An image came back to me from over thirty years ago. I was in Atlanta in 1972 as part of an Outward Bound course, which was part of my student teaching experience. After spending three weeks in Linville Gorge near Morganton, NC, learning wilderness camping, rock climbing and rappelling, we were paired off and taken to Peachtree & 10th in Atlanta for a few days of survival in the urban wilderness, from Thursday to Saturday. I had no money, no id, only a phone number in case of arrest.

This was full-tilt hippiedom; people were openly selling drugs on the sidewalks. By Friday night, after several minor adventures, I caught up with several others in our group, and we headed for the Underground where there were a few shops and restaurants, but mostly undeveloped, dark, wet tunnels around the MARTA station—sounds like a soul journey, yes?

Lady's Slipper Orchid

In one of the shops, I saw a blown-glass sculpture of a lady’s slipper orchid, about a foot tall, more than twice the size of the real plant. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen—and only $800. The petals radiated out from the rounded slipper, and the stem and leaves were like rays of energy rising from the base. It may have been lighted from the base; it glowed in its corner against a gray wall. It used only shape and line, no texture, no colors, no attempt to make it look “real” but only to abstract the line, the essence of the form in a material state.

I fell in love. I felt immeasurably poor, because I could hardly imagine $800, and could not ever imagine having enough money to buy such a beautiful and useless thing.

A few years later, I took a sculpture class, and as my project, I tried to make my own flower from cast acrylic resin—I wanted to do an iris, but I wanted to make the same kind of beautiful image that I had seen in Atlanta.

I failed miserably—I did not have the skill and knowledge of the media to make the model, much less the mold and the casting. My teacher gave me a B because of the difficulty of the project, even though my efforts did not work. That was a new concept for me that one could fail in a successful way.

Only a few years ago, I went with a hiking group to see a place where there were many lady’s slippers in manicured woods behind a large tract house. They were delicate and beautiful, but not so much so as the image I have of that sculpture. They did not glow in their shady park.

Yesterday I told my friend that I did have such a memory, and she asked it if I owned it. Yes, I own that sculpture, that sensuous lady’s slipper. It glows in my mind as if it were in a specially lighted nook in my living room. And that is how I learn to manifest abundance. Now I can feel rich to know that image without having to worry about ever breaking it or getting tired of it.

The image is not of the orchid that I saw, which was all clear glass, but it’s pretty close. Now you can see and own it too.

That depends on me  and what I do with the sensitivity. If I allow myself to focus on the things that irritate me, causing me to focus my awareness on them, the sensitivity becomes harmful, attracting more irritation. But I can shift my awareness–that’s the good thing. How many times  I have blocked out extraneous noises, a headache or toothache, or distracting or disturbing sights by focusing my awareness on my work, on doing something else.  By controlling my focus, my awareness, I have the capability of controlling my experience of whatever is going on around me.  In that sense, I am the center of my universe–at least from my perspective!

If the thing that irritates me–say a grain of sand in my shoe–is something I can fix, then the sensitivity brings it to my awareness so I can fix it. Then I can focus on something else. If I choose not to fix it, then it can become a larger problem–a blister or hole in my foot that is more difficult to ignore, and may even become health-threatening.

But if I notice that the irritation is something I can’t fix, I can learn to turn my focus to something soothing–music or natural sounds, the feel of  warm socks on myfeet, something pretty on my desk–I can work at becoming more sensitive to positive stimuli. Many of us take the pleasant for granted instead of seeking it out–it’s the whole smell the roses thing. Most people are very good at focusing to avoid awareness, but not shifting awareness to some better thought.

Some prisoners of war talk about surviving solitary confinement and even torture by distracting their awareness to some intellectual thought process or memory.  This is illustrated in the TV series Firefly with a story that depicts an ongoing discussion of the relationship of Captain Mel to Pilot Wash’s wife Zoe while they are being tortured. Both men suffer intensely, but the stronger mental focus of Captain Mel allows Wash to survive and to understand what is behind the “war stories” shared between Zoe and Mel. (spoiler alert!) They do not lose their minds even though Mel is actually killed and then revived. While this is TV, it is based on things that happen in the real world.

We instinctively scan for possibly unpleasant experiences in order to avoid them. It takes a lot of effort at first to allow someone else to do what we find irritating, while we look for something that feels better to think about, to pay attention to. I’m certainly working on that myself. Think of it this way: What right do I have to interfere in someone else’s life, especially if that person does not ask me to help?

Even if I let others else irritate me, I can back away (turn down the sensitivity–or at least work on turning it down) to find the awareness of what it is about what they are doing that irritates me.  Usually it’s something that I don’t like to admit that I do–a shadow projection. Allowing the awareness of how I am participating in being irritated is very informative. I can then take action to change myself.

Awareness is focused. I am insensitive to others when I am only thinking about my insecurities. When I am aware of the other person, I can listen and be present with less anxiety. The key is awareness and focus. The sensitivity helps to develop awareness, especially if I make the effort to find out to what kind of stimulus I am sensitive. But then it is up to me to do something about the sensitive spot.

If I find that a TV show (friend, book, activity)  moves me away from my desired vibration, then I decide whether to keep participating. If I can’t leave (turn it off, close it, stop it)  for whatever reason, I can shift my awareness to analysis of the situation, to observation, to something else. It is up to me to decide and to take action.

I can make  increased sensitivity a Good Thing, or I can suffer.

You may find yourself afraid that mass consciousness will intrude on your thoughts and bring you what you don’t want. But here’s a key to the mystery of manifestation. It’s non-intuitive. It’s even a bit irrational.

Let go of what you can’t control.  Let other people work on their own desires. When it comes right down to the choices you have to make, you can only choose for yourself. You can’t make other people do what you want.  That’s not your job anyway. Work on your own peace rather than trying to enforce world peace.

If you find that you are upset because of the way someone else speaks or acts,  it is hard to allow that person to have a different vibration than the one you want. But if you try to change that person’s behavior, especially if that person does not ask you to help, then you are putting your energy into a vibration that does not harmonize with what you want.

The more you push against something, the more of it you attract, because you are putting your focus and energy into pushing against.

There are times when you must resist the actions of others. You are responsible for your children and must teach them. You are responsible for yourself, so that you must keep yourself safe  as best as you can. You take actions that reinforce the wishes you have.

A Holocaust survivor, Corrie Ten Boom tells the story of how her faith helped her survive the concentration camp where she and her sister were taken. She prayed daily, hourly, that they would be safe, and several miracles happened. One was that she was able to smuggle a copy of the New Testament into the camp. and so had that source of comfort and hope. She had it hung on a string around her neck inside the shift she wore. While the soldiers patted everyone down, they did not find it.  Someone had a bottle of vitamins which did not run out over a span of months–very much a miracle.  But the part of the story that so fascinated me was that when they were forced into the camp, where they slept on straw, the straw had lice from the previous prisoners.

Corrie said that the lice turned out to be a good thing, because they kept the soldiers away from them. The soldiers did not want lice. It takes a lot of allowing to see the benefit of living in those kinds of conditions. It takes a tremendous amount of faith to keep any kind of hope in that kind of circumstance. But she did, and her faith helped her and others to survive.

Yet even that kind of faith did not keep everyone alive. Her sister died in the camp only days before she was released. Allowing always requires letting go of those things and situations that you can’t control. It’s certainly not that Corrie did not love her sister, or that she was not sad, or that she was so focused on saving her own life that it didn’t matter. She tells about a dream her sister had of their release, and that she saw her sister’s death as a release, even though she never left the camp.

Allow your awakening sensitivity to show you how to change your own vibration and to minimize the influence of those around you. Remember that trying to change other people takes you away from your own vibrational alignment, but if you change, they will too, in one way or another, because your energy will feel different to them.  If you are very different, becoming positive and uplifting, then their nay-saying and negativity will be uncomfortable around you–and they may just move on to other, more comfortable people and out of your range of vibration.

Walk the walk, and your vibration will speak for you.

Magic is another name for faith without all the grape juice and crackers. Magic is believing in yourself and acting as though you could do whatever you wish to do, by preparing, by working hard now to prepare for the day when you do get your wish.

It’s about doing whatever part of your wish you can do today…training your mind, your body, your spirit, your hands, your feet to do what they need to do. It’s about changing your self-limiting perspective on life to begin to see the opportunities that do exist for you.

If you have not seen the video of Susan Boyle on Youtube, go there now see magic in action. Susan is 47, frumpy with a grandmother hair do and eyebrows that have never been plucked. She went to the British version of American Idol in what looked like a church dress. The judges were openly contemptuous of her. and the audience smirked at their collective “Aunt Susan” who probably sings in the choir at church with one of those really warbly bird voices.

But when she opened her heart and began to sing, they were amazed. The blonde, barbie-doll-type judge actually had tears in her eyes. Susan has a wonderful voice, and has obviously learned to use it–you can’t sing like that without practice and training. She also knew how to sing the song and what song to sing: “I dreamed a dream.” She may have even planned the surprise by not dressing in an eveing gown or stage dress. As she walked off the stage, excited by the “Biggest Yes in the History of the Show”, she blew a kiss to the audience who were standing and cheering for her.

That is magic. That is believing in yourself. That is knowing who you are. And that is making your your wish come true.

Socialization takes us from the “I am the world” view that a baby has, to a differentiated view that may range from a Zen “I am one with the world” to a cartoon villain’s “I Rule The World.” People who risk or even give their own lives to save the lives of others are seen to be of the highest moral character, and rightly so.

But I suggest that ego is what makes that sacrifice possible. Unless we have enough sense of ourselves, our own power, our own place in the world, we have little to offer anyone else. This is why the desire of all cartoon villains–be they animated or in the flesh–is to rule the world. They need to demonstrate the sense of power that they lack–their ego is not strong enough to manage their own lives unless they can physically force others to do things that are against sense and goodness.

A healthy ego understands how it mediates between the inner world and the outer world. A centered person has a healthy sense of self, a centered ego that is not afraid of the thoughts of others.

A self-absorbed person–the so-called egomaniac–does not see the rest of the world at all, much less his or her part in it. A self-absorbed person is isolated and alone, unable to be part of the universal network.

A self-centered person knows he or she is a synapse in the universe, a pathway for the law of attraction to work.

This is why it is moral and admirable to manifest the things that we want for ourselves, our family, our neighborhood. Even if the amounts we desire seem greedy to another, who does not want to have abundance and prosperity, security and comfort? No Inner Being wishes its physical host to starve, chill or suffer pain. A centered ego can listen to the Inner Being and respond.

As a rule, once people find that their immediate wants are satisfied, they desire something with more depth, something more spiritual, and they receive that by giving back. Is it any less moral to give back because it makes us feel good? What is it in us that feels the goodness? Our egos.

Feeling good–and especially feeling the goodness of life–is the path to finding both our hearts’ desires and our Inner Being. It’s the difference between being a greedy “ego” and a truly “Self”-centered person.

In this crazy season of consumerism and fear about the economy, take a moment to find a better-feeling thought. Use your ego, your sense of self, to realize the goodness within you, the goodness that you can offer to your family, coworkers and neighbors.

If you can find no good within you, how can you be any good for anyone else? Center yourself, and reach out to the next synapse in the network.

What would prosperity mean to you if your house were paid off, your new car paid off and you had no credit card bills or student loans or other non-utility expenses?

Would you quit working? Find a job you loved? Write the great American Novel? Garden? Build custom Harleys? Walk across the country? Visit parents? Grandchildren? the Zoo? New York City?

What’s stopping you from doing that now? What do you need to do what you want to do?

What if there were away to get what you want regardless of your pocket, wallet, or bank account? I have swapped out for chiropractic care, counseling, use of equipment, and other services.

What are you doing to learn the skills and habits you will need once you have the money? If you won the lottery today, could you start your dream life tomorrow? Are you ready?

In a brainstorming session last night, the question was raised, “What happens when magic collides with physics?” Is magic only a different technology than our current physics? How does a cellphone work?

In fantasy fiction, magic is the nullification of physics, the ability to fly without wings, the teleportation of objects, transformation of one kind of thing, such as a person, into another, such as a frog or a teapot.

What then, is the benefit of reading ot writing such illogical stuff, of making wishes and performing acts of manifestation? Why all the affirmations, the visualization CDs, the DVDs of Abraham, the Secret and Raymon Grace? What’s wrong with the idea that we should work hard to get what we want?

The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible. Arthur C. Clarke, “Technology and the Future” (Clarke’s second law)

There are too many people who manage to stay happy and breeze through even terrifying events. Some people seem to live charmed lives, yet they are often the ones who are the first to help others from their own good fortune. Their aggravations are small and handled with calm and finesse.

Students of magic and energy work often talk of quantum physics, although they and the scientists who study it know very little about how it works. That’s the reason for building the new Hadron Collider, to see what happens when phyiscs (proton particles–they know the protons are particles because they set up the experiement to work with particles, rather than waves) collides with physics. Perhaps they will find magic in the form of alternate universes and new understandings of the energies of the universe will be created, even at the unlikely risk of a few ephemeral nano-black holes.

So if there are any literalists still read this far along, take hope. Impossible means that we just don’t understand how it works, or we haven’t asked the question in the right way.

When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong. Arthur C. Clarke, Clarke’s first law)

Keep thinking those good thoughts. Keep dreaming of what you want. Remember that every convenience we depend on today was at best, a science fantasy when Arthur C. Clarke was born in December of 1917. It is the dreamers who create the world.

I thought that it might be fun, but my usual partner, my daughter was off with her buddies having fun. I was in the empty nest. It would be nice to have someone to go with, I thougth, but since I don’t, I’ll just stay here.

Not five minutes later, a buddy of mine called to say that he wanted to go to the event, and would I be interested in going? We have a mutually beneficial relationship–He pays for the entertainment and I provide transportation. But he was a quick answer for a fleeting thought and we had an enjoyable hour or two.

Last night, another offhanded thought that I should call my agent fluttered by as I was posting my online class. Again within ten minutes, she called me, and we worked outa few details on the novel submission I revised again to email to her.

It is important to practice thinking good thoughts and feeling good, because even the most fleeting thought can flutter by and manifest in the physical world. I did not do anything special to attract my answers. I didn’t even write down the thoughts as a memo.

Be careful what you think about. You just might get it.

Remember the words, I Can’t Get No Satisfaction from that old Rolling Stones’ song?

No wonder the song has remained popular for decades.

We all find it hard to get any satisfaction out of life at one time or another.

What in the world is that all about?

Why is that we “can’t get no satisfaction” in our lives?

Well, here’s my opinion. We’re all born with a primary purpose for our lives, which we fulfill through various “missions” that we undertake throughout the years.

These missions are unique for each of us because we all have a unique set of talents and interests.

Our purpose is to find out how to use those talents and interests in such a way that each mission we undertake will give us great satisfaction and peace of mind as we help others.

That’s what Thomas Jefferson was really writing about in the Declaration of Independence when he referred to all Men (which includes Women) having a right to the pursuit of happiness.

Heck. It’s more than a Right; it is a demanding, driving force within each of us. We must be on the right path, we must be doing the right things, and thinking the right way, according to our purpose in life and our unique missions, or we feel dissatisfied.

What are your unique talents and interests? How can you develop specific missions in life that draw on those unique talents and interests?

Take some time to make a list of your unique talents and interests – the things that you are most passionate about in life – then look for ways to incorporate your passions into your everyday life and activities.

When you do, you won’t be singing, “Can’t get no satisfaction” any more.

Jerry W. Willis and Suzanne Lieurance are coauthors of a new book, The Life of Your Dreams – Building Your Life and Career Around the Things You Love Most, due for release in March 2008. If you need help creating the life of your dreams, visit their blog at http://www.thelifeofyourdreams.net for additional tips and articles that will help. While you’re there, ask them your most pressing question about building the life of your dreams or email suzanne@workingwriterscoach.com with your question.

Click on the words above: “Brought to you by the Number Eight.” Print it out and put it in your wallet. Then print out another one and put it on your computer if you use a computer to make your money. Print out another one and put it in your office or cube or anywhere else that you can see so that you will remember what it is for.

What is it for?

Prosperity. That seems to be the number one wish these days, however you define prosperity.

If you are an energy worker, work up a spell for Friday: 08/08/2008 which adds up to 26 which adds up to …wait for it…8.

I got this from Raymond Grace’s CD on Prosperity, which I highly recommend if you like a down-home, folksy, logical approach to managing energy, past present and future.

Some thoughts on the number 8:

From Wikipedia on chinese number meanings:

Eight

The word for “eight” (八，捌) in Chinese (Pinyin: bā) sounds similar to the word which means “prosper” or “wealth” (发 – short for “发财”, Pinyin: fā). In regional dialects the words for “eight” and “fortune” are also similar, eg Cantonese “baat” and “faat”.

There is also a resemblance between two digits, “88″, and the shuang xi (‘double joy’), a popular decorative design composed of two stylized characters 喜 (xi, ‘joy’, ‘happiness’).

Telephone number 8888-8888 was sold for USD$270,723 in Chengdu, China.

The Summer Olympics in Beijing are scheduled to open on 8/8/08 at 8:08:08 p.m.[2]

A man in Hangzhou offered to sell his license plate reading A88888 for 1.12 million yuan.[2]

Dragon Fish Industry in Singapore, a breeder of rare Asian Arowanas (which are “lucky fish” themselves, and, being a rare species, are required to be microchipped), makes sure to use numbers with plenty of eights in their microchip tag numbers, and appears to reserve particularly numbers especially rich in eights and sixes (e.g. 702088880006688) for particularly valuable specimens.

From PR NTR KMT

Eight (8) has the primary numerological meanings of wholeness, change, leadership, power.

Jewish Qabalah: The Number Eight is the eighth Sephira. The name of the eighth sephira is HVD, Hod, Splendour.

Planet: In numerology Saturn vibrates to the number 8.

From Crystallinks

Spiritually eight is the goal of the initiate, having gone through the seven stages. Eight is Infinity – Paradise regained.

Eight is solidarity as the first cube and it denotes perfection by virtue of it’s six surfaces. There are eight winds and intermediate directions of space. Eight represents the pairs of opposites. The octagon is the beginning of the transformation of the square into a circle and vice versa.

Cultural References

Eight in many cultures and ideologies seems to have similar meanings:

• Felicity
• Perfect rhythm
• Regeneration
• Resurrection

In some myths the eighth day created the new “man” of grace. After seven days of fasting and penance the eighth day becomes plenty and renewal. 7+1 is the number of the octave which is a continual theme in all esoteric belief systems. The knowledge of frequency and sound are a vital key in the ancient “mystery schools”.

Buddhist tradition: eight is completion, all possibilities. There are eight symbols of good augury.
Chinese system of belief eight represents the whole. It is all possibilities in manifestation. Eight is seen as a good luck number. The PAKUA is the design depicting the eight trigrams and pairs of opposites, usually in a circle, the circumference of which symbolizes time and space. There are eight delights of human existence.
Christian: Eight is regeneration and rebirth. The font is usually octagonal as symbolizing the place of regeneration. There are eight beatitudes.
Egyptian: Eight is the number of Thoth.
Hebrew: Eight is perfect intelligence; splendor. The digit value of “IHVH” is the “Number of the Lord”. The Temple was sanctified in eight days.
Hermetic: In their system there is one chief God, (eight minor gods) Thoth/Hermes was the inventor of numbers and geometry.
Hindu: 8×8 symbolism is the order of the celestial world established on earth. Temples are built on the pattern of the MANDALA, which is the 8×8 symbol. In their belief system there are eight regions of the world, suns, divisions of the day, and eight chakras.
Islamic: The throne which encompasses the world is supported by eight angels, corresponding to both the eight divisions of space and the groups of letters in the Arabic alphabet.
Japanese: Eight is the “many”. There are eight Gods in the heavens.
Platonic: Plato has eight spheres of different colors surrounding the luminous pillars of the heavens.
Pythagorean: Eight is solidarity and stability.
Sumero-Semitic: Eight is the magic number of Nebo.
Taoist: Eight to be All possibilities in manifestation with the Pa Kua representing the forces in the phenomenal world. There are eight Taoist genii or immortals.

Tune in tomorrow for the next logical step.