Do the facts of your life conform to the ideals you had set for yourself? Did you set ideals for yourself – for your life?
Okay, what ideals did you set?
· For the nature of your personal life?
· For your finances?
· For your resources?
· For distributing your talents and resources?
· For your family and the lifestyle of your family?
· For relationships with your children?
· For your health?
· For your relationships with your spouse or significant other?
· For your intimate circle?
· For travel?
· For your public life?
· For your involvement with established institutions?
Is this list enough to get you started on identifying ideals for yourself? Of course, you could add other categories to your list. For instance, you might want to add your work, your business and your social networks to your list.
Start wherever you’d like, but start. Identify ideals for each category of your life and work with each ideal. Gather as many qualities of the ideal you are working with. Convert the qualities to images you can see with your mind's eye. Choose the image of one quality, enter it and become that quality. Put the image on as you would put on a costume. Look at the world through the eyes of this quality – since you had become this quality. Do this for each quality of each ideal.
By becoming your ideals, you made them alive. You made these states alive and you are ready to approach any situations as you move along your path. In the face of a situation, ask if it conformed to your ideal. If it did not, ask, “What would this situation be like if it conformed to my ideal?” Notice the images that played out across your mind in response to your question. Notice your reaction to the situation as it conformed to your ideal. Your reaction was your emotional response that gave life to a new situation. Notice the conversation that played out in your mind as you reacted. Your inner conversation gave the new situation permission to exist.
For practice, let’s choose an area of life and identify your ideal for it. Finance has become popular in recent months, so let’s test it out.
Look at your financial situation and ask the question. Do the facts you know about your finances conform to your ideals for your finances? Keep in mind that you do not have to accept any facts as final if they did not conform to your ideals. So, take a few moments to be clear regarding your ideals for your finances. Your ideal might be a specific bank account balance – that your bank account balance was always a specific amount or greater. The amount you’d specified was the minimum balance and the balance was always this amount or greater. Is that okay with you?
The bank account balance is one quality of the ideal you had identified for your finances. View an image of your ideal bank account balance and see it with your mind's eye. Perhaps you viewed an image of your bank statement that showed your ideal bank account balance.
Be in the image where you were holding the bank statement in your hands and you were looking at the account balance with your mind's eye. Look at the account balance until the ideal amount appeared vivid and clear to your mind's eye. Notice your reaction to seeing this amount. Notice the chatter that went on in your mind as you saw the amount. Look out into space as though you were contemplating the amount and how you had considered distributing the funds represented by that amount. Notice how you felt about yourself as you contemplated your use of the money. Notice how you felt about yourself as you saw the balance, knowing your ideal balance was always the amount you saw on the bank statement or greater.
Your reaction, your inner conversations and your conception of self are the powers of your being that made the state of your ideal finances alive. The seed is planted and the amount you had identified or greater will show up in your bank account if you'd continually view the world and your life through the eyes of this image. Your task: fill your being with images of your ideal finances until you'd crowded out all other ideas regarding your finances. For instance, when planning to make a purchase, notice where you moved your attention automatically. When your attention had moved automatically to the ideal bank account balance, your work is completed.