husband, an atheist, was.

I was visiting him at college once when he told me a story

His mom, who’d passed away, had given him a gem as a talisman.  He was inspired one day to pick it up and state “If this stuff is real have J walk through my door.”

Less than a minute later she did.

He’d been thinking about his mom, about the gem she’d given him, wondering if it was possible what she’d been telling him about the mysteries and wonders of the universe were real.

Statistics

I recognize there are those who will maintain such an event is no more than a coincidence.  I don’t agree but it doesn’t matter because it’s about the impact it had on my friend at that moment.

Did it turn him into a believer?  I don’t know that so much as he told me it made him feel his mom was close in spirit, looking after him.

If I want to consider whether something is more likely a coincidence than a sign I talk it over with Aaron, who is a math genius.  

He and I have had wonderful discussions about statistics and how easily they are manipulated to suggest something exists when it doesn’t.

I lay out data points then ask the statistical likelihood of a specific outcome.  It’s a good method to employ

Some may feel it takes the magic out of life but it doesn’t.

Am I On the Path?

Jose Silva developed a method I’ve found to be effective when trying to verify if I’m on the right path.

Or not.

This is different than wondering if I should do something.  

I’m in the process of doing it and want to know if I should keep going.

His method, called Mental Video Technique, instructs students to go to level then think over what they are working on.  

Go to level means put your mind at the alpha level which is the daydream state.

Mentally review any actions taken in line with what you are trying to accomplish then upload the video confident it has been received and that within 3 days you will receive feedback.

Upload is the idea of turning the images reviewed mentally over to 

  • Your Higher Power
  • Your Guardian Angel
  • God
  • Universe

for review

He maintained that within 3 days there will be feedback.  

  • If we are going in the right direction we will get positive feedback

i.e., things become smoother, someone/something that can help will appear 

  • If we are going in the wrong direction we will get negative feedback

i.e., things become more difficult, roadblocks begin appearing

I used this method in 2000 when Aaron and I were trying to relocate from Michigan.

The previous winter we had 17 consecutive days with no sun and an incredible amount of snow.  So much that he and I were standing on our relatively flat roof hip-deep in snow, trying to get it off so it didn’t crash through skylights and/or leak in near the chimney and cause damage the way it was all over the Metro area.  

I broke 2 brooms and a shovel because the snow was so heavy.  

At one point I looked over to where he was shoveling snow off his side of the roof and said “We live here why?”

Initial efforts suggested God didn’t want us moving from Michigan.  Turns out it was where we were looking to move to that was the problem.

At the time we were focused on Arizona since both of us had almost transferred there prior to meeting each other though the idea was to eventually transfer to California.

After getting feedback via the Mental Video Technique – roadblocks galore – I suggested to Aaron maybe we should focus on our first choice, California.

We didn’t think we could afford it so we’d focused on Arizona.

Within two days both of us had job offers.

Two months later we moved to the Bay Area.

While I ended up getting more than I bargained for I don’t regret the transfer.

Many good things happened while we were living there.

Be well!

For more on signs I suggest Robert Moss’ The Three Only Things: Tapping the Power of Dreams, Coincidence, and Imagination.

Post Note: Listening to Reel Around the Sun from Riverdance and realizing that in writing this article I answered a dilemma I’d been dealing with for several months. What sealed it? The Mental Video Method.

Only in my case I wasn’t uploading anything. It was simply a matter of “You know, it’s awfully interesting my life got so difficult after …”

MANIFESTING: THE LONG ARC OF COMING TO BE

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

MANIFESTING: WOULDN’T IT BE COOL?

I was sitting on my porch the other night admiring the gradient changes in a twilight sky and thinking how lucky I was to have such a view.  I took a deep breath appreciating the ability to breathe clean air when I was hit with the realzation I was living a wish fulfilled.  Though I’ve had a number of manifestation successes in my life, this one is interesting in that

  • I made the wish when I was 7
  • I shared the wish with someone who immediately told me how impractical it was
  • I forgot about it
  • I never did one conscious thing to make it happen

Origin of a Wish

When I was a kid we lived about 11 miles as the crow flies from the River Rouge plant.  Each summer we would go camping on Lake Huron.

We genereally went to the Oscoda area but sometimes we’d go further north.

One of my favorite things to do was stand on the beach at evening twilight and stare up at a sky filled with stars.

A number of factors including light pollution meant this wasn’t possible at home.

I also loved walking through the woods with my dad.

I love trees and the fresh air was wonderful.

The summer I was 7 I told my dad it would be cool to live up north.

So we could enjoy beautiful twilight skies and fresh air all year long.

He told me it wasn’t practical.

Because of the economy.

He explained that a tourist economy meant those living in that area faced a lot of financial adversity.

I didn’t need to hear any more.

We were already poor.

I let go of the wish.

Though not the desire to have the benefits of the wish, beautiful twilight skies and fresh air to breathe.

This morning as I again considered the irony of this particular wish fulfilled I came to realze a number of my manifestation successes have something in common.  They almost always start with a specific phrase.

Wouldn’t It Be Cool?

In high school I went with a friend to see Desperately Seeking Susan.  As I sat in the theatre watching the scene where Aidan Quinn and Rosanna Arquette  are on the roof of the loft talking I thought Wouldn’t it be cool to live in a loft in an urban area like that?

It was a fleeting thought.

Though one I repeated – out loud – several years later to a different friend while we were watching the movie on cable.

Other than the brief repeat I didn’t give it any more thought.

I did nothing to make it happen.

Approximately ten years later I found myself living that life not because I consciously set my sights to living in an urban loft but because it just unfolded that way.

Even then I knew something was up.

Too much of a coincidence as it was too close to my high school vision.

By the time we were living in Fort Collins, Colorado I’d figured out that every time I uttered those words…Wouldn’t it Be Cool?  I got the wish.

Just one problem.

It can’t be forced!

Manifestation gurus would likely explain the process – saying Wouldn’t it be cool? then letting it go – is the detachment necessary to bring something to be and they’d be right.  Unfortunately, I can’t force the detachment.  When it comes to my successes using this phrase?  Every time I’ve uttered those words it was done with a negligent shrug.  

There was no emotional attachment to an outcome.

To this day I am unable to fake the detachment.

I can say the words but my unconscious mind is smart.  It knows when I’m saying the words but failing in the detachment part.

Fortunately, I’ve a number of other options for manifestation.  Given the unique nature of the success stories I will include them here.

So others can give them a try if they wish.

The Ideal Scene

In 1996 during a challenging part of my life  I bought Shakti Gawain’s Creative Visualization Workbook.

I’d never heard of visualization or manifestation.

The book was on a table at the front of Border’s Books where I’d gone to find something to distract myself from my troubles.

Though I diligently completed each exercise it was The Ideal Scene I was most intrigued by.

Maybe because I’m a writer?

I wrote out details for my ideal relationship, following the rules about not being too specific yet putting in details that were important.  Then I put the book aside.

Never looked at it again.

Several years later while unpacking a box in the living room of our Downtown San Francisco loft I pulled out the workbook.

I’d forgotten about it.

I’d packed it in a box of books and other items I’d been moving around the country.

As I read what I wrote – in pencil – in The Ideal Scene – I got a big smile.  I’d married the man I wrote as being ideal for me.

The way I described him in that letter was more or less a perfect match for how I would have described him that day.

Encouraged by the success I used that technique to manifest the house we bought after the loft and while I was again successful I learned a big lesson.

Be exact in your wording.

When writing the Ideal Scene about the house I wanted for our family I described the number of rooms and bathrooms – that it had wood floors and a fireplace – the yard, nice neighbors, safe, etc. and yes I got everything exact.  What was missing?  I didn’t put in the style of house.

I would have preferred something other than a ranch.

Alas, this is another method that is apparently tied to detachment.

A detachment I can’t fake.

I let go of that particular process for manifesting when we were living in Fort Collins.

A Picture Worth a 1000 Words

We were living in Scottsdale and trying to determine our next move.

We always knew it would be a temporary place where we could regroup after the horrific fallout from the EMF Sensitivity nightmare.

We could move pretty much anywhere we wanted.

We were split between New England and So Cal.

We had a number of options before us.  

Too many options.

After months of attempting to come to a decision I decided to shove the location question aside and focus instead on the type of dwelling I wanted.  One thing was clear.  I desperately missed living in a city.

I couldn’t stand living in a suburb – something I’d never experienced growing up.

Stupid HOA rules and incredible boredom.

I found a cool picture of a couple dancing in their urban loft.

It was an advertisement for the building.

Uncertain of a location at this point I also cut out a picture of a cool house.

It was a view of part of the inside.

Completely different it had a bit of a New England fishing town vibe.

Time passed and we eventually decided on So Cal, moving to an urban loft after touring the gorgeous housing area to the north left me feeling nauseated.

I explained to Aaron my heart would always be in Downtown San Diego.

I needed the freedom and energy of the urban life.

Memories of subdivisions and HOA stuff left me feeling ill.

And then…

Eventually thanks to the twists and turns so common in my life I found myself in the Pacific Northwest.  One afternoon while at my desk I looked up to realize I was looking at the other photo from Scottsdale.

Everything was exact, including the color of paint on the wall.

A color that was here when we moved in.

What stood out about this particular manifestation success is that I didn’t consciously create it.

I didn’t consciously create either one of the options yet got both.

I’d been torn between the two to the degree I got pictures of each and though they were on my desk in AZ, I put them out of my mind.

I see the connection in all of these successes is detachment.  What’s interesting is that the detachment happened differently in each case.

Showing there’s more than one way to skin a wish.

In concluding I will list my favorite books on manifesting.

They light my optimism when I’m feeling down or stuck in neutral.