It’s Not All the Same To Me
I know the law of attraction is one of the energetic laws that bring order to the universe. I don’t believe it. I know it.
Even though I know it, however, I have doubts.
These doubts aren’t about the existence of the law of attraction. They’re about my understanding of how to think and feel in a way that makes the law of attraction a positive force in my life instead of a negative one.
The basics of law of attraction’s impact on us are simple:
1. Think thoughts that match up vibrationally with what you desire.
2. The better a thought feels to you, the better it matches up with things you want.
Simple … but at least for me, it’s the most difficult thing I’ve ever attempted to learn how to do.
I have had so many times in my life when I thought I was feeling about as good as I could possibly feel, times during which I was sure my thoughts were focused in the direction I wanted to go, times during which I felt exuberant anticipation for what I desired, … times during which the experiences I received were in no way something I wanted. Why?
What do I need to do differently? How could I think I was feeling as good as I can feel and yet create one nasty thing after another?
Because I’ve been baffled by my own lack of results, I’ll admit that even though I know comparisons are rarely useful and my vibration is my own work, I look at what others are doing. I listen to what others say they think and feel, and I see what results they get. When I see good thoughts bring good results, it encourages me to keep working at this simple process that for some reason is evading me.
One of the people I watch is my husband. When you live with someone, if you’re close, you have a reasonably good insight into their vibration. You can’t get in the other person’s head, but you notice body language and expression, and you listen to words.
And when you live with someone, you’re co-creating your reality. Even though you can’t create someone else’s reality, by default what you create will probably impact your partner. What he or she creates will impact you.
How Did He Create That?
So I’m curious about Tim’s creations. Because he feels like a millionaire with complete financial freedom, I’m quite invested in seeing his physical reality match up with his virtual reality.
When Tim and I got sued, I was astounded. That I would get sued didn’t surprise me that much. Though I’ve worked and worked at feeling financially secure, I’ve not achieved that feeling with any consistency. But Tim? He’s a virtual millionaire. How does he get sued for defaulting on a debt?
I posed this question to a friend a few days ago. After chastising me for comparing my vibration with Tim’s and for talking about this bad thing that I didn’t want and that’s now in the past (though not really—it’s ongoing and requires continued action on my part), my friend said something that resulted in a huge shift in how I see vibration.
She said, “Whatever you felt at the time the negative manifestation occurred is how you must have been feeling before it happened because otherwise it couldn’t possibly have happened to you.”
Those of you well-versed in deliberate creation are probably shaking your heads right now, thinking, “That’s nothing big. Obviously you can’t create something you weren’t a vibrational match to, and the way we can tell our vibrations is through our feelings.”
I know this isn’t big insight, but I’ve never drilled into it quite this way. Though, I have often linked specific thoughts to events that follow, I’ve never specifically linked the emotion after the event to the emotion before.
I know that when we got sued, I felt scared and angry and embarrassed. Before we got sued, I had moments of fear and anger and embarrassment. That was easy.
What about Tim?
I asked him what he felt when we got sued. “Confused,” he said.
What?
“I was just a little confused because I thought the company we hired to handle our debt was doing what was necessary to keep lawsuits from happening,” he explained.
“You weren’t angry?” I asked.
“No.”
“Worried or scared?”
“No.”
“Embarrassed?”
“No.”
“How do you feel now?” I asked.
“Fine. It’s a non-issue.”
“What about the inconvenience of filing papers and convincing them that we don’t have anything they can sell to get their money?”
“Oh, I guess that’s a little annoying, but it’s not a big deal.”
This conversation was like a whoosh, blasting cobwebs out of my brain. All this time I’d been baffled by how Tim or others could create things with which they seemed to not be aligned, I was assessing their results from a skewed perspective, MY perspective.
What I did was attribute MY feelings about an event to Tim. Since I was afraid, angry, and embarrassed, I assumed he was too, and I couldn’t understand why someone as secure and happy as he was could create an experience full of so much fear, anger, and embarrassment.
But he didn’t feel fear, anger, and embarrassment. He felt confusion and a little annoyance. His experience, the same experience I had, matched up with his vibration just as the experience matched up with my vibration, but our vibrations were different.
Maybe I’m the only one who gets off track and looks at the world around me to see what others are attracting. Maybe I’m the only one who has felt I might be doing something very wrong because my experiences are still so far from what I truly desire.
If I’m not the only one, though, if you too have wondered why someone could manifest this or that, maybe my insight will help you. We all process events in our lives differently. It’s not all the same to you and me. Something that might be devastating to you might be no big deal to me and vice versa. What you perceive as a tragedy may not be tragic at all to the person it’s happening to.
To me, this explains a lot. It explains how things I think are BAD happen to people who appear to be aligned with only good things. The thing I think is so bad may not feel so bad to the person it’s happened to.
I find this comforting.
And I find it useful. All this insight is helping me focus even more clearly on how I feel, on every little nuance of my emotions.
I’ve started looking at all the things I want and thinking about how I know I’ll feel when I have those things I want. I’ve redoubled my efforts to find ways to feel that way now.
I know that looking at negative manifestations isn’t the way to create a vibrational match to desired experiences, but at least this time, dissecting what happened to me and to Tim helped me. It gave me greater clarity into how to do this simple yet challenging thing called deliberate creation.
Tags: Alignment, deliberate creation, Law of Attraction, negative thinking, posiitve thinking, Vibration, vibrational alignment, vibrational frequency, vibrational match
June 9th, 2010 at 3:26 pm
Very insightful, Ande. How you and Tim were feeling before the incident was different, and how you were feeling after the incident was also different but matched how you were each feeling before.
Makes sense to me.
Mark and I often interpret things that we co-create very differently, and I’m sure we’re feeling differently when events are in the pre-manifestation stage. It’s all such fun, amazing stuff, thinking how Law of Attraction works with utter inerrant precision and never misses a beat.
Karen´s last blog ..Flying, Massage, Cancer, & Contracts
June 9th, 2010 at 6:46 pm
I’m learning from another “consciousness-creates-reality” teaching that Greg mentioned a while back (go to: fieldcenter.org) that whether you (generally speaking, not ‘you’ specifically) use outer techniques (e.g., searching through the classified ads for a job) or inner techniques (e.g., imagining how you’ll feel when you have the perfect job you want), if you are using these methods to create something in the physical world (i.e., manifest) that you believe does not exist, then it can’t manifest because of your belief in its non-existence.
Instead, it is necessary to believe that it does, in fact, already exist (in an unmanifested, parallel world; as an idea; as imagination ) in a reality that is “realer” than the physical one since it is the source out of which the physical emerges. Your “work” is to align your desire (the perfect job) with that belief (that it already exists), even in the face of physical evidence to the contrary, and allow what this teaching calls “the Field” (aka LOA, the Universe, the Manager) to bring it to you. That relaxed and trusting alignment of belief and desire feels wonderful, and your ease of being paves the way for its often quick manifestation.
But – important point – you don’t worry about the manifestation (i.e., you don’t keep looking for results) because your desire is simply the outer realization of what you know already exists ans what you know without a doubt will appear in the perfect way and at the perfect time — either your specific desire, its equivalent, or something even better. What’s left is to do? Appreciate, give thanks, focus on the abundance you already have, etc. (all positive-aspect stuff) and “do what’s before you to do” (I’m still not sure what that means), while at the same time refraining from pushing against, resisting, or trying to fix “what is.”
The challenge (for me at least) is to not give credence to what’s going on in the world of effect, to not give it what this teaching calls “the status of a conclusion,” to instead see physical reality as a work in progress that you’re “molding into place,” such that things in the world (e.g., this lawsuit) aren’t necessarily what they appear to be. We are so deeply embedded in physical reality that it’s hard to take the steps back in consciousness that will allow us to believe that something that isn’t physically manifest is more real than its physical counterpart. Hope all that made sense.
I don’t know if any of this helps, and I’m far from being an expert in this teaching and may very well not be presenting it accurately, but your statements about wondering why you are manifesting what you perceive to be not-so-pleasing results prompted me offer it as food for thought.
Patrice´s last blog ..Why the Law of Attraction Has Not Worked For Me
June 10th, 2010 at 12:10 am
Ande,
I am totally with Patrice on this. She literally took the words out of my mouth. It just seems that you are using phrases like, redoubling my efforts and deliberate creation. Sounds so upstream to me. Sounds like a struggle. Sounds like a lot of effort.
I know that you have been wanting to see manifestations and kinda checking on a regular basis for them and then you say that you get out of alignment when you dont see them.
Patrice said what I was going to say. You already know that if you allow something to happen in order to make it happen, it wont happen. This is true. That is the paradoxial truth that we see so much of. The first shall be last. To save your life you must lose it. Almighty God became a baby…. You can have anything you want as long as you already have it. I know I’m not telling you anything that you dont already know.
The other part is the “doing what is before you”. Most people arent sure what that means. In my case, it meant getting to work. It meant starting a business out of nothing in the worst time to start a business since 1929. I didnt just sit back and visualize feeling now how I would then, I started working. Most of what I did was hard and uncomfortable but now its a lot better and I am starting to love it. Now, some things have dropped into my lap that are incredible but I had to do the thing that was before me. I did align my thoughts before taking action, but then, I took action.
I am a husband and I have a wife and three daughters to support and I regularily, on a daily basis spend time visualizing and putting myself in the Vortex and I call that which is not as though it was. I assume the identity of a successfull business owner with a thriving business and I do this for the shear joy of the identity. it feels so good to me. I dont then look around afterwards to see if I am successful, I do what is before me. I do my job. When I look up, God brings the manifestations of that successful Identity to me when I dont have my eyes on it . My God is always paying attention to and “proving” who I believe myself to be. If you are always checking for the manifestation, then you are always saying to yourself, that you are not who you want to be. And that is the identity that God will prove for you over and over and over probably until you give up. That is what I had to do, give up. I gave up redoubling my efforts. I gave up “deliberate” creation and just created happily with no checking on the manifestation. That is where the trust thing comes in.
I am no expert but the “doing what is before you” is as key as the alignment. Alignment first but then we must work.
If I just sat back and visualized everyday and did not do what was before me, I would be like the guy who visualized soaring and then went up to the 50th floor of some building and threw myself off to start flying because that is what I envisioned. We both know how that would turn out.
Remember when I reported that my wife got the job at nordstrom after she had three interviews in one day. well, it turned out that someone got their wires crossed and gave her the nod when they shouldnt have. They called her back and said that she didnt have enough experience to do the job at Nordstrom that she wanted. My wife was very depressed over this. She really wanted that job there and felt that she let everyone down. We talked about it and prayed and said, well, why dont you get a job at Macy’s or bloomingdale’s and when you have a year experience or so, then re apply to Nordstrom and with your experience, it shouldnt be a problem getting hired. She agreed. So, she is going to do what is before her. She really doenst have the experience to do the job that Nordstrom requires so she will get a job at a company that is not her first choice and then when she does have the experience, she’ll switch over to Nordstrom. She could’ve just got depressed and stopped altogether or still kept trying to get hired at Nordstrom even though she doesnt have the experience but she is doing what is before her for now.
I hope this helped. I know that in my business, I had to go backwards, really backwards befor I went forwards. Sometimes backwards is forwards, we just dont know it yet.
June 10th, 2010 at 12:03 pm
Absolutely, Patrice! I’m with you. If you dig back in the archives of this site, you’ll see I’ve quoted the Field Center. I read their blog. I know this stuff, and yes, that is what I have done, and I do believe that all this exists in the nonphysical–absolutely I do. And I have led myself to thoughts that the lawsuit is just a passing manifestation that does not indicate the final manifestation. I think there may come a time when in terms of negative experiences, you get to a point of “sensory overload,” where you get one too many apparently negative manifestations and it takes the wind out of your sails. And even though you know this is temporary, you have unsettled times like I’m having now.
June 10th, 2010 at 12:04 pm
I agree that we must do what is before us, which is what I’ve been doing for years and am still doing.
June 10th, 2010 at 12:05 pm
Yes, Karen, the law of attraction does work with utter precision, for sure!
June 10th, 2010 at 12:23 pm
I hear you Ande! Sometimes these seemingly negative experiences can be so overwhelming that I just wanna crawl into bed, pull the covers over my head, and suck my thumb (a great way to de-stress, I might add
). We are all “toddler-ing” through this release of the old paradigm and movement into the new paradigm to the best of our abilities, and I salute you for having the courage to share your experiences with us.
I was reading some Field material last night about the absolute friendlines of the Universe, the unconditional love it has for us, and the “yearning” of Life to fulfill our deepest desires if we would only stop trying to “make things happen” ourselves and simply open to receive. My intention now is to remind myself of THESE facts every time an apparently negative situation tries to convince me otherwise.
Patrice´s last blog ..Why the Law of Attraction Has Not Worked For Me
June 10th, 2010 at 1:34 pm
Greg, the following is from “Realities: Digital Edition,” an ebook that is a compilation of Field Center newsletter articles written over a span of years starting in (I think) 2000. It’s the closest thing I’ve yet to find on what it means to “do what is before you to do” (I haven’t taken their course yet; just reading what’s available at the site).
“… Are you willing to let go of running around to make this or that desired thing happen, and instead simply abide in the trust that your desire and its fulfillment are assured and in good hands? Consistent and wholehearted trust in the Field releases the Field into corresponding expression. Having claimed the desired version of self inwardly, all we need do is rest in the feeling of fulfillment and leave ALL ELSE (emphasis added) to the Field. Then, we just do what’s before us to do. Doing what’s before us may have nothing to do with the fulfillment we’ve claimed; it may mean washing the laundry or the dishes, going to the grocery store, or visiting a friend. We simply go about our life, trusting the Field, willing to do what’s before us, and when we least expect it, we find ourselves in situations where the Field’s stunning efficiency flows into expression in surprising and wonderful ways.”
This excerpt is from an article on pp. 146-147 called, “Living in the Flow.”
Patrice´s last blog ..Why the Law of Attraction Has Not Worked For Me
June 10th, 2010 at 1:39 pm
That excerpt from the ebook is beautiful, Patrice, and a clear explanation.
Karen´s last blog ..Flying, Massage, Cancer, & Contracts
June 10th, 2010 at 1:50 pm
Just a quick thought on this too – you’re seeing ‘negative’ manifestations. What if there were no such thing? What if the universe was working FOR you all the time, no exceptions? Perhaps we might not understand why the negative thing is happening, but there will be a gift in there somewhere. For example, someone wrote off my car 18 months ago – this SUCKED. I had no money to buy a new car and it was the day before my birthday and the insurance payout wouldn’t buy a shopping cart and it was just before Christmas and I didn’t want to get into debt. SUCKED. Now, 18 months on, I have a fabulous car that I’ve had for 18 months. I’ve almost paid for it, and I’ve always had the money every month to pay for it. Without that crash, I would never have got a new car. It seemed negative, but in the end, it really wasn’t! xxx
Donna´s last blog ..Attached to Money – Excerpt from “110 Steps to Heal Your Money”
June 10th, 2010 at 2:16 pm
Exactly, Patrice! Thanks for sharing this! That has been my understanding of doing what is before us to do, and when the doing is not clearly “mandated” (not the best word, but what I mean is that it’s not abundantly clear to us that THIS is what we need to do), then we look for the path of least resistance. It’s easy to do what is before you to do when you have a job to do or a business that is maybe not going so well but is at least bringing in some income. When you have thrown out a bunch of things into the universe (manuscript, screenplays, e-book/audio sales site etc) and they aren’t bringing back what you need (because as accepting as we need to be about what is, there are such things as bills to pay and I can attest to the fact that people get really snippy when you don’t pay them), you need to decide what to do next. Whether you decide to create something new and put it out in the universe or you decide to sit back and watch the pansies grow while waiting for the universe to act on what you’ve already done, you still have to decide. And when your daily experiences aren’t those that you could classify as enjoyable or encouraging (please introduce me to the people who could feel happy about being sued and facing the mountain of paperwork and possible loss of home and possessions that comes with that), it’s tough to find the alignment that allows you to make the path of least resistance choices. But that’s what I’ve been doing. I have decided that more pushing action (forcing myself to do this or that to try and get money) is not the path of least resistance–it is not what is before me to do. What’s before me to do is the coaching people hire me to do, but is it for me to do to beat the bushes to get more coaching clients? It doesn’t feel like it to me, and since it’s not right there for me to do, I have to trust that feeling. Is it before me to do to write another manuscript? Maybe. Not logically, for sure, because I couldn’t sell anything within the 8 weeks I have in which to bring in the additional income I need. But perhaps it is anyway.
I have been doing what I need to do in terms of dealing with the lawsuit and taking care of my dog and my home. Tim is doing his work. But I’m in a situation where my next thing to do isn’t clearly laid out as it might be in a business such as that which Greg has. I have to DECIDE what is before me to do. I’ve attempted to do that by following the path of least resistance.
So the excerpt you shared has confirmed for me that I’m on the right path. Thanks, Patrice!
June 10th, 2010 at 2:19 pm
Very good point, Donna! I’ve had that experience so many times myself and have written about it.
When I got divorced in 1996, it, to borrow your perfect word, SUCKED. But if I hadn’t gotten divorced, I wouldn’t be married to Tim now. When my 17 year old dog died (which SUCKED) it led to my delightful pup, Ducky. I do think, though, that what we’re ultimately wanting to align with is the law of attraction bringing us experiences that match our dominant vibration of feeling good, and Abraham-Hicks says that if you get in the Vortex and feel good, good-feeling experiences must come your way.
June 10th, 2010 at 2:21 pm
Thumb sucking–I hadn’t considered that.
I guess my equivalent is pulling up the covers and reading a novel, which I do before I go to bed. It makes me feel better so I can sleep, and I figure whatever makes us feel good is good for us, right?
June 10th, 2010 at 6:50 pm
I was being a little facetious about the thumb-sucking, Ande
. Actually, I’m like you, a good book before bed (and any other time during the day) is a great way to feel good! Then there’s crochet and walking and doing a little tai chi and watching a favorite tv show and spending time with my daughter and meditating and, well … the list goes on!
Patrice´s last blog ..Why the Law of Attraction Has Not Worked For Me
June 10th, 2010 at 8:51 pm
Ande, regarding your comments on the path of least resistance, my understanding (if not my ability to put it into practice) is that ANYTHING we do to try to make something happen is doomed to failure because the actions are based on a belief that you don’t already have what you want (e.g., money to pay bills) and may be why what you threw out at the Universe didn’t result in any money for you. In other words, you did those things to bring you money that you didn’t believe you already had. Such a belief automatically brings you more”not enough money to pay bills.” The supreme challenge is to do nothing to change an outer condition other than identify with the new version of you that already has more than enough money and feel its fulfillment so strongly that you don’t react to what’s going on in the physical world of effect by trying to change it. Here’s another excerpt from Realities that explains it:
“As self-aware beings we have a fundamental option ever at our fingertips: to lose ourselves in the world or remain in an observing or ‘witnessing’ role, aloof from the proceedings. On this choice hangs the entire mechanism of conscious creating. We construct the world in which we allow our attention and credence to be immersed; conversely, we deconstruct that world from which we withdraw our attention and credence. The challenge of practice, then, comes down to remembering who we wish to be — not something off in the future, but as already in place, a staked claim — and refusing to allow ourselves to be less than any situation. If something counts against this identity, we simply witness it. There is no denial; we note it, acknowledge it, but we don’t allow our consciousness to be submerged in it. We don’t let it consume us. While this may sound esoteric, in practice it is native to us and as natural as breathing. Indeed, we are making this fundamental choice countless times throughout the day. When we get so engrossed in reading a book, for example, that we lose track of time, we are practicing it. … When a commercial comes on television and we press the ‘mute’ button, we are practicing it. … When someone makes a remark that we silently choose to overlook, we are practicing it. … We can grant any world the presence and authority of our immersed attention and accepting belief, but do we not owe it to ourselves first to make sure that we want the world we’re choosing? Since every world is a construct, why construct something we don’t want? We can acknowledge the facts of the world without building a house on them and moving in. Remembering who we are is the most important thing we can do on the path of conscious living and creating. It means we can no longer be taken hostage by creations we have outgrown. It means that our attention and belief are no longer up for grabs. It means we have accepted the responsibility, joy, and power of creatorship and are no longer willing to squander our consciousness in reaction and contradiction.”
So maybe it’s not so much WHAT you do but WHY you’re doing it. If you are doing something, whatever that may be, to get something you believe you don’t have, even if it appears to be the path of least resistance, then it won’t work because you are trying to change outer conditions under the assumption that you don’t already have what you desire and that belief will keep conditions from changing the way you want them to.
This is SO HARD to believe, let alone do because we are SO identified with physical reality (as opposed to consciousness) and therefore used to DOING something to change outer conditions or reacting in one way or another to outer conditions instead of focusing in consciousness on what we desire, knowing without a doubt that we already have it or are it because we feel fulfilled and complete, trusting that the Field/Universe knows so much more than we do about how to bring it to us quickly and efficiently, all the while not being seduced into believing outer conditions that appear to say otherwise.
Could it really be true that we need do nothing more than believe we already are/have what we desire, sit back and do nothing other than maintain that feeling/belief while the Universe brings its manifestation to us? If I understand this correctly, then the most important thing we need to DO is get clear on who we are/what we want, assume/feel we already are/have it in spite of what’s going on in the world — not to make it manifest (because that implies you don’t already have it) but because it gives you such a huge feeling of relief and joy to know that this is who you really are. So do what’s before you to do, but make sure you’re doing it because it’s before you to do and not because you believe doing it will get you something you believe you don’t already have (a lot of redundancy there, but it bears repeating).
It’s a paradox. We live “in” the world, we want to enjoy it, but we really aren’t “of” the world (i.e., we aren’t our bodies, thoughts, feelings, circumstances – in other words, the effect). We are consciousness expressing; therefore, changing the world is done in consciousness, not by trying to change the effect of consciousness.
Hope I wasn’t too long winded. Let me know if I misunderstood what you were saying.
Patrice´s last blog ..Why the Law of Attraction Has Not Worked For Me
June 10th, 2010 at 9:45 pm
Thanks for taking the time to share that, Patrice. I appreciate and concur with these concepts.
Karen´s last blog ..Anxiety and Homework
June 10th, 2010 at 11:00 pm
What you describe and quote here, Patrice, is exactly my understanding of how this works. This is why, in fall of 2007, I stopped what I was doing to make money because I was ONLY doing it to make money–I was not enjoying it at all. I took Abraham-Hicks’ advice to do nothing until alignment. I did exactly what you’re describing here. Each day, I followed my intuition to do what was before me with no agenda to make anything happen. Tim did this also, and in fact, that is when he took on the identity of a multi-million dollar lottery winner. Since then, he has done just what you describe here. He is a poster boy for field center teachings. He lives in his reality, not that around him. He does what is before him to do but doesn’t identify with the what is. It has been almost 3 years since he began doing that. Since then, we have amassed nearly $60,000 in debt, I suffered my severe accident and everything that went along with it and he had to care for me, and now we face a lawsuit and possible bankruptcy. And yet, he is a lottery winner in his mind, not because he thinks that being that will bring him the win but because it makes him feel good. And yet, I have to ask, at some point when we’re doing all this to feel good and around us, the what is is degenerating more and more, how long do we keep it up for the sake of feeling good? Will it be enough for Tim (I can say it wouldn’t be for me) for him to have his multimillionaire identity that feels good to him even as they’re foreclosing on our house and we’re moving into my parents’ spare room?
I think there has to be a balance of nonphysical practice with physical reality to an extent. Although, if you go back to the origins of this blog, the whole reason for it is to ask the very question you ask: “Could it really be true that we need do nothing more than believe we already are/have what we desire, sit back and do nothing other than maintain that feeling/belief while the Universe brings its manifestation to us?” That was my question when I started this. Is all we need to find the feeling place of what we want? I know I’ve gotten off track since I asked that question, and I’ve done “logical” things to generate income. Yet, if Tim and I hadn’t done these things, we wouldn’t be paying our bills right now. We’d be out of money already.
I think the idea that doing something for a result precludes the result doesn’t stand up. That would mean we’d never get water from a faucet if we went to the faucet to get a drink to quench our thirst because we would have gone to the faucet to get something we lack. To some extent, much of what we do is for the purpose of getting a result. If it’s ONLY to get the result and it also has a bad feeling to go along with it, I agree that it is bound to lead to a bad result. But a feeling of alignment and purpose, i.e. doing something because it is designed to get us something we don’t have (like taking a course to learn how to speak a foreign language because we can’t now or taking a yoga class because we want to get flexible and we aren’t now)–is that doomed to failure? The world doesn’t seem to suggest so.
I ask these questions not as challenges but in the true spirit of needing understanding. I’ve had such insights on my journey but I admit confusion on some points.
Honestly, do we all go around feeling good JUST to feel good? Are we all studying law of attraction because we want to learn to be happy making minimum wage or living on welfare or being out of a home? If we’re honest with ourselves, don’t we love all this stuff and study it because we believe it will give us the ability to fashion a life we want?
I am in my current situation because Tim was so firmly in his identity of a millionaire that, for him, the debt we racked up was a “nonissue.” He truly believed it was peanuts and he could pay it off easily but the what is reality got ahead of his virtual reality apparently. Because of his total comfort in his identity, I now face a decision of whether to declare bankruptcy or allow a $50,000 judgment against me because the allowing I’ve done over the last few months (thinking that the company I was working with had given me the right advice on how to handle the debt). If I do either one (one of which is that which is before me to do), am I doing it because I enjoy it? Heck no! I do it because it is the path of least resistance for putting the most money in my pocket (or not giving it away) as possible. I honestly am having trouble applying what I know about Field Center theory and Abraham in this situation. I think these processes are far more easily applied when the situation is milder.
And all that said, I THANK YOU, Patrice, for putting the time and thought into this discussion. This dialogue is helping me as much as I hope it’s helping other readers to clarify concepts that don’t come easy for us. You’re making a HUGE contribution to this process!
June 11th, 2010 at 2:19 am
You’ve given me some food for thought, Ande. I agree, it’s a challenge to apply these concepts to tough situations, probably because the stakes are a lot higher. And I’ll admit I don’t have all the answers, but I’m glad there’s a forum here where we can share our understanding and experiences. I’m going to keep exploring the Field material and will probably take the course at some point. Perhaps there’s something I’m missing from just reading that the course will make clear. Thanks for taking the time to read my long-winded comment and responding.
Patrice´s last blog ..Why the Law of Attraction Has Not Worked For Me
June 11th, 2010 at 8:03 am
It’s a fine dialogue here, and I, for one, am benefiting. Thanks.
Ande, here’s an idea that came to me, for what it’s worth. How about using this blog to write out your imagined ideal life, day by day. Or possibly even more effective, how about using it to write out scenarios that would be somewhat realistic but clearly a step up from where you are right now.
It could be a happy, purely fictional account of your current life gradually improving step-by-step.
It could be something like:
“I awoke today feeling light-hearted and optimistic for no particular reason. I paused to enjoy the sights of a summer morning, feeling that somehow things always work out for me. I experienced a surprising new level of confidence and sense of well-being.
“Later in the day, I received a phone call from the [debt management company, etc.] with some good news. [Explain...]
“Tim did have a bigger lottery pay-out today than usual, and his work with the census appears that it will be extended through August. There are some definite causes for celebration here.”
Well, you get the picture.
I would love to be a witness to your new story and the concurrent improvement in circumstances that would hopefully accompany it.
Karen´s last blog ..Anxiety and Homework
June 11th, 2010 at 11:02 am
Ande, I probably shouldn’t say what I am about to say because something tells me that I will not only regret it but I will probably get a lot of “sharp” “kurt” responses in disagreement but I am going to do it anyway. Just remember that I do this out of a motive to help clarify and not anything else.
First off, I want to say that I feel for you Ande. Seems like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders and you don’t really have anyone there to help you with that. Seems like you are overwhelmed and really wanting some answers. I think that doing what is before you is designed by the Universe, God, to be simple. Just like the LOA is simple. Trust is not simple, but LOA and doing what is before you is. The universe is always paying attention and proving who we believe ourselves to be. Believing who we are and doing what is before us is sometimes contradictory. When I was a little boy of 7 and visualizing and believing that I was 17 and the quarterback of Venice High School it was great. I visualized for the sheer joy of it while I listened to the radio. Sometimes my bliss would be interupted with the voice of my mother from the kitchen saying, Gregory, come in here and do the dishes before I make dinner. (My mother never washed a dish the whole 17 years I was in that home, my father always said, you have three dishwashers and I never want to see you doing dishes). The three dishwashers were me and my two older brothers. Anyways, what I mean is that I had to do what was before me even though it didnt really jibe with being the star quarterback of Venice High School who just 5 minutes earlier threw the winning touchdown pass to win the City finals. This whole thing about doing something to get something, is for LOA and “conscious creating”. When it comes to doing what is before you, I think you are right that of course, we turn on the faucet in order to get water. I think we are really really over analyzing the “do what is before you to do” side of this. There are certain simple staple things in our lives that we need to take care of that we need to do with the intent to get. Clothes, shelter, food etc. If you dont have air, all the visualing in the world wont help.
When it comes to Tim, I do have to say that I totally disagree with what he is doing. I know that I dont know him and that I havent walked in his shoes but from what I have read and what I hear in your voice concerning what he believes it seems that you go from admiration of him to a veiled frustration and even disappointment to maybe even at times anger which I feel is justified. I feel for you on that because in my opinion I think its great that he feels that he’s a lottery winner but 60k on credit cards and basically not getting an outside job until recently and that he said was just for you not for the money is not what doing what is before you.
I am pretty good at basketball. But at 48 years old and 50 pounds overweight my chances of being in the NBA are slim. If I felt that I would someday be in the NBA and because of that new identity I didnt get an outside job and I max’d out my credit cards because I felt that i could easily pay them with my new NBA contract, well that would be ridiculous. Its fine to believe that I would someday play in the NBA, especially if assuming that identity brings me joy and pleasure and puts me in the Vortex, but making choices about paying my bills now and taking care and doing what is before me is a whole different thing. I really do think that my chances of playing for the lakers are better than Tim’s chance of winning the lottery. I think I could support that with some special math and statistics. Enough said on that, I have been wanting to say that for quite some time but never did.
I know that If I was in your shoes that whole scenario would be a major drain on me. I dont think its wrong to do something that you might not like or think is right for you at the present time in order to pay your bills. As long as you assume the identity and feel the feeling of your success now that you would have then, well, I think its on it way as long as you dont check for it regularily. Maybe that means that you really go “backwards” for a season until you finally get to where you want to be. If we leave the “bringing of the manifestations of our new identity” up to the Universe and not dictate how or what He is doing, then many times we have to go backwards before we go forwards. Getting laid off from my job of 16 years and my employer not paying me two months of income and laying me off in the worst time to be laid off since 1929, was, well, kinda, going backwards I would say. Having three girls in college at the same time didnt help either but you know what, BEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED TO ME. I shutter to think that I would still be at that job. Truly makes me shutter. Maybe losing your house and moving into your parents spare bedroom will look like going backwards, certainly feel like it too but in two years, maybe you will also say, in capitals, BEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED TO ME. In fact, the chances that you will are high especially if you still assume the identity of someone who is in bliss and a successful writer. Maybe being there and not having all the pressing financials concerns is what you were needing to actually write the best seller that you want.
I know that my friend Paul Young, who wrote, The Shack, had to lose his house before he wrote the shack, first ever book he wrote and its making him millions now. Translated into 40 languages and on the NY times best seller list since whenever. Sales are still going through the roof. He wrote that after losing his house. Im not saying that you should lose your house but Im saying that the doing what is before you to do is being to over analyzed here.
Seems like you are at the place of trying to figure out what to do in the interim to make money to pay your bills and stay afloat. That is a hard decision when most of the things that you have done in the past take a while to bring in money. I would ask the Universe to direct me and then visualize the answer coming to me. Trust is the real issue here, it always is and it can be very hard. Very different for each person. Trust is an individual thing. So are the answers to trusting.
Doing what is before you now might not keep you from financial bankruptcy but it is only what you can do. My advice is to not over analyze it and to brainstorm with your husband as to what you can do now in light of the current situation and trust that in the long run, The Universe will cause it all to work out for the good. All change is for the good eventually.
June 11th, 2010 at 11:36 am
I’m glad there’s a forum, too, Patrice, and you’ve contributed so much to it!! One good thing that has come out of my situation is that it’s generated some really awesome discussion here. I’m blown away by the depth of caring and insight that I’m seeing in all these comments. Thanks so much, Patrice!
June 11th, 2010 at 11:41 am
You and I have an amazing link, Karen. Just last night, I was thinking that it was time to start writing my way toward what I want by writing out my desires. I have been using this blog as a place to apply LOA principles and Abraham teachings to an extreme situation, my intention being that it would help me understand better how to align my thought with my nonphysical being AND that it would help others do the same. I know that my frustration over recent events, the “what is” illusion that I’m going backwards has come through in recent posts, but I never started this blog to be a “I’ve got the answers” expert but rather an “I’m a guinea pig learning how to use a unicycle” example.
Whether I do what you suggest here on this blog or in the privacy of my own journal, I will be doing exactly what you suggest! Thanks, Karen!
June 11th, 2010 at 11:44 am
Thanks, Greg, for adding so many direct and insightful thoughts to this discussion! I hear you, on many levels. I’m not going to carry the discussion any further in terms of my specifics because those specifics aren’t making me feel very good, so it’s time for me to be quiet for awhile.
June 14th, 2010 at 11:57 am
So much to think about. I am an infrequent commenter on this blog, but Ande knows that I am a listener whenever she needs me. Whether through the universe or just being a good friend, I seem to know when Ande needs me and I call her. (I’m writing to the other commenters because I think you have provided insight to Ande, a good friend that I struggle to help, but never seem to have the right words to do so!) Again, so much to think about. Ande–write your novel; I’ve seen the start of it and it’s better than anything I’ve seen in years! But write it with the thought in mind that you have already sold it. Also, keep blogging here. I know you well enough to know that the response you are receiving is helping more than you know.
June 14th, 2010 at 12:34 pm
Aw, thanks, Nancy! You ARE a good friend! And I appreciate the encouragement about my novel. That’s the plan.
June 17th, 2010 at 5:07 am
Ande, you are such an inspiration to so many of us “Toddlers” in Law of Attraction. I still have so much I’m learning by reading your stories. It has helped me grow tremendously even if it doesn’t appear to be so to others. But that’s what this particular blog was/is all about. So my particular comment is not a teaching or helping tool for you, but is instead, a great BIG THANK YOU for helping us Toddlers & Infants to LOA. <3
June 17th, 2010 at 2:02 pm
Thanks, Julia! I appreciate that feedback. My intention with this blog was to chronicle my journey through the changing “scenery” of the emotional path to alignment, through the flower fields AND the muck, to show how it works and what we can learn. So it’s nice to know that it is useful for you.