Copyright © 2000 by Wayne H. Purdin

Each one of us is born into life endowed with riches, even if born into a poor family. By riches, I mean the attainment we have stored in our causal bodies, the concentric spheres of light and consciousness surrounding the I AM Presence. Most of this we have accumulated from past embodiments. Those who don’t believe in reincarnation will call it inherited genetic traits. Our riches include all the talents and positive qualities which we were born with plus all the knowledge and skills which we have acquired in this lifetime. These become our "treasure in heaven."

Some people make good use of their treasure to enrich their lives now both materially and emotionally, and to leave a lasting legacy when they’re gone. As Jesus said, "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things." They’re like the servant in the parable who received five talents and invested them to gain five more. But other people are like the servant who received one talent and buried it. They keep their treasure locked up and have resigned themselves to a life of mediocrity that provides security but not fulfillment. Then there are those of us who want to make use of our treasure to improve our lives but can’t remember the combination to the treasury. Perhaps those who read these pages fall into this category.

My passion is writing. To me, ideas and information, like the ones I am conveying in this book, are more precious than gold, and the precise word that will illustrate an idea, the "just mote" in writers’ jargon, is a sparkling gem among pebbles. No doubt Peter Mark Roget felt the same way about words. He called his cross index of synonyms a thesaurus, from the Greek word for treasure.

What if you can’t decide what you love to do? A friend of mine, Joyce, dropped out of a nunnery because they wouldn’t let her do some of her favorite things, such as entertain the other nuns with singing, piano playing and jokes. She had so many favorite things that she couldn’t decide what to do next. She narrowed it down using the following simple exercise:

If you have done the personal inventory exercise in Chapter 3, take the results and write your positive qualities on index cards. Then, on a separate stack of cards, write all the roles you have found fulfilling. What activities make you happy, energized, fulfilled? Do you like being a leader, money handler, preserver of the status quo, communicator, traveler, homebody, entertainer, lover, craftsman, analyzer, partner, teacher, judge, scientist, philosopher, outdoors person, business person, planner, inventor or server? When you can’t think of anything else to write, call friends and ask them what they think your best roles are.

Next, combine the cards. Take one quality card and place the role cards after it to get various combinations (assertive leader, assertive money handler, and so on). Write down the combinations that sound exciting. Then after each combination, write what it is about it that makes it exciting. Number them in order of attractiveness with "1" as the most attractive. Which quality-role would you miss most if it weren’t part of your job? Combine your top two or three combinations into a statement beginning with "I AM." For example, "I AM a patient communicator and a tactful teacher." This could be your purpose or divine plan. However, don’t throw your list away; you may change your mind later. If you have a hard time deciding which combination is your top one, choose the one that will benefit the most people.

Joyce went on a treasure hunt and came back with "entertaining speaker" and "witty comedian" as her top two combinations. But before she quit her day job or moved to Las Vegas, she followed the second step of the combination, which is to engage the mind in formulating a definite plan of action, setting goals and visualizing yourself acieving them. You may be tempted to quit an unsatisfying job or career to pursue your divine plan. But it may be better to satisfy your desire for vocational fulfillment first with a career-transition plan, making steady progress through achievement of a series of goals. However, don’t be afraid to make a sudden career change if opportunity knocks and you feel, after careful consideration, that it is the right opportunity and you are ready for it. As we use the tools of ecstatic living, more and more opportunities will come our way. With each new opportunity, we exercise discrimination and patience. Acting in haste is usually motivated by fear or worry that if we don’t make a certain investment now, we will miss out. Cultivate the "be-attitude" of trust. God really does want the best for us. If we miss out on an opportunity now, it may be because something better will come later. An extension of the treasure hunting exercise would be to list the positive abilities and habits that could help bring your goals into being. Most likely, you already have such abilities and habits to a certain extent or they may be some of the opposite qualities that you need to develop to find balance, as discussed in Chapter 3. Once you have your positives, list the habits that would stand in the way of your purpose, your negatives. Then write down what you need to do in order to develop the positive qualities, eliminate the negative habits, and fulfill your purpose, your goals.

Type your goals and place them where you will see them every day, such as on your bed table. How we word goals can make the difference in whether or not we achieve them. The following are eight rules for goal statements:

1. Use the present tense. If you write in the future tense, you may tend to put it off.

2. Use only positive statements; that is, no nos, nots, nevers, etc. And if you include something you want to get rid of, the subconscious mind will just pick up on it and create it or maintain it. For example, if you write, "I want to stop smoking," the subconscious will register "smoking."

3. Shoot for an attainable goal so the logical mind cannot reject it.

4. Be concise. Use as few words as possible while still being inclusive of all that you desire.

5. Be specific, but not limiting. For example, the following goal statement may be too limiting: "I would like a job as a graphic artist, but my work has to be displayed on buses and billboards and I have to make at least $30,000 a year to start."

6. Use the words "I AM allowing myself to have..." This expression admits your I AM Presence, the source of all that you need, into the alchemical process. If you use the words "I want...," it implies lack, and the subconscious will keep you in lack. "I would like..." and "I wish..." are too wishy-washy.

7. Just state the end results, not the actions or means that you will need to get them.

8. Put only one goal in a statement.

Joyce devised a plan that included joining Toastmasters and participating in amateur comedy night at the local university. She set daily, weekly, monthly and yearly goals such as writing a little on her next speech or monologue each day, attending a Toastmasters meeting each week, giving a speech or comedy routine every month, and finishing the Toastmasters’ Communication and Leadership Program within a year. And before each talk or performance, she visualized herself before a large audience --confident, organized and dynamic.

Visualization is a very powerful tool because it taps into the power of the subconscious mind, which is like a genie in a bottle, only instead of just three wishes, it has no limit and it interprets all thoughts and mental images as wishes. So be careful what you put your attention on, or you just might get it! If a person constantly thinks about how little money he has, he’ll program his subconscious to keep him in poverty. If someone is always worried about catching the latest virus, he’ll make himself sick. So why not command your genie to unlock your treasury by putting your attention on your plans and goals and visualizing yourself achieving them?

The following visualization will help you realize goals. First, meditate for 10 to 15 minutes to settle your awareness into the finer, more powerful levels of the mind. Now, picture in your mind something that you would like to manifest. Imagine that you already have it. Then, surround this picture, your visualization with a blue bubble. Blue is the color of protection, perfection and the will of God, and if this color vibration surrounds what you visualize, it will bring to you only that which is in perfect attunement with God’s plan for you. Now, release the bubble containing your visualization and see it float off into space. This symbolizes that you are emotionally "letting go" of it and trusting in God to manifest it. Thus, it is free to float around in the universe, attracting and gathering energy for its manifestation. A similar technique is used by yogis in performing siddhis, or powers. They first meditate, then they mentally articulate and visualize a special formula for clairvoyance, control of hunger and thirst, supernormal strength, etc. The key is letting go. As the saying goes in 12-Step programs, "Let go and let God."

The Decree to the Great Divine Director is a specific for finding your divine plan. Before I began writing this book, I thought that I already knew my divine plan, but after doing a Great Divine Director novena, I really knew it in its entirety with clarity and conviction. The Great Divine Director is a cosmic being of great light who holds within his consciousness the divine plan for every soul on Earth. He has this degree of attainment because he is the Manu or teacher/ruler for the next root race or group of new souls that will embody on Earth. I dedicated this book to the Great Divine Director and the children of the seventh root race because I saw while doing a Great Divine Director novena that it was part of my divine plan to write it.

The novena can be 9 or 33 days in length. First, do the treasure hunt exercise and formulate a definite plan of action with specific goals. Write your plan and goal statements on a sheet of paper, make a copy, burn the original and place the copy in your Bible on the page containing Jeremiah 29:11, which reads: "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Hold the Bible in your left hand and Decree 10.08 in your right hand and give it 14 times. Have a blank sheet of paper and a pen in front of you so that if at any time, during or after the decree session, you have a thought related to your plan and goals, you can write it down.

The third part of the combination is to free your will and charge it so that all your thoughts, speech and actions are imbued with the power of one-pointed determination. Our will is the vehicle by which we reach our goals. But if it’s stuck in the ruts of negative thinking, then we won’t get very far. We all have negative thoughts from time to time that dampen our enthusiasm and kill our will to achieve. For example:

"I’m not good at this; I can’t do it."

"I will fail and make a fool of myself."

"I’m just too old to change."

These are all false beliefs from the inner critic. They don’t do us any good. All they do is keep us from making the necessary efforts to reach our goals and unlock our treasury. It’s hard to erase such negative programming. These thoughts are etched into our minds like grooves on a record or ruts in a road. How do you remove ruts? You fill them in with gravel. So the next time you get stuck in the ruts of negative thoughts, stop, and replace them with the gravel of affirmations. But don’t say them timidly and by rote; say them firmly with conviction. This will engage your will and charge those affirmations with a power that will reverberate within your subconscious and awaken your genie.

But don’t take my word for it; experience it for yourselves. Use the results of your treasure hunting exercise and your goal statements as affirmations. Say them a few times every morning when you get out of bed, during the day when you’re driving, walking, doing chores, and so on, and every night before you go to bed. Then see how much more progress you will make toward your goals.

You may find that your inner critic resists the affirmations. Negative thoughts about giving affirmations such as, "Oh, it’s no use; this isn’t going to work," keep popping up and won’t leave. These thoughts are like mud that covers the gravel of affirmations. In this case, don’t fight it. Don’t start shouting the affirmation. That would be like gunning the engine when you’re stuck in a rut with muddy gravel. I did that once outside of Peoria and buried my rear tires. What you do is shift into low gear. That is, shift from saying affirmations to writing them down. Do the repetition exercise on page 58. This exercise coupled with inner dialogue offers tremendous self knowledge and emotional release. And it may change your goals or even the concept of your treasure.

Suppose, like Joyce, a person thinks he wants to become a comedian. So he gives affirmations: "I AM an entertaining speaker and witty comedian," and "I AM allowing myself to be the toast of Las Vegas." But negative thoughts from the inner critic keep popping up, such as "People are going to laugh at you, not your jokes," and "Yeah, you’ll be toast all right; you’ll crash and burn on your first performance." After doing the repetition exercise and dialoguing with his inner critic and his clown self, he discovers that, deep down, the reason why he wants to be a comedian is because he never felt loved as a child and always clowned around to get attention and approval. He is able to release this feeling of being unloved when he realizes that God loves him and he loves himself. He looks at his list of combinations again and sees that number 3 is "Inspiring Minister." He decides to change his goals. Instead of participating in the local comedy night, he takes a ministerial training course. His ultimate goal now is to become a traveling inspirational speaker and use humor to change people’s lives.

BACK TO HOME