Lesson 6b: Living with Intent

When I wrote down my goals last time, I thought it was the last part of the lesson. Oops--it wasn't! There are two pages afterwards talking about taking action toward accomplishing our goals and having the expectation that we will achieve them.

This notion of expectation is something that I have struggled with ever since I started my personal development path. Having an expectation of success is even one of the 5 elements of success in Liberty League. But it always seemed that there was so much evidence of times when something "unexpected" happened or when I was disappointed because my expectations weren't met, that I had a hard time really believing that everything in life happens exactly as we expect it to.

Then, on Friday, a really remarkable thing happened.

I was reading a report called "The 5-Minute Mind Miracle" by Nathan Blaszak--an expert on hypnosis and training your mind for success. The article was about meditation techniques, but for whatever reason he included in it a little section on the magic of "what if." He said that many people get bogged down with trying to figure out "why" things aren't going right in their lives. Instead, he suggests asking the question, "What if?"

Although he was primarily referring to asking others this question, a little spark went off in my brain, which turned into a huge fire.

You see, all of the techniques of personal development--affirmations, visualizations, etc.--have one thing in common: to get you to raise your vibration so that you are in a constant state of joy. When you feel good, good things happen.

The problem is that we all have this pesky little conscious mind that is always trying to put the breaks on what we are trying to tell ourselves:
"I am smart, attractive, and funny," we say in our affirmation.
"No, you're not. Look how stupid you were yesterday, you haven't had a date in a month, and no one ever laughs at your jokes," replies our conscious.

Loral Langemeier, in her appearance in the movie, The Secret, describes this little mini-battle and says we can expect it to go on "for awhile."

Bob Doyle, another teacher of The Secret, commonly writes and talks about what he refers to as the missing ingredient in the The Secret--learning to deal with the resistance that comes from your conscious mind.

As I have tried to overcome my own personal resistance--the voices in my head that tell me what I am trying to convince myself of is not true--I have turned to teachers like Carol Look and Stuart Lichtman, who teach you how to stop the voices (Carol,using EFT) or speak to your subconscious in a way that bypasses them (Stuart, using Cybernetic Transposition).

Everything showed promise but has been time consuming and overwhelming. Everything, that is, until I picked up Nathan's little "what if" secret.

You see, when I ask myself "what if," my conscious mind has to take a backseat. The very question requires that I not look for a realistic response. It draws on the powers that could be, instead of looking for evidence of what really is.

So Friday I began an amazing, exciting, powerful journey of "what if," and my life will never be the same. In fact, it was SO powerful and SO remarkable, that I had to write down all the seemingly unbelievable things that happened.

• I went to the bank and suddenly realized it was Friday afternoon. How stupid! Friday afternoon is the worst time to go--it's always really packed and you have to wait forever. Instead of thinking that, though, I pulled into the parking lot and thought, "What if there is hardly anyone in line and I get to the teller right away?" I walked in, and there were only 3 other people in line.
• While I was in the bank, I got a paper cut--you know how paper cuts really hurt, even though they are so small, and they just bug you all day. Instead of thinking that, though, I instantly thought, "What if this paper cut doesn't hurt and hardly bleeds?" It didn't.
• Next I went to go buy a bike for my triathlon. I wanted to buy a used one at Salvation Army because I don't know if I'm really going to stick with the sport. Usually they have a ton of bikes, but due to the nature of the store, it's hit and miss as to whether you get a good one. On my way there I thought, "What if I went and found exactly the one I wanted and paid exactly what I wanted to for it?" As I pulled into the parking lot, I saw that they only had a handful of bikes there (turns out there were 4--not the 20 or so they usually have), so I changed my thought to, "What if, despite the fact that are only a few bikes, the right one is still there? And what if some good person felt like donating a really expensive bike, instead of reselling it themselves?" Out of only 4 to choose from, I found the perfect bike--worth about $500 (and I paid $60).
• Next I went to get my accessories (helmet, bike rack, tool kit, etc.). I was worried that it was going to cost an arm and a leg. But as I was driving to the store, I thought, "What if I walked in the store and found that everything was on sale, and I got deep discounts on almost everything I wanted to buy?" I walked in the store and they were having a "lowest prices of the season sale"--almost everything I needed was 40-50% off!
• Now that I had my bike rack, I had to go back to pick up my bike. The tiny parking lot was full, so I thought, "What someone leaves just as I get there and I get a spot right in front?" I got the spot.
• Now that I had my bike, I had to go back to the accessory store to get the right innertube. I thought, "What if I get a parking spot right in front?" When I arrived, someone was just leaving. It was right in front, but it was a handicapped spot. So I waited, and kept thinking, "What if someone came out of a store and moved their car out of a spot right in front?" Well, someone came out of a store and moved their car--but it was the other handicapped spot! I guess I should have been more specific...ha ha ha! :o)
• Next I had to go to the grocery store. By this time, it was rush hour, and I was on a very busy street that barely moves this time of day. So I thought, "What if, even though there are a lot of cars, they moved quickly and it didn’t seem like we were sitting in traffic at all?" There were a lot of cars, but they moved quickly, and it didn't seem like we were sitting in traffic at all!
• Finally, I had to stop at a friend's house to pick up some music. It wasn't likely that she would be home, but it was on the way, so I decided to stop by anyway. I thought, "What if, not only is she home, but she is expecting me?" Not only was she home, but she answered the door and said, "Hey, I was just thinking about you!"

This has absolutely, positively ROCKED my world. I find I am using it constantly! I am stretching my powers and testing it on bigger and bigger things. Just how powerful am I? What does it work and not work on? Oh my gosh, I cannot wait for the rest of my life!!!!