Finding The Right Beat

Saturday evening, Tim and I watched a funky little romantic comedy movie called, The Guru. It’s about a young man, Ramu Guptal, played by Jimi Mistry,  who comes to the United States from India intending to find fame and fortune as an actor and dancer.

Ramu’s plan doesn’t go well.  He finds himself on the set of a porno movie, unable to get certain of his equipment to function properly for his role.  One bizarre thing leads to another and Ramu ultimately finds himself in the role of “The Sex Guru” to rich people.  He’s a total fake, but he has one good piece of advice for his clients, the advice he’s lived by, the advice that brought him to the United States to begin with.  Ramu tells people, “Move your feet to the beat of your heart.”

I think Abraham-Hicks would agree wholeheartedly with this advice.  Isn’t that what feeling good is about?

Today’s Abraham-Hicks quote is:

“Today, no matter where I’m going and no matter what I am doing, it is my dominant intent to see that which I am wanting to see.”

Instead of going through my day living up to other people’s expectations and seeing the world the way society sees it, I’ve been intent on moving my feet to the beat of my own heart, looking for what I want to see.

I want to see financial security, freedom to spend the day as I desire.  Today, I’ve seen that.

In the movie, Ramu’s mis-step into the porno world ends up leading him to the girl of his dreams, and moving his feet to the beat of his heart ultimately wins him that girl.

Yeah, I know it was a movie.  But what is life if not a fiction we create day by day with our choices and intentions?

What if I could write my life as I want to see it?  What if my feet could move to the music of my heart’s desires?

No struggles today.  I’m dancing to the beat of freedom and contentment.  Ahhh.

Law of Attraction Manages Thought

We think of law of attraction as being something that brings things or experiences to us.  But the law of attraction brings thoughts to us too.  Like vibration attracts like vibration.  So if you’re thinking an angry thought, that vibration will bring you more angry thoughts.

This is how we think ourselves into a tizzy.  Ever noticed how you get angry at someone you love for some little thing and suddenly all the anger you’ve ever had about them has bubbled up?  Thank the law of attraction for that.

Noticing the thoughts coming to you can tell you what kind of alignment you have going.  Having trouble finding happy thoughts?  You’re not in alignment.  You’re thinking thoughts that will bring you things you don’t want.

When you’re thinking happy thoughts, you’re thinking about things that are in vibrational alignment with things you want, which means good things are coming.

I’ve spent the majority of my life with a mind full of thoughts that vary from feel bad thoughts to feel neutral thoughts.  Yes, of course, I’ve had a lot of feel good thoughts, but the balance of my thought has been lousy.  I used to struggle mightily with depression—which, though the medical community and most people would disagree with me, I’ve come to believe is, to a great extent, a choice.  I was under psychiatric care and took medication for bipolar disorder for six years a decade ago.  I thought the depression was out of my control.  I’ve learned since then that it’s just the law of attraction in action.  Fall into a depressive thought pattern and more and more such thoughts will come to you; pretty soon, you’ll be so out of alignment with nonphysical you that you’ll be completely depleted of energy and in total despair.

Most people in my current financial and obese-body circumstances would feel depressed.  And I DID feel depressed a couple weeks ago.  Now, I don’t.  I didn’t take a pill or see a counselor.  I deliberately started choosing thoughts that made me feel good.

It was tough at first—like finding the one ingredient you like in a stew pot mostly filled with ingredients you hate.  But now that I’ve been doing it for a week, it’s getting pretty easy.  I’m finding so many things to appreciate.

I haven’t experienced any grand manifestations of things or experiences (big ones) since I started my feel good experiment, but I have been noticing that more feel good thoughts are coming my way.  And I’m noticing more feel good things too.

My parents gave me a gift subscription to Reader’s Digest. Except for the jokes, Reader’s Digest could be called Negative Digest. The magazine is full of dire warnings, complaints, advice on how to AVOID things, and stories of injury and pain.

I’d almost decided to toss the next issue I got, but this time, I decided to check it out.  And guess what the law of attraction brought me?

An article about a family who set up a program that throws birthday parties for homeless children.

Now that’s a feel good thought!

The more I appreciate, the more law of attraction is bringing me things to appreciate.

What A Difference A Little Time Makes

Ducky turned six months old today.  🙂

In a mere six months, Ducky has come a long, long way.

Just think.  A year ago, Ducky was pure energy, not even a blink of an idea in her sire’s mind.  Six months and one day ago, Ducky was blind and deaf, confined to her mother’s womb.

Even three months ago, Ducky was pretty limited.  Of course, by then, she could see and hear.  She’d learned to eat solid food and play with her siblings and her mom.  She’d discovered toys, rawhides, and fetching a ball.  But she spent most of her time in a kennel.  She didn’t know anything about being out in the world.

And now?

Ducky is a remarkably mature six-month old dog.  Unlike many dogs her age, she knows to hang out quietly sleeping or entertaining herself with toys or by exploring her fenced yard while Tim and I are working or watching a movie.

She knows that when we pick up her food bowl and get out the plastic container that contains her Darwin’s raw food, she’s going to get fed.  She knows she won’t get fed if she jumps on the counter or us.  So she hovers in an antsy sort of butt-wiggling sit and makes little squeaking sounds while she waits.  She knows she has to sit and stay or lie down and stay in front of her bowl until we say, “Okay.”

Ducky has learned and executes:  sit, down, stay, come, heel, high five, roll over, reach for the sky (she’s supposed to throw both paws in the air), stand (on two feet), off, leave it, bring it, and give.  When you wave at her, she enthusiastically throws up a paw to wave back.

She knows what’s okay to chew on and what isn’t—we don’t have to worry about her destroying things in the house.

She knows about “going in the car,” and she waits quietly in the car when we leave her in it while we go into stores or restaurants.

She knows, “get in your crate” and does so without protest.

She’s met many dogs and many people, and she’s learning how to act with them all.

I could go on, but you get the idea.  She went from nonphysical to physically limited to wild puppy to well-mannered young dog.  In just a few months.

A few days ago, I mentioned the pilings that have been revealed in the sand on the beach by the bay near where I live.  A few years ago, they weren’t there.  Now they’re over 12 feet high.  The ocean’s energy is relentless.  The sand had to move.

The universe’s energy is also relentless.  Life can change SO fast.  It may seem bleak now, but as Annie says, “The sun will come out tomorrow.”  We can’t count on THAT where I live—we get a lot of rain, but I can count on change being right around the corner.

Looking at Ducky’s young face and all her newly acquired worldly wisdom makes me feel good.  Finding something to remind you that the current circumstances can change very soon is a great way to feel good.

The other reminder I tap into often is the fact that in December 22, 2000, I was single with no prospects of being otherwise anytime soon.  Tim was ending a marriage with a woman who hadn’t appreciated him for a very long time, and he had no sign that a better relationship was coming.  On January 27, 2001, Tim and I were living together, deeply in love and much-appreciating one another.  Life can go from bad to good SO FAST!  I love that!

So Happy Six Month Birthday, Ducky!  Thanks for reminding us that even if it sucks today, tomorrow life can be just ducky.

She Won The Lottery On Purpose

Cynthia Stafford was a single mother raising five kids, a woman who’s life wasn’t what she wanted, but who believed in the power of her mind.  Her favorite author of books on that subject was Divine Science minister, Joseph Murphy.  Murphy teaches self-healing and manifestation through the power of visualization and focused thought and feeling.  Stafford followed Murphy’s teachings.  She decided she wanted to win $112 million.  Heeding Murphy’s advice, she wrote the figure “$112 million” over and over.  She meditated on it.  She imagined how excited she would be once the money finally came into her life.

Four months of obsessive focus later, she stopped and let go. “Once you’re in the flow of the energy,” she says, “it’s going to happen.”  In May 2007, Stafford won $112 million in California’s Megamillions lottery.

True story.

I’ve never read Dr. Murphy’s writings, but from quotes I’ve seen, his ideas are similar to those of Abraham and many other mind-power writers.  Dr. Murphy says the healing presence of God is within each one of us and with focused direction, it can heal the mind, body, and life situations of “all disease and impediments.”

Here are his steps for tapping into this energy:

1. Don’t be afraid of “the manifest condition,” i.e., accept what is
2. Realize all current conditions are only the product of past thinking
3. Celebrate the power of God (nonphysical energy) that lies within you, i.e. own that power

Dr. Murphy says, “Live in the embodiment of your desire, and your thought and feeling will soon be made manifest.”

Abraham says you have to feel as if you have the thing that you want to have.  You must be it before you can become it or have it.  Since we want what we want because it will make us happy, we must be happy now if we want to get what we want.

Cynthia Stafford is the shining example that odds don’t mean anything.  Your intention is what matters.  What do you intend today?

I intend, as I have since Sunday, to find reasons to feel good.

Resetting The Message

I woke up this morning in a lousy mood.  Not a good thing when you’re only on day four of a feel good experiment.

Mornings and the middle of the night—these are the toughest times for me.  It’s like my default button is set on “oh my God, we’re going to run out of money!”

You know how answering machines have that basic message that plays if you don’t record your own?:  “Please record your message,” a serious voice demands.  Not an upper.  Tim and I have our own, far more upbeat, humorous outgoing message.  However, when the power goes out, the machine returns to “Please record your message.”

This is like my emotional recording system.  Only my basic message has this high-pitched, anxious mouse-being-chased-by-a-big cat tone that squeaks variations of “no money.”

No wonder I’m financially depleted.

I want to wake up feeling good.  I want to wake up feeling secure about my finances, feeling free about my life, feeling enthusiastic about what’s coming.

It’s been a very long time since I’ve woken up feeling that way.

What I usually have to do is scramble my way to a feel good spot.

Leash my out-of-control mind.  Reel it in.  Find thoughts that make me feel good:   My bed is comfortable.  I love living in such a quiet neighborhood.  I’m in pretty good health.  All my parts are working.  When I open my shade, I see beautiful trees.  My husband loves me very much.  My dog loves very much.  Etc. etc.

Once I warm up the thought engine, sometimes I can move on to visualizing the life I want to wake up to.  I can see the bedroom in the house we want to build.  I imagine waking up in the slender body I used to have and want to have again.  I stretch on my comfortable bed, push a button to open shades.  Stand and look at my ocean view and do a graceful yoga sun salutation.  (I used to be able to bend over and put my nose between my knees—I want to do that again.)

This morning, I had to scrape and claw for happy thoughts.  My dreams were disturbing last night.  In each one, I was frustrated, angry, or both.  Abraham says that your dreams are an indicator of your alignment.  Bad dreams—no alignment.  Good dreams—alignment.  Hmm.

So I dragged myself from bed, dressed, and Tim, Ducky and I got in the car.  Gorgeous day.  Reasonably calm.  Pale blue sky with skittering frothy, unthreatening clouds.  I thought about the work I wanted to get done today.  Then I thought about how nice it would be to walk by the bay (20 minutes from our house)—when we do that, it takes more time.  I shouldn’t waste the time, I thought.

But then … For five years, I’ve been busting my butt doing things to try and get to a place where I think I’ll be happy.  What has it gotten me?

Today’s Abraham quote (they have daily quotes you can subscribe to) was:

“Everything that I think that I need to do is all only in order to propel me to some place that when I get there, I think I will be happier. So, everything that I am doing, no matter what it is, all of my lists of rights and wrongs… are all about me getting to a manifestation that I believe I will then be happier… So, why don’t I take a short cut and just go get happy?”

Why don’t I?

We went to the bay.  We walked for an hour and a half.

And oh what a glorious time we had.  The day was clear enough that we could see Mount Rainier in the distance—the top of it, jutting in its winter white, toward a soft, layered sky.  The ocean unfolded itself in an accordion succession of waves that left trails of spray glistening in their wake under the morning sun.  Ducky discovered the joy of chasing crows and seagulls.  I found several agates.  We encountered few people, so Ducky was free to explore.

I was happy.  I forgot my dreams.

The long walk rerecorded my emotional message—all is well.  Life is good.

Getting My Mind To Mind

The mind is like an untrained dog, one left to languish in a backyard, maybe on a tether or in a kennel, not given instruction, not guided to happy purpose.  Most of us are extraordinarily lazy about what we think.

I’m sure that’s why so many people, including me, are still waiting for all the things we thought the law of attraction would bring to us.  Most don’t realize that the law of attraction is bringing a match to our thoughts all the time; the reason what we’re getting isn’t what we want is because the majority of our thoughts aren’t a vibrational match to what we want.

Lazy thoughts are “what is” thoughts, observation of something that’s going on, something that happened to you or someone else or something going on in the world.  We think we need to talk about current events (sometimes to such lengths that if the topic were a dead horse, we’d have pulverized it into mere wisps of tissue by the time we’re done).

The truth is that unless something is what we want, unless it truly makes us glad or brings us hope or makes us feel appreciation, it is not something we need to be talking about.  This includes disasters like those in Haiti—which doesn’t mean we ignore them.  You can put your attention on something that needs to be done, like bringing aid to people who need it, but the attention needs to be on the solution, not the problem.  Lamenting what has happened doesn’t help anyone.  We have to learn to start where we are and find thoughts that bring relief.

What you focus on perpetuates.

I KNOW this.

But do I control my thoughts accordingly?

Nope.

I let my thoughts meander like that untrained dog, digging holes (coming up with terrifying scenarios about what might happen in the future), chewing on shoes and furniture (running problems through my head over and over), barking at every little noise (paying attention to anything around me, whether I like it or not).

This morning, in spite of that intention to feel good and feel happy, I woke up aware of my financial situation.  I threw a choker chain over my mind and yanked it away from that unhappy line of thinking.  I put it in a nice heel next to thoughts of things I like (my bed, a memory foam/latex foam combo, is very comfortable and much of the hip and back pain I had before I got it is gone; the storm we had last night blew through quickly and left behind no damage; Ducky greets me with delightful enthusiasm each morning as if I’m the most fascinating person in the world).

But as the morning went on, I realized my thoughts must have been someplace I didn’t like because I felt flat and blah.  Not sad or depressed.  Not consciously angry or discouraged.  Just a little lethargic.

This definitely wasn’t the “I feel happy—it’s a perfect day” the way I wanted to feel.

Tim and I were walking in the forest with Ducky (another thing to feel good about), and I told him I wanted to lift my energy.

He said, “What do you want?  Tell me about things you want.”  (Another thing to appreciate—I have a very supportive husband!)

So I started telling him about the house I want us to buy—I talked about the rooms and the view and the property it sat on.  I talked about its location and what I wanted to do to the house.

Once I started talking, I felt SO much better.  I could feel my energy rising; a little surge of enthusiasm started percolating.

Since then, I’ve been able to build on that by using this “what do you want?” focus as a leash that pulls my mind back in line when it starts circling the yard of fear and sadness.

Ducky, at less than 6 months old, is better trained than my meandering mind.  It’s time to change that.

I’ve got 29 days left to teach my mind enough feel-good tricks to change my life.

I think I’m off to a good start.

The Joy of Play

One of the ways I remember how to feel good is to watch my dog.  Here’s what pure joy looks like:

And this: