Once upon a time I was in a lifeless job and dead end relationship. The only love I had in life was volunteering as a foster mom for animal rescue groups.
But my misery in my work and love life bled into my passion, which soon contributed to my first (and I like to think only) nervous breakdown.
But my misery in my work and love life bled into my passion, which soon contributed to my first (and I like to think only) nervous breakdown.
For various reasons I'll spare you details on, I had eight big dogs in my 850 sq ft house. EIGHT. That's a lot of canines. (I also had cats and a boyfriend. It was a full house.) Sometimes that might sound fun, but after three months it was NOT. Five dogs were up for adoption, and I was breaking new records in the rescue community for length of time without an adoption.
Every weekend we hauled dogs to the adoption fair, and every weekend they came back home.
To my overcrowded unhappy home.
One hot August day I was scooping poop in the backyard when I realized I couldn't scoop poop any more, because there was no grass left. (I loved grass. And it was gone because of the high dog traffic in the hot summer.) The poop wouldn't scoop. It just rolled along in the dirt as I tried to scoop it. It was my breaking point.
I threw the pooper scooper in one direction (it landed on the garage roof) and the bag of poop in another (landed in the neighbor's bushes), and I went to bed for four days.
Which is when I read Adrian Calabrese's "How to Get Everything You Ever Wanted."
Now this girl was truly strange. She wanted me to set up sacred space and burn incense and weird stuff like that. It was very "out there" to me.
But before I could put the book away, I knew I would have to do at least one thing in it. Just to say that I did.
The least strange thing was Scripting.
Where you talk out loud about what you want as if you already have it.
So I did that. I came out of the bedroom Thursday night. I said to my boyfriend, "This is going to sound crazy. But just listen."
(He had seen my poop flinging moment four days prior and knew I was hanging on to a very thin rope. He didn't say a word.)
I started "scripting."
"Isn't it great how Jeff"(our hardest to adopt dog - I didn't name him, by the way) ... "Isn't it great how Jeff got adopted by that nice couple. That husband and wife. Who have two kids. And a dog. A dog for Jeff to play with. And how they live nearby."
(This story chokes me up every time I tell it.)
"They live nearby, so we can visit him whenever we want. And they have plenty of money, so we know they'll take care of whatever needs he has."
"Yeah, isn't that great?"
It was a fairly lifeless script.
But from the dark place I was coming from, it was the best I could do. It was two minutes tops.
I went back to bed.
Saturday morning Verrall drove the dogs back to the same adoption fair he'd been taking them for the past three months.
An hour later we got a phone call from Trish, who ran the event. "You guys have to get over here RIGHT NOW."
I was sick. I knew the only reason they call that early is because your dog is either sick, misbehaving, or there's no room for him. No one gets adopted that fast. And I needed them to be there all weekend. I couldn't make it another week with these dogs. I knew it. I didn't have it in me.
SOMEONE needed to get adopted. It just wasn't optional that we go another week without an adoption.
SOMEONE needed to get adopted. It just wasn't optional that we go another week without an adoption.
But Trish went on ...
"There are two families over here fighting over Jeff. And I don't know who to give him to!!!!"
Okay, that didn't compute. I didn't understand. This had never happened.
Verrall drove us to the adoption fair. I walked in. There stood two families on either side of Jeff. Two couples, with their two kids, and their one dog. I read their applications. Perfect. You know how often that happens? Never.
We usually have to take a dozen apps before we find someone we'd even consider adopting to. And this was two perfect apps within one hour of the first day of the adoption fair!
I handed the paperwork back, turned around, and went back to sit in the car. I was in a stupor. I couldn't believe it.
It was just like I said. TWICE. Two families! With their two kids! And their dog!! Living close by!!
It had happened! Jeff, whom no one ever even LOOKED at in the three prior months, was being argued over by two perfect families!!
And the next day Oakley got adopted, too. To an absolutely amazing guy with the patience of a saint who owned a crazy dog who needed a crazy friend.
Two adoptions in one weekend after a three month dry spell!!
I doubt you can imagine my relief.
Scripting. I was hooked!
From that moment on, I read everything I could get my hands on about law of attraction. Which wasn't much back then. I didn't even know that's what it was called. (This was before "The Secret" and "Ask And It Is Given.")
And I couldn't stop talking about it. Anyone talked to me about their problem, I was telling them about this great thing I just learned.
And I've been talking ever since.
Talked my way right out of that miserable job, unhappy relationship, financial fears ... and more.
Our words create our world.
Our words create our world.
Are you paying attention to what you're saying? Are you choosing your words deliberately? Are you talking about what you want?
When you do that, especially when you talk about what you want as if you already have it - miracles happen.
What are you creating with your words today?
To this day, I don't get out of the shower without thanking angels in advance for what I want as if it were already here. Shower is a safe place to speak it out loud so no one thinks you're crazy. Plus, doing it with gratitude - that's a good vibe. And then you add the water element, which amplifies energy - that's a powerful practice.
I highly recommend it. :)
Funny, I choked up just reading it. Of course, I love dogs, am a gigantic sap, and am a little frayed myself these days. Regardless, thanks for sharing that. Means a lot to those of us who are a bit lost in the woods still.
ReplyDeleteI love this post and I love your passion and enthusiasm. Thank you for sharing so much of yourself and contributing much warmth, joy and perspective to my lovely life! I am very excited that I am pregnant with my second child and I'm planning on the middle name to be Jeannette after her Aunt Jeannette!
ReplyDeleteJohn, I still find myself in the woods sometimes, too, so we've got good company. :)
ReplyDeleteOkay Trish, that's officially the highest compliment I've ever received. !!!! What a lucky girl to have you as a mom, since she'll get the advantage of someone who already knows how the world works, instead of having to figure it out the hard way on her own.
God bless!
Ahhh Jeannette -- What an inspiring story! Thanks so much for sharing...
ReplyDeleteWhat I picked up from this story -- is how you were at your breaking point -- you then decided to do something -- That something might not sound big - but from where you were coming from it was BIG!
I understand that as I too have been there -- at the breaking point! And the small things I did - which were actually BIG things from where I was at -- rendered me Huge relief!
Just like you story goes....
There are people who will question - how can this be? If LOA says "like attracts like" -- how could you be so down and create something so good?
The answer is simple -- you knew what you wanted -- you knew you wanted the dogs to get adopted. - I knew what I wanted - I knew my life had to change! So the message was certainly out there to the Universe!
Being at the breaking point - can actually be so helpful -- as it is the point that you will finally, absolutely, totally Let Go!!
That is what I did -- I had said "I give up" and I went to bed, too!
Going to bed for those days is actually soothing... you didn't have to deal with poop - I didn't have to deal with people -- Not dealing - at that time -- was good - It helped soothe me - it helped me to release my resistance.
And then I, too, started to read - Wayne Dyer, Marriane Williamson - the list goes on and on.... I implemented the things I was learning in my life and my life kept getting better.
So it seems to me -- the "magic formula" is -- LET GO & Make a Commitment to do what make you Feel Better!
Hmmmmm - Of course it is not required to go to bed for days or throw poop in your neighbors bushes! ;)
Thanks for sharing!
Namaste my friend.....
Ellie
Well said, Ellie. I agree. And it seems to me that another element present was intense desire through really awful contrast. lol
ReplyDeleteWhen someone is in a really dark place, it seems like just a moment of opening the door (i.e. 2 minutes of scripting) to let a little light in makes a DRAMATIC difference in what manifests.
It's just so much more noticeable when something good happens when we feel awful, than when we're already in a well lit room, if that makes any sense.
So it's not that I don't expect big miracles like that any more, it's just that I'm more used to them & they don't stand out like this one did.
Not to mention, I can't say I've felt that kind of intense desperate desire like that lately ... It does make you look differently about the value of contrast, huh? You can see how key it is to powerful manifestations.
Thanks for the thoughtful post, Ellie. Always a pleasure hearing from you!
Talking about breaking-points (and lets face it most of us have been there). One of my favourite quotes is: "When things get so bad that you cannot take it anymore, you won't break down.... you will break open" by Kathy Cordova in her book 'Let Go, Let Miracles Happen'. A great book about releasing the attachments as Jeanette so expertly advises, but which for me is still sometimes SO difficult
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good book, Vanessa. Thanks for the tip!
ReplyDeleteAnd also for acknowledging that this happens to everyone. Very true.
Lots of times it's easy to feel like we're all alone when going through rough times, but that would be an illusion. :)
Much love to you, Vanessa!