You Decide

"Wake Up and Smell the Prosperity

By Laurel Nevinslong  November 20th, 2008 

Source Dream Manifesto

 "Just after Christmas in 1993 I was diagnosed with cancer. Although the tumor had invaded the surrounding lymph nodes, it was treatable with surgery and radiation and fourteen years later I am thankful to be alive and healthy.  For me the cancer diagnosis was a great big message from the Universe that it was time to Wake Up And Smell The Coffee.  It was time for me to pay attention and live my life consciously.  Thus began my journey of prosperity, although it would take me more than a decade before I would understand this.  At the time I just thought of it as a journey of change - a lot of change.

I left a 14 year relationship that had stopped working several years earlier. I quit my job. I cashed in my 401K and lived off it for several years while I explored what I wanted to do for work.  I started to make conscious choices about how I was spending my life’s energy, and I began cutting out the energy drains and focusing on the things that really contributed to the quality of my life.  I started to listen to my inner guidance and I learned that amazing things happen when you listen.

On New Year’s Day 2007, I spent the day with several friends who are artists.  They taught me a technique for creating intricate designs with colored wax, metallics and paper.  I made a few, but I was more interested in using patterns of words to embellish the ones my friends were making. I had never written poetry before, but as I looked at their unique and remarkable designs, I was compelled to write.

Messages about Universal Truth, Spirit and Energy just flowed through me onto the paper. What started out as a crafts project turned into something much more.  Three months later these creations were featured at a local art gallery. Sixteen of the pieces sold on the opening night of the show.  In just three short months I went from a newbie learning a craft to selling these magical creations.

Around this same time I learned about the Law of Attraction and began to study everything I could find about prosperity consciousness.  I studied the work of Abraham-Hicks, Napoleon Hill and many others who teach about harnessing the power of our thoughts to manifest our desires.  I learned about connecting to the divine spirit that is in all of us.  Plus I learned that true prosperity encompasses all domains of our existence – spiritual, physical, financial, social/emotional and mental.

My favorite definition of prosperity is described by Edwene Gaines in her book “The Four Spiritual Laws of Prosperity: A Simple Guide to Unlimited Abundance.”  According to Ms. Gaines, true prosperity is:

- “A vitally alive physical body to provide a comfortable worldly home for the spiritual beings that we are.”

- “Relationships that are satisfying, nurturing, honest and work all the time.”

- “Work that we love so much that it’s not work, it’s play.”

- “And having all the money we can spend.”

Since I started actively studying prosperity consciousness and drawing on the fullness of my life experience to make myself open to the prosperity around me, amazing events began unfolding in my life.  I’ve already shared my experience as a burgeoning artist.  Here are just a few more of the amazing things that happened over the past year as I am becoming aware of and open to having an abundance of prosperity in my life:

Having never flown first class, the airline upgraded my seats twice in the last six months. One week after I decided I needed a commuter car, a friend emailed me asking if I knew of anyone who could use the car she was ready to pass on to a new owner.

An unexpected check for $5000 arrived the very day after I discovered a deficit of several thousand dollars in my cash flow for that month. In one year I went from being more than $40,000 in debt, to being debt free. At my current job, my program budget was unexpectedly doubled and our center was given $100,000 of unsolicited additional funding.

After spending months meditating on manifesting a million dollars, I was stunned to discover that as administrator of my late aunt’s estate, I have responsibility for more than one and a half million dollars that, prior to her death, the family had no idea existed.

These are but a few examples of the prosperity that is manifesting in my life now.  I am cultivating a prosperity consciousness and I practice having a prosperous mindset on a daily basis.  As part of my own journey of prosperity, I gathered hundreds of pages of writings and resources from centuries of teachings on the topic.  From those writings I have extracted seven essential steps to prosperity that have guided me on my journey and that I now wish to share with you.

1)  Wake up and be conscious.

In this fast paced world, we too often get consumed with ‘doing,’ caught up in the many activities that make up modern life. Our days are filled with appointments, commitments and activities. We’re so busy ‘doing’ that we forget about ‘being.’ The first step to prosperity is to s-l-o-w down, to be mindful and conscious – awake and aware.

2)  Clear the clutter.

Our mental and physical worlds are filled with stuff.  All of that stuff consumes energy; energy to maintain it, store it, even just to have it around. Getting rid of clutter in our physical environment frees up energy and makes room for other things to come into our lives. Clearing mental clutter is equally important.  As Nick Nolte’s character says in the movie Peaceful Warrior, “Throw out the trash.”

3)  Cultivate a prosperous mindset.

Clearing out the mental clutter - emptying out the negative self-talk and limiting beliefs - makes room to develop a prosperous mindset.  Do I think like a poor person or do I think like a prosperous person?  Do I assume that good things are going to happen to me or bad things?  Our prosperity mindset is reflected in everything that we think and say, from the smallest things, like finding a parking space on a busy street, to the fulfillment of our biggest dreams.

4)  Live with purpose.

Focus on being who we came here to be.  By remembering that we are spiritual beings having a human experience rather than a human being having a spiritual experience, we remain connected to our divine purpose.

5) Tap the power of thoughts.

Students of the Law of Attraction understand the power our thoughts have to create our experience.  Simply stated, like attracts like, and what we think about becomes reality. Wayne Dyer captured this concisely in the title of his recent book “Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Life.”  To be truly prosperous we need to be visionaries, believing wholeheartedly in our visions, and not allowing ourselves to remain stuck in what “is.”

6)  Be a good receiver.

I used to be a terrible receiver.  All too often when surprised with a present, I would find myself saying “You shouldn’t have” or “I can’t accept this.”  Later I realized that the message I was sending was “Don’t give me any good stuff.”  Being a good receiver sends a powerful message to the Universe that we willingly and joyfully accept all that is in store for us. We are open to all of the prosperity that the Universe has to offer.

7)  Live with gratitude.

I recently heard a radio interview that reminded me of the power of living with gratitude.  John Scripter was the first person to undergo a heart transplant at a world renowned hospital in Boston. After the historic operation, the doctors told the Scripter family that John might live for five years.  After John’s death, his wife Linda told interviewers of the tremendous gratitude that her husband felt for the additional time he was given.  He greeted each day with thanks and appreciation.  John Scripter has been called a “miracle man’’ living for twenty-two years following the heart transplant; twice as long as the average heart transplant recipient.

We can all follow John Scripter’s example and live with gratitude and appreciation for the abundance and prosperity that exists in each and every day.  Be conscious and aware of the abundance that surrounds us.  Make room for good things to come into our lives.  Clear out the negative beliefs and tap the power of our thoughts to create the things we desire to experience.

This is the journey of prosperity and it is the journey of the conscious entrepreneur.  Central to prosperity and conscious business are a commitment to following one’s inner guidance, a willingness to fulfill one’s divine plan, and making a difference in the world.   Don’t wait for the Universe to send you a big nasty cosmic wake up message. Wake up and smell the Prosperity. Be conscious. Be entrepreneurial.  Be prosperous.  It is your birthright."

http://www.dreammanifesto.com/wake-smell-prosperity.html

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Abraham-Hicks Daily Quote

"  There is not a source of not Well-being. There is not a source of sickness. There is just the disallowance of wellness. In every particle of the Universe there is that which is wanted and lack of it."

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"  Desire is the beginning of all new Creation."