This weekend, my friend Dr. Kate and I spent almost 5 hours at the beach. No, we didnt go to sunbathe, we went to release. You see, Ive read books like Think and Grow Rich and Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Ive played the Prosperity Game. Ive read Catherine Ponders book, Open Your Mind to Prosperity at least 10-12 times. I believe that thoughts create reality. Yet I wasnt seeing the financial results I really desired. I was making things happen, but never reaching that deep, longing, goal of being a true success: fully free to be myself and prospering wildly as a result.
Sound ambitious? Yep, thats what I heard all my life. Why do you have to dream so big? Youre getting too big for your britches. Who do you think you are? Yet my yearning to be more never went away. I tried to kill it. Drugs, food, sex, shopping. Nothing worked. As soon as I experienced a moment of silence it was back.
I decided to take the ol attitude, if you cant beat em, join em. I figured since I wanted to succeed and many other people told me I could, why not go for it? If only it were that easy. Just because I wanted to go for it on one hand, there was always that other little voice. The one that said Oh, there you go again, thinking youre so great and wonderful. You are selfish. What will people think? What about the starving children in Africa? How can you dream so big when there are people suffering? Boy oh boy, I gave a lot of good years to that voice. But now, Im older, Im tougher and Frankly, my dear, (to steal the famous quote from Gone with the Wind) I dont give a Damn.
Thats why I decided to read Open Your Mind to Receive. You see, Im great at creating things. Especially for other people, (hint, hint if youre experiencing a sinking feeling in the pit of your gut, read on) but allowing myself to receive was quite a different story. That would mean Id have to let go and be open to assistance from others. That would mean Id have to admit that Im not in control after all. And when I wasnt in control, my core belief, Im not good enough was activated. It was too painful and shameful to experience this, let alone allow someone to see it. So, I often pretended that I didnt need help and therefore, I never got it. The belief, Im not good enough has ruined many a fabulous woman. I know, I have them as clients and frankly Im a little mad about the way weve allowed ourselves to be pushed around.
But I digress. What I really want you to know is that after I started reading Open Your Mind to Receive, it became quickly apparent to me that when Catherine Ponder recommended releasing old items and old ideas as a way to attract good into my life, I knew exactly what had to go. No, I didnt clean out my closet or my garage. I cleaned out my head. Yep, turns out there are some thoughts and memories that were swimming around up there since about 1972. Stuff like, Its your fault. You should have done something. If people know who you really are, they wont like you. You didnt do it right and so on and so on and so on.
So heres what Dr. Kate and I did. We wrote a list of all the garbage in our heads: resentments, hurtful statements, old relationships, perfectionistic ideas and limiting beliefs. Then, we took our lists to the beach, talked about some of the doo doo we were ready to trash; laughed, yelled, told animated stories and felt free. I put one match in the ground for each thing listed (you can see, I had a lot of gunk to clean out). After I was finished, I lit the mother up (literally and literally). Thats right, I set the whole damn thing on fire. Up in flames. Old news. Cant put it back together. Phew, I feel good. By the way, before I left, I tore up my list and threw it in the trash at the dog beach, right along with the dog doo doo where it belongs.
P.S. If you decide to try this, do me a favor: 1) do it outdoors 2) be safe 3) if anything bad happens, dont blame it on me. Im just sharing my story.