Spirit In Gear

Feeling the Vibes, or Why My Husband Told Me to Buy a Lottery Ticket

It's one week ago and I am experiencing one of those magical days when everything falls into place with ease:

A 10 unit real estate package is coming together; a seller calls me with a great brick ranch that she wants to unload at wholesale pricing; a rehabbed house we are selling continues to pass the FHA loan hurdles for our buyer; and last but not least, I receive a phone call from a realtor we've employed to sell my father's condo in Ohio.  He shares the good news that the condo is now under contract, one week after being listed, with an offer for more than we expected.  Considering that the town my father's condo is in has the lowest real estate sales in the entire state of Ohio, I am blown away.

When I relay the series of good news to my husband, he tells me to go out and buy a lottery ticket.

Instead I became introspective and reflect upon why the stars seem aligned for me right now.  It occurs to me that it is not the stars that are aligned.  It is me that is aligned. 

I trace the days back and recall that the previous week I had listened to a national speaker who came into town to talk on the topic of real estate investing.  As I listen to him, I experience a quiet set of revelations about what pieces of my business to put into place that would take me to the next level financially. 

With this insight I feel inspired.  My confidence soars.  I can feel what I want as if it's already happening.  Which is just another way of saying I tuned myself up vibrationally.  My inner vibration now matches what I say I want.  Action is still necessary.  But action without that vibrational match creates struggle and less than desirable results.

Visualizing has it's place.  But I'm learning that we gotta feel it on the inside before we see it on the outside.  We gotta feel the vibes.

The following day I run across this quote:

It's all right there for you; it's ready for you to receive it as fast and as soon as you will vibrationally let it in.  Financial success, or any other kind of success, does not require hard work.  It does require alignment of thought.  You simply cannot offer negative thought about things that you desire and then make up for it with action or hard work.  When you learn to direct your own thoughts, you will discover the true leverage of energy alignment.

- Abraham

By the way, I did not buy a lottery ticket. Don't believe in them.  Guess I just don't have the lottery vibe!

[Photo Credit:  Yaroslav B]

Cinderella Breaks Free

It occurs to me late this afternoon, while doing a Jazzercise class, that my "inner Cinderella" has broken free of her imprisonment.  My energy on every level skyrockets!  I work out at my best level.

I recall that it begins last evening when I attend a monthly business association meeting.  I am feeling very energetic.  Filled with well-being, I network like a pro and enjoy meeting new people.  I continue with friends in the hotel bar after the meeting.  I don't remember the last time I feel this kind of energy.

My enthusiasm continues today at work.  I face all the same problems and issues present yesterday, but today I do so with levity and fun.  I have patience with myself.  I have patience with the people on the other end of the phone line.  I have patience with traffic.  I feel like the best of myself.  More compassionate, less interested in being judgmental.

What a switch.  For the past couple of weeks I've been feeling tired, jaded, resistant.  I felt uninspired to write a simple blog post.  I felt like a drudge, like Cinderella working with no reprieve in sight.  But instead of sweeping floors like Cinderella, I was feeling suffocated by unexamined, absurd expectations of myself.  Such as, "I can't relax until I'm a financial success like the gurus I listen to." or  "I have to figure out the magic bullet."  Pressure, pressure, pressure.

By the time Saturday arrives, a touch of food poisoning grounds me and forces me to rest.  I'm still in my pj's at 2:00 p.m. and I don't get any chores done, nor do I "accomplish" anything.  I sit on the couch  and read fiction.  I play a subdued game of bridge with friends that evening.

Being "benched" gives me the opportunity to do some reflection and meditation.  I find myself hanging onto Dick Richard's words about taking ourselves less seriously,in his response to a comment at his post, Let It Go! Let It Go! Let It Go!.  He recommends laughter and silliness to offset the seriousness in life, and in particular in the field of self development.

I'm not sure quite how I make the leap from tired and resistant to energetic and positive.  And really it doesn't matter.  But I do think Dick's words influenced me.  What I do understand is that somewhere along the line I decided I can feel good without external situations changing. 

And the wise Cinderella within who broke free knows that I can go far if I do these two things at this time in my life:  follow my energy (rest when I'm tired; go in the direction that feels good, as opposed to resistant); and build in a couple of brief times per day to be still and get in the space of "allowing" myself to be.  Practicing these two things can "grease" my receptivity for guidance and direction around business goals without anxious exertion on my part to find the answers.

I guess I don't need Prince Charming after all. 

Life in High Definition

What I see and experience in life depends upon the speed at which I'm moving.  There's "future" speed, and then there's "present" speed.

Too often than I care to admit, I operate in "future" speed.  Maybe you know what I'm talking about.  When I leave the present, I splinter myself apart.  Here's how it happens:  My mind races ahead to the future, while my physical body is left behind, and my spirit hovers about, outside of my awareness.

As I am doing one task, my mind trolls ahead like a search engine, thinking of all the things I have to do beyond this task ('gotta get this done, and then gotta do that, and then . . .").  Or I jump into the future with "what if" thinking, pulling in needless worry and fears about things that may or may not happen (what if my husband loses his job . . . what if my younger daughter does not find work when she moves to Chicago this summer, what if . . .).

Meanwhile my body starts to feel less grounded.  Instead of feeling a sense of rootedness, I feel tethered by adrenaline and sensations of being rushed.  My sense of creativity and mental expansion become pinched off as my access to intuitive guidance diminishes.  Been there, done that, right?  Welcome to life in the speed lane of Western Civilization.

This past week something different happens to me.  I experience a sense of "high definition" in my life.  All around me colors stand out with greater vividness.  I notice shapes and patterns - from the clouds in the sky above, to how the ground lays below.  Instead of scanning familiar objects in the landscape, I view them with that extra edge of sharpness and clarity, like our television screen in high definition. 

Results Revisited

Getting attached to results is a slippery slope going nowhere.  Yet I often cling (clutch is more like it ) to my attachment as if my life depends upon it.  Like worrying about some possible future event, attaching to results creates its own misery and has little to do with the outcome.

This past Monday I receive a short message during my prayer/reflection time: 

"Trust.  Take Appropriate Action.  Let Go."

Simple words.  Familiar words.  What is different now?  Impeccable timing.  I'm ready to receive this message.  My business partner and I need to find buyers for several investor properties within a 3-week deadline.  It doesn't help that funding for 2 of these properties got unexpectedly pulled out with no warning.  I feel the pressure, the panic.  How can I market these differently to attract buyers in time?

I step back from the emotion.  I decide to sandwich in my actions between trust and letting go.  I experience an odd sense of calm.  I create a little marketing twist to get people's attention.  I present these properties in an investor meeting from a different angle than previous meetings.  As a result, several serious buyers come forward with an interest in looking at those properties. 

By week's end, I begin to imagine other scenarios and outcomes I hadn't even considered when I was fixated on a specific result.  I discuss these other options with my business partner - options we can pursue if our buyers don't all come through at the same time.  I feel amazed that practicing non-attachment, giving up the clinging and clutching, creates a sense of clear-headed expansiveness in the absence of drama! 

My learning continues during the week when I receive Suzanne Falter-Barns' latest issue of her Expert Status Ezine in my inbox - "I'm Done with Results . . . How About You?"  Pretty enticing title, isn't it?

My big takeaway - the meaning we attach to results creates the problem, not necessarily the results themselves.  In Suzanne's words:

For instance, recently I started really getting into how many folks were visiting my blog every week. I worried if the numbers were lower than usual, and had surges of delight when the report swung high. And then I’d try to figure out what I did right or wrong that particular week … and consequently mull it over, tease it out, analyze and just generally fret.

In the light of my new non-attachment to results, I can see that it doesn’t ultimately matter how many people visit my blog. That number was just proving to be an ego stroke or an ego bash. What matters is actually how I’m interacting with the blog – and what REALLY matters is how effectively I’m sharing with my readers.

So now the focus has shifted to the journey, and how I choose to play it out.  When I’m excited about what I’m writing and put lots of energy into my blog posts, the numbers coincidentally go up. Conversely, when I’m lazy about it and lose touch for a week here or there, the numbers happen to go down.

Suzanne goes on to ask the pivotal questions:

Instead of looking to see how many people hit my blog so I can stroke my ego and feel powerful, I might ask instead, how truly and deeply am I sharing with others today? Am I reflecting what Spirit wants me to reflect today?*     " . . .Is my writing for this ezine teaching me what I need to know in order to keep spreading that love?

As Suzanne illustrates, we need to examine the meaning we attach to results.  When I'm stressing and struggling, my husband will jokingly ask me:  "Are we having fun yet?"  The question at least gives me pause and perspective!  Are ego's big footprints all over the meaning I attach to results?  If so, how can I change the meaning to reflect a higher purpose?  This week in my business challenge I focused on imagining outcomes that benefit all involved.  And that includes me too,  Sometimes I shortchange myself.

This morning, before I write this post, I receive another dose of reinforcement in the words of a prayer from Julia Cameron's Heart Steps:

I am able to allow situations to evolve and alter.  I am able to await outcomes.  I tolerate quiet periods of non-knowing while solutions emerge and present themselves.  I do not force solutions.  I expect the successful working-out of difficulties and differences.  My heart is wise.  It knows when to act and when non-action is the action to take.

My latest mantra - Cling Less, Live More!

Any lessons/insights you'd like to share on the meaning you attach (or don't attach) to results you seek?

[Photo Credit:  kjdrill]

Blog Spotlight - Resources for Spirit

Recent posts from Andrea Hess'  Spiritual Practice vs. Spiritual Growth, and  Slade's Psychic Shielding for Empaths, zero in on practical spiritual applications for daily life.

Andrea's post does not beat around the bush.  Pay attention to the results your spiritual practices (meditation, prayer, fasting, journalling, yoga etc.) are creating in your life.  Anything happening?  Why are we doing what we do?  She stresses that ideally spiritual practices lead to growth in other areas of our life.  Growth could be a new state of being, which of course leads to a new way of acting.

I'm hearing a similar message in a book I'm reading - Prayer Primer, by Thomas Dubay.  It describes a process of praying (beyond learned prayers) that leads to a deepening relationship with God.  Out of that deeper relationship with God, our aim is to take our reflections and translate them into improved ways of interacting with others.

What could be more practical, and essential, than protecting ourselves from energy-sucking people?  Slade's Psychic Shielding for Empaths is for anyone who interacts daily with people - from empaths, healers and teachers, to customer service workers and hair stylists.  The question is how to do this in a way that doesn't shut us down in the process.

Slade recommends the use of pink light as a shield (semi-permeable that is).  I find his distinctions between visualizing white light vs. pink light very helpful.  In day to day interactions, invoking pink light "allows for your loving energy — compassion, concern, good will — to pass through, yet the White Light (which is still present within the Pink) blocks negative energy.  Slade adds that the pink light is "a kind of filter — magnifying what you most hope to receive/ project, while still blocking psychic attack completely and absolutely."

If you're wondering under what circumstances to invoke this pink light, or how to do it, be sure and read his excellent post.

Both blogs noted above are filled with provocative and very helpful content.  Enjoy!

[ Photo Credit:  Christopher Rayan]

Try This in Lieu of Resolutions

After an absence of several months, I've been quietly slipping into the blogosphere to read snippets from some of my fav bloggers.  Always . . . perfect timing!

Phil Gerbyshak's What's Your Word of the Year for 2009? caught me at a time when I most need it.  He suggests building your year around one word that resonates for you.  He gives credit to this idea to Christine Kane's Resolution Revolution post.  She supplies a lot of help if you need inspiration around words to select.  Both are excellent posts about creating something more powerful and lasting than a New Year's resolution.

It took me about 60 seconds to jot down 4 words.  My top 2 picks:  "ease" and "savor."

Why those two words?  Because I am out of balance.  I've been fully immersed in real estate investing.  It's a "reactive" business.  It feels like I have less control of my time.  I notice that I spend a lot of my day utilizing "masculine" energy - hard, action-oriented, "make it happen" energy.  I'm tired on many levels. 

Redesigning My "Inner Space" aka Blog Hiatus

A few weeks ago we emptied out one of our spare bedrooms.  It had housed a twin bed, a desk/chair, bookcases, and knick-knacks from a daughter who had since graduated from college and moved away several years ago.  We gave away some of the furniture and boxed up the books and knick-knacks for safe-keeping until our daughter has room to take them off of our hands.

I looked at the empty room.  All this open space lay before me, full of possibilities.  I knew one thing for certain.  I would replace the twin bed with a Queen bed (when kids grow up it's not terribly comfortable to sleep in the twin bed anymore!) 

Something interesting and delightful happens after the bed is delivered and set up.  I look at the bedroom space in a different way.  I pull different pieces of furniture and accessories from other rooms in our home to create a cottage feel to the new guest bedroom. 

From Soul to Deb

Lately I am catching bits and pieces of conversation my soul is having with me. 

It begins earlier this week on a Monday morning. I awaken from a dream I find puzzling.  In the dream I am walking with my grandmother (deceased several years ago at the age of 101).  She and I are in a store of undetermined nature and she wishes to purchase a gallon of gasoline to carry with her.  I have no idea what she intends to do with it.  She has no car, nor lawn mower.  Nevertheless my grandmother is relishing this purchase and clearly wants it.  I notice however that grandmother is carrying a small plastic bag to put the gasoline in.  I explain to her that the plastic bag can't hold the gasoline.  She ignores me.  By the time she reaches the cashier, her plastic bag has miraculously turned into a gallon gas container with cap.  Grandmother thinks nothing of this.  She clearly expected this would happen.  (Intention + Action = Results).

I ask for guidance on the meaning of this dream.  The immediate response:  "Your grandmother is suggesting you follow her example - you can go after what you want and desire, even when you don't know how or when it may happen."  I needed that encouragement and permission to believe I can have a big dream and go after it. I realized too that my grandmother, while on earth, demonstrated a level of inexplicable faith and trust I would do well to emulate.

Later that morning I am working on writing my business plan. 

Where Oh Where Did My Energetic Groove Go?

I found my energetic groove in my last post, but seem to have misplaced it since then.  In the lag time between writing this post and the last one in June (surely it cannot be that long), I experience the distinction between making a change and maintaining a change.

Mid June finds me making a change in "how" I do my work for money.  This change works more in sync with my natural energy rhythm and creates space for creative expression.  The first week of change works beautifully. 

During the 2nd week we are out of state - part vacation and part business conference.  No room for routines during this week.  I return home to the 3rd week and find my work schedule packed.  All the changes get thrown out of the window as I attempt to keep my head above water during this 4-day work week before the July 4th weekend.  Although we spend time with friends, I also veg out a lot during the weekend and seem to have little energy.

Feeling tired, and wanting more control over my time, I become very clear about how much time I want to work in real estate investing/wholesaling if money were no longer an issue. 

Getting My Energetic Groove Back

Thank you, Tom Volkar, for your compelling post, Get Real About Your Work. 

Tom's post came out in perfect response to my own need a couple of weeks ago.  It sure does illustrate the impact we can have on one another through writing, as well as the underlying synchronicity that can occur through the medium of the Internet. 

Rather than summarize Tom's post, I urge you to read it and to take the 4-minute written exercise that helps you uncover the real truth about your work when money is no longer an issue.

Now allow me to back up to tell you where I lost my groove and how I got it back, thanks in part to reading Tom's post.

Ironically, a positive change in my business created the conundrum.  It begins when my business partner and I make the decision to get an outside office to work out of (in addition to our respective home offices).  With the addition of an assistant, we find great benefit in working more cohesively in the same physical space.

Three plus months later, we are reaping tangible benefits from the outside office.  We are developing processes and systems to work smarter; we are making far more offers on real estate; we have increased our income; and we enjoy great camaraderie.

So what's the downside to positive change?  I'm hauling my laptop and a number of essential files back and forth between home and the outside office.  I figure I'm losing an hour in the packing and commuting each day.  I've given up a great deal of flexibility and autonomy.  I begin to feel like I'm going to a "job."  The office is an environment laced with adrenaline and constant interruption.  After several weeks of this I find myself exhausted each day.  I fall behind on stuff at home.  And by the time I could blog later in the evening, I'm simply too spent.  I have shot my wad of energy.  Creative expression?  What's that?

As I note what my body and heart are telling me, I realize that the outside office is not the problem per se.  HOW I am working is a problem.  In a flash, I get it.  (When I did Tom's exercise, I discover that if money were no longer an issue, I'd write a whole lot more, and I wouldn't necessarily stop doing my day job.  I'd just do it differently.)

A pleasant shock of physical relief surges through me. A solution presents itself and I implement it immediately.  I make the decision to come into the office on Monday/Wednesday, and part of Friday as needed.  Tuesday and Thursday I work from home, by phone and laptop, In addition, I will go out to any seller's home on any day of the week if we have a deal.  But I don't need to sit in an outside office to wait for my phone to ring.

As soon as I implement this, I stop feeling tired.  I hadn't realized how much inner resistance I experienced each day on an unconscious basis.  Once I get aligned by changing  how I work, I almost feel giddy.  Doesn't take much for me to feel light and joyful once I get aligned. 

This is a lesson to me in the art and care of my creative being.  That part of me is especially happy.  I can only imagine the positive ripples that will continue to flow out, not only to other areas of my life and business, but further and further into the world.  Abraham notes that our purpose in life is to feel good.  And let's get real.  It's a lot more fun to hang out with people who feel good, isn't it?