The Secret Is Wags

A year ago today, my beloved 17 year old Springer Spaniel, Muggins, passed away.  When we left her lifeless body at the vet, I didn’t think I’d have the strength to draw another breath.  It was as if all the air in the universe had been sucked away.

Passage Through Grief

On this day a year ago, I felt sadness, grief, and despair of such intensity that all the words in the world can’t describe it.  “How do I get through the next minute?” I asked Tim through my tears. (more…)

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In keeping with the wise dog theme I started yesterday, I’m calling on the wisdom of my own dog, Muggins, today.  Muggins went from physical to nonphysical form on October 19, 2009.  She’d been with me in physical form for 17 years and 17 days.

Muggins was a 40 pound Springer spaniel who loved life.  One of her favorite parts of life was carrying big sticks.

On our beach walks, Muggins routinely carried huge sticks.  She was a master at finding the fulcrum point of the stick—even if it was way off center—and then lifting her head to carry sticks that weighed more than she did.  I was used to seeing her do this, but two of the sticks she carried were SO big (one over 8 feet long) that I had to haul them home and keep them for posterity.

After Muggins moved into nonphysical, Tim sanded the sticks and put a coat of polyurethane on them.  They’re in our bedroom, a memorial to our beloved Muggins.

Last week, a friend who knew Muggins but hadn’t been in our house before, came over.  I’d told her about Muggins’ stick carrying in the past, so I showed her the sticks.  She put her hand on one and said, “No! She couldn’t have carried these!  They’re so big!”  My friend lifted one of the sticks.  “No!” she repeated.  “That’s too heavy for a dog Muggins’ size.”

I assured her that Muggins did indeed carry those sticks, and Tim pointed out that when Muggins carried them, they were saturated with water so they were even heavier then and even bigger because he’d sanded them down since then.

Our friend was amazed.  “I believe you,” she said, “but it seems impossible.”

And so it does.  How did a small dog carry such big sticks?

She did it with joy.

Muggins LOVED carrying those sticks.  Her eyes lit up when she found one and set about figuring out how to carry it.  She carried her sticks with her head high, a prance to her walk.

When people driving by on the beach slowed and pointed at her (it really was an amazing sight), she raised her head even higher and fluttered her tail.  She was something, and she knew it.

She knew something else too.  She knew how to do the seemingly impossible.  You do it by feeling such joy for your task that you don’t do the work … the universe does it for you.

Muggins was a great teacher in my life; but I’m a slower learner sometimes.  I’m just getting her lesson.  You don’t have to exert when you act from a good-feeling place.  When you act from a good-feeling place, the universe does the work for you.

I used to take all action according to a strict AGENDA that I created from a GOAL-DRIVEN place of great DISCIPLINE.  What did it get me?  Not a whole lot worth talking about.

My work these days comes from a totally different place.  I act from a place of delight.  And if the delight isn’t there, I don’t act.  Where is this taking me?

I don’t know yet.  I’ll keep you posted.

But in the meantime, I’m sure having a good time.

I love comment 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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After I posted, How I Spell Relief, I received a message from a new writer friend. I’ve only corresponded with Gina for a couple weeks, but positive energy and enthusiasm radiate from her. Her attitude about life can be summed up in the title of a Facebook group she created, HELL Yes, Pigs Fly (the group is closed right now because she’s working on it, but it will be open again soon).

Regarding how to find a feeling good place when your work or efforts are being rejected, Gina wrote:

“What has helped me so much is to take complete responsibility for myself, to understand in an emotional way that I don’t HAVE to prove myself to anyone, to BE myself fully.

”Those rejection letters or any comments that sting are whatever YOU NEED them to be to validate whatever YOU NEED to feel or whatever feels comfortable to feel. There are all kinds of ways to validate fear that we all have, all kinds of ways to see failure if failure feels easier emotionally than success does. It’s about making a decision to change what feels comfortable if it’s something we’re ready to move away from.

“We repeat what we know. I had emotional abuse plugged into my love receptacle when I was a child. THAT was love for me. So, while I was anxious and determined to get away from that kind of love, I also struggled in a horrific way because THAT was my picture.

“Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to break free from an old picture and to paint a new one.

“Writing is such a personal expression. Sharing it is intensely personal. It’s hard to NOT feel it personally when someone doesn’t love what you’ve created.

“Take what feels constructive and helpful …. Leave the rest behind. You don’t NEED anything that doesn’t feel constructive and helpful. That’s just trash.

“Your journey is what matters most of all. A turn left instead of right changes your whole world sometimes. LIFE is full of wonder.”

And so it is, Gina.

Gina’s words prompted me to take a look at the picture I’ve been painting the last few years. When I looked, I wasn’t happy with what I saw. The picture was disjointed and dark, full of images that had nothing to do with the life I want to live and everything to do with my fears, resentments, and disappointments.

Tim, Ducky, and I spent yesterday evening with our good friends, Lyn and Kathy and their dog, Jake, on the beach by a fire, under a sky full of “God’s little lanterns.” While the dogs played, we humans sat by the fire and listened to the surf provide percussion for a chorus of frogs singing Spring harmony from east of the dunes. The dogs ran and barked and wagged, and we humans talked and laughed.

For over four hours, life was pure and simply perfect. Everything was right. I felt peaceful and secure and loved. I hope my friends and my husband felt the same. (I know the dogs did—they always feel that way.)

I’ve been flailing about for years trying to do things that would bring me the feelings I experienced last night. In the flailing, I’ve painted a mess.

I’m ready to paint a new picture, one that looks like yesterday evening. And what thrills me is that I don’t have to go back and redo the picture I’ve created over the last few years. I can just turn away from it and put my attention on my new canvas.

Abraham-Hicks says, “There is nothing for you to go back and live over, or fix, or feel regret about now. Every part of your life has unfolded just right. And so –now– knowing all that you know from where you now stand, now what do you want? The answers are now coming forth to you. Go forth in joy, and get on with it.”

And that is what I’m going to do.

You create your reality. What picture are you painting?

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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One more bit of wisdom from my friend, Melanie, the distance healer:

When she and I spoke the other day, she told me she thought much of our problems in manifesting what we want lay in our desire to make things unfold in a specific way.  In other words, we try and manhandle the details.

We want to orchestrate how things unfold down to the nitty-gritty minutia of it all.  Author Neville, who wrote The Neville Reader, a law of attraction primer that was way ahead of The Secret, said that our job is to decide what we want and then feel as if it has already happened.

It’s that simple.  We just need to live FROM what we want, not INTO what we want. We get hung up, he said, when we try and figure out how it’s all going to come together.

We are not responsible for the details.  That’s the Universe’s job.  All we have to do is hold a vision of what we want and stay in alignment with our inner being, our Nonphysical self, so we can vibrate on a match with our desire.

This is what I’ve failed to do for some time.  I’ve gotten caught up in the details.

I want to feel financial freedom, creative success, joy, and security.  Instead of just finding ways to feel those things now, I’ve been trying to figure out how to get them, and I’ve been glomming onto Tim’s vision of winning the lottery and agonizing over it.  Or I’ve been deciding the way to get money is with freelancing and then agonizing over it.

No more.

I am delighted by the money I currently have.  I am enjoying my days as they are.  And I want to expand on that and feel riches and joy.

It can come to me in whatever way is best for me.

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A friend told me she was making a list of things she loved.  What a great idea!  What better way to feel good than to deliberately think of all the things you love?

Abraham-Hicks say that the vibration of appreciation is one of the most powerfully positive vibrations you can experience.  When you’re appreciating, you’re aligned with source, with your nonphysical self, and when you’re aligned, you’re a vibrational match to what you want.

So that’s what I just did; I made a list of things I love and appreciate.

Here’s what I’ve come up with so far:

1. Tim
2. Ducky
3. Muggins
4. Me
5. My house
6. All the trees in my yard
7. Trees in general
8. Privacy
9. Living near the ocean
10. The constant sound of the ocean
11. Rain
12. More rain
13. Even more rain
14. Blustery days
15. Laughing
16. Winnie the Pooh
17. Tigger
18. My memory foam/latex king-sized mattress …. Ahhhhh
19. My memory foam pillow
20. Ducky sleeping against me
21. Watching Ducky sleep
22. Watching Ducky play
23. Watching Ducky watch TV (she likes dog shows)
24. Watching Ducky do pretty much anything … (yes, even peeing)
25. Walking in the woods
26. Walking by the ocean
27. Finding agates
28. Finding shells
29. Finding glass floats
30. The glass floats I’ve already found
31. The big driftwood logs Muggins once carried that I saved and Tim sanded and sealed and that are in my bedroom reminding me of how wondrous Muggins was and still is (in nonphysical form)
32. Long, hot jacuzzi baths
33. Reading in bed
34. My gas fireplace
35. Funny movies (not stupid, just funny)
36. The Joyful Springer blog
37. Bubbles
38. Teddy bears
39. Puppies
40. Dogs
41. Elephants
42. Deer
43. Rabbits
44. Raccoons
45. Squirrels
46. Pizza
47. Red wine
48. Riesling wine
49. Chocolate
50. Especially brownies
51. And chocolate chip cookies
52. Lemon meringue pie
53. Cheesecake
54. Crab cakes
55. The Ocean Crest Resort Restaurant
56. The Oregon Coast
57. Cannon Beach, Oregon
58. Jan
59. Nancy
60. Kathy
61. Paz
62. Drawing
63. Singing
64. Sex (with my husband)
65. Dancing
66. Sleeping in
67. Waking up naturally (no alarm)
68. Puppy Days
69. Writing
70. Selling a book
71. Seeing my books in book stores
72. Money, specifically, money that’s mine
73. Playing Scrabble
74. Playing cards
75. Having friends over to play games
76. Playing Pictionary
77. Supportive friends
78. Purple
79. Vibrant blue
80. Bright red
81. A good action thriller movie
82. Anne Rivers Siddons books
83. The Corrs
84. Enya
85. Sarah McLachlan
86. Candlelight dinners
87. Foot massages
88. Full body massages
89. Using my chi machine
90. Hot tubs
91. Having my day free to do whatever the heck I want to do
92. Sweetheart roses
93. Taking pictures
94. Taking pictures of dogs
95. My laptop computer
96. My ability to type quickly
97. My ability to read quickly
98. My ability to think quickly
99. Being able to walk
100. The fact that Tim tells me he loves me several times a day
101. Having a husband who thinks I’m beautiful no matter what
102. Ducky’s exuberant greetings (when we’ve been apart for 5 minutes)
103. Petting Ducky
104. Watching House Hunters International on HGTV
105. Baking
106. Going out for dinner
107. Going out for breakfast
108. Going out for lunch
109. Miniature golf
110. Air hockey
111. Shooting arcade games
112. Racing arcade games
113. Celtic knots
114. My bedroom furniture
115. The hutch that Tim built
116. The mountains
117. Mount Rainier
118. Sunsets
119. Sunrises
120. Rainbows
121. Eagles
122. Mystery novels
123. Piano music
124. Listening to Tim sing
125. Singing with Tim
126. Watching Tim direct a choir
127. Long talks with close friends
128. Coffee with hazelnut cream
129. Dreaming about Muggins
130. My 22-year old 4runner, which keeps on truckin’
131. The Weatherwax, the forest where we walk Ducky
132. Good water pressure
133. Gas cook stove
134. Garbage disposals
135. My ceiling fan
136. My washer/dryer
137. The fact that Tim does laundry
138. The fact that Tim helps me clean the house
139. Having the house clean and neat
140. Clean sheets
141. Flannel sheets
142. Fuzzy navels (the drink, not lint in a portion of the anatomy)
143. Peaches
144. Raspberries
145. Crusty French bread
146. Manicotti
147. Mexican food
148. Mu shu chicken
149. Vegetable egg rolls
150. Simple gold jewelry
151. My celtic wedding band
152. My Muggins necklace (her picture in 24k gold)
153. Abraham-Hicks
154. The law of attraction
155. My peaceful neighborhood
156. Quiet evenings at home
157. The movie, Love Actually
158. The movie, Notting Hill
159. Interior design
160. Shopping for décor stuff
161. Sewing teddy bears
162. Snow
163. Having a nice ex-husband
164. Being married to a very sweet man
165. Having my hair washed
166. Thinking about the Waggery
167. Thinking about traveling in an RV with Tim and Ducky
168. Being slender (I can vaguely remember what that felt like)
169. My covered back deck
170. My small town
171. Being 1 minute from a grocery store
172. Being less than that from a beach
173. Getting a pedicure
174. Massage chairs
175. Writing a novel
176. Finishing a novel
177. Buying presents for friends and family
178. Wrapping presents
179. The yuletide
180. Decorating for the yule
181. Opening presents
182. Holy Clothing (it’s a brand, not something spiritual)
183. Ebay
184. Getting unexpected money
185. Winning
186. Success
187. Pancakes on Sunday mornings
188. Being able to see, hear, smell, feel, and taste
189. Cobb salad (without the bacon)
190. Avocados
191. Artichokes
192. Picnics
193. Bev Doolittle art
194. Strawberry/banana smoothies made with soy milk
195. Submarine sandwiches (with turkey, cheese and all the fixings, especially with vinegar … but NOT from Subway—they’re okay, but not my fave)
196. Training Ducky—especially when she GET’S IT!
197. The Pacific Northwest
198. The Olympic Mountains
199. Fort Warden in Port Townsend, WA
200. Costco
201. Lazing in a hammock
202. Hummingbirds
203. Butterflies
204. Ladybugs
205. Fuzzy caterpillars
206. Chipmunks (especially feeding them)
207. Feeding apples to the deer across the street from our house
208. Day trips

I’m making it a goal to continue to think of things to add to this list.  How can I be thinking of things I don’t like if I’m scouring my head for things I love?

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On that rocky beach where Tim and I walked on Tuesday, a rain shower shoved aside the sun and left behind its colorful signature.

Only moments before, we had walked right through the place where that rainbow touched down.  I’d never seen a rainbow’s end so clearly before … and one I’d just walked past.

Was there a pot of gold that I missed?

Am I missing one in my life now?

Tim told me on Tuesday that our pot of gold was waiting for us at home (he said he was going to win the lottery that night).

Maybe it’s someplace close by.  But I don’t see it yet (he didn’t win).

So maybe the joy is in the rainbow, not what’s at the end of it.

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A couple weeks ago, I had this idea to look for freelance writing and editing work online.  I did a preliminary search of the opportunities in this area and found a couple sites that looked worth signing up for.  I decided to get my Puppies Interrupted proposal done before I went further.

So yesterday, Tim and I had an incredible day celebrating the 9^th anniversary of the day he arrived in my town and moved in with me.  I had no trouble feeling good all day—it was a pure feel-great day!

I got up this morning feeling energized and upbeat.  Ducky and I had a great walk by the bay (more on that in a second).  I came home and went to work signing up for the sites.

I’ve been signing up for sites and looking for jobs for three hours now, and I don’t feel good at all.

I’m trying to find a way to feel good about this, but at the moment, having an oh-boy-I’m-a-published-author-who-has-worked-her-tail-off-to-create-financial-and-creative-success-and-now-I-have-to-scrounge-for-a-job-woo-hoo feeling is basically beyond me.

Today’s Abraham quote included this:

“We would never move forward in the face of negative emotion.”

I have a container-ship-load of negative emotion right now.  Moving forward with my job search, therefore, is counterproductive.

I started this freelance search with enthusiasm for the idea of bringing in some regular income working at home doing what I love to do and am good at (i.e., writing).  But the more I’ve searched, the worse I’ve felt.  Most of the work I’ve found isn’t work I feel excited about.  The process of applying for it is lengthy and time-consuming.

I want to write my own books.

I want to sell the ones I’ve written.

I want to be free to choose my projects.

Wah, wah, wah.

NI, NI, NI.

I feel discouraged, frustrated, angry, and sad.  Yuck

I feel ashamed and embarrassed that after all I’ve accomplished in my field, I’m going after work I don’t even want just to survive financially.

I KNOW there’s a better way to look at this.

Abraham has this upstream/downstream analogy about life:  when you let go of the oars and flow downstream (i.e. feel good, thereby aligning with your inner self), you easily float to all you desire; when you row hard upstream (work, struggle and feel bad in the process), you’re moving away from what you desire.

My boat is definitely headed upstream right now.

So, because the negative emotion isn’t helping me with the process of applying for these jobs, and because the negative emotion DEFINITELY goes against the spirit of my feel-good experiment, I stopped what I was doing so I could write this post.

I stopped to think about something that feels good.

Enter my tried and true heroine of all-that-feels-good:  Ducky.

This morning, the wind was blowing about 20 m.p.h. on the beach.  It was cold and foggy, and the tide was coming in.  Ducky had a blast chasing sandpipers, seagulls, and crows.  She also went after whatever was blowing across the sand.

Today’s offerings included bits of seaweed, pieces of crab shell, and chunks of Styrofoam (from floats).  All were equally fascinating to Miss Ducky.

Watching her chase that stuff is a riot.  She races after it and pounces on it.  Most of the time, the wind whisks away her prize before she can claim it.  She sees it continuing on its mad journey down the beach and she races after it again.  Run.  Pounce.  Wag tail.  Run.  Pounce.  Wag tail.  From time to time, she captures what she wants.  She usually eats it (no matter what it is), then wags her tail and starts the process again.

Ducky is my feel-good guru.  Not only does she make me smile, she shows me the process of going after what I want.

Following Ducky’s method is a good idea:  You go after it (align with it), feeling good along the way.  If it gets away, you go after it some more, still feeling good.  When you get it, you feel good.  When you’re trying to get it, you feel good.  It’s all about feeling good.

Ducky isn’t as interested in the capture as she is the chase.

That’s the secret of feeling good.  If we can feel good along the way to what we want, more of what we want will come.

I know this.  So feeling bad about these jobs isn’t an option.

I have to see it as a game or a challenge or not do it at all.

What I really want (the lottery, the book sales, the freedom to do what I want) is coming—BUT it will only come if I line up with it.  Feeling lousy while applying for writing jobs is not helping me.

So I choose to feel better.  And I do.

Thanks, Ducky.  You did it again.

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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.

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I’ve worked hard for a long time to achieve success with my writing and business ventures.  When I’m focused on a project, I’m driven.  I write 30 to 40 pages a day when I work on a book project.  I’m totally in a tunnel-vision mode.  Tim talks to me, and I say, “Uh huh,” and he could have just told me he’s having an affair with a group of female aliens who have built an invisible harem in our backyard, and I wouldn’t know it.

Sometimes this work is fun, and when it is, I can feel it—it’s a flow like the surf.  Often, I’m pushing my way through the work.  And I wonder why it doesn’t sell?

The books I’ve sold are ones that I wrote in flow.  Hmm.

Yesterday’s Abraham quote was:

“When you are really in the flow with your Inner Being, ideas come easily—they are implemented easily.  It’s fun while you are in the process of them, and it doesn’t matter how they unfold; and nothing can go wrong, and it doesn’t matter if you don’t get it done, it’s just fun to do it.  Your Inner Being feels no limit.  So, anything that feels like limits is something that you have self-imposed.”

I finished the draft of a 62-page book proposal yesterday.  I read over it once and thought it was close to what I wanted it to be.  By the time I was done, it was after 7 p.m. but I had other things I wanted to do.  Do I keep pushing?

I looked at Ducky.  She had scattered toys all around me.

In keeping with my experiment, I asked myself, “What would make me feel better—more work or playing with Ducky?”

Ducky won out.  We played tug, did some training (she’s very enthusiastic about training), and cuddled.  It made me feel good.  After that, I used my chi machine.  That always makes me feel good.  Then I made a strawberry/banana smoothie.  Yum.

Would the work have been more productive?  I don’t think so.  I think I’ve got to trust my nonphysical self to guide me to the joys in life and let that energy lead me instead of all the effort.

Work has its place, but when it gets to hard, it’s counterproductive.  Working easy is working productive.

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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.

Note:  I am now writing and sharing videos about manifesting our desires at Up From Splat, my new blog.  I would love for you to join the fun on that site!

Related Posts:

This Lottery Thing

Abraham-Hicks & The Lottery

Attracting Lottery Jackpots

Photo by Wvracer on Flickr.

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