This practice is so easy that sometimes I forget how effective it is! Studies even prove it – people that write down their goals are one to one and one-half times more likely to achieve them. So, let’s do it!
While this practice is useful for any kind of goal or dream, I’d like to encourage its use with Divinely inspired goals, goals that are good for both you and others, goals or dreams that make your soul sing!
The whole process will probably take you less than 5 minutes, depending on how detailed you are with it. Once you have your goal or dream in mind, you want to do four things: say it, write it, read it and see it. Every Day.
1. Say it. Recite it from memory and repeat it, changing the words around if necessary until it sounds just right.
2. Write it. Once you’re happy with the wording, write it out 10 times. You might want to keep a journal so you can look back on previous dreams and how they’ve changed or materialized.
3. Read it. Read what you just wrote, out loud. Every sentence.
4. See it. Close your eyes and see what that dream looks like once achieved. Feel into it as well: what does it feel like once it’s real?
It’s okay and even encouraged to write the same goal every day for weeks, or really for as long as it takes. You may find the goal evolves a little bit every day and that’s a good thing; focusing on it daily helps us to be clear in what we really desire.
It really is that easy! Might as well start right now: what is your dream?
Do you want more joy in your life? Who doesn’t?! The good news is it’s quite simple to start allowing more joy in on a regular basis; we just have to get used to it. This is a great exercise to remember if we’re in a funk and want to get out of it. There is nothing wrong with feeling down, but eventually we’re ready to move on.
A quick note on negative and positive emotions – all are good and necessary. Negative does not mean bad; it is just relative to other emotions. It’s a scale, negative on one end and positive on the other, or terror and rage on one end and joy on the other end. The more we intentionally feel joy the more we move up the scale on a regular basis. Because most of us prefer to feel happy and joyful!
This exercise is so simple you can do it almost anywhere you are comfortable closing your eyes for a minute.
Bring to mind something that makes you very, very happy. It can be anything – a loved one, a pet, music, friends, art, mountains, food, elephants – truly anything; no one is judging you. Anything that just thinking about brings a smile to your face or makes you bust out laughing.
Once you have it in mind, set your timer for 17 seconds (“Siri, set timer 17 seconds”) and then just dive into that object of love and feel the joy; live it, feel it, surround yourself in it, swim in it and get it all over you! Feel the happiness and joy like it’s the only important thing in the world.
Once the timer goes off – how do you feel? Doesn’t it feel great to take the time to do nothing but sit and feel that joy? And it was less than a minute.
As you practice this more and more, you’ll find you instantaneously recall it throughout the day, lifting your mood more and more frequently.
Do this at least once a day every day for a week; two or three times a day is ideal. Feeling this every morning encourages good days to follow!
If you’ve ever felt like you don’t know how to get an answer on a pressing issue, or you are looking for some clarity, you might want to try automatic writing. I find it especially useful when I need a little direction, and some people use automatic writing as a regular practice. Whether frequent or occasional, automatic writing helps the flow of insights come to us in a way that our subconscious can’t filter out.
And it’s easy! It’s as simple as a pen and paper or a computer keyboard. My experience is that my flow from the Divine is interrupted less with a pen and paper, but if a computer is best for you, then you do whichever way is most comfortable.
The key with automatic writing is to never stop writing. The pen is always on the paper, or the fingers are constantly moving on the keys, no breaks.
If you’re new to this practice, start with 10 minutes. If you have a smartphone or home assistant, take a few deep breaths, then tell it to “set alarm for 10 minutes,” and go!
It’s best to know the leading question or phrase that you’ll start with, particularly if you do have a pressing question you want an answer to. When the timer starts, write out your question first, for example, “What is the next best action for me to take in my business?” and then never lift the pen up until the timer goes off. Don’t worry about punctuation, don’t dot your i’s or cross your T’s, no judgement of what you are writing, and don’t worry about how neat it is.
During the process, there should be no critical thought going on. Once you start with the opening sentence, just let it flow, no matter how ridiculous it might sound. Removing all thought about it really allows your Divine Wisdom to show up, so let it.
When you’re finished, take some more deep breaths, and if you need to, step away from your writing for a few minutes. Don’t step away too long, as you’ll want to reread and make notes on some of it before you lose the train of thought in the parts that are too illegible to read. Reading back over it, you’ll likely get some additional insights you didn’t even realize you wrote down!
This is really a good way to hear your deep Truth, so I recommend doing this frequently, especially when you’re in need of guidance.
This is a fun, eye-opening, heart-opening game. Just imagine: what if all of your bills were paid for the next year and you still had $100,000 to spend, would you know what to do with it? Learning how much money you can spend is a great way to expand your money mindset beyond just getting by.
Many of us are conditioned to dream small. Even when encouraged to dream big, we think we’d be okay if we could just pay our bills and have a little left over, “That’s all I need” right? Do you know someone who has said that? Or maybe you’ve said it yourself? And we think that is big enough.
But I want you to see how big you can really go! This is a 30-day game that will surprise you just partway in how big you need to think. This is important though: if we can’t even dream it or imagine it, we can’t allow it in, so let’s go!
Start on day one with a blank checkbook, or at least a blank check register or spreadsheet – you will need to keep track daily. Use your real financial situation; applying this to your real life makes it that much more real and possible.
On day one, the Universe gives you $100 for free! Spend it however you want, but you must spend it all. Write it down in your check register.
Day two you get $200! Hooray! Again, spend it any way you want, and keep track of it.
Every day the Universe doubles what it gives you, so on day three you get $400, day four is $800, and so on. Every day you must spend it all.
By the end of one week, on day 8, you’re receiving $12,800, how have you spent your money so far? Has it been fun money? Maybe paid off some bills? We’re beginning to get into the big money now, so you’ll need to get more creative in your spending. And yes, you can give it away, buy things, anything you want. You just can’t save it, for that will stop the flow from the Universe in this game – whatever comes in must go out.
At the end of two weeks you receive $819,200 and you’ve received a total of $1,638,300. What did you do with it? Can you dream big enough to spend it? You know, some people really do get this much money in two weeks, and they really do get to spend it. And they are really no different, no more deserving, no smarter, no more entitled than YOU.
We all equally deserve it, but do you believe it? Every day as you go through this spending process, truly take it to heart. There comes a point that all of your bills and housing and leisure needs are paid for, so who do you help? A relative? A close friend? Non-profits? Extravagant travel? What do you want your money, and your heart, to support? Or maybe you even want to start your own non-profit?
There are two key points I hope you take away from this game, from this experience of connection:
First, be open to any amount of money. You truly have no idea where money can come from. You don’t need to determine the source of your money; that is up to God or the Universe. I’m always a little surprised to find another check in the mail from some unsuspecting source. Please be open and know that it can happen. We all deserve this.
Second, what does your heart truly desire? If you’re willing to spend money on it, is it something you should consider supporting/doing now? I’m sure you’ve heard this before: “If money were no object, what would you be doing?” For real, what does your heart desire, and does it require a shift for you?
Have fun with this! I’d love to hear your results.
This Spiritual Practice is perfect if you are overwhelmed and stressed out with how much you have to do. You may have heard the phrase “give it to God”? Well, in this spiritual practice you will literally assign tasks to God!
This is one easy way to help regain a sense of time and control in your life. Oddly enough it’s by giving up control that you can start to feel it again.
Here is how the Spiritual To Do list works, and if you have a current to-do list, take it out and let’s go through it!
First, take a blank piece of paper and draw a line down the middle, dividing it into two parts. At the top of one side write “Me,” and on the other side write “God,” or Holy Spirit, Universe, or whatever you are most comfortable with.
Now, go through your tasks for today and assign to yourself ONLY the physical things that you must do. Everything else goes to God. (See photo for reference.)
For example, you will have to physically make the sandwiches for lunch, so that goes under “Me.” Same with the grocery shopping and posting a video to Facebook. However, you don’t have to try to decide what to write about next, so give that to God. You don’t need to figure out the next family trip – put that on God’s side. Now this is important: if information about the trip comes to you throughout the day, be sure to jot that down. Maybe someone at the store tells you how much they loved their last trip to some remote island, so make a note of it because that quite likely is God sending you a message about where to start looking for your vacation.
Maybe you need a home remodel contractor – that goes on God’s list to send to you; you don’t need to spend precious time trying to find a good one.
The tasks here are essentially split between physical, actionable steps – that’s you – and idea or lead generation – that’s God. Your job is also to be open to the signs and recommendations that appear, for if you miss that step, then you’ll have to take those to-dos back onto your side of the list. There is really no need to do that, so be aware and open!
Let life be easy; do only what is truly yours and turn the rest over to God!
You’ve undoubtedly heard of the value of journaling before now, and I’m going to confirm that there are a lot of great things that can be accomplished by journaling. However, the kind of journaling I’m going to propose here is a little different than most in that it will focus on our connection with a piece of nature that we feel deeply connected to, and that want to learn why and how to take that out into the rest of our lives.
This is one of the practices we’ll be doing on my safari in Kenya; in fact, we may even be doing it as you read this! My safaris are not standard – see animal, take picture, move on – no, my safaris are about connecting with the land, the people and the animals for a meaningful experience.
To start this practice, think of something you love and feel connected to. It doesn’t have to be living; in Kenya any of the group might be focused on an elephant, lion, the vast Masai Mara or Mt. Kilimanjaro – just look for something that moves you. Art or Music can be good focus objects, too.
Write in your journal, “What do I like about you?” and give yourself plenty of time for the answer to flow. Don’t move on until you feel complete.
Then write, “Why do I love you so much?” Again, take plenty of time to answer.
You might be surprised at how different the two answers are as you allow yourself to contemplate deeply.
Next write, “Where else in my life do I find this love?”, then “Where do I want to find this love?”
The last question – “What do I have to do to allow this love there?”
That question is critical to allowing in the love that you want. You might have to release something, you might have to shift a behavior, you might need to forgive someone, so really allow it to sink in and fully engage in each question.
Imagine, if you can feel that deep of a connection with something already, shouldn’t you also be able to feel it in other areas of your life? What’s in the way? Maybe it’s time to allow more love in.
