Lion and Magic Boy

When I was about 15, my parents quit their jobs and leaped into the abyss that is multi-level marketing, having drunk the koolaid that convinced them that their fortunes would be made by selling a fuel additive, one quart of Mix-i-Go at a time.

What? You haven’t heard of Mix-i-Go? But it made FORTUNES, dammit, ZILLIONS of dollars!

Just not for my parents, who likely weren’t cut out for a life of ease, just as they clearly weren’t cut out for the whateveritwas that it took to make the ZILLIONS that the few at the top of the pyramid were making.

I did learn some things from all this, however, as impressionable as I was at the time:

1. I know how to shake hands properly.
2. I know pretty much everything in the Dale Carnegie book “How to Win Friends and Influence People.”
3. I know that manifestion works.

At 15, I was encouraged to “set goals”, something my parents did by taping bits of paper to their bathroom mirror that read “I WILL BE RICH”, or listening to a homemade tape of wishes that whispered under their pillows at night, “I AM A SUCCESS.” I tried that once and was distracted by the sound of my own voice under my pillow and couldn’t sleep.

So I went the easy way: I made a list of things I really wanted.

And weirdly? I got them. Or, some of them. I was hoping to make the cut on the upcoming audition for the school choir, but not only did I make that one but I also got into the super-duper exclusive Madrigals group that I was hoping to make it into the following year, the one that got me my one and only television appearance. So either I had actual talent, or…the manifestation thing really works.

Or both?

At the same time, I wrote some things down that I hoped I would be in ten years, at 25, which was very long time away in my estimation and one in which I would most certainly be a “grownup”!

Here’s my list:

1. Live in a city (I was thinking New York but wasn’t specific.)
2. Have an “important” job (and presumably wear high-heeled shoes while doing so).
3. Drive a sports car.

(Shallow? Why no, what makes you say that?)

When I was nearing 25 in actuality, something caused me to take stock of my life and compare it to my hopes from 10 years before. I had met every thing on my list:

1. I lived in Phoenix. Which, though not New York, does qualify as a city.
2. I managed an apartment building of 432 units, regarded within the company as the most difficult property in the portfolio. And wore high heels. Every day!
3. I drove a Mazda RX-7 that people were forever confusing with a Porsche.

Of course, my list didn’t address the fact that I also had a 5-year old child and was twice divorced, but let’s not quibble with the details, shall we?

The point is, there really is something to the law of attraction.

Now, I haven’t seen “The Secret”, nor am I likely to. I have a feeling that it omits certain important details and maybe has an emphasis on materialism that I would like to avoid. Still, the idea that’s getting to many people now is that they do indeed have some control of their lives. Learning to master that, of course, can take lifetimes.

In fact, despite my early successes, I’m still learning about this.

I believe, though, that you really have to know what you want, and figuring all that out can take a while. It can lead you down paths that become dead ends. So knowing the absolute kernel inside that sense of “I want” is imperative.

The interesting thing is, it’s the process of figuring out what you really want that really gives you the power to manifest it.

Do I see my future now? I see things all the time. They’ve changed over the years, but yes, I do have a picture of the future, and we’ll see how it all turns out. One thing that’s interesting to note is that often what we manifest comes at a price that’s not what we expected. Or, as someone put it just this evening, it creates a jolt to the perception. In other words, there is some truth to the phrase “be careful what you wish for”. Being specific while knowing at the same time that you are looking to manifest the absolute inside of what you think you want, is important.

I think I’ll make my list now. What’s on your list?
[tags]get rich quick schemes, pyramid schemes, mix-i-go, The Law of Attraction, manifestation, wishing[/tags]