Exercise 3

A beautiful tool for encouraging gratitude is to keep a gratitude journal. This is simply a note pad, or diary, or whatever brings you the most joy that you write in every day with 5 things you are grateful for on that day. The idea is not to repeat what you have already written wherever possible to encourage you to seek out more to be grateful for.

Even if it’s the worst day in the world, you could choose to be grateful that you have all your limbs, a shelter over your head, or food on your table. There is always something to be grateful for, whether it’s big or small. It could simply be that you’re so grateful that the worst day in the world is only 24 hours and tomorrow will be a new day.

“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.”

- Thornton Wilder

A good time to write in your gratitude journal is just before you go to sleep at night. Keep it by your bed, and before you nod off to dreamland, reflect on the day and what you have to be grateful for today. This will put you in a beautiful frame of mind before sleeping, but most of all, it will encourage you the next day to look out for more to put in your gratitude journal. This is where the magic happens.

Consider how your life could change if every day you were always seeking out reasons to be grateful. Can you see the power in this beautiful technique? If you take nothing more from this e-book, I hope you try this.

No, no… Thank you!

Gratitude

One of the most powerful ways of attracting more positive experiences, and more prosperity into your life, is to experience gratitude for what you already have. Consider this, the Universe has done its job and sent you everything you ordered, even if you didn’t know you were ordering it. Therefore, if you aren’t even happy with what you have already been given, why would the Universe think to send you anything else?

“Appreciation can make a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary.”

- Margaret Cousins

Gratitude is one of the single most life changing choices to make, and yet it is also one of the easiest. Choosing to express gratitude for everything in your life will have a truly powerful impact on how you feel every day, what you attract into your life, and the people that you surround yourself with.

Now I know that you’re asking “how can I be grateful for everything? What about the [insert traumatic incident here] that happened to me? How can I be grateful for that?”. I would like to tell you that you should be even more grateful for the traumas, the losses, the dramas, the tragedies and all the other horrible experiences you’re suddenly referencing right now. They are the ones that have taught you the most, and made you the person you are today. There is usually so much more to learn from the tragedies than there ever are from the victories, and that’s why they form such an important part of our lives.

What you need to do though, is focus on the positive learnings from these experiences, and not dwell in the negative. Using this approach will mean you never look at what may seem at first as a negative experience, the same again. You will take it for what it is and look for the blessing, which is such a beautiful blessing in itself.

“If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, ‘thank you’,
that would suffice.”

- Meister Eckhart

I can personally say that this was one of the most life changing concepts that has ever had an impact on me.

To have things go “wrong” and smile knowingly, excited about the chance to grow and learn, means nothing has the power to make me feel unhappy again. What is that worth?

Haven’t We Been Here Before? (Continued)

Another way to say that would be that you will attract what you put your attention on, whether wanted or unwanted, so if your attention is on how you always get your heart broken… guess what? You’ll get more of it!

The way this works is that everything on this planet is energy; a vibration, not the solid forms that we see around us. Science and Metaphysics have broken down every particle of the human body, and everything that we consider matter or substance, to discover that we are actually made of energy, and so is everything around us.

“Follow your bliss and the Universe will open doors where
there were walls.”

- Joseph Campbell

Everything vibrates at varying levels, and when we are feeling flat, down, negative, or unhappy, we are vibrating at a low level, and attracting other low level vibrations to us. Conversely, when we are happy, positive, excited, energised, we vibrate at a higher level and attract more positive experiences to us, which are vibrating at the same level. This is where such sayings originated, as: being “on a roll” or a “winning streak”. When you’re up, you’re up and things seem to keep coming your way. In fact, Sales trainers often teach that the best time to make a sale, is when you’ve just made a sale. This is because you’re already vibrating at that high level and likely to attract more of the same.

The reason you may have a challenge with this is that it’s generally more natural to focus on your current reality than it is to focus on what you want. So rather than focusing all your thoughts and feelings on the abundance of wealth that the Universe has always had waiting for you, you may have been thinking of how you were going to afford to eat this month.

"Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Choose your words, for they become actions. Understand your actions, for they become habits. Study your habits, for they will become your character. Develop your character, for it becomes your destiny."

- Anonymous

To give you an example of how the Law of Attraction works, several years ago I put pictures of my perfect wedding on my vision board; with beautiful weather, on the beach, with me being head over heels in love with my new husband (who I hadn’t met yet)… not to mention my perfect engagement ring! I got married this last November and it wasn’t until I looked back at my old vision board recently that I realised I had lived out my exact dream wedding.

Not to mention how great it will make you feel to picture yourself driving your new car, living in your new home or marrying the man of your dreams.

“Within you now and always is the unborn possibility of a limitless experience of inner stability and outer treasure, and yours is the privilege of giving birth to it. And you will, if you can believe.”

- Eric Butterworth

A great tool to help you visualise and stay focused on what you do want, which I mentioned briefly above, is to create a vision board. A vision board is a collection of pictures (and words if you want them) of all of your goals and dreams.

Haven’t We Been Here Before?

Have you noticed that there are patterns in your life, where you find yourself again and again going through the same kind of experience, emotion or circumstance? Have you noticed that there are patterns in your life, where you find yourself again and again going through the same kind of experience, emotion or circumstance? (I couldn’t help it! ☺).

For instance, do you know of anyone who always has trouble with relationships? This person always seems to end up with that loser guy/girl and gets their heart broken every time. They may be the loveliest person on earth, yet this keeps on happening.

What about being accident-proned? Have you ever met anyone who always seems to have something go wrong, no matter what they do or where they are? They seem to be a magnet for disaster… and as I’m about to explain, that’s pretty much exactly what they are.
Is there a recurring pattern in your life that you can’t seem to shake? Are you attracting a constant flow of bills and debts rather than an unlimited flow of cash and cheques? There’s a very specific reason why this keeps happening and, best of all, once you know how it works, you can change it!


“Faith is expectancy. You do not receive what you pray for, nor
even what you say you have faith in. You will always receive
exactly what you expect.”

- Eric Butterworth

Put simply, the Universe has Laws. They are basic principles of life and have been around since time began. These laws are unchangeable, undeniable and absolute. No exceptions. Universal Laws apply to everyone, everywhere. They cannot be changed. They cannot be broken. Consider the Law of Gravity; no matter how much it may be nice for the law of gravity not to work sometimes, it will absolutely, positively, 100% always be in effect.
So too will the Law of Attraction. This powerful, universal law says that what you put out, you get back.

Exercise 2

I came across a beautiful technique recently to let go of the stuff that is holding you back, which is a simple, yet powerful visualization. Sit down somewhere quiet, where you will be comfortable and uninterrupted for about 10 minutes. Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths to get into a relaxed state and then just allow a picture to come into your mind. The picture is of you, in whatever environment you choose that brings you the most peace and joy. That may be sitting on the beach, sitting by a stream in a forest, or on a cloud in the sky… wherever you are happiest, and wherever your imagination takes you.

You will notice that parked nearby is a really big truck, with a strong, heavy duty tow bar, looking like it’s ready to tow something away. You know what to do; it is now time to reach behind you, and unclip your trailer. Immediately notice how much lighter your body feels with that immense weight lifted off.

Now turn around and have a look at what you have been carrying around all of these years. These are all of the emotions, experiences, and stories that you have hung on to for way to long that no longer serve you. These may be specific and detailed experiences, or simply emotions, such as fear, guilt or shame, that it’s time to let go of now.

“We must learn to let go, to give up, to make room for the things we have prayed for and desired.”

- Charles Fillmore

Allow yourself to feel whatever you feel at this point, and allow your intuition to create whatever picture it needs to for you. Whether your trailer is full of Louis Vuitton bags, garbage bags, boxes… or simply a pile of stuff, that’s perfect. Whatever it is for you, is exactly how it should be. Similarly if you’re having trouble getting a picture at all, but can allow yourself to feel the process, that’s perfect too… there are no rules.

After looking at your trailer load of stuff, and saying your final farewells, a big, burly man comes over to you, grabs your trailer and attaches it to the back of the truck. As he drives away with all of your stuff pay attention to how you feel. Do you feel lighter, happier, excited, anxious, ecstatic? Take a few moments to really feel what it means to release so much negativity, and start fresh with no load. Then once you’re done, take a few deep breaths and open your eyes.

Now, if you’re used to doing visualizations, this may have been easy for you, but if you’ve never really done them before, it can be challenging to get a picture. It differs for everyone, and THAT’S OK. You may feel nothing straight away, and that’s ok too. You may even find that you have some interesting dreams tonight, or over the next few days you may notice how much lighter you feel.

A positive side effect is that you may even find that you drop some unwanted weight as a result of this also. Carrying around emotional baggage can have a very strong impact on our physiology as well. How is that for a bonus!

Ahhh… how sweet it is to feel so free!

Let it Go

Now that you have established what it is that you’re lugging around with you, aren’t you suddenly aware of how heavy it feels? It’s as if someone attached a trailer to you when you were young, and over the years you’ve been piling stuff on to it without even realizing. It’s been subtle and happening quietly, and the trailer is dragging along behind you, so you don’t even see it, yet you can definitely feel something weighing you down.

Remember the feeling as a child, of having a spring in your step and bounding around the house or the yard full of energy, like one of those bouncy rubber balls? What happened to that feeling? I’ll tell you what happened… it’s hard to bounce around with a trailer full of stuff attached to your backside!! It’s time to let the stuff go… it’s not serving you.

“We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the life that is waiting for us.”

- Joseph Campbell

Imagine if you woke up tomorrow in a brand new place, with complete amnesia about who you were, where you had been or what your life experiences had been like so far. Yes, it could be a little frightening because it’s unknown… but imagine the possibilities! How exciting would the feeling be of beginning a brand new journey with no stuff to hold you back. You wouldn’t know if you were an heiress to a multi-billion dollar fortune, or a beggar off the street, so you could pretty much pick which one and starting feeling like that (I know which one I’d choose!).

Excercise 1

Set some quality time aside for yourself, and maybe set the mood for inspiration by lighting some candles, or putting on some soothing music; whatever works best for you. Take out a pen and paper and allow yourself to be truly honest with what you write down.

Consider what has been holding you back from achieving your goals and dreams, and from living the life that you desire. Allow your story to unfold, and write it all down so you have it on paper, as stories should be.

Do you feel there is something, or someone, in your life that is holding you back?

• Was your childhood traumatic in any way?
• Do you, or have you had an illness to deal with in your life?
• Were you not given many opportunities growing up?
• Write down anything else that you consider an obstacle or a hindrance in your success.

Once you have written down your story, take a few moments to review it and decide how you really feel about it. Are you giving it more power than it deserves? Now it’s time to make a decision. You need to decide if you want to continue hiding behind this story, or break free of it, take back control of your life, and choose success!

The object of this exercise is to make you aware of anything you may be hiding behind, that is stopping you from having everything your heart desires. Just being aware of it has so much impact, as awareness is the first stage of change.

Observe yourself over the coming weeks and months, and take note of the times when your story rears its head… It’s difficult to hide behind an excuse that you have put the spotlight on! You may even enjoy a chuckle at yourself, as you make the decision to step up and push through whatever challenge you’re faced with.

Go get ‘em tiger… Grrrr!