change

I remember hearing the song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” by Bobby McFerrin and feeling instantly elated. The lyrics and melody were simple but made a lot of sense to me.

Part of creating prosperity in your life is learning how to ask the right questions. Our early life experiences often lead us to focus on limited questions like these:

• How can I survive?
• How can I get even?
• How can I get by?
• How can I hide so nobody sees me?
• How can I get people to love me?

There’s a lot of information about conscious manifestation, but hardly anybody ever talks about how unconscious manifestation works. Here’s the way it looks to me. Without realizing it, we draw experiences and people to us unconsciously and interact with them in programmed ways.

When my children were small, I would give them “time outs” to contemplate their behavior after a challenging experience. The intention was to support them in having time to gain clarity on the consequences of their actions. It didn’t always work, but it did support all of us in stopping for a short time to gain composure.

For three decades, it’s been part of my life purpose to teach the principles and practices of manifestation. I use all the principles and practices I teach daily in my own life. I can’t think of anything more important than learning how to create prosperity for yourself, your family and community. I sometimes wish someone had taught them to me earlier in my life, which is why I want to make sure everyone who wants to know about manifestation has the opportunity.

There is a lot of talk about oneness. We love the philosophers, teachers and healers that espouse wholeness and unity. There are blogs, newsletters and organizations dedicated to a world that is united, and it makes my heart smile to think that this aspect of the spiritual conversation is unfolding in such a grand way.

In the past few weeks, many people have come to me requesting information on accessing their joy. They have spoken about the challenges in their lives including divorce, lay offs, financial challenges and abuse from the past. As I have contemplated their questions, I kept coming back to one thing: Joy and happiness are states of consciousness. To experience joy, we must choose to activate that state. That is not always easy, especially when it appears that we are bombarded by so much information or in the midst of a life challenge.

It’s back-to-school season again! Whether or not you are a parent, we can all conjure up those back-to-school feelings. It’s a time that symbolizes a fresh start, a new routine. It’s natural chance to change things up and get creative with your workout — or get back into a healthy routine and set some new goals? And if you have no routine currently, it’s a perfect time to make that leap. Feel the energy in the air to dig in and get going!

In Wayne Muller’s book Sabbath, he speaks about the fact that dormancy is an important part of nature. The time of dormancy is a time of renewal and rejuvenation. Without this time, many species cannot bear fruit, or they simply die. He also points out that human beings seem to be the only species that does not honor stillness and downtime as an essential part of living. He describes this time as Sabbath, a time of taking refuge and opening to the stillness that lives within us.

I have been contemplating the handling of emotional pain for the past few days. I’ve had the opportunity to spend time with some people that are completely immersed in the roller coaster ride of out-of-control feelings, and it brought to my awareness how inept many of us are at dealing with pain. I witnessed mood changes that appeared without seeming cause, unpredictable reactions to small events and projection of “made up experiences” that caused someone to completely shut down.