Creative Visualization Support Thread!

[juroara]

(Fine, I'll break the ice . Hello new forum! I'm not too thrilled with the title of the new forum though. I prefer metaphysical over paranormal, but then again is seeing a UFO metaphysics? How about the rabbit hole?) This thread is exactly what the title says it is. This is not a debate thread to yell at people for even wanting to try out creative visualization. It's perfectly okay to 'debate' over 'how' it potentially works in a respectful manner. Which mind does the real work, the conscious mind or the subconscious mind? This is a thread for people interested in practicing creative visualization, aka the law of attraction, however creative visualization is much deeper than law of attraction. This is a thread to share both your negative and positive experiences with it, and to support each other in our efforts. Please feel free to add your experiences or any resources or videos that you think would be helpful or even just mind blowing! I've been interested in this for years now. But after trying to apply it into my life, it still hasn't worked the way I wanted it to. My life still isn't where I want it to be. Changing my life to the life I want to live, the only life I want to live, feels like moving a mountain. But, through this difficult experience I have learned a few things, good and bad. For one, forget the movie the Secret. It's extremely misleading. This creative visualization deal turns out to be far more complex then the Secret leads it to be. It's complex because no one is an island. While the Secret does a good job explaining the idea of how you co-create your own personal reality, it doesn't do a very good job of explaining how the larger reality. . .co-creates you! Or at least, your own mental sphere. Because were not separate from the world around us, it influences us everyday, and we in turn influence it. Creative visualization really is this two way creative process. As we change (our thoughts), the world changes, as the world changes it changes us (our thoughts). The big problem is, how do we create the positive change we want to see in our lives when the world seems to be going to shit? Be honest! Hold up your hand if you've felt the squeezing bottleneck of these times! What's going to burst through? Something good or bad? The more I practiced creative visualization, the more I felt this immense tension in the world. I think we are living in one of the most unique times the world has ever seen. We are experiencing both extremes on this earth, from the most heinous to the most sublime. What creative visualization offer us is a different perspective of life. A life where we can choose to either live miserable or blissful. A life where such a choice is entirely our responsibility. The challenge is two-fold. We must, as individuals choose to co-create for ourselves the most blissful life we can possibly imagine!!! And no one can make this choice for you. So that's the first challenge, are you willingly to live blissfully? The second challenge is - you are not separate from the world. Good luck stopping the suffering of the world from reaching your door step. It just doesn't work that way! The second challenge is, is to choose to live this blissful life TOGETHER. Does it feel impossible? I admit, it feels impossible a lot of times. I've been working minimum wage for two years now, and now I'm struggling to even imagine how I could ever find a higher paying job. Nature however is extremely humbling. She has shown us very recently that in a matter of minutes she can drastically alter the lives of thousands. Change is the only constant. And it can happen instantly. My sister was jobless for a year. A single phone call changed her life, and within a day she was making $14 an hour. There is a lot more I'd like to talk about, but I should really go to bed!

[AznDragon1234]

im sry i understood very little of what you have been saying id like to contrivute but i dont understand what your main aim is. sry if this isnt what you wanted

[nina]

I'm trying to get the name of the forum changed.

[Xaqaria]

im sry i understood very little of what you have been saying id like to contrivute but i dont understand what your main aim is. sry if this isnt what you wanted I believe Juroara is talking about the concepts originally made popular by The Power of Positive Thinking written by Norman Peale and published in 1952. The basic concept is that the way in which you perceive yourself, the world and the future has a tangible effect on those things. Creative visualization refers to creating the world you want to live in by visualizing it as real. There are a lot of people who try to capitalize on this idea by calling it by different names and dressing it up in new packages, but the basic premise can be found as far back as you look. Typically, Marketing schemes like The Secret are not really telling you anything different than what you might learn from the Eightfold Path to Enlightenment of Buddhist Philosophy, but they fail to give the whole picture. They tell you about Right view and right intention, but they leave out right action, speech, livelihood, effort, mindfulness and concentration. Truly, all these things are important for creating a world in which we can all be happy.

[juroara]

I believe Juroara is talking about the concepts originally made popular by The Power of Positive Thinking written by Norman Peale and published in 1952. The basic concept is that the way in which you perceive yourself, the world and the future has a tangible effect on those things. Creative visualization refers to creating the world you want to live in by visualizing it as real. Correct. I was too lazy to get into the "what is creative visualization" because really you'd have to write a book on it to cover all the different aspects of it! Its simple, easy and complicated all at the same time. It would help to know a bit about it before coming to the thread. The Secret introduced a lot of people to it, but like Xaqaria said, it's much older than the Secret and there are resources out there that have much more weight to them then the Secret Creative visualization should become a way of being and doing!

[Dannon Oneironaut]

Well, you are right, it is a vast subject. I could write about some techniques. What do you want to manifest? I call it manifestation, or bringing what you want into your life. Sometimes I just have an intention to be open to something new and exciting to come into my life, but I don't have anything in particular in mind. Then I go for a walk maybe to downtown, just following my footsteps and looking around me, not going anywhere in particular, being open and present. I talk to who I run into. I smile at strangers. I walk through alleys and down the train tracks. I often find cool things doing this like unique furniture. One time I found a wizard hat. I meet people who offer me opportunities. When there is something I want I visualize what I want with me next to it or me holding it in my hands, standing on the Earth and I make it start glowing very brightly. I see a grid of energy going through it all, like a web of life or dream-catcher. Then I draw a spiral with my hand channeling energy through my palm over the whole visualization. The spiral spirals from outside towards the center in a clockwise fashion. Let me explain the theory of how this all works. This is what I consider meta-physics. So we have three realms of existence. Really they are all one but for our purposes we divide them into three different frequencies. We could divide it into as many realms as we want. Seven is very popular ie: seven heavens. You have the causal (higher mind/soul) which is where the surface of the world of form meets the formless like the surface of the ocean. This is where an idea first originates. This is where your intention acts from when it is aligned with the whole instead of against the whole in service to the ego. This is where personal and transpersonal meet. Then you have the astral, or emotional realms. This is like the depth of the water. This is where emotions and the subconscious rule. This is the realms of dreams. Emotions give our intentions power. That is why black magic seems to work better because anger is such a concentrated emotion. But anger always backfires, doesn't it? Then you have the world of matter that we know of. It is a crystallization of the other worlds. In fact it is all one world. This is how energy healing works like Reiki and chakra meditations, etc. Because our body has different frequencies. We have a higher mental body (clear mind), we have an emotional body (dream body, astral body), and we have a physical body. Oh yeah, we have an etheric body which is almost tangible, it is borderline physical. Anyone can feel it in themselves and in other people. It feels electrical/magnetic. It is just a little higher of a frequency than the nerves. This is the body that the chakras are in and the acupuncture meridians. Disease appears here first before manifesting in the physical body. This energy is manipulated by visualization and intent. So anyway, we have an idea of what we want to create, let's say a painting of a gnome smoking a pipe wearing a red pointy hat and a long white beard and mongolian eyes with green boots that have curly toes riding on a ferret. This idea is actually that you see with your mind's eye is on the causal plane. That is why it is called the causal plane; it causes. If you have strong emotion invested into it you have created a thoughtform. Some thoughtforms are created by a huge group of people and cultures of people over a very long time and actually take on a life of their own. These become archetypes. This is why Gods want you to worship them. This is why people worship gods, to keep them alive. They are created by people, not the other way around. Anyway. Visualizing me with the job I want with me in the picture makes it linked to me, so it is clear that I want the job, or I want it to happen to ME. Holding it in my hands does that also, I am holding what I want in my hands. Standing on the earth to show that I want it in this physical world, not in the dreamworlds but tangibly here in this material world. The spiral is a clockwise spiral because that is the downward spiral. Like the spiral of water when you flush the toilet or unplug your bathtub. I suppose that in the southern hemisphere you would draw a counter-clockwise spiral. This is the downward spiral of drawing an idea from the heavens (causal world) into the Earth realm. The grid is the energy that permeates the Universe that keeps it all together. Has anyone seen this web? Then I always say "So be it, if it is the good for all" because like Juroara said, the collective is also dreaming us. This is a shared dream and others' dreams affect our dream of life, and we want to effect others' life dreams only for the good of all. Also, this grounds the energy so that it can't backfire on us individually. You know that myth of someone wishes for something, maybe from a genie, and they get what they wished for but in an unexpected way that has negative consequences for them. "I wished for a ten inch pianist". Sharing the benefit of what you manifest for the good of all is a safeguard. After all that you have to trust that your efforts were enough and that you will surely recieve what you visualized. So you need to forget about it and let it manifest. If you keep thinking about it you will interfere with it manifesting. You can't pull a tree out of a seed. You will only kill it if you try. I practiced this technique as I was hitchhiking around the continent. I would visualize the rides that I wanted and I would always get them. But you have to keep it realistic so that you can believe that it can happen. Even your subconscious needs to believe that it can happen. creative visualization has saved my life a few times.

[juroara]

Thanks a lot Dan! I keep finding there is still so much I need to learn. I've met other people who had a similar experience to yours. Well one crazy lady I met willingly decided to be homeless for a year! She told me she just imagined every meal and every roof she stayed under. She claims it was a blast, but she started to get tired of moving around so much. When I started this, I didn't understand how much you need to really know what it is you want. I STILL DON'T!! About three years ago I wanted to move out. I was jobless, and so was my friend. But I imagined that the two of us would maybe one day live together as roomates. I was hoping it would be a rental home instead of an apartment. I just imagined us vividly living together in a nice house as roomates. I was happy with this visualization. I thought about it lightly. And I didn't expect anything, because IM JOBLESS! She was jobless! Neither one of us could afford to move out anytime soon anyways. After the visualization I didn't worry myself over it. I just 'forgot' about it and I didnt' share my visualization with anyone. A few days later while playing WoW, my friend tells me the strangest thing. She tells me, her parents want to buy her a house! She's flabbergasted because, her parents have never expressed this desire before. And she's thinking, why would they want to buy her a house anyways? Her parents were the kind of people that seemed to expect their children to make it on their own, not be pampered for life. She doesn't want to live alone, so she offered for me to come live with her in her new house. I wouldn't even have to pay rent! Her parents would pay for all of it! I went pale. I couldn't believe this was happening. And I didn't like it. I told my friend that this didn't feel right! Were two adults, and we should only move out if it means were going to be adult and pay our own bills. She agreed, this was a weird proposition from her parents. Right then and there I made a strong mental note to the Universe that NO I don't want this! That I want to pay my own bills! (and I didn't want to move to Dallas either, ew!) Her parents never brought it up again . My friend didn't seem upset. She wasn't ready to move out anyways. That simple experience taught me so much. For one I learned not to visualize anything unless I really was ready to recieve it right then and there. But it would be almost two years later that I asked myself a deeper question, do the thoughts of other people influence me without me realizing it? Am I manifesting right now, unconscioulsy, what other people are desiring? I get a job a few months later. Story short, I hated this job. A year later I did something that right now is unimaginable! I put in my two weeks without any security that I would have a job! Mind you, I had bills to pay! But I was off in lala land. Putting in the two weeks right before spring break, I was cloud nine. That would piss off my boss so much, and she couldn't afford to fire me! QUITTING FELT GREAT! I was convinced that before my bills were due I would have a new job studying to become a groomer. I thought this was the right path for me. I imagined myself as a groomer. The craziest thing happened. The employees from the job I was leaving (its a pet place) knew a groomer looking to take someone under their wing! Without even asking me, they sit down and have lunch with this person, they butter up and tell the groomer what a wonderful person I am. The groomer is convinced, and ironically enough she said that all I have to do is SHOW UP and I have the job! Thats it, just SHOW UP monday mornin! I didn't even job hunt! They did all the work for me. Now something even crazier happened. While they were at lunch, I was given a new opportunity to be a freelance artist. This was so much closer to my dream, the idea of being a groomer just melted away. My employee friends saw me the next day and told me I had a new job! I said, thanks but............no thanks. I felt terrible!! But that was my decision and I stuck by it. It was my last day of work. I'm about to be jobless, sure I have these awesome art commissions all neatly lined up, but there is no financial security with being a freelance artist. I was scared. But mostly I was happy and I felt free!!! That day I went to my favorite art supply store to get ready for my big mural commissions, which were already stressing me out. The boss, who was ringing me out, asked me what was wrong. And I just straight out told him, I just quit my job! And he just straight out told me, show up tomorrow, and you can work here! It was so humbling. Because he didn't need me. He was overstaffed as it was. Good man. No doubt I attracted this new boss into my life out of the desire to never work for a psychotic bitch again (one day she almost attacked a pregnant employee!) After that everything seemed to go to ape shit when I realized I just agreed to a min. wage job!!!!! And those fancy smancy murals I was going to do, which would have been thousands of dollars, suddenly fell through. They no longer had the funds for art in these tough economic times. I told myself I couldn't work here for more than three months, min. wage is too little. Three months became four months. That became six, and so and so on. I felt trapped! I STILL FEEL TRAPPED! Its been two years and all my efforts to find a new job have failed. I really need a new job if I'm ever going to move out. But now the idea of quitting without any financial security? That terrifies me. I don't even know how I did it two years ago. Did I lose something ?

[Dannon Oneironaut]

There are other alternatives to living to work, work to live. that woman who chose to be homeless. i was like that for years. I traveled. hitchhiked without a penny to my name, manifesting everything I needed. I trusted that I would live, and I did. I had a great time. I traveled the world, ending up in foreign countries without a penny to my name, not speaking the language and no return ticket. It was fun, except when I got sick! But I too got sick of traveling. I lived in a Redwood tree for a year. I settled down. I also am living paycheck to paycheck working 5 days a week. No wonder Americans are either fanatic Christians or skeptics. This lifestyle kills the imagination. The only way I get through it is doing Yoga every morning and lucid dreaming every night. And making art and music and hiking during the weekends. When I get a chance I am going to move back to Oregon or Hawaii where I know I can live a comfortable inspiring life without selling out to the rat-race. There are alternatives. Your story makes it all clear about manifesting is to do what you love and the Universe will support you. And be bold! The Universe favors bold people. No thought of the future! That is bold. Unless you have children to think about, you have nothing to lose. PS.. Part of manifesting or creative visualization is to manifest your contentment. Thinking "I would be content, if..." "I would be happy only if...." is the nature of suffering and discontent. The key to manifesting is to manifest your contentment here and now in your circumstances. Be content, then manifest... The nature of suffering is to look for happiness in this illusory world when all happiness comes from contentment (what the Buddha calls desirelessness) and is found within, not in worldly circumstances. Once you are not attached to the world it can manifest freely according to your preferences. This is the paradox. Being attached freezes reality and makes it more rigid. Not to push too hard, not to pull too hard, not to cry or whine or demand, but to make a hypnotic suggestion to the Universal mind.

[juroara]

When I get a chance I am going to move back to Oregon or Hawaii where I know I can live a comfortable inspiring life without selling out to the rat-race. There are alternatives. !! Sometimes I imagine I should just move back to puerto rico and grow my own food and forget all this nonsense !! And be bold! This is what I'm struggling with right now! But hearing stories, like your own, helps me a lot. The nature of suffering is to look for happiness in this illusory world when all happiness comes from contentment (what the Buddha calls desirelessness) and is found within, not in worldly circumstances. Once you are not attached to the world it can manifest freely according to your preferences. This is the paradox. Being attached freezes reality and makes it more rigid. Not to push too hard, not to pull too hard, not to cry or whine or demand, but to make a hypnotic suggestion to the Universal mind. I've heard this so many times before. I thought I was applying it right, I guess I wasn't . But remembering what it was like to quit my job - to feel free, I can see now that recently I wasn't manifesting right.

[Dannon Oneironaut]

!! Sometimes I imagine I should just move back to puerto rico and grow my own food and forget all this nonsense !! Take me with you. I'd live there! I've heard this so many times before. I thought I was applying it right, I guess I wasn't . But remembering what it was like to quit my job - to feel free, I can see now that recently I wasn't manifesting right. It sounded like you were doing good. I wasn't talking about you in particualr but the impersonal you in general. All of you, and me too. I get caught up feeling like a powerless victim of society all the time, especially living here in the South. And it is scary to be bold. It is easy to say it, but to do it is risky. There are no promises. I was bolder when I was younger. Now I am in a different situation where I have to think about other's needs, not just my own. It is easy to be bold and selfish. Hmmm. It sounded like you were on a roll of manifesting things. I would've taken the house but helped to pay some of the mortgage. Oh well. I wish I could manifest a house. The best I did was manifest a hollowed out redwood tree. That was a nice tree though. It was cozy, dry, warm, it smelled good, it was spacious. I built a loft in it and had my bed up there. I had a propane stove. It was a nice nice house. If only it had a bathroom and it wasn't an eight mile hike from the closest town I would still be living there.

[Xaqaria]

The best thing to keep in mind is to just seek what you actually want. So many people make the mistake of seeking the things that they think will get them what they want instead of just seeking what they actually want in the first place. This is the reason why so many people are unhappy. They spend all of their time trying to figure out what they need in order to get what they want and then trying to get those things they think they need instead of just trying to get what they want and leaving out the inbetween details.

[juroara]

The best I did was manifest a hollowed out redwood tree. I've always wanted to see a redwood They spend all of their time trying to figure out what they need in order to get what they want and then trying to get those things they think they need instead of just trying to get what they want and leaving out the inbetween details. So if I understand this correctly. . . . let's say I want to move out to my own place. I can pretty much see vividly how I want my own place to be. But the big question mark for me, is how do I get there?? I've tried to "manifest" a new job for me so I can have the money to get this new place, but in all honesty I am up and down when it comes to job hunting. One day I'm happy about being a veterinary receptionist, the next day the idea makes me miserable. I'm just so indecisive and lose motivation to even job hunt! Actually when I do job hunt and I'm usually just disgusted. Would you say then for now, just leave that blank and focus on manifesting my own place - that which I really wanted instead? It's been hard for me because my brain is shouting that I logically need a job first and to save up money for at least the first month of rent before I can really think about moving out. But then, I don't even 'know' what that job is! PS. This vicious cycle for me has been going on for two years, so I could really use any advice. I think maybe I was putting my energy in the wrong places.

[Xaqaria]

I don't know, do you want a job? earlier, you said you were able to find a good place to live that did not require a job, and yet you turned it down because it was not what you really wanted. Are either of these things (job, living space) the core of your desire? It sounds to me like the real desire is to become independent. If this is truly what you want, then you should be trying to manifest your independence, and not a new job or a new living space. Those things may be part of the picture, but they may not really be the fundamental desire. The more obviously naturalistic aspect of creative visualization is analyzing your desires so that you are able to get down to the real fundamental core of what you want. This allows you to be passively open to a myriad of possible solutions instead of deciding on one solution and then attaching the feeling of success only to that particular avenue. It is also important to note that I mean this as the starting point. Obviously as you visualize your success in any endeavor, the details will begin to materialize (otherwise there could be no positive outcome of the exercise). I feel as though you may have skipped this step and gone right to an intermediary. Instead of starting with a clear understanding of what it is you want (if indeed your desire is independence) you sort of took a new place or a new job to represent independence instead of being just a part of the larger picture. The reason why it is important to form a complete and clear picture from the most basic desires on up is because without an internally consistent picture, often times people will desire things that are contradictory and it becomes a matter of "what do I want more?" even if they do not even realize that the things are not compatible with each other. In your situation, you desired a place to live, but because you did not first build a complete structure of how a place to live would fit in with your other desires, you ended up with a place to live that conflicted with your more basic (and therefore stronger) desire to be independent. What you really wanted was to feel independent by finding a place to live in which you felt comfortable and could easily afford on your own by doing a job you enjoy. This sentence is structured purposefully to display the hierarchy of desires. This allows for changes in your desires to be effected from the least important on up. Say you definitely want to be independent and you know that you need to live in your own space to feel that way, and you know that you need to be self supportive in order to be comfortable in that place but you realize that there are other options besides a job to be self supportive. The way in which the desire is structured allows you to question the elements that are closer to the bottom of the hierarchy without having to rework those that are higher up. In this way, you can be more flexible and more likely to succeed.

[juroara]

What you really wanted was to feel independent by finding a place to live in which you felt comfortable and could easily afford on your own by doing a job you enjoy. This sentence is structured purposefully to display the hierarchy of desires. This allows for changes in your desires to be effected from the least important on up. Say you definitely want to be independent and you know that you need to live in your own space to feel that way, and you know that you need to be self supportive in order to be comfortable in that place but you realize that there are other options besides a job to be self supportive. The way in which the desire is structured allows you to question the elements that are closer to the bottom of the hierarchy without having to rework those that are higher up. In this way, you can be more flexible and more likely to succeed. Thanks a lot, your post makes a lot of sense! In other words, I've been focusing my energy in the wrong order

[juroara]

I would have posted sooner, but it wasn't reality for me until I got my cards! Anyways, something awesome is happening this Saturday! I'm going to be in my first art show. Let me give you the background story and maybe you'll understand why I'm posting it here . There are a few artists I really really admire. Such as Alex Grey, Robert Venosa, and Andrew Gonzalez. I dream that maybe one day I can be as good as them, and also, that one day, I can get into a show with them. Months ago I found out that good old Andrew Gonzalez is from my own city (well he moved recently). So I email him, and I ask him for advice, you know, like what galleries here in SA like visionary or surreal art? I don't hear from him for months (because he was moving). When he emails me, he tells me that tonight Alex Grey will be in SA giving a talk. Actually, by the time I was reading the email, the talk had already started. I flip out! He's here, right now, in my city? He's like a celebrity to me I run down to the gallery anyways. There's no space inside, so I have to sit outside, with a bunch of other people around my age. It was great to see so many young people inspired by Alex Grey. It was so much fun listening to him, the way he talks reminds me of Terrence McKenna. I didn't actually get the meet Alex Grey. But it was inspiring. A little sign for me that there is an opportunity for myself, right here, in my own city. For years I've felt, no gallery would give a damn about my art. Another month or so passes. I'm still at the same job. Still haven't done anything with my art. I'm stressing out! I want real concrete change to happen in my life. Where was I going wrong? I felt directionless. Like I was running blind, and slamming into walls. I pick up this book that suggests that all creativity stems from a consciousness much deeper (and divine) than the waking consciousness. The book suggests that for any artist to be happy (which for an artist means self-expressing) and succeed, they need to CONNECT with this creative source/energy/consciousness, and allow it to channel freely. It didn't matter whether you believed it to be God, or You. The point was, creativity DOES NOT come from the waking consciousness. So..connect to the real source of creativity! Great! But how the hell do I do that? Towards the end of May I found a prayer from some new age website. What I like about new age is it doesn't necessarily distinguish God from Self. So the prayer went along with what the art book was telling me to do. The prayer was about direction and connection! The person who wrote the prayer suggested saying it 14 times in a row for 33 days. (they find numbers important). They also suggest that right after saying the prayer (for 14 times) write down anything that comes to mind. Anything. Doesn't matter. Well...I didn't do it for 33 days. After about a week and half I got tired of it and felt I was 'done'. After I felt 'done' with the prayer - I had this intense desire to be READY FOR AN ART SHOW! My paintings were sitting there, some for over two years, getting dusty and all. And in all of that time, I was never really motivated to clean up the edges and make them gallery presentable. Until now. So I start getting my paintings ready for a show! All the time, wondering, why haven't I done this sooner? No really, they've just been sitting here! Two days after I decide to get my paintings ready for an art show - I get an email from Andrew Gonzalez. He tells me, there's going to be a local visionary art show in about a month - then he gives me the contact info. Wow! What a nice email. But I didn't have my hopes up yet. The show is only in a month. Usually by that time submission to a gallery is over. But I take Andrew's advice, and I contact the gallery guy and show him my art. He likes it! He tells me I got him just on time. Wait, did you just say I'm in? For real? My first art show! So I ask who else is in the show? And the first person he tells me is Andrew Gonzalez Wait! What! Something like this wasn't supposed to happen for a couple of more years right? No? I was on cloud nine and all of this was my imagination! I didn't tell anyone until the gallery put my name up on their website. How did all of this happen? I mean, I gradated with my BFA over three years ago and in all of that time I never got into a show. That's also about the time I've been interested in creative visualization. That's when I looked back. And remembered that only two weeks ago, I decided to say a prayer to connect, and seek direction from my own higher consciousness. Then I get a strong feeling, I need to be ready for an art show. And more importantly, I ACT on this desire, and four days later my name was up on that gallery website. Magic Now what do I do? I'm scared!

[juroara]

I thought I should post an update. After thanksgiving of 2010 I made clear goals. Number one was moving out. Number two was a new job. These past few months have been really crazy! Short story, I moved out and I got a new job! The dynamics of what really happened is so much more complicated though. The situation was: Sis moved out using her student loans, which can only support her financially for about two months. She moved out with no job. And with no apartment lease. The situation financially wasnt looking very good. Now that sis had left home, I was home alone with my parents. My parents do not get along. They use us as their excuse for living together, and now there was only me. In that first day home alone with them the atmosphere was already tense. Ive known for years that this would happen. That once me and my sisters move out, the cover will be blown and my parents will have to face each other. I had to leave! I made a goal that in two weeks time I would be living in an apartment with my sis. I made it clear to everyone that I was moving out. I handed in my two weeks and made my peace at work. I had been working with these people for three years. They were my second family. I miss them dearly and I had to mentally and emotionally prepare myself for leaving. But during those two weeks, I was ready to go. Every day for the next two weeks when I went home I just felt unbelievably weird. Like, this sinking feeling that there is just nothing here for me. I was just DONE with this city. Originally I had told sis I wasnt going to move out until I had gotten a new job. When she found out I was moving out in two weeks no matter what she got pissed at me and started to freak out. "What are we gonna do when neither one of us had a job?" Logically, I can understand why shes pissed. But emotionally, I knew I couldnt stay here without losing my sanity. I had to leave. I knew that day that there is no looking back. Its all or nothing! What could I do? Thats when I took this creative visualization more serious than ever. I decided to do something with creative visualization I hadn't done before. Everything! I picked music that made me happy high, like Hare Krishna by Krishna Das. I made a colorful vision board, nothing specific. I just grabbed imagery that made me happy. Flowers, clouds, rivers, what ever. I made a list of 25 reasons why I love my home, my new city, paying my own bills. 25 reasons why I love my new job! Have you ever written 25 reasons why you want something? At the end of my 25 reasons I had a mantra. Next, I added body motion, some sun salutations! It all fit together like this!! While jamming to Hare Krishna and other good Das songs, I raised my voice singing my 25 reasons why I love my new home and doing sun salutations to really drive home that affirmation feeling!! And repeat! This went on for over an hour, I got too tired to do sun salutes, so I would just salute the sky. I probably looked like a freak, but you know what, the VERY next day I get a phone call. Me and sis got the two bedroom apartment that we've been eyeing for over a month! Its official!! Reality is sinking in. Holy shit im moving out in a week. My last days in my old life were surreal. Constant mixed emotions of absolute dread, relief and joy. The actual moving out process was a nightmare. I moved out during an ice storm and blizzard. Um, and well. Lets just say it wasnt the happiest week of my life. There was no celebration. No, the atmosphere with my sis who was still flipping out over our financial situation made our shiny new home tense. Constant tension. The ice and snow didn't help. It didnt help that we didnt have much groceries and how scary the streets were with black ice. That first week really threw me off, I didnt know how to feel, terrified or happy? But really, I love love love having my own bedroom! I made another due date. Two months. Thats what I gave myself to find a new job. Two months. I did not even allow myself to think of the consequences if I didnt have a job within two months (ahem, not paying rent). I was scared because, I had been job hunting for three years. Three years! But I didnt have three years, I had two months. I went in and out of job interviews, each one I thought would be the one. Each one left me cold. I tried to repeat the magic of that first night, where I celebrated having a new home. But it wasn't working out so well. This time, instead of dancing and singing, I had to get quiet. Why is it so hard for me to find a job? What job do I want? What job would make me happy? I tried to imagine myself is so many roles. But none of them spoke to my heart. Its as if there is no job that could make me happy. Wait a minute! I realize something I never realized before - There is NO job that can make me happy! And thats OKAY because...I should be happy what ever job I work! No job can make me happy, because nothing outside of myself can make me happy. Its all in here! Its always been right here! A weight is lifted from me! I dont have to be stuck searching for that one dream job. I dont have to be stuck doing any type of work! I am free to do what ever work I feel like doing, and what ever work I choose to do i'll be happy! I was liberated. I re-continued my creative visualization celebration, singing Hare Krishna. I felt great! I went onto craigslist, which I loathed and hated, but that moment I felt good! The first job that caught my eye was Paint Specialist. They call me the next day, I go in for an interview. And the words they uttered made me choke back with laughter. They were "impressed" with my resume and that I had a BFA! What? What? Theyre impressed that I have a BFA? I was laughing because, that was one of the 25 reasons why I loved being an successful artist - because my BFA was useful and meant something! In the past three years of job hunting, no one ever gave a damn about my BFA. They also told me, that I was the first person to respond to the ad, and the only applicant they were interested in. I got my job, and lo and behold, it just happens to be the two month mark exactly. Life only gets weirder. Were still not the best financially, because sis is still job hunting. I want to screeaaam at her. Shes so frustrated. She looks at all these jobs on craigslist and thinks, they could never make her happy so she has no motivation to apply but she feels she has to so that makes her miserable. I can not stress enough to anyone job hunting. No job, no job, can make you happy. All your happiness is right there inside of you. My journey isnt over. I feel like im on a sliding platform. I dont think ill be staying at this job long. I havent taken up creative visualization since I got my new job. But I think its time to again!

[Dannon Oneironaut]

Great story! To most people you may have looked weird doing the sun salutations, singing, and visualizing but I would recognize it because I do the same thing!

[Kuhnada29]

I pick up this book that suggests that all creativity stems from a consciousness much deeper (and divine) than the waking consciousness. The book suggests that for any artist to be happy (which for an artist means self-expressing) and succeed, they need to CONNECT with this creative source/energy/consciousness, and allow it to channel freely. It didn't matter whether you believed it to be God, or You. The point was, creativity DOES NOT come from the waking consciousness. So..connect to the real source of creativity! Yea, I believe this to be true. Good story Jurorua, I think Prayer and Concentration are the same thing. Because think about ti, when your praying, your concentrating very deeply on something. I think deep one-pointed concentration is how you access divine creative energy. I think telekinesis might also be possible with deep concentration...when I say deep concentration I mean, concentrating on an object so deep, the object that your concentrating on seems like the only thing that exists. Doing exercises like this yields incredible results for me, increased confidence, self-esteem, abundant energy..intuition. It's just so hard to actually get motivated and to keep doing exercises on a regular basis. I WANT to do it everyday, but only end up doing it like once a week or every two weeks. It's so hard to actually just go in the other room, sit down, and do nothing. I think I'm addicted to the Internet. I must make lifestyle changes like Pan said in another thread.