The Courage to Vision

When I was letting go of what no longer worked, visioning what I wanted seemed overwhelming.
I was afraid of making a mistake.

Happily, I have my trusty Heal Your Life book by Louise Hay.

Under the work chapter, I found the perfect affirmation:
I am doing work I love that uses all of my talents and abilities, with people who I love and respect and earning great money.

Next I started affirming that I lived in a safe, wonderful environment that was peaceful, where I could rest.

Not being too specific gave me a chance to completely let go.

For the past month I've been living on beautiful a Paso Robles ranch.
I am helping a new friend birth his book, which is exactly what I need to read.

My mind has no clue how I ended up here, but my heart is rolling her eyes.

Trust. Intuition. Vision...softly.

The Resolution Solution

Although I didn't make a specific New Year's resolution - I did resolve to find work in Newbury Park last November.

It's January 31st and I'm bailing my room rental so how do I re-solve?

When I need to re-align with a goal, I step back and punt.
In football, when the team doesn't make a touchdown, they huddle and send out the kicker.

I discovered that I prefer Ventura over Newbury Park. But instead of just jumping into a room and frantically running the same play all over, I'm going to huddle at a couple different vacay spots over the next 2 weeks.

Time for new game plan, refine the target, and mostly, enjoy the process.

So - if you are still waiting to make your resolution touchdown, take a breather to huddle and reassess.

It may be time to kick a field goal.

Believing means Feeling

My fav Christmas decoration in my new home is a sign that reads “We believe in Santa Claus.” Okay, so I’m a closet Hallmark holiday movie addict, but hey, I need the believing practice.

Once the business of moving and surrendering to fact that “there will be traffic,” the initial excitement of newness wore off. That is, it was time to start the job hunt.

This can be a daunting experience because I like feeling good – while looking for work. That means batting away phrases such as “the economy”, “yes, but that was Santa Barbara pay – in 2008” and “Windows XP?”

So begins the believing game.

First, I choose a random job on my resume and write down everything that I liked about it. This includes funny incidents, new skills and the people I drove nuts. This helps me trust in my skills and often uncovers new items to add to the resume.

Next, I imagine I’m telling my friend about my great new job. I’ll even write a letter that I don’t send, describing the feeling of excitement, the outfit I wore and most especially, the PURSE.

Notice the word feeling.

Regardless of the positivity of any mantra, affirmation or prayer, if you can’t feel the result of what you want, then the going will be daunting indeed.

I’ve been here since November 1st, am interviewing with my 9th staffing service today – and I still find my self having to journal through old beliefs and stories that keep me from feeling worthy. On those days, I do basic legwork. Making lists of agencies I haven’t signed up with, emailing my self jobs from Craigslist and searching for cool companies on the Internet.

And I try, try, try not to launch a resume until I’m feeling the satisfaction of “finding great work that uses all my skills in a terrific environment, with excellent pay.”

This season, figure out what you want, write down why you want it, add some cheesy holiday music and give your self a congratulations hug from me. Repeat, practice and enjoy.

So tell me, what do you want from Santa?

Moving to be Moving

A friend recently asked how many times I’ve moved since 2004. Including the two long term house sitting gigs – my recent Newbury Park move is #9. For someone who claims home is her favorite place, this is quite a few moves. And I know that this #9 move is temporary, because I’m renting a room in a home that is for sale.

But the reason why I made move # 9 is that it fell out of my mouth. On 9/11 I was hanging with Mom and my brother Joe at Applebee’s. I was talking about my latest job search.

“And if I don’t find something soon in San Luis Obispo, then I’m going to start looking in Thousand Oaks.”

Two months later and I’m typing this blog from Ventura County. Home to Thousand Oaks and a swanky little town called Newbury Park.

I moved to follow my intuition, or my spiritual marching orders. And I’m glad.
I’m a little scared, a whole lotta lost, but I am glad to be here. Strangely enough, living among these groovy strangers feels like home.

When is the last time you left your comfort zone and found yourself at home?

Visioning(R) is Affirmative Prayer

I've been working with a Vision board since October 2010.
The focus phrase that guided the creation of the collage is:
"I live a creative prosperous life of love and joy."

One of the reasons I like vision boards so much is that the affirmation is represented in collage form. That means I trust that what I want is coming into being. I also trust that because the meanings of the images are fluid - I will be guided only if I show up and do the work. With collage that means spending time focused on the world that I want to create.

You could say that Visioning(R) is prayer in collage form.

When I work with a collage for a long period of time - rephrasing my future manifestations into prayers being answered is a good thing to do. The point of a vision board is stay focused on what I want to bring into being - and to keep my thoughts away from what HASN'T come into being.

A friend - Jane - once gave this advice to our mutual friend - Sue.

Sue was talking about how she was waiting for a solution to her prayer. But all she could talk about was how her prayer hadn't been answered. After listening to Sue for some time, Jane said "Well, God can't call you back with the answer if you don't hang up the phone."

The process of Visioning(R) is actively creating an affirmative prayer, then trusting the process enough to belief it will come true.

What are you praying for today?

My Body, My Car: It's all about the journey.

So I finished the text of my workbook/cd combo called My Body/My Car, handed it off to my mentor to do the 1st read through and I'm still waiting for the elation. After all, I'd been working on the project - off and on - for 3 years.

I was musing about this while I listened to an Esther and Jerry Hicks workshop CD. Esther stated that reason is that when what we want manifests, it's like taking the next logical step. That is:

first we spend our energy dreaming of a goal,
then launching the goal,
overcoming the obstacles,
grinding out the finish touches
and then finally the finish line.

No wonder that by the time we reach our dream - we are often over it.

That's why BIG projects are often a let down. Sometimes even a down down.
All of this - plus the fact that living in our goal-driven society it is easy to forget that the point of any dream - is really the journey.

Celebrating the steps along the way ends those finishing-a-project blues.
I also make sure I've launched another dream about 2/3 of the way through.

This way I always a passion project to look forward to. After all, it's all about the journey.

What Does that Dream Mean?

One of my favorite things in this world is my dream life. I subscribe to a belief that dreams are messages from ME! All of me. My me, myself and I, me. I'm talking all of the sub-personalities and selves that are part of my psyche.

Years ago, I followed a dream book by Betty Bethard. I decided that since my mind knew I was using definitions in the back of the book, then I'd dream in that language. For instance, the night before having to respond to a job offer, I dreamt I was in a store. A store meant that I was investing in me - so I said yes to a sales job that was a terrific experience.

Now I use the Creative Journal method to write to my dream characters. First, write out the dream and choose 1 character to dialogue with. Then use the instructions below:

1.Start as if you are writing a letter using your Dominant Hand.
Dear Dream Character, why are you in my dream?

2. Put the pen in your opposite hand - your Non-dominant hand and allow the answer to flow onto the page.

3. Keep up the q & a, asking with the dominant hand, answering with the non-dominant hand.

4. End the letter with a closing with your dominant hand.
Thank you, Dream Character, for talking with me.

5. Write down any insights you have that you can apply to your life.

For more information about Creative Journaling, visit my web page at www.writeinside.com.

Sweet Dreams!