It's not really that I'm an eternal optimist, it's that I know how very temporary everything in life is. Even if you try to repeat the same day, something changes it. So, don't try to smooth out the surf, learn to ride the waves.
Long before manifesting was a "thing," I was doing it my entire life.
As a small child, I had endless properties to run, play, and imagine upon. I followed the creek through the forest, dove off the dock on the Chesapeake, explored an abandoned lighthouse, and rambled around our historic estate and ran barefoot in the sand at our summer home. It was in these locations that I had to use my imagination, as my parents were not the buying-toys types.
An abandoned car on the property became a summer project, imagining fixing it up and driving it to California when I had my license, learning to surf, and being an actress.
It was so real to my imagination, I could see every detail of the road trip and the life in California, being an actress in a movie and a model, being in Miss USA pageant, publishing books, and being interviewed on radio shows. I was possessed by sharing the joy of life in story form, whether written or acted out.
It became such a part of my vivid imagination, that when life and losses got in the way, I tucked it in, knowing that it awaited me, but the path might be full of obstacles.
And boy, it was!
It wasn't until recently that I realized I took a very crooked path and into times of great despair and trials. But, somehow because of the wellspring of those very vivid images of my future, I surreptitiously attained my goals.
Serendipity: The occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way. (I call this opportunities that pop up and you must say YES)
But, the thing about life is it's like you have to pay the troll at the bridge before you get the reward.
Remember, before you get an opportunity, you get a desperate distraction. That is a good sign. See it as a transitional warning. When things are so bad, an opportunity comes and you must say YES. That's how it all works.
Modeling - done! First, I took some modeling classes when my dad was alive and I was 15. At 16, dad died and he believed I'd be a good model. I realized I didn't have dad to cheerlead me and take the initiative, I had to henceforth take the initiative and fill his shoes in my life by believing I can do it, so I finished my modeling education and ended up modeling.
Miss USA pageant - done! I announced at the age of 4 that I would be in the Miss USA pageant. With my father dying and me feeling responsible for my mom, whom I really didn't know because she was very introverted, I gave up a lot of dreams, like going away to college. I rather resented being the last child and not being able to have the natural adult passages my siblings got to have. I resented my mom because she was not affectionate, not a talker, hugger, or "I love you" type. It was very tough doing 4 years at a community college for her. Then, I came across an ad for interviewing for the Miss USA pageant and I knew mom was a big freak for dressing up and emulating grace and beauty and recalling my promise to myself, I went for it. It helped my mother and I bond, as well.
Published books - done! In a marriage that deteriorated over time to the point of feeling absolutely unwelcome and my dreams set aside, I would lie in bed at night thinking of all the things that would never happen if I stayed there. Publishing a book (something I tried to do in my spare time for years) seemed impossible. I had to go through the extreme discomfort of divorce, claiming my own life for my very first time, and suddenly I was getting published (over 2 dozen times now!)
Live in California - done! Ever since my first Gidget movie and first Gidget TV series episode, I was hooked. Beach Boys firmed it up. I was a skateboarder before kids in my area were doing it. I saw myself as a Cali girl, modeling, acting, working in clothing stores. I married at 21 and he got a job in Southern California. We moved to Redondo Beach and I reveled in the beach life and worked in a mall in the 80s - peak of mall rat culture. The hardest part was leaving my mom whom I'd been responsible for 5 years.
Be recognized for paranormal research - done! After having my Achilles tendon reattached, I was bedridden and unable to walk for 4 months. I got very depressed. My son said, "mom start a blog about that paranormal stuff you like." I learned how to blog and started Ghost Hunting Theories that is today #1 ghost hunting blog in the world and, up my last checking, #8 for paranormal subject.
On radio shows being interviewed - done! Because of my research and expertise in all things paranormal, I ended up doing something I majored in college - communications. I was able to do public speaking often on podcasts and radio shows. This was a talent my father was very known for and I wanted to be recognized for it, as well. Getting info out to the public in a way that allows individuals to be curious and ponder the world - that's my goal!
Act in a movie - start of 2023! Did I mention above that there is a price exacted just before serendipity occurs and the thing you dreamed of falls in front of you as an opportunity? Well, I got Bell's palsy on both sides of my face and a very long recovery (over a year) when I got offered a part in a movie our production company was filming. My face wasn't healed completely, the lips still a bit paralyzed for awkward smiling and speaking. I suddenly had that chance at the worst possible moment, but hey I learned LONG AGO - DO NOT PASS UP OPPORTUNITIES, THEY ARE GOD'S OFFERINGS. So, I focused on my healing and manifesting a working face before we go to film. (More on this film later when I can divulge).
Buy my own home and decorate it my way - underway! I was getting closer to retirement age and it was way too late to build up a retirement at just an office job, so I stuck with the big dream of living to my potential and seeing my last dreams come true. I had nothing to lose at this point. When all my work got notice and I entered into the production company and filming, even screenwriting (a deep-held dream), I was able to do the one last thing I needed to do for me. I missed the 20s independence, went from home to marriage to rental apartments. I wanted my own home, my own way. In that odd way you have to go through something tough, I couldn't afford rent in Phoenix, so I moved in with a handicapped friend and helped out by cooking, cleaning, and acting like a nurse and protector. Just when he realized his condition was worsening with age and he wanted to go to assisted living in his home state, he offered to sell me the house I had come to love. I began to renovate it to my vision and will be signing the papers.
The first key to manifesting is having a very clear vision of goals, imagine living it, imagine without a doubt it's your fate - one way or another.
I know some folks call this senseless optimism, but how many times in your life did you imagine horrid conversations with your boss that never happened, or car accidents that didn't occur? We tend to have no issue filling ourselves with possible bad outcomes and, in a way, we are poised for the worst, protective of safety and security, and we can't let go to let God.
If you are prepping your mind with scenarios of what could go right, you can handle success. That sounds crazy, but think about it. We prep our minds to be ready for the worst, but if we don't prep for what happens if it goes right, we actually begin to subconsciously fear success. It is a great impossibility as we haven't fed that scenario to prepare.
Have you ever had something from your past you aren't sure if you dreamed it or it happened? The mind doesn't know more than what we input it. You tell yourself a story long enough, it becomes part of your memory. When you very clearly and often repeat the image of your life in the future, your mind believes that is a destiny. It's seen it, so it's real, right?
It's rather like imagining biting into a lemon and your mouth watering. It's nothing more than imagery but the mind prepares all the responses for this event.
Use all setbacks, obstacles, and bad times be a launching pad for recognizing opportunities that come after it and say "YES" as if you know it's a breadcrumb being offered to that manifested vision.
I look back and if my dad hadn't passed away, I may have let him be the initiator of my life, I may have gone away to college and not met the man I would create an amazing son with. If I hadn't been stuck with mom, I wouldn't have pursued modeling and pageants as a bonding method (kind of like dads and sons with baseball). If I hadn't been laid up after surgery, I wouldn't have started my blog, realized what an apt writer I am, and wouldn't have tried publishing a book yet again (with newfound confidence). If my marriage hadn't become horribly uncomfortable, I wouldn't have spread my wings to make my dreams happen.
You think you know where you're headed and something steps in the path and says, "no, this is your chance to refocus."
There are tons and tons of other manifestations I've had along the way, but these main ones that were persistent since I was a child stick out in my mind. Of course, I never did end up finding out I'm a Scandinavian Princess and inheriting some kind of crown, but then if I had it all handed to me, I might not have pursued writing, acting, modeling, and more.
Anyone who has had huge victories and success knows that the road there was like an Army obstacle course that felt impossible to trudge through, but in the end, you look back at those obstacles and realize just how strong you feel and maybe, just maybe, you underestimated yourself by thinking "I can't," instead of "I got this!"
My personal motto I use when times get tough - "I'm a Viking. I got this!" To shore up my fortitude, I think of my parents growing up in the Depression Era and being in the Navy during World War II, my grandparents in WWI emigrating to America from Norway. All the Vikings of my heritage from Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Finland.
We all come from lineages of survivors. Each life had many challenges, many rewards, but the one factor that we have complete control over is knowing our destiny is great.
Just imagine the imagery in the minds of immigrants coming to America across a long sea, pondering the unknown. They had vague notions of what it might be like, weren't sure how they'd survive, but they knew that it offered open possibilities.
Life is full of open possibilities. Sail forward with visions of glory and all the energy and enthusiasm that makes it possible to achieve.
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