What I am learning through my Spiritual Exercise Program is to be alert and aware, because the Universe always mirrors what I believe is true. Let me give you a quick example of what I mean.
About a year ago, we had new neighbors move in next door. They pretty much kept to themselves and so did we, until their dogs began getting out of their yard and staying in ours. I went over there several times and asked nicely if they would please keep their dogs in their own yard.
Well, several weeks passed and this still kept happening. I finally caught David (the guy next door) to find out what the problem was and he blamed it on the fence, which the landlord woul not fix. Of course, David would not pay for the repairs. (turns out that the dogs were digging under the fence, so there was nothing to wrong with the fence itself).
One day, I take my dogs out to the dog run (which shares the same fence as next door). There were two boards missing in the fence, which opened up a space for my dogs to go in his yard. I went back inside to get a hammer and nails, and went back over to the hole. I saw the two boards lying on the ground inside his yard, so I reached in and pulled them back to my side. As I was about to nail the boards back up, David comes running out of his house, yelling and cursing at me to leave those boards alone.
Now, mind you, I still haven't figured out what he is doing or how he did it. All I knew was that there was a hole in the fence and my dogs could get out. I asked him calmly what he was doing, and he snarled, "It's none of your d... business." Of course I told him that it did concern me, because of the dogs, etc. He then starts threatening to call the police because I had trespassed on his property. That's when the lawyer in me kicked in - I told him that he was a renter, that he had the right to possess that property for the length of his lease, but it was not "his" property.
Big mistake on my part.
If looks could kill, I would not be writing this blog right now. I was subjected to the worse verbal abuse you could imagine, all shouted through a foot-wide opening in an old wooden fence. I had to admit it that I used a few cuss words myself. The long and short of it was that he gave me back the boards and I nailed them up on my side of the fence. And we haven't spoken since.
But that's the rub for me - I have replayed that entire incident in my head at least a million times. Every time I think about it, my heart races and my blood pressure shoots to the moon. The emotional energy attached to that incident stayed strong for quite a while.
And then I read somewhere that the Universe reflects your own beliefs back to you. It is actually a mirror image of what you believe about yourself!
I decided to examine the incident from an observer perspective (without the emotional charge) and I saw what I was trying to tell myself. It had to do with money and my perception of rich people.
During David's tirade, he accused me of being "high and mighty" and looking down on "regular folks." He also said I thought I was so much above everyone else because I lived in the biggest house on the block. Basically, that I was a rich snob.
Me? A rich snob? You have got to be kidding - I am the nicest, kindest, most thoughtful...
When I reviewed this incident as an observer, I realized that those statements were EXACTLY what I thought about rich people. That they live in their own world and they have no idea what normal people go through because of money. They spend money on frivolous things when other people could really use that money for something important. That they think they are better than everyone else...
Guess what? If I truly believe those negative things about rich people, is it any wonder why I have not become a millionaire? Why would I want to become like the people I dislike and envy? I wouldn't, and that may be one of the core reasons why I have never made millions of dollars.
Does that leave me stuck in a middle-class world? No! Because all I have to do is change my beliefs about money and how it affects people. Money is simply a barometer that measures your internal success scale. When I know that "I am the source of all wealth..." that means that I create the thoughts and beliefs that the Universe responds to, without fail. And then I am on my way to a life of prosperity and abundance.
Come to think of it, that hole in the fence was the best thing that happened to me. Thanks David for being my mirror!
