I get to practice what I preach and make a decision as if the $$ did not matter | Andrea de Michaelis – Creating my own reality, one thought at a time

Last week I got to practice what I preach: make a choice of action as if the money didn’t matter. I woke up wanting to work in the east garden even though I was at deadline with layout on the April Horizons Magazine. I opened email and a fave advertiser decided to skip advertising for the summer and renew in the fall. Hers was a big dollar renewal as she pays in advance to get the uber best price. I’d had another fave suspend advertising the month before, as well. But I didn’t let it bother me. Initially my thoughts were to either (1) make a bunch of calls and try to sell the pages or (2) go work out in the garden. If the right choice is to always do what feels best, what you would do if the money did not matter, then my choice would be to work in the garden. I knew that if I worked in the garden, my mind and thoughts would go to that happy place, and that is when the magic happens. When my mind is in a happy place.

Before I knew how it all worked, I might have still worked in the garden, but I would have felt guilty about it and worried that I should be making sales calls instead. I’d start thinking how everything could go down the drain if I didn’t work hard at it. Then I’d beat myself up when I thought I wasn’t working hard enough. Those were my old thoughts.

What I’ve come to know from experience is that when I let my mind relax, that releases any resistance I may have to whatever it is I want. What do I want? I want a happy, healthy life with plenty of money and good friends. It can show up any way it wants. As I watered my loquat saplings and took clippings from the night blooming jasmine, ideas began to form. I’d been thinking of giving the magazine a new look and changing pages around. I wanted to see it through new eyes.

I got excited about leaving the garden and going into the office to make some changes. I spent the rest of the day happily changing pages, changing colors, changing fonts, making sure it all says exactly what I want it to say. I hadn’t been this excited about magazine layout in years. When I went to bed, I felt that satisfaction you get of a busy, productive day and a job well done.

When I checked email the next morning, I had several new ads, half a dozen Paypal receipts for mp3 sales and also new session business. Score! Hours later, a generous $300 donation arrived in the mail. 24 hours later, I’d had received another $120 in unsolicited donations at an event I attended. People were literally handing me money as I went to hug them and greet them.

So while I technically did not replace the ad space I’d lost, new business of other sorts more than compensated for it. And all I did was make the decision that – in the moment of questioning which shall I do? Make calls or play in the garden? – I would base my answer on which feels the best to do? Which would I do if the dollars did not matter?

Later, I thought, I didn’t work so long in the garden that I felt guilty and that’s why I went back to work. No, I left the garden because the idea of work felt like the more fun choice in that moment. That’s how inner guidance guides us. It doesn’t descend upon us like guilt, it floats our cork, it points us to a more fun way.