The Wealthy Mind Read online

  Gratitude can make manifestation happen much faster, probably because it’s such a powerful force for changing your thinking patterns from negative to positive.

  Have you heard the story of Jim Carrey? Long before he had any work in Hollywood movies, he parked his car in the Hollywood suburbs every night, and every night as he looked up at the famous Hollywood sign he visualized himself as the major Hollywood star he became.

  And here’s the best bit: to help himself remember his objective of being a major movie star, he wrote himself a $10 million check and dated it five years from the day he started visualizing stardom. You’re probably not going to be surprised to learn what happened later: he secured a $10 million deal to star in the movie Dumb and Dumber, almost exactly on the date that he’d written on the check!

  Bottom Line - Visualization Works If You Work Hard!

  CHAPTER 4

  DESIRE

  Desire is the first essential component of manifestation.

  But do you really understand what it means?

  How often in your life have you wanted something so badly, so passionately, so intensely, that you could feel the desire to have it throughout your body, living with you every minute of every day?

  That's what true desire really means. To want something so badly that you can “taste it”.

  Is it necessary to have that level of desire for something before you can manifest it? Well, it certainly helps.

  There's a formula that will probably help you to understand how manifestation actually works:

  Desire + Belief + Expectancy + Action => Creation (Or Manifestation)

  My experience over many years is that you need to have a strong desire to have something in your life, you need to believe that it can manifest for you, you need to expect that it will manifest for you, and you need to take some action to make the manifestation happen.

  And the whole process seems to be driven by emotional energy.

  Many people who write about manifestation will tell you that the right kind of energy to use in manifesting anything is the energy of joy and happiness, energy which you can feel when you visualize yourself having achieved your desired outcome.

  Some will say that the energy of gratitude is a catalyst for manifestation.

  And there are some esoteric thinkers who believe that sexual energy, particularly the energy released at the moment of orgasm, can be used to fuel the process of manifestation (we will look at this later on because it's such an interesting idea).

  And I believe you can also use anger to power the process of manifestation – and again, we’ll look at that later on in the section on emotions.

  But there's one thing that's really clear and accepted by everybody who manifests stuff successfully: somehow you need to put energy outwards into the universe which will drive the process of manifestation.

  In a way that's obvious. If you think about the number of times every day you find yourself thinking about things you want (or don’t want) in your life, it's perfectly obvious that almost none of them manifest.

  The things which do come to us always seem to manifest because we exert energy to get them into our lives; for example, we think about them with intense feelings of joy or happiness (or even anger).

  And in a way that's also a great asset for us. Imagine the chaos which would ensue if everything we thought about manifested in our lives!

  But…. a question many people ask is why so much energy is needed to make things manifest.

  Let’s look at this before we talk any more about desire.

  The Energy of Manifestation

  If you're one of these people, then I have some disappointing news for you. The mechanism of manifestation is, at its root, an act of faith.

  Indeed, perhaps it is the ultimate act of faith.

  After all, the idea that you can take responsibility for your own life in every way – for your own feelings, for what happens to you, and for what you have in the world around you – is a profound concept.

  It shifts the responsibility for your success directly onto where it belongs: you.

  It gives you the understanding that no one is going to come and rescue you.

  It gives you the understanding that no one can make you feel a certain way without your acceptance – at some level – of the notion that they have more power than you.

  It gives you the understanding that the circumstances in which you find yourself right here, right now, will only change if you use the correct processes to co-create and manifest a different reality.

  Nothing happens in life without some energetic input. And the same is true of manifestation.

  If you are building a wall, you have to expend some energy in gathering materials, mixing the cement, and building the wall.

  Why would it be any different if you're trying to manifest something?

  The fact that you're communicating with the universal energy, or the cosmic intelligence, or God, makes no difference. You still have to do something to get an outcome.

  Think of it this way: in physics, the first law of thermodynamics is the law of conservation of energy. This law says that energy can be transformed from one form to another, but it cannot be created or destroyed.

  In essence you're sending out some kind of emotional or psychic energy into the universe, and this energy is affecting the world around you by changing the physical form in which the world exists around you.

  Look at this in another way.

  Everything which exists right now has manifested in some way through a process of creation.

  That might be through the natural process of growth and development shared by all living organisms.

  It might be through a process of construction by animals, plants or humans on the face of the planet Earth.

  But somehow, somewhere, sometime, everything you see around you – including you yourself – which has manifested as a physical reality in the world started with an energetic intention.

  When your parents made love, their energetic intention may have been to create you. Whether it was or not, the coming together of their energy at the moment of fertilization released into the world a creative force which produced you.

  Similarly, when you have an idea about building or making something, you release energy into the world by doing something and this energetic force impacts on the physical reality around you.

  When you visualize your desired objectives you send energy out into the world and this might make what you want appear in physical form.

  Some people would have you believe – and it may well be true – that everything which could potentially exist on the face of this planet exists in potential form in the energy field which surrounds us all.

  And that energy field is what we've called things like Universal Intelligence, the Cosmic Consciousness, the Divine Mystery, Cosmic Intelligence, the Oneness, the Great Mystery, or perhaps, to put it more, simply, God.

  The act of faith required of you when you're manifesting something is simply to believe you can send energy out into the world around you in a way that will impact the manifestation of physical reality in your world.

  Once you've regularly experienced manifestation, you can believe in it more easily - and then having an explanation for how it works becomes less important.

  So even if you're looking for an explanation of manifestation right now, simply practicing manifestation can provide you with all the proof you need that it's a real process which will change your life in any way you choose.

  My invitation, therefore, is to suspend your disbelief, and perhaps to stop looking for explanations as to how manifestation can possibly work. Instead, just do it. That way you can create a reality that you desire.

  Which brings us back to the subject of desire!

  I left you a few minutes ago pondering the question of how often in your life you have wanted something so badly you could feel a burning desire for it.

  I already know the answer to that question –
not very often. Sadly, few of us have passion about our lives.

  And if you meet a person who is passionate about some aspect of their existence – perhaps their job, their family, their mission to change the world – you feel it, don't you?

  You just know this person has a high level of energy connected to their desires and wishes, their hopes, their dreams, and their reality.

  So why don't you?

  If you want a loving joyous relationship, let's say, how badly do you want it?

  Sadly most people will say something like “Well, I want it, yes of course I want it…” but with a degree of resignation in their voice, almost as though they don't expect to get it.

  Perhaps the reality is they don't believe they can have it.

  And I'm wondering if the reason so many people don’t seem to be passionate about what they want is because fundamentally they don't believe it's possible?

  We'll examine this question more when we come on to the subject of belief and manifestation, which is the next chapter of this book.

  What I notice about manifestation is this: almost like every time I set out to create something, the universe requires a certain amount of emotional energy from me.

  Remember the formula I mentioned before?

  Desire + Belief + Expectancy + Action => Creation (or Manifestation)

  Well, my experience has been that if you have enough desire and an absolutely unshakeable belief that something will come into your life, it can make up for a lack of expectancy or expectation.

  Equally, if you have an absolutely certain belief that something can happen and you firmly expect it to happen, then it may well manifest even if your desire isn't so strong.

  It's as if the combined energy of desire, belief and expectancy has to reach a certain cumulative level before manifestation can happen.

  In other words, if you can't summon up absolutely passionate desire for a certain outcome, maybe unshakeable belief and total certainty that your desired objective will manifest are enough to make it so.

  But how much better to be passionate about something – to want it with every fiber of your being, so much so that you can literally feel your desire to have it in your life.

  Let’s Make This Simpler!

  Surely it just makes perfect sense to believe that anything and everything is much more likely to manifest if you're passionate about wanting it in your life?

  Let's go back to the example of the relationship I mentioned a few paragraphs back.

  I think at a deep level every single one of us wants a loving relationship where our needs will be met, where we can love, be loved, and experience intimacy and connection with another human being.

  It seems like being in relationship is a natural state for the human animal.

  Certainly, relationships can be the source of our greatest joy, and they can make life seem much more worthwhile.

  And enjoying a sexual relationship with another person who you know intimately, and love deeply, can be one of the most profoundly rewarding experiences of our lives.

  With so much at stake, surely everybody would want to be in a relationship with every fiber of their being?

  Yet, people don’t seem to behave like that!

  So why are we not passionate about getting into relationship?

  Perhaps it's because our fears about being let down or not getting what we want, or ending up in the same situation yet again – another disappointment – are so strong in us?

  Yet these feelings and expectations are based on beliefs that you formed as you grew up about what you can expect to get from the world around you. Beliefs that you are not lovable, perhaps, or that you don’t deserve love, or that you don’t even know how to love properly.

  So if there are limitations in your mind about what you believe you can manifest, it's important to change those limiting beliefs – a process we will look at in detail in Chapter 3 – All About Belief.

  Just now, let’s think about how you can increase the level of your desire so you are able to get your desired outcome!

  Ready for it? The answer to the Great Mystery Of Manifestation? Brace yourself….. here it comes….

  Get Passionate About Wanting Something!

  The first step is to ask yourself how much you really want something.

  If you’re feeling a sense of "nice to have" rather than "absolutely must have at all costs" then you’re not in the right state of mind to manifest your goals successfully.

  You see, there are plenty of things that are “nice to have”, but without passion they are literally going to remain just that – things it would be nice to have in your life, not things you really want, things you can’t do without!

  And that’s not good enough! The universe needs to HEAR you! Or you need to MAKE the universe hear you. Or both!

  One way to increase your desire is to think about the benefits and advantages of getting what you want.

  We’ve been talking about a relationship. Suppose that’s what you want….

  Can you imagine yourself enjoying wonderful lovemaking, walking hand- in-hand along the beach, enjoying romantic evenings together, enjoying close connection and intimacy – and can you FEEL all of the feelings that go with such a relationship when you visualize how it might look?

  If not, simply imagine the feelings that might go with your mental images.

  So: if you see yourself hand-in-hand with your lover taking a walk along the beach or through the countryside, imagine the joy and satisfaction, the pleasure in your heart, and how it would feel to be in this relationship.

  Cultivate the positive feelings, and accentuate them in your imagination so that you can feel the joy and the uplift of pleasure as you think about your beloved and how valuable he or she is to you.

  (When you think of any manifestation goal, always use the first person and the present tense, because it works better. By doing this, you’re sending out the message that you have what you want already….. More on this later!)

  Now suppose you’re looking to get more money in your life: it's a common desire, probably the most frequent thing that people try and manifest in their lives, and also, I suspect, one of the areas where people are least successful in manifesting.

  Yet it’s simple to increase the level of desire you feel around creating abundance in your life.

  Just imagine all the things you’d be able to do with more money.

  Think about how it would improve your life, reduce your stress perhaps, liberate you from a tedious job maybe, or allow you to spend more time with your family.

  Perhaps, for you, money represents power and control over your own life – in which case just imagine how you’ll exert that power and control when you can manifest abundance easily and have plenty of money available to you.

  And while we’re talking about money, it's worth just discussing this in a little bit more detail.

  The Right Way To Manifest More Money

  A lot of real or imagined experts on manifestation think there's something wrong with trying to manifest wealth for its own sake.

  They tell you that you need to have some “higher purpose” which is going to be fulfilled with the money you get.

  If you listen to people like this they'd have you founding orphanages in Africa, charities for disadvantaged people in the West, befriending groups for lonely old people, environmental protection charities, and just about every other kind of socially beneficial enterprise you can imagine.

  But is it really necessary to have a higher purpose, something positive that you’re going to use the money for?

  Does a higher purpose really aid the process of manifestation?

  I think it can do…. but only if you're really passionate about being able to use the money for such an outcome.

  In which case you might well be better off visualizing your orphanage in Africa as a constructed, complete operation rather than visualizing the acquisition of great wealth to build it.

  After all, you
r desired objective is to build an orphanage, not to have great wealth, right? And building an orphanage would serve you by fulfilling your deepest values and motivations. That’s the higher purpose here.

  For me, having a higher purpose (for want of a better way of putting it) is actually about what you want to do with the money you get – though it's certainly not a prerequisite for manifestation to work.

  Even so, it’s a good idea. That’s because without a clear, positive purpose, money can act as fuel for all the negative parts of your personality to run wild.

  There's an interesting statistic about lottery winners: something like 90% of them have lost all the money they won within 12 months of winning the lottery.

  What do they do with their money?

  Mostly, they spend it without much thought and without any real purpose on what I call "flimflam" – transient experiences or material goods which don't increase anyone's happiness.

  Suppose you want a big car, a Ferrari, perhaps, or a Maserati, or a Lotus, or a Lexus. Perhaps you first need to ask yourself "why"?

  What lies behind your wish for a new car? Is it simply to prove a point to yourself or others about how successful, or grown-up, or rich you are?

  Or is it to indulge some immature part of yourself that wants the experience of driving around in a flash car everybody will look at?

  Or is it to make yourself feel better, because basically your self-esteem is quite low?

  Of course, even if these are your reasons for wanting something, you may still be able to manifest it, but only if you are passionate enough.

  Wanting a car to look good in the eyes of your neighbors might not be such a powerful motivating force as starting your own company to employ people, or building an orphanage in Africa might be. It all depends on what you want….

  For me, the bottom line is this: it’s probably better to have something personally meaningful as your ultimate objective so that money or greater abundance will provide you with the freedom, power, or control to allow you to manifest it.