Friday, August 21, 2009

Spirituality & My New Roof

How in the world does Spirituality have anything to do with your roof? Fair question, but bear with me, my lovely readers. For those of you who have followed this blog, you know I've been experimenting with using visualization and intention to manifest things - sometimes with amusing results like my post on our new windows. It's been so fun, I decided to try it for something more expensive. Something we wanted - okay, needed,- but didn't want to pay $16,000-$18,000 for - a new roof. We've lived in our house 4 years and had a roofer certify it for 5 years when we moved in - because I'm a math genius, I knew we had one year left before it would need to be replaced. It's one of those cedar shake (ie.wood) roofs that's the equivalent of having a tinderbox on top of one's house.

So I began visualizing the heck out of this roof and while I usually leave the "how's" to the universe, I did let the universe know I was open to the idea of hail - so long as it didn't also hit my car or any of my neighbors (I like my neighbors). I told my neighbor I was doing hail dances (mentally of course, because it's the kind of neighborhood where that sort of thing wouldn't go unnoticed) and she told me she'd do them too as she'd been coveting a new roof as well. I knew it was a long shot because we hadn't had hail in the last 4 years but figured maybe global warming would work in my favor. So what happened?

5 hailstorms later, yes, 5 within a 5-week period, I watched new roofs going up everywhere around me!

With all that encouragement, I decided it was time to call my insurance company. A very nice gentleman comes out and .... denies the claim. Seriously?!! I will admit that thoughts ran through my head like "Are you blind - parts of our roof are laying in our yard?!" but I refrained. Also, I'm altruistic by nature, but the roof I visualized so clearly was definitely MY roof, not someone else's. So we contacted our insurance company again and politely asked for a 2nd opinion - my mama always said you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. I kept visualizing and later that week, we had our 6th hailstorm of the summer. The next day the second adjuster came who started out by telling me that he hoped I wasn't expecting a different response this time around. Something must have happened in the hour and a half that he was on my roof because...

END RESULT: I'm sitting here typing this, not even minding the racket going on overhead as a new roof is being installed. The insurance check more than covered a lifetime, 50-year, kick-a## roof - when you get to be my age, things like roofs truly are exciting! Plus, our insurance said when it's done, they will lower our homeowners insurance premiums for having a safer roof.

Now, you can say the whole thing was coincidence. You can attribute the flurry of hail in my neighborhood to global warming or El Nina or El Nino (I always get them confused). Many areas of my state have had abnormal amounts of hail this summer and clearly, weather is unpredictable.

All I know is my goal for the end of summer was a brand new roof, and I can finally stop doing hail dances. BTW - I talked to neighbors and not a single one had any damage to themselves or their cars. We do have a lot of happy people with new roofs though!

Challenge: Take 2-5 minutes a day and visualize what you want so clearly that you feel you already have it. When you feel you already have it, it means you do. It just hasn't shown up yet - but it will. Have you already done this? What have you manifested? Let us know. Until next time....:)

Monday, August 3, 2009

Spirituality & Creative Visualization

"Ordinary people believe only in the possible.
Extraordinary people visualize not what is possible or probable,
but rather what is impossible. And by visualizing the impossible,
they begin to see it as possible."

- Cherie Carter-Scott (author and motivational speaker)

Spirituality & Creative Visualization:

Welcome Spirituality & Science readers - this post will address the concept of creative visualization. As mentioned in a previous post on Spirituality and Conscious Manifestation (scroll to the last entry), a powerful way to manifest your desires is to use creative visualization. If you are creating a clear mental picture of the desired result whether it be something material (new windows, car, etc.) or something immaterial (relationship, health, job, etc.), then you are using the power of thought to bring about a positive change in your world. Athletes have long used this in sports, and often use visualization before a competition to enhance their performance. Tiger Woods has spoken of using intense visualization as part of his preparation for tournaments.

So where is the science in this?
One of my favorite speakers on visualization is Joe Dispenza, D.C., and his book explores this topic in depth: Evolve Your Brain: The Science of Changing Your Mind. He gives his own amazing account of using the process of visualization to recover from a horrific spinal injury (and refused an operation that was thought to be his only possibility of walking again). He also cites a 1992 study by the Journal of Neurophysiology in which subjects were put into one of three groups:

1) The 1st group of subjects were asked to do finger exercises (yes, finger exercises - it was 1992, long past the time when you could give electric shocks to other people in the name of science) where they had to contract and relax one finger on their left hand for 5 training sessions per week for 4 weeks.

2) Group 2 rehearsed the same exercises on the same time table, but only mentally. They did not physically move their fingers as the first group did.

3) This group got off easy. They didn't exercise their finger or their minds. This was the "control group." (Note: Any time you agree to participate in an experimental study, hope for the control group.)

And the results? Well, as expected, Group 1 (who actually did the finger exercises) exhibited 30% greater finger strength than those in the control group. What was surprising was that Group 2 (who only did the exercises "mentally"), still evidenced a significant 22% increase in muscle strength than the control group. So, while visualizing a 5 mile run might not burn off all the chocolate ding-dongs's you ate last night, you would at least burn more calories than doing nothing at all.

What it all means?

The basic gist is something I've stressed often in this blog. Your thoughts literally create your reality and have much more power than the majority of the population realizes. If you're not thrilled with how your life is going right now, in this moment, start with changing your thinking and the rest will follow.

Have any examples of your success with creative visualization? I'd love to hear about them to feel free to share. Until next time...