Author: Don Butler

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One Foot In Front Of The Other

My Mother

I admired and loved my mother deeply. She was a wonderful woman. I miss her dearly. She was also a fiercely independent woman. She lived alone the last thirty years of her life. For many of those years she had given up her car and got to different places through different means. Sometimes she took the bus. Sometimes friends would drive her. When I was not at work and especially the last ten, twenty years, I would drive her to where she needed to go. And sometimes she walked. Every day after work I would drive from work to Mom’s house to see if she needed anything. One day I got there and she left a note that she had walked up the pike to the drug store. I got back in my car and drove up the pike and saw her walking on the sidewalk on the way back home. I made a u-turn as fast as I was able and as I watched her walking, I observed how the arthritis had slowed her down. Each step was an effort but she kept moving. I caught up with her and she got in my car. She was glad that I picked her up and I said, “Mom, I know your arthritis is bad. How are you able to walk all the way up to the CVS and back?” She said, “I just put one foot in front of the other and just keep going.”

Your Focus

Yes — absolutely yes — you may have a long distance to travel. You may have a long way to go in whatever you are doing, but you can get there by taking steps…consistent actions … consistent effort … every day … one step, then another, then another, and so on. Focus on each step, not on the distance. Your focus is your vision. Your focus proves your intention. Your focus strengthens your faith. Your focus is sharpened by your gratitude. Every step you take brings you another step closer to your destination. The armies of Alexander the Great conquered much of the known world traversing 22,000 miles over twelve years from Greece to India and back to Babylon…..one step at a time. I recently viewed an internet video of an elderly man mightily struggling to carry a case of water up a flight of stairs at an apartment complex. The video was taken at the time without his knowledge. He was a man in his sixties working a delivery job to make ends meet. He had some stroke residuals and you could observe that each step up the stairs was a struggle. He used the wall next to the steps as kind of a brace. He just contined to focus on one step at a time until he reached the top. As it turned out, the person who took the video subsequently spoke with the man and a gofundme campaign was started for him with wonderful results. The funding he received meant he would not have to struggle with delivering cases of water up flights of steps anymore. All emanating from the man just focusing on putting one foot in front of the other.

Stick With It

Many of the things that have been mentioned in previous posts are not easy. While they may sound simple, they require hard work and discipline. The concepts are definitely not for you if you wish to merely dabble in the manifesting process and will bail out when results are not forthcoming according to the time schedule that you want. The concepts won’t work if you constantly take days off. The concepts won’t work if you doubt. You must stick with it — one foot in front of the other — until the results are achieved. Adjust your focus and your attention to putting one foot in front of the other in whatever it is that you are doing. That is what is eventually going to get it done for you no matter what the deal is that you are working on.

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Tell Rostov, It’s Time To Die

Invasion USA

In 1988, a movie was made featuring Chuck Norris titled, “Invasion USA”. The gist of the movie involved Chuck single-handedly saving the USA from an army of saboteurs who had silently invaded the country. The arch villian and the leader of the saboteur army in the movie is a man called Rostov played by perpetual movie villian Richard Lynch. In the movie there are two lines of dialogue that one tends to remember. The first involves Chuck telling one of Rostov’s minions that he better tell Chuck what he wants to know or “I’ll hit you with so many rights, you’ll be begging for a left.” The second is a line that Chuck uses a few times in the movie directed at the leader of the army — “Tell Rostov, it’s time to die.”

Tell Rostov It’s Time To Die

I thought about using an image from that film for this blog but due to possible copyright issues, I decided to stick with an available free image. If, however, you wish to view the climatic image from that movie where Chuck tells Rostov in person that it is time for Rostov to die, just conduct a google search, “invasion usa it’s time to die”, then hit “images” after you get your search results. In that image, you will see Chuck standing about twenty feet behind the villian. They both have portable rocket launchers. The villian has been stalking Chuck to kill him. All of a sudden, from behind, the villian hears Chuck load the missile launcher and say to the villian, “It’s time to die”. The look on the face of the villian says it all. He knows that he is totally screwed and Chuck has beaten him. The villian attempts to turn around and kill Chuck but Chuck shoots first and the villian winds up in a million pieces.

Reject Fear

In your life, you have a Rostov stalking you. He is called Fear. Fear of failure. Fear of poor health. Fear of loneliness. Fear of being useless. Fear of being unloved. Fear of enslavement to poor health or poor finances. Fear of not having your life mean something. Fear of not getting your fair share of things in life. Fear of this. Fear of that. Fear. Fear. Fear. Just as Rostov stalked Chuck in the movie, fear is always stalking you. To be successful in manifesting the life you desire, you also must tell fear that “It’s time to die”. Use appropriate manifesting techniques and earnest prayer to use your own inner rocket launcher to blow fear into a million different pieces.

There Are Two Root Emotions

In the image above, Edvard Munch’s impressionist painting “The Scream” epitomizes how it feels for a person to be in the grips of fear. To live in fear is a type of nightmare. Someone once said that there are only two root emotions from which all other emotions spring — love and fear. Love is truth. Fear is error. Make the choice as best as you can in your precious life to choose love. Fear will always take you down a one way street to nowhere.

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Dress For Success — How You Dress Affects Your Life

As you can see from the above image, the man using the snowblower has dressed himself in a manner that will allow him to successfully achieve his objective — clearing a specific area of snow. Coat, hood, hat, goggles, ear mufflers, gloves. He has dressed himself in such a way that he can continue continuously working in a frigid environment until the area that he wishes to be cleared is done. Flip-flops, cut-off shorts and a summer Hawaiian shirt are not going to get it done for him. With that type of get-up he may suffer some type of negative physical effects due to exposure to the below-freezing cold. Or he will be back inside the house every few minutes to get warm thus making the job a never ending affair. Or after a few minutes in the freezing cold, he may decide just to forego clearing the area of snow and give up.

Dress For Success

In the world of manifesting whatever it is that you want in this world, you must likewise dress for success. Many get dressed each day in their clown suit, putting on a shirt of frustration, pants of anger, a belt made of all manner of different fears, shoes permeated with doubts and and top it off with a hat soaked in bitterness. Life just seems to be one long never-ending struggle with momentary flashes of happiness. One problem gets solved and two more show up at your door to bedevil and harass you. It doesn’t have to be that way. It doesn’t. If you dress yourself properly, your life can be good, even in the midst of having to deal with problems. The man in the image above still has to deal with the raw cold and snow. It doesn’t magically go away but he is dressed in such a manner so as to allow him to be completely successful in dealing with the snow and cold.

How You Dress Each Day Is Up To You

So just how do you dress for success? This has nothing to do with wearing expensive Armani suits or Gucci leather shoes. It has everything to do with how you attire your inner self each day, each hour, each minute. It has to do with what inner clothes you choose to put on every day. Put on the shirt of the crystal clear vision of your objective. Make it vivid, not foggy or squishy. See every part of your vision from every angle. Know it as well as you know the “proverbial back of your hand.” Next, put on the pants of your intention. Know your purpose. Once you have strongly decided on your vision, let your “pants of intention” walk only along those paths that lead you to fulfillment of your vision. Refrain from turning to the left. Refrain from turning to the right. Let those pants lead you directly to making your vision your reality. Thirdly, hold up your pants with the belt of faith — strength of belief that will keep your pants from falling to the ground. Strength of belief that you would not have this vision and intention unless it was completely fulfillable. Finally, wear the shoes of your gratitude — true gratitude that there was nothing on earth that was able to prevent you from manifesting your vision, fulfilling your intention and justifying your faith. You do not have to pay a fortune for Armani suits and Gucci shoes in order to dress for success. Getting dressed with true power clothes — vision, intention, faith, gratitude — is totally free. You do not have to spend so much as a penny but you do have to put in some hard work. You can choose to dress for failure or you can choose to dress for success. How you dress each day is totally up to you. What type of clothes are you choosing to put on today?

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Life Review — The Movie From Hell

Afterlife

In the past forty years, there has been an explosion of books, articles, and videos concerning just what happens to us after we die. Near death experiences, travels to the astral world, people who claim to have been to heaven, hell, purgatory and everywhere in between. There is even the claim of an atheist who alleged a near death experience and claimed he saw himself just sleeping (and snoring no less LOL). Still yet another alleged he wound up on the planet Saturn. Yeah, there’s a whole bunch of stuff out there about the afterlife these days.

Perfect Justice

Have you thought about it? Perhaps your feelings about it come from your religious upbringing (or lack thereof) Maybe pop culture or a friend or relative or neighbor. Maybe a book or group of books. Maybe you have never even thought about it and simply don’t care. Maybe you have even had a near death experience or perhaps a brush with an angelic spirit. In any case, it is my belief that, for a variety of reasons far beyond the scope and focus of this blog post, that it is impossible for our essence, our spirit, not to continue after the body has stopped functioning. Our bodies die…we do not…we keep right on going, with our personality intact. We leave this earth dimension and move on to that part of the great beyond where we exactly and precisely belong. Our placement is based on the state of our spirit. No randomness. No chaos. No corruption. No favoritism. No fixes. Just perfect justice.

The Life Review

My efforts to learn more about this afterlife thing has led me to the conclusion that when we die, we will all experience a procedure called a “life review”. Every aspect of our entire life — from the time we exit the womb to the second that we take our last breath — will be reviewed by us. In my imagination I picture it as being in sort of a cosmic movie theatre. While there will be advanced spiritual beings who monitor and oversee the event, there is not any lecturing from them. Every single evaluation and judgement on my life will come from me and me alone during the course of this life review movie. Divine judgement has already taken place before the life review in the proper placement of my spirit in the afterlife. There are many here on earth who claim that after a period, we are allowed to come back to earth and give it another go. And there are many here on earth that say that is bullshit. What do you think? In any case, the purpose of this life review is instructional so as to “grow our souls” as we continue on with our existence, whatever it may be, after this earth lifetime is over.

A Special Movie

This life review movie is a very special type of movie. Even though we have no physical body, our five senses come into play in a vivid, sharpened manner (high definition many times over). What makes this life review movie particularly unique is that we not only see and hear and feel what we did and didn’t do during our lifetime here on earth, BUT we also simultaneously see and hear and feel how our words and our actions affected other human beings, for better or for worse. both positively and negatively. We are able to feel their emotions with regard to things that we did or did not do. Our actions may have had an effect on someone many degrees separated from us. We are able to view our life from several different perspectives all at the same time. It is a wild movie. Where we did good, the movie is pure unadulterated bliss. Where we royally messed up however, it is a hellish torture. It then becomes the movie from hell. I am going to have bootmarks all over my spirit ass from kicking myself while watching all my stupid mistakes.

A Happy Ending

I have always been a fan of happy endings in movies. I figure I still have some time left in this world. Not much, but some. If life was a calendar, I would be somewhere in November right now. However, I am very well aware that nobody knows for certain when their “number will be called”. For me, it coud be as much as a dozen or so years from now or it could be sometime later today. Nobody really knows for sure. In this earth dimension, in what remains of this lifetime, it is my intention to do everything that I know how to do, using whatever resources that I have, to make the last part of my life review movie have a happy ending. I don’t know about you but I am so tired of making mistakes. I don’t want to have to make frequent trips to the cosmic concession stand and the celestial rest room in order to avoid watching a really bad movie. How about you?

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Speaking To An Empty Lecture Hall

This Blog’s Purpose

As mentioned in the very first post of this blog, this blog has 2 purposes: (1) to present you with information about how you can manifest good things in your life, presenting you with techniques that have been proven many times over to actually work; and (2) to receive some income in some manner or form. I am currently planning to offer one or more e-books for sale later this year. Any income from this will then help me in the realization of my visualized life paradigm for what remains of my lifetime. While I originally intended to launch the book(s) and blog at the same time, an event occurred last summer that urged me to just get started with the blog, ready or not. So that is what I did. I just started writing these posts.

An Audience Of One

Some years ago, during one of the many jobs that I have worked over my lifetime, I found myself as a representative of my trade union in the facility in which I worked. Approximately 250 employees worked in the installation. In an effort to improve communication within the labor workforce, I started a monthly newsletter. Using my own free time for writing and editing and my own money for printing, I kept it up for roughly a year and a half before it became overly time and money consuming. I did receive unsolicited positive feedback from a number of employees regarding the newsletter. On the last page of the newsletter, titled, “Some Final Thoughts”, I always wrote something which was close in tenor to the content of the posts of this blog. Some of that positive feedback was in regard to that specific page of the newsletter, so I know that some at least were reading and enjoying it. So for now, until I am ready to engage in actions that will serve to invite a multitude of people to this blog, I will harken back to that previous experience. I will simply make believe that others are actually reading these blog posts and receiving something beneficial from them. Even though nobody else is currently reading this blog, there has been one documented reader who has already been helped — me. As I write a new post each week and then subsequently proofread and edit same, I remind myself of concepts and truths and techniques that during the course of everyday living, one tends, for one inexplicable reason or another, to forget. I speak of concepts and truths and techniques that have helped me with past manifestations that for whatever reason, I have put aside. I can only chalk that up to the fact that I am a highly flawed human being.

The Inner Voice

I read an account somewhere (can’t remember where) concerning the author, lecturer and mystic, Neville Goddard. He was the author of sixteen books as well as having given thousands of lectures. In the early sixties, he wrote a book entitled “The Law and The Promise”. He began to incorporate concepts from that book into his lectures. His business agent noted to him that his lectures were not being received as enthusiastically as previous years and that the numbers attending the lectures were dropping. As I recall, his response to his business agent was something to the effect “if i have to speak to an empty lecture hall, so be it. What I currently have to say about what I wrote about in The Law And The Promise, simply must be said.” Until such time as I am ready to employ measures to introduce this blog to a larger audience than one…myself…I will continue to “speak to an empty lecture hall”. For whatever reason, the inner urge, the inner desire, the inner prompting, to write is stronger than the logical choice to just wait until I am writing these posts for others in addition to myself. The inner voice said “just start writing” and so I did. And if nobody else on the planet ever reads these posts, it’s ok. The fact is that they have already helped someone — me. And through that help, I may then be better able to help others in what remains of my lifetime. Thus, the primary goal will have been reached through an indirect route. Sometimes, that’s how life works.

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Overlooked Household Poison — Throw It Out Now

” Danger Will Robinson “

Did you ever watch the tv show “Lost in Space” originally aired in the mid-sixties? The two things I remember about it was that Professor Smith guy (prototype of today’s politicians) and the stupid looking robot they had. Billy Mumy played “Will Robinson”, one of the Robinson family that was piloting a space ship that was lost in outer space. Whenever Will Robinson was about to encounter a dangerous situation, the robot would wave its arms and shout “Danger Will Robinson, Danger.” Well, if you had that robot today he would be saying the same thing to you regarding a very toxic poison that you probably have within your household. It is not in the medicine cabinet. It is not in the basement. It is not in the attic. Nor is it in your garage or shed. It is inside — you. It is called “regret”. Every time that you make the choice to re-activate it, you succeed only in re-infecting yourself and causing harm.

What Is Regret ?

Just what is “regret”. It has been defined as “feeling grief, depression or disappointment over something that you have done or have left undone.” I have always kind of distrusted people who say that they have no regrets. I feel that they are not really telling the truth and display narcissistic tendencies. In Romans 7:15 (NLT), the apostle Paul states, ” I really don’t understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate.” I guess it’s all part of being a fallible, mortal human being.

Learning Is Magic

Learning is a magical thing. To gain knowledge that will help you to live a richer, fuller life is the essence of learning. If you can learn from the negative results of things that you did (or neglected to do) — if you make effort to apply to the right here and right now what you have learned from the past — then you will be successful in using past mistakes as lessons to create (manifest) good things in the right here and right now — for yourself as well as for others. If you choose to rehash your past mistakes over and over and over again in the form of regret, then you have not learned a damn thing. You will only be successful in creating more bad things in the right here and right now — for yourself and others. Is that what you desire? You would be similiar to the junkie who regrets the addiction but keeps shooting the poison into their veins nonetheless. To paraphrase Clemenza from the movie The Godfather, “Leave the regrets, take the learning”.

The $64,000 Question

So now we get down to the “$64,000 Question” (how’s that for “old school”): how do you stop yourself — from wallowing in counter-productive, toxic regret and start yourself living free from errors and mistakes of the past? To have regrets is one thing — to wallow in them is totally another. When they come into your thoughts, say “Fine. OK You’re here to remind me of something I already very well know but I just don’t have time for you now. I’m busy fulfilling this dream I have with what’s left of my life. So, no disrespect mister regret, but don’t let the door hit you on the way out.” The eternal “now” is the only sure thing that you can work with. Every minute of your life, a “new now” comes along. If you keep grieving over past mistakes you will only succeed in perpetuating them.

What Can You Do About It ?

Sit down and start thinking of what you did in your life that was right and resulted in positive results. Walk away from everything else in your life for a few solid hours and really think deeply about it. When you have come up with something that you can “really hold on to”, write it down. Put it on an index card. Write it on a poster and hang it on your wall. Hang it around your nose if you have to. Scripture states, “Write them on your doorframes of your houses and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:9 NIV). Whatever manner you choose, keep these things in your mind. Allow the good feeling that they produce to dominate your feelings. Regrets will then have no room to maneuver and along with Elvis, will “have now left the building”. And YOU will then be in a better place to help yourself and help others also. Isn’t that a good thing? There will be more about this whole topic in a future post.

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Have You Tried CBD Oil For Knee Pain Relief

For the past fifteen years, osteoarthritis pain has invaded my knees. Both knees are afflicted, with the left knee pain being the more severe. Cartilage has worn away and a “bone-on-bone” situation is in place. The orthopedic physician who first examined me back in 2005 said I would definitely be requiring knee replacement within five years. That puts me ten years now past his definitive prediction. My current orthopedic physician has said for the past five years that I should get both knees replaced after looking at the xrays and stating, “you’ve got one ugly set of knees there.” However, my rule of thumb with this situation is to keep my original knees for as long as possible. So with this in mind I have tried many things to reduce the pain over the years. These remediation efforts include: walking (to maintain muscle strength), over the counter topical ointments and creams, ibuprofin, acetaminophen, aspirin, cortisone injections, hyaluronic acid injections, aspiration injections, knee sleeves, orthotic braces, glucosamine tonics and at home exercises. Within the past year I have experimented and found good results with the use of a topical balm containing CBD oil.

What Is CBD Oil ?

CBD (Cannabidiol) is a natural compound found in the resinous flower of cannabis, a plant that has been used for centuries for medicinal uses. CBD is related to another compound found in the cannabis plant, namely THC (tetrahydrocannabinol). THC is the compound that causes the “high” that cannabis is well known for. Both CBD and THC have therapeutic benefits but unlike THC, the compound CBD does not get people “high” (intoxicated). THC and CBD act in totally different ways on the receptors of the brain. The fact that CBD can be used for a variety of ailments without any psychoactive effects makes its emergence in the field of therapeutics an exciting event.

CBD Uses And Products

Much scientific research – a great deal of it sponsored by U.S. government agencies – as well as ever increasing anecdotal accounts from both patients and physicians highlight CBD’s potential for a wide range of ailments: (1) inflammation from osteo and rhematoid arthritis, (2) neurological conditions (alzheimers, dementia, epilepsy, stroke, traumatic brain injury), (3) stress and anxiety, (4) skin problems (acne, dermatitis, psoriasis), (5) metabolic syndrome (diabetes, obesity), (6) cardiovascular dysfunction (atherosclerosis, arrhythmia, (7) neuropsychiatric disorders (autism, ADHD, PTSD), (8) better sleep, (9) therapeutic pain relief.

Depending on what you are using it for, CBD can be used through several different types of products: (1) sublingual spray, (2) drops, (3) capsules, (4) topical salves, creams and ointments, (5) bath salts, (6) tea, (7) even treats for your pets.

It is very important for bioavailability and absorption effectiveness to purchase from a vendor that provides first run, full spectrum, premium grade, CBD oil, lab verfied with small batch labelling. Many companies cut costs by using second run or even third run oil. This oil is just not as effective because all of the other cannabinoids are lost during multiple extraction runs. While many companies use MCT oil carrier fluids, try to find a company that uses hempseed oil carrier fluids. Hempseed oil helps to better metabolize the CBD into your blood stream. Before you purchase a CBD product for yourself, be sure to do your homework. Buying a low quality product may simply be throwing away your money as well as giving you less than optimum results which in turn would give you an inaccurate conclusion about the effectiveness of CBD.

CBD: A Pleasant Surprise

After doing research on CBD, I decided to give it a whirl to see if it would help tamp down the pain of the arthritis in my knees. Short answer — CBD works. It really works. It doesn’t make my knees feel like they did when I was young. There is still a residual of pain but it is reduced. I probably should apply the balm three times a day but sometimes I will only apply it once or twice. Some days I will skip it entirely. Nothing scientific, but it seems to work better when I apply it consistently. Ahhh — lack of consistency — one of my many flaws. In any case, I am happy that I tried it as it as been a pleasant surprise. I will keep experimenting and at some point I will see what happens by combining external use CBD (topical balm) with internal use CBD (drops).

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A Way To Avoid The Sisyphus Syndrome ?

A Little Background About Sisyphus

In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was the first king of Ephyra (Corinth). Although he helped the city become a commercial hub, he was a sly and deceitful person. He violated the Greek concept of Xenia (the concept of hospitality shown to guests and travellers) by killing guests so he could show everyone that he was ruthless and somebody you did not mess with. These dishonorable actions really got the “big cheese of all the gods”, Zeus, pissed off at Sisyphus. Then Sisyphus “pushed Zeus over the edge” when not once, but twice Sisyphus cheated death.

Finally, Sisyphus died at a ripe, old age and Zeus said, OK Sisyphus old boy, now you’re gonna pay for all your bullshit. Zeus decreed that Sisyphus would be punished by making Sisyphus push a boulder uphill until he was able to push it over the top to the other side. However, as soon as Sisyphus would get to the top of the mountain, Zeus made it that the boulder would eternally jump and roll back down to the bottom of the mountain again, making the efforts of Sisyphus the ultimate act of futility.

Dealing With “The Sisyphus Syndrome”

Have you ever experienced the Sisyphus Syndrome? Trying and failing time and time again, just when you thought that you were going to finally have a breakthrough. You work and perservere and just as you approach the crest of your mountain, your “boulder” jumps and rolls back down to the bottom again. I will be the first to volunteer a “yes” to that question. Not a particularly good feeling when that happens. In fact, it’s downright shitty.

The good news that I can tell you however, is that unless you have Zeus pissed off at you, there is a difference between you and Sisyphus. The situation of Sisyphus was hopeless. Yours is not. If you still have breath in your body, you have hope. Sisyphus was dealing with a “stacked deck”. Zeus gave him a “jumping boulder” that was never going to allow itself to roll over the top of the mountain. Your boulder is not “enchanted by Zeus”. The next time that it rolls back down to the bottom, stop everything and take a short break to sit still and go within.

Scripture states that the Kingdom of God is within you. Be quiet. Just shut the fuck up. Then, listen to that divine Inner Voice within you. It is called Intuition. Many choose to switch it off. Hit the switch to “on” and as that sign used to say at railroad crossings “Stop. Look. Listen.” Look around you for potential helpers. Maybe it is a special tool of some sort or a person who will assist you or a different technique or the same technique with an adjustment of some type. If you strongly feel that your goal is really “meant to be”, that your goal is part of your true destiny, then persevere in your efforts. You have no other choice than to keep on pushing. Edison stated that he did not fail a thousand times before he hit upon the right filament for the light bulb. He said it was a successful process with a thousand steps to it.

Feel Your Success

Discipline yourself. Spend some time each day in the SATS (state akin to sleep, see 12/10/20 blog post) even if it is only a minute or two. That is still better than nothing. Feel what you would feel when, after all the heartbreak and disappointments, you finally succeed in getting that MF boulder over the top. Then hold on to that feeling — hold on to it as long as you possibly can, then totally let go and go to sleep (or if it is daytime, go on with your planned activities). You do not have to be Sisyphus if you choose that you do not want to be. Oh, and one final thing — Don’t piss off Zeus. He’s got a big ego and a nasty temper.

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Evidence Of Things You Can’t See

Suppose for a moment, that you were a police investigator. You go in to the office of your supervisor and say to the boss, “Chief, I have some evidence in that case we have been working on. I feel that it is enough for us to make an arrest.” Your boss says, “Great, what did you find?’ You reply, “Well, there’s just one thing. The evidence, it’s there, but you just can’t see it. We’re gonna have to present our case to the DA and tell them the evidence is there but they just can’t see it.” Well, there could be several responses from the supervisor, none of them particularly pleasant. Definitely could imagine you being put on admin leave and them scheduling you for a visit to the department psychiatrist. In successful manifesting efforts however, this is precisely the case. You have to fully “buy in”to the desired results as real, as real as the nose on your face, before you actually get to see the results. It ain’t easy Magee, but — if you can pull it off, you’ve won the grand and glorious jackpot — the ability to manifest every sort of good thing into your life.

Let’s examine those concise yet incisive words from the book of Hebrews, chapter 11 — Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Now the word “faith” has been tossed around every which way over the centuries. Faith is an extremely strong and effective power in your life but it can definitely be misplaced. One of the most famous examples of misplaced faith is the tragedy of the followers of jim jones and the drinking of the kool-aid at jonestown. Also, the ubiquitous guy in the psychiatric facility who thinks and believes and has faith that he is Napoleon is another case of misplaced faith. Something has gone wrong with his mind. I ain’t no psychiatrist and I don’t have all the answers to everything. Nevertheless, over the millenia that human beings have walked the earth, all manner of things have indeed been manifested millions upon millions of times via the avenue of faith. Faith — The actual substance of what your heart hopes for. Faith —the concrete evidence even though your eyes cannot see it. This is the stuff that true power consists of. And the fact of this matter is that you, right now, have full access to this faith stuff — if you so desire.

The formula for manifesting laid out in the book of Matthew, chapter 21, is so simple, so uncomplicated, so concise, that most human beings in this world of ours, zoom right past it. Believe…..Receive. In case it got by ya, I will repeat it — Believe…..Receive. You may immediately say to this, “Oh, you just don’t know what I have been through. I believed and believed and it never came true and the disappointment was crushing.” You are not the only one to have walked down that particular road. I can tell you from first hand experience that when I say I have been crushed by disappointment, it was like I was in one of those auto junkyard “car-crushers”. However, like a bee to honey, subsequent prayer just led me right back to those same words in the book of Matthew: Believe…..Receive. That Inner Voice that the Quakers talk about also said to me, “and this time pal, get rid of all those nasty doubts and fears that you’ve got hidden under the bed”.

The evidence of things that you know are there but that you just can’t see them. I think the gist of the whole thing is, you might not see them, “but you can choose to feel them” — if you so desire. In a nutshell, this is the seed of every manifestation you undertake in your life.

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Sometimes All You Need Is An Adjustment

You have planned out in your mind’s eye everywhere that you want to go in your life. You have put into place everything you can think of to allow you to go there. You believe with all your heart that your efforts will prove successful. Then, plop, you walk straight into a brick wall, a foot thick and ten feet high. Frustration starts seeping into every part of you. What the hell happened?! Well, it may not necessarily mean that everything that you did before hitting the wall was dead wrong. You may just need to make an adjustment and/or get an objective second set of eyes on the entire situation.

The Overnight Hike

In what seems like, at the same time, a thousand years ago and just last month, when I was in my mid-twenties, I was working in a large office in Newark, NJ. One day, during a conversation with a co-worker, the subject turned to backpacking. He was an avid hiker and he suggested an overnight backpack hike in the Adirondack Mountains. He was an experienced backpacker and was familiar with the various trails. I had never backpacked before. My brother and I had plans to do so but he died before we got the chance. I told my co-worker that I was game for it and we made plans for the hike. I drove to his house on Saturday morning and we drove up to the Adirondacks in his vehicle. I had all the proper gear — backback, tent, sleeping bag, canteen, provisions, etc., which I would be carrying on my back. The plan was to hike to the midway point of the trail he had chosen, camp there overnite, then finish up the hike back to the parking area on Sunday.

We set off on the hike with “all systems go”. The weather was perfect. The trail was clearly marked. The scenery was outstanding. After about an hour or so, I started feeling a little bit of pain in my shoulders. I just shrugged it off as something to be expected as a newbie backpacker. After another hour, the pain was not so little anymore. Not wanting to look like a wuss to my fellow hiker, I continued to trudge on. After the third hour, the pain was excruciating. I had finally had enough and told him to hold up a minute. I then told him that I was experiencing a great deal of pain in my shoulders and that we would unfortunately have to turn around and head back to the parking area. At first he just thought it was because I was a novice backpacker. He told me that my body would adjust as I went on. When I insisted that I could not go on, he changed his tune. He looked at me closely and asked me to turn around. He then said, “Let me try something.” He proceeded to make an adjustment to the belt portion of my backpack. All of a sudden (cue the angelic choir singing and sunbeam shining down on me) the weight of the world was now off my shoulders. All the weight of the backpack was now squarely centered on my hips which were infinitely better suited to carry the burden than my shoulders were. I thanked him and we proceeded with our hike. The soreness of the shoulders receded and the overnite hike was a success.

Step Back And Take Another Look

Sometimes, you are on the right track but it all still seems to be going all wrong. You have taken the necessary steps to plan and achieve success in your chosen goal. You have chosen the winning mindset. Yet you are still losing. I have been in that place a number of times. You take a step back, look at the situation and say to yourself, “F**k — What am I doing wrong here?” At this point, an uninformed observer may just throw platitudes at you and merely urge you to push onward. If I had done that with the backpack situation, I may have ended up doing serious harm to my shoulders and spinal column. I was on the right track but an adjustment was definitely required. I needed an experienced and knowledgeable second set of eyes to help me out. When the adjustment was made, my goal was subsequently achieved.

Many times we do not have another experienced and knowledgeable human being nearby that we are able to ask for help. If I had asked someone who was as much a novice as me, it would have been a case of the blind leading the blind. In those situations where you are floundering and have nobody to turn to — go within. Stop. Take a deep breath. Take two or three. Center yourself. Ask for and quietly claim the answer that you need from Universal Supreme Intelligence. Refrain from begging for it. Ask for it with peaceful confidence that you will receive it. You will you know, unless you start doubting. Doubt always throws up a curtain over the solution and causes you not to see it. Be quiet. Ask. Seek. Knock. Listen. When you receive the answer, implement the solution in faith and proceed to bring success to yourself.