“Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements.”
Napoleon Hill
 
I stand back to admire the work of art that is my vision board. Well, it isn’t a work of art yet, it is still just a silhouette of a tree, fake money, and a collection of words printed out and stuck on my magnet board. It will be much more.
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A vision board is a physical way of imagining what you intend. It is a creative, flowing, fun and inspiring activity. The result is your dreams made visible in whatever way inspires you.

Your vision board can be an effective tool for visualizing your specific and on-going goals within the areas of manifestation you are currently creating, and keeping these at the forefront of your mind. 

My vision board is exciting to me, even unfinished.

I’m using magnet boards that I bought at Ikea, because my goals will be developing and changing as I go along. I want to be able to change pictures and words easily as I manifest my goals and create new goals.

I have written out my intentions in the form of prayer and positive affirmations. Each morning, I will look at my vision board and read my intentions out loud supported by Huna deep breathing. This combination keeps my conscious mind focused and my subconscious mind on board, giving energy to my Higher Self for manifestation.

Looking with pleasure at what is becoming a chaos of colors and shapes filling in the tree branches, I know each goal is attainable. I don’t know how some of it will manifest, but I know that  it will. I know this because I trust my Higher Self to create for me that which I intend or something even better.

I don’t tell my Higher Self how to do this. Happily, that’s not my job. My job is to set the intention and hold the focus, keeping my subconscious on board with my new goals.

We’re moving in exciting new directions here! 

“If we don’t see it how can we magnetize it? How can we bring it in? Whenever we are thinking about wanting to manifest anything, we think it and see it and truly have the clarity of how it would feel having it, how that energy in our life would be enhanced by it. That is what begins manifesting and magnetizing it.”
Red Feather
 
I sit in my favorite, grey, wingback chair, laptop on my knees, feeling its warmth seeping through the fabric of my jeans. I look out the window at the leathery, green leaves of the spreading post oak in our yard. How I love that tree! It inspires me with its maternal boughs gracefully arched over the grass, providing home and sustenance for myriad birds, squirrels and insects. I breathe deeply of that feeling of love and set my mind to create affirmations, a form of prayer, for the goals I’ve daydreamed over the last few days.

I came up with six or seven goals with sub-goals under each one, wanting to create them all. It is an ambitious plan and I am excited about it all. However, as I look at the list now, I begin to feel overwhelmed and doubtful. Can I actually do this?

Awhile back I took a wonderful class on goal setting and prioritization with Mona Raglow of Raglow Enterprises LLC. In the class she taught us to prioritize our goals and choose no more than three to work on at a time. We learned that we are most likely to achieve from one to three goals at any one time.  She taught that any more than three goals at a time and it was much more likely that you would not complete them.

So, I look at my goals list and start to prioritize, choosing what to work on now and what to work on later. I discover that my goals fall into several different categories, spirituality, loving relationships, writing/service, travel and home.

My spiritual and relationship goals are foundational and on-going. The writing/service, travel and home goals are more specific and time dependent. These are goals I will finish and then move on to create new goals. Now I’m getting somewhere!

I decide to focus upon it this way – first, a foundational prayer that I will use on an on-going basis. Then, affirmations for specific goals I want to achieve. These will change over time.

Next, I need to word the affirmations in such a positive way that I can feel the love and excitement each time I read them out loud. The feeling is essential. Feeling, the language of the subconscious, gets the gas flowing to your engine. I want to feel and imagine myself being, doing and having achieved each goal.

Here is what I’ve come up with.
Foundational Prayer:
“My God/Goddess, Thank you.
Thank you for the constant guidance and support of my Higher Self and my Spiritual Support Team.
Thank you for my excellent health and energy as I wake up every morning feeling enthusiastic about the day ahead.
Thank you for love, joy and laughter with my family and friends.
Thank you for the abundance and prosperity that support me and all that I intend.”

​Short Term Goals:
“I am delighted with how much fun it is creating and organizing our Goddess Group with my co-facilitators.”

“I am thrilled as three of my pieces are published on other spiritual blogs, expanding our Soul Doors community.”

“I have an inspiring and love-filled experience traveling with Peter to the West Coast to visit our daughter.”

“I love how every window in our home is in excellent repair, opening and closing with ease.”

Yes, I know. I didn’t stick to just three goals, even though this was recommended. I just can’t bear to leave one out!

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“So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.”    
Christopher Reeve
 
This is the first of the Soul Doors series on manifesting. It is the result of my research and experimentation, and the results are quite simple and straight forward.

Each of the posts will contain a manifesting technique that you may use separately or all together. They build one upon another and each adds more oomph to your manifesting.

I’ll be sharing some of my own experience with this process, including both the pluses and the minuses as I go through this process again with you. Fears and doubts come up. Life happens. We can support each other by doing this together.
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So, what comes first to manifest? Deciding what you want of course!

The first step is to allow yourself to dream, to believe that what you most want is possible.

God is within each one of us, present as our inner knowing. God within speaks to us through our imagination, our dreams and our deepest longings. We intuitively know what is the best direction for us, the direction that will fulfill our dreams, if we will allow ourselves the quiet time to access that knowing.

Still, it is one thing to trust God in an abstract, “I believe in something larger than myself out there,” sort of way, and quite another to trust God within oneself.

God within oneself is attainable and accessible. God within oneself is a part of your daily life. Guidance and support are there for the asking and the willingness to believe it is possible. You start to believe that your desires are possible and your goals are attainable.

However, along with accepting and trusting your God within comes the necessity of taking responsibility for the direction of your life. You choose the path. You create the action. You choose what you think. You choose how you feel about what happens. You choose. You choose. You choose.

Wouldn’t it be easier to just allow life to happen to you? Maybe, but it’s not nearly as much fun!

In denying your own dreams you fragment yourself from your source of power, your imagination.

Your imagination is the conduit whereby God, your Higher Self, your inner knowing communicates. In your imagination are the seeds of intuitive guidance letting you know the next step toward your dreams.

It may feel like a gentle tug on your attention, or it may feel like a yearning desire. Sometimes you’ll have pictures in your mind, or just a feeling, a direction you want to move in. It may come as a dream during sleep time that fills you with longing, or a lightbulb moment when an idea flashes into your awareness. It may come as a series of synchronistic events guiding you toward what you want.

Be aware of guidance from within. Pay attention to hints and synchronicities in your outer world. Attune to your imagination. Stay open and allow your dreams and longings.

Today’s Spiritual Toolbox is about using day-dreaming as a way to clarify what your inner knowing is telling you, opening you to your dreams. I hope you enjoy it!

BTW, if you have any questions or have anything you’d like to share about your experiences with manifesting, I’d love to hear from you in the comments section below. 

 “Everything is always working out for me.”
Abraham-Hicks
 
You’ve seen this quote from Abraham elsewhere on this blog with good reason. It is a belief that creates a foundation of trust. Following is one way I’ve learned to apply it in my life as a positive response to disappointment.

Recently, a good friend delighted me with plans to buy a home close by. When the house sale fell through, I was dismayed by how disappointed I felt.

Last summer I was disappointed when my daughter’s family decided they couldn’t join us on vacation. Peter and I had planned to go to our family summer cottage in New Hampshire with our daughter, son-in-law and all three grandchildren. I was looking forward to it. When they had to cancel it was a disappointment and a surprising jumble of emotions for me.

Peter and I still planned to go by ourselves. We’d get to see our extended families who all live in New England, yet I felt a sense of loss.

I loved it when our summer cottage was filled with family. I felt sadness that the children lived so far away from their extended family and wouldn’t have the experience and memories of the cottage that I would love them to.

I felt disappointed not to share time with my daughter and son-in-law.

Perversely, I felt relief that there would be quiet time at the cottage, sitting on the porch, looking out over the lake. I felt glad that there would be plenty of space for any visiting extended family. What a mixed bag of emotions!

Please understand, I truly believe the Abraham-Hicks quote, “Everything is always working out for me.” I am reminded of it daily as I drive around with it in a prominent place inside my car. I can’t miss it as it reflects back at me from my windshield.

As it turned out, everything did work out for me last summer when just our granddaughter accompanied us on our trip to New Hampshire and it was one of our best trips yet. I was able to share with her all that I have loved about the lake cottage, as we spent lots of time together with extended family.

I’m going to trust that this will also be the case with my friend’s relocation plans.

Perhaps it will turn out to be better than it would have otherwise. I can choose to trust that good things will come of this change in plans. I just can’t see what they are yet. I can trust that things always work out for me, even when it feels like they aren’t. 

“Belief will open the door, faith will help you see the light, but trust will lead you to the promised land.” 
― Charles F. Glassman, Brain Drain The Breakthrough That Will Change Your Life

I woke that morning feeling good. My husband, Peter was already up. I could hear the clatter of pans in the kitchen.

“Dadu! Dadu!” Eden’s high, excited voice carried from upstairs, calling his grandfather.

My daughter and grandchildren were staying with us. I could hear giggles from Sophia and Eden as they ran down the stairs.

Heavier, more purposeful steps sounded from the bedroom overhead and then down the stairs and moving toward the kitchen.

‘Everyone’s up. I’d better get out there,’ I thought. I felt the need to rush out to the kitchen, take charge and make sure that everyone was happy and cared for. It weighed on me. I felt my morning glow dim.

‘Wait,’ I remembered, ‘Trust God.’

With that I decided to trust that everyone would be fine if I took the time I needed to feel ready for the day. I stretched luxuriantly under my down comforter and relaxed in bed for another few minutes.

‘Trust God,’ I reminded myself again with a smile, as I got out of bed and pulled the bed clothes up and arranged the pillows. I chose clothes for the day and went into the bathroom. Twenty minutes later I emerged fully dressed, hair still wet and walked into the kitchen, feeling great.

Eden came running to greet me.
“Good morning my Lovie,” I said.

“Mima! Wha’ happen to you hair?” Eden gestured wildly at my head with both arms, his eyes opened wide in surprise.

I knelt down in front of him, laughing.
“It’s still wet from the shower. Here, feel it.”
Eden touched the back of my head. “Wet!”

“I’ll dry it after breakfast. Did you have breakfast already?”
He nodded solemnly.

“What did you have?”
Eden leaned into my arms smiling and said, “Pea-but ‘n jel.”

Alexandar, the youngest, turned from where he was exploring the contents of a kitchen cabinet and crawled rapidly toward Eden and I. As soon as he was within grabbing distance, he pulled himself upright and leaned into me, fussing to be picked up. I put an arm around him and pulled him close.

“Mima, want to see the drawing I’m making? It’s a sun and it has teeth. See? Teeth,” said six year old Sophia, proudly holding up her picture from where she sat at the kitchen counter and looking at it.

“Turn it around, Honey, so I can see it.”
Sophia turned the picture around and I admired the sun with teeth.

“Mom, could you take the baby while I get the kids dressed? I’ve got to be in town at 9,” asked Ana.

“Sophia! Eden! Upstairs!” She said as she headed to the stairs.

“Sure, I'll grab some breakfast and he can share it with me,” I answered to Ana’s retreating back.
 “Peter? Can you hold him while I get some food?”

“Eggs in the oven,” said Peter absently. He reached for the baby from where he sat in the wing chair by the patio door, the sleeve on his fuzzy bathrobe slipping down his arm. He held his phone in his other hand studying it intently. Then he put the phone down on the table next to the chair and sat Alexandar on his knees.

“Hey Buddy!” He bounced the baby on his knees and Alexandar smiled. He bounced him some more and Alexandar laughed then threw himself at his grandfather hugging him fiercely.

I reached into the oven, gratefully retrieving the plate of scrambled eggs and poured myself some tea, carrying both over to the table.

“I’ll just get a spoon, then I can take him.”

With baby and spoons I sat at the table. Alexandar leaned from my lap reaching for the plate of eggs. I spooned up a small bite and evading his grasping hands touched it to his lips. He opened his mouth slowly and allowed the bite entry.

“Good huh?”

Alexandar swallowed and reached again for the plate. I put another  bite of eggs on the spoon. He ate the eggs and reached out for more. I put the spoon in his hand with a small amount of egg. He stuffed it into his mouth.

I took a bite of eggs for myself and Alexandar watched the spoon all the way from the plate to my mouth, looking at first hopeful and then disappointed.

Smiling, I gave him another bite, and sipped my tea. We continued in this way until the plate was clean.

“Let’s get you cleaned up now so you can go with Mummy.”

Shortly thereafter, Alexandar was happily scrambling up the stairs with me close behind.

“We’re just ready Mom. I’ll be right down,” called Ana from the guestroom.

Sophia appeared at the top of the stairs, looking pretty in matching pink pants and top. She joined me with Alexandar half-way down the stairs.

“Hi there, pretty girl! Ready to go?”

“Uh-huh, but I just have to get my book,” said Sophia, already racing back up the stairs.

Eden appeared at the top of the stairs, dressed and flying a small, wooden airplane through the air.

“OK, let’s go everyone!” Said Ana arriving beside Eden and scooping up the baby from where he had reached the top of the stairs.

The four of them thudded down the stairs and trooped out the front door.

“Bye Mima! Bye Dadu!”

“Bye,” yelled Peter from the next room.
​
“Have a good day!” I answered, settling myself on the bottom step.
​
“Trust God indeed,” I sighed,  a smile playing about my lips.

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“Tie your camel and place your trust in Allah.”
 - Muhammed, founder of Islam
 
Have you heard this ancient saying attributed to the prophet Muhammed?  The story is that Muhammed saw a Bedouin leaving his camel without tethering it and asked him why he was doing this. The Bedouin replied that he was placing his trust in Allah and had no need to tie the camel. The prophet Muhammed then replied, “Tie your camel and place your trust in Allah.”
 
What does this mean for us in our Western lives?
 
The other night I had a dream in which I was desperately seeking what it was I needed and I was unable to find it. It was unpleasant, I can tell you. Analyzing it afterward, I realized that I was feeling fearful about having what I needed for comfort and nutrition on our upcoming trips.  
 
Does this mean that I don’t trust God to provide what I need? Would careful planning and packing be a fear-based action or a love-based action?
 
Oh, the woes of self-questioning!
 
As I worried about it, the above quote came to mind, only I remembered it like this, “Trust God but tie your camel.”
 
I love how guidance comes. This time it was a gentle reminder in the form of a misquote.
 
Worded like that it implies that I did not trust God to provide what I needed.
 
I looked it up on-line and the quote is better translated as “Tie your camel and trust God.”
 
That implies action on my part and then allowing God to do the rest. The former is a fear-based translation, the latter, love-based. The difference is very important.
 
The action looks the same either way, the motivation is very different.
 
I strive to learn to take action motivated by love. Therefore, I choose to tie my camel and trust God. I choose to do my best and leave the rest up to God. I choose to take action over what I have control of and plan and pack what I feel I need. Then I choose to let go and invite God in, knowing I am supported by my own efforts and by God. 
 
There is a saying, often attributed to Benjamin Franklin.
“God helps those who help themselves.”
 
We can lovingly do what is there for us to do, and then let go of all else, leaving room for God to enter in. We can do our part and we can trust God.

“Wait on God’s timing and you’ll have a better result. Rushing things will do no good. Have patience and trust that everything will work out.”
-curiano.com

If I have an uncomfortable or difficult  decision to make, my usual response is to get it off my plate as quickly as possible. It’s unappetizing and I don’t want it sitting there looking at me any longer than necessary. I want to deal with it and get it over with because I’m usually fearful about the outcome of whatever I decide.

Because I feel fear about the decision, I close my heart.

Usually this comes up for me when I have a decision to make in which I’m afraid someone I care about will be angry with me. I’m a people-pleaser by nature and this kind of decision is hard for me.

Worse yet is a decision which I’m afraid will hurt someone else’s feelings, or make them feel bad. That’s a real toughie.

The problem is, when we make decisions from a place of fear what most often returns to us is the feared outcome. Fear returns fear, then we become even more fearful as the cycle of fear continues.

What’s more, a heart closed by fear communicates fear, which is responded to by others with fear.

There is a better way. It is the path of Grace.

This may seem obvious to those who are not all wrapped up in worrying about what other’s think. It is not always obvious to me and I often forget to allow myself this gentle path as I stumble through the rocks of fear.

The path of Grace is simply to ASK for guidance and WAIT, keeping your heart open.

This path makes so much sense. We are turning to that part of ourselves that sees the big picture.

Our small selves see only a very small portion of whatever the situation is, and we see even that through our personal filters. We may or may not know the truth of the situation, we just assume we do.

When we ask for guidance and wait for an answer, we call on the huge resource that Spirit provides us, just for the asking.

The answers may come in any number of ways.

Recently I had two decisions to make that I found difficult. I was afraid that outcomes might result in hurting friends, or not honoring myself. They felt like no-win situations. I didn’t know what to do and was tempted to make fast decisions, getting them off my plate right away.

Instead, I took a deep breath and remembered the path of Grace. I asked for guidance and waited.

The guidance came gently over the next few days. Little hints piling up, chance comments by friends, timely schedule conflicts. My feelings wavered back and forth. Still, I waited. I didn’t yet feel clarity.

Another day rolled by, and more evidence piled up until it felt like a natural flow for me to make each decision. Within that flow I was able to lovingly communicate my decisions. I was relieved that the outcomes were loving responses from those with whom I communicated.

Taking the path of Grace doesn’t necessarily mean that every decision you make is going to result in all beings being happy with you. What it does mean is that you make your decisions guided by trust in God/Spirit/Higher Self. It means you are making your decisions from a place of love rather than fear.

Love expressed through an open heart, clears the path for more love.

Communicating from a place of love allows those with whom you communicate to respond on that same wavelength, even if what you are communicating is not necessarily what they want to hear. What they respond to is the love beneath what you are saying, and the open heart with which you are saying it.

When you make your decisions on the path of Grace you make your decisions guided by the bigger picture even if you can’t see what that is. You release the assumptions of your small self and trust in the guidance of your Higher Self.
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Trust allows you to communicate with love and an open heart. Trust allows you to walk upon the smoothed and flowing path of Grace. 

“Be willing to dare different things and try different things. Comfort zone and rut are synonymous.  There is nothing wrong with being comfortable, but when you get stuck in a comfort zone you are in a rut.”
-Red Feather
 
Inspired by Michael A. Singer’s The Surrender Experiment, (see the previous post below in Trust God, “Say Yes!”) I read Untethered Soul, also by Michael A. Singer. Once again I was challenged to open myself and grow even further. Though Untethered Soul was written before The Surrender Experiment the order in which the books came to me was exactly right.

Untethered Soul extends the teachings from The Surrender Experiment into staying open in every situation that feels uncomfortable, observing your discomfort, allowing the discomfort, feeling it, breathing through it and releasing it. Staying with the situation, no running away, no hiding, no avoidance, no protection, no closing off, only observing, experiencing and releasing. Saying, "Yes," to keeping your heart open.

Just reading about it at first brought up fear for me. That’s understandable. I’ve spent a lifetime trying to avoid and protect myself from emotional discomfort. Yet in doing so I’ve locked up my heart, imprisoning myself in order to feel safe, effectively shutting off my heart energy in many areas of my life.

After reading Untethered Soul, I chose to say, “Yes,” to moving through those layers of fear in which I hid from pain, tried to fix events, tried to protect my sensitive self, and avoided emotional discomfort in my life.

​It is freedom I seek, freedom above all else. Emotional freedom, mental freedom, physical freedom and spiritual freedom. The wisdom in this book showed me the next step to that freedom.

This morning my heart opens to a feeling of excitement for what Life will bring me today. I choose to free myself by accepting, saying “Yes,” allowing myself to push my comfort envelope. That sense of excitement is about opening to freedom, the freedom to say, “Yes!” to life and all it offers.

How often have I been reminded of Red Feather saying that comfort is synonymous with being in a rut? Pushing one’s comfort envelope is where our growth is. Apparently, it doesn’t even have to be a big push, just one small, “yes,” at a time, allowing something new into your life or allowing yourself to breathe through a fear.

I’ve been practicing, amazed to discover how many times each day I feel that little twinge of constriction in my chest that signals a fear response. I had no idea fear was so much a part of my daily life. When fear pops up my mind gets busy explaining it to me and what I need to do to fix it. But rather than listening, I focus upon observing the sensation, just noticing that it is there without judgment. I breathe deeply into that feeling in my chest, consciously breathing in relaxation, and letting the sensation of fear go on each out breath. Sometimes it releases on one breath, sometimes more. I stay with it, breathing and relaxing until once more I feel at ease.

​When I travel someplace new, taking in new sights, smells, tastes, doing new things, it gives me a feeling of excitement, a sense of aliveness. I thought I had to travel to experience that. Not so.  I can experience that every day just by saying, “Yes.”

We can all experience that excitement, that aliveness, that love. Every day can be a day of discovery, experiencing new things and growing into freedom as we keep our hearts open.

“Every flower blooms at its own pace.”
-Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem
 
“Run when you can. Walk when you have to. Crawl if you must. Just never give up.”
-Dean Karazes
 
Spiritual-development is a funny thing. We zoom along like the hare in that famous race, or we waddle like the tortoise. Sometimes we even flounder like a tortoise over on its back. Because we are both the hare and the tortoise the race is only with ourselves.
 
Which one we express today is directly related to the fear that we carry with us like a heavy shell upon our back. When we carry that weight of fear and try to control all the different aspects of our lives we waddle and flounder like the tortoise. If we let go of our need to control, we can run like the hare. Either way we get to where we need to go. We grow and develop spiritually.
 
Most people run sometimes and waddle other times. Don’t worry about it, and don’t try to control your controlling, because then you will be trying to control yourself from trying to control your self-development. What? Confusing isn’t it? Don’t go there.
 
Just breathe and leave the driving to God.
 
When fear comes up and you feel the need to control, just be aware of that. You may need the experience of tortoise-ing along for a while. Sooner or later your fear will dissipate and you’ll be able to run again. If you choose you can support yourself using the spiritual tools in your toolbox.
 
Either way you will get there. Either way is OK. You are learning and growing. Love the process. Love yourself throughout the process for you are braver and grander than you can imagine!