Happiness as a Birthright

I can be as tenacious as a bulldog. So when I discovered the art of visualization in Christian Science Sunday School, many, many winters ago, I began years of dogged determination in holding onto the pictures of my dreams. I was taught you could imagine yourself to wellness by holding a thought or picture of yourself as a pure perfect child of the Father/Mother God. So I applied this theory to all things thereafter: grades, being a soccer stud, being a cheerleader, graduating from college, getting a job, becoming a published writer.

Perhaps due to my manifesting success, I garnered the notion that my persistence to holding the dream in my mind’s eye created the physical manifestation of the dream. I had read in books, listened to many people say that like attracts like. If you keep affirming the thing or lifestyle that you want, one day it will become yours. There was always that one caveat: you have to let go of the wish after you make it. You get out of your own way. I thought I knew what that meant. The Universe would figure out how to manifest my dream. All I had to do was have faith, trust, and wait.

We all have moments of wavering faith. During these downward spirals, many of us review affirmation lists, paste a few more pictures of the desired life on vanity mirrors, or stare some more at dream/vision boards. Afterall, if you imagine it, it will come.
It’s like being a kid staring at a bike in a shop window. Surely, as that kid staring at the bike, if you just stand there long enough, the storeowner will ask if you’d like a test drive. Or perhaps a parent will notice and offer to buy the bike for your next birthday. Or a friend will offer to loan her bike. Or a neighbor will suggest a chore you can perform to earn money to buy the bike. But after weeks of a constant vigil, nothing has yet happened. This poor kid becomes dreadfully discouraged. What if someone came along and said, “Hey kid, why don’t you go to the park and play, and I’ll watch this bike for you.” What relief! What joy, to relax, and stop the consistent watching and waiting. It’s like lifting a burden. Is it possible you can still have what you want without having to concentrate on it every minute of every day?

It’s always the simplest of notions that are the hardest to really understand. We often complicate things beyond recognition. Holding the image is only the first half of successful manifestation. You must temporarily release the image of your dream come true and relax into the life you have already created. Find the joy and hold the feeling of successful manifestation. Be happy and you will attract the things, people, and situations that will bring you more happiness. Focusing on the feeling you want most in your life puts you in a place to receive more of that good feeling. Concentrating on what you don’t have and wishing for more every waking moment, keeps you in launch mode, always expressing the wish, the discontent, but never really trusting or settling into receiving mode. Ever see a person keep futzing with their cooking and never settle down to enjoy the meal? They’re always improving, adjusting, amending. Be the one who gives the utmost attention to the creating process, then relax and enjoy. Break free of patterns that keep you in your discontent. Birth a new you this spring and trust the happiness that is your birthright.