If Hindsight is 20-20, What’s Foresight?

I’m a big believer in visioning, or visualizing what we want to create in the future. I guess you’d call this foresight. I’ve noticed however, that my foresight tends to be perfect. In fact, you could say that when I see the future, I have better-than-20-20 vision.

Yet, I’m well aware of the common adage the hindsight is 20-20. I understand this to mean that we don’t always see clearly in the moment, in the now. Seeing in this sense encompasses more than just seeing what is right in front of us but also those things that are hidden or harder to see, such as why things are in our lives or experiences. Sometimes we only “see” this when we look backward at the past with a new perspective afforded from time and space.

All of this tells me that when I’m visioning the future, and then the future becomes the present, my better-than-20-20 vision becomes flawed. I don’t see perfectly. Sometimes I don’t see at all. I might even create that perfect future I envisioned and not see it at all. I might not realize I manifested it in the here and now.

I began thinking about this idea of hindsight and foresight when I recently was asked to speak on the topic of vision at a local new thought church. I needed more than this one little bit of personal wisdom to fill out my 30 minute talk, and the congregation tends to like the fact that I typically bring them some Jewish teachings when I speak there. I didn’t know much about the Jewish view on vision, however, so I put out a query to my Jewish Renewal list serve for help. I received many suggestions, all of which were thought provoking. There were too many to include in my talk or in this blog, but a few provided me with the insights I needed. I’d like to share a few here as well.

My friend and teacher Rabbi Goldie Milgram first reminded me that the morning blessings refer to vision. Indeed, each morning observant Jews say the words, “Blessed are you God who gives sight to the blind.” Reb Goldie told me that she believed that this blessing doesn’t simply refer to blind people who are given sight; she said it refers to our capacity “through God-connection to become increasingly less blind to what’s around us.” So, the more connected we are to God, the more we see, the more vision we have. Or maybe we simply become more aware and more conscious, and, therefore, we see more clearly. This provides a compelling reason to pursue a spiritual practice of some sort each day. I personally like to combine my spiritual practice with visioning. I’m not sure if that can improve my foresight, which is already excellent, but I’m sure it improves my ability to see my present. I definitely see my now with added clarity when I do this.

Reb Goldie also suggested I look at a reading fro the prophet Isaiah. This particular reading is called Chazon after the first Hebrew word (chazon) in the portion, which mean’s “vision.” The Shabbat (Sabbath) on which this portion is read is called the Sabbath of Vision (Shabbat Chazon), and it precedes the holiday of Tish B’Av, which commemorates the destruction of both the temples in Jerusalem. On this Sabbath, every year Jews read of Isaiah’s vision of the destruction of Jerusalem and of the rebirth of Jerusalem and the building of the third temple – a vision of a joyous time that has not yet arrived.

Some very great commentators have shared their thoughts on why just before the holiday that commemorates such a sad event in Jewish history we read a prediction of this tragedy but a vision of a happier time. For example, Rashi taught that even as Jews begin this period of grief they should also envision sadness turning to happiness, thus remembering that this is the course life tends to take. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev taught that our vision of the future must become internalized and arouse a longing, for this changes us and makes it possible for us to bring that vision into physical reality. In this process, our souls see the vision as already existing; thus, we long for something that is distant and that inspires us while at the same time feeling at peace with something that exists within us as reality.

Rabbi Levi could be one of the teachers on the popular DVD The Secret (or quoted in the book by the same name) or a proponent for my own book Abracadabra! The Kabbalah of Conscious Creation! He’s talking about the power of seeing what we want as already manifest. And he’s talking about being happy and at peace with the vision of what we want even though we haven’t yet seen it come into our physical reality.

In addition, my friend Rabbi Fred Guttman was kind enough to share one of his High Holy Day sermons with me that spoke to the fact that without a vision of the future we cannot manifest that very same future. He quoted from Proverbs, chapter 29, which says, “Where there is no vision, the people show no restraint.” Says Rabbi Fred, “The text here is teaching us that without vision, the people lack direction and fumble around.” Isn’t it true that if we don’t visualize our future – if we don’t see it clearly – we don’t know where we are going? That foresight gives us a roadmap, a blueprint that we can follow.

Additionally, Rabbi Fred told a wonderful story about 10 Jews crossing a river prior to the onset of the Sabbath. When they get to the other side, however, the leader counts them all to see if they have all made it across. To his dismay, he finds there are only nine. Someone has drowned in the river leaving them without a minyan. He counts several times with the same result. As the group begins to wail for their drowned friend, a peasant comes along. He count the men, and finds that there are, indeed, still 10. The leader had not counted himself. Rabbi Fred ended the story by saying, “Very quickly, these wise men understood that it is one thing to count upon others, but it is something else entirely to count upon oneself.”

Rabbi Fred went on to stress a similar point in his sermon as did I that Sunday morning in church. I pointed out that if we don’t put ourselves in our own vision, we will never see ourselves in that future we desire to create. The future might come to pass, but we won’t be in it. Plus, to make that vision into a reality, we must count upon ourselves to manifest it; we must see ourselves as part of what is necessary to bring it into physical reality.

Last, but definitely not least, I shared with the small congregation a story from one of my favorite Jewish authors, Rabbi Mitch Chefitz. The story, called “Just a Miracle,” comes from his book of short stories, The Curse of Blessings (previously published in his novel The Seventh Telling: The Kabbalah of Moshe Katan) and describes a townspeople’s reaction of young Elijah’s miracles. No matter what he does, the townspeople say it was “just” this or “just” that. The young girl who is the recipient of all these miracles learns a lesson from this, a lesson about how our language and our thinking affect our vision. Here's what Mitch writes about the lesson she learns and goes on to teach others:

“The word just puts blinders on you,” she taught. “so even though a miracle might be right there in front of you, you won’t be able to see it. You would see just this, or just that, but never look into the depth of anything. Your eyes would never open in wonder.

“That you open your eyes at all is a miracle. The word just can’t keep your eyes from seeing, but the word just can keep you from seeing the miracle of sight.”

So, go out and see. Feel blessed that you have vision. Connect with God so that your vision increases. Have foresight. Use your better-than-20-20 vision to visualize that perfect future you desire. Internalize that vision so that it changes you and changes your future. See yourself in that future. And when that future becomes your present, and that present is miraculous, don’t discount it as just another day, another moment, another whatever. See it. Really see it. Have 20-20 vision, or better-than-20-20 vision, now.

What's the Secret? Be Happy

I’ve been suffering from all sorts of medical ailments, which are mostly related to perimenopause. Dry eye. Weight gain. Migraine headaches. Aches and pains. It was the constant headaches – basically every day – that sent me to the doctor, however. Although she agreed that most of my problems came from age – nice to hear – and the changes through which my body was going, she said they could also be stress related or at stress aggravated. She felt the muscles in my shoulders, neck and head and said, “Go to a massage therapist every week. And have some fun.”

I had just finished telling her how the most fun I had every day was eating the great dinners I cook. I know I overeat to compensate for the fact that, sadly, eating is my most enjoyable activity each day. If I can’t do something for myself during the day, I figure I can at least eat what I like…and enough to feel really full and satisfied. I know that’s not only unhealthy but not true happiness either.

Sad to think that I might not be happy. Or am I? How often do I do things that make me smile or laugh? How often am I carefree, spontaneous, and feeling really good? Not too often.

Anyone who has ever watched the DVD or read the book The Secret or has listened to or read the teachings of Abraham as channeled by Esther Hicks knows that for the so-called secret – combining thoughts of what we want with feelings of already having it – to work, we must feel good. Abraham explains why: When we feel good, we vibrate at a frequency that allows in what we want. This is the Law of Allowing. In order to receive what we want, we must, therefore, feel good. We must be happy.

Uh, oh…maybe that’s why I’m not manifesting all my desires.

The Kabbalists say something quite similar. They say that as long as we are focused on what we want, which is an affirmation of lack, we are unhappy and aren’t allowing ourselves to receive what we want. We also are never satisfied with what we receive. We could ask for and receive a million dollars and then immediately want two million dollars. Thus, we are unhappy much of the time and die with 50% of our desires unfulfilled.

The main thing that stops us from being happy – and therefore receiving – is the unhappiness that we have because we feel separate from God. The Kabbalah Center calls this “bread of shame,” but I hate that term. It doesn’t sit right with me. The wife of Rabbi Ashlag calls it the “suffering of separation.” I like that better and it resonates as true. What she means is this: We suffer as long as we see ourselves as separate from God, because what we want it to be one with the Creator.

(This goes back to my last blog where I talked about the separation caused by God giving and us receiving. As long as there is a giver and a receiver, we are two individual entities. We are the receivers and God is the Giver. We have to learn to give unconditionally – to receive only to give – in order to act and be like God, thus causing us to feel and remember our oneness, our unity with God. Then we are happy. Then we receive all of God’s goodness.)

So, our work lies in finding ways to feel our oneness with God. The kabbalists would say, transform your consciousness. That new consciousness should be your primary desire. What is this consciousness? To give unconditionally. To receive only to give. Then we behave in a God-like manner…we become the giver and in the process we receive. What do we receive? Happiness. And with that happiness, we open ourselves to receive the constant flow of goodness from God. All our wishes are granted. All our dreams become manifest.

That’s the real secret – or maybe just the next level, the next phase that no one’s talking about.

It would be easier, I think, to go out dancing, see a comedic movie tak a walk in the woods. I'll try both...to do things that make me happy and to change my nature to one of receiving to give. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

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.

Sharing My Good News: An Agent for Every Book Project!

For any writers out there, I want to share some really fabulous news. (I know, I usually try to write something thought provoking or that teaches a principle of some sort, but today I just had to share!) I have managed to go from having no literary agent representing me to having two – well…actually three – representing me all at one time! Yahoo! Thank God! Baruch HaShem! And they’ll all be at the Book Expo America in New York at the beginning of June peddling my three current book projects. Can you believe it? I can hardly believe it myself! I am so very, very grateful to them for believing in me, my work and my projects. And they all tell me that they hope to bring me good news come the first week of June, and, God willing, they will.

So, I have found an agent to take on my Jewish celebrity cookbook project, which should have been in stores for the 2006 holiday season…but wasn’t. If you recall, that book had a publisher, but the book was returned to me so I could find a larger publishing house to take it on. Yesterday, I found the perfect agent to take on that job for me, and she feels confident that she will have success in doing so. Yeah! I’m grateful to the 90 celebrities who signed on to that project and offered me their time, support, stories, and recipes. If the book is successful, we will all help MAZON: A Jewish Response to World Hunger help others around the world.

And, as you already know, my other agent is shopping my candle lighting as a spiritual practice book. She has another agent in her firm also selling my book on boys in the dance world, which was inspired by my son’s dancing endeavors.

(Okay…don’t ask how I will write two books at once, handle anything thrown at my by the publisher of the cookbook – which is complete -- and keep up with my client’s editing. I should be so lucky to have that problem.)

Shabbat is nearing quickly…and when I light the candles later this evening I will have so much for which to be grateful and I will celebrate my success by allowing myself to welcome in the Shechinah and to rest peacefully and joyfully in this sanctuary in time. As I work madly on trying to make the changes to the cookbook proposal my new agent requested, I will feel so filled with gratitude and with wonder at how the Universe works. I attribute my “success” not only to my diligence and perseverance, but the powerful energy of my intention and my knowing that I would, indeed, get these works published. I totally trusted…well, I had times of doubt, especially with the cookbook, but I would shrug that off and get back to work and back into a place of knowing it would work out.

Last week I resigned myself to approaching not only two new agents (on the suggestion of the last agent who had just turned down my cookbook project) and three small publishers (one the suggestion of my first agent and the person who brought the cookbook project to me in the first place. That said, when I actually sat myself down to write the letters and put the packages together, I did so with the intention of actually finding an agent. I changed my AOL password to reflect my desire to have an agent of a publisher for the manuscript by 6-07. Every time I typed in that password, I remembered my goal while at the same time I knew that as I had placed the parcels in the mailbox I had released the book and its outcome to a higher source. I had released it. I stopped thinking or worrying about it, except each time I typed in that password and affirmed that I would, indeed, have an agent or a publisher by June.

Now, I do this thing with the password all the time. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. I think so much of what makes it successful comes down to my own attitude. How strong is my intention? Have I released whatever it is I want, thus creating space to receive my desire, or am I holding on to it and filling myself with worry and negative thoughts? Am I trusting that what is for my highest good and the highest good of the project and those concerned with it will come to pass? Am I offering gratitude to God for my desired outcome having become manifest even thought it actually hasn’t yet; in other words, am I trusting that it has manifest in the World Above and will, therefore, soon manifest in the World Below? Am I behaving “as if” what I want already exists in my life and feeling all the joy and fulfillment that would come with that experience?

If I can answer “yes” to these questions, my affirmation works well, because of all these other things I have done. And that’s the “secret” to manifesting what we want, isn’t it?

By the way, my new booklet, Abracadabra! The Kabbalah of Creation, 7 Mystical Steps to Manifesting Your Dreams and Desires will be available in July! It will talk about some of the tools I use to create what I want in my life, and today I realize more than ever how very powerful those tools truly are. If you’ve heard of the bestselling book and DVD The Secret, my booklet (which will one day be a book – mark my words!) puts the principles set forth in The Secret through a Jewish mystical lense. (You can preorder it now in my store.)

So, I will move through today gladly putting my energy into the last thing I personally can do to sell my Jewish celebrity cookbook – finishing the proposal. Then I will again release the project – this time to my new agent as well as to my God. May the perfect publisher take on the book.

Ken yehe ratzon. May it be God’s will.

Shabbat shalom!

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.