Visualization really does work

Hi again everyone.

If you have been reading my previous posts, you have come to know me as a fairly conservative guy who works two jobs and operates a small business from his home.

Ever since I can remember (okay, I have purposefully blocked out my vote for Dukakis), I have been politically, fiscally and morally conservative. What I have been missing is a solid grasp of my own spiritual beliefs. I was raised southern Baptist, then turned Methodist and even spent a while as an agnostic. My father was Catholic for a while and his sister married into Judaism. Oddly enough, my first wife was Catholic and my current wife was raised Jewish...weird how these things play out. Anyway, I always felt there was something greater than myself out there, but have never really found the explanation that sits right with me.

I have always had a strong feeling that all of us are connected in some way much larger than ourselves. Not in the psychic reading type of way, I just believe that things we call coincidences are actually the greater intelligence (I will use God or G_d for my Jewish friends here for ease of typing) guiding our path. Along the same vein, I have always felt that we had some measure of control over our own destiny. In essence, I feel like we are allowed to make our own path, but if we get too far off of it, we are offered a correction.

So, with this set of beliefs in hand, I have set out recently to define what "religion" I am. I took a couple of online tests (you know how accurate they are) and came up with something between Sikhism and Bahai.

Well, these don't really seem to fit me either. So my quest continues. In a happy "coincidence" I was working late and we had some 20/20 type show on. In it, they were discussing the heat lodge deaths. I had heard the story, but had not really paid attention. This story caught my eye for some reason and I began to watch it with interest. They kept mentioning this book called "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne,  Apparently it is some New Age phenomena and has been selling like hotcakes (I guess there could be some sort of bad pun there with the sweat lodge...not really sure).

Well, since I have a new Nook, I decided to download this "secret" book and see what all of the fuss is about. I must admit, I was immediately drawn in. This book seemed to be saying all of the things I had been feeling but had no way to define. The premise in a nutshell is that we all have power over our own lives. Everything that happens to us is based on our own thoughts and desires. We are all linked to God through our subconscious and in essence can control our own reality. I can not do it justice in this format, but it has really opened my eyes.

In another funny "coincidence", my wife happened to bring home a book called "The Power of the Subconscious Mind" by Dr. Joseph Murphy around the same time. As I work at night, we only see each other in passing as she goes off to school in the morning. I began telling her about all of the cool stuff I was reading in "The Secret" and she suggested I look at Dr. Murphy's book as well.

So, to the "Visualization really does work" part of this entry. I decided to try some of the visualization techniques offered in these two books. I started small...green lights all the way to work and a parking space close to the building. See, I get to work at 2PM and there in NEVER a parking space near the building. Well, I used the techniques these two books discussed and sure enough, three days in a row there were parking spaces and green lights.

This caused me to step it up a notch. I started visualizing checks arriving in the mail instead of bills. Now it has only been about a week and a half since I started this part and between checks that have arrived (landlord refund, birthday, etc.) and valuable coupons on things that I will actually use, I can honestly say I am over $100 richer. Not a bad start.

I am now stepping it up to the next level...and I will let you know how it goes.

So, if you are looking for a way to improve your life, be more positive and improve your health, wealth and happiness, I highly suggest reading both of these books.

Update as of July 9, 2010

My state income tax refund FINALLY came today (I had been visualizing it), so there is $1250 and one of my blog readers took advantage of the $30 savings I offered off of a Nutrisystem membership, which saved me $30 off of my monthly Nutirsystem bill.

So, in less than two weeks, I am up almost $1400 since I started this visualization thing.

I have learned not to focus just on material wealth but spiritual health and wealth as well. It seems the center my thoughts better (and I feel less guilty).

Great deals on DVDs, MP3s, books and more: http://astore.amazon.com/hubp05ba-20