Sunday night I watched a 60 Minutes segment about the story of Stephen Greenspan, the guy who literally wrote the book on gullibility. 

Two days after publishing his book, the author learned he was a victim of Bernie Madoff. 

The expert on gullibility lost over $400,000 in an investment scam.

At first that just sounds ironic – the expert on gullibility being taken in by a shyster.

But then yesterday someone at Good Vibe U reminded me of the brilliant Jill Bolte Taylor talk at the TED conference. 

Jill is the neuroanatomist who spoke about how fascinating it was to have a stroke as a person who had studied the internal workings of the brain for years. 

Odd, right?

Then I was thinking about my boyfriend’s cousin, Sheldon.  He’s a politician (or rather, was) here in my home state whose father was killed by a drunk driver when Sheldon was just a teenager.  During Sheldon’s lengthy political service, he was a strong advocate against driving under the influence. 

Last month he resigned from the state senate two days after being arrested for drunk driving.

My first thought was, “What the hell?!” 

But this is no secret, and it’s not ironic or coincidence.  It’s just vibrational alignment at work. 

Does it kinda though make you think twice about what you might be lining up with, that maybe you didn’t necessarily mean to? 

It did me.

I listened to Abraham counsel a person (the Toronto 2009 workshop) who believed that because she spent her days working with poverty clients she was impeding her own financial abundance by doing so. 

I personally spend a lot of time talking with and writing about people who experience struggle in exercising their deliberate creation skills.  Should I get more spotlight on success stories?!  lol

In my former work I used to preach to employees that whatever you do, do NOT spend your retirement money!  Do not, do not, do NOT spend your retirement money on anything other than retirement! 

(Because everyone who quits their job cashes out.  Bad idea in financial planning world.)

And then I quit my job and started liquidating my 401k to cover expenses while I built a coaching practice.  ha

We get what we think about, right?

I’m curious about your take on the subject.

What about the woman who is passionate about children’s vaccinations reform?  Or the guy who actor who immerses himself in the new role to the point of “becoming” the character?

(Or for that matter, the pilot who trains for emergency landings?)

How do we do what we love and feel passion for without experiencing the dark side of it?

(Although Jill’s experience could hardly be called dark!  Quite the opposite, it sounds.) 

I guess my question is, is it possible to live by the sword without also dying by it?  In fact, maybe the question to ask is how we live by the sword and also thrive by it. 

Maybe it’s as simple as holding that intention in mind.

What’s your take?

PS to Kim – I had to use your gorgeous photo for this post since I couldn’t imagine a better looking one with a sword in it nor a better example of someone who flows the good vibe no matter what she’s involved in!

My ex-beau and best friend, who also moonlights as dog walker, lawn scooper and grocery shopper came by this morning to medicate feral cat, Roxy. 

(Roxy had a bunch of teeth pulled last week and is on pain meds and antibiotics.  As a feral in pain, you might imagine she’s not the easiest cat to medicate.  Thanks, Verrall, for saving the day!)

Anyway, my ex asked why I was on the computer on a Sunday morning. 

I showed him an inbox with over 120 recent emails from paying clients, people who want to be paying clients, colleagues proposing collaborations, etc. and told him I also needed to submit a Catalyst article and get a new blog post up. 

That’s why I’m in the office on Sunday. 

Even though it also happened to be Valentine’s Day, it’s a year round phenomenon that many of these client emails are from people frustrated with their love lives. 

• One client is upset that her love interest is unavailable to her,
• another is frustrated she hasn’t been able to manifest the relationship she wants,
• another is confused that his love interest is aloof,
• another is discouraged she has no love life whatsoever, etc. etc.

My ex (who says he can only preach law of attraction, not practice it) said to me, “If it’s work, it doesn’t work.”

I interpreted that sentence as helpful words for someone trying too hard to manifest a relationship. 

Turns out he meant them for me, about spending Sunday on an overflowing inbox with writing deadlines and a phone that kept ringing.

“You meant that in terms of people who are trying to find love and create a relationship, right?” I asked him. 

He rolled his eyes at my ability to miss the point and said, “For everything.”

For everything. 

• For trying to force a relationship that isn’t flowing,
• for trying to control the uncontrollable,
• for trying to make money that isn’t there,
• for trying to keep up when there’s too much to keep up with.

If it’s work, it doesn’t work.

Okay, maybe I get it.

When we try too hard (or try at all) to make something happen, we keep that very thing from happening. 

Not that “work” is bad in and of itself.  It’s just when it feels like work, in a hard and exhausting way, rather than in an enjoyable and uplifting “flow” kind of way, that it’s not serving us.

We know the difference, right?  If not, we’d be well served to get a handle on it.

It’s just like Abraham’s upstream vs. downstream analogy.  When we’re paddling upstream, we’re headed in the exact opposite direction of what we want, because everything we want is downstream.  And it’s not hard work to float downstream.

Ever since Fen posted in the Good Vibe U forum about “Allowing vs. Doing” I’ve been thinking about how sometimes it is enjoyable to do something, rather than just twinkle our nose and have it done immediately.  (Although there are times that “instant” is my favorite way to go.)

Like putting Good Vibe U together – that’s been “work,” but fun work.  Mostly, anyway.  The fabulous Kelly Livesay was happy to load content to it, but I rather enjoyed the process myself.  (Even if it wasn’t the smartest way for me to spend time.)

I could tell when it crossed the feel good line, and started to feel a little heavy.  Which was my sign to back off till it got fun again, which it quickly did once it had a little space.

Our opportunity as deliberate creators is to be sensitive enough to recognize once we’ve engaged the push or the try or the hard work energy.  That vibe won’t take us where we want to go.

So if my love-challenged clients would read blog posts (it amazes me how many don’t), I would point them to this one: 

Reminding them that if the relationship isn’t flowing naturally, that’s our cue to get looser, get easier, to shake it off and get our focus on something that does feel good.  To take a deep breath, relax our grip on it, and remember what is right about the world.

For those who are looking for a more potent reminder about how this all works, Terry DeMeo and Martha Beck and I are offering a four call series on the topic of attracting extraordinary relationships starting next week.  And no doubt Michele Woodward and I will explore it after we talk about money, which starts next week as well.

(Sheesh, told you I was busy!)

And I already know I’ll be quoting the wisdom of the Good Vibe community in the comments you share on this subject. 

Which, brings me back to why I’m still sitting in my office chair on Valentine’s Sunday morning.  This is without a doubt one of the things I love most in life – engaging with you on the fascinating and somewhat challenging subject of deliberate creation when it comes to love, money, and everything else we ever wanted.

Life is good, huh?!

Happy Valentine’s Day, lovers.

Although I’m not exactly a connoiseur of national news, last year’s Hudson River plane landing had my rapt attention. 

Not just because it had a happy ending, but also because it seemed to defy all odds to qualify as an outstanding real life miracle.

I wasn’t alone in enjoying coverage of the event, as google reveals over 6 million hits for “Hudson plane.”

Recently, an Abraham workshop participant asked the question about how many people had to be aligned in order to allow that particular miracle to unfold.

Abraham’s answer is why I’m writing about this topic today.

While the guy asking the question viewed the Hudson River event as if it were a miracle of alignment that the pilot was able to land the jetliner without suffering any casualties, Abraham offered an alternate perspective:

Yes, this pilot managed to land in the river without sacrificing any lives.  But this same pilot also managed to rendezvous with a flock of birds that required the emergency landing in the first place.

Abraham said this pilot’s extensive training for flight emergencies made him an excellent match for experiencing a flight emergency. 

While we celebrate his ability to have managed it extremely well, it might be worth noting that a pilot who doesn’t attract emergencies might be something to celebrate, too.

Yes, I get it.  Training for trouble makes us more likely to attract trouble.  And is trouble what we really want?

But it was such a cool story!  How boring would life be if everything always went perfectly?!

And that’s exactly what Abraham shared at the end of the conversation about the perils of training for trouble – we do like our dramas. 

Don’t we?

Abraham added that in our culture it’s rare we’re not being warned or trained for some sort of trouble somewhere along the line, but that’s our opportunity as deliberate creators – to choose consciously what we’re attracting into our lives. 

Sometimes maybe close calls are exciting, and sometimes maybe they’re worth skipping altogether.

What do you guys think?  If you had the choice (which we do), would you choose no trouble at all?  Or are there some challenges you wouldn’t opt out of?