Article from Successful Self Employment News, subscribe

How To ‘Wonder’ Your Way To Success
By now nearly all of us know the importance of visioning, intending and asking the universe for what we want.
But there’s another side to the Law of Attraction: releasing.
Without releasing, it’s easy to ask, ask, ask your way into frustration. Abraham-Hicks says we get so focused on asking that we can’t hear the answer. That’s why releasing is essential.
I’m not a big fan of using releasing alone, as some methods teach. To me releasing is the yin complement to the yang of asking and intending. You need both.
Today I’m sharing with you a totally simple and easy way to release. It comes from Susan Jeffers Ph.D. in her book “Embracing Uncertainty.”
She calls it “The Wonder of Wondering.” Here’s how it works.
You have a desire, let’s say it’s to triple your income in 2010. Life unfolds and you find yourself thinking about the desire. You start out hopeful.
Then, as often happens, life seems to move you in the opposite direction. You lose a big client, let’s say.
Suddenly hope implodes into worry. Our mind becomes obsessed with what else could go wrong.
In those moments, Jeffers advises we retrain our over-thinking mind by wondering.
Instead of thinking “I hope I get a replacement client soon,” think: “I wonder what good things are coming to me to re-balance my income.”
Instead of thinking “I hope my prayers for more income are answered,” think “I wonder how my prayers for more income will be answered.”
Wonder helps replace frantic thinking with a sense of openness. It gives you a sense of relief. And curiosity. Even acceptance of where you are now.
When we feel relief, curiosity and acceptance we’ve released our resistance (aka stress) about what we want. We align with receiving it!
Here’s a tip from me about wonder that’s not in the book. I recommend you frame your wondering positively.
This: “I wonder whether the networking meeting will be fun and worthwhile.”
Not this: “I wonder whether the networking meeting will be a waste of my time.”
Ideally you want the conclusion of your statement (without the “I wonder” beginning) to express a positive message or affirmation.
That’s because the unconscious mind is always listening to us and being programmed by our words. “The networking meeting will be a waste of my time” is not the ideal programming!
Keep in mind it’s not about writing affirmative statements. They tend to backfire when we don’t see the evidence. It’s important to include the “I wonder” element up front.
Sure you’d prefer a certain outcome – that’s natural. But wondering helps prevent disappointment in case you don’t receive it right away.
As you continue to be in wonder about your desires, you continue releasing stress, becoming a match to what you’ve intended.
Hmm…I wonder whether the frequent use of “I wonder” is the secret to creating a “wonderful” life!
Till next time, here’s to your successful self employment.

Non-retail signs the holidays are upon us: starting last night, tiny white lights now sparkle in trees throughout the city. From my office window I see snow on the roofs and lawns … well, OK, that started in October. But since last week: Thanksgiving cards arrive in the mailbox!

And online: more blog posts, classes and emails about gratitude.

As far as Law of Attraction goes, is it better to be grateful than ungrateful? You bet. The challenge is in knowing what you really vibrate when you say: “I’m grateful for ________.”

Most of us love to express our gratitude for what we like about our lives. All well and good, as far as it goes.

What we like in our lives tends to be what we label good. Prosperity, loving relationships, health, beautiful places to live…

For most people, this kind of gratitude comes from the ego, whose job it is to label things good or bad. Ego is the big inner judge.

There’s nothing wrong with having an ego. Besides we all have one so why not relax about it.

It’s just that exclusively relying on your ego to determine what you’re grateful for can trip you up.

Here’s how to keep your gratitude vibration pure and shining through the holidays and beyond.

1 – Be authentic. Have you ever caught yourself affirming gratitude for something that wasn’t quite the way you really wanted it? You write, “I’m grateful for my perfect relationship,” ignoring how often you’re habitually irritated with your partner.

Law of Attraction always reads our vibrations perfectly and responds to them perfectly. If you’re not a match to what you’ve been asking for, look for where you hide your true feelings.

Maybe your authentic affirmation might be “I’m grateful for my heartfelt desire to create a more perfect relationship with my partner.”

2 – Be aware of the shadow (thank you Carl Jung). In our ego world of judging good and evil, we love the good stuff and hate the bad. Welcome to life under the Law of Polarity.

When we talk about the “magnetic” Law of Attraction, we’re referring to how LoA operates in our earthly lives via good-bad/on-off/rich-poor etc. All polarities.

The more we express our gratitude for what we label good, the more its shadow side grows too. It’s like a coin. You might prefer aesthetically to look at the head or the tail. Either way, the coin still has two sides.

A simple test to know if your gratitude is feeding the shadow as well as the light is this. Notice your emotions as you express your gratitude.

If you notice a sense of force as you say, “I’m grateful for my abundant income,”  pay attention. Force might express as concern, doubt, worry, anxiety, the little voice inside that goes “uh oh” –  or anything else that doesn’t feel easy and relaxed.

Force means you’re resisting your spirit-given good – and resistance is what feeds the shadow.

If you notice force, congratulations. You now have the opportunity to ask that force what message it has for you.

3 – Consider gratitude from your soul’s perspective.

Our souls are grateful for everything! That’s because they’re eternal and at one with the all-goodness of spirit.

If you desire to experience the spiritual truth that everything happens for your good, bring your soul into your gratitude practice now. Find the good in everything.

Easy? Hardly!

But the relief and love you experience more than makes up for the inner work involved.

Byron Katie (originator of “The  Work”) says: “Everything happens for you, not to you.” What if she’s right?

In my experience, accepting the goodness of it all causes spontaneous waves of gratitude to flow from my heart. There’s no longer any gratitude to “practice” or any lists to make because gratitude becomes my natural state.

Till next time, happy Thanksgiving!

Andrea

Find me:
Linked In
Facebook
Twitter

PERMISSION TO SHARE
You have permission to share this newsletter article as long as you include the following credit:
Reprinted from Successful Self Employment (SSE) News by Andrea Conway, the Law of Attraction marketing coach for solopreneurs and small business owners ready to make all the money they want from the business they LOVE. Subscribe to SSE News at www.successfulselfemployment.com/signup.php