Saturday, September 26, 2009

My Secret

I have been carving out fifteen minutes a day every day for a visualization exercise. I am trying to picture where I see my life, my career, my finances as the future unfolds and becomes the present. It’s a great exercise and calls for living that fifteen minutes as if the future were already here today.

There has been so much written and said about creating our own realities and I have become a believer in that concept. I’ve never been one for destiny because it seems so unfair that everything is already decided and we just play our parts like actors on a stage without even so much as adlibbing. I think in terms of free choice and often wonder if we as humans over-complicate matters as we so often do. I mean, what if God’s plan is very simple: be happy, try new things, learn, grow. The rest is up to us. We have choices and the freedom to make those choices.

That said, my choice is to visualize a future I want to have unfold and one that I can create. My own reality built with my choices and then my actions. But I have learned that we need to be careful about what we wish for and where we place our thoughts and attention because that also creates our realities.

I learned about The Secret from a DVD and I was fascinated. I got on the mailing list and one of the newsletters was a blank check drawn on the Universe for whatever amount we thought was possible. I filled it in with a number I felt was realistic and I put the check on my desk where I could see it every day so that I could focus on it.

This I did at a time when my business was having difficulties just prior to the huge downturn in our economy that affected most all businesses. I guess you could say that my business was a leading indicator. As revenues diminished, I took on more debt to weather the storm and soon debt was where I focused my attention, paying this bill, moving money around, always struggling, always thinking about that debt.

You can probably see where this is going. The check I wrote was to be manifested in one year. At the end of that year, I recall telling someone that the only secret to The Secret was that there was that there was no secret. And that’s when my mouth dropped and I went back to my desk to get the check I had written a year prior. My debt level on the day I proclaimed there was no secret was exactly the amount I had written on the check. I had achieved my goal, only I concentrated on debt not revenues for an entire year. In fact, I seldom ever thought about revenues during that year, but I always thought about debt.

It was a lesson learned, I grew. I am writing a new check and I am concentrating on the revenue that will make that check a reality. A year from now, I hope to post a new story about the reality I am creating today to be manifested over the next 365 days.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Foggy Morn

My knee is still sore today after playing too many consecutive hours of wallyball last week so I decided a nice, long walk would help rehab it. Last night's heavy rains left fog so thick I could barely see the ridge to the east and imagined mountains beyond. There really aren't any mountains nearby where I live and take my walks but I do have a vivid imagination.

Water droplets were poised on branches and leaves like divers composing before taking a plunge. And, since most people had already gone off to work and I work from home with no set hours, the peace and tranquility was welcome. I did see a gray haired woman struggle to control two poodles she was walking on long leashes. We said good morning but she seemed so preoccupied I doubt she recalled the greeting.

A bit further along, a younger woman was smoking a cigarette while pushing her baby in a stroller. She said hello to the mailman but never looked my way even though we passed within eight feet of each other. Maybe she was worried I was out for more than just a walk or she was simply savoring that last puff of Marlboro.

As I reached the furthest point from home in my journey, I realized that not a single dog had barked in almost two miles. Just then, a dog barked. He was inside a home and peered at me through the screen door. I heard what I thought was a loud conversation in the dog's house but it turned out to be somebody listening to a recording of George Carlin debating the existence of angels and using colorful adjectives to illustrate his point. Apparently, the listener had the volume turned up so the rest of the neighborhood could tune in as well although I saw no one doing so.

The rest of my walk was quiet, calm and without much to describe. My knee felt better and I may repeat the process again this afternoon. Then again, the fog has yet to lift completely which is keeping the temperatures steady at about 62 degrees. It's a nice, early fall day. I hear the woods calling my name.