Watch the Universe for Signs

One of the teachings of the Masters of Law of Attraction is to look for signs from the Universe.

What is a sign from the Universe? Sometimes it could be a book that someone tells you about, maybe it'll be 2-3 people who tell you about the same book within a week. A sign might be seeing the same type of store you want to open for your own business go up for sale and you should buy it, or start your own since the competition is lessening. Of course that store closure could mean the universe is making you aware that the market is not ready or doesn't need that type of business.

I look for signs everywhere. It's not that I obsess about looking for signs, I'm just being aware of my environment. I look at the clouds in the sky, the animals that move around me, the conversation of people talking near me. Sometimes it's loosing internet connection at home when I'm trying to buy something on the internet.

Let me tell you what happened yesterday at work.

I started my last 15 minute break at work. Went outside and decided to open my car windows to vent out the heat and freshen up the car during the rest of the day. I also remembered it is an "80's weekend" on radio station Jack 100.7 FM here in San Diego. I thought I'd catch an old song and trigger a good memory. Something interesting about this station, it has listeners call in an leave messages about what they think about the station.

So, I get in my car, turn the key to power the windows and radio, the radio started and I heard a listener's voice say "I love what you're doing, keep it up." Then a song from one of my favorate bands, Fleetwood Mac, started to play "Gypsy".

Boy, did I get a good feeling triggered. The Universe spoke very good things to me. It said "I love what you're doing, keep it up," and played me a great song.

Ritual as an Agent of Transformation and Change

According to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary one definition of ritual is: an act or series of acts regularly repeated in a set precise manner.

Rituals are not just the religious and ceremonial acts on the Sabbath day, but also a significant part of our daily life for many of us. We engage in rituals every day from brushing our teeth, kissing our spouse as we leave for work, to the route we use to get to and from work and tucking in our children at bedtime.

Rituals can be used to change our state of mind.

Metaphysicians, witches, wizards, druids, etc. all use ritual tools, clothing, chants, meditations to get into a state of mind in preparation for their magickal working. Rituals are also practiced everyday by everyone. We engage in ritual practice by dressing for work. The uniform, the suit, the dress are ritual clothing that puts us in a state of mind preparing for work. We change out of work-clothes into jeans or sweats and that changes our state of mind from work to pleasure.

Cooking and food preparation are rituals we engage in wooing a potential mate, expressing love for our family and the ritual of nourishing our body.

Sadly many of our daily rituals are more habitual, lacking the emotional charge they once carried. We perform the ritual in a routine and almost unconscious manner. Most days the energy we put in to preparing dinner for our mate, our family is gone. Many of our daily rituals are performed at a low energy level and carry little impact. We disconnected ourselves from the emotion by doing the same acts over and over without conscious effort. The ritual has become routine. We rely on our memories of the act, the motions to perform the ritual without any thought put into them. Have you driven to work or home from work and don’t remember the actual drive?

Some rituals when performed unconsciously or at low energy levels have little impact in our lives such as brushing our teeth. Other rituals when performed routinely or at a low energy level can have a disasterous effect such as preparing for a skydive or scuba diving.

So, we want to practice rituals that are high energy, not necessarily kenetic (physical) energy or help us to attain higher energy, a spiritual high energy. We want to be consciously involved in these high energy activities to bring our spiritual vibrations to higher levels.

Living life to its fullest, living in abundance, attracting your desires, has rituals involved. Living a life of abundance, a purposeful life is just that, purposeful. Although living a purposeful life in a low energy state may not cause a physical death such as a poorly packed parachute, living life in a low energy state is like a death of the spirit.

There are physical practices that help adjust your state of mind to these higher levels. Yoga disciplines are rituals of aligning our body, mind and spirit in a series of positions or asanas and breathing techniques. Acupuncture, acupressure, massage therapies, etc. are just a few of the rituals used to release energy blockages and harmonize the body mind spirit, thereby allowing a higher energy level.

How can we use rituals to make changes in our lives? More specifically, how can we use rituals to make positive changes in our lives? That depends on what you want to change and what ritual you want to practice, what you are comfortable with using. There are many disciplines and schools of energy work that have their rituals designed to release energy blockages, raise our energy levels and / or harmonize our body, mind spirit.

Recently I’ve started practicing and using Emotional Freedom Technique in my life as a way of releasing emotional blockages within my system. This practice involves tapping on a series of meridian energy points on the body to trigger the release of blocked energy, much like an acupuncture needle releases the same blockages. As much as I have benefited from acupuncture, I have not studied the science nor am I able to administer the needles to myself. Fortunately, EFT is easily transportable with us, since the tapping is done with our fingers on the locations identified by the practitioners.

EFT is a ritual I practice several times a day, in the morning when I wake, during the day at work, at night, when I go to bed. EFT is quick, easy, transportable and it works. I also use other transformational rituals to guide me through the changes I am making in my life such as meditation and affirmations.

What rituals do you use to transform your life?

Today I'm thankful for...

Yesterday I ordered pizza online to be delivered from a major pizza chain. When it was delivered I was a bit on the hungry side and didn't really complain that I got the wrong pizza and dipping sauce for the wings. Since I just moved in the area, I only wanted to let the pizza place know that the order was wrong. I wasn't expecting anything except a refund of the difference of what I paid and what I got. The person on the phone was so polite, apologetic and insistent that I come in for a full refund or a new delivery of the correct order I didn't argue. How nice.

I'm thankful for a free pizza and wings.

Attracting an enjoyable work day.

This article touches on the Law of Attraction and the Power of Intent as used in creating a good day at work.

I work as a technical support representative for a major cable company in San Diego, CA. It's an inbound call center that receives calls from our customer's that are experiencing difficulties in using their television, internet or digital telephone services. If you have ever had problems with these services in your area, then you know what the customers we work with experience.

Customer Service is a stressful job. Do a Google search for “most stressful jobs” and you’ll find several articles that cite Customer Service as being in the top ten most stressful jobs. It’s because the representatives are working with upset and irate customers most of the day. Think about it, would you like to be yelled at most of your working day? Call center turnover is very high. I'm not going to defend this industry, rude callers, nor the rude representatives themselves. I'm writing this to show how the power of intention for having a good day at work, really is effective.

Not all customers are mad, mean or rude. Not all telephone reps are rude and ignorant of how to do their job. There are a few bad apples, just like every industry.

I've been doing inbound customer service / technical support for about 7 years. I’ve also worked in the hospitality industry for 10 years and owned my own window cleaning service. I’ve been providing service to the public most of my working life. I love what I do. Well, more specifically, I love helping people, fixing their problems, educating them about our services, etc. I didn’t always enjoy my job. Earlier in my call center career, I allowed myself to become depressed. I got drawn into other people’s drama, problems and frustrations. I was going through a divorce, separation from my kids and other personal problems.

Over the years, with some therapy, personal growth and learning about the power of intention and Law of Attraction principles, my relationships, my career and overall, my life got better. It is getting better all the time.

I do the same work today that I’ve been doing for most of the past seven years. I take calls, resolve problems and make people happy. I also work with the same type of co-workers. People who, for the most part see customers as stupid, ignorant, demanding and unreasonable. They seem to dwell upon the negative. Oh, sure they might be pleasant when talking on the phone, but you can see it in their eyes, hear it in their voice. When on breaks and lunch, they talk about the trouble and problems they have working with some customers.

I see many representatives talk about their "stupid customer", "that rude customer", "that dumb customer". And they talk about getting them one after another after another. Or they'll say "I got nothing but rude/stupid customers all day."

I also hear from customers their complaints about the last tech they spoke with. Each time I hear of someone complaining about their day, the last customer the last rep, I
hear how they live their life. How they interact with other people. Part of me, the helpful, nurturing, optimistic, intentionally living a positive life person, wants to educate them about the Law of Attraction and the power of intention. Several times a day, before I leave home, on the way to work, walking in the door at work, and other times, I'm saying "I am having a great day." "I have good, easy calls and customers." Most of my day is dealing with good customers, and easy troubleshooting problems. When I do get those challenging customers or difficult problems, it is usually when the phone calls are backed up and customers have to wait in queue before being assisted. Now sometimes the long queue escalates their irritability, usually I get the more difficult one because I believe they need my skills, what I have to offer to calm them down or expertise in resolving their particular problem. That I accept since I have so much experience in this industry.

The main point I want to emphasize here is "think about the day you want to have and you'll have it." It might not go the way you thought it should, but it is the best day that is available to you based on your thoughts, attitudes and beliefs.

I've also learned that I've missed out on some experiences in troubleshooting some equipment we provide because my intentions were to have the easy days, the easy troubleshooting process. When I realized those opportunities I've missed, I asked for one or two of those in the morning on my way to work and within the first hour or two, I've gotten those specific problems so I could experience them.

It's amazing what kind of days I have at work.

I enjoy what I do. Do you?

Today, I am thankful for...

1) I recently learned that my children and their mother will be moving closer to where I am currently living. Yeah! The kids will be closer to me again. Along with that, the schools they'll be attending are some of the highest rated schools in San Diego County.

2) The promotion at work has gone through, I'm now a Technical Support representative II.

3) The homeowner I'm renting from, Francis, is so willing to work with me and help me through my current transistional process.

I hope that you dear reader take an attitude of gratitude and be thankful for the good things in your life. Since I have started this practice of BEING thankful for the good things in my life, I'm seeing more good things in my life. Some of which you see here when I post them, others I just enjoy throughout the day.

A note: Being thankful is just that, a state of BEING. It's not a "thanks for this and thanks for that" just to get it out, as a courtesy. Genuine gratitude wells up from within, "from the bottom of my heart".

Peace, love and harmony

Dean

Law of Attraction is Magick

To many, the results of consciously using the Law of Attraction seems like magick. I've heard many teleseminars, the presenters in the movie The Secret and reading books on intention and Law of Attraction equate the results of manifestation to being like magick.

I've read, studied and practiced magick (or as friends and I refer to it “applied metaphysical phenomenon”) for several years.

I spell magic with a 'k' to differentiate the use of sleight-of-hand from the occult sciences. It’s a common spelling in occult writings. For years I also taught, sold and performed magic shows. So for clarification in my writings I’ll be using both spellings. The spelling with a ‘k’ will refer to the occult sciences.

Now, don't panic about the word occult, dictionaries define it to mean secret, obscure or hidden. Hence the title of the movie The Secret is so appropriate.

Now, what's interesting about my studies of magick, is that it was packed full of ritual and ceremony. That was appealing to me. Some might say it’s because I’m a recovering Catholic. I was also attracted to the occult because of the mystery. Who doesn’t want to know a good secret? I also had a desire for personal power, I wanted to make things happen. This was in part due to my feeling insecure and with little self confidence. I thought that the magickal powers would make everything better. I was looking for the answer outside of myself, in the ritual and ceremony without looking inward for my own power.

Good teachers of the occult sciences and all teachers of Law of Attraction I’ve come across put the responsibility squarely on each individual’s shoulders.

I can tell you that the same basic principles of the Law of Attraction are the basic principles of magick. Occult magick is a formalized application of tuning in the mind, body and spirit, also known as a spell, to cause a manifestation. Not so different from any teacher’s LoA program than anothers. It’s just their spin, their experience, their way of sharing the same information. Much like what you read here.

When preparing for a magickal ritual, the practitioner will determine that which they desire to happen or manifest, some might call this a goal. Many systems of magick will start with a meditation or some relaxation technique, a key component of Law of Attraction teachers espouse is the practice of meditation or some relaxation technique. While performing the magickal ritual, the practitioner is to work themselves up into a frenzy, a higher state of excitement about their desire and to visualize there desire manifested. Similarly, Law of Attraction is based on energy frequencies and higher levels of energy focused through the visualization of the desire.

Once the ritual is completed, the practitioner is to release the energy built-up in the ritual and “let it go” out into the Universe to let the Powers That Be bring into being the practitioner’s desire.

The Law of Attraction works like magic because it is magick. (Yes, I did use both spellings on purpose.)

The New Age movement; Neopaganism, Druidism, Shamanism, Wicca, etc. the numerous references of the occult sciences in today’s society are all evidence that the secret is out in the public awareness. And has been out for years. The explosion of media coverage of books and movies, the number of websites and blogs, the coaches and teachers are just lifting the veil of mystery that has shrouded the Law of Attraction behind the occult sciences.

And Quantum Physics is providing the scientific, imperical evidence that sorcerers, wizards and witches have worked with for centuries.

Blessed Be

Today I'm thankful for...

I'm thankful for this beautiful morning, the birds chirpping that woke me up instead of an alarm clock.

How the Universe has provided for me.

I’m writing this for two reasons 1) as a reminder to me that the universe has provided and taken care of me and 2) as a story to share with you that the universe will take care of you.

Memorial Day weekend 2004, my 80 year old mother was in a car accident. The worse part was a broken knee. Needless to say, as soon as I found out, I left San Diego and headed up to Huntington Beach to care for her. Nothing unusual about a son going to take care of his mother. But this was just the beginning.

This incident took place about 3 weeks before my children’s mother was planning to leave the San Diego area and move to the San Fernando Valley area. I knew that she was planning this move and I even started planning to make my move out of San Diego to be closer to children. The distance from San Diego to Huntington Beach is about 110 miles. The distance from Huntington Beach to San Fernando Valley is about 55 miles. So, the plans I was making to move closer to where the children would be living was already taken care of for me.

Skip ahead to September 2005, my mother is now in a home and I was seeking employment. The day I received an offer for a position that was a great fit for me and my work history, was the day the children’s mother decided to tell me that she was thinking about moving from San Fernando Valley back to Lakeside.

I was to start my new job on October 3, 2005. On October 1, 2005, my mother passed away. Hmmm. The children and their mother moved back to Lakeside in late October 2005. Then on the Monday after Thanksgiving, my new employer, laid me off. So, my mother is gone, my employer has downsized me and nothing is holding me to Orange County, CA, so I moved back to San Diego.

Eventhough the events were a bit difficult and challending, many little stories within this timeframe, I was always close to my children. Ways opened up for me to remain close to my children.

I am grateful for the opportunities for me to be close to my children and be actively involved in their lives.