It’s all about joy!

Most of my friends and family know that I have an impossible crush on a guy who lives in California. We met in the most unexpected of ways and through a funny twist of fate, have actually had occasion to see each other a handful of times over the last three months. Unfortunately, this guy is just not available. He’s as emotionally inaccessible as he is locationally so (we live 3,000 miles apart). Since I’ve stopped taking on “special projects” in the dating department, I’ve resigned myself to the idea that this guy and I can probably only ever be friends.

*sigh*

Despite how much I love looking into his brilliant blue eyes or listening to the soothing tone of his voice as he speaks, I’m actually rather OK with the fact that the two of us can’t be together. Better still, when I saw him this past Saturday and we spent the day with each other, I had a magnificent realization: perhaps it’s not him I’m so drawn to (bear with me here…). Perhaps it’s the way I feel when I’m around him that has me captivated.

On Saturday, the two of us spent an effortless twelve hours together. We laughed, we talked, we debated, we hugged, I cried, he meditated, we ate, we learned, we walked (and walked and walked!), we sat, we laid (down)…we lived like we’d known each other for decades, and I loved every single second of it! When with him, I feel completely at ease - more at ease than I’ve ever felt around anybody in my life. And that’s when it hit me: maybe what I’m looking for in a partner isn’t so much him as it is the feeling I get when I’m around him. That feeling that I can be completely myself and feel totally accepted. His energy, his aura…his way of sharing space with other humans is so perfectly respectful that I couldn’t imagine anyone feeling uncomfortable around him. He’s all but made an art of it, and that’s what I want to experience every day for the rest of my life.

So what can I do with all that, you might ask? Since I believe in the law of attraction and the magic of manifestation, I’m going to take that feeling and combine it with visualization exercises. I’m going to remember how I feel when I’m around him really stay in that good feeling space. I’m then going to imagine that I feel like that every day, and that the feeling comes from spending time with my most perfect life partner. I’ve learned through experience that when I get into a feeling space as I visualize, the things I desire manifest much more quickly. (Yes, I’ll keep actively dating, too, because otherwise I’d just be visualizing by myself in my living room! Remember that the law of attraction requires us to take action. There’s a great interview with James Arthur Ray that offers some vignettes on how to make the law of attraction work in your favor every single time. Check it out here.)

In the meantime, I’ll leave you with some lyrics from a favorite song of mine (and perhaps, one of my partner’s, too):

Paperweight (Joshua Radin & Schuyler Frisk)

been up all night staring at you

wondering what’s on your mind

i’ve been this way with so many before

but this feels like the first time

you want the sunrise to go back to bed

i want to make you laugh

mess up my bed with me

kick off the covers i’m waiting

every word you say i think

i should write down

don’t want to forget come daylight

happy to lay here

just happy to be here

i’m happy to know you

play me a song

your newest one

please leave your taste on my tongue

paperweight on my back

cover me like a blanket

mess up my bed with me

kick off the covers i’m waiting

every word you say i think

i should write down

don’t want to forget come daylight

and no need to worry

that’s wastin’ time

and no need to wonder

what’s been on my mind

it’s you

it’s you

it’s you

every word you say i think

i should write down

don’t want to forget come daylight

and i give up

i let you win

Last week was an amazing week, but it didn’t start out that way. Sunday was one of the roughest days I’ve had in recent memory, and Monday wasn’t much better. However, after one extraordinarily productive counseling session last Monday afternoon, something inside of me shifted. I unlocked something that had been holding me back, and in doing so, unleashed an enormous amount of positive potential. The effects were rapidly making themselves apparent by Thursday.

Thursday morning started with this “Note from the Universe” (an inspiring manifestation-minded email that I get delivered daily):

Inquiring minds want to know, Megan:

Have you ever felt so down you wondered whether or not you’d bounce back? Were you later surprised by how quickly you did bounce back? And then were you surprised by how far you went? Did you promise you’d never forget how amazing that was?

We did.

In awe, The Universe

When I read those words, I thought, “Holy cats, what great timing!”

The next thing I read was from an email from a contributing editor at one of my favorite blog sites asking if I’d be interested in joining their network. It was probably only two days earlier that, while on their site, I thought, “Boy, it’d be great to become part of this. I hope some day they ask me to partner with them.” And sure enough on Thursday, they did!

Immediately after reading that great email, I read another one that connected me with someone who had caught my eye a couple weeks earlier. Universal timing being what it is, we couldn’t (or shouldn’t) have been brought together before last week. We ended up going out this past weekend and had an amazing time.

THEN (as if those things weren’t enough!), another handful of astounding things happened throughout the day that represented the new beginning I’m creating for myself. Little miracles here and there that have endeared themselves to me and represent a shift taking place.

Apparently, all the digging I’m doing into my past and the hard work that goes along with it have already begun paying off. In striving to live my most joyful life possible, there are moments - phases, even - when spiraling downward a little is necessary in order to ascend to unbelievable new heights. But that’s just it: there are new heights, and they feel higher and more joyful than I ever could have imagined.

A quote from Marianne Williamson sums it up nicely.

“The goal of spiritual practice is full recovery, and the only thing you need to recover from is a fractured sense of self.”

Lastly, this DailyOm arrived via email Thursday, as well.

“One of the hardest things in life is feeling stuck in a situation that we don’t like and want to change. We may even say out loud that we have tried and struggled and have not found a way, but that we are open to help, and that we intend to keep working to create change for ourselves.

“When we do this kind of work… [the] inner shift may allow us to get out of the cycle we’ve been in that’s been keeping us stuck. Now we can declare our intentions to the universe, knowing that we have done the inner work necessary to allow our lives to change. Allow today to be the day to end cycles and enter into a new way of being.”

Joyful words, indeed.

“Successful people provide ten times more to their clients, or to other people with whom they interact, than they ask for in monetary compensation. Who wouldn’t want to work with or be around someone like that?” James Arthur Ray, The Science of Success

I recently finished James Ray’s The Science of Success and his chapter on giving provided me the inspiration I needed to reignite my dedication to giving and giving BIG. I was reminded of my massage therapist, who I met a year and a half ago. The first massage she ever gave me lasted an hour and a half. However, she only charged me for the hour. Not only was I grateful, but I was enthralled with her service. I immediately booked another appointment. Prior to meeting her, I should mention that I booked one massage, at most, every six weeks. With her, though, I wanted to go back in just three. That next massage she gave me also lasted longer than an hour, but again, she only charged me for the hour. The fact that she didn’t question the duration of our session when it came time to pay made an impression on me. Not only was she one of the best therapists I’d ever seen, but she was also incredibly generous! I’ve booked about twenty-four more appointments with her in the past year and a half, and her warm heart and generous spirit continue to impress me. On top of that, I’ve watched her business nearly double in size. When I met her she was renting space from another group and doing appointments in the evenings after her day job was done. Today, she has her own (very large) space and is fairly well booked most weeks. I know that I’ve recommended her to anyone who’s ever asked me for a massage referral, and quite simply, in my opinion she’s the best at what she does. Again, though, the fact that she gives so much more than she expects to receive speaks to what makes her so successful, I think.

And it’s not just time that she gives. She asks me at the start of each appointment how I’m doing on every level: physically, emotionally and mentally. She offers her interest and her sincere concern. Then, if there’s a particular sore spot in my body, she devotes herself and everything she knows about how the musculoskeletal system works to releasing the tension. Many times, the place I’m sore is not the place that needs attention, and she knows that. She’s proven herself to be infinitely more valuable than any physical therapist or doctor ever has when it comes to muscle, tendon and ligament ailments.

When I think of all the people I know in business, the ones who seem to be truly successful tend to be the ones who give ten times more than anyone else. What’s more, they don’t seem to expect that anyone should notice. They do it because they want to.

Those are the people I want to work with. Heck, those are the people I admire and want to model myself after. They are the ones I’d trust most with serious business demands and the ones I’d choose to be on my team. They’re also the ones I’d give ten times more of myself to without being asked.

When I finished the chapter on giving, I asked myself, “How can I give more?” It was a great exercise to do. It let me go through all the areas in my life where I could be giving twice as much - let alone ten times as much - as what I’ve been giving recently. The best part is, based on my belief in the law of attraction and Universal reciprocity, when I’m giving everything I have to give in all areas of my life, the Universe responds in kind. For all the loving, listening, laughing, inspiration, joy, value and insight I share, it comes back to me in countless and creative ways. It doesn’t even have to be from the person or thing I’m giving to; many times, I feel most blessed when it’s from another source altogether, because it reminds me that the Universe works in mysterious and miraculous ways.

***

Another post I enjoyed reading when he wrote it was MikeTheory’s “Learn the Art of True Gift Giving and Give Yourself the Greatest Gift.” He hit upon a trap I used to fall into with regard to giving people gifts: I gave in order to receive acknowledgment. Eesh! Reading Mike’s take on it was a nice reminder of what true gift giving is all about.