Thursday, May 1, 2014

I WANT IT NOW, BUT DON’T CONFUSE ME WITH THE DETAILS

By staffer Janet Ashe

When Chuck began asking about manifesting, our staff gave input, but I wasn’t sure he understood much of what we tried to teach him. He’s given me permission to use him as an example in this article.

In today’s world, everyone seems to want everything NOW, without having to do any of the work. True, asking for what you want and focusing your attention on it can achieve your goals, but that’s where a lot of people fall short. They ask, but don’t want to do any of the work. And then they’re disappointed when what they say they want doesn’t magically appear.

Chuck and I had lengthy conversations, and I quickly discovered that he had one thing on his mind. He hated his boss and his job. He wanted to win the Lottery and quit without giving any notice. When I asked what he would do after he quit, he smiled and said, “I’ll think of something.”

It was evident very early in our conversation that Chuck’s attention—his energy—was focused on how much he disliked his boss and his job. I told him, ‘Where your attention goes, your energy flows. What you put the most emotion and energy into is what you’re going to manifest. You are, therefore, manifesting a boss and a job you can’t stand.”

He had watched What the (Bleep) Do We Know and The Secret, so I used them in our conversation. He has also read the Harry Potter books and seen the HP movies, so I also used them.

In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry’s Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Lupin, attempts to teach Harry the Patronus spell. The goal is to focus your happiest thought(s) to produce a Patronus, a guardian that comes between a witch or wizard (you) and that which is attacking. Harry tried various “happy thoughts”, but couldn’t produce more than a wisp of smoke out of the tip of his wand. At that point, he could have said, “This isn’t working, I give up” or “Give me something that really works, Professor.” The fact was, the Patronus did work when Harry focused his attention and energy on it.

An analogy used in The Secret is a genie who says, “Your wish is my command.” We only have to tell the genie what we really, truly want and the genie will manifest it.

Like a lot of people, however, Chuck wasn’t telling the genie, “I want the freedom of quitting my job and doing what I want.” He was telling the genie, “I want to stagnate here and hate my boss and my job.” He had to change his thinking and his behavior if he wanted to accomplish his goal. Like Harry, he had to focus on his happy thoughts and let the negatives fade away.

Harry Potter had to stop focusing on the Dementors and focus on the happy thoughts that would vanquish them. Chuck has to stop focusing on how much he hates his job and his boss and focus on what he wants to do when he’s able to retire. Like Harry, he doesn’t have to know how the Patronus will vanquish the Dementors or how changing what he thinks will change his life; he simply has to do it.

As homework, Chuck has to write something he admires about his boss every day (or as often as he can; I know this can be difficult at first), and what he likes about his job. Once he can banish the negativity, he will be able to focus his attention and energy on being ready to leave that boss and that job behind.

Remember, where your attention goes, your energy flows. What do you really want to manifest? Dissatisfaction, anger, stress, happiness, love, delight? Thoughts become what we want. Focus on what you do want rather than what you don’t want, and you should succeed.

I want to share a synchronistic quote from Daniel Gilbert that came to me shortly after I wrote this piece. 

“The human brain is the only object in the known universe that can predict its own future and tell its own fortune. The fact that we can make disastrous decisions even as we foresee their consequences is the great, unsolved mystery of human behavior. When you hold your fate in your hands, why would you ever make a fist?

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