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It’s taken me a while to get my head (and heart) around the idea that uncertainty is not a bad place to be. But I’ve been coming to realize that when I "know" something, often my knowing becomes set in stone, and the result is a rigidity and inflexibility that is at odds with the whole concept of deliberate creation.

The other day, I came across a quote from Deepak Chopra, in The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, which really summed up what I’ve been discovering about uncertainty:

Uncertainty … is the fertile ground of pure creativity and freedom. Uncertainty means stepping into the unknown in every moment of our existence. The unknown is the field of all possibilities, ever fresh, ever new, always open to the creation of new manifestations. Without uncertainty and the unknown, life is just the stale repetition of outworn memories. You become the victim of the past, and your tormentor today is your self left over from yesterday.

These days, when I’m faced with a fork in the road, and I’m unsure which way to go, I let myself settle into uncertainy. I don’t have to figure anything out, here and now.

And in that stance, I find myself in the flow of allowing.

Last month I began a new gratitude practice. I’m not so sure what prompted me to do this, but it would not be exaggerating to say that my life has been truly incredible ever since.

If you’ve been maintaining a gratitude process like a gratitude journal, you might want to try what I call the "every moment" gratitude practice.

It’s exactly what it sounds like - practicing gratitude in every moment.

The results are just amazing. Of course, the first thing you’ll realize is that you feel better. But it’s not just that - feeling good is just the top layer of it all.

I find it’s a spiritually renewing practice, much like meditation. You go very quickly from simply feeling good - no, make that feeling great! - to having this awareness of the beauty of the world, and an immediate sense of the love that’s inherent in everything.

I think we have a gratitude muscle, and like anything, the more you exercise it, the easier it gets. And even when events happen that you don’t particularly like, it starts becoming easier and easier to see through things to something you can appreciate. Because there is always something to appreciate.

With the every-moment gratitude practice, you see the gifts that have always been there, all around you, in every moment of the day, with every breath that you take.

Now What?

Okay, so you’ve figured out what it is you really believe, and it’s not helping your desire out at all. What next?

Living and Breathing Your Desire, As If It’s Already There

If you can live and breathe your desire, as if it’s already there, you’ll begin the process of shifting your beliefs. The more you do this, the easier it will feel, and the more real it will seem.

This isn’t about simply visualizing what you want. It’s choosing to BE the you who has that desire fulfilled. One excellent resource is Denise Coate’s book, Feel It Real. The first edition of the book is now out of print, but you’ll be able to get a copy of the second edition this coming spring - it’s being published by Atria, the publishers of The Secret. Denise is also in the process of relaunching her Web site, and there will be lots of Feel It Real resources there once it’s relaunched.

Affirmations and Subliminal CDs

There’s a little trick to using affirmations and subliminal CDs - they work if you believe they will work.

See? There’s that belief thing popping up again. Scientists have a name for beliefs at work when using subliminal materials, by the way - they call it the Placebo Effect.

I’ve tried a number of subliminal CDs, and the company that works best for me is InnerTalk. You can download some clips for free here - you have to give them your email address, but it’s well-worth it if you want to give their material a try. And if you live in the States, you can request a catalog from them. If you don’t live in the States, they will send you one with your order, or you can download it in PDF format.

BE the YOU That You Want To Be

This has been the most powerful practice for me - getting to know who is the Me that I want to be. And then, making the choice to BE the me I want to be.

It all comes down to choosing. We always have a choice. And whether we know it or not, we’re always making choices.

Getting in tune with who you really are is really just a matter of deciding to make these choices consciously.

It’s very simple and basic - but at times, challenging to do. The more aligned you are with who you want to be, the easier it will feel. And the more you consciously make this choice, the easier it gets.

It’s a practice.

My friend Holly Sorensen puts it this way: our only job is to Be who we want to be. And this can be everything and anything. Whatever qualities we want to give to ourselves, we can. Just focus on Being who you want to be.

And let the Universe do the heavy lifting work of manifesting your desires.

The key to this practice is a commitment to Being who you want to be for you. Not for the manifestations. They’re just a byproduct. You’re doing this for you.

• Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year. - Ralph Waldo Emerson #
• The Universe has the ability to orchestrate on your behalf. But you have got to practice being the one who receives that, you see. Abraham #
• New article at Abundance Journal: The Every-Moment Gratitude Practice http://twurl.nl/6tgeeh #
• If you deny the validity of the emotion itself and pretend it away, then you will never be led to question the beliefs behind it. - Seth #
• Acquaint yourself with your silent inner power, and you will discover a universe far more vast than the one the senses show you - Alan Cohen #

• It is never too late to be what you might have been. - George Eliot #

• Close your eyes, sit in stillness, and let your imagination show you who you want to be. - Abundance Journal #
• There is only one journey. Going inside yourself. - Rainer Maria Rilke #
• … atoms are not things. They’re only tendencies. So, instead of thinking of things, you have to think of possibilities. - A. Goswami #

• There are infinite choices within every event, and we determine which select few are going to manifest. - Deepak Chopra #
• Criticism locks us into the very pattern we are trying to change. - Louise Hay #
• Appreciation: “as you keep activating what is working in your life, then more pleasing things on all subjects will flow to you.” - Abraham #

• To me, every hour of the day and night is an unspeakably perfect miracle. - Walt Whitman #
• Even five minutes of meditation a day can make a tremendous difference. And we all have five minutes … - AJ #
• Posted: Abundance Journal Daily Thoughts (2008-05-23) http://tinyurl.com/6j59yg #
• Daydream for the pleasure of doing it … Do this every day, in as many moments as you remember to do it … - Abraham-Hicks #
• You are aware, alert, and participating in many more realities than you know as your soul expresses itself through you. - Seth/Jane Roberts #
• Recognize that every judgment is a self-judgment, regardless of how you spin it around. - Emmanuel/Pat Rodegast #