Well, I’m off to Arizona for my first SASSY Mastermind Retreat! What’s a SASSY Mastermind Retreat you ask? Well, a Mastermind is a group of people who gather together regularly with the purpose of joining intention, support and purpose for the growth and success of all involved. The S.A.S. in SAS-SY stands for “Sales, Authenticity and Success” and it is lead by Lisa Sasevich, who has become my latest mentor.

Does it surprise you to hear me join a group that focuses on sales? Well, not too long ago, it would have surprised me too. “Sales” in my mind was a four-letter word, but oh how my perspective has changed. And THAT is thanks to another one of my mentors, Heather Dominick of EnergyRICH Coaching. Through her I learned that if I was REALLY going to be of service, that if I really wanted to serve the highest good of all, the “all” had to include me! I learned that I can’t live my higher purpose, if my business isn’t profitable. If I’m always scraping by, undercharging, giving away my work, exhausting myself… how long will I really be any good to anyone else? And really, what message am I putting out there? That we ARE meant to live abundant AND purposeful lives? Or… not really.

And so, that’s what my retreat is about… The ongoing journey of learning to walk my own talk, of really aligning with the idea that we CAN serve and give and love AND that money isn’t necessarily evil, wanting success isn’t necessarily materialistic, and business and spirituality are not mutually exclusive. As a matter of fact, now more than ever, we need to learn, understand and practice expressing spirit THROUGH business, our relationship with money, and our physical world!

Can’t wait to bring back to you all that I learn!

It was powerful beyond everything I could have hoped for and now I get to implement everything!

So… today I received my regular email from www.TUT.com where Mike Dooley teaches how thoughts become things.

This quote is such a great reminder:  To REMEMBER and ASSUME that EVERYTHING that you experience is part of your journey to success.  When you assume success and TRUST the unfolding HOW (the process of achieving success), you MUST be successful.  When however, you focus on HOW to manifest your desire, you question, you doubt, you judge that what you’re doing must not be working otherwise you’d be “there” already… you actually just delay and delay and delay the positive outcome that become inevitable when your attention is ON THE OUTCOME.

Below is the TUT quote.  Enjoy!

“People who do all they can, with what they’ve got, from where they are, Sonia, no matter how puny their actions, how tiny their steps, or how futile it may seem, simply have more fun. Way.
Of course, to the uninitiated it doesn’t appear that way. To them it appears as if only those taking gigantic leaps, who drive cars with fancy wheels, have loads of friends, perfect bodies, and fly around the world in First Class Sleeper Seats, are having fun. But what they don’t realize is that we’re often talking about the very same folks, just at different points in their journey.

Coffee, tea, or a brand new Bentley?

The Universe”

Choose YOUR Reality! TM

Sonia

Such a great reminder.  I loved it.  Thought I’d pass it along today.

“Trying too hard IS resisting… for this reason — think about this — if you decide that you want to go to the grocery store and buy a quart of milk, do you ever find yourself trying too hard? Or do you just go get it?

And the reason you just go get it is because you have absolute knowledge – you KNOW. You know you have the ability to go, you know you have the money in your purse, you know the milk will be there when you get there. In other words, there is no doubt and so there is no trying against anything. And so whenever you’re trying too hard, what is happening is there is a part of you that is not believing that it can be.”

Extract from Abraham-Hicks tape G-8/22/90

Choose YOUR Reality! tm

Sonia

When something seemingly bad or scary happens, FIRST, take the time to take care of yourself mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  In other words, get your head on straight.  Don’t launch into problem-solving in a state of panic.  Get grounded first.  Then, open your mind to solutions.

That being said, sometimes just knowing WHAT solutions and resources are out there, is the best medicine for calming down.  Knowing that there IS help and that you’re NOT alone can do wonders for raising one’s vibration.

Well, I came across one such great resource while surfing my twitter stream.  (I’m actually a bit amazed that I found use out of twitter because despite everything I was hearing, I was really wondering, “Why am I doing this?”  Well, I guess patience paid off.)  I clicked on a re-tweeted link (thanks @AlexKaris) and found, www.mashable.com’s 30+ Websites to Visit When You’re Laid Off.

You all probably know that I’m not a fan of putting any attention on “bad news,” but the reality is that a lot of people have lost their jobs.  And so, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to offer my favorite approach to tough situations: a blend of metaphysical AND motivational wisdom. 

If you’ve lost a job, or are facing any other type of adversity, the best approach is a multi-dimensional one.  Yes!  Be still, honor those emotions and release them, get clear about what you want, listen and watch for signs.  THEN… take action. 

Inspired action is infinitely more powerful and effective than willful action or fear-based-reactive action.  Try it out.

Choose YOUR Reality! tm

Sonia

My husband and I love that show, and being the counselor that I am, I always try to really put myself in their places, beyond the romanticized portrayal you get on TV.  It looks so UN-fun to me!  And now, after having successfully navigated my mom’s health crisis to witness a miraculous rally, moved her into a wonderful assisted living facility, survived  four days of winter camping during our holiday power outage, and somehow not only kept my business alive, but experienced an expansion I never imagined… after all that, I come into this New Year feeling as I imagine Survivor contestants feel upon their return to hot showers, warm meals, the comfort of their own beds and the privilege of sleeping late on a cozy morning. 

And so, with 2008 behind us, I was reminded of something I wanted to offer you:

Whether life gives you the wide open space to deliberately set intentions, OR you find yourself ducking for cover as life pummels you with an energetic hail storm, YOU are still the creator of our life.  You may not be able to control your circumstances, but you’re not supposed to.  This is because those very circumstances are contributing to your greater intention – that is, IF you LET those circumstances be contributions.

How do you create when you’re in the hail storm? You do what you can.  That is one of my favorite mantras… because it is simple and it always keeps you moving forward. Your job is to move forward. The Universe will keep you on course.

And if you happen to be in an easy, flowing creative time, then for goodness sake don’t waste it!  Let the month of January be a time where you deliberately find a way to bring closure to 2008, and set those powerful intentions for the New Year.  For a new spin on how to launch YOUR 2009, be sure to read the feature article below. 

Whatever you do, be intentional.  When you’re intentional, YOU LIVE your life.  When you’re not intentional, life tends to LIVE YOU.

Choose Your Reality!tm
Sonia

Here on the farm, we have several businesses that we run.  The particular business that disappeared is THE steady revenue stream that we’ve counted on for the past six years to pay the mortgage… a fairly sizeable one for our 200 acre farm.  And as suddenly as a flash flood, we got the word that our contract was being canceled.

My husband and I just looked at each other.  My first response – shock.  My second response – mild panic.  But thank goodness I have an arsenal of Law of Attraction tools that I’ve learned to draw upon when my physical reality decides to throw me a curve ball.

The truth is that this particular business contract has always been … well to put it mildly… a burden.  So unpleasant a job for my husband that he has been visualizing a life without this business for years.  Well, of course it would have been our preference to end the contract on our terms and our timeline, but since the Universe decided otherwise, who were we to complain?

This scenario reminds me of all the clients I’ve ever coached, who hated their jobs, but didn’t have the will, the courage, or the faith to take action toward change.  You know what they say… "Be careful what you ask for."  Yet, when the Universe kicks our butts in response to our request (or complaints) what do we do?  Instead of saying, "Thank you Universe!  What’s next?"  We freak out.  Panic.  And suddenly feel victimized by our circumstances.  A lot easier to feel victimized than to take responsibility for what we’ve created and asked for, right?

Well, it is human nature to panic when the rug is pulled out from under us.  But the truth is that if you direct your attention correctly, walk in faith, and keep your vibration high, the next bigger, better reality will appear… as long as you don’t sabotage yourself.

All this being said, after I gave myself exactly 60 seconds of panic time, I very deliberately began exercising all of the metaphysical practices that I know help in riding out the scary times.  And as I began systematically summoning my disciplines, it occurred to me that it would be very helpful to pass this along to you!

So, over the next six blog posts, I will be elaborating on the six practices that I use to keep myself open to infinite abundance, well-being, peace and possibilities even when the conditions of my life want to scare the crap out of me.  As an intro they are:

1. Stay in the NOW

2. Contemplate the Nature of Source Energy

3. Give Thanks for Everything

4. Keep Giving

5. Pull Out Your "Feel Good" List

6. Unplug from All Channels of Fear and Negativity

Stay tuned and remember…

Choose Your Reality! tm

Sonia

Our tendency is to research, research, research and ask everyone we know what "they" think.  But what often happens is that we discover that each time we feel a little relief, thinking that we’ve finally found "the" answer, someone else chimes in with a completely different opinion. 

We ask ourselves in frustration, "Who is right?  Which one is the right answer?"

I write about this today, not only because I’ve fallen into this familiar trap of "looking outside myself for answers" but because it seems that many of my clients and friends are going through some form of chaos or upheaval.  I believe that times are "a-changin’" and they are changing fast.  I believe this is all very good news.  Our collective consciousness is expanding and growing, but as is often the case, growth can be painful and downright scary, as the old way of being falls away and dies, while the new way is still not here.

As I sat through what felt like my 20th consult in two weeks (whether by phone or in person), on my mother’s behalf, I felt the frustration erupting in my stomach again.  After having finally settled mom into a lovely adult care facility and got her admitted to hospice, a family doctor’s office manager started to tell me of her "issues" with hospice.  I, for one, was experiencing hospice to be nothing less than angels sent from above.  They were the ones who were finally helping my mom get the care she wasn’t getting elsewhere.  However, this office manager’s opinion triggered self-doubt and insecurity about how I was handling the situation.

"Everyone has an opinion!" I screamed in my head.  And then I remembered.  "Yes.  Everyone DOES have an opinion and no one is right or wrong.  It is simply their opinion based on their personal life experiences, beliefs and filters."

I was quickly reminded of a teaching from one of my first spiritual teachers.  It went something like this:  "When you don’t know your truth, take everyone’s opinions as "information" – no right, no wrong, just information.  And when the information you get starts to sound repetitive, know that you’ve collected just about all the perspectives there are.  Then turn within, and listen for YOUR truth.  Listen and trust what feels right.  The opinions and perspectives that FEEL right are simply reflecting back to you the knowing that was already inside you, but that you had trouble accessing on your own."

What does this have to do with the Law of Attraction?  Everything!  Everyone has an opinion.  And some of those opinions are espoused as truth… but they may still be just an opinion based on another person’s mind-set, upbringing, education, or personal experience.  Whether the opinion is coming from an internationally renowned economist about our country’s financial prognosis, a well-meaning friend, or the world’s best medical specialist addressing your diagnosis… YOUR truth and your ability to access HIGHER TRUTH (the highest, most abundant, most well-being-based consciousness) lies within.

When you find yourself reacting to outside conditions and opinions, remember to STOP, BREATHE, BE STILL, AND LISTEN.  The more you do this, the more you will connect with the perfect peace and infinite wisdom that is eternally available to you.

Choose Your Reality! tm

Sonia

Eric Butterworth writes:

"…in the spiritual realm, there can be no competition, nor the need for it.  People have their own pipeline to the universal good, and if they are true to themselves and keep centered in God-consciousness, their own will surely come without strain or struggle.  When you breath all the air you need, you can never deprive anyone else of all the air each person needs to breathe.  There is always enough with plenty to spare because all the substance is present in its entirety at every point.  Thus if you sense that another person is straining to get ahead of you, be sure you do not lower yourself to that person’s fear vibration.  Affirm for him or her: I bless you with the awareness that you are one with your own personal flow of the Universe in which there is legitimate royal abundance for every living creature."

In this day and age, especially with the recent events on Wall Street, it is imperative that people turn their attention AWAY from message of doom, gloom and scarcity and redirect their attention toward the higher truth of infinite abundance.  I’m not saying it is easy, but I am saying you have a choice about what you experience in your reality.  You may not be able to change what is happening in the world, but you can change your experience of it.  And if each person takes responsibility for adjusting their own relationship to our physical reality, we have the power to change that reality, one perception at a time.

I recently made available a teleclass  recording to help those who need help in "not reacting" to external conditions AND activating their prosperity vibration no matter what is happening in the world.  For more info, CLICK HERE.

Choose Your Reality! tm

Sonia

1) The Mental vs. Emotional Mistake  – Visualization is a mental exercise.  It’s all about seeing what you want in your mind’s eye.   Correction – Visualization is much more about the emotional energy you tap into.  By "pretending" to feel the way you’d feel in your dream fulfilled, you magnetize and bring life to your dream.

2) The Attraction vs. Allowing Mistake – The idea that your dream is "out there," separate from you, and that you must attract it to you is the reason many seekers approach their dreams from a chasing or grasping point of you.  Visualizing from feeling of separation only serves to keep your dreams separate from you.  Correction – When you visualize about dream as if you are already one with it, as if it already exists, then you allow your desire into your experience.

3) The Asking vs. Becoming Mistake – We visualize our intention as a way of continuing to ask the Universe for it until it arrives.  Correction – Once you ask, it is immediately given in energetic form.  You may not see it, but it already exists.  This is crucial to understand.  The only reason you aren’t experiencing it yet in your physical reality is because you are still expanding into the new experience.  Your reason for visualizing is not to keep asking, but to keep practicing being what we have already become.  This allows your physical experience and your energetic manifestation to join as one.

4) The Having vs. Being Mistake – We often visualize what we want to have.  We approach our dreams as if they are something to capture or accumulate.  Why would you have to capture something that you already have?  This hoarding mentality is based in scarcity thinking.  Scarcity breeds more scarcity.  Correction – We do indeed already have everything that we could ever desire.  It isn’t even something we have.  It is who we are.  We are individualized expressions of the Infinite, which is just that – infinite (i.e. all sufficiency of supply, wholeness, love, abundance, well-being…)  All that we desire actually flows from us.  It does not come from outside of us to fill a void.  When we visualize the infinite flow of abundance that we are, then we allow that experience into our lives.

Visualizing Oneness with Infinite Flow

Since our minds can be our greatest enemies – defaulting to a mind-set of wanting and grasping – the most effective visualizations are those that have us tap into an experience of oneness and flow.  However, if we are already feeling separate from that which we desire, it can be very difficult to connect with what oneness and flow would look or feel like.  As an antidote consider the qualities and characteristics of a beautiful, large fountain; allowing the imagery to become a metaphor for your true nature as an individualized expression of Source Energy. 

The Fountain Visualization

Imagine a beautiful fountain gushing crystal clear water high into the air.  There is so much water flowing through the fountain that there is always more than enough.  The overflow is caught in an enormous basin.  This abundance of water is life giving.  It brings joy to others.  Birds drink from
it, children play in it, teens rendezvous there, couples kiss by it, elders rest near it.  People are inspired to dream and wish, making offering of flowers and coins.  It is a gathering place. 

IMAGINE THAT YOU ARE THAT FOUNTAIN

• The water represents Universal Life Force, the divine substance of all that is: love, well-being, joy, freedom, peace, money, creativity.  (i.e. This Universal Life Force flows from and through you.)
• The water is eternally flowing – forever.  It comes from within.  The supply is endless.  There is more than enough.  (i.e. Abundant supply comes from within YOU.)
• The fountain gives to others.  It blesses others and the blessings come back multiplied – as a place where others connect and belong, and as a receptacle of others’ abundance of money, love and joy.  All that the fountain receives allows it to become an even more beautiful, generous, abundant fountain.  (i.e. YOU give your abundance to others.  As you give freely, all that you give comes back to you multiplied.)
• The basin represents overflowing abundance- more than you could ever need. Surplus.  (i.e. When you do not try to capture or hoard abundance, you always have more than you need.  You enjoy extra reserves of energy, money, time, and support.  These reserves are for you to play with, to give, and draw to you even more abundance.)
• Sometimes the water evaporates and there is less in the basin.  Sometimes it rains and the basin overflows.  Yet no matter what, the water flows eternally.  (i.e.  Sometimes you get tired and your energy depletes.  Sometimes your savings account is utilized and your funds diminish, but if you trust in the natural flow, you know that your nature is abundance and you will always naturally return to that experience.)

Using the Fountain Visualization

The Fountain Visualization can be used in two ways: a) as a contemplation tool, and b) as a manifestation tool. 

As a contemplation tool, allow yourself to simply read over it, think about it, and sit with it.  Letting the ideas of oneness and flow seep into your awareness.  As you digest the ideas inherent in this imagery, you will begin to see yourself and your life in expanded ways.

As a manifestation tool, practice visualizing yourself as this fountain at least once per day. Experiment with seeing it and feeling it. Have fun with it.  There is no right or wrong way of doing the visualization.  Simply putting your attention on the ideas will magnetize to you the understanding and the experience of oneness and flow which you seek.  Eventually the visualization could evolve into a simple yet potent affirmation, "I am an opulent, eternally flowing fountain of divine substance!"

Try it for 40 days, everyday and see what happens!

Choose Your Reality! tm

Sonia

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Q:

I have some confusion around process for manifesting. Basically, there seem to be three different ways for the process.
  
1. You review/feel morning and evening, and anytime during the day what you would like to manifest. And you continue to do this to let the universe know that you still want this.
  
2. You ‘put out there’ what you want only once – putting it more than once is basically telling the universe that you don’t trust it to manifest for you.
  
3. Write it down on a piece of paper, read it out loud three consecutive days, then burn it. (The best time being three days before the new moon). Repeat it when the manifestation is not forthcoming.
  
Does anyone have some clarity on this? 
  
A:

Thanks for the great question.  This is actually one of my favorite topics because this type of question comes up a lot for people.  And it is an important issue to understand.

The bottom line is this:

The Technique (or as you said "process") is NOT what generates a manifestation.  The techniques are simply TOOLS to help you reach the necessary levels of consciousness that are optimum for allowing into your life what you want.

What these tools have in common are:

1) Focus on what you want.
2) Practice being a vibrational match for it by doing things like visualization and affirmations.
3) And release it, along with any resistance that comes along the way, whether it is your attachment to the goal, your limiting beliefs, or your fears.

So, the process doesn’t really matter.  The question is what process or techniques help you to elevate your consciousness such that you are able to be in the most receptive place possible once you’ve set forth your intention.

The more important your dream is, the more attached you are to it, the more you have to keep practicing letting go and releasing resistance.  This is why even though people say, "Ask only once." there is often a need or desire to "do more" because the different forms of resistance are popping up. 

The asking does indeed only need to happen once.  But the techniques that ARE often necessary on more of an ongoing basis, are techniques that help us let go, releast attachment and release resistance.

Hope this helps.

Blessings,
Sonia

"We talk of faith that God will provide, but what do we mean?  …let us be clear on one thing: Faith doesn’t influence God "out there" to send riches to fill our needs "down here."  Faith is the spiritual capacity by which we may form and shape this ever-present basic element of Spirit-substance.  …Jesus said, "In the world you have tribulation; but… I have overcome the world" (Jn. 16:33).  He was implying that we live in two realms, not in succession, but concurrently.  In other words, we live in the world of tribulation, where we experience health and sickness, abundance and lack, joy and sadness.  But at the same time we also live in the Universe, the realm of the constancy and stability of a basic substance that stands beneath every human experience.  Thus it can be said (and should be) that there is an Allness within every illness, an All-Sufficiency within every appearance of lack, and the "joy of the Lord" within every moment of sorrow."

What does this all mean?  From a metaphysical perspective it means that you must be willing to see life beyond your five senses.  It means that you must be open to perceiving yourself, your world, and the Universe from a broader perspective.  We are multi-dimensional beings.  Yes, we are having a human experience, but we are so much larger than that.  And when you turn your attention away from the worldly conditions that grab your attention and redirect your focus toward the higher truth (see previous post) you set yourself free! 

Choose Your Reality! tm

Sonia