How to Get Lucky

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Now just stop that. This is a PG-rated blog.

Are some people just born lucky? Don’t you believe it. While someone may be born into favorable circumstance, the real truth is that wealth, brilliance, good looks and fame have never been indicators in and of themselves of true happiness. Just read the nearest celebrity tabloid if you need proof.

We believe people make their own luck. How? By visualizing the life of their dreams. By setting the intention to create it. By taking inspired actions in the direction of those dreams. And by believing, without question, that what they want is on its way to them.

An example:  Bob Bobman (cleverly made-up name) is an accountant with a mid-sized firm downtown. He dreams, however, of opening a “pay-what-you-can” restaurant in his community. Bob doesn’t know how to cook. Bob doesn’t know how to run a restaurant. Bob doesn’t actually know any homeless or disadvantaged people personally.

But Bob dreams his dream all the same. He imagines what his restaurant will look like, and what kind of food it will serve. He imagines what it feels like to be manning the counter, clearing tables, seeing the smiles of his customers, smelling the nourishing aromas in the air. He starts collecting pictures of interiors and other images that appeal to him: a plate of food here, a grouping of tables there. He writes about it in his journal, he makes a vision board, and he sets a date by which he wants his dream to come true.

Does Bob sit back at that point and wait for his luck to roll in?  No, Bob does not. Because Bob knows that while you can get in your car and program your GPS to take you anywhere you want to go, you’re not going anyplace until you put the car in gear and start driving.

So Bob starts telling people about his dream. He talks about it at work. He talks about it at social and business gatherings. He tells people in the restaurant community. He does some research about other similar operations in other towns.

Bob takes some cooking classes.  One of his fellow students turns out to have some experience in launching non-profits. He scans the real estate listings for commercial spaces with kitchens.

Little synchronicities start to happen.  A friend of a friend knows someone who works at a place JUST LIKE THAT two states over. An article about crowd-sourcing shows up on Bob’s laptop. An interesting space that was off the market for a while suddenly is up for rent.

And so it goes. Drip by drip and drop by drop, Bob’s dream starts to take shape, with the Universe tossing in a handful of sparkly magic here and there. It never crosses Bob’s mind that this isn’t going to happen.  Which is exactly how Bob “gets lucky” and his dream comes true.

So, how do you get lucky? Simple. Feel lucky. Act lucky. Expect lucky. Get focused on drawing the specific flavor of luck you want into your life, but don’t get hung up on exactly how it has to come about. Be open to what the Universe brings you in response to what you’re sending out.

Before you know it, you’re a walking, talking four-leaf clover, and luck isn’t some random something that the Universe bestows on the deserving or the charmed or the beautiful, it’s nothing less than your destiny.

Wanna get lucky?  It’s out there waiting for you. All you have to do is go get it.

 

 

 

 

Do You Believe in Spooks?

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The Cowardly Lion sure did. And look where it got him.

But jump ahead to the ending of The Wizard of Oz:  the Tin Man feels the power to love when he is given a mere trinket in which he has faith. The Scarecrow can suddenly parse geometry once he has a piece of paper labeled a “diploma.” The Cowardly Lion finds bravery inside a simple medal hung on a ribbon. And Dorothy learns that she has had the power to return “home”–to herself–inside all along.

We are what we believe we are. And so is the world as we perceive it.

Tell someone that “thoughts became things” (a phrase popularized by author Mike Dooley), and it may sound nonsensical to them. “If my thoughts become things,” they might say, “then how come I’m not rich? Because I’m thinking about a giant pile of gold bullion right now!”

It isn’t that simple. Mostly because of the collective belief of billions of humans that this kind of instant manifestation is impossible.

But even the most skeptical of people will admit to things like knowing who is calling without benefit of caller I.D., or wishing for a parking space and having one suddenly open up, or being able to scrape together just enough money when we really, really need it.

Our beliefs are the engine that drives our outcome. As Henry Ford, about as non-woo-woo a man as it’s possible to imagine, once said, “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.”

So what do you find yourself thinking these days?

Imagine two people somehow having the exact same day: they go to their longtime place of employment, choose to work through lunch, and, at 1 p.m., are led into their supervisor’s office and told that they are being laid off.

Person One:  “This is the worst day of my life! After all the years I spent there, after all I did for them–the ingratitude just enrages me!  I even worked through lunch for those a-holes! What a disaster!”

Person Two: “Wow, I didn’t expect that. I mean, I was even working through lunch to get caught up. I guess things are tougher for the company than I thought. Well, I’ll have some unemployment coming while I figure out what I want to do next. Maybe this is the start of something even better for me.”

Okay, so the above is a pretty huge over-simplification, but only to prove a point: it doesn’t matter what happens to you. The story you tell and believe about what happens to you is what’s key.

So if you believe in spooks, or evil, or bad luck, or a cruel, indifferent world, that’s probably the exact experience you’re having.

On the other hand, if you believe in love, in learning, in bravery and in finding your way “home” to the best expression of yourself, that’s the experience you’ll have instead.

Flying freakin’ terrifying monkeys vs. control over your destiny. Hmmmmm.

Which Yellow Brick Road will you choose?

 

Rock Steady, Baby

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http://youtu.be/9wQT3YRk4ME

Everyone’s got their own word for it. Aretha calls it “Rock Steady.” Someone else might call it “Euphoria.” Another might call it “Connected to the Universe.”  But whatever you call it, let’s call it what it is (what it is, what it is): the essence of you, humming and purring and V.I.B.E.ing your absolute highest.

How do you get there? Our V.I.B.E. online tools are exactly about helping you do just that. For some people, it’s playing with visualizing in all its forms: drawing, writing, dreaming, meditating, talking. For others it’s getting into the inspired actions: doing stuff that is in total alignment with who we are and what we want, and it feels goooooood.

Some of us find our highest vibration in movement: yoga, running, surfing, or, like everyone on “Soul Train,” dancing.

Maybe your highest vibration can be found in connecting to others: volunteering, being of service, or simply creating and collaborating and having a wonderful, magical time in community.

Only you know your most essential, deleriously happy, euphoric self. Only you can know what gets you there. And if you’re not sure, the tools at http://raisedvibration are a great place to start.

In the meantime, turn your computer speakers up a little higher. Clear the floor. Move your hips from side to side.

You sure you haven’t done this before? : )

Help, It’s a Snake! No, Wait, It’s a Stick.

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Fear, believe it or not, can be a trusted adviser. When you’re about to be bitten by a rattlesnake, for example, that jolt of adrenaline and reflexive back-pedal can be a very good thing.

snake stickThe thing to remember is that fear is an instinctive, primal response. There’s not a lot of intellectualizing going on. In fact, the kind of fear that invokes a fight-or-flight response happens faster than we can form actual thought. Which is why fear absolutely deserves a seat on the bus–without fear, we’d probably all be dead.

At the same time, fear can also become a crippling limitation. If I step off a curb and hear a bus horn blaring, leaping back onto that curb was a smart move. But if I conclude from this incident that crossing streets is inherently unsafe and I will never, ever do it again, I have tipped over from fear into phobia. And I have limited myself unnecessarily, and pretty ridiculously.

Fear knows some stuff. When the hair rises on your arms, when a shiver goes down your spine, when your Spidey senses are on alert, it’s worth taking a listen and see what fear has to say.

But fear is just one of the advisers in your head, and fear, because it is so primitive and reflexive, can be absolutely off-base. It might help to think of fear as a small child. A child is capable of warning you when something threatening is about to happen. A child looks out for your well-being, because your well-being is intimately tied to hers. A child is worth listening to.

Except that fears, like children, can sometimes be over-the-top, silly, or just plain wrong. They don’t have all the information the rest of you does, so they process just one piece of the puzzle. Is that long thing on the path ahead of you a rattlesnake, or is it a stick? Only you–ALL of you–know for sure.

So keep fear in your corner. Notice it when it presses the alarm button. And then evaluate whether there’s really something to be afraid of, and, if so, what you’re going to do about it.

Fear makes a great passenger. But don’t let it drive your bus.

Raising your vibration is a great way to calm unreasonable or persistent fears. See how at https://raisedvibration.com.

Put a Little Love in Your Heart

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Actually, it would be more accurate to say “open yourself to the love in your heart.” Because it’s in there, baby, no matter how bruised and battered you may feel from an outside blow. It’s there even when your heart feels closed as tight and unforgiving as a fist.

308077_4778243648928_432870953_nMost of us “close” our hearts out of fear, out of wanting to protect ourselves from pain. But in that closure, it’s not just pain we shut out–it’s, well, anything and everything. Joy. Excitement. Anticipation. Connection. Every  gift the Universe sends us.

When our hearts are closed, we don’t see any gifts anywhere. Or, if we do see them, we view them with suspicion or fear. It’s worth noting that some of the gifts the Universe sends our way can seem confusingly wrapped. They can look like amazing opportunities–and they can look like disappointments, stumbles and outright “no’s.” Consider: even what looks like a bag of dung can still fertilize and grow our dreams.

Ah, but when our hearts and minds are open, we can consider each person, each circumstance, each thing or event with fresh eyes and lack of judgment. What in the world could be good about a cancelled trip, a lost job, a loved one’s illness, the end of a relationship?

We’d love to tell you what could be good about each of those things, but honestly? We’d be guessing. Because the only person who can find the gift meant for you is, well, you.

We can give you examples: countless people we know who lost their jobs only to find their way to a better path, one more in alignment with the yearnings of their souls. Relationships that had run their course and from which both parties, once released, were able to grow. Trips that don’t materialize because the Universe had something better in store–or because something disastrous would have happened had the trip gone as planned. Illnesses that fulfilled that particular soul’s life purpose, and from which there were beautiful lessons to be learned.

But bottom line? Only you can choose to open your heart, and only you can find and feel the love intended for you in each and every outcome.

So, yes, go ahead, open up and indeed “put” a little love–the love that’s been waiting for you–in your heart. Let the love that lives inside you shine out, bright and clear and beautiful and strong.

And the world–your world–will be a better place. For you. And me. Just wait, and see.

 

How to Raise Your V.I.B.E. with Humor

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Somewhere along the way, spirituality got a bad rap as being humorless.

Was it solemn-faced officiants of various churches? Earnest and relentless door-knocking evangelists? Perhaps the idea that spirituality can’t co-exist with being funny, irreverent and even outright silly is just a mass hallucination too many of us are captive to.

Well, snap out of it.

Everybody’s sense of humor is subjective and their own, so you might not actually find the above clip even slightly amusing. But that’s not the point. The point is to find your funny, whatever funny means to you. Because when you find your funny, you also find your feel-good. And when you find your feel-good, you raise your vibration. And when you raise your vibration. . . .

Well, we already know what happens after that, right? High vibration attracts its like. Synchronicities appear. Magic happens.

All because you watched kind of a dumb but inexplicably funny video of grown men making a mess with food and drinking out of sippie cups?

Hey, there are plenty of hard and rocky paths to enlightment. Why not try a gentler one instead?

Think You’re a Superstar? Well, Right You Are!

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It’s hard to top John Lennon’s lyrics when it comes to writing a pithy post about “joining the human race,” “recognizing your brothers,” and “getting yourself together.” At the heart of this classic is his message, brought home in song after song after song: we are all superstars.  And we all shine on. Like the moon, and the stars, and the sun.

Raised Vibration is about nothing less than raising the vibration of the entire planet, one superstar human being at a time. We would be honored to have you join us.

Watch Your Language

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A lot of us have a language problem. And we’re not talking about the potty-mouth stuff.

Yellow loveWe have our affirmations. We make our V.I.B.E. (vision) boards. We write in our journals, we make our big dreams and plans, and oh, we dream BIG and we dream beautifully and we think positively and we make sure to state whatever it is that we want as if it is already here:  I am a creator of abundance. I am healthy and fit. Money flows easily to me. I am in harmony in all my supportive and loving relationships.

And then, dang it, we leave the house.

And we say to our children, “No, I’m not buying you that 1000-piece Star Wars Lego set, we don’t have the money for that!”

And we say to our friends, “Do I look fat in these capri pants? I swear, my butt is as wide as a barn door.”

And we say to our partners, “What, you’re working late again??? It’s like we’re just ROOMMATES!”

Oops.

Funny how we forget that the Universe–and we–are listening no matter where we are, isn’t it? It’s like those people–you know who you are–who think we can’t see you picking your nose while you idle at a stoplight in your car.

We can see you. The Universe can hear you. Your own subconscious has a glass held up to the wall, and it’s listening to every word you say.

Just like we tell our kids: use your words. But hey, a footnote to that? Use ’em carefully.

 

You Are Exactly Where You Need to Be

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This song is a gorgeous glimpse into zooming in, zooming out, and using your “lens” to manifest and create the life you know you are meant to live.

You are a blessing manifest,
Your V.I.B.E. Team

Fear of Falling

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Last week, something horrible happened—the stuff of nightmares. 52-year-old Rosy Esparza was killed when she fell out of a roller coaster at Six Flags Over Texas.

Texas GiantNobody knows whether the locking bar that is supposed to hold riders in place failed, whether it wasn’t closed correctly in the first place–apparently Esparza questioned one of the ride operators and was told that as long as she had heard it “click” into place that it was okay, but no one double-checked–or whether the ride itself is inherently unsafe. It was revamped recently to make for an even steeper, thrill-producing experience. It is, of course, now closed and under heavy inspection.

Certainly no one at Six Flags or at the company who manufactured the roller coaster held the intention of someone losing their life.

So what’s the takeaway here? Is this particular roller coaster lethal? Is every roller coaster unsafe, even if just a little? Are all amusement park rides suspect?

Around the same time that Esparza died, a friend’s daughter lost her life at the camp where she was a counselor when a tree unexpectedly fell over onto her, a 3-year-old boy sleeping outside was run over by a truck making a U-turn, and a Las Vegas Cirque de Soleil performer fell 90 feet to her death at the end of a performance.

These are all tragedies. But while there may be cautionary lessons to be drawn from them, they are not warning signs to the rest of us to stop living our lives.

To live is to risk. We take a chance every time we step out of our house, even when we get out of bed. In fact, we’re not even “safe” in bed, considering the number of fatal heart attacks that happen during the small hours of the morning.

So what do we do? We take a deep breath. We grieve and honor the fallen. We keep going. And we don’t let fear–a useful adviser and not one we should categorically ignore–take over and start driving our bus.

Ride on, friends. Ride on.