Just a little over a month ago, I was on the phone with a good friend of mine. We were talking about one of our favorite topics...creating our ideal life.
We were making a list of things and experiences we wanted to add to our lives.
We both put the following two things on our lists:
1. Maid Service After the mastectomy, I lost my desire to cook...my cooking mojo has only recently returned, and even though I have cleaned since the surgery, it's someting I no longer desire to do. (It's also a service I'd highly recommend while undergoing treatment. I didn't have it, but looking back, this is what I'd do. When friends ask how they can help, say, "I'd love some people to take turns cleaning my house." Then don't feel guilty. Just say "thank you" and enjoy...and focus on getting better.) Here's the point with the maids and meal service... The maid, Mimi, lives in the building, comes once a week, does an amazing job and is a really nice person. I've only cooked a couple of times here...every restaurant delivers, and I mean every restaurant - even fast food like Burger King. (And, no, we haven't been eating fast food.) I've been enjoying Al Abraj and the Indian butter chicken from a place called Georgia's. When I want breakfast, I've just walked onto the base. (Tonight, we actually going to Al Abraj with friends for dinner...Al Abraj is the place where I get the lemon mint juices...got one again today after lunch, and I watched the guy make it so I'd know how.) My point here is not to say, "Neh, neh, neh. Look at what I have." My point here is look at how EASY it was to get. I'm not making any more money than I was when I made the list. I didn't even have to go out and interview anyone. Yet here I am in another fabulous house, with an amazing maid, and meal service...ordering out for great food whenever I want. I became fascinated with "how the universe" works and with success and health and money during my run-in with cancer. I saw things happen in my own body that were not supposed to be possible. I had great doctors, but I created that health in my head first. I decided in my head how I wanted the surgery to go...and what's funny, is that my four-hour surgery ended up taking less than two...when I imagined the surgery, I didn't know all the middle part so I would "fast forward" through those steps. Doctors and attending said it was like some simple outpatient surgery - not a double mastecomy with reconstuction! Turns out that my daddy was right. Life really is, "Mind over Matter." He would always say that. That's what's going on here with the maids and the meals. All I did was declare what I desired...and here's the key, I imagined myself having it. I was excited about having it. We get things in our HEAD first. If you can think it, you can have it, do it, be it. Our HEART brings it to us. Feeling is the fuel. It is really that simple. But, I had thought about having a maid for a while...especially after I recovered from the mastecomy and was reevaluating how I wanted to spend my time...cancer will make you think hard about how you spend your precious time, and I didn't want to spend mine cleaning! I even had gotten business cards from a couple of services...but I hadn't made the calls or taken action. (Part of the problem was that "having a maid" didn't fit in with the Puritan ideals of hard work. Having a maid seemed decadent...even for me. Again,the feeling wasn't supporting belief or even wish.) So, what was different this time? Why would this declaration about having a maid be any different? Here's what it is...I declared it. I tried to picture it in my head - I've never had a maid so I didn't know what it'd be like, but I imagined it, and I got excited about it...and let it go. As long as you WANT something, you will never have it.(Reread that until it sinks in.) I started acting as though I already had one. I would think about my life as though the maid were already present. ...And a few weeks later, I'm in Bahrain with a maid - and an amazing one at that. She's great! Cleans really well - and I'm picky! I expect someone to do the kind of job I would do. Having the maid here has given me a "taste" of that experience, of what it would be like to have a maid. (And it's pretty great.) Every night for dinner it's just a matter of deciding whether we want Thai, Indian, American, Mexican, or fast food. The Trick - or the place where people get tripped up - What's been interesting is that I found that I was actually uncomfortable having someone do things for me that I'd normally do. I'd said for a long time that it'd be nice to have a maid, or I'd say how much I really wanted a maid. Yet, when I actually got one, I was uncomfortable. I didn't know how to act. This is important because if what we say we want doesn't agree with how we feel, we'll never get anywhere with the goal. Your feeling is the fuel, remember? So it was important for me to notice that I was uncomfortable and then learn how "to be" with a maid service. It was important to "learn", yet again, how to be taken care of. The first day Mimi was here, I spilled something on the floor. I grabbed a paper towel, and as I went to wet it, Mimi - who was doing the dishes - insisted that she would take care of it, and shoo-ed me away. Notice that I had to get "used to" the experience. Know that you can get "used to" an experience even if the only experience you've got of "the thing" is in your mind and feeling. Notice also where I first created this experience...in my head and with feeling!! I'm realizing that we are all making this so very hard, and it was never meant to be that way. Once I got the idea, image and feeling, I didn't DO anything or work harder - just the opposite. It came to me. Important: If you aren't getting what you desire, I can guarantee you that there's a mismatch between your thoughts, feelings and beliefs. Now that I've had this experience, I'm in a situation to recreate it - and something better - at will, and might I point out, without struggle and effort. You are the supreme creator in your own life...God can do no more for you than you will allow to be done, no more than you are willing to receive.
2. Meals - i.e. eat out or order in any time we wanted - or go to one of those dinner prep places...or perhaps have a maid that cooks when she comes in. (I used to tutor for a family whose weekly maid would throw together the most wonderful soups while she was there.) I arrived in Bahrain and have had both of these experiences for the past 3 weeks...and I am LOVING it.
