Spirituality & Gratitude

"If you count all your assets,
you always show a profit."
- Robert Quillen (journalist)

Hello Spirituality and Science readers - I want to start this post with a question:

What are you thankful for right now? Right now - in this moment - it could be something as simple as your dog curled up next to you or the breeze coming through your bedroom window. Focus on something that you feel grateful for right this very second.

I was inspired to write about gratitude today after spending a gorgeous sunshine-filled afternoon in the park. It was a regular park and a regular day - certainly nothing out of the ordinary. Watching my kids laugh and play is something I do multiple times a week, but somehow when I watched them today, I was struck by how perfect it all was. I felt extremely grateful in that moment and thought about the power of gratitude. I think that often times it's easier to focus on what's wrong in your life than what's right...easier to focus on what you don't have than what you do have. But here's the thing - whatever you focus on (positive or negative) is what grows. So if you focus on what you don't have, you will always have plenty of what you don't have. If you focus on all that you do have, well, that grows as well.

Keeping a Gratitude Journal
Several years before she died, my mother-in-law gave me a gratitude journal as a gift. She knew I often suggested this sort of thing to my clients, but although I was a big believer in gratitude even then, I had never actually written it down. I thought I might as well try it and I wrote 5 things a day that I was thankful for - even when, especially when, I had one of those "is it even possible to have this many things go wrong?" kind of day. Somehow, the act of writing it down seemed to magnify the things I was thankful for - at the beginning, it was a struggle to come up with 5 things every day and pretty soon, I stopped trying to limit my list to only 5 things because I came up with so many. Focusing on the positive appeared to engender more positive events. I'm not saying I never have a bad day now, but they are very few and very far in between. Try it for yourself and see what happens. What are your 5 things for today?

Gratitude and the Power of Intention
Of course, this focus on positive thinking is related to the power of conscious intention discussed in the last few posts. The law of attraction states that you get what you think about, so gratitude is a powerful aid in creating more of what you want. Gratitude is one of my favorite sections of the book The Secret. Now this doesn't mean that you can't desire to have something that you don't currently have, but I believe that if you give thanks for what you do have, then what you don't have will likely show up faster in your life (and you'll be happier in the meantime). I'd love to hear any comments on how gratitude has impacted your life - which reminds me - I'm so grateful for all of you that have found this blog and find it helpful. You all inspire me - until next time...:)

Spirituality and Conscious Manifestation

"Our minds become magnetized with the dominating thoughts
we hold in our minds and these magnets attract to us the forces,
the people, the circumstances of life which harmonize
with the nature of our dominating thoughts."
- Napoleon Hill (author)

Last week in Spirituality and Science, we continued the topic of the power of intention and discussed how it works whether or not we are consciously aware of it. This can result in both positive and negative manifestations depending on the thoughts we think. If you know someone that ALWAYS seems to have negative things happen to them (hint: they're the ones that listen to someone else's sad story and proudly say, "you think that's bad, wait 'til you hear this...") They are attracting those things to them just as someone who thinks positively tends to attract good things. The quote beginning this article says it all in a nutshell.

The Conscious Use of Intention
So what about when you really understand the concept of manifestation and how it works? Surely it must be even more powerful once you know to be aware of your thoughts at all times. As I mentioned in a comment to a blog follower last week, there is amazing research out there on the conscious use of intention. A wonderful book that explores some of this research is "The Intention Experiment" by Lynne McTaggart. It's a comprehensive look at how groups of people "intending" a specific outcome have achieved incredible results in things ranging from plant growth to distant healing. One study even resulted in a 22% decrease in crime in specific cities! Even a single person can have a huge impact on the world around them simply by focusing their thoughts.

My Personal Intention Experiment
I had been using the power of attraction since well before I understood what it was. People would "coincidentally" show up in my life at the right time - and I don't really believe in coincidences either but that's a whole post in itself. I attracted the life circumstances, health and family situations that I wanted - but still, once I really understood the mechanics behind the law of attraction, I wanted to test it out. I first did it a year ago with a specific car that I wanted and within a few months, I had that car (my process was mainly doing just a few minutes of intense visualization a day.) That was great but I decided I wanted to test it in a more controlled way. Now, as someone who had to create a rigorous, statistically sound scientific study for her Ph.D. dissertation, I can tell you that this was NOT that type of experiment. This was a personal experiment that I wanted to do to get my concrete "proof" that it worked because of my thoughts. For this purpose, I picked a material thing rather than something intangible (such as an event or life circumstance). This is what happened and...

Why it's not a good idea to get too specific in your intentions:
We needed new windows in our house - really needed them as in the old frames were rotting - so I asked my friend in the neighborhood who just got new windows how much they cost. She told me her windows cost $8000 dollars. So this is how I set up my experiment. I decided on a time frame (30 days) and exact amount of money ($8000 of course, since I didn't want to seem greedy). Before I began my experiment, I told 3 people my time frame and amount (one of which was my husband who was also looking forward to new windows). For 30 days, I set aside 5 minutes a day to visualize this $8000 and how great the new windows in the house would be. I didn't focus on how the money would come, because a) I had no idea and b) I figured the universe would be better able to come up with something than I would. My visualizing was intense - I imagined getting the check, the feel of the check in my hands, opening my new windows without them sticking to the frame, etc. I felt extremely confident for the first 3 weeks, knowing that I would soon have new windows.

Then, day 29 came and went without so much as an extra penny to my name. I started to think, hmmmm, maybe I didn't visualize enough or maybe the universe didn't like being given a time frame. My husband encouraged me not to give up.

Day 30: I go to the mailbox and there is an envelope from a distant relative on my husband's side of the family. I had met this relative once at a funeral over five years ago. Inside the envelope was a check for ....drum roll please... $8000 exactly (someone in his family had sold a farm and decided to distribute money among remaining relatives)! I could not have imagined that scenario in a hundred years so I'm glad I didn't try to figure out the "how" of it. My husband was shocked and amazed - and became a total believer. The other 2 people I told also began doing this and one of them just manifested their dream house. So why shouldn't you get as specific as I did in terms of time frame and amount of money?

This is why...
So, still excited by the check, I call the same window company my friend used and they come to the house to give me an estimate - an estimate way higher than my friend told me (in fact, over twice as much). My friend says to me, "Oh, well it was $8000 but we only got half the house done. We're doing the second floor next year." It also turned out that we had many more windows than she did which further increased the estimate. I found this all to be very comical. I had asked the universe for $8000 in 30 days, and I got exactly $8000, not in 12 or 22 days, but 30 exactly! If I had simply visualized the windows and not put a specific time frame or amount on it, it would have turned out differently. I think the key is to visualize the intended outcome. Leave out the "hows" and the "how longs" - the "how longs" is the hardest one for me as I'm impatient by nature but I'm working on it. I'm currently working on a professional goal but have left off the time frame this time - and yes, I've told the same 3 people my goal.

What to try this week?
Set aside 5 minutes a day where you simple close your eyes and visualize yourself already having what it is you desire (hint: decide beforehand what that thing is and stick to that thing for now). If you visualize multiple things on multiple days, the universe won't be sure what you really want. Then when you visualize that thing, focus on the feelings of happiness you have from having it (whether it be a great relationship, a rewarding job, a new car, etc.) If you don't feel unbelievably happy while doing this visualization and that you already feel you have that thing, then keep trying until you do. Most importantly, at the end of that 5 minutes, thank the universe for giving you your desire - gratitude is a powerful force. If you have a partner or friend you can share your goals with, then do it! It's fun to visualize or share your "progress" with someone supportive. If you want to share - you can also do that here and leave a comment. Until next time...