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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781743430736 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Allen & Unwin |
| Publication date: | 01/01/2014 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 332 |
| File size: | 5 MB |
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The Wish
How to Make Your Dreams Come True
By Angela Donovan, Edwina Keene
Allen & Unwin
Copyright © 2011 Angela DonovanAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-74343-073-6
CHAPTER 1
The wonder of wishes
The Wish is your gift to yourself. It's one of the most powerful gifts you will ever receive because it offers you the miracle of realising your deepest desires through the unique magical power you already hold within you. The Wish gives you the greatest opportunity to begin to transform your life, and much more.
Have you noticed how certain wishes come true, while others seemingly dissolve? You may wonder why this is, but don't worry — the how and why will be revealed as you read on. The key thing is that once you realise what you already hold in your hands, you'll be inspired to begin to dream again of all you wish for — for yourself, for those you love, for the world. Soon you'll discover how to stop losing your vitality. You'll learn how to energise yourself by tapping into the immense energy readily available to you. You'll also know which dreams will create a happier, more enriched life and which will turn things pear-shaped.
While everyone wants their dreams to come true, sometimes life can seem quite overwhelming, leaving us feeling that it's just not practical or possible to achieve what we long for. Living day to day, taking care of ourselves and those we love, working and commuting, paying the rent or the mortgage can end up becoming the sum total of our lives. So we end up telling ourselves we haven't got the time, the energy or self-belief to do more than get by. Add to this the negative fallout from financial upheavals, climate change, shaky governments, natural disasters, war and terrorism and we can so easily assume (or be led to believe) that we have to accept whatever comes our way.
No-one denies we live in challenging times and that not everyone has our best interests at heart. But when you understand how to make your wishes come true — and make no mistake, all you can create is well within your reach — life takes on a very different hue. Accepting that this is not just a possibility but achievable changes everything. You can really start to make wonderful things happen.
Whatever you've achieved up to now in your life, that is your journey, along with the setbacks, disappointments, blocks or frustrations along the way. You may have thought that nothing ever goes right for you. It's time to put all that negative stuff in a box, as it's in the past. Now it's time to look to the future with a lighter heart. Through The Wish you will feel empowered and you will be able to 'create' good things for yourself from this moment on.
As you'll see, even our darkest moments can offer us wonderful ways forward. Often it's life nudging us to do things differently — to lighten up, get more sleep, take our health seriously, apply for a new job, take a holiday, make more time to spend with friends, get creative, move to a new suburb, invite more love into our lives. All these things are possible right now. There's no need to wait for some distant time in the future to make life how you would like it to be. No matter what you're facing right now, let me assure you it's time to go beyond the mundane stuff of everyday life so you can experience the beautiful completeness that is the real you.
The adventure you're about to take is a very practical and gentle one that will teach you real life skills, from how to heal past baggage and stop your energy being zapped, to connecting with your soul. This last point is crucial, because even though you may get everything you think you want, unless it resonates with the truth of who you really are, with your soul's needs, you'll never find happiness, success or fulfilment.
As we take The Wish journey, you'll see that dreams that come true aren't just chance occurrences. This flies in the face of popular opinion, but it's so. You may have noticed that anything you do that attracts good things always amazes others. They pass off your achievements as just being 'lucky'. Yet what we don't think about nearly enough is exactly what a 'lucky' person is. Some say people make their own luck, and to a great extent that's absolutely true, but the real question is: how can you capture this wonderful thing called 'luck'? The timeless knowledge I am now sharing with you will help create your own beneficial happenings, your own 'luck'.
The beauty of The Wish approach is that it delivers all this and more. As you read this book, you will see how the change in your approach to life will strengthen and empower you, and help set you on your chosen path — it will help you find out who you really are. The Wish will give you far greater awareness of how best to operate in the world, taking away all those nagging doubts and anxieties. When you're no longer on the roller-coaster ride of daily life, you'll be in the perfect space to discover what you truly want, to create the genuine joy and satisfaction you ache for. Why? Because you will be powerful beyond all imagining.
CHAPTER 2The power of love
The supreme happiness in life is the conviction
that we are loved.
Victor Hugo
As you might imagine, I have spent a long time pondering the magic of 'wishing', checking it out and testing it on many levels before I began to teach and then write about it. As I thought about wishes I realised that each was a tiny act of creation. More than that, I discovered that all true creation is born out of love. Why? Because love is all-encompassing, it's that most exquisite quality that resides in the very centre of who we are. When you stop to think about it, you realise we cannot survive without love, and it's through love that we live, flourish and willingly help others to do so. Through love we gain an overwhelming compassion for all living things.
We will be examining love in greater detail shortly. Here, as we ponder its qualities, we begin to sense how love gives us the 'x-factor'. Love triggers our ability to make things happen because it dramatically increases our life energy. When we're in love, the world is a beautiful place, full of potential. Nothing gets us down, and we're hopeful about the future. Love is contagious; people enjoy being around us. They are inspired to be part of our dreams. And good things happen.
With love comes an enhanced power with which to focus our thoughts and everything we do. Through love we see how the alchemy of making wishes come true increases a hundredfold. You may have experienced this in lots of ways. One moment's inspiration to create a special birthday party for someone you love, and all the excitement that comes with it, can create a wonderful gathering that everyone enjoys. How does this work? Your love and positivity draw everyone to join in. Your excitement at making it happen becomes their excitement, so you can't help but create something special. This dynamic is as true for relationships as it is for a painter or sculptor, an engineer, a doctor, a mum. We're talking about life energy here, and love is one of the greatest aspects of the life force. Love does in truth 'make the world go round'. As we learn the intricacies of wish-making, we are also discovering the nuances of love — love for ourselves and each other.
Wish-making is also about discovering how to capture feelings — not just any old feelings, but the very highest level of feeling that we're capable of. So how does this work? Let me take you back to those wonderful dizzy moments when you were very young, when you had all the time in the world to dream, and believed all your wishes would come true. Recollect the thrill, the almost tangible sense of excitement you felt as each new wish welled up inside you. Remember how much joy you experienced as you took great delight in fashioning something so dear to your heart. Pause for a moment and recapture that feeling ... How good is that? This is how you can feel right now if you so choose.
There's much more to this wonderful insight. When your childhood wish was fully formed there was a breathtaking sense of anticipation. Recall how each precious wish stayed with you, how it lingered. Back then you wanted your wishes to come true with every atom, every fibre of your being. You felt the energy of each wish you made. You knew it intimately. You also knew without a shadow of a doubt that this wish was taking place, that it would be just as you imagined. So then you let it go to the universe.
These memories are golden moments. They can remind you of how wishes are formed and, regardless of what has happened since, I know these cherished moments are still there for you. These golden moments are still readily available to us when we give ourselves time to absorb and process their power.
So now I want you to allow yourself to feel that increasing inner glow again as you take yourself back to your childhood, to that time when the sun always seemed to shine, when the grass was always a cushion of emerald green and the sky the richest expanse of blue imaginable, to a time of shop windows bursting with Christmas toys, of exciting birthday parties, of trips to the zoo and the beach. Notice how exquisite it is to relive the pure joy of these experiences, and feel the utter sense of bliss they bring.
In many ways these moments feel like you are being let loose in your very own wonderland. There you are, free to create the very best and most beautiful of life's wishes and dreams, at a time when there are no limits on yourself. That was how it was for me. I used to lie there on the grass, eyes shut tight with an innocent intensity of thought, avidly creating my dreams and willing them to come true.
Sometimes I would look up at the vast night sky with its endless array of stars — it all seemed so magical, and in fact it still does. The sheer scale of the cosmic force linking all creation was, and is, dazzling to behold. Being a person who never likes to waste a special moment, as a child I would have a big wish ready for the times when a shooting star whizzed past. I felt really lucky because there always seemed to be one passing when I needed one. Without thinking, I'd hold my breath as I made my wish and watch its golden thread streak by. Then I would hold the thrill and inner warmth of that magical experience close inside me.
The exquisite thing is that the magic of those moments still lives in me as I write this. Can't you feel this, too, as you read these words? Give yourself a moment to absorb the enormity of wishes; in a way, when we think about a time when a wish came true we are again experiencing that special moment when that wish was formed. Or to be more accurate, when we make or recall a wish we're stepping beyond the here and now, as wishes are made outside of time.
This is one of the big insights we'll be working with. So, while you may well be thinking life has passed you by, the truth is that time does little to quell the immediacy of your dreams when they truly inspire you. With a little imagination you are still able to recapture the love and excitement you once experienced when you made a wish. But it's up to you to join the dots. As many a mother has said to her child, 'You can do anything if you only put your mind to it.' Or, put another way, everything is possible when you are ready.
CHAPTER 3What about me?
Have you noticed how you begin to feel hopeful again when you start to think about your dreams and wishes? That's because you suddenly shift to a different space. It sparks a sense of optimism, as if the impossible might just be possible. For too many people this is a new experience, as it's been a long time since they felt the least bit hopeful.
So why did we ever lose that genuine sense of vision that enables us to make our wishes come true? What went wrong? When did our belief in ourselves, in life's magic, stop? And why?
As we grow, the daily issues of life have a habit of getting in the way. Without realising, we often lose sight of the very things that make us feel happy and fulfilled, until we no longer believe wonderful things are possible for us, for those we love, for the planet. We settle for a 'lesser-than' existence, and our diminished way of life impacts on those around us as well, until we're all living in a space that inhibits our potential.
The sad thing is that while we're living in this lesser space, we don't recognise life's magic when it comes our way. We're too busy working to pay the rent or mortgage, to bring up the children, take care of the home. We just don't have any spare time for ourselves. At best we promise ourselves some 'me time' next week, next month or next year. Maybe we're so stressed and tired it's just all too much to think about now. Or perhaps we think we're not deserving of special things in life, or we've never realised that we can ask for things for ourselves.
I regularly hear such explanations and more when people come to see me. One thing they have in common is a tendency to put off what they truly wish for until at least tomorrow, and therefore never. So instead of seizing the moment and living for the sheer joy of life and what it can offer — which is how we're meant to live — we settle for whatever life throws at us and thus we never taste its magic. This way of seeing life creeps up on us. We don't just wake up one day and find ourselves in a bad space. It happens over weeks, months, often years.
We all need — and must have — our own 'me time'. While it isn't always easy to carve out time for ourselves, we must determine that somehow we will make it happen. So, how do we do this? To succeed we have to recognise and accept who we are and begin to truly value and love ourselves. So even if you're a stressed-out executive struggling with a heavy workload, or a hard-pressed student up to your eyes in exam papers, pause for a minute and give yourself an 'inspirational moment' to begin to create the very next thing you would like to take place in your life, right down to the way that you would like it to happen.
It's only when we have 'me time' that we get to know ourselves: it's an essential ingredient for successful wish-making. Just as importantly, we begin to build up a force of positive energy within and around ourselves. It gives us a firm foundation from which to start creating our lives as we want them to be. And believe it or not, by nurturing yourself and contemplating who you really are, you are already attracting 'luck', otherwise you wouldn't be reading these words right now. 'Me time' doesn't have to be complicated, but it does need to be fun, inspiring, nurturing. Take time out to enjoy a sensual bath or shower, then go and relax in comfy clothes while listening to your favourite music. 'Me time' isn't a luxury, because when you make yourself a priority, you quite naturally take yourself into a whole new space and time.
When I met busy mum Carrie she told me she was feeling very tired, constantly battling with her teenage children and with no time or energy left for herself. She sounded guilty about wanting 'me time'. However, by learning to make time every day for herself, Carrie stopped fretting over her difficult daughters, their infuriating, maddening mood swings and their constant expectation that she should do everything for them — and their subsequent lack of gratitude! Once she began to enjoy dedicated 'me time' each and every day, she saw how it reflected positively in her family and made everyone much less stressed.
If you're still in any doubt as to the importance of 'me time', I'd like you to imagine you are 97 years old and a journalist has come to interview you about your life. He asks you if there is anything you regret not doing. What would your response be? 'Ahh! There were so many things I could have done, but didn't do.' Please give this some thought. It's a question that shouldn't be dismissed lightly. This is your life, your moment of choice.
At the end of your life, will you regret that you were so busy working that you didn't recognise the value of the relationships and love that you had? Will you wonder what all that chasing after money was for when it had so little value in the end? Will you regret spending so much time at everyone's beck and call, never having time for the things you love? Will you wish you hadn't remained in the job you hated simply because it came with a dental plan and other perks? These are uncomfortable questions but they hold the key to freedom, so don't put them in the 'too hard' basket. This is exciting stuff!
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The Wish by Angela Donovan, Edwina Keene. Copyright © 2011 Angela Donovan. Excerpted by permission of Allen & Unwin.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
Acknowledgements,Introduction,
1 The wonder of wishes,
2 The power of love,
3 What about me?,
4 Take a quantum leap,
5 Clear the road blocks,
6 Thoughts are wishes in disguise,
7 The power of three,
8 Charge your batteries,
9 Why your words matter,
10 Who am I?,
11 Live your passion,
12 Put your fears under the microscope,
13 Your unique role in life,
14 What has DNA got to do with it?,
15 Time to balance,
16 It's all in the mind,
17 Get to the heart of things,
18 Intention is everything,
19 The Soul Test,
20 The tides of synchronicity,
21 The golden light to self-healing,
22 Develop your sense of knowing,
23 Sharpen your memory,
24 Awaken your power,
25 Build your strengths,
26 Thought communication,
27 Make it happen,
28 Abundance in all things,
29 Give to receive,
30 Your perfect health and weight,
31 Check out your gratitude,
32 Enlighten your thought,
33 Create your wish,
34 The ultimate arrival,
35 My wish for life,