Included in the posts below are insightful perspectives, legendary quotes and spectacular artwork, all intended to inspire the reader in the process of Manifesting Abundance.
“Your imagination is your key to life’s coming attractions.” Albert Einstein
A traveling salesman is driving through Kansas. For hours, he sees nothing other than golden plains (and an occasional tornado in the distance), until he finally spots a farmhouse. He heads up a long gravel drive to the farmhouse, parks, and tramps up to the house. An old farmer on the porch invites the salesman to sit for a spell. The farmer’s wife brings out iced teas.
As the salesman and the farmer sip their cold drinks and chat, the salesman notices a hound dog sleeping at the corner of the porch. Every few minutes or so, the hound dog raises its head and HOWLS, then goes back to sleep.
Finally, the salesman has to ask, “Why does your hound dog howl?”
“He’s settin’ on a nail,” replies the farmer.
“Why doesn’t he move off of the nail?” asks the salesman.
The farmer replies, “He will, when it hurts enough.”
Like most of us, I experience highs and lows, ups and downs. There are times when I’m incredibly happy and productive, when I feel that life flows effortlessly, when I am definitely manifesting abundance. There are other times when I get into a ‘funk,’ when things don’t seem to be working exactly as I’d like them to. Interestingly, although I’m aware of myriad tools I can use to turn that funk around, I don’t always utilize them.
Last October, I started noticing that I was waking in the morning with sad, resentful, depressing thoughts. Rather than recognizing and releasing them, I let them carry me slowly but steadily in a descending spiral. By the time December rolled around, even though in “reality” there was nothing to be upset about, I had allowed myself to become a dismal, despondent, self-deprecating Lump.
Time to move off the nail? Nah. Things’ll turn around by themselves eventually—they always do.
One mid-December afternoon I was feeling particularly put upon, with more tasks on my plate than usual, one of which was (and still is!) my all-time favorite: housecleaning. I remember thinking with great vehemence, “I don’t want to clean the house anymore,” just before heading outside for a short jaunt to the mailbox. Now…every year, from the onset of winter through spring thaw, the road in front of our house is sheathed with a thick expanse of ice. We’ve become accustomed to carefully navigating the ice; we slip occasionally, but have never actually fallen. Until now. One second I was upright, the next I was flat on my back, thoroughly dazed. Long story short: I had broken my wrist and injured my lower back. And, hey! My wish had been granted. I didn’t have to clean house anymore.
So—I was in pain, my cast was frightfully uncomfortable, and I felt terribly guilty because my husband was now saddled with household chores on top of his already demanding schedule. I wasn’t able to play my instrument, so I couldn’t work to make money to pay the medical bills that were coming in. I couldn’t dress myself, or even easily brush my teeth, for crying out loud. I was not a happy camper.
Time to get off the nail yet? Nope, not yet. Let’s see just how bad things can really get.
My computer, which had been sent out for repairs in late November, came back with a new hard drive. I began the process of setting it up again. When I attempted to move saved data from my external hard drive back onto the computer, all my files showed up, and every single one of them was empty. Something, either in the computer or the external HD, had been corrupted. Years of writing, artwork, photos and financial records were…gone. I spoke to numerous tech people. Some were clueless—others said there was a possibility they could retrieve the data for hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
Time to get off that nail yet? Yes, I’d say high time.
First thing one morning, I started Larry Crane’s Release Technique/Abundance Course from the top. I cried like a baby. By the following morning, things began to change dramatically. Over the following week…
Essentially, life got back to being rewarding, effortless and fun. I consider the events above to be irrefutable proof that the Release Technique works. But, as Larry Crane says, “Don’t believe a word I say. Take it for checking.”
To learn more about The Release Technique, click here.
“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” Albert Einstein
“An idea not coupled with action will never get any bigger than the braincell it occupied.” Arnold Glasgow
I received this video as a Christmas gift from dear friend and amazing musician, Bob Finnie.
Bob says of the video:
“”The cosmos is also within us. We are made of star stuff. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself!” (Translation: The colorful Hubble pictures near the end of the video are of supernovas – dying stars going out in a literal ‘blaze of glory’. The extreme heat and energy created by the explosion causes nuclear fusion of lighter, simpler elements into the heavier elements like magnesium, iron, and carbon – the things we are made of! Those elements made their way to our planet and became part of the evolution of life itself, from the simplest bacteria and carbon-based life forms, all the way to…us!) We, with our human consciousness and imagination, are a way for the cosmos to know itself. To me, that’s a miracle and an unfathomable mystery. But that truth is my answer to questions like “How did I get here?” “Why am I here?” and “What gives my life meaning?” And that truth – that I am part and parcel of the cosmos, that I and the universe are the same thing (just a speck, but a speck with its rightful place!), plus the fact that it goes for all of us (we are all connected) – is the source of my self-esteem, my contentment, my happiness, and of my motivation to make the most of my time here, to try to do good, and to make a positive difference before I go.”
May you have an abundance of joy, peace and love this Holiday Season.
I debated on whether or not it was appropriate to post this article to the Manifesting Abundance website…for about three seconds. Of course it’s appropriate. This article is about being open to new experiences, being at the right place at the right time, being aware of one’s feelings, and definitely about manifesting abundance….
I have been obsessed with a computer project for almost a year, to the exclusion of almost all else other than gigs, vittles, and the dreaded housecleaning. I’ve been living in a ‘virtual’ world. My computer has been acting up for the last month; she finally gave a groan that was a little too loud to ignore, so I packed her up to send in for repairs on Saturday morning.
Then my husband, David, and I readied for a trip to Grand Junction, Colorado, the closest Big City from our home high atop the Rockies. Dave had been cramming for weeks for an exam he was going to take that day. As we were preparing to leave, I mentally ‘felt out’ the situation, wondering if he would pass the test. I got the word WIN. Good. I got the word WIN again. Great. Two WINS.
The weather was perfect – we had a lovely and leisurely drive down through the mountains to the valley below. I dropped Dave off at the exam headquarters just off of Horizon Boulevard at noon. As he was going to be there for two hours, I decided to head over to the Mall (a big whoop for us mountain dwellers—Department stores! Book stores! A Food Court! A Red Lobster! And bargains galore!!!) to do some Christmas shopping and pick up essentials. But first, I figured I’d drop by PetSmart to get my Kitten Fix. (I had no intention of actually bringing a new pet home. We have a humungous ginger cat, Rodney, who rules our proverbial roost; while I would be happy to live in a menagerie, one giant feline has been plenty for Dave.)
As I pulled up to the Horizon stoplight, a parade of motorcyclists in Christmas décor began to swing around a corner onto the boulevard. The road was blocked off for fourteen minutes as more than a thousand tinsel-draped Harley Davidsons bearing a multitude of Santas, Mrs. Santas, elves, and sidecars laden with teddy bears, dolls, oversized candy canes and extravagantly wrapped gifts roared by.
I discovered later that the parade was the Grand Junction Harley Owners Group 30th Annual Toy Run. Photo courtesy of Grand Junction Harley-Davidson.
When the parade concluded, I continued to make my way the few short miles toward my destination. Traffic was heavy, I assume with holiday shoppers, so I decided to take a ‘shortcut.’ The shortcut, as shortcuts tend to do, ended up costing me an additional ten minutes.
My point—I arrived at PetSmart about twenty-five minutes later than I normally would have. Rather than heading straight for the kitten adoption center to the right of the store, it occurred to me to head over to look at dogs that were also in need of homes. I arrived there exactly at the same moment as a girl named Shar. She had with her what appeared to be a gorgeous white Irish Wolfhound. I took one look at this spectacular creature, and felt…a warmth in my chest, sort of an awed feeling. I listened as she explained to a Pet Samaritan representative that she wasn’t able to keep the dog—with her three children, other pets and numerous responsibilities, she just couldn’t swing it. I started asking her questions: What was he? (Irish wolfhound/poodle mix.) Was he healthy? (As a horse.) Was he good with cats (especially humungous ginger ones)? Was he trained? Housebroken? Did he bark a lot? The answers she gave were all exactly what I wanted to hear, but I was still a bit dubious. What was I thinking? Was I actually considering adopting a dog the size of a Shetland pony? Yes, I was. My final question to her before I decided, “This big boy is mine,” was, “What’s his name?” His name was Winchester.
Winchester. WIN. This was the second WIN I had come up with earlier in the day.
The Pet Samaritan rep reserved him for me while I went to pick up Dave (who, yes, passed the exam with flying colors). I told him I had a “little” surprise for him. The dog had won me over, but how would Dave feel about him? We returned to the store. He was suspecting I might try to talk him into adopting a tiny black ball of feline fluff (or a parrot or a snake), so was more than a touch astonished when I introduced him to the Big Boy. It was love at first sight for both of them.
We returned home Saturday night with two WINs.
Win has turned out to be a huge joy, and a huge blessing. He’s incredibly gentle, well-trained, intelligent, fun-loving and loyal.
I still spend time in my virtual world, but now find myself living much more in the “real” one as well. Thanks to this marvelous animal, I am experiencing an abundance of something I never knew I was missing. I’m more alive and happy than I’ve been in ages.
How does Rodney feel about Win? An eighty-five pound Irish Woodle probably wouldn’t have been his first choice, but he’s coming around.
“Money will buy you a fine dog, but only love can make it wag its tail.” Richard Friedman
Abraham speaks through Esther Hicks in this video, answering the question: How do I get from where I am to where I want to be?
To briefly summarize the video: Abraham likens the process of ‘getting from here to there’ to a journey from Phoenix to San Diego. San Diego is where you want to be, but through most of the journey you’re not where you want to be. If you become frustrated that you’re not there, you might just turn around and go back to Phoenix. You don’t say, “San Diego is an impossible dream. I’ve tried and tried and I can’t get there,” because you can see that with every mile you stay focused in that direction, you’re getting closer to where you want to be. You have evidence. So you “keep the faith.”
When you make the connection that the way you feel is the indicator of the direction you’re moving, and you can honestly say to yourself, “I feel optimistic, enthusiastic—all is well,” you can’t not get there. When you look at your ‘real life’ situation and see that you’re not where you want to be (in San Diego—ha!), you may experience a feeling of disappointment. Good. Your disappointment is your indicator that whatever just happened caused you to lose your sense of expectation. What can you do now to bring yourself back to the feeling of “all is well”? If you work through the emotion of discouragement and go to something that feels better, you will experience relief. You have cleaned up that vibration, and will never have to clean it up in that way again. In the moment you take the effort to do that, all things in the Universe regarding that subject respond to the new vibration you’re offering. That’s the day something happens that pays off for you. The little bit of effort that you couldn’t see, but that you felt, moved you closer to San Diego. You now don’t just hope you’ll have your abundance, you know you have it because the evidence emphatically surrounds you.
Inner Universe – Christopher Harding
While researching for this site, I came across an article written by Christopher Harding. Impressed with the man’s writing and brilliant concepts, I investigated further. I found that he was not only a prolific writer, but also an accomplished musician, producer and artist. I wrote him, asking if I could republish his article and a piece of his artwork. He said, “Sure!”
Since then, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting him in person. Amazing guy. You can find lots more about him here.
This is the first in a series of articles. It’s lengthy, but well worth the read.
How to Access Unlimited Creativity—A Songwriter’s Dream Come True
By Christopher Harding
Is it possible that we can access the realm of unlimited creativity to write songs, create art, and solve problems? Sounds pretty wild, doesn’t it? If this is truly possible, imagine what we might be able to churn out in terms of music, art, and solutions to the world’s challenges. The possibilities are literally endless.
Well, according to a number of those who’ve dedicated their lives to creativity and innovation, this amazing feat is not only possible, it’s accessible to any of us who are willing to learn, practice, and get over ourselves enough to implement what we access.
I first began to learn about this process when, as an audio producer, I started working with Omni Magazine on an audio version of the science-based publication. As I interviewed writers like Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, and Arthur C. Clarke they all talked about a process they engaged in where they, in essence, put up their antennae to access a “creative slipstream” (my words, not theirs) from which they would tap into a whole flow of creative ideas. Bradbury described writing the ideas down in the morning in a free-flowing fashion, using his right brain and then, in the afternoon, engaging his left brain to the edit the material he’d captured in the morning. The more I explored this concept and the more I began to utilize it in my own songwriting, the more easily the songs came.
While working on this creative approach, I also encountered a laser chemist by the name of William Guillory, who had his own very interesting theories about the process of creativity and innovation. Volunteering as a human guinea pig for some of Guillory’s experiments of the mind, I also learned that not only could we open up a conduit to the creative realm in waking hours, but we could also program our sleep to work on creative challenges while we were asleep and then assign a time and place for that information to download into our conscious mind the following day when we were awake. This process, called Sleep State Programming, was being taught by Guillory to scientists, inventors, and other creative types from all over the U.S. and abroad.
So, enough about the background information, let’s get down to the fundamentals of unlimited creativity, at least as I have experienced them. We’ll cover this information and the included processes that go with it over several segments and will focus in this article on understanding the basic model from which we’ll work.
In order to get an easier grasp of the processes I’ll describe, I’m going to introduce a learning model for the sake of illustration (and it’s only a model, so please don’t over-literalize its elements). The model is based on Guillory’s work and my own adaptations of his models.
According to this model, different levels or dimensions of energy radiate information to different levels of our human consciousness (think of it as frequencies that are perceptible by different receivers).
For example, starting from the lower end of the model, the physical world is experienced by our conscious mind (the realm of the subjective self and our dominant personality), which filters the information it is conscious of by way of our five senses and passes it through for “filing” into the subconscious mind and on for input into the body mind (unconscious mind) or cellular memory (which runs our autonomic body processes). Interpretations of the conscious mind alter the actual physical data into perceived information. This is the realm of the ego (which makes distinctions for example, between “self” and “other”). In the western world, this realm is dominated to an important extent by the left brain, which views as “real” only those things which can be measured, felt, touch, seen, etc.
Emotional energy (e-motion is often described as energy-in-motion) is perceived by our “extra-sensory” preceptors which also sense shifts in people’s energy fields. This information is picked up by our subconscious mind (the realm of our sub-personalities) as a more subtle or subliminal communication. (The only reason we refer to this level of perception as “extra sensory” is that we have lost touch with these abilities and therefore consider them to be rare or “special” when in fact they’re merely a natural part of our human abilities.). This dimension could be said to have more to do with the right brain functions which are not bound by time, space, linear logic, or the five senses. Many indigenous and non-western cultures tend to function more regularly from this dimension (which for them is less “sub-conscious” than it is a “different level” of consciousness).
Intuitive hits or subtle energy is communicated to and received more at the body mind level (this is the level of the biological self and the one which animals are very attuned to; it enables us to perceive the cellular and chemical messaging of other animate and inanimate subjects; and, due to cellular memory, it allow us to have excellent pattern recognition).
The collective informational dimension could be described as the realm where all known information resides (it’s what occurs once superconscious energy flow is organized into informational data bits). This level of energy is perceived by what one could call the supraconscious mind (experienced as the state of excitement and rejuvenation one experiences when ideas are flowing; or stage one of being in the “zone” ). One could say that known information has a grosser or heavier energy than pure potentiality, which is what exists in the universal creative dimension. It is from this level of supraconsciousness (or what some call the “Higher Self”, “soul” or “Atman“) that we access innovative ideas or ways to re-organize or adapt existing models or processes into new products and services (for the mystically minded, it is from this realm that one would access the “Akashic records” — the history of all that has happened throughout the cosmos through the course of time).
The universal creative dimension interfaces with what we can call our superconscious mind (or the level of consciousness that transcends our limited self-identity — from a performance standpoint, we might experience that we are playing beyond our own ability — from a religious standpoint, this dimension might be considered the realm of Spirit, the Absolute, Buddha Nature, Brahman, etc.).
The superconscious realm (or dimension of unlimited creativity) is most regularly accessed during deep states of meditation or prayer (when brain studies show that the left and right brain waves, which normally act independently are functioning in synchronization with each other and thus are believed to enable greater ability) and sometimes in our dreams when we move beyond the ordinary state of dreaming (which takes place at the subconscious and unconscious levels) and into the realm of extraordinary dreams where radically new ideas emerge. It is from this level of interface that entirely new paradigm-breaking ideas surface that utterly radicalize or shatter existing knowledge, processes, methods, ways of being, etc. From this dimension flows a deeper wisdom or understanding that exceeds current human knowledge. Information from this realm challenges our ideas about what’s possible and pushes us toward a greater potentiality than we may be comfortable with. When involved at this level of creation, people often describe that the song, idea, invention came through them (i.e. we don’t feel a proprietary sense of ownership, per se, but rather a responsibility brought on by what one might describe as a participation in something larger than oneself or an “act of grace,” as some have described).
You can also see in the model that information is passed back and forth between levels of human consciousness (though this is typically done without our conscious awareness).
The key, of course, to gaining any value from this model will be to understand how to purposefully, intentionally access the different levels of energy and how to control the flow of data back and forth between our own levels. If we can do this, you might be able to deduce that we can access pure potentiality from the realm of unlimited creativity or capture collective knowledge and direct this down through our own layers of consciousness into the conscious mind where we can output it into a tangible solution or product (song, painting, invention, resolution, etc.).
That process, however, is one which we will embark on in our next article, so stay tuned. If you engage fully, it will be a most interesting journey, for by engaging all of our levels of human consciousness we enable ourselves to expand beyond the 8% to 10% of our mind’s capacity that many estimate we operate at, into realms that invite us to access our full (and, some may say, intended) potential.
To add your thoughts or experiences about creativity, please visit the Passionate Genius blog on How to Access Unlimited Creativity.
Spirit of the Redwoods by Willow Arlenea
One day, God and a mortal sat down for a heart-to-heart chat.
The mortal said, “God, I’ve been wondering. What are a million years like to you?”
God replied, “Like a second.”
The mortal continued. “And what are a million dollars like to you?”
God replied, “Like a penny.”
“Hmmm,” said the mortal. “Can I have a penny?”
With a smile, God replied, “Just a second.”
Manifesting Abundance is something we all do, intentionally or otherwise. Depending on our thoughts and beliefs, we may have created an abundance of joy, splendid relationships, radiant health, and the ‘ever-popular’ wealth, or we may have created an abundance of the opposite—misery, loneliness, illness and poverty. Or perhaps we’ve been blithely straddling the proverbial fence somewhere in between.
For those of us who are consciously striving to attract a certain something into our lives, the process can occasionally (ha!) seem to take ‘forever.’ One key to accelerating the process of manifesting abundance is to become aware of limiting subconscious beliefs (resistance).
Ironically, the conditions people have the strongest resistance to are generally the first they chose to ‘manifest.’ As an example, if one is experiencing a desperate desire for money, this is a clear indication that he has some resistance toward having it. Although he has every conscious intention of manifesting wealth, certain belief systems buried deep within his subconscious may be sabotaging his efforts, thusly hindering its appearance in his life.
Following is a simple yet effective method for discovering some of these hindering beliefs:
Example of negative terms in present tense:
I don’t want to be poor.
Example of positive terms in present tense:
I attract a constant flow of wealth into my life. (Your mind will interpret this as a call to action NOW.)
Example of positive terms in future tense:
I will attract a constant flow of wealth into my life. (Your mind will interpret this as an issue to consider at some indefinite point in the future.)
Your responses may go somewhat like this:
I attract a constant flow of wealth into my life.
As if.
I attract a constant flow of wealth into my life.
Who am I trying to kid?
I attract a constant flow of wealth into my life.
This is stupid. I should be paying bills.
I attract a constant flow of wealth into my life.
Okay. I’ll play along.
I attract a constant flow of wealth into my life.
It would be nice.
I attract a constant flow of wealth into my life.
I hear the mind is capable of creating anything.
I attract a constant flow of wealth into my life.
This could work!
I attract a constant flow of wealth into my life.
But, if I get all this money, someone else will be without it.
At some point in this process, you may find yourself thinking, “I don’t feel like doing this anymore.” This is your ‘mind’ (which has either become bored with the ‘game,’ or is suspecting you might be getting close to uncovering a belief it would prefer to hang onto for awhile—of course, for ‘your’ protection) attempting to take control of the situation. Stick with the process through fifty repetitions. By doing so, you are learning to be in control of your mind.
You’ll be surprised at some of the thoughts that come up. Notice that as you proceed through the exercise, your responses will become more positive. Some of your first negative (limiting) thoughts will suddenly seem silly; you may find yourself laughing aloud at them!
You now have a clue as to what’s going on deep within your subconscious. This will certainly accelerate your experience of manifesting abundance.
“Our life is the creation of our mind.” The Buddha
What You See is What You Get
Let’s make some ‘cents’ of our thoughts.
What does this image represent to you?
Perhaps…
…if you are a magpie, it’s a shiny thing.
…if you are a kid who earns a dollar a day with your paper route, it’s one percent of your daily income.
…if you are a chemist, it’s basically composed of Cu.
…if you are an accountant, it’s a nuisance.
…if you are an affluent businessman, it’s inconsequential.
Here’s another way of perceiving it. A penny is worth one tenth of a dime, which is worth one tenth of a dollar, which is worth 1/100th of a C note.
Now – what does this image represent to you?
Perhaps…
…if you are a magpie, it’s a shiny thing.
…if you are a second-story man, it’s a score.
…if you are a jeweler, it’s an inspiration for your next piece.
…if you are living on the streets, it’s a miracle.
…if you are a wealthy entrepreneur, it’s a bauble for your Significant Other.
Here’s another way of perceiving a diamond. It’s a (tiny) piece of compressed carbon.
Reality is all in one’s mind—Well, sure it is. Where else would it be? The way our mind perceives everything (everything!) around us—its value to us, what we think about it, how we feel about it—is our perspective, and therefore our reality.
Many of us are oblivious to the fact that our experience of the world (hence our actions and reactions to it/hence the total of all we have manifested) is subject to our mind’s perspective. Those who see the world as a joyful place will naturally live a life of joy. Those who discern misfortune in every murky corner will likely find an abundance of misfortune. By altering our perspective on any ‘unfortunate’ matter so it is perceived as an opportunity rather than a burden, we will find our experience of that matter transformed.
Three steps to altering perspective:
In the process of Manifesting Abundance, remember: What you focus your attention on, you attract. (In other words—What you See is What you Get. Ha!) So, choose the perspectives of elation, gratitude, enthusiasm, trusting, health, wealth, freedom, youth, contribution.
“If you want to feel rich, just count the things you have that money can’t buy.” Proverb
Cosmic Heart, created by Willow Arlenea (www.designsbywillow.com), really touched me, not only with its exquisite beauty, but also with the depths of symbolism it portrays.
Willow says of this piece: “Behind all the layers of form, there is a presence of divine compassion, the Cosmic Heart. One can journey into the depths of one’s own heart, beneath the layers of pain, grief and desire, and connect with this universal, radiating, completely loving presence. It is the underlying fabric of the universe, and is always available.”
“There are forces in nature called Love and Hate. The force of Love causes elements to be attracted to each other and to be built up into some particular form or person, and the force of Hate causes the decomposition of things.” Empedocles 430 BCE