The Secret Is Wags

The other day, my mother brought me the May 23 newspaper comics page so she could show me Classic Peanuts (I don’t subscribe to the paper).  In the strip, Snoopy sits in front of his dog bowl, his tongue hanging out.  He’s thinking, “Empty! And I’m dying of thirst.”

In the next frame, Snoopy carries his bowl in his mouth.  In the third frame, he sits in front of an outdoor faucet, his bowl in his mouth, holding it positioned under the faucet.  The next frame is identical.  The next frame, he looks away from the faucet with a worried expression.  In the next frame, he’s back to staring at the faucet, patiently holding his dish beneath it.

In the next frame, rain starts to fall.  In the next, the rain is heaver.  Snoopy still holds his bowl under the faucet.

In the next frame, he carries his bowl through the rain.  In the next frame, he drinks water from the bowl.  In the next frame, the rain stops, and he sits back.

In the final frame, he lies on top of his doghouse thinking, “That’s one I’m going to have to think about for awhile.”

Unlike Snoopy, I didn’t have to think about it for awhile.  I got it immediately.  It was the guidance I’ve been wanting.  Thank you, law of attraction. (more…)

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Two days ago, Tim’s boss for his new U.S. Census bureau job, quit.  The boss’s boss chose Tim to take over the position.  And just like that, instead of being the enumerator Tim thought he’d be when he took his new job, Tim’s now an administrator supervising 18 people.

He’s perfectly happy with the change in situation.  It has several benefits:  a $2 an hour raise, almost guaranteed time and a half overtime every week, and more work that he can do at home instead of having to drive all over creation.  It also has some new challenges, not the least of which are 18 strong, unique personalities.

Of the 18 people Tim now supervises, only a couple of them are the type of person Tim would choose to have working for him if he got to choose.  But he didn’t get to choose.  He has to take these people as they are.  With only slight adjustments of alignment occasionally needed, Tim’s going with the flow of his “interesting” people.

This is something most of us don’t do all that well. (more…)

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As I shared in the Keep Swimming post, I’m finished with the creation portion of my novel writing instruction package, and now it’s time to promote.

I have one word that sums up how I feel about that.

Yuck.

I know I’m not the only creative person out there who loves the creating and hates the selling.  And I KNOW I’m not the only one selling.

The last couple days, I’ve been poking around Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and dozens of blogs in the writing and law of attraction arenas, and I have three words to say about that.

I need earplugs!!

So much NOISE out there.  I’ve decided that of the approximately seven billion people in the world, all but 13 of them are selling something.  And of all those people selling, I think all but 27 of them are selling law of attraction or writing information.

Okay, I’m exaggerating a little.

Seriously, though, do you ever get the feeling that you are the tiniest speck of all the specks in the universe and your voice is even tinier and you’re trying to shout loud enough for a few hundred or maybe a few thousand people to hear you and all you can get out is a squeak?

Or is it just me?

I know that when I feel this tiny … I’m talking quantum-particle-sized, I’m not aligned with the nonphysical part of me.  I know this because when I feel this small, I do not have positive emotions.  In fact, I have very negative emotions.

Those negative emotions are my indicator that I’m out of alignment.

Okay, I get that.

But how do I get back in alignment when I feel, as I said to a friend, “like a guppy in a sea of piranhas?” We didn’t answer that question in our conversation, but we did have a laugh about my silly analogy.  Piranhas are freshwater fish.  They don’t swim in the ocean.  Whatever—you get what I mean.

Well, here’s what’s fun about all the work I’ve been doing in the last four months to find better feeling thoughts.  I must be making some progress, because in response to my question about how to feel good being this quantum guppy in a noisy sea of piranhas (don’t you love analogy potpourris?), my brain ever-so-helpfully called up a memory.

The memory is from 2006, about a week after Tim got his head injury.  Not a good time for us.  I generally don’t go back and poke at it.

But the memory my brain unboxed for me was this:

My third book was on the verge of publication, and I, along with several dozen other Pacific Northwest authors, had committed to attending a library fundraiser in Bellevue.  It was a dinner/book signing event with a keynote speaker.  The speaker was Kevin Carroll.

Kevin Carroll is a consultant, author, and speaker who uses the symbolism of a red rubber ball (which he played with as a kid for hours at a Philadelphia neighborhood playground) to teach the power of sport, play, and creativity.  No question about it.  Carroll is a great speaker.  But here’s why my brain brought this memory up for me:  Carroll’s message is nothing new.

I remember sitting in awe of Carroll during his talk.  I was mesmerized by his energy, yes, but I was even more mesmerized by the fact that everything he said was something I’d said myself at one time or other in the newspaper column I used to write—The Up Beat.  Carroll has an original symbol for his information, but the message itself is familiar.

I had this big aha moment that night.  I realized that it isn’t that we have to have anything earth-shattering to say; we just have to have a great passion for what we’re saying and a memorable hook to hang it on.  In other words, in order to be heard in all the noise in the world, you don’t have to shout.  You just have to squeak with intense enthusiasm.

Unfortunately, over the last four years, my aha moment got buried under the reality of Tim’s memory loss and later, my accident.  But the law of attraction, working as swimmingly as usual, brought the aha back to me when I was reaching for a thought that helped me feel confident about taking my place in the noisy world.

Just between you and me—I really don’t want to take my place in the world as a writing expert.  Yes, I have a lot of expertise in that area.  I’ve taught writing in law schools and in creative writing workshops.  I’ve written books, articles, essays, columns, poetry, screenplays and I can’t actually remember what all else.  I’ve coached writers.  I’ve edited.  I know what I’m talking about.  BUT my real passion is actually in another place:

Doggone It, I LOVE Dogs!

It probably didn’t escape your notice that I love dogs.  And here’s the truth about what I really want.  I want to find my place in the big noisy world as someone who motivates others using the wisdom I’ve gained from my dogs and other dogs.  Sound silly?  Simplistic?  It’s definitely been done.  So can I find a way to do it in my own way?  Can I peep loud enough to be heard?

My last Springer, Muggins, was a talker.  She had a truly awesome range of sounds, a wider range than I’ve ever heard in a dog.  She and I could communicate pretty easily because she had so many sounds that her meanings became clear quickly.

Ducky’s “vocabulary” is more limited.  She whines, makes a little chortling sound when she’s really excited, barks deeply when she’s “protecting us,” and the rest of the time, she squeaks … like a mouse.

It’s a tiny, little squeak.

That squeak has become my new alarm clock.  I awaken to it nearly every morning.  It’s a soft, gentle squeak, but I hear it nonetheless.  It gets the job done.

We all have the ability to make that kind of sound in the world.  We all have something to say (be it with words or a talent or a physical skill).  And we may not say it as loudly as someone who has fame, but we say it.  And thanks to my memory of Kevin Carroll, I now know that our little squeaks are enough.

It’s not what we’re saying.  It’s the energy behind what we’re saying.

It’s not what we’re doing.  It’s the enthusiasm with which we do it.

That’s why action from willpower is useless.  That’s why action must come from passion.

So will The Joyful Springer be a megaphone for my dog-based wisdom squeaks?  I don’t know.  But I believe it’s possible.  And that’s a good start for moving me into alignment with becoming the woman who changes people’s lives with dogged devotion to canine wisdom.

The truth is that we don’t have to shout.  In fact, shouting is counterproductive.  It’s WANTING instead of allowing.  When we just put out our happy little squeak and trust in the law of attraction to do the rest, we take our place in the big, noisy world.

Do you believe in your squeak?

I love comments and welcome yours.  To leave a comment, click on the “comments” link (it will say “No comments or “1 comment” or more) at the end of the tags in “Posted in” at the end of this post.

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Okay, so I know yesterday I said the thing to do when you have doubts is to keep swimming.  But as with all the spelling rules that drive Tim nuts, the swimming “rule” has an exception.

Or at least I think it does.

Abraham-Hicks remind us, “Your choices of action may be limited–but your choices of thought are not.”

By the end of Wednesday, I didn’t know what my next best action was.  The actions I was taking, actions intended to promote my revamped novel writing instructional package, didn’t feel good.  I was a bundle of tension, most definitely out of alignment.  I wasn’t choosing helpful thoughts.

I have worked everyday for the last six weeks.  It didn’t feel like work most of the time.  I was having fun, so I didn’t notice I was barreling along.

When I stopped having fun, I noticed.

And thought I gave it a valiant effort, I couldn’t find a thought about what I was doing that felt good.

So I decided it was time for one of my Puppy Days.

Puppy Days Instead of Sick Days

When I worked in the “real world,” I got sick a lot.  I missed one or two or more days of work every month. I wasn’t faking it.  I had physical symptoms of colds, flus, bronchitis … my body was creative in finding ways to give me a break from work.

Because that’s what these illnesses were, I found out after I left my legal writing instructor job.  Once I began working at home and I allowed myself to stop working whenever I felt the need for a break, I stopped getting sick. Nowadays, I get a cold every couple years or so, and that’s about it.

So what’s a Puppy Day?

It’s a do-nothing day.  I usually spend mine in my pjs, curled up with a great novel.

Inspired by the fact that puppies go, go, go and then suddenly collapse in a pile of total relaxation, Puppy Days are my way of recharging.

And they’re my way of shifting my thought vibration.

Because I wasn’t sure what to do next and all my thinking about it was churning me into a negative place, I knew the best thing for me to do was remove my thoughts from the subject completely.  A Puppy Day was just what I needed.  The tension that had been building had dissipated by the end of the day.  I’m still not sure what to do next, but I’m back in a more peaceful place, definitely more aligned, which is the point.

And if You Can’t Take a Puppy Day?

Yesterday, a reader of this blog commented on Facebook, “Even though I’m more of a cat person, I really do enjoy Ande’s blog.”

Mea culpa.

I have been disregarding cat people.

Though I don’t have a cat at the moment, I like cats.  They have every bit as much to teach us as dogs do—they just go about it differently.  Whereas dogs are more like grade school teachers, making the lessons fun and interactive, cats remind me more of my law school professors—generally reserved and far more Socratic in their teaching method.  Cats will give you a hint, but then you have to figure it out for yourself.

The kitty way of finding alignment isn’t that tough to figure out, though.  Just spend an hour or so watching a cat, and you’ll learn some important skills.

First, cats do what they do with pure, intense focus.  Have you ever watched a cat stare at a bird or a spot on the wall?  They know how to control their thoughts and put them right where they want them to be.

Second, cats relish the simple things in life.  Take bathing, for example.  Cats make grooming seem like one step from ecstasy.

Third, cats know how to recharge.  A cat can flop and rest pretty much anywhere.  Though cats are physically capable of great speed and agility, they are just as able to turn into furry noodles.

It’s these skills that can take the place of Puppy Days.

When you can’t get your thoughts to shift, no matter what you do, you need to take a Kitty Break:

1. Spend a minute of total focus on something you appreciate.
2. Do some simple task, like putting on hand lotion or brushing your hair, and let it soothe you
3. Take five minutes to deliberately relax every muscle in your body, or if you can, grab a 15 minute or longer nap

These little shifts in energy can help you get access to higher-vibrational thoughts.

When it comes to living in the sea of abundance that surrounds us, for sure we need to keep swimming.  But once in while, we need to drift into the thoughts that help us align with who we really are.

I love comments and welcome yours.  To leave a comment, click on the “comments” link (it will say “No comments or “1 comment” or more) at the end of the tags in “Posted in” at the end of this post.

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Last week, Popeye Ballu, one of the Springer spaniels Ducky follows on twitter, posted a link to a picture of three Springer puppies. The puppies were Popeye’s sons, and they were celebrating their first birthday.  Since the picture was adorable, I sent a message to Popeye asking if he (or rather, his person) would e-mail me the picture to use on The Joyful Springer.

Popeye’s person sent me the picture, and I e-mailed her back asking for the names of the puppies so I could put the names in the post.

I didn’t get a response.

Three days later, Tim and I were in the car, on the freeway, heading to Costco.  I told him about Popeye Balu and said that I might put the photo on the site without the puppies’ names because the picture is so cute.

Within 20 minutes of talking about Popeye’s puppies, we passed a pick-up that had a Popeye the Sailor Man figure hanging from its antenna!!!

Whoa.

I haven’t thought about Popeye, the cartoon character, in years.  But of course, he popped into my head when I mentioned Popeye, the dog’s, name.  And then there the character was hanging on an vehicle antenna.

Great law of attraction evidence.

But it’s more than that.

It got me thinking about antennas.

Which got me thinking about vibrational frequencies.

Which got me thinking about my thoughts.

And that’s when I realized that I’m a walking antenna.  We all are.  We’re human antennas.

Abraham-Hicks often uses the analogy of a satellite dish to explain how we align with what we want.  We need to line up our thoughts with what we want, i.e. point our dish at thoughts that are a vibrational match to our desires.

Since we are our thoughts (we act from them, they create our reality), we are in essence flesh and blood antennas.  This is how law of attraction brings experiences to us.  Our antenna (i.e. US) puts out our attraction frequency.

And most of us have something hanging onto us.

Just like Popeye hung from the pick-up’s antenna, each of us has some character hanging from our vibrational antenna.  We’re not aware of the character, but he or she is there.

We may have Popeye or Tweety Bird or Mickey Mouse or Darth Vader or Goofy or Superman or well, you get the idea.  The character hanging from your antenna is your default attitude, the way you typically process the world.  Your vibrational attraction point is that attitude.

Tim says his character is Garfield … because Garfield is laid back, unique, doesn’t care about what others think of him, and he loves lasagna (one of Tim’s favorite meals).  He admits that a character with a bit more positive energy could be useful.

My character, I think, has been Scooby Do for a long time.  I tend toward the goofy side.  I’m a whiz at creating fine messes.  I LOVE food.  I’m loyal and care about people.  I’m curious, eager, but I scare easily.  I think a character with more confidence would be in order.

Obviously, this is all in good fun, but if you think about it, there’s some truth here.  You have a sort of base program that runs automatically in every situation you’re in.  It’s your habitual vibration, the program you run when you’re not deliberately choosing your thoughts.

Being aware of that program’s content is a good idea.  If an angry or controlling or fearful character hangs on your antenna, it’s impacting your reality.  Thinking about what that character is and making a conscious decision to change it by reaching for better feeling thoughts can have a big impact on what comes into your life.

I’ve been shifting my thoughts, consciously trading in Scooby Do (sorry Scooby) with Hampton Monroe, the eager, fearless pup who stars in the Puppy Jones animated shorts.  If I ever develop enough drawing talent to render a respectable Ducky, I’ll hang her on my antenna too.

Who’s hanging on your antenna?  Are you going to keep him or her?  Who will you choose instead?  I’d love for you to share your characters.  Other readers may learn a thing or two from your choice.

Oh, and Ducky would love for you to check out her Twitter page.  She has a title now that she’s very proud of.  If you want a smile, follow her on Twitter to see her “wise and waggy” (her words) tweets.

I love comments and welcome yours.  To leave a comment, click on the “comments” link (it will say “No comments or “1 comment” or more) at the end of the tags in “Posted in” at the end of this post.

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First, a HUGE thank you to Karen for her great comments on my Many Paths of Resistance post. They’re SUCH a big help! (They come under the heading of, duh, of COURSE I know that, but I forgot to do it.)

Tim and I have been doing a lot of thinking about the video I put on yesterday’s post. And we’ve realized that though we talk a lot about what we want and how cool it will be to have it, we are doing far more of that than we are talking about what’s working NOW.

This isn’t such a big deal for Tim because his vibration around what’s coming is pretty clear. He’s purely excited about it, and when he thinks of it, it makes him feel good.

I, however, have a messy vibration about what we want. I am sure I’m activated far more on the end of the stick that’s associated with “it’s not here yet.” In other words, when I think about moving to Oregon or getting my book published, etc., I’m noticing that we’re not there yet and it isn’t published yet.

Yesterday, I said to Tim (and for the first time in a long time meant it), “The reason why my YA series and screenplays haven’t sold has nothing to do with my writing not being good enough. It’s more than good enough. The reason has to do with my vibration. I have a messy vibration. I have pulled the vibration of all the disappointment I had five years ago into my present submissions and so they aren’t turning out any better.”

He agreed.

And then Karen posted her comments today, which say pretty much the same thing. … That’s law of attraction.

Tim and I also talked about the lottery win. We keep talking about it coming, but do we talk about all the money he’s won so far? He wins between $3 and $10 every drawing, and he has been doing that consistently for well over a year … twice a week, for a year, he’s been winning money from the lottery.

But we haven’t been focused on that. We’ve been focused on the win that’s coming.

So I have decided that my top priority needs to be amplifying what is good right now.  As Karen points out, the notice of what’s not good is a great starting point for zeroing in on what’s wanted, and I’m doing that too.

But in the meantime, here’s what’s wonderful right now:

My husband LOVES me no matter what I do or say or how I look.

My dog LOVES me the same way.

I am a published author. I have vast knowledge about fiction and nonfiction writing.

I’m currently doing writing coaching, and it’s not my first choice, but every time I help another writer, my own knowledge is expanded.

Tim wins money in the lottery twice a week, every week.

We have plenty of money to pay our bills right now.

I’ve attracted over $3000 to us in the last couple weeks.

We live in a great house in a great town.

I have friends who care about me.

I’m really enjoying writing this blog.

I love taking pictures of Ducky and I love working on The Joyful Springer.

My former newspaper editor told me I am a “very talented writer.”

Even my agent, who declined to represent my current manuscript said my talent is “impressive.”

I’m a very good writer.

I have a wonderful manuscript to sell.

I’ve written 7 great screenplays.

I write very fast.

I know how to submit my work.

…..

This is just the beginning of my list, but these are the things I’m amplifying.

You have to take what’s right and put your focus on that. You can’t feel good by looking at what’s wrong.

Abraham-Hicks says, “It is attention to lack that causes negative emotion, always.”

If you want to feel good, you have to look at what you have.

I know how to do this.

My Springer spaniel, Muggins, (Ducky’s predecessor) died in October last year, at the age of 17 years and 17 days. In the last couple years, Muggins was a high-maintenance dog. She required a lot of care.

Many of my friends were amazed at what we “went through” for Muggins. We gave her over 20 supplements and herbs daily (which we had to give her in peanut butter or the like—it was a sloppy process). We home-cooked her food. When we walked her, we spent a lot of time standing around and we walked really slowly because her pace was ‘barely moving.’ We had to put rubberized flannel on our bed because she had accidents in her sleep. Eventually, she needed diapers. Etc., etc.

All of this was the “lack” side of Muggins.

But that’s not what we focused on. We focused on how sweet she was, how soft she was, how much she made us smile, how loyal she was, how funny she was, how beautiful she was …. And she lived four years longer than the average Springer spaniel.

Like I said, I know how to do this. I just haven’t been doing it in regard to money and my career and, well, pretty much everything except my dogs.

But I’m going to take my ability to do it on the subject of my dogs and AMPLIFY it to include all the other subjects in my life.

What’s going right in your life? I’d love to hear your comments about what you’re focusing on.

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“You’re picky about the car you drive. You’re picky about what you wear. You’re picky about what you put in your mouth. We want you to be pickier about what you think.” Abraham-Hicks.

I created this blog as a way to help me and others be picky about what we think. I wanted to see what would happen if I deliberately focus my thought on what is right in my life and what I want.

Instead, my intention to focus my thoughts this way has unleashed a torrent of thoughts about what is wrong in my life and about what I don’t want.

In other words, it has shone a spotlight on how far I am from where I want to be. I keep zeroing in on the mess I’ve made instead of the little pockets of wonder in the mess.

A reader posted a comment yesterday and included a link to a video that reminded me of what I need to screw my head on a little better and focus my thought much, much better. I’d watched the video before, but I’d obviously forgotten everything I heard.

Fast Tube by Casper

Focus on what’s right. That’s what Abraham-Hicks emphasizes. Instead of looking at the pieces that haven’t fallen into place, we have to look at what has fallen into place.

I have trouble with this. With so many pieces of my life out of place right now, finding what’s right seems the same as finding one small glass fisherman’s float hiding in the driftwood somewhere along a 50 mile stretch of beach.

It’s like looking at a pile of 3000 jigsaw puzzle pieces and trying to find the one that has the small yellow spot on it.

So hard to focus on the good when the good seems to be overwhelmed by the bad.

BUT …

We do it all the time. I do it everyday, actually.

As you can see from the header (and if you know me, you know this), I have this incredible, joyful Springer spaniel, Ducky. Ducky truly is pure grin-inspiring delight.

[Oh wow … and talk about law of attraction. Just as I wrote that sentence, Ducky burst into the room. She and Tim were out running errands, and I thought they’d be gone another twenty minutes.]

When I watch Ducky play, I am not thinking about anything except watching Ducky play. I don’t see the room around her. I don’t think about money. I don’t think about writing. I just focus on Ducky.

So I can do it.

Ducky knows how to do it too.

In the picture, Ducky is focused on a plastic practice golf ball. She has an overflowing basket of nice toys, but these little plastic balls totally delight her. She likes to throw them then pounce on them.

She likes to paw at them.

She likes to toss them and take whatever action is needed to go get them:

Ducky doesn’t care about anything else when she has one of these balls. It’s a focus on what’s right.

Today, someone who read my last blog post told me that she was like me, someone who wanted to be a writer but hadn’t been able to achieve her goals yet.

That comment took me aback. How did I manage to convey the idea that I wasn’t yet a writer?

I AM a writer. I’m a three-times published author. I’m an ex-newspaper columnist. I am most definitely already a successful writer.

Ah, but obviously, I don’t feel like one. My last post sure made it clear that I don’t feel like one.

So what is my attraction point? What am I lined up with? I’m lined up with not yet being a successful writer.

Enough of that. I’m going to be like Ducky. I’m zeroing in on what I already have.

And that’s the path of least resistance. That’s how we align with what we want.

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Yesterday, we were fortunate to get feel-good help from a Schnoodle.

Ducky’s best friend, Jake, the Schnoodle, stayed with us for a couple hours. So my parents could enjoy the pleasure of watching Ducky and Jake play, we walked the dogs down the street to their house and turned the dogs loose in the backyard.

Ducky and Jake had a blast playing with each other. And we had a blast watching. If you can watch two happy dogs playing and not smile, you have some BIG work to do to get yourself into alignment.

When you see Ducky and Jake together, you’d think they’ve been buddies forever.

They haven’t.

In fact, their first meeting didn’t go well at all.

Ducky was three months old when we brought her home with us. Kathy and Lyn brought Jake to our home to meet Ducky the day after we got her.

We all expected Jake and Ducky to hit it off immediately. Jake is three years old. He loves to play. He gets along with all manner of animals, from other dogs, to cats, to rabbits and birds. He was always gentle with our old 17-year old Springer before she passed.

But Ducky didn’t know anything about Jake. So when he came through our front door with Lyn and Kathy for the first time, Ducky squealed as if she was being tortured to death. If there was an audio dictionary for sound clichés and you looked up, “scream bloody murder,” you’d hear the sound Ducky made.

It was our fault. We didn’t consider that Ducky was so new to our house. Of course a dog charging through the front door enthusiastically would freak her out.

No matter what we did that day, Ducky would have nothing to do with Jake.

Not an auspicious beginning.

If we’d taken that beginning and used it to predict the future, Ducky and Jake wouldn’t have had any more play dates.

But we tried again. This time, we changed the dynamic. We put both dogs on leashes and had them meet out on the street, figuring that Ducky wouldn’t feel like her home was being invaded.

It worked.

Ducky fell in love with Jake. Now they’re crazy about each other.

Dogs teach us so much. Muggins was the best teacher I’ve ever had. Ducky, though young, is doing a pretty good job too.

Every time she gets together with Jake, she reminds me that I can’t look at how things are now and project how they’re going to be in the future. What’s bad now could be great later on.

Abraham-Hicks says that when it seems like you’re stuck, you’re not. Energy is always in motion. You’re never stuck. You just keep recreating the same thing over and over. To move on to something better, you need to change the dynamic, i.e, the thoughts you’re thinking.

I need to keep returning to this truth.

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Sometimes it’s easy.  I find my mind wandering onto a subject that doesn’t make me feel good.  I grab the thought by the tail (occasionally I can almost hear it screech with indignity), and I send it on its way.  I call another thought onto the stage, and I’m good to go.

When it comes to doing things, though, it’s more challenging.  I’m still hung up on how to feel good when I’m doing something I really don’t want to do.

It’s this freelancing stuff again.  I’m considering taking a job; it doesn’t pay nearly as well as I want it to, and I think it’s going to be a lot of work (honestly, I’d rather take about 100 naps).

I can feel the “not good feelings” when I contemplate the job (or any freelancing job—face it; I want to write my own stuff, not someone else’s).  So I stop what I’m doing and go do something else.

Yesterday’s Abraham-Hicks quote was:

“Anytime you feel negative emotion, stop and say: Something is important here; otherwise, I would not be feeling this negative emotion. What is it that I want? And then simply turn your attention to what you do want. . . . In the moment you turn your attention to what you want, the negative attraction will stop; and in the moment the negative attraction stops, the positive attraction will begin. And—in that moment—your feeling will change from not feeling good to feeling good. That is the Process of Pivoting.”

So this is me lately:

Look for freelance job, feel lousy, pivot

Bid on freelance job, feel lousy, pivot

Contemplate freelance job, feel lousy, pivot

Consider not taking freelance jobs and just waiting for Tim to win the lottery, feel lousy, pivot

Look for a freelance job, feel lousy, pivot

…..etc., etc., etc.

How do I keep on what I want when I feel like I need to do what I don’t want to get what I do want (money)?

Then again, how does doing something I don’t want (that doesn’t feel good) put me in vibrational alignment with what I do what?

Are you bored yet?

I sure am.

So moving on, pivoting again…

I’ve started a new blog, one that DOES make me happy.  No money in it, of course, but it makes me SMILE.  It’s called The Joyful Springer, and it celebrates two of my top priorities—feeling good and my dog(s).

The best time I had yesterday was when I was working on my Joyful Springer blog.  So does that mean I should do more of that and less looking for freelance jobs?  Abraham-Hicks would say yes.  Logic says no.

Do I stick with my experiment and ignore logic?

How committed am I?

Still pondering that.

In the meantime, I’m at least happy that I’m ultra-aware of when I feel less than good.  So I keep pivoting, and pivoting, and pivoting and …..

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Few people have tried harder than I have.  I’ve been charging after writing and financial success for two decades.  I’ve written millions of words.  I’ve amassed over 2000 rejection letters.  I’ve sold short stories, poetry, greeting card copy, essays, columns, books, and e-books.  I’ve written web articles, newsletters.  I’ve build dozens of websites and free reports and e-zines.  I’ve taken thousands and thousands of dollars worth of training and courses, not to mention the thousands more I spent getting my B.A. and law degree ….

My point is that I haven’t been sitting around on my currently rather ample ass all my life.  When I have a problem, I don’t whine about it—I DO something to try and solve it.  When I want something, I don’t just daydream about it.  I go after it.

Ever since I started selling my writing, I’ve met a lot of people who say they want to be writers.  It’s amazing the number of people who want to write.

Humans love to ask each other, “So what do you do?” [translation:  how do you make money?]  Back when I was a lawyer, when I answered that question with, “I’m a lawyer,” no one ever said to me, “I’ve always wanted to be a lawyer.”  In fact, what I usually got in response to that answer was a lawyer joke … how many lawyers does it take to…….  Anyway, after I became a published author and I answered that question with, “I’m a writer,” at least half the people I met (or more) said to me, “I’ve always thought I had a book in me,” or “I’ve always wanted to be a writer.”

A few years ago, I made a new friend who told me she wanted to be a writer but after trying it, she got discouraged with the rejection.  I asked, “How many rejections did you get?”

She said, “One.”

I just stared at her.

She said, “I don’t take criticism well.”

No kidding.

So this woman wanted to be a writer, but she spent her days surfing the internet and reading books.  She actually had some talent (I read some of her stuff), but she never did anything with it.

When she asked me for advice, I said, “Write.”  If you want to be a writer, you have to WRITE, a lot.

Hardly a day goes by that I don’t write.

I know I’ve wandered off course, here, but I do have a point.

I have tried HARD to achieve the success and financial freedom I want.  I have made goal lists, created vision boards and binders, written letters to God, angels, and the universe.  I have visualized and affirmed.  I have read literally hundreds of books on how to have a great life.  I have WORKED to get what I want.

And here I am with dwindling funds, not nearly the success I’ve desired, and I’m finally realizing that the secret to getting what you want may not just be visualizing it then going for it.  The secret might be just as easy as what Abraham-Hicks says it is:  feel good.

A couple days ago, the Abraham-Hicks quote was:

“There isn’t anything that I cannot be or do or have, and I have a huge Nonphysical staff that’s ready to assist me, and I’m ready.”

I’m beginning to think that I’ve been underutilizing my “huge Nonphysical staff.”  While I’ve been slogging along with my nose to the grindstone and my eye on the ball (and as my stepfather says, “How is anyone supposed to get anything done in that position?”), my Nonphysical staff has been playing volleyball on the beach and drinking fruity cocktails with little umbrellas in them.  I’ve been trying to do all this stuff myself.  How dumb is that?  It’s like the CEO of Boeing trying to build the airplanes while the engineers and machinists build mobiles out of rivets.

As I’m going after freelancing jobs, I’m getting this sense that I’m doing it again—putting in the hard work.

Abraham says that it doesn’t matter what you’re doing—you have to “get easy” about it.

So as I find myself starting to obsess over DOING the right things to get the work I want (actually I don’t want the work at all—I have so many other things I’d rather be doing; I want the MONEY), I am catching myself and wondering, what if it’s easier than we think? What if this whole nose to the grindstone, pull yourself up by the bootstraps (I don’t even HAVE bootstraps … or a grindstone for that matter), “no pain, no gain” crap that our parents, teachers, and the media has brainwashed into believing is just plain wrong?

What if it really is easy?

What if being easy, feeling good, is all it takes to have what you want?

The other day, a good friend of mine said to me, “Well, you know you can’t just sit around feeling good about something and expect it to come to you.  You have to DO something after you feel good.  That’s what The Secret said.”

I said, “Mm hm.”

But I don’t KNOW this.  In fact, I’m starting to think the whole DOING is highly overrated.

Of course, I don’t feel totally confident about this, which is why I’m doing the freelance job search.  But I AM doing it with a different attitude.  I’m still telling it like it isn’t.  In my mind, I’m a lottery winner, a very happy, free lottery winner with all the time I need.  I’m looking for things that are FUN to do.

This morning, after I slept in until nine (heavenly), I got up and walked in the forest for an hour and a half (more heavenly).  I watched Ducky play with her friend, Dixie (if you don’t smile when you see happy dogs playing, you might want to turn yourself into NASA and get tested for alien infestation).  Tim and I made whole wheat pancakes for breakfast (which we ate about noon).  Then our friend, Lyn, called and asked, “Can Ducky come out to play?”  We met her and her dog, Jake (Ducky’s best friend), at the park and watched them play for a half hour.

Now Ducky is snoozing on her bed in front of the fire.  Tim and I are playing Scrabble.  Outside, the day is peaceful and crisp.  I’m totally and completely relaxed because I’m a lottery winner (in my virtual reality).

This is the experiment, and I am ready to prove my hypothesis:  feeling good (the human equivalent to tail wags) is the secret to getting what you want.

I have sent my Nonphysical staff out to bring me the physical money that matches my lottery winner state of mind.  And if it’s going to take a little time to get that, they can bring me a freelance job to keep Ducky in dog treats until the REAL winnings come in.

I am the happy executive of my life … ready to move onto EASY street.

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