24 Minutes by the Ocean

Living fully today meant taking myself to the ocean if only for the 24 minutes I was allowed to leave my car parked in its parking spot. (Yes, the meter only allowed me to pay for 24 minutes.) It also meant paying myself for time spent preparing for a workshop and showing up to teach it even though no one showed up.

I admit it: I was depressed today. I had worked really hard to get ready for the Saturday night class and workshop. In fact, I gave up Shabbat to prepare my for both, because I had too much work during the week to do so. I can't say I had focused a lot of time and energy on creating a huge crowd at either the class or workshop prior to Saturday. I had done some advertising, but I hadn't focused my thoughts. I hadn't used my own Kabbalistic conscious creation process except in short spurts. I had, however, spent all day Saturday preparing. And for my efforts (minimal, I suppose...) I had one student on Saturday night and none on Sunday.

So, I drove myself to Aptos, CA, the next town over, and parked in a 24 minute parking spot. I put my money in the meter and first went to a little metaphysical shop down the street. There I purchased a beautiful amethyst bracelet. Payment for my time and effort, I rationalized. A gift to myself for putting myself out there, working hard, being willing to offer the class, trying to realize my dreams, wanting to share with and help others.

I walked back to the car. The meter had already run out. I put more money in the meter and bought myself another 24 minutes. Quickly I walked to the beach and sat on some rocks and looked out across the green, blue water to Monterrey.

The ocean always makes me feel better. I love the ocean and wish I had more time to walk and sit by its shore, to spend time writing while I listen to the music of its waves against the sand and the gulls in the air and the sea lions near the pier, to meditate with the surf as my mantra, to read and rest and rejuvenate. My busy life more often than not precludes me getting to the ocean as much as I'd like, although I can be at the shore in under 20 minutes. My favorite local beach is only about 30 minutes away.

So, while I could have let life bring me down today, I decided to live a little...to be good to myself. The bracelet will remind me of my efforts and the purple stones will offer me their energy every day. The trip to the beach was the real treat that lifted my spirits, reminded me of the goodness life has to offer, and reconnected me with something greater than the little disappointments in life.

Sitting there on that rock I remembered that the Source of that vast ocean and that beautiful piece of land on the horizon and the wind in my hair and the sun on my face was also the Source of the creative power within me. My desire to give back what I have learned -- to teach -- allows me to tap into that Source, which wants only to give goodness to me. I need only learn how to receive it, and to let it flow like the ocean waves. In and out. Receiving. Giving.

Just as God exists in everything, God exists in my experience this day...even in the empty classroom and my disappointment. God lies in the free will I was given to choose what to do with that experience, how to respond to it. My first response was to drive to the ocean and park the car for 24 minutes.

It's amazing what 24 minutes at the ocean can do for you. When I go to bed tonight, I'll see myself on that rock by the ocean, I'll touch the stones of the bracelet, and I'll know that today I lived my life a little bit more fully.

Co-Creation at Its Worst?

Ever wonder about co-creation? I don’t mean the type of co-creation we do with God. I mean the kind we do with the people in our lives. I’ve been wondering about it a lot lately.

My husband is going through a rough patch. He’s between jobs and doing consulting here and there. It’s a stressful situation, and, understandably, it doesn’t make him feel great. Despite the fact that he and I have traveled the spiritual path together for many years, and he and I learned about conscious creation, creative thought, Law of Attraction – whatever you want to call it – long ago, he tends to stop believing when things aren’t going so well. He loses faith. And when he loses faith, he tends to think a lot of negative thoughts. Given that I believe our thoughts are, indeed, creative, I have a problem with that. I don’t want his negative thoughts manifesting in my life. Yet, we share a life.

Do we, therefore, co-create the bad things that might show up in our shared life, or does he create them and I simply deal with them (and vice versa)? I know that if I worry about him creating them, I help create them. I’ve been angry about him moping around the house feeling like a victim and telling me how nothing good ever happens to him and how it “just figures” that bad things happen to him. Feeling that way doesn’t open me up to creating good things or receiving them either. So, I guess I do co-create negatively with him on some levels and in some ways.

I was on the phone with my mastermind group today, and I mentioned my issues with my husband (since the group of women happen to be some of my best friends in the world), and one of the women asked me how I was handling the situation. I said, “I just keep focusing on what I want to create and on what’s working in my life. That makes me feel better.”

You see, I know that when I feel good, I open myself up to the Divine flow of goodness available to me. I open myself up to receive what I desire. When we feel negative emotions, we close down and don’t allow ourselves to receive. We become disconnected from the Divine flow of goodness that is normally available to us.

I also know that when I focus my attention on what I want, I am likely to create it. (The same, of course, goes for focusing attention on what I don’t want.) And when I focus on what’s working, I get more of what’s working.

Maybe by doing these things I simply counterbalance my husband’s negative thinking, thereby not allowing anything bad or good to happen in our shared lives. I suppose that’s a better co-creation than some others! I’ll take it over co-creating something I don’t want!

If I focus harder than he does on what I really do want and open myself up to receiving by feeling really great and knowing in my body that all is well and that only good is coming to me, I might put so much energy into creating something positive that I negate his negative thoughts and create something positive. I suppose that wouldn’t be co-creation, would it? It would be worth creating though…

So, I guess I do believe we co-create, that what others manifest affects me and my life to some extent even if it is not something I may have consciously wanted to manifest for myself. And maybe that’s part of the Divine plan or our own individual Divine plan. Maybe that’s part of being in relationship. Maybe learning how to co-create on the physical plane simply represents part of the human experience.

Rosh Hashanah, Archery Practice and the Law of Attraction

Tomorrow marks another new year. Wrong time of year, you might think…if you aren’t Jewish. If you are Jewish, like me, you’ll be ringing in the new year tomorrow evening and all of Thursday not with noisemakers and bells but with the sound of the shofar and lots of prayers. If you’re lucky, you’ll get some candy apples, too.

For the last few years, Rosh Hashanah, the New Year, and Yom Kippur, the Day of Repentance, which follows just 10 days later, have felt like an inconvenience in my already too busy schedule. They feel a little bit like that this year, but not as much so. I’m not so busy at work…although I need to be.

Not that I’m not at my desk many hours a day. I am. I’m not getting any writing done on my books, though…not yet. And I’m not making any money…not yet.

So, what are my new year’s resolutions? I’m not making any. In true Jewish manner, I am simply looking at how I set my targets last year and if I managed to hit the bull’s eye. I’m resetting my targets, asking for forgiveness for missing some targets (too many, I fear), and figuring out how to take better aim – what and how to practice to be better at hitting that bull’s eye. Yes, that’s what the holidays are about -- archery practice. After all, “sin” is just a “missed mark.” The terms comes from archery -- al chet. Did you know that? It’s not something that dooms you to hell. And true repentance, good deeds and charity go along way toward ensuring that at least you live to make the most of the next year.

I did read something this week that was interesting, though. I admit, it came from the Kabbalah Centre…not most Kabbalists favorite source of information. However, I liked what they had to say. The basic idea was that whatever we do from sunset on Rosh Hashanah until sunset two days later (the end of the holiday) sets the tone for what we will manifest the rest of the year. It’s like a two-day conscious creation exercise or Law of Attraction workshop. Pretty amazing, huh? I thought so. Now…can I manage for two days to really act the way I want my new year to be?

No worries. According to Rabbi Berg, if you mess up and yell at your kids or overspend, you need only repent, do good deeds, give charity to fix your mistakes…or something like that. The basic idea was that you can fix your mistakes…write in your Book of Life again…cocreate some more…attract in a better way the next day. You get the idea. It’s not all lost if you screw up during Rosh Hashanah. You can fix it afterwards. But…don’t miss the big opportunity to do some major conscious creating on the Jewish New Year!

The Law of Attraction: If You Don’t Want to Receive in Order to Give, You May Not Get

I had the most phenomenal conversation this morning with a Kabbalist in Safed, Israel, that gave me a much clearer understanding of how the Law of Attraction works from a Kabbalistic spiritual perspective. Given the fact that I do, in fact, believe that our thoughts are creative and that what we focus upon expands, and that I hear the criticism being heaped upon the author of The Secret for her book and DVD’s materialistic bent, I wanted to share a little of what I’ve learned.

As Avraham Loewenthal, a Kabbalist and artist who’ve I’ve mentioned before, explains it, the fact that we want something for ourselves is natural. Desire is part of our inherent nature. Of course we want to get “things” or to receive them; therefore, we want to discover how to get what we want.

Along the way, we realize that we receive most easily when we are in the process of giving. Giving makes us happy. When we are giving, we are open and able to receive. We become a vessel to hold God’s ever flowing abundance and goodness. That’s why when we are giving we feel happy. And when w are happy, we find that the things we want are easier to obtain. Sometimes they even just come to us.

That leads us to a consciousness of giving to get something in return. It’s a step in the right direction, but we aren’t yet there. Next, we must learn to receive for the sake of giving. At this stage, what we want cannot be found in anything physical for our desire is for a new consciousness, a consciousness that wants to receive for the sake of giving. This represents giving in the truest sense.

God gives, and we receive, but as long as we only receive – or we try to get “things” for our own purposes -- God remains the giver and we remain the receiver. We remain separate from the Divine. When we receive in order to give – by giving purely out of a desire to give, we remove the separation between the ultimate giver – God – and the receiver – all of creation. We become one with God, who’s only known characteristic is Its ability to give goodness to creation. When we begin giving for the sake of giving, we we are expressing that part of us that is created in God’s image, and the separation between Giver and receiver disappears.

That said, it isn’t easy to accomplish this feat. Yet, Avraham taught me, it is in the effort of trying that we find that we are truly doing the work we were put her to do. And part of that work involves being grateful for what we do have, being happy where we are now, having faith that what we desire will come to us, and cheerfully accepting that if we don’t receive what we want or need right now, something better will come to us in just the right time. I learned something similar from another Abraham, the one channeled by Esther Hicks. Abraham teaches that we must learn to be happy where we are, because if we are constantly wishing to be somewhere else, we will always be in a place of lack. And from a place of lack, we receive only more lack. But if we are happy and grateful in the moment, we open ourselves to receiving something else – something that resonates with the vibration of happiness and gratitude rather than with the vibration of lack.

That’s if for now…I’m off to try and practice this. Easier said than done, I know. Thanks for letting me try and explain these difficult concepts here in my blog first. They'll be put into by Abracadabra! booklet next. If you have any comments or thoughts, please e-mail me. I'd loe to discuss these concepts.

A Kabbalistic Conscious Creation Session -- By Myself, For Myself

With all the buzz about the best-selling book The Secret and my own focus on looking at conscious creation, or what these days is most commonly called The Law of Attraction, from a Kabbalistic perspective, you’d think I’d focus my thoughts with little problem. While I am normally in the habit of focusing my thoughts of what I want – and combining these with my feelings of having what I want – on a regular basis, these last two weeks I just can’t seem to focus on anything. Nor can I add in the final step to the conscious creation process – action. As a result, I’m not achieving the results I want. (Maybe that's why it's taken me so long to post a new blog...) I’m not manifesting my desires – in fact, I’m often creating just the opposite.

I get up in the morning and immediately my mind tries to go in too many directions at once, but since you can only think about one thing at a time, it just jumps from one subject or interest or issue to the next continuously. This renders me unable to concentrate on any one thing. I feel like I’m in a meditator’s worst nightmare. Of course, my feelings jump around along with my thoughts, leaving me with the sense that I’m playing emotional leap frog. Not only can’t I seem to train my thoughts or feelings on any one thing for any length of time, I also can’t seem to put energy into action for more than 15 minutes at a time. I sit at my desk all day and feel totally distracted and unfocused and don’t get anything done.

Yet, because I am not disciplined with my thoughts, they go where they like. My thoughts are on things I don’t want, things I don’t like, such as being scattered, not getting things done, fears that my lack of focus will result in negative consequences (unhappy clients, rejected manuscripts and proposals, not enough money). It’s as if it’s easier to think about what I don’t want than what I do want.

So, is it something in the stars affecting me in this way? It would be nice to blame my condition on something out of my control. Actually, I think the problem is simply that I have too much going on – really. I’m scattered. If I’m not working on one book project, I’m working on another. Or I’m trying to teach a teleseminar or write a booklet. Or I’m promoting myself on line or trying to get speaking gigs at radio shows or at synagogues and churches. And when I’m not doing those work-related activities, I’m playing taxi drive to my two kids, acting as my son’s talent agent and manager, planning meals, shopping and running errands, and handling camp physicals and other doctor’s appointments. Oh, then there’s the bill paying, gardening, cleaning, and laundry to handle as well. And, I’m supposed to exercise at some point… So, what’s a girl to do? What would a Kabbalistic conscious creation coach – or a teacher of The Secret (the Law of Attraction) – tell me to do?

Ah, well…I would tell the girl – me – to take a deep breath and stop for a moment. Then I’d tell her to make a list of the projects at hand, the things she wants to create and the desires she is wanting to fulfill. Then, I’d tell her to chunk them down into two or three tasks. I’d have her break her day into sections, with each section devoted to one thing only. I would tell her to turn off the phone and shut down her Internet connection – unless that portion of the day was devoted to phone calls or e-mails – and to only focus on that one job at hand. First, as Esther Hicks channeling Abraham would say, do a little segment intending. Focus on what you want during this segment of your day. Imagine yourself accomplishing what it is you want to accomplish and feel what it would be like to reach that goal. Think it, feel it, visualize it – and then take action for the allotted amount of time.

I would also recommend that when she wakes up and she spend 10 minutes focusing on her goals before she ever gets going with her day. I’d have her say the goal as an affirmation – a positive statement of the goal achieved or what she wants received – and then follow this with a brief visualization of what it would look and feel like to have accomplished what she set out to accomplish. Then I’d have her spend a few minutes several times during the day reviewing those goals. She’d end her day by looking at the goals she needs to work on again the next day and writing new ones for the following day.

Lastly, I’d have her start and end each day with a prayer that all her thoughts, words, feelings, and actions be devoted to serving God and the highest good of all who will be touched by her actions and goals achieved.

Lastly, since she has spent the majority of the day in the Kabbalistic worlds of thinking, feeling and doing, I’d recommend that she spend some time in the evening – and maybe in the morning as well or just before beginning work – in the world of being. This could mean meditating, praying, chanting, or simply staring at the wall. This would allow her to get in touch with herself and with a Higher Power, so she would allow a Divine flow into her life.

That’s it: Kabbalistic conscious creation for the person who has too much going on to focus – or who needs a way to focus so she or he can effectively create what they want rather than what they don’t want. A trip through the worlds of being, thinking, feeling, and doing as a way of getting focused and moving towards what we want to manifest. The Kabbalists would say that in this way we don’t attract but we instead create our desires.

Now…let’s see if I can take my own advice and make that Kabbalistic trip myself.