Missed the beginning? Go to the first post in this series.

I was destitute. Creditors were calling so often I finally shut the ringer off the phone. I had no direction, no definitive passion, and I still had to eat–and drive places, and keep warm and lay my head down someplace safe at night. For a long while; all I could focus on was the pain. The pain of losing the life I thought I should have. The loss of my marriage, my father, and my sons loomed in my thoughts and the sadness threatened to consume me.

And then one day, I woke up and clarity hit me like a ton of bricks. I was wasting the God (and Goddess)-given days of my life in self-pity and fear. Suddenly it hit me. I don’t care what happens to me, but I’m not throwing away another day of my life to feeling this way. I don’t even care if I become homeless. But I do care that I feel happy.

And Oh My God. It was that easy. Happiness… was a choice!

What I did not expect, was that that happiness, that choice, would have such a profound impact on my reality. It just kept getting better and better and better. Of course I did some other things too (outlined below) but the happiness choice was the biggest piece. I took control of my life with that choice.

As it is with human nature, I wanted more. Happiness was wonderful, and the most important thing of all, no doubt. But I wanted success. Creativity. Abundance. Fun even!

And I did have some clue about how to go about manifesting those things. I had been studying the law of attraction and principles of manifestation for about a dozen years at that point. I figured, Hey, since it can’t get much worse than this, why not apply the principles I’ve learned?

One could question, “What the heck took you so long?” (No one said I was brilliant… just persistent.) You see I had tried before. And I had some limited success. I knew, in my heart of hearts, the concept of “you create your own reality” was not just a concept. It was truth.

My persistence, was key to my success. No matter what happened in my life, and there have been many ups and downs (although thankfully, the downs did diminish), I never gave up knowing I had the power to create my reality and the determination to figure out exactly how to do that consciously.

So back to my story… I decided to apply the principles. What did I do? Well … I:

1. Held onto happiness – like a dog with a bone. Since that day I decided my state of being was the most important thing in my world, I did whatever it takes to stay happy. I have some techniques that I use to help with that. Sometimes it takes more than choosing. For instance one of my favorite techniques is Narrow Your Focus.

It came to my attention that so much unhappiness is due to two things: 1. Dwelling on the past 2. Worrying about the future. I could begin to feel overwhelmed easily when I had a busy day with lots to do, or dreams that required many steps to fulfill them. Or I headed the other way – allowing myself to focus on everything that went “wrong” in my past, which would inevitably lead to fear of it happening again in the future.

Narrowing your focus is simply taking one simple task at a time, and enjoying that for all it’s worth. It is a simple yet beautifully effective way to stay in the moment. Another crazy-easy technique for growing happy is Gratitude. Everyone knows they should this but do you do it? We have so many things to be grateful for. You’re reading this blog on a computer or another electronic device–you lucky thing. You have eyes, you can read and learn information about anything you desire, and more than likely you are connected to the internet and have unlimited information available at your fingertips. It really is easy. When gratitude becomes habitual life does get better. At the very least it gets happier, and when you combine it with energy directed towards what you desire, gratitude becomes fuel for your creations.

2.  Became a Proactive Creator – I spent 10 minutes every morning ordering up my day with the Morning Mastermind Technique.This technique is hugely effective and fun. The best thing about this technique is, you don’t have to know what kind of job or business you want. The technique will bring the job or business into your reality that is most suited to the energies of the technique.

Did you let that in? If you aren’t feeling elated right now, read those two sentences above over again. Even if you do know what job or business you want to create, this technique will draw to you circumstances, resources and opportunities that cause the state of being you put forth in the technique.

The technique is simple. Close your eyes and imagine yourself in a meeting in a beautiful place. My meeting place was the south of France on the edge of a river at a bistro table with five chairs. Sitting with me at this table, were my higher self (the higher, non-physical aspect of me), my subconscious self (a personification of my subconscious mind- and she has the power to change my subconscious for me), my future self (this is the self from the future who is living my dream life), and my healthy ego (a part of me who brings me each day).

I called the meeting to order and asked for their help. This is what I said:

“I want to create a very particular kind of day today, and I would love you to help me create this. Change whatever needs to be changed in my subconscious mind to create these states of being, with harm to none.” 

And I went on to specify exactly how I wanted to feel:

Today I want to feel happy!
Today I want to feel joyful!
Today I want to feel prosperous!
Today I want to feel excited about my work!
Today I want to feel I am having positive impact!
Today I want to feel creative!
Today I want to feel abundant!
Today I want to have fun!

And after every statement I felt those feelings.  This is what it feels like, I would say, to feel happy, or joyful, or prosperous, etc., and I would feel that way so they could know what the feeling was. These unseen friends had been listening to me for years, saying I wanted to feel prosperous, and so on, and I never did.  I left no doubt as to what I wanted. And boy, did it work. And also, I …

3. Changed a LOT of Beliefs – When something happened in my reality that I didn’t like, I scoured my subconscious for the reason it was there, and changed it.Now this by far is the toughest part. It takes work and determination. It takes courage and hope. I am not sure where I got those things, but I intend to pass them on to you… because once you know you can create a life you love, you don’t let anything stop you. Suffice it to say, it’s critical to pay close attention to what happens in your reality and if it is not what you want, change the reason you are receiving what you don’t want -– there is always a reason and it is always changeable. I know this is easier said than done.  But it doesn’t have to be. You have every tool it will take to shift whatever you want to shift in your reality. You just need to know how. I did it and my reality did a 180. It improved to “beyond my wildest dreams good’” And yours can too.

That’s it. I did those three things over and over and over again,  And variations on the themes too – for instance sometimes I did other techniques rather than ordering up my day – but the gist is the same – I stayed emotionally positive (happiness), put forth energy in the direction of my desire and continually looked deep within to see what was stopping me.

What happened next …

 How I created a multi-million dollar business! Part 3