Flowering

Living the Manifestation Experience

By Richard Dotts

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 - Living the Manifestation Experience

Chapter 2 - The Myth of Small Versus Big Changes
Chapter 3 - What is a Spiritual Path, Anyway?
Chapter 4 - The Art of Flowering and Flourishing
Chapter 5 - Manifestations Without Limits
Chapter 6 - A Return to Zero
Chapter 7 - A Protocol for Setting Zero Point Intentions
Chapter 8 - The Centering Scale
Chapter 9 – Using the Centering Scale for Rapid Vibrational Fine-tuning
Chapter 10 - The Second Dimension of the Centering Scale

© Richard Dotts 2016

1st Kindle edition
Questions / comments? The author can be contacted at RichardDotts@gmail.com
Chapter 1 - Living the Manifestation Experience

Life is hard when we try to understand all of it at once. In a seminal

study conducted by psychology professors Norbert Schwarz and Gerald
Clore back in 1983, participants were asked to rate their current mood and
satisfaction with life as a whole. Surprisingly, Schwarz and Clore found that
individual’s ratings of both their mood and life satisfaction were affected by
the weather on that day, with people reportedly being happier and more
satisfied with their lives in general on sunny than on rainy days. In another
condition of the experiment, researchers explicitly reminded participants
about the weather before asking for their ratings. This time round, weather
only had an effect on participants’ mood ratings but not their life
satisfaction ratings. What’s going on here? Why does the weather affect
how we feel about our lives in one case but not in another?

As it turns out, asking a person to evaluate his entire life is not exactly
an easy thing to do. It is such a big question that most of us do not even
know where to begin. Where do we start? Do we assess our jobs,
relationships, health, finances, or all of those at once? How do we decide
the weights to put on each category?

Therefore, when faced with the daunting task of evaluating their lives
as a whole, participants unconsciously took the easy way out. They used
their current moods as a mental shortcut to determine their life satisfaction
in general. If their mood at that moment was good (largely influenced by
the weather), life appeared good as well. If their mood was bad, life
appeared to be dark and gloomy. Consciously reminding participants about
the weather made them aware of this mental shortcut they were using,
which is why weather ceased to have an effect on life satisfaction ratings
when participants were specifically reminded about the weather.

This classic experiment beautifully illustrates a few important

principles. First, it demonstrates how little self-awareness we have about
our lives and what affects our well-being in general. There has been a lot of
emphasis on life satisfaction and happiness in the popular press lately with
every expert eager to prescribe his or her own advice, but no one has been
able to conclusively define what a happy life looks like. The best definition
I have ever come across is one by Abraham-Hicks: “A happy life is just a
string of happy moments. But most people don’t allow the happy moment,
because they’re so busy trying to get a happy life.”

The problem with these happiness surveys and books is that they
cause us to evaluate our lives in unconsciously biased ways. Just like the
participants in Schwarz and Clore’s seminal study, life itself is such a multi-
faceted experience that we can’t even begin to wrap our minds around it.
Thus, life appears to be difficult or daunting when we try to grasp all of it at
once. A single nagging physical symptom or a challenge we face can
greatly affect our own perception of life without us even realizing it. And as
the study shows, even irrelevant cues such as the weather can play a part in
our own inaccurate assessments of life.

It has been said that scientists who study objective phenomena are
usually happier than the navel-gazing types. Many spiritual seekers and
those seeking self-improvement tend to spend inordinate amounts of time in
self-contemplation, pondering over various aspects of their lives. As the
study above shows, such prolonged self-contemplation can do more harm
than good. It can cause us to focus excessively on the things that are going
“wrong” in our lives to the exclusion of everything else. This misdirected
focus often happens unconsciously, and if left unchecked, can lead to an
extremely bleak view of life which results in a predominantly negative
inner state. In turn, a negative inner state sets the stage for more undesired
experiences in our outer reality.

I was reminded of this during my two weeks bout of knee pain caused
by over-exercising. I experienced a sharp unbearable pain whenever I
attempted to squat or bend my left knee, which resulted in a restricted range
of motion. My continued fixation on the intensity of the pain and the
perceived “incurability” of the situation led to much fear and unhappiness
during those two weeks of my life, although everything else was going
great as usual. If you asked me for my own life satisfaction rating back
then, it would have been pretty low! I had unconsciously allowed myself to
be overwhelmed by my own negative thoughts about the situation.
Fortunately, I caught myself in time and redirected my focus towards my
own desired healing instead of the undesirable pain. The moment I was
successful in shifting my own focus about the situation was when the
physical transformation occurred. I was soon led to my healing on the
outside. The pain subsided as quickly as it began as I traversed the path of
healing, and my knee remains pain-free to this day.

Most people go through life wanting to know all the answers at once.
They demand a clear view of the road ahead and how things will work out
over the next five to ten years. They want to see the paths that will lead
them to their desired success. Because of our desire to see the whole
staircase clearly at once, we often plunge ourselves into needless worrying,
planning, and despair. Sometimes all this worrying can keep us stuck in a
rut, unable to face life.

As Martin Luther King so wisely puts it, “You don’t have to see the
whole staircase. Just take the first step.” More than just another
inspirational saying, I have found Dr. King’s advice to be particularly useful
in my own life. It was times when I demanded “to see the whole staircase”
that I experienced the most emotional turmoil on the inside. That was when
my ego and my smaller self was speaking, trying to figure everything out
through my limited intellect. My ego wanted to be the one that healed my
painful knee, and became desperate when it could not conceive of ways to
do so due to its limited understanding. When I let go of the need to know
how my healing would occur and just be open to all possibilities in every
moment, that was when my ego and my smaller self ceded control to my
higher self. My higher self, which is always in tune with spirit, knows
exactly what needs to be done in any situation. I have often written that the
Universe does not perceive the same limitations as we do from our limited
human perspectives. Therefore, everything is perfect to the Universe.

When we give up control to our higher selves and get out of our own
way, we recognize the Universal perfection that has always been there.
What is thus corrected are the errors and blind spots in our own thinking.
When those blind spots are corrected on the inside, undesirable situations of
lack and limitation, even stubborn circumstances that have persisted for the
longest time automatically clear up on the outside. The metaphysical
literature is filled with stories of how longstanding conditions
spontaneously resolved themselves with a correction of one’s erroneous
thinking. Florence Scovel Shinn’s classic books are replete with delightful
and pointed references to them.

Does this mean that my knee pain was “imagined” and merely caused
by my own thinking? Many readers of spiritual books are offended when
they read that problems and undesirable situations in their lives arise from
their own limited thinking. This does not in any way suggest that our
problems in life are imagined (my knee pain felt very real indeed when I
was experiencing them), but rather, that our thoughts carry immense power.
In fact, our thoughts carry so much power that they have the ability to
create and shape our everyday realities and experiences. Thus, when a
metaphysician says that our thoughts create our own reality, it does not
mean that our problems are imaginary. Rather, it means that the key to
correcting all these perceived problems in our life lies in first correcting our
own negative habits of thought on the inside.

The superficial way to handle problems and issues in life is to pretend

that they do not exist. Some people, upon learning about the power of
“positive thinking,” start to convince themselves that their problems are not
really there, or that they are making things up. In my case, I could have
convinced myself that the pain wasn’t really as bad as I imagined it to be
and that I could change the way I lived to manage it. But what we are
talking about here is not about positive thinking. It goes deeper than that. It
is about first acknowledging and being at peace with all of life (even the
supposedly undesirable aspects) before we can move beyond them and
create a more desired reality. Until I was at peace with my hurting left knee
and stopped complaining about how unjust it was to be afflicted with such a
condition, my ego prevented myself from seeing my options clearly and
moving ahead with the healing.

In my book Dollars Flow To Me Easily, I attempted to do something I

had never done before. I wanted to write a book that would dissolve the
reader’s various resistances towards manifesting money and financial
abundance as they were reading it. Thankfully, the hundreds of success
stories and positive reviews I received since its publication proved that I
was at least somewhat successful in my approach. That was when I had
another idea. Why limit it to just the subject of money? Why not open it up
and make it applicable to all of life? Why not apply the same process to all
areas of our life?

That became my intention for this book which you are now holding in
your hands. Our lives are already inherently perfect the way they are, but so
many people allow themselves to be caught up in small negative situations.
They allow a few unhappy events to color their perceptions of life, which in
turn leads to more undesired manifestations. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if
these few unhappy events and blind spots could be dropped once and for
all? How nice would it be to drop our self-imposed limitations and live a
wonderful life with no limitations. This book will not only show you how
but also take you through the transformational process spontaneously as
you read.

It is no overstatement to say that your life can change just by reading

this book. I say so not because of the power of these written words to move
you into action, but because of the higher power you harness when you let
go of the perceived problems and limitations in your own life.

I experienced this form of seemingly passive transformation many

times in my own life when I gave up control to the higher power that was
flowing through me. In my early days, those episodes usually happened out
of sheer desperation or helplessness, when I had hit rock bottom and had
nowhere else to turn to. I had done everything humanly possible and was at
my wit’s end. That was when the much desired “last-minute” manifestations
usually occurred. Today, however, I understand that one does not always
have to hit rock bottom to manifest our desired good. Letting go does not
have to be an involuntary or painful process. Rather, it can be the first step
of a conscious manifestation process, where we recognize the higher power
within us and let the Universe show us the way. Far from being a sign of
weakness, letting go is a sign of deep wisdom and faith in the Universe.
 You will find as you read this book that I advocate very few physical
steps to take. You will not find much here in terms of practical, outwardly,
action steps to improve your life or mood. But despite so, your life will still
improve for the better as you read this book. How do I know? My
experience tells me that by picking up this book, you have already signaled
your intention to take your existing life experience to a whole new level.
Therefore, you already hold the broader intention for a more fulfilling life
on the inside. In turn, the Universe has already picked up on your intentions
the first time you held them on the inside and even led you to this book. It is
done!

What this book will help you to do is to gently drop the counter-
intentions and resistances that may stand in the way of your broader
intentions for a more fulfilling life. Through illuminating inner exercises
and the use of specific words and frequencies, we will gently dissolve the
resistances and barriers in your life during the quiet time that we spend
together.

As such, while I may not know the content of what you are
specifically asking for, you would have let go of much of your emotional
baggage during our time together. You would have, both on a conscious and
an unconscious level, created the much-needed openings in your life for
transformational shifts to occur. When you let go of anything that is not in
line with your true divine nature, that is when the desired good starts
flowing unbridled into your life. Any time you hold on to any last vestiges
of lack or limitation and remain focused on them is when you block the
flow of goodness into your life.

In line with my intentions for this book, I am not going to start off by
telling you what’s possible or what to expect as you read. This would be
akin to setting boundaries that delineate what’s coming next. The great
Lester Levenson once said, “Every thought is a limitation. Every thought
must be limited.”
 By stating what is possible, we have already limited the scope of the
transformations that can happen. As we move into the first chapter, I invite
you to consider the sum total of your life experience and the fullness of
what you have experienced so far. Notice how difficult it is to sum up your
life experience in just a few words (or even an entire book). Your life is so
much more than that! The richness and goodness in your life (once you are
willing to see beyond the few undesirable bits) is overflowing and yet there
is still more to come!

Your potential for greatness and manifesting a fulfilled life is

unlimited, so turn the page and let the miracles begin!
Chapter 2 - The Myth of Small Versus Big Changes

I notice an interesting pattern whenever I speak to individuals who are

unhappy with their lives. Invariably, when asked about what was happening
in their lives and why they were so dissatisfied with it, these individuals
would engage in what I call “stringing” behavior, where they strung all of
their perceived problems together into one big coagulating mass. No matter
the nature of their problems, each one seemed to lead to or be related to the
other. In turn, each of the problems reinforced one another. Interestingly, the
happy and fulfilled individuals whom I spoke to did not exhibit the same
“stringing” behavior. They often referred to their challenges in life as
transient or isolated cases, unrelated to the larger part of their lives.

Over the years, it quickly became apparent to me that the problems

faced by these two groups of individuals really weren’t that different. There
were the usual health, relationship and money issues that a modern city-
dweller would expect. But what differed was how each group perceived and
handled these issues in their lives. The former group (comprising of
unhappy and depressed individuals) had a tendency to lump all of their
challenges into one big mass and then attempt to deal with the resulting
mess (often unsuccessfully), whereas the latter group saw these issues as
temporary and unrelated to the bigger part of their lives. The depressed
individuals came to identify so strongly with these issues that they believed
they were inseparable from them. On the other hand, the happy individuals
saw themselves as whole and complete, with the problems separate from
them.

I cite this example to show how a simple shift in our perception can
cause our attitudes towards life to vary greatly. When one sees the problems
in their life as one big entangled mess, there is often the tendency to look
for big answers and the urgency to implement massive changes. This is why
there are so many books out there advocating quantum leaps or tantalizing
us with a complete makeover of our lives, often in “thirty days or less.” By
offering drastic solutions to life’s problems, these books play into the minds
of consumers looking for “big” changes. Why? Because small changes are
perceived as too slow and too insignificant to matter. We often desire
everything to change for the better at once.

When I objectively examine the changes that have occurred in my

own life, I can unequivocally state that the small changes I made have had a
long-term success rate of over 95%, while the quantum leaps I attempted
have had a dismal success rate of less than 10%. Take for example my
desire to improve my level of physical fitness, a typically daunting goal for
many people. I adopted the small shift of cycling on my stationary bicycle
for just five minutes a day, which progressively increased over time to 45
minutes a day and has remained at that duration ever since for the past few
years of my life.

In the beginning, those around me were skeptical. What can five

minutes of cycling a day possibly do to improve one’s health? Most people
would rather not do it! It was too small and significant to matter. But they
were missing the point. Five minutes of cycling and getting my heart rate
up was better than sitting around all day and no cycling at all, which was
the sedentary lifestyle I was leading previously. The people who scoffed at
me five years ago are still doing zero exercise (and leading the same lives as
before), while my workout routine has created beneficial changes in several
areas of my life.

Another example that comes to mind is my journey of becoming an

author. I often refer to myself as an accidental author. I used to marvel at
how some authors were so prolific and could write forty to fifty books over
the span of their careers. When I attempted to emulate them in a big way by
writing day after day, the words flowed slowly. I found myself stuck,
discouraged and burnt out. Then I remembered the principle of making
small changes. I set out to write just one page a day, nothing more and
nothing less. That was easy to do. It eventually led to writing a couple of
pages each day, a routine which I have kept at for the past few years to date.

I credit the work of Dr. Robert Maurer, in particular, his excellent

books and audio programs on the Japanese art of kaizen (continuous
improvement), for helping me look beyond this perceptual blind spot. I had
previously believed that only big and drastic actions could create long-
lasting and the much-needed changes in our lives. Little did I know that it
was a limiting belief in itself. As Dr. Maurer explains, our brain is
hardwired to keep us safely in our comfort zones. It is afraid of massive
changes and will do whatever possible to keep us back. Small changes not
only bypass the internal circuitry that is designed to keep us safe but they
also greatly increase our chances of success. I have found this to be true in
my own life.

How can the technique of making small changes apply to our spiritual
lives? I often tell people that to manifest whatever they want in life, they
have to start by worrying a little less. This means focusing a little less on
the negative, undesired aspects of their lives and more on their desired
reality. This is a perfect example of making a small shift on the inside. Yet
most people do not do it because they are looking for big changes and
quantum leaps. To them, dropping just one negative thought a day seems to
be the most counterintuitive and insignificant thing to do. It almost seems
too trivial to matter, and it is. Whether you drop that one negative thought
or not is not going to matter right now, but when added up and compounded
over time, it is going to matter a great deal. It is what makes all of the
difference in the outcome of your life.

When I first learned about Lester Levenson’s technique to let go of

unwanted emotions within ourselves, it didn’t immediately strike me that
Lester was harnessing the power of making small, almost imperceptible
shifts in our inner state. Lester advocated working on one emotion at a time
until one was free from it. He did not say, “Work on a whole bunch of stuff
and be free from all of it at once!” Instead, he gently took his students by
hand and instructed them to just work on the specific emotion which came
up in the moment. No matter what comes up in the moment, we were to
work on it until we were totally free from it. Then in the next moment, we
would work on the next emotion that came up and so on. Looking back, I
now appreciate the value of Lester’s teachings.

Quit trying to make big changes all at once. You would have a much
better chance at long-lasting success if you started with one small thing
today. I used to walk around as a nervous wreck, worrying about every
single thing that would happen to me. I was worried about offending others,
about running out of money, about being a failure in life, amounting to
nothing and so on.

Every conceivable kind of worrisome thought ran through my mind

like a thousand galloping horses. For the longest time, I remained a slave to
my uncontrolled thoughts. If I had wanted to banish all of those worrisome
thoughts at once, it would have been an impossible task. I would have been
setting myself up for failure and disappointment. Yet that was what I
attempted to do in the early part of my journey. I saw it as either “all or
nothing.” Either I got rid of everything, or I continued to put up with them.

It hadn’t occurred to me that I could do it the easy way, by guiding

myself to let go of one worrisome thought a day, which was what I
eventually did. I let go of one worrisome thought the moment it came up
and did not stop until I was completely free from that thought. Sometimes
freeing myself from a single thought took just a few minutes. At other
times, it took several hours, days or weeks. But because I kept at it
persistently, I was eventually emotionally free from every false thought that
came up in my mind. This method allowed me to become free from it all.

If someone were to ask, “How does freeing yourself from the

influence of your own thoughts help to create positive changes in your
life?”, they would have fallen into the same trap of looking for big changes
and big action steps to take. When one frees themselves from the negative
influences of one worrisome thought, they free up just that little bit more of
their consciousness and reclaim the power they have given to that thought.
Eventually, one comes to recognize that all of their thoughts are false and
that it is our belief in these thoughts that have caused much of our suffering.
Our thoughts which we have identified with so closely have never been a
part of us. They were merely the false projections of our own ego, often to
keep us safe.

An extreme example of this comes from observing people who

believe that the whole world is against them. Okay, perhaps not the whole
world, but just the whole office. It is interesting to hear these individuals
talk, and they are often happy to share their troubles with you. Instead of
judging them and attempting to offer your advice, just listen to what they
are saying.

Notice what the crux of the problem is here—The issue is not that the
whole office is against them, but that they have somehow believed their
own thoughts so much that they think it is so. They have placed so much
importance on and allowed themselves to believe wholly in their own
thoughts. The same goes for conspiracy theorists and people who
stubbornly cling to their own beliefs. These individuals are unable to see
alternative perspectives or develop any empathy for another person. Why?
Over time, these individuals have placed so much value and emphasis on
their own thoughts that they come to believe everything that passes through
their mind as true, without realizing that most of our thoughts are nothing
more than the false projections of the ego.

How can you apply this to your own life? You can do so by first
recognizing that one small inner shift can make a huge difference in the
eventual outcome. Therefore, do not dismiss any small changes or shifts
that you make on the inside. Even a small decrease in the intensity of your
worrisome or fearful thoughts is good progress. In a very short time to
come, these small changes which you continually make on the inside will
add up to massive transformations. Therefore, it helps to become a little
more self-aware each day. It helps to become a little more in tune with your
inner state each day, by opening up a little bit more to the nudges which you
receive on the inside.

Second, be easy with all of this. Can you listen to that inner voice just
a wee bit more today? Can you allow yourself to indulge in something
which you have always wanted to do for just a little while, free from
societal pressures and from the expectations of others? Can you listen to
yourself and do something that makes your heart sing for just a few minutes
today? If you can, you would have made much progress on the inside.
When viewed on its own, this little change may seem trivial to you. But you
never know how everything fits together in the grand scheme of things, just
as how I could never have foreseen that the single page I wrote would
eventually become part of a whole book, and a whole series of books. When
I wrote that very first page, what was to come next wasn’t obvious to me.

The greater scheme of things is not for us to figure out, but we can
always follow our inner nudges and take the next small step we are inspired
to. This is perhaps the best method for dissolving longstanding resistant
feelings and habits in our life.

A common reason for inner resistance is that we expect changes to

happen in a certain way. For example, if we have been struggling with
health issues for the longest time, then we expect the healing process to be
equally arduous. Similarly, if someone has been experiencing financial lack
for most of his life, he may expect that any change can only come through
equally massive and drastic means. But why? Change can happen in an
instant when we are ready and willing, as I have experienced for myself.
My financial situation was completely transformed in a matter of weeks
after struggling with it for decades! The moment I understood these
principles fully on the inside, the most effortless shifts happened on the
outside with no physical action on my part. A small shift in my
understanding was all that was necessary.

This is why the great spiritual masters often teach that if you have to
pray at all, then pray for more wisdom so you can recognize the truth that is
eternal and omnipresent.

You can be assured that the ensuing change process which happens
for you will always be in your highest good, and will always be in line with
what is most appropriate for you. Give up the false, limiting belief that
change has to be a difficult struggle. Give up the belief that you always
have to hit rock bottom before things can change for the better. The
proverbial “dark night of the soul” is not a necessary step in the process of
change. It only happens when we are unwilling to change and stubbornly
cling on to parts of our old selves. The Universe always knows the most
harmonious and direct path to your healing, health, wellness, and joy. In
fact, you are already that which you seek, so how can things be any
different? In the moment you let go of your stubborn insistence on how
certain things have to happen in a certain way, you free the Universe to
work its magic.
Chapter 3 - What is a Spiritual Path, Anyway?

I once had a protracted coughing spell caused by a throat irritation,

which made it difficult for me to fall asleep at night. Each time I attempted
to lie flat in bed, I would feel an involuntarily urge to cough. The only
short-lived remedy seemed to be to sit up in bed and take a sip of warm
water so that the itchiness would subside. As soon as the throat irritation
subsided and I went back to sleep, lying flat on the bed immediately
triggered that itchy cough again. And so the cycle went on throughout the
night for several days… I hardly got any sleep and the coughing did not
seem to get any better.

All through the episode, I felt a very strong inner urge to suck on a
cough drop. I had been introduced to a brand of highly effective French
herbal cough drops from my days as a teacher, in which I would take after
long lectures to soothe my throat. Amidst all the coughing which was
causing my eyes to water and keeping me up all night, I was once again
reminded of those cough drops and how effective they had been for me in
the past.

You would think that I would immediately have jumped out of bed
and reached for those cough drops on the table just a few feet away from
my bed… but alas I did not. Instead, I reasoned that since the cough drops
were coated with a layer of sugar and as I had already brushed my teeth
before going to bed, my dentist wouldn’t be pleased! Hence, I decided to
heal my cough through more “spiritual” means.

For the next two hours, in between coughing and sipping warm water
in bed, I tried every kind of “spiritual” intervention possible. I first tried
praying to God to be healed from my terrible cough. When that did not
seem to work, I tried feeling grateful and visualizing that my cough had
already been healed. Then I tried all sorts of energy healing techniques,
ranging from tapping on my meridian points to channeling the chi
throughout my body to the throat area. Finally, exhausted and desperate to
get a good night’s sleep, I caved in and sucked on two sugar-coated cough
drops. My coughing subsided within five minutes, and I slept all the way
through like a baby.

This humorous but true “cough drops” story illustrates how we often
fall into the trap of looking for “spiritual” solutions to various issues in life,
and end up getting trapped in the process. What does a “spiritual” solution
really look like anyway? What makes a particular path more spiritual than
the other?

A spiritual path is often indistinguishable from the physical.

In my case, I had assumed that taking a cough drop wasn’t a

“spiritual” thing to do. To me back then, a spiritual path meant something
that required no physical intervention at all, like a sudden healing brought
about by a stream of unseen energy. Little did I know that this thought in
itself was a false and limiting belief. It had no basis in spiritual truth.
Believing that certain paths were more “spiritual” than others kept me stuck
and limited the results I could experience.

As the spiritual masters have repeatedly taught since the beginning of

time, the physical and the spiritual are two sides of the same coin,
inseparable from each other. Each time we attempt to classify something as
purely physical or purely spiritual, we deny the presence of the divine spirit
in everything that we do. For example, some people view money as a purely
physical commodity. They end up with the misguided belief that money is
unspiritual and should be avoided at all costs. These are the individuals who
often manifest financial lack and limitation in their own lives. Do they
deserve it? Absolutely not! Their realities are the direct result of holding on
to misguided beliefs about money being non-spiritual. In the same way, my
lack of healing resulted from holding on to a misguided belief about how
taking a cough drop wouldn’t be good for me. Simple beliefs, when
stubbornly held onto, have the power to shape our realities for the better or
for worse.

Notice how I had a clear inner nudge to take a cough drop the moment
my coughing started. Hence, my higher self already knew what was the best
for me and the path of least resistance in that situation. Had I acted on this
nudge without questioning or reasoning my way through it, I would have
followed the path of least resistance to my desired outcome very quickly.
Instead, I allowed my logical mind to override the inner knowing. I had
allowed my ego to dictate which path was more “spiritual” for me. My ego
prevented me from traversing the path of least resistance, which resulted in
a blocking of my desired good.

Take a look to see how this may be happening in your own life. I
often read stories about how individuals are unwilling to go through certain
medical procedures, instead opting for more “spiritual” interventions which
they believe are more appropriate. But the same questions remain—What
does a spiritual solution really look like? What makes a particular solution
more spiritual than the other? If the good work of God permeates
everything, then why do we still believe that some paths are more spiritual
and better than others?

The late Dr. David Hawkins, a world-renowned spiritual teacher who

also trained as a medical doctor, speaks of the importance of not dismissing
any healing modality outright. He talks about how there are circumstances
under which a pill would be more appropriate than a particular spiritual
healing modality. Dr. Hawkins refers to a pill as representing an elevation in
the consciousness of mankind, in which man manages to fit the cure for a
particular condition into a pill.

Of course, I am not advocating that popping pills is the appropriate

path in every situation. But in many situations, it will be the path of least
resistance for an individual. After the initial symptoms have subsided,
complementary methods and paths to healing can perhaps be explored. If
there is a strong inner nudge to take a particular pathway, one should listen
to the innate wisdom of their higher self and take it.

The same applies to our daily manifestations. Individuals sometimes

shy away from buying a particular item outright, instead preferring to
“attract” the item into their lives! This is another form of what we have
described above, that of the ego seeing certain paths as more spiritual than
others.

Buying an item outright with the money you have is no less spiritual
(and no less a testament to your role as a powerful creator) than “attracting”
an item into your life through seemingly spiritual means. Money is really
spirit-in-action, and thus, when you feel a strong inner calling to purchase
an item, you should go for it without second-guessing or holding yourself
back.

Some people tell me, “I can’t bear to spend money on this item.
Hence, I am using metaphysical means to attract it into my life.” If this
thought comes up for you, examine why you can’t bear to spend your own
money in the first place. Is it because of underlying issues of
deservingness? Do you feel that you cannot afford the item in the first
place? Do you feel that you do not really deserve it? Or is the item really
not that important to you? These thoughts are insightful as they point to
deeper and subtle beliefs that lie beneath the surface. Don’t brush those
thoughts aside as frivolous but instead, examine them closely. Why is it that
you think this way? When you get to the core of the beliefs themselves, you
would have pulled these unconscious beliefs into your conscious mind.
Once these underlying beliefs become fully conscious for you, steps can be
taken to let them go.

I used to have a strong preference for “attracting” things into my life.

Instead of buying an item outright, I would instead try to win it through a
particular contest or have someone give it to me as a gift. Note that it is
perfectly alright to attract something into your life through alternative
means if that is what you feel inspired to do. I have won contests in which I
felt a strong and clear nudge from the Universe to participate. However,
when you feel a strong nudge to pay cash for something, then that
represents your current path of least resistance. Follow your inner nudge
and take that path!

Upon examining my own inner beliefs, I realized I wanted to “attract”

things into my life as opposed to buying them because my ego needed to
prove that it could make these manifestation techniques work. This is a trap
that many students of these metaphysical laws often fall into. After learning
about the various manifestation techniques, there is a strong desire to prove
that these techniques work. Hence, inordinate amounts of time and effort is
spent on manifesting things through these alternative channels to the
exclusion of everything else.

This is absurd since we are already born creators at the core of our
being, and there is no way we can “prove” to be something more than that
which we already are! It is only when we believe we are not, or that we are
limited in some way, that the need to demonstrate our power arises. Let go
of the need to prove these spiritual laws to anyone else. Instead, rest in the
knowing that you are already a powerful manifestor and that all channels
are open to you the moment you hold an intention for something.

When you develop a conscious awareness and recognize the divine

presence in everything and everyone around you, then any artificial
differences between the physical and spiritual world fall away. You begin to
see the spiritual in everything physical (even a cough drop), and likewise,
how spiritual phenomena can manifest themselves physically. Any
separation was only at the level of your ego, an illusion you have created
for yourself. Therefore, who is to say that your automobile is any less
spiritual than a tree? Or that your computer is less spiritual than the Holy
Bible? They are all one and the same, physical manifestations of spiritual
perfection. Divinity expresses itself perfectly in various forms.

Start by seeing the divine spirit in everything you do. You will realize
that there is really no separation between yourself and everything around
you. The divine spirit permeates everything and everyone, and we are all
part of the same Universal field. When you develop an appreciation for the
seemingly physical world around you, you start to treat everything with a
sense of kindness and respect. Respect not because you are afraid of
offending the divine, but because you recognize that this same divine
perfection also exists within you.
 Many spiritual cultures have the tradition of speaking to the inanimate
objects around them. Dr. Hew Len, the Hawaiian spiritual healer who wrote
Zero Limits, could converse freely with inanimate objects such as chairs and
rooms! I used to scratch my head at this practice, wondering whether these
shamans were making things up. This was until I started speaking to my
automobile! Don’t worry, it didn’t sound at all like Herbie, and the
conversation took place in my head.

In that moment, I recognized how my automobile was a perfect

physical manifestation of spirit, and how we can converse freely with the
Universe at any time. My automobile allows me to conveniently travel
around town and get things done. Thus, my automobile is really a
“spiritual” transportation solution, although it is entirely made up of
physical parts! Had I insisted on more “spiritual” means of transportation
like teleportation, I might never have stepped out of my house.

Are there any manifestation pathways you have denied because they
are not “spiritual” enough for you? Do you consider certain channels to be
more “spiritual” than others? Insisting that your good only comes through
“spiritual” means is a recipe for disappointment since the spiritual is in
everything you do. The Universe doesn’t make such a distinction in the first
place. Divine spirit expresses itself perfectly in all manners and ways, just
as your manifestation pathways always take the form that is most
appropriate for you. When there is a clear inner impulse that feels right to
you and just wouldn’t go away, go for it!
Chapter 4 - The Art of Flowering and Flourishing

Picture a perfect day where everything goes right, from the moment
you wake up in the morning to the time you go to bed at night. You wake up
at just the perfect time in the morning, feeling completely refreshed and
excited about the day before you. The commute to work is light and
enjoyable as you listen to your favorite songs on the radio. As you move
through your day, you meet with the right people and resources to help you
achieve your goals for that day. Everything you ask for is easily done, and
every request is easily fulfilled. You find yourself eating healthy, delicious
food while enjoying the company of your closest friends. There is more
than enough time to do everything you need to do for the day and still get
home early to spend time with your family. You even manage to read one
chapter of a good book and plan for the following day before turning in for
the night.

How does this perfect day sound like to you? Wouldn’t it be nice if
you experienced this perfect day not only once in a blue moon, but every
single day of your life? The truth is that most people’s days do not look like
this at all. They hit the snooze button a few times before dragging
themselves out of bed half-awake. Their morning commute during rush
hour is a stressful journey. By the time they reach the office, they find
themselves rushing headlong into their tasks for the day and hitting various
unexpected roadblocks, all of which only add to their frustration and stress
levels. By the time evening rolls around, they are exhausted and
disappointed at themselves for having achieved so little that day. And so the
cycle repeats itself all over again.

Why do many people’s days not look like the perfect version
described earlier? Author Craig Ballantyne lays out the answer in his book
The Perfect Day Formula. His answer can be summarized in a few words:
Most people do not spend time planning their days in advance. As a result,
they allow their days to happen at random and merely spend much of their
time reacting to various events that occur. I have found Craig’s analysis to
be true, both in the practical and metaphysical sense.
 The most important lesson I wish to convey through this series of
books is the importance of conscious, deliberate creation. Abraham-Hicks
calls it the act of “pre-paving.” This means consciously deciding what you
want to create ahead of time and then aligning yourself with the final
outcome. It means starting with the end in mind and then stepping into that
ideal outcome, instead of allowing life to just randomly happen to you and
pass you by. Proper planning is the key to living a happy and fulfilled life.

The second reason why most people’s days are far from perfect is that
they do not believe life can be perfect. We have been taught over the years
about the virtues of hard work and struggle, that “life is not a bed of roses.”
Ironically, these sayings which were meant to encourage us during
challenging times have been turned into excuses for living lousy and
unfulfilled lives where we settle for less than we can be.

Spiritual masters throughout the ages have taught us that we can lead
perfectly abundant and unlimited lives in all areas and at all levels of our
being. This means we can move through our days feeling one hundred
percent happy and fulfilled, where everything and everyone we encounter
pleases us immensely. Everything we ask for can come true in an instant,
and negative feelings can be a thing of the past. So why is this perfect state
still not happening for some people?

Abraham-Hicks often talks about the importance of pre-paving (or

preparing the grid). What this means is preparing ourselves mentally to
receive what we have asked for physically. For example, if you would like
to create more financial abundance in your life, then the ultimate physical
manifestation of that would be more money in your bank account.

But how do you bridge the gap between where you currently are and
where you want to be? Although it would be nice, one does not just
suddenly wake up and find themselves swimming in a large pool of money.
Instead, the secret is to pre-pave this desired reality beforehand and to
gradually ease oneself into it. By doing the inner work necessary and
shifting our inner reality one bit at a time, we are aligning our inner states
with the outer realities which we are trying to create.

When there is no discrepancy between our inner states and desired

outer realities, that is when the physical manifestations have to happen.
That is when everything happens in one fell swoop, and you experience all
the manifestations as “instant.” But it is not instant, for the creative process
has started long before the actual physical manifestation. Until that tipping
point, all of the manifestative forces were working in unseen ways that were
not apparent to our physical senses.

The key to reaching this tipping point is to maintain the flow of

energy towards your desired outcome long before any physical signs of
change are apparent. If you train yourself to do this, you’ll become an
effective and successful manifestor. If you think of physical manifestations
in terms of flowing energy and creating the desired changes in your inner
state (as opposed to controlling your outer conditions), then those outer
conditions have to match up very quickly. Most people trip themselves up
because they are always trying to change the outer conditions in their lives,
not realizing that their inner states are so far apart from what they are trying
to achieve physically.

For example, suppose that you are trying to manifest financial

abundance in your life. Yet your inner state is constantly filled with worries
and fears about money. These intense negative emotions or thoughts about
money point to the huge gulf that exists between your inner state and
desired outcome. Without bridging this gap, the outer manifestations that
you seek cannot happen. Let’s suppose that you somehow “got lucky” and
won the lottery, which resulted in a large sum of money in your possession.
But since everything in life happens in accordance with these Universal
Laws, outer reality will soon match up to your predominant inner state of
lack. This is why so many lottery winners squander their newfound wealth
shortly after their win. Their inner states have not matched up to their outer
realities.
 This is not to say that everyone who wins the lottery eventually loses
the money. I have always found it fascinating to study the mindsets of these
lottery winners and the stories behind their winnings. Some of them knew
they were going to win even before the winning numbers were announced.
These individuals have knowingly or unknowingly tapped into the
Universal principles which we have discussed here. They first created inner
states which were in alignment with their desired outer realities. They then
“stepped right into” the experience of winning the lottery.

The good news is that your perfect life can be delivered to you in
infinite ways. The Universe knows the best ways through which your
desired good can come to you, and it may or may not involve winning the
lottery. In fact, winning the lottery is only one of the infinite ways through
which you can experience more financial abundance in your life… so why
limit yourself? Why insist that your good has to come through this one
particular way out of the myriad of ways that are possible? For some
people, financial abundance can come through having a successful business
or holding a well-paying job. For others, it can come through business deals
and savvy investments. Leave the pathways of manifestation up to the
Universe and just focus on working on your inner state. When the time is
right to take physical action, you will know.

Using our earlier example of creating more financial abundance, how

does one pre-pave and prepare for a more abundant future reality? A smart
way to do so would be to put in place a structure that supports your eventual
manifestations. Abraham-Hicks calls this preparing the grid, where the
“grid” is a structure that supports your desired future reality. They also
advocate “filling in the grid” by adding more details about the desired
outcome which you seek. I know that all of this may sound quite abstract,
so let me walk you through a tangible example.

You start off with the final outcome (end result) in mind, which in our
example, is to create more financial abundance in your life. Based on this
endpoint, ask yourself what are some of the mental structures that have to
be in place for you to sustain this outer reality. By mental structures, I am
not referring to physical steps or ways for you to get there. This is where
these teachings differ from the more “action-oriented” methods, in that we
are not looking for tangible ways to achieve our eventual goals. Instead,
what we want to identify here are inner pathways of thinking and feeling
that can help us sustain our desired realities. One commonly used question
to help us along is, “What / How will I feel when I get there?”

In answering this question, seek to go beyond the superficial feelings

of happiness, joy or fulfillment. Instead, really go deep within and identify
the subtle feelings. How will you feel when this physical reality you seek
finally manifests for you? Yes, you will feel joyful, but what kind of joy is
it? Is there a subtler and deeper dimension to that joy? Is there more
richness in that joy? These deeper and more nuanced feelings of alignment
are what we are going for here.

The reason why I’m probing you to feel deeply is because most of the
first few feelings that come up are conditioned feelings. We think we will
feel happy and fulfilled when we achieve our goals, which is why we strive
so hard for them in the first place. But is this how we will really feel when
we get there? Or are there deeper feelings that we are going for? Unless we
connect with these deeper feelings, we are not connecting with the actual
feelings underlying our desired manifestations but merely ideal,
romanticized versions of them.

So there you have it, the first piece of the puzzle. One reason why
people unknowingly limit themselves from living a perfect life is because
they have not taken the time to experience the fullness of their inner
feelings. When you experience the unlimited abundance of the inner world
as represented by the richness of your feelings, that is when outer
abundance and prosperity blossoms. Stated differently, your outer
manifestations are limited by the extent of the richness of your inner world.
This inner richness, in turn, knows no limits, except for how deeply you
allow yourself to experience your inner good.
Chapter 5 - Manifestations Without Limits

In the first few chapters that laid the foundation for this book, I
showed you a few common stumbling blocks and unreasonable
expectations that most people unknowingly hold on to. These are the very
same expectations and mental blind spots that hold us back and prevent us
from living the complete manifestation experience.
As we move into the second half of this book, I am going to shift
gears and talk about what you can do to live the full manifestation
experience. By this, I mean living a life where there are truly no limits to
your desires. A life in which every intention you hold comes true within a
very short period of time, and life becomes one exhilarating manifestation
experience after another. A life where all your worries, fears, and negative
thoughts become a thing of the past. In the moment you hold an intention, it
becomes so and materializes in your physical reality soon after. When you
live in such an exalted state, there are no worries or fears because what can
be left for you to be worried or fearful about? You finally recognize and
step into your own power as the creator of your own reality.
I call this joyful state a flowering state. It is a state in which you can
manifest without limits, and thus experience abundance in all areas of your
life. Ancient spiritual masters have called it by many other names: the flow
state, nirvana, enlightenment, a state of bliss. Abraham-Hicks calls it "being
in the vortex."
Whatever labels you ascribe to this eternal state of bliss is not
important. What is more important is that you realize that this state exists
within your reach right now, no matter what your current circumstances
may be. This is your natural state of being. It is your birthright. Since this is
your natural, untainted state, it is possible to step into this unlimited realm
of possibilities just by making a few conscious adjustments on the inside.
The reason why so few people ever reach (or stay in) this state of
eternal bliss and instantaneous manifestations is because most people have
a misguided notion of what this flowering state is supposed to be. We have
been taught that to be more in life, we need to have more. Hence, many
people's lives are revolved around getting or achieving more. They are
always looking out for that one new spiritual technique, one extra
productivity tip, one more course to take, or one new material possession
that will move them closer to this desired end state.
As I have written several times in the past, reaching this state of
flowering is not about having more. It is not an exercise in having, but one
centered on dropping. This is the part that is so counterintuitive and difficult
for the rational mind to comprehend. "How can I possibly improve my life
if I subtract stuff away from it? This doesn't make sense!" This is the
argument which the ego mind always tries to make. That's why letting go is
so counterintuitive. Some people spend their whole lives fighting against it,
not realizing that everything will change in the moment they finally let go
of their stubborn insistence on things.
The true art of manifestations is not about attracting more stuff into
your life, physical or otherwise. Rather, it is about letting go of anything
that is not a part of your true nature. This includes letting go of
disempowering and unresourceful beliefs, attachments to external
conditions, negative emotions and our need to control the physical
circumstances around us. Therein lies the value of these spiritual teachings.
The value of these teachings is not in giving you another "technique" which
you can hoard as part of your spiritual arsenal and use it to manipulate the
world around you when needed. The true value of these teachings is in
lighting a path and showing you the aspects of your being that are not in
accordance with your divine nature.
Once you understand this, then life becomes very simple. There is
nothing more you have to be, do, or have. Doesn't this statement sound
familiar? It is what the spiritual gurus have been saying all along since the
beginning of time! There is nothing more you can add unto yourself that
will make you more complete! You may certainly try all sorts of ways and
means to become complete while believing in the illusion that you are not.
Yet whatever physical actions you take can never detract from your
completeness, although they can certainly make you feel miserable and
pinch you off from the Universal flow.
 Let's take a look at a few ways people have used to "find their true
selves" since the beginning of time. To reach that desired state of bliss and
happiness, humankind has tried everything from adventure sports, reckless
behavior to drugs. All of these have worked, but only for a while. After that
temporarily heightened state of excitement has worn off, the individual is
left wanting and off he goes in search of more thrilling adventures. The
cycle repeats itself.
What's the issue here? The answer is obvious. The individual in
question is searching for something more that he can add to his life so that
he can feel complete again, not realizing that he is already complete. His
entire approach is misguided and is focused on having more, not realizing
that what he seeks exists in the opposite direction. If this individual could
just drop all his negative emotions, attachments, thoughts of wanting and
lack, he would be in such a state of pure happiness and bliss that he does
not have to go anywhere or do anything.
Many readers of my books have experienced this state of pure
happiness and bliss for themselves. The breakthrough happens when we
learn how to stay in this state for longer and longer periods at a time until
we are there all of the time. That is all there is to it! When you realize you
don't have to be anything, do anything or go anywhere for something to
happen, you would have been successful in your inner transformation. That
is when nothing ever bothers you again.
I spent one whole decade of my life searching for that magical
spiritual technique or method that would give me everything I wanted. I
was desperate to learn how to "attract" more things into my life. I did all of
this without realizing that I was actually moving further away from my goal
and not any closer towards it. Each time I learned a new technique and
insisted that it had to work, I did not gain a new understanding. Rather, I
only strengthened my attachment to the outer conditions of my life! My
attachment to these various external goals (people, events, and
circumstances) kept me mired in a soup of contradictory feelings. My inner
state was tumultuous and not at peace.
The reason why so little happened for me back then was not because I
was using the wrong techniques, but because my entire approach was
misguided. I kept piling on more stuff onto my already chaotic inner state,
not realizing that it was moving me further away from that manifestative
state which I was looking for. Had I returned my own inner consciousness
back to its originally pure state, everything I asked for would have
materialized in my experience very quickly!
Therefore, the crux of these teachings is to get you back to that pure
and peaceful state. This is perhaps the greatest irony of it all: To live an
unlimited life and truly flourish, one has to first return to zero. It is only
when one restores his inner consciousness to a state of pure nothingness and
beingness that everything starts to happen. The zero state is the state which
encompasses infinite possibilities. It is the state from which everything is
possible, but you have to get there first. You need to make a conscious
intention to get back to zero.
There is a powerful exercise that will greatly aid you in this journey.
As you go about your day, consciously ask yourself whether you are adding
more stuff to your life experience or dropping something that is not needed.
For example, each time you experience a negative emotion, ask yourself
whether you are unconsciously adding something to your life (that is not
part of your basic nature), or dropping something that is unneeded. You will
realize as you go through this exercise that we spend most of our days
picking up unwanted baggage! We not only pick up negative thoughts and
beliefs but also allow ourselves to hold on to negative emotions for
extended periods. This is what Abraham-Hicks refer to as "picking up
resistance along our physical trail."
When you become conscious of the distinction between picking up
and letting go in every moment, you can make a decision to let go of it all.
In fact, the mere conscious awareness that you have unintentionally picked
something up sets off the spontaneous process of releasing, so there is really
nothing else you have to "do" for this process to work. Just cultivating the
simple awareness that you are unintentionally holding on to something will
automatically cause you to let it go.
For example, I may notice that I feel unusually tense after a
conversation with a friend. Upon asking myself the earlier question, I
realize that I have been picking up the worries she shared with me and
holding onto them as if they were mine. I may have done so out of a sense
of concern for my friend, but holding on to anything is wasted energy that
can never achieve anything. Notice that even feeling a sense of concern
adds something to my state of pure beingness. This realization makes me let
go of my negative emotions at once. Those negative emotions were never
part of my divine nature in the first place. Becoming aware of them was the
first step to letting them go.
Similarly, you may notice yourself feeling particularly unsettled after
watching a piece of news or having a conversation with a friend. Even
surfing the Internet or watching the television nowadays can upset our inner
states! Of course, the best thing to do is not to expose yourself to anything
that you know will upset you. The next best thing is to let go of negative
emotions by becoming aware that you are needlessly holding onto them.
You'll be surprised at how much junk you pick up throughout the day.
We feel angry about things and people we hardly know about. We feel the
need to control external people, events, and circumstances that have nothing
to do with us. All of this "wanting to control" moves us further away from
that state of pure bliss, because we have unknowingly added so much
unwanted stuff to our lives. If we allowed all those negative feelings and
emotions to pass right through us like water rolling off a duck's back, we
would be free from them forever. Nothing would be able to upset our inner
peace.
I am sometimes asked why I do not see the need to rebut or defend
myself in a social or professional setting. For example, in response to
certain unkind words that have been said. If you have been following my
logic, you'll instantly see that the act of defending oneself (or one's
viewpoints) does nothing more than move ourselves further away from the
very peace we seek. Defending ourselves (whether by actions or words)
does not make us more "complete." Instead, it upsets our inner balance even
more.
Someone may have uttered unkind words to hurt us, intentionally or
reactively as part of their own deeply embedded beliefs. If we get angry or
defensive in response, then their words or actions have indeed damaged our
inner peace. But if we remain centered on an inner state of love and peace,
then nothing can affect us. The perpetrator ends up disturbing his own sense
of inner peace and nothing more. This is why Abraham-Hicks often teach
that you must value your own happiness more than your desire to be right.
You must want to be happy more than you want to be right.
Physical possessions are another tricky area of our lives. I am not
against material possessions, and I enjoy many beautiful things in my life,
all of which I have intended at some point in time. However, be mindful
that each time you add a physical possession to your life experience, you
are also adding a whole bunch of possible emotional attachments.
Therefore, it is not only the physical object you are adding but also the
related emotions.
It is certainly possible to enjoy a material object purely for what it is. I
enjoy commuting in my car, typing on my laptop and using all the latest
technological gadgets. I appreciate the sense of ease and convenience that
they bring into my life. However, if you find yourself becoming attached to
your material possessions, such as worrying about whether they will be
stolen, damaged or whether you can afford the monthly payments, then you
are needlessly adding more into your life. It is not your material possessions
that affect your inner state, but rather, your emotional attachments to them.
The good news is that you can let your attachments go just like that.
I have always been a gadget lover. In my early days, I was always
worried about losing or damaging one of my gadgets. I was careful not to
drop them and would watch over them like a hawk when I lent them to
someone else! Eventually, I realized that those people whom I loaned my
gadgets to enjoyed using them more than me! They used them without a
sense of attachment and could enjoy their experience to the fullest. On the
other hand, I was always worried about damaging or spoiling one of my
precious gadgets. It was my strong unconscious attachment to them that
resulted in my negative feelings on the inside.
As I deepened my spiritual practice over the years, I was delighted to
learn that I still enjoyed using the same gadgets. The only difference is that
I am no longer attached to them. I see them as something separate from me.
I am just as fine with or without them. I enjoy using them while they are in
my possession, but I know I will be alright with selling or giving them away
when the time comes. Adopting this new mindset has made me enjoy my
hobby even more.
While you may not share the same hobby as me, most of us have
developed similar attachments in other parts of our lives. These attachments
(and not the physical possessions or relationships themselves) are not our
divine nature. In turn, holding onto them affects our inner states and keeps
us from experiencing the fullness of a life without limits.
When you become aware of these attachments and let them go, you
are free.
Chapter 6 - A Return to Zero

We touched on an important premise in the previous chapter: To lead

an absolutely amazing life and manifest without limits, one needs to first
return to zero. This piece of the puzzle is so counterintuitive precisely
because it flies in the face of everything we have been taught. We have been
taught that a good life is one filled with lots of stuff, one in which all our
deepest desires come true. And yet, to get to this flourishing state where
your life is filled with magic and miracles, one first needs to drop
everything and return to a zero state. That is when the magic can happen.
Most people are reluctant to get themselves to a zero, peaceful state
because they see it as a regressive step backward. It goes against everything
they have been working for their whole lives. They feel a need to fill their
lives with more stuff. As I have explained several times, even our best
efforts at dictating what goes into our lives will be limited because we
cannot see the full picture that the Universe has. We may plan our lives with
the best of our efforts and intentions, but any planning we do will still be
limited by our human perspectives.
This is not to say that you should not decide what goes into your life.
You are free to choose the things you desire in life, but once you have made
those choices, then leave the specifics to the Universe. Let the Universe fill
in the details and orchestrate the steps in between. The Universe always
sees the full picture and knows the best way (and timing) to deliver
something to you. If you are willing to give up control of this aspect of the
manifestation process to the Universe, then you'll realize that everything
always happens in divine timing and in the most harmonious ways possible.
Nothing is ever delayed or withheld from you.
Fortunately, returning to zero does not mean giving up everything you
have in life right now. It does not mean renouncing and turning your back
on this material world. Some people think that returning to zero means
giving up all their material possessions and living reclusively in a cave.
Some of them go to the extent of cutting themselves off from the outside
world, not realizing that they can find their inner peace right where they
were.
Living a spiritual life does not mean walking away from your current
life and giving up everything you have. You can certainly choose to do so if
that aids in your return to a zero state, but it is unnecessary. You can return
to a state of inner peace and calmness wherever you are. Your divine
nature is peace.
There have been several books in the popular press about giving up
one's material possessions and leading a simple life. The message conveyed
by these books is incomplete, in that the emphasis is on physical actions
(the act of giving up one's material possessions) instead of their true
spiritual significance. It is possible to give up all material possessions and
still remain very attached to the comforts of the physical world. Conversely,
it is also possible to give up all our attachments while still living our current
lives. I have found the latter to be less disruptive and more
transformational.
The ability to stay centered in a peaceful and neutral state no matter
what happens on the outside is a useful ability to cultivate. It ensures that
you remain unfazed despite the outer circumstances. This means that the
actions or words of another, or the way things are in the outside world have
no power over you. You pay absolutely no attention to them as nothing can
affect your inner peace and move you away from that zero state.
The zero state is one that is extremely conducive for manifestations.
This is a state in which you totally give up any control or attachments to the
outcome. It is a state where you neither yearn for the presence of something
nor complain about the absence of it. It is a state where having something
will be alright for you, and not having it will also be equally alright.
A zero state is characterized by a total lack of emotional polarity. This
means you are neither feeling negative nor positive on the inside. However,
as those of you who have practiced this will know, the lack of an emotional
charge in the zero state results in spontaneous positive feelings of peace and
joy. Therefore, when you shift into a neutral state and return to zero, you
start to perceive the eternal well-being that has always been there. This
palpable joy you feel is a sense of spontaneous and untethered happiness. It
is different from the deliberately conjured happiness you experience when
you are trying to feel good to "attract" something into your life. Notice the
difference between the two.
Any intention that you set in the zero state has to materialize in your
physical experience very quickly, often without any noticeable time lag at
all. However, there are two necessary conditions for this to occur. First, you
must set your intention while in that zero state. Second, you must remain in
the zero state until whatever you ask for materializes on the outside. Most
people are able to fulfill the first condition with some practice, but it is the
second condition that trips most people up. They are unable to remain in the
zero state for long enough until their intention comes true on the outside.
Let us discuss the first condition, that of setting intentions while in the
zero state. This may seem counterintuitive at first glance since an intention
signifies a desire or a wanting for something. If so, how does one hold an
intention while being in a completely neutral and peaceful state? This is an
inner riddle which I have covered in several of my previous books, but this
knowledge is so integral to the overall manifestation process that there is
great value in going through it again.
An intention signifies a desire for a particular outcome. When we
have a desire for something, two things occur at the same time. First, we
recognize the absence of that which we are asking for (which is why we ask
for it in the first place) and second, we hope for the presence of what we ask
for (which is why we become impatient or worried when it does not show
up). Understand that it is not your intentions that are the issue, but rather,
your unconscious attachments to the outcome. Both aspects of your
intention (that of recognizing an absence and hoping for a presence) disturb
your inner state and move you away from that pure zero point of peace.
Picture the zero point as centered squarely in the middle of a scale.
Negative emotions of worry and fear move you away from that center into
negative territory. For example, each time you worry whether or when the
things you ask for will show up, you are moving into negative space. Each
time you feel discouraged that nothing has happened yet on the outside, you
move into negative space. Each time you feel resentful about what someone
else has since it reminds you of your own lack, you move into negative
space. Staying in this negative space keeps your desired manifestations
away from you. Instead, what you end up manifesting is everything that is
"compatible" with this negative state, such as more reasons and
circumstances to feel worried, discouraged or resentful about.
The reverse is true as well. Each time you hold a strong emotional
attachment to your desires and insist that they have to happen in a certain
way or by a certain time, you move off-center. Therefore, there is only one
question you have to ask to become an effective manifestor: Am I centered
on my peace right now? The answer to this question lets you know
whether you are on the right track.
If you ask this question and find that you are not centered on peace
because of your feelings of worry or fear, then all you need to do is to let
those extraneous feelings go. Those feelings have never been part of you in
the first place. They are not your divine nature. Let those feelings go from
your inner consciousness and return to zero. That is all you need to do to
flourish in your life. If you maintain your focus on cultivating your inner
state and return it to a state of peace when something goes out of balance,
then you'll find all the good things happening in your life.
When I first embarked upon these teachings, most of my time was
spent on restoring my inner state back to zero. It was certainly difficult to
do so in the beginning. Years of mental conditioning and neglect have
resulted in a disempowering belief system, and I battled thoughts of fear
and worry all day long. "What if this does not work? What if the things I
ask for do not happen in my life?"
In the past, I would have spent all of my waking consciousness
engaged in those thoughts. I would have followed those worrisome thoughts
to their logical conclusion and spent the whole day stewing in negative
emotions. Unbeknown to me, I was allowing myself to be knocked off-
center. What I did after learning these spiritual truths was to spend a lot of
time focused on cultivating my inner state. Each time I was knocked off-
center, I focused on getting right back again. I focused on getting centered. I
became relentless at doing so, regardless of how many times my inner
peace was disrupted in a day.
Over time, as I kept my focus on where it should be, I found my outer
conditions improving. I started spending more and more time in that zero
state. Eventually, I lived from that zero state. It became my new home. So
do not be discouraged if you find yourself spending a lot of time getting
back to zero in the beginning. It is a positive sign that changes are
happening. Keep your mental focus on that zero state and you will get / stay
there eventually.
Notice how it feels like to experience a desire or attachment to a
particular outcome. This will be a negative feeling of lust, that of wanting
something but not being able to have it. The thought of wanting something
and yet not having it immediately (or in the foreseeable future) gives rise to
negative feelings of unhappiness, resentment or worry. For example, you
may want something but not think that you can afford it. You may want
something very badly but think it is out of reach for you. It is therefore not
your pure preference for something that is the issue, it is that feeling of "not
being able to have it."
The key to setting effective intentions is to take the lightest touch
possible without unknowingly triggering either aspect as discussed above.
This means you set your intention while always remaining centered on that
zero state. What results is the purest (and therefore most magnetic)
intention which you can possibly hold, which means it has to materialize in
your physical experience extremely quickly.
I've developed a protocol to walk you through and help you
understand this process of setting light intentions. This process is based on
The Sedona Method as developed by Lester Levenson. I have found The
Sedona Method to be immensely helpful in letting go of unwanted, negative
emotions without unnecessary rationalization or thought. That being said,
you can use any other technique you're comfortable with to help you let go
of the negative aspects of your intention. The purpose of this protocol is not
to prescribe a particular technique but to clearly show you what can be
dropped from your inner state.
 When you drop anything that is non-essential to your manifestations,
you free the Universe to work its magic.
Chapter 7 - A Protocol for Setting Zero Point Intentions

Intention setting is a crucial but often overlooked part of the creative

process. One reason why many people downplay its importance is because
the act of setting an intention makes it seem like nothing is happening. It all
seems like a mental exercise done in one's mind and happening only in
one's imagination. In a culture where most people feel the need to go out
there and "do" something or "make something happen," the act of setting an
intention seems like the most pointless thing to do in the world. After all,
there are so many "things" we can do right now rather than sit there and set
an intention! This form of misguided thinking cannot be further from the
truth.
The act of setting an intention is what sets everything off. It is the
trigger that sets into motion the whole chain of events and lets the Universe
know that you desire the eventual manifestation in your life. We set
intentions all the time whether we know it or not. As a result, most of our
intentions are unconscious. As I have mentioned several times in my other
books, individuals who are unaware of these Universal Laws tend to set
their intentions unconsciously. They are unaware of what the Universe is
picking up on and only see the effects of their inner states when unwanted
manifestations start showing up in their lives. Since they lack the
understanding to link these outer manifestations to their inner states, they
start ascribing false causes to many of the events in their lives.
These false causes can range from luck, position of the stars, some
agreement made in their past lives, to some external power controlling their
lives. It is possible to be so caught up in these false causes that you literally
create your own reality around them. This is yet another roundabout way
which we go about creating our own reality.
When you peel off the multiple layers of false beliefs and the veil
created by these illusions, you realize that the person directing, acting in,
and watching the movie all along has been you. No one else can create or
dictate your reality on your behalf unless you allow them to! This comes
back to our earlier point that doing the inner work is about dropping
anything that is not a part of your divine nature until you come face-to-face
with who you really are.
The truth is that there are no unwanted manifestations. If you traced
everything back to its point of origin, you would realize that every single
event or circumstance in your life started as an intention, which is nothing
more than pure mental energy. The Universe picked up and acted on this
mental impulse by flowing more energy in its direction, which eventually
led to a full-blown physical manifestation. Of course, if you are a deliberate
and conscious creator, then this will be very pleasing to you as you observe
your desired reality shifting into being every single time. However, if you
are an unconscious creator, then this observation can be quite scary indeed!
The Universe does not discern between the content of our intentions.
It does not care whether we set them carelessly or carefully. Ironically,
intentions that are set carelessly tend to manifest faster for most people,
since these intentions are usually set with a very light touch and with almost
no attachment to the outcome. On the other hand, intentions that are set
carefully tend to be about more "important" matters, which means there is a
whole lot more attachment to the final outcome. This also means that the
intention is likely to be more "loaded" in nature and not as vibrationally
pure.
One benefit of doing this inner work is that you start to gain more
clarity about the physical experiences in your life. As you pay more
attention to your inner states and how you feel in each moment, you
experience an expansion of your inner awareness. This means that you no
longer suffer from post-manifestation shock, that of realizing you have
manifested something unwanted only after it shows up in your life. You will
always have pre-manifestation awareness, which means that you not only
know when and what things are about to happen (by accurately perceiving
the energy field you are a part of), but are able to change the course of
future outcomes.
Let's now go through the process of setting zero point intentions. By
that, I mean setting an intention that is so vibrationally pure, it contains the
vibrational essence of what you intend into your life and nothing else. It
does not contain any feelings of worry, desperation, deservingness, guilt,
resentment, lust, or impatience. A pure intention is one that purely
encompasses the vibrational essence of what you are asking for and nothing
more.
To understand what a pure intention feels like, we have to contrast it
with an intention that is energetically not as pure. Note that I am not
referring to the morality or ethicality of our intentions here as in the
common definition of the phrase "impure intentions." The concept here is
how the intention makes you feel on the inside as you bring it to mind.
Let's start by bringing up an intention which you have been holding
for quite some time. Choose something which has not yet manifested in
your life, and you are beginning to wonder if it will ever happen. You may
also be feeling a little discouraged or desperate about the whole thing.
Notice how you feel on the inside as you gently remind yourself of this
intention. Note that in addition to your intention, there are also strong
negative undercurrents in the form of feelings and emotions.
These undercurrents may include feelings of fear (that you will not
get what you want), impatience (over how long the process is taking),
worry (about when something will manifest for you) and so on. This is the
key: All of these strong emotional undercurrents prevent you from
holding a pure intention. When you let these unwanted aspects go, what
you ask for has to manifest in your physical reality very quickly. This is
all there is to it! The whole art of manifestation summarized in two
sentences.
This is, of course, easier said than done since we need an effective
way to completely let go off these emotional undercurrents. What I
recommend that you do for this first exercise is to take a piece of paper and
write down your intention at the top and underline it. For example, your
intention may be for "a new car." Below that intention, write down all the
emotional undercurrents which you can detect in your inner consciousness.
You don't have to try hard to find them. Just sit quietly, bring up the original
intention (what you just wrote and underlined across the top of the page),
and notice all the emotional undercurrents that automatically come up.
Write them down in point form on the page.
The reason for doing this exercise in writing is to clearly isolate and
list the emotional undercurrents that may cloud your intention one by one.
When you try to deal with them in your head, everything may seem like a
coagulated, overwhelming mess. You gain mental clarity when you list
them out. What you thought was a huge heavy mess (and mass) of emotions
actually consists of a few simple themes repeated over-and-over again.
For each emotional undercurrent you detect, write down what you feel
and also the reasons you feel this way. For example, you may feel fearful.
What is it that you are fearful about? There is no need to go into an
elaboration of the issue. We are not trying to explain things away. Instead,
use short words and phrases to represent how you feel. There is also no
need to dig deep and come up with proper-sounding, fully rationalized
reasons. Whatever comes up for you spontaneously is what most needs to
be cleared up, and they may not be rational feelings in the first place.
For example, you may feel fearful that you will not get what you
want. Write that down. You may feel impatient as it has already been five
years since you asked for that thing. Write that down as well. There is no
need to censor what you write as this is for your own reference only.
Keep writing until you can no longer detect anything new on the
inside. You may find it necessary to close your eyes, tune into your inner
state, detect what is there, and then open your eyes to write your inner
observations down. Repeat this process as many times as necessary. If it is
your first time delving into your inner state and trying this exercise, you
may notice subtle nuances in your feelings.
For example, the feeling of worry may not be as straightforward as it
seems. You may feel worried for multiple reasons, such as over (1) whether
your desire will come true, (2) when it will come true, and (3) if it will
come true in exactly the way you intend it. You may also be worried about
(4) whether you are asking for what you want in the correct manner. Each
reason represents a slightly different emotional aspect and should be a new
item on your list.
 When you have identified all the emotional undercurrents related to
your original intention, take a look at your list. Do you have a cluttered list?
Here's the exciting part that will motivate you to do the inner work: If you
only had your intention written down on that piece of paper and
nothing else, then that intention has to come true for you very quickly.
This is an immutable Universal Law. However, if the piece of paper is
cluttered with lots of counter-intentions in the form of various negative
emotions, then the physical manifestation will take a longer time because
your intention is not as vibrationally pure.
Setting a pure intention takes very little time. Once you have mastered
this process, it becomes possible to set an intention in a split-second and
have it manifest very quickly in your physical experience. The reason why
people may experience delays in their physical manifestations is because
what they think is a simple (pure) intention really isn't that simple at all! It
is complicated and loaded with all these emotional undercurrents as you
have just identified. The more emotional undercurrents you have to deal
with, the longer (and more arduous) the manifestation process will seem.
Now that you have identified all the emotional undercurrents related
to your intention, go through the list and rate each one of them in terms of
their emotional intensity. Once again, there is no need to analyze any of
this. Simply read one item at a time and feel the feelings that come up for
you without dwelling in them. How strong is each feeling on a scale of zero
to ten?
Zero means that the feeling is not there at all (which will not be the
case now since you have written it down). Ten represents an extremely
intense feeling that grips you completely. A feeling that is ten out of ten is
so intense that you are completely paralyzed and overwhelmed by this
feeling each time you experience it. In my experience, most of your ratings
will fall within the range of one to eight or nine.
Simply identifying and acknowledging these negative feelings will
not result in unwanted physical manifestations. Many people are under the
misguided notion that feeling these negative emotions or acknowledging
them in any way will result in unwanted manifestations. This cannot be
further from the truth. It is only when you immerse yourself in these
negative feelings for prolonged periods of time that you set things in
motion. Also, by acknowledging these feelings and letting them go through
these exercises, you release them from your consciousness once and for all.
Suppressing these negative feelings each time they come up takes way more
energy than letting them go.
With practice and in time to come, you'll have the ability to think
about something and set a pure intention in less than a second. Each
intention that you set will be so focused that none of these emotional
undercurrents or counter-intentions ever enter the vibrational mix. Also,
anytime you detect negative emotions, you'll be able to let them go in a
couple of seconds. This means that with focused practice, the whole
manifestation process (from setting an intention to letting go of negative
feelings) can be done in no more than a few seconds. This is what it truly
means to live the manifestation experience, and life becomes one
exhilarating manifestation after another.
In the next chapter, I will walk you through the process of dropping
each negative and unwanted aspect of your emotion until what remains is
the purest essence of the intention alone.
Chapter 8 - The Centering Scale

In the previous chapter, you wrote down your original intention along
with the emotional undercurrents you detected while holding that intention
in your inner consciousness. All of the negative emotions which you
identified hinder the manifestation of your original intention. The sooner
you let each of those unwanted aspects of your intention go, the faster the
primary intention will manifest in your experience.
Most people do not realize how much energy it takes to cling on to
their negative emotions. By repeatedly holding on to them and suppressing
them in your consciousness, you spend an inordinate amount of energy
flipping between the two extremes. Most people go from feeling really
hopeful about their desires (which means suppressing all these negative
emotions that exist under the surface) to feeling really discouraged that their
manifestations have not shown up yet (which means stewing in these
negative feelings).
As such, what they characterize as a "delay" in their physical
manifestations isn't really a delay at all. They may think they are focused on
their intentions for most of the time. In fact, they are focused on the
negative emotions (or counter-intentions) resulting from the primary
intention. Swinging from one extreme to another results in a chaotic and
tumultuous inner state, which in turn leads to scattered mental energy and
little or no results.
An effective manifestor is someone who takes a light touch and
focuses his or her mental energies very purely on the primary intention
alone. To help you achieve this, I developed a Centering Scale which you
can use.
The Centering Scale is an inner calibration technique. One thing I
noticed in my early days of doing this work is that I lacked an effective
benchmark to measure and track my progress. For example, I knew the
importance of maintaining a peaceful inner state, but how would I know
whether I was truly at peace? I knew the importance of dropping all my
negative emotions, but was I still unconsciously clinging on to any residual
or subtle feelings? The Centering Scale helps you along in your inner
journey by answering these questions.
Before we take a look at the Centering Scale, let us consider how you
rated each emotion on your sheet of paper. Rank order the emotions
according to their emotional intensity. For example, the emotion which you
rated as the most intense will be number one on your list, followed by the
next most intense and so on. If two or more emotions are rated as equally
intense, make a simple comparison between them to see which one is more
intense than the other.
The purpose of rank ordering these negative emotions (also known as
the unwanted aspects of your intention) is so that we can focus our energies
on the biggest issue first. The unwanted aspect which is ranked first on your
list is the one that takes up most of your mental energy and occupies most
of your consciousness. Therefore, the greatest benefits can be reaped from
dealing with it first. When you free yourself from the biggest emotional
issue, you free up your mental capacity to work on the remaining issues.
The process, therefore, becomes easier as you go along.
The concept of a Centering Scale works like this. In the middle of the
scale is the zero point, the point where your purest intention resides. This is
the intention which you have written down and underlined at the top of your
sheet. As I explained earlier, an individual who gets to the point of being
able to hold this intention purely and experience nothing else in his inner
state will live a flowering life experience. He will be able to manifest
without any limits and with very little time lag. This means that if you are
able to write your intention down on that piece of paper and not detect even
the slightest tinge of emotional undercurrent, that intention has to come
true very quickly! Stated differently, your manifestations are delayed
because of all the other stuff that is on that sheet of paper.
To the left of that zero point lies negative space. Anytime you are in
negative space, you are not at the zero point and therefore not at peace.
Similarly, to the right of that zero point lies positive space. Once again, you
are not at the zero point if you are in positive space. I have not really talked
about this positive space so far as the concept may be somewhat abstract
and difficult to grasp. Also, I've discovered that most of our manifestation
blocks tend to occur in the negative space, and taking care of what happens
in the negative space will clear up many issues for most people.
The positive space represents a sense of desire, attachment, eagerness,
or lust for the outcome. Some people may be confused by this concept of a
positive space, since we may believe that it is good to be ambitious and
"want" certain things in life. The truth is that a sense of wanting also moves
us away from the zero point, and therefore keeps us apart from our physical
manifestations. This may be the reason why manifestations do not occur for
some people even after letting go of all their negative emotions. These
feelings of desire and wanting are more subtle and harder to pinpoint than
the straightforward negative emotions.
We may be attached to the outcome without realizing it. This
attachment is so subtle that it often goes undetected unless you do some
serious inner work. One quick way to uncover any sense of attachment is to
ask yourself these related questions: How will I feel if this intention never
ever comes true in my life? How will I feel if I can never have this in my
life? How will I feel if no matter what I do, I will never have what I'm
asking for?
Most people experience a gripping sense of tightness and fear once
they ask this question. I am often surprised to experience this feeling even
after I thought I've done a pretty thorough job of letting go of the unwanted
aspects. Take it as a good sign that more inner work needs to be done and
more stuff needs to be let go of.
Each person will experience his / her attachment in slightly different
ways. I experience mine as a lump in my throat and tightness in my chest.
This is the unconscious attachment which we have developed over time,
such that we experience a sickening feeling in our bodies when we realize
we'll never be able to have something. This is the sense of attachment
(clinging on to) which I'm talking about here, and it represents another
unwanted aspect of your intention. Write this attachment down on the piece
of paper if you did not notice it earlier.
 This attachment can be pervasive and may show up in different forms.
For example, a covert attachment to the outcome may result in irrationality
and wishful thinking. We see this in many New Age practitioners when they
start buying into miracle cures and rituals that are not grounded in these
Universal truths. They start believing in certain ritualistic practices or
explore various convoluted means to get what they want. Some even pay a
medium or conduit to "make things happen" for them. All of this behavior
stems from an overriding need to control and influence the outcome, which
ironically moves an individual further away from the zero state.
This attachment may also show up as wishful thinking and a need to
"prove" that these metaphysical laws work to others. Once again, this is a
very subtle behavioral tendency. Do you find the need to "prove" that these
manifestation techniques work to others? Do you find yourself asking for
things just to convince yourself (or someone else) that you can attract them?
This relates to our earlier chapter on insisting that things only happen to us
through supposedly "spiritual" means.
The order which I advocate you drop these unwanted aspects is as
follows. First, drop all of the negative aspects. These are the unwanted
negative feelings that are often easier to identify and take up more of your
mental energy. After you have dropped the negative feelings, you free up
the much-needed mental focus to work on the positive attachments, those
feelings of wanting, lust and desire. Improvements in your outer reality will
start happening the moment you let go of even a small portion of these
unwanted aspects, so the best advice is to start right now, from where you
are.
Before we cover the actual workings of the Centering Scale, I would
like to point out a key feature of this scale. Each point in either negative or
positive space has a counterpart. For example, a sense of strong attachment
and insistence on the outcome (which occupies a point in positive space)
has a corresponding point in negative space. This corresponding point is
represented by a sense of lack or the feeling that you do not have something
yet. The need to control the outcome may also stem from a suppressed
worry that things may not turn out the way you want, and hence the need to
exert control.
 Therefore, for every aspect which you have identified, try and see if
its counterpart exists within you. This is a handy way to uncover more
unwanted aspects of the intention which you have not detected.
Every positive or negative point on the Centering Scale is off-balance
and therefore has a polarity. For every positive point, there is a balancing
negative point and vice-versa. However, note that the zero point at the
center of the scale has no balancing counterpart. It is whole, complete and
perfect by itself. It does not need another or something else to make it
complete. This is your true divine nature. You do not need anything more to
make you whole and complete. You already are. Everything is perfect the
way it is. When you restore your inner state to this zero point, you are free
from all the inner turbulence.
Start with the most intense emotion on your list and ask yourself how
far off center it makes you feel. It may be helpful to visualize a straight line
with the zero point right in the middle, with markings to both the right and
left side of that zero point. The more intense the unwanted emotion, the
further away from the center you are.
Suppose that your most intense emotion (rated nine out of ten in terms
of intensity) throws your inner state way off balance when you bring it up.
Allow yourself to feel this emotion fully without suppressing it. Make a
mental note of where you are on the Centering Scale. You should be
somewhere far off to the left, in negative space and away from the zero
point. Once you have identified where you are on the scale, allow yourself
to let this feeling go.
I do so by asking myself the three questions used in the Sedona
Method:
(1) Just for now, could I let this feeling go?
(2) Would I let this feeling go?
(3) When can I let this feeling go?
After you ask each question, pause and take a deep breath. Breathe
out slowly as you answer each of the questions mentally in your mind. We
are not looking for a specific answer here. Most of the time, you'll realize
that the answer is "yes." You can indeed let a negative feeling go because it
is nothing more than a mere feeling. The feeling is not a part of you. It is
something you have inadvertently held on to and allowed yourself to
experience over and over again. Whether you answer "yes" or "no" to each
of the three questions does not matter. You'll be releasing a bit of the
suppressed negative energy as you go through the process.
I take as much time as possible with the process, never rushing
through the three questions. Take as much time as you need to go through
the questions. When you are done, notice where you are right now on the
Centering Scale with regards to this particular emotion. Are you at zero?
Have you moved closer to zero? If you have not, repeat the letting-go
process again. It may take several cycles to completely let go of an
unwanted aspect and restore your inner state to one of peace. I have found
that some negative emotions may require hundreds of cycles to completely
let go off, but do not let that deter you. Once you are free from a negative
emotion, you will be free from it forever.
There are other techniques you can use to let go of unwanted
emotions, such as the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT / tapping) or
Byron Katie's The Work. Use any complementary technique that works for
you.
In the beginning, it will take some time to work through all the
unwanted emotional undercurrents that you have written down on paper. Do
not be surprised if you take a few days to work through the list. It is
perfectly alright to work through one or several items in a single sitting, and
then resume later on. The good news is that you will reap permanent
benefits from doing this work. You will be clearing up major blocks that
stand in the way of your physical manifestations.
Strike each item off the list when you are completely free of the
unwanted feeling. This means that you are able to hold the primary
intention purely in your mind without detecting even the slightest hint of
this feeling. When you successfully do so, you would have returned your
inner state to its zero point that is the most conducive for outer
manifestations.
You may feel a tendency to rush through the process just to strike an
unwanted feeling off the list. Doing so will not serve you, as one cannot
pull wool over the Universe's eyes! The Universe always knows, in each
moment, your precise feelings on every single subject. It is picking up on
your vibrations perfectly. Therefore, while you may convince yourself (or
even others) that you have gotten over an issue, the litmus test is whether
you are able to hold your intention purely without also spontaneously
bringing up that unwanted feeling.
Chapter 9 – Using the Centering Scale for Rapid Vibrational

Fine-tuning

The value of the Centering Scale becomes apparent when you use it as
a tool for vibrational fine-tuning. In the previous chapter, we walked
through the step-by-step method of clearing all unwanted emotional aspects
related to an intention. The long form method is helpful when you are
learning how to use the process. However, as you become more proficient
with the use of the Centering Scale, you should be able to rapidly center any
intentions on the zero point within a matter of seconds. Let's learn how to
do so in this chapter.
The Centering Scale offers a quick and easy way to find out if you are
vibrationally off-balance at any moment. To do so, gently bring your
original intention to mind and observe how you feel on the inside. You may
find it easier to close your eyes and mentally place your awareness on (drop
into) the center of your body, near where your heart is. This act is known as
dropping into heart space. Dropping into heart space disengages your
consciousness from your ongoing stream of rational thoughts and quiets the
mind chatter. The mere act of dropping into heart space alone should make
you feel more peaceful and centered. I provide more details on how to drop
into heart space and talk about the implications in Come and Sit with Me
(Book 1).
Once you are in heart space, do a quick mental calibration by noticing
where you are on the Centering Scale. Recall that at the center of the scale
sits the zero point. This is a very quick calibration which takes just a
second. Ask yourself quietly: Where am I currently on the Centering Scale?
Notice the answer that comes up for you. This is not a question that requires
any additional thought. If you are feeling peaceful and calm on the inside,
then you are at zero. If you detect ripples or any disturbances in your inner
state (characterized by the presence of feelings or thoughts), then you are
off-center.
 If you are not at zero, notice whether you are in positive or negative
space. Once again, a thorough analysis of your inner state is not required.
What we are going for here is an intuitive snap judgment that gives you a
sense of where you are. The purpose of the Centering Scale is to provide
you with a method to quickly and accurately map your inner state to a
referent scale.
You can also use numbers to help you in the process. For example,
you may drop into heart space and quickly check where you are on the
Centering Scale. You notice that you are currently a -3 (negative three) on
the scale. This means that you are currently feeling negative emotions on
the inside. These numbers are arbitrary, but they help you translate the
magnitude / intensity of your feelings into tangible terms. For example, a
slight sense of irritation could be -1 on the Centering Scale, as compared to
intense anger which may be -5. The numbers themselves are not important.
Their purpose is to show the relative intensity of your feelings and how far
away you are from the zero point. The larger the number, the further away
you are from that peaceful, centered state.
Let's suppose that you bring up an intention and realize that you are -3
on the Centering Scale. You immediately look around in your inner state to
see what is causing this divergence from the zero point. Upon some
observation, you may realize that this -3 on the scale is caused by feelings
of worry that you will not get what you want. This is when you take a deep
breath and ask yourself the three letting-go questions from the previous
chapter: Could I let this feeling go? Would I let this feeling go? When can
I let this feeling go? You can also use any equivalent spiritual technique, for
example, one round of EFT tapping. At the end of one round of letting-go,
sit quietly and notice where you are on the Centering Scale. Are you still at
-3 or are you closer to peace now at -1? You keep repeating the process
until your point on the Centering Scale shifts.
I have discovered from my personal experience that the further away
from the zero point I am, the easier it is to let go of these unwanted feelings.
This may seem somewhat counterintuitive for you, which is why I urge you
to try this process for yourself. I often find that a -5 on the Centering Scale
becomes a -2 in just one round of letting go. On the other hand, getting
from -1 to 0 may not be as easy.
Repeat the letting-go cycle as many times as needed until you are as
close to zero as possible. Sometimes, you may think you are at zero but still
feel a tinge of irritation, unhappiness, sadness or worry on the inside. This
means that you are not yet at zero. When the emotional undercurrents which
you feel on the inside are very slight, it may be difficult to quantify and
assign a number to them. For example, they may be less than -1 in terms of
intensity. When this happens, congratulations! You have made much
progress and are almost at zero! However, there is still a little more work
that needs to be done.
The Centering Scale is very useful for dealing with subtle emotions
that may color our daily lives without us even realizing it. Most people
walk around with a slight tinge of worry, unhappiness or uneasiness. We
have conditioned ourselves to believe that it is normal to walk around with
these feelings, which is why we carry them all day! You will be surprised at
how much mental energy is required to suppress these feelings and hold on
to them. For example, most people are not breathing as deeply as they can.
Their breathing is shallow because they have unknowingly held on to some
tightness and tension in their bodies.
The true value of the Centering Scale becomes apparent when you get
very close to zero. This is where the breakthrough happens because the
Centering Scale is a sensitive measuring tool for us to drop that last bit of
tightness or tension. For example, you can close your eyes and feel if you
are at zero. If you are not and detect a slightly negative undertone in your
inner state, feel whether you are to the left of zero (slightly negative) or
whether you are to the right of zero (slightly positive) on the scale.
Imagine a highly sensitive piece of industrial measuring equipment
that can pick up very slight disturbances to your inner state. Become very
still and just notice how you feel on the inside without trying to influence
your feelings. If you want, you can imagine a needle either centered on zero
or moving slightly negative or positive (like those found on measuring
instruments).
 Once you detect the slightest tension or tightness, ask yourself: Can I
let this last bit of tightness / tension (or whatever description is appropriate
for the feeling) go? Can I let this last bit of irritation go? Can I let this last
bit of unhappiness go? When can I let this last bit of unhappiness go? As
you ask this question, you will spontaneously realize that it is just a mere
feeling that you have been holding on to, and you can let go of this feeling
at any time. You can let go of it right now. Slowly take a deep breath and
exhale slowly as you make this realization.
At this point, I often feel a lot of tension leave my body. I may think
my body is already very relaxed, but as I let go of the remaining tightness,
my shoulders relax and droop down even further. This is a physical sign
that we have let go of any remaining tightness or tension. Repeat the
process until you are completely centered on the zero point.
It is sometimes possible to "over release" and become too excited or
hopeful about the outcome. When this happens, you may find your heart
rate quickening and feel a sense of palpable excitement. Simply use the
process in the same way by identifying where you are in positive space.
You may notice a slight sense of hopefulness which is +2 on the positive
scale. Follow the same process described above to get yourself back to the
zero point again.
Some readers may wonder why there is also a need to let go of
positive emotions and feelings. The logic is the same. All types of feelings,
whether positive or negative, are not a part of our true divine nature. They
are feelings we have inadvertently chosen to hold on to for various reasons.
We hold on to positive feelings because they feel good. When we hold on to
a feeling and believe that it is a part of us, we become attached to
something that is not even real in the first place. Positive feelings about an
outcome can also signal an attachment to what we intend to manifest.
The only place where you can experience your divine nature is from
the zero state. It is the only state where the Universe is completely free to
work its magic without your interference or intervention.
You may find it difficult to stay in the zero state in the beginning. This
is because once you get to zero, you may notice intrusive thoughts that shift
you back into negative or positive space. The key is to quickly let go of
these feelings once you detect them in your inner state, such that you
restore your inner consciousness to one of total calmness and peace. Keep
doing this until you are centered on feelings of calmness and peace.
Being in the zero state can bring up spontaneous feelings of love, joy,
and peace. These are positive feelings that arise naturally by themselves and
are not conditional on any outcome. You can go deeper into peace by
releasing on these feelings as well, which is something I have not discussed
in my previous books up to this point. In all of my previous works, I would
have advocated my readers to immerse themselves in these joyful and
loving feelings. However, if you would like to deepen this work, then
release on these positive feelings as well. Keep letting them go, and you'll
find yourself going even deeper into the peace and stillness.
The zero point is not just a conceptual or imaginary state. I have
explained that it is a state which is extremely conducive for manifestations
precisely because you are doing nothing. You are letting divine intelligence
flow through you, and getting things done through you. For once, you are
not interfering with the flow of Universal energy or working hard against it.
Instead, you are at one and completely aligned with this powerful creative
energy. You are at one with the Universe, the life force, and the Tao. Any
time you center yourself on the zero point on the Centering Scale, you step
into your full potential and harness the same power that creates worlds!
The most miraculous realization happens when you remain centered
on the zero point. I do not wish to spoil the fun for you here, so I invite you
to try it out for yourself and experience what happens! But here's a hint: As
you let go of the successive layers of feelings that come up while remaining
centered on the zero point, you step into the full realization of who you
really are. The best way I can describe this experience is as such: You will
eventually come face to face with the I AM presence that is deep within
you, and you will notice the "I" (infinite stillness) that is at the core of your
being. Coming face-to-face with the I AM presence is a life-changing
experience as it marks the beginning of your flowering life...
Chapter 10 - The Second Dimension of the Centering Scale

It is possible to live your life in a constant state of grace and

wonderment. The key to doing so is to remain grounded while you actively
practice these spiritual principles. Living a spiritual life does not mean
downplaying or neglecting the physical aspects of your life. Instead, it is
about recognizing that the physical and spiritual worlds are two sides of the
same coin, inseparable from one another. You are equipped with the tools to
navigate both worlds at once, so use them! Trying to deny the existence of
either realm can be counterproductive.
A common misconception of spiritual seekers is the perceived need to
eschew anything related to the physical world. Some do so by rejecting
material possessions, believing that these are somehow impure or not
spiritual. Others spend all their time on spiritual rituals or techniques trying
to make things happen. As I have discovered for myself, either approach
causes an imbalance in our inner states and causes us to deviate further
away from that neutral zero point. The most straightforward path to living
an absolutely thriving experience is to acknowledge that we are all spiritual
beings having a physical experience and to live from that perspective. The
physical world is, therefore, a wonderful blessing and not a bane. It allows
us to enjoy the fruits of our manifestations with our physical senses.
Many spiritual seekers fall into the trap of daydreaming or wishful
thinking. In my experience, this occurs when someone spends so much time
thinking about (or visualizing) their probable futures that they lose their
sacred connection with the present moment. They start visualizing from
some point in the future instead of doing so from the present moment. As
Seth so eloquently points out, "Your point of power is in the present."
Therefore, everything happens from the present. When you place your
focus on a desired reality in the present moment, you direct the current flow
of powerful creative energy towards the manifestation of those
circumstances. This allows what you seek to easily enter your physical life
experience.
 There is a difference between being present and being realistic or
pragmatic. Being present means becoming fully conscious of the now
moment and immersing yourself completely in the moment. When you
become fully present, you experience all your peace and calmness right
now instead of deferring it to some point in the future. You savor all the
unlimited good that is present right now, regardless of the current physical
circumstances. On the other hand, being "realistic" often means focusing
squarely on the problems and issues in your life right now. Instead of
savoring all the calmness and peace that is available to you right now, you
squander your precious mental energy worrying about the issues in your
life, thus perpetuating more of it in your current and future experience.
A sense of groundedness is a key element in many spiritual practices.
I have written about the importance of grounding oneself in my previous
books but have not expounded on this topic fully. As we learn how to
realize these spiritual teachings for a flourishing life experience, it is
worthwhile to go into greater detail about immersing oneself in the present
moment. To do so, we have to add a second dimension to the Centering
Scale.
The Centering Scale runs horizontally from left to right, with the zero
point at the center of the scale. Now imagine a vertical line running from
top to bottom and intersecting this zero point. We now have a two-
dimensional scale in the form of a cross that runs in two directions, from
left to right and top to bottom. The scale / line that runs horizontally from
left to right has been covered extensively in this book. Our position on this
scale represents the negative or positive feelings in our inner state.
The scale / line that runs from top to bottom represents how grounded
we are in the present moment. Anything that is above the zero point on the
vertical line means that we are currently perceiving (and therefore setting
our intentions) from some point in the future. Since our point of power is
always in the present, these intentions have very little power. Anything
below the zero point means that we are still trapped in the past and
therefore not experiencing the fullness of the current moment.
 We pinch ourselves off from the fullness of life anytime we dwell
excessively on the future or on the past. Some people spend all their time on
wishful or ungrounded thinking. While you can certainly ask for anything
you want in life, individuals who are ungrounded do not really believe they
can get what they want. They spend most of their time immersed in a
fantasy world in which they know will never happen in their lives. This is
very different from placing your focus on a desired reality and expecting
things to happen. The former is a form of denial or escape, while the latter
is an astute use of our creative abilities.
Others spend most of their time thinking about past mistakes and
regrets. For example, you may feel guilty or ashamed about something that
has happened in the past. The good news is that the past (whether it
happened yesterday or ten years ago) is over, and that there is no way you
can ever relive the past again except through the power of your own
thoughts! You can literally remain trapped in the past by rehashing those
thoughts and feelings over and over again. But those unpleasant sensations
you get from thinking about the past are just mere sensations, and they can
be just as easily let go of using the letting-go process we have covered in
this book.
An effective manifestor not only has a peaceful and calm inner state,
but he is also completely present (immersed) in every moment. This is the
second element for effective manifestations.
Groundedness is an important aspect of spiritual practice because it
prevents the practitioner from losing his / her point of reference in the
physical world. Someone who is too immersed in these spiritual practices
while not being sufficiently grounded may feel spaced out or dazed, which
further affects their ability to set clear intentions in the present moment.
One easy way to stay grounded while doing all this spiritual work is
to take a few moments to breathe deeply and to just feel the fullness of your
being. Come into your physical body fully. Experience all the input from
your senses and bring yourself fully into the current moment before setting
your intentions on the inside. You can also sit with your feet flat on the
floor and imagine sending your energy deep into the ground while receiving
the earthly energy from the ground. This simple exercise (which I learned
from Shakti Gawain in her book Creative Visualizations) has been very
helpful in keeping me grounded as I shift my focus to the spiritual realm.
Another way to stay grounded and centered on the zero point is to use
the Centering Scale. It is a good idea to ground and bring yourself fully into
the present moment before dealing with the feelings and emotions that are
in your inner state. Therefore, center yourself on the vertical scale first
before centering yourself on the horizontal scale. You will also find that it is
much easier to center yourself on the vertical scale than on the horizontal
scale.
All you have to do is to ask yourself this Centering question: On a
scale of 0 to 10 (with zero being not present at all and ten being fully
present), how present am I in the current moment? With your eyes closed,
feel for an answer on the inside. This is not a question that requires a logical
or analytical answer. Instead, it is an intuitive question that is answered with
your inner senses. You'll find that a number always comes up intuitively.
If the answer is not a ten, ask yourself this follow-up question: How
do I make myself fully present, such that I am a ten on the scale? Once
again, allow the answer to surface naturally. Often, just merely asking this
question moves you to a ten on the scale and allows you to become fully
present. Another good question to ask is: What would I experience if I am
ten out of ten right now on the scale?
Thus, the entire flowering process we have discussed in this book can
be summarized into three quick and easy steps. Step one is to center
yourself vertically on the Centering Scale, such that you become fully
present and grounded in the current moment (neither in the past nor in the
future). You step into the fullness of your being as a powerful creator and
tap into the creative energies that are available to you in the now moment.
This should take no more than a few seconds.
Step two is to center yourself horizontally on the Centering Scale. You
do so by tuning into your inner state and detecting any subtle sensations or
emotional undercurrents that exist, no matter how slight they may be. Use
the Centering Scale to help you make very fine adjustments to your
vibrational state, just as one would use a sensitive measuring instrument.
For each sensation you detect that keeps you away from the zero
point, let it go by asking the three questions. The three questions can also be
summarized and shortened into the following: Could / would / when? Just
silently repeating the word "could" reminds you that it is just a feeling and
not a part of you. You can always let a feeling go. "Would" reminds you
that all it takes is just a willingness on your part to let go of this feeling.
"When" reminds you that you can let go of this feeling anytime. You are
already free from anything that is not a part of you. You just have to stop
holding on to it.
As you practice and become more effective at step two of the process,
you'll be able to let go of sensations and feelings in no more than a few
seconds per feeling.
Step three is to remain centered on the zero point and to experience
the fullness of this zero point. There is no need to verbally state your
intentions again, for what remains after letting go of all the unwanted
aspects of your original intention will be the pure intention itself. This
highly vibrationally active intention already exists and needs no repetition.
There is nothing else you have to do.
The fourth step is what happens when you finally return to a more
outer-directed way of living. Your everyday life is where the magic
happens, so look out for all the good things you have asked for while
consistently remaining centered on that zero point for most of your day.
When you wake up tomorrow morning and just before you open your
eyes, relax and enjoy the good feelings from lazing around in bed. Bring
these teachings to mind. Notice how free and light you feel from realizing
that everything is already taken care of by the Universe. Then mentally
affirm: "All doors open widely for me today!" You can use any other
affirmation which represents the same thing for you. This affirmation I've
suggested is based on one by metaphysical author Florence Scovel Shinn. It
signifies opportunities and doors opening for me wherever I go without any
active intervention on my part.
 I set this intention every morning while I'm still in bed before I even
open my eyes. I find that setting an overarching intention without
specifying the details allows me to gently ease into my day even before it
begins! I then jump right out of bed and eagerly go about my daily
activities. Because I had pre-paved my day even before it started, I find that
doors do indeed swing open for me (both literally and metaphorically)
wherever I go throughout the day. Everything gets done with a sense of ease
that leaves an outsider surprised.
But you’re not an outsider to all these teachings. You're in on these
teachings along with me and the Universe. There's a beautiful saying that
one with the Universe is a majority. You now have the keys to lead a
magnificent flowering life in which you can manifest and enjoy whatever
you want with no limits. It's time for you to go out there and live the
complete manifestation experience!