Dare to Imagine

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I turned thirty. I woke up in a state of shock, finally realizing I wasn’t a kid anymore. I had no job and no savings or any other assets except an old torn-up electric piano. I was scrounging (a word we used often) to come up with money every month for rent for my little studio apartment in a funky part of Oakland, California.

That day changed my life, because I began to apply some ideas in some new ways, ideas that before had just been occasional floating thoughts, ephemeral and remote possibilities in my mind. I sat down and wrote on paper what became — for me, in my words — the first secret of manifestation:

The first step to discovering the secret of manifestation is to write your ideal scene on paper, your dream life five years in the future. Begin with the end in mind, and keep it in mind.

The day I turned thirty, I sat down and took a sheet of paper and wrote Ideal Scene at the top. I imagined everything had gone as well as I could possibly imagine, and somehow, over the next five years, I was able to create the ideal life for me. What would it look like? What would I do and have, and who would I be? I was surprised, even shocked in a strange way, at what came spilling out on paper. I imagined I had a publishing company, successfully publishing books and music, including my own books and music. Before I sat down and wrote out my ideal scene, I had absolutely no interest in business. I had never taken a business course. I had never written a book or recorded my music. The words that spilled out when I wrote my ideal scene surprised me as much as they were to surprise just about everyone else I knew.

I imagined I wrote successful books and recorded beautiful music as well. I imagined I had a lovely white home on a hill in northern California, one of my favorite places on earth. I imagined I had a wonderfully loving relationship.

I dared to imagine my ideal, so I imagined I had plenty of time for it all: creativity, a successful business, friends and family, and plenty of free time alone for myself as well.
And I added something else that changed my life dramatically: When I dared to think of my ideal, the kind of life I would have if I could have anything at all, I realized what I really wanted was a life of ease. I didn’t want to work too hard. The few forty-hour-a-week jobs I had tried hadn’t worked out, and working that many hours felt inhumane to me. Ideally, I wanted plenty of time for ease and relaxation, plenty of time for my creative life, spiritual life, and personal life with friends and family.

That was my ideal: success with ease, and success without compromising the other things that were important to me in life. I wanted to do what I loved, and not have to do anything I didn’t really enjoy.

I didn’t know it at the time, but I was beginning to learn secrets that were far greater than the secret of manifestation.

The simple step of writing down my ideal scene led me to discover the unfailing natural laws of manifestation.

I stared at that sheet of paper awhile and realized that within it was a list of goals. I took a second sheet of paper and listed all the goals I could think of. There were twelve of them, at first. (Now I’m down to six.)

It was thirty years ago, but I remember it clearly: As I was writing my goals, I was assaulted with doubts and fears. I wrote, “Start and build a successful company,” and my thoughts were churning — You? Who are you trying to kid? You have no money, and you need money to make money! You know nothing of business! You don’t even like business! And it’ll wreck your creativity! It’ll destroy your soul! Money is the root of all evil! The rich man has as much chance of entering the Kingdom as a camel does of going through the eye of a needle! On and on it went — an endless stream of doubts, fears, and darkly negative thoughts.

But then I remembered something I had read in a book by Catherine Ponder, a Unity Church minister. She wrote about the power of affirmations — simple statements or declarations that your dream or goal is now coming into being. They work best when they’re in the present tense, worded in a way that your subconscious mind can accept and begin to absorb and play with.

The most vivid phrase I remember from Catherine Ponder’s writing has become part of my daily life. She said that affirmations are even more effective if they start or end with
this phrase: In an easy and relaxed manner, in a healthy and positive way. . .

So I took another sheet of paper and rewrote each goal as an affirmation, beginning with that phrase. I worded my goal of starting and building a successful business like this: In an easy and relaxed manner, in a healthy and positive way, I am now building a successful business.

The second step to discovering the secret of manifestation is to write your goals as affirmations, beginning with In an easy and relaxed manner, in a healthy and positive way. . .

Years later, looking back, I realized how powerful those words were — so powerful, in fact, that by repeating them daily, I overcame many of my doubts and fears. What, after all, are our doubts and fears whispering to us? It isn’t easy; it’s very difficult! It certainly isn’t relaxed; it’s stressful! It’s not healthy for you, not even positive. You’ll fail! You don’t know what you’re doing! You’re a fool!

That powerful little phrase — in an easy and relaxed manner, in a healthy and positive way—repeated thousands of times, overcame a lot of those doubts and fears. It took me about five years, but I finally got it through my thick skull that it was possible to create a great deal of success in the world in an easy and relaxed manner, in a healthy and positive way.

Don’t underestimate the power of those words—or the power of any words you repeat to yourself. Our thoughts determine our actions. And our actions lead, inevitably, to success or failure, fulfillment or frustration.

I typed up my list of goals as affirmations and carried it around with me in my back pocket. I often began the day by reading that list. I read it at my desk as I started to work. I read it in the bathroom sometimes.

Some deep part of me knew that if I kept reading and rereading that list, my subconscious mind would absorb it sooner or later, and I would eventually be able to turn those distant, ephemeral dreams into solid intentions — and once that happened, those intentions would soon become reality.