Confusion

In anticipation of The Body Mind Spirit Expo, I have been doing a bunch of Tarot readings lately. One of the great things about doing a lot of readings in a short period of time is that I begin to see patterns.

The Law of Attraction says that we create our own reality. Taken to the nth degree, as in Ho’oponopono, we create every aspect of the reality that we see around us. Stated another way, the universe is holographic.

Okay – a lot of big words already (and even bigger concepts), but hold on, it’s all down hill from here.

If you follow my work, you will hear me talk about the Perfection of the Universe. Here is an example of the Perfection of the Universe at play: In every case, when I do a reading for someone, the message is for both of us at the same time. What could be more perfect than that? I get to do a reading, which I love, and convey a little bit of guidance and wisdom to another, and in the process I get to receive some guidance and wisdom for myself!

Cards have so many different meanings that sometimes the message for the querent and the message for me are different, but conveyed in the same card. Cool!

So, in looking back at the many readings I have done in the past week, what are the patterns? And if you are reading this, then the Perfection of the Universe is at play and there will be something here for you too! Okay, here goes.

The first card that I noticed as coming up frequently was the Knight of Wands. As an esoteric card, the Knight of Wands means contemplating action or even more esoteric, the study of metaphysics. In one of my decks, this knight is shown carrying a torch. He looks like he is leading the way and lighting the way for others. So after a number of readings, I asked, “Is this me?”

But think about the phrase, “he’s carrying a torch for others”. That phrase has evolved to mean other things. Some would call it “holding space”, but sometimes it means carrying the burdens of others.

And that brings me to the next card that kept coming up, the 10 of Wands. In this card, a man is literally carrying a bundle of sticks. It is an obvious burden, and the implication is that he has far to travel. So, show of hands, how many of you reading this right now feel like you are carrying weight around with you? Do you feel responsible for others? Do you feel like, if you don’t do it, it won’t get done? Is there just a ton to do and it is taking forever? Are you worried about someone or something?

And how many of you are carrying the torch around for others? Are you biting your tongue so as not to upset people? Are you watching others seemingly about to make a mistake and you feel obligated to try and save them from it? Do you fear for the safety of those who you feel are less capable of protecting themselves? By this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if all of you have your hands up. Stated another way, we’re all carrying a load around.

So what now? What’s the guidance? The first is simply this, no matter how many sticks (or torches) you are carrying, you only need to carry one at a time. No matter how far you are traveling, you only take one step at a time. Even if you are sprinting, you are still taking one step at a time. Have something to do tomorrow? Well, do it tomorrow. Let it go today.

Not as easy as it sounds, though, eh?

Next message... 10 of Swords. For those of you who may have seen this card, it is not pretty. Picture a person lying on the ground with ten swords stabbed into their lifeless body, blood oozing out. Gruesome. The tens are endings and some of them are difficult. We, as a species, resist change; we thrive for it, but resist it at the same time. Swords, however, are about thought, so the Ten of Swords is really about a belief that needs to die. If you think changing the earth is tough, try changing a deep seeded belief!

Before I finish the Ten of Swords, I want to tell you about the last card that kept coming up, the 7 of Swords. As a basic, mundane message, the Seven of Swords is about slander and theft. When this cards shows up, you’ve been violated or betrayed. It’s not as painful as the ten, but not fun either. But in most cases, this card showed up in the future position or as the guide card! What? Is this what we have to look forward to? And why would spirit be guiding us toward or about this?

Let’s consider a more esoteric meaning of the Seven of Swords, confusion. Ok, we all know what that feels like. In fact, each of us could be confused about something in our lives right now. But again, I ask, why are we being guided towards this? Does spirit want us to be confused?

Actually, yes!

What!?!? My guides want me to be confused? Why on earth (or not on earth) would they want me to be confused?

Well, how about this, if you are not confused, if you “know it all”, what’s to learn?

Okay. Point taken. I’m listening now...

So let’s say that you are absolutely sure that you know what’s best for you and although you keep trying your damnedest, you keep getting nowhere. “I need to protect myself.” “Survival of the fittest.” “The early bird gets the worm.” All the answers are out there, so what’s left to learn? “There’s nothing new under the sun.”

Now do you see why spirit wants us to be confused? How can we open up to new ideas until we let go of the untruths we keep telling ourselves? As Abraham says to many who keep stating a belief that is not serving them:

“How’s that working out for you?”

7 is a powerful number; it is the destroyer. We build prisons and lock ourselves inside, but then some powerful storm blows the roof off and then tears down a wall. We need to first see how we have bound ourselves in darkness, (the roof being blown off by the Seven) and then have the wall torn down (by the Ten). If it happens the other way, we’ll possibly be too afraid to walk through the hole anyway.

So embrace the confusion. Be thankful that you don’t know everything. If you did, you would already be at the end. If you knew everything, you would have as much as you were ever going to get. What a travesty that would be! There is SO much more to have, to experience, to do. There is so much more love to give and receive, so much more beauty to create. There is so much more to learn and know. We have not even begun!

Embrace the confusion (Seven of Swords) and allow the old beliefs to fail (Ten of Swords). Any blood lost is tainted. Put down some of the burden (Ten of Wands). Bleed out some of the pain. Let it all go bit by bit.

And if I am, in any way, a Knight of Wands, even for just a moment, then let me begin. Let me tell you that I’m still holding on to pain that is coming out a tear at a time. I have doubt. I have confusion. I don’t get a lot of things. I don’t understand why some things keep not showing up in my life, and why I can’t seem to figure out why I am not giving myself the one thing I most want in this life. I am right here with y’all and I’m prepared to curl up and weep if that what it takes to let this old stuff go. I’ve done it before. I can’t image being more scared and in more pain than some of those times in my youth when I thought the love I felt seemingly for the first time, the love that was being taken away would never return.

It returns! It always returns. It may take years, but it returns. I have lived long enough to know it returns. I still haven’t gotten to keep it just yet, or even hold on to it for that much time, but it returns, and I’m growing. We’re all growing.

Let the pain go, let the worry go, you are not alone. Even if I’m not at your side, I’m with you. Let’s cry together and hold each other. It feels good to cry, doesn’t it? Believe me, I’m crying right now, right as word 1444 passes by and I notice it. 444 – you are surrounded by love and support, your guides and loved ones are here to comfort you. YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

God Bless us, everyone!

Growing Beyond Limiting Beliefs

It is 7:30 am. Two hours before the next scheduled Akashic Reading, this time a new client, someone I have never met. The reading is a phone reading, and it has been a while since I've done one for someone I have never met.

8:30, still an hour to go and I'm nervous. "When will I get over being nervous before a reading?" I ask myself. "Take a shower and let the water relax you," I then think.

I start my conversation with spirit in the shower. They say, "Repeat after us, 'I am not responsible for anyone. I am not here to fix anyone because no one is broken. Each person will create their own reading experience, my job is just to be present and allow.'"

Okay, okay, I get that. On the verge of releasing my book to the public, my first novel, I am frequently anxious. I am stretching beyond a believed limit, one that I am not even fully aware of. "You are not growing beyond your capabilities, just beyond what you think you are capable of." That is what they said to me about the anxiety.

9:27, I am guided to place some crystals in a specific pattern in my healing room. This is not common, but not unusual either. "Hold on," I say to my new client in my head, "I need a couple of minutes longer to finish this."

9:33, I am done, but the phone has not rung. I look at my phone and it says, "No Line." What? What happened to my connection. I pick up the phone and I get a dial tone for a moment, then silence. I hang up and try again; this time all is well. "Ah, thank you spirit. You cut my line to buy me an extra couple of minutes." Sure enough, my client had tried to call, twice!

We open her records and the energy starts flying in. "This is a ceremony. This is a celebration." As it turns out, the crystals are significant to her.

Information starts flowing immediately. This is good and I become relaxed very quickly. Ah, this is nice.

At one point, in the middle of the reading, she asks a questions sort of off topic.

Suddenly I am as if in the middle of Times Square. There is energy all around me. I feel like I am getting 15 pieces of information back, all at once, yet I can't catch a hold of any one piece. I reach over here, then there, the words do not come.

"Wel... - Mayb... - I, ah, -" I can't even get a full word out of my mouth. The information is there, so there is no block. Hmm, what to do?...

I take a step back, out of the confusion. "Ok, let's try something else. Let's try and ask a different question. Actually, let me ask you a question. What do you like about {that}?"

As she begins to relate to me what she likes, (loves) about this particular subject, I get placed back into the energy of it, but now the fog has lifted and I experience absolute clarity. I am not only shown the relevance of the subject pertaining to her path, I am also shown what had just happened and why.

The Perfection of the Universe is a phrase I had been given years ago. It exists, always, in every moment. It is when two pieces of All That Is share an experience and each receives exactly what it created. Seeing the Perfection of the Universe is the challenge, the adventure.

In my nervousness, I was asking and wanting. In her questions, she was also. We each sought different information and we each created enough allowing to reach the answer. The Record Keepers were showing me how she controlled the reading. When she was confused, she place me inside of that confusion. She had a question and didn't know the answer, and it was a subject she felt very scattered about. That was exactly the experience I had when faced with the question.

However, in my allowing, I found the path from her confusion to her clarity. By talking about what she loved in that subject, we arrived. I guided her, but she took me there. I felt that. In a flash of understanding, I was shown how it all works, and I was being asked to share this with her.

Spirit wanted her to experience and to know that it was her power that brought the answers to her. I'm only the messenger, the translator. In fact, I would often just tell her something about my experiences, my life, my challenges only to find her saying, "You have just described my life. I now understand why I feel the way I do about this."

I asked spirit for their help for those things I feel anxious about, scared about, challenged by. I am willing, I am walking through the fear, yet I feel it. "You are not growing beyond your capabilities, just beyond what you think you are capable of."

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

How wonderful to know that we create our reality. The power is in our hands. The task is not beyond what we are capable of doing. When we seek clarity, the path out of the fog is revealed, yet we have to walk that path to reach the sunny pastures. There is no time pressure, there is no needing to do anything. You have all the time you need to walk from where you are to where you want to be. Spirit is here, like a loyal pet, at our side and forever in our service. To see this and feel this is such a gift.

The next day, playing on Twitter, I find someone who wrote something to the effect of, "'A silent, mild anxiety' makes me think something is wrong..." 'A silent, mild anxiety', what beautiful words to describe what I had been feeling. My anxiety was not so silent, but I got what he was conveying. Yet, amazingly, right beyond the anxiety is joy, incredible bliss. I feel it.

I am on the verge of realizing a dream I have had for much of my life. I am on the verge of being a published author and am sharing my art with the world. I am giving the world a piece of me that I have nurtured for a long time. The anxiety is just the doorway between this place and that one. I am firmly standing in the doorway, but I am sticking my head into the next room, and seeing beyond my limiting beliefs.

"Take a deep breath and walk through the door. The journey may not be easy, but it will take you to where you want to be."

"To consider the journey’s entirety before taking the first step is to see only the burden of the task. The joy and bliss can only be found when taking each step in the moment.” - from A Fool's Journey

Negotiation

I was doing Tarot card readings for friends last night and in the center of one of the readings was the 7 of Swords, the present situation. When I tuned into that card, I heard the word negotiation. I've never thought of that word for that card before, but I went with it.

"What are you negotiating for right now?"
"Are you feeling like you have to negotiate with others to get what you want or need?"

Both of these questions flew out of my mouth. The querent (the friend I was doing the reading for) seemed to resonate with what I was saying. She mostly just nodded in response, but was deep in thought at the same time.

The questions above must have sat with me because I started noticing a pattern around me. I realized that a number of people, including myself, have been hovering around a particular architypical situation:

Compromise.

Compromise is one way to negotiate.

"If I give up a little over here, then maybe I can get that over there."

Have you been having thoughts like this recently? Do any of these sound familiar?

"If I stop eating dessert, then I might lose some weight."
"If I lose ten pounds, I'll look and feel so much better."
"If I stop buying _____, then I think I'll be able to make it in this economy."
"If I give up ______, then I can have _____."

So spirit was asking my friend, and really all of us, to notice and be aware of our negotiating. Intuitively, I knew to pull another card and place it below the 7 of Swords. I asked the question, "What is the underlying aspect of this situation?" as I turned over the Wheel of Fortune. Fortunes rise and fortunes fall.

It is a belief in the ups and downs of life that causes us to negotiate for what we want. We think we can't have it all. We look around and see that no one we know has it all, so we compromise.

"You have to give up eating _____ to lose weight."
"You and I can't both have what we want, so one of us has to give something up if we are going to stay together."
"You can't have it both ways, so if you want to keep this job, you have to give up that one."

What about trying some of these thoughts?

"I love my life the way it is AND I now want ____ as well."
"If I really can have it all, then I'll take some of ____ and a little of ____."

Spirit reminded me (again) that thought creates. If thought creates, then present experience is the result of past thought. When you find yourself having a specific experience, it is showing you a specific thought that you have had in the past with enough conviction to have brought into physical reality.

Thus, if you find yourself negotiating with yourself or others in the attempt to bring something into your life (or keep something in your life), then that experience is showing you, educating you on a limiting belief that you have about that area of your life. Experience always contains information. Light and information are the same thing. Experience is therefore enlightening, if we so choose to notice.

In your current situation, you may surely have to negotiate because you are still working with the physical manifestation of your old thoughts. Don't fight it. Find the center of your Wheel of Fortune and let the chaos around you work itself out. Do as you are guided. However, in your moments of focus, remind yourself that you can have it all.

Win-win is another way to negotiate. It always exists, you just may not be see it right away. It is not your job to force a win-win, you need only allow it, to see it when it is in front of you and believe in it (focus your thoughts on it).

Ask to see it.

Blessing to you all,
Namaste

What you really desire.

If you are anything like me, you think about what you desire often. You picture it, add details to it every day. You think about how much better your life will be when...

Knowing what you desire is good. Whether you believe in Manifestation or have a traditional work ethic, the starting point is the same. It is easier to hit the target if you know what you are aiming for. [Actually, I am not sure I believe that that last sentence is actually true.]

In the Abraham teachings, we are often taught, "think only of what you want and why". This has stuck with me for a long time, yet I am not sure I ever really got the why part.

In a recent reading, a man was guided to explore deeper into one of his desires. They walked him through the why. I trusted that this would be a beneficial exercise, but did I really get it yet?

Then, yesterday, a friend says to me, "I really just want to create what's next, yet I feel like I am having to sit and wait and allow it to come."

Immediately, I was reminded that allowing is creating, at least Metaphysically speaking, so I shared that with him. Yet, the more significant guidance was what came next. This is more or less how I heard it.

"Allowing is creating, thus in your allowing, you are creating, yet you still desire the act of creating. What you really desire is the act of expressing more of who you really are. The action that is interpreted as creation is really just expression. Right now, you do not feel as if you are expressing all of yourself, at least not all at once. You express this part of you here and that part of you there. Your desire for a future situation is a desire to express more of yourself."

When I heard this message as it came out of my mouth, I was blown away by how profound it is. As I examined my own desires, in every case I can think of, the desire is the same. I desire expressing more of myself, freely, without fear and without shame.

Somehow, knowing the why behind my desires has eased my judgment of it. In understanding why I desire what I desire, I am beginning to give myself permission to have what I desire.

To quote another divine message received recently, "Our greatest intention and desire for you in this moment is to gain awareness of your self through this reading. With an increase in self awareness, everything in your life will become easier. You will understand why you desire what you desire and then understand this within others. You will also begin to see how you attracted what you see around you and then come to see how it all serves you."

Many blessings to you!

On the road to Abundance?

If you read the papers or watch the news, you’re probably witnessing a lot of concern over the economy. “How bad is it going to get before it turns around?” “How long will it take to get back to that comfortable place?”

Many of you have likely heard of The Law of Attraction and may have even seen/read The Secret. Within certain circles, focus on attracting wealth has been growing. You might even say it is a movement within our society.

So, if the Law of Attraction is true, and so many more have been focusing on abundance and wealth, why is the economy so grim? Ah, now you’re asking a good question.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of doing an Akashic Records Consultation for a man who is well versed in The Law of Attraction. He teaches and coaches others, is intelligent, eloquent, and metaphysically gifted. I knew that a jaunt through his records would be enlightening and it was. In fact, some really good (general) information came up that I feel is important to share.

For those who have never had an Akashic Records Consultation, wisdom is often conveyed through analogy. That is because as our human mind approaches new information, it is most easily understood when given via a familiar paradigm. [If we were simply shown “truth” in its native form, we would probably not be able to understand it very well.]

The first analogy I was given is related to Quantum Physics. :-) Concerning the atom, we now know that an electron cannot just linearly (bit by bit) move from one level (shell) to another. When its energy increases just enough, it instantaneously jumps to the next level, skipping all of the space that lies in between. This is called a Quantum Leap, a term I am sure you are all familiar with.

What I was shown yesterday is that the electron, before it makes this leap, starts to vibrate rapidly as its energy nears the threshold. It has more energy than it needs at its current level, but not quite enough for the next level, so the excess energy causes it to vibrate. If you could look at this tiny electron at that moment in time, you would think it was having a fit. It would look chaotic, distressed, and anxious.

Hey, does that sound familiar? Does our economic situation look chaotic, distressed and anxious?

The Record Keepers then told me that our economic situation is a direct result of all of the additional focus on abundance. But, this seems counter intuitive. Shouldn’t things be getting better instead of worse? Well, not necessarily. Here is why.

Let’s say you have been asking for increased income (specifically). Well, in ultimate reality, your income increases instantly the moment you ask. However, you likely don’t see it from your perspective. But that is exactly what needs to change. Once your perspective shifts, than your experience will also shift.

How can we change our perspective? Well, the Perfection of the Universe helps us with that by showing us (in a highlighted fashion) what we are looking at – namely the opposite of abundance, which is preventing us from seeing what we asked for. [In fact, we probably asked for abundance years ago, but have been so focused on the lack of it, that we haven’t seen all that we have created in the mean time.]

Let me expand this example for clarity. Say you believe that you only have one source of income, your (measly) paycheck. Having asked for more income, you might only be looking for results in your existing paycheck – namely as a raise. [You probably also believe that there is no reason for your pay to magically go up, and so it hasn’t.]

But that is the error – thinking you only have one source of income. You never have only one source of anything, income included. So, how can the universe help you see the other sources that are already available to you? They are there, but you continue to miss them.

Well, the universe can reduce (or remove) the one you currently see. If you think you have only one source, and that one is compromised, then you are forced to look for others. It is actually an ingenious design. “Need is the mother of all invention” as they say.

So right now, many people are experiencing an apparent reduction of wealth because they are mistaking figures on a balance sheet as abundance.

Don’t believe me? Well let me ask you this. What would rather have – a large lump sum of money that would never be replenished once it ran out, or a personal ATM machine that, on a daily basis, gave you whatever you needed to spend on that day, but not a penny more? The lump sum would feel more exciting the day you got it, sure, but a few years down the road when it started to run out, you would get pretty scared. [Sort of like what is happening right now?!?!]

True abundance is having what you need/want when you need/want it. The lump sum just looks like more in the moment. Needing and wanting the lump sum is actually a wish based on fear, fear that the ATM will break down.

Now, remember Mani and Lofa (previous post)? Remember how Mani needed to redo his foundation before he could build the better house? Well, that is what is happening to our economy and financial system. The old system cannot support the abundance of everyone, because there has to be losers to be winners. [Look at it this way. Everyone wants stuff, but wants stuff to be cheap. How can everyone be abundant if the buyers don’t want to give much money to the sellers?]

The road to abundance (be it wealth, health, romance or otherwise) is not a smooth, comfortable, flat road. What is (relatively) smooth, comfortable and flat is the road that loops back on itself, you know, the one you may have been on for the past how many years? [Believe me, zooming around my own loop has me dizzy!]

When you seek new, you seek change. When you seek change that is fast, there is an abrupt shift and sometimes these shifts feel “bad”.

Let me speak on that for a moment. So when you ask for something, anything, you get it right away, even if you don’t see it. And you can keep not seeing it for years. This works both ways. When you worry, you are focusing on fear and thus asking for it. [Sorry, I didn’t make the rules; it’s just the way it is.]

So let’s go back to the example. You have asked for an increase in income – possibly have been asking for years. You still don’t see it and you are worried. In fact, you have been worried as long as you have been asking.

Karmically, you have created two pools of energy, one that is abundant and one that is not. You keep seeing the one that is not, at least part of it, the part that stops you from seeing the abundant part. But your worry might also have created some difficult events, some that haven’t happened yet. Now the more massive the energy, the stronger it pulls you. This is manifestational gravity. So you are pulled towards abundance and pulled towards fear at the same time, and it doesn’t feel very good. It feels like that poor little electron, vibrating seemingly out of control.

Sometimes, all it takes is a slight change in perspective (attitude) to induce the quantum shift. But the shift itself is important. The perfection of the universe can take care of two birds with one stone – so to speak. Through the shift itself, you might also manifest an uncomfortable event, like an accident or the loss of a job or relationship, which then propels you into the new shell where you will eventually experience a new job, relationship or level of abundance like you never could before. So the shift itself burns off some negative karma while at the same time pushing you into a new level where you can then experience what you have asked for all along.

If you knew where you were going, the shift would probably not be so bad.

So, you asked for growth and to get to the next level, you have to leap. It is a leap of faith and the shift can be abrupt. Literally, the earth can shift beneath your feet and move to a new location. What needs to be cleared just might collapse making space for the new (paradigm) to be built. The old house might need to be removed so we can fix the foundation and build a new.

Fear not! It is all for your greater good. If it feels like it is happening to fast, just ask for it to slow down. However, most of you, I suspect, think it is taking too long and just want to be there already. Well, when you ask for it to be fast, it is going to be abrupt and just might be uncomfortable.

And that’s where people like me come in. If you are uncomfortable, you have a place to go. More and more of us are moving into a field of service to help everyone as we each shift. This shift paradigm is not just what individuals are going through, but groups, societies, countries, businesses, political parties and religions. We got called here first so that we would be ready when you need us.

Many blessing to you on your road to abundance!

Mani and Lofa

Mani sat on his front porch and held his head in his hands.  Today was just another day of summer.  It was the end of July, but to Mani, it felt like he had already endured six months of hot, dry weather.

Occasionally, Mani lifted his head to look for clouds.  On the one hand, he hoped it would rain to break the heat and water the grass, but on the other hand, he was nervous that his roof would leak again.  So far, nothing was going right for him.

That same day, Lofa went out for a walk.  She was a free spirit and went wherever the wind took her.  This particular day, she was guided to Mani’s street and saw Mani sitting on his stoop.  She saw that Mani looked sad and this made her curious.

“Hello!”

“Oh, Hi.”

“I’m Lofa!  How are you?”

“Hi Lofa.  I’m Mani.  I’m okay, a little sad.”

“Why are you sad, Mani?”

“It’s a long story.”

“I love long stories!  I have all day, so why don’t you tell me your story?”

“Are you sure?  Okay...”

Mani’s energy perked up just a bit.  His story was not a happy one, but it felt good to tell it to someone.

Mani’s story started when he was a young boy.  He told Lofa how his father would teach him all about construction.  He even helped Mani build his first tree house.

Then, when Mani was a teenager, his father said it was time for him to start building his own house.  “I’ll build you a foundation and then we’ll start gathering wood, metal and glass.  First we’ll build the outside walls, place in some windows, and cover your house with a roof.  Then you can work on the inside.”

For the first year, Mani and his father worked on the outside of the house.  Once it was done, Mani’s father let Mani work on the inside all by himself.  “Now if you need some assistance, I will help you, but by now, you have everything you need to build the inside of your own house.”

For all of Mani’s teens, he worked on the inside of his house.  On his 18th birthday, the house was fully functional and Mani moved in full time.  That’s when things got interesting.

By living in his own house, Mani started to gain insight as to what he liked and what didn’t like.  For example, when he started playing sports, he realized that he needed a closet for all of his equipment.  And after his dirty clothes piled up, he needed a laundry room.

So throughout his 20s, Mani continued to work on the inside of his house.  He moved walls around, added bookshelves and reorganized his home to match his lifestyle.  Just when he would finish a set of plans, his life changed just enough to inspire more modifications.

When Mani began his 30s, he decided it was time for some bigger improvements.  He needed more space and decided to add a couple of rooms to the back of the house.  He now had a nice car, and so added an enclosed garage as well.  By age 35, Mani had what he thought was a really nice house.  His friends came to visit often and complemented Mani on his fine craftsmanship.

But soon, Mani realized something was missing.  He had this nice house, but he lived alone.  “I would love to have a wife and maybe even a family some day,” he thought to himself.  So he started praying.

“Dear God.  Thank you for helping me create such a great house, but I am lonely now and would love a beautiful wife and family to share it with.  Can you help me?  I only know how to build houses; I don’t know anything about attracting a mate.”

Now at this point in his story, Mani had to back up some.  He explained to Lofa that the whole time he worked on his house, he also talked to God.  His relationship with God, in his terms, was pretty good.  He talked to God often and knew that He was around.  He started to learn to trust his intuition and knew that was God talking back to him.  So he listened and heard that it was time for another serious remodel.

The project required two basic aspects:  accumulating skill and materials, and then building.

The first inspired change was to put in a skylight.  “To attract what you desire, bring in more light!”  So one weekend, Mani climbed up on his roof and cut a hole in it.  He installed the skylight, but as it was his first time, there were some issues.  The first day it rained, water leaked into his home, but a few minor adjustments later, and that was taken care of.

The light was amazing and at first Mani was very excited.  “I am going to meet a beautiful woman and she will love how lit up my house is!”  But no woman came.

In fact, with all of the added light, Mani was better able to see all of the flaws in his house.  Many of his walls had cracks and some of the paint was chipped.  His house was functional, but looked weathered and dated.  “God, I added a skylight like you said, but now I don’t like my house very much.  I see all of these little things that aren’t as good as I would like them to be.”

“What do you want to do about it, my son?” God replied.

So Mani went to the hardware store and bought more supplied.  “I am going to patch my walls and give them a new coat of paint.  I am going to improve my building skills and make my house better than ever.”

God just smiled.

For about a year, Mani worked on his house some more, but this time, things were not going as well as he had hoped.  His skills were improving for sure, but every time he fixed one thing, two other things broke.  He had to remove his washer and dryer, pull out a bookshelf or two, and cleared out some furniture that was in the way.  At the end of that first year, he looked around his house and was frustrated.  “I can’t invite a woman into this place,” he said to himself.  “God, I need some assistance.  Can you help me find a professional so I can fix up my house?”

No sooner had Mani asked than help indeed showed up.  A flyer placed in his mailbox served as advertisement for a local handyman.  Mani’s excitement let him know this man was the right one for the job, so Mani called the handyman and invited him over.

“Well Mani, it looks like there are structural issues with your house.  The cracks on the walls are clear indication.  Are you prepared for these types of repairs?”

Mani wasn’t prepared and needed some time to think about it.  After a few days, he decided he wanted to learn more on his own.  The handyman taught him what to look for, so he broke into a few walls to figure out what the problems were.

“I need to get rid of some more stuff,” Mani thought to himself.  “I will never be able to fix this house with all of this furniture in here.”  So Mani moved more of his stuff out of the house.  He really didn’t want it any more anyway and so rather than store it in his garage, he just sold it or gave it away.  “I’ll buy new furniture with my new wife once my house is all fixed up,” he said to himself.

But as Mani looked around, he was a little sad.  His house was nearly empty and walls cracked open.  “I know I am doing the right thing, but how long is it going to take to get this all fixed up?” he thought.

And then the storms came.  One by one, storms rolled through his town and each one did a little more damage to his house.  His roof was in bad shape, the house had flooded at least three times, and now his walls looked worse than ever.

Mani finished his story by telling Lofa that that was pretty much where he was today.  “See that pile over there?” he said to her.  “That is all of the material I have accumulated for the house, but every time I ask if it is time to start building, God says no.  My house is pretty much empty now.  I’ve stopped inviting my friends over because there is nowhere for anyone to sit.  And since I can’t start building, I don’t know what to do.”

Lofa smiled and looked Mani in the eye.  She felt joy because she fully understood Mani’s situation and knew why she was guided to walk down his street.

“Mani, do you know why you are called by that name?”

“My parents gave me this name.”

“Yes, but do you know what it stands for and what it means?”

“No.”

“Your name is short for Manifestation.  You have spent your whole life manifesting the house of your dreams, but your dreams keep changing and so there were always new things to do with it.  Do you understand?”

“Yeah, I guess so.  But now my house is a mess.  It looks worse than it has the whole time I have lived here.”

“Do you remember what you asked God for?”

“Yes.  I asked for a mate and a family and a beautiful house to call our home.”

“Yes, but you asked for more than that.  Your desire was so pure, you have asked for true happiness and not just the physical manifestation of it.”

“I can see that, but I still don’t know why my house is falling apart and why God has not let me start rebuilding it yet.”

“Mani, what is the first thing that your father taught you about building a house?  What is the first thing that needed to be constructed?”

“The foundation.  In fact, I was too young so he built it for me.”

“So, do you think that maybe it is time for you to build your own foundation?  You have built this house upon your father’s foundation, but his ideas about what you needed were only his ideas.  You are a grown man now and you have your own ideas of what you want for yourself.  If you are going to build a grand structure, you need a strong foundation.  God has been gently guiding you to pull down the house you have built so that you can build a better foundation first.  In the mean time, he has also guided you to accumulate the skills and materials that you will need to rebuild the house when it is time.  Because you have listened well enough, he has not had to pull the house down for you, but you will not be guided to rebuild until you complete a new foundation.  Do you think you are ready for that?”

“My house is not worth anything the way it is, so I guess I am ready to pull it all down and start over.  But how long is it going to take to build it all back up again?”

“My friend, you will be surprised by how fast it can go up once you have the right foundation.  Remember when you asked for help and the handyman showed up?  You can ask for all the help you desire.  You don’t have to build it alone.”

“Wow, Lofa, thank you so much for this insight.  How is it that you know so much about Manifestation?”

“Aren’t you curious about my name and what it means?”

“Yes!”

“My name is short for Law of Attraction.  I work for God and bring to every man and woman what they ask for.  Most don’t understand how things work so they get upset about what shows up in their lives, but I am only following their requests.  For example, those storms kept coming because your request for the new house in combination with thoughts that nothing was going right created them.”

“I think I understand what you are saying, but I need to sit and think about it some more.”

“Good!  You do that.  God bless you, my friend.  The time is very near when you will be building again.  Keep asking for what you need and listening for guidance.”

With that, Lofa wandered further down the street and left Mani to sit and ponder all that he had learned...