The other night I lay my 2-month-old baby down on her mattress. She was awake and protested slightly. But she looked at herself in the mirror–a montessori-style sleeping arrangement set-up for the infant. After several minutes she drifted off to sleep. She stayed asleep for 5 hours. My heart danced with joy.

How did I manage this shift? Whether it’s sleeping habits, colic, bedwetting, or sibling rivalry, using the Law of Attraction can help shift the challenging behavior. 

1. Set the intention. Journal what you would like to create. I like to write a letter to my angels. Write it in present tense as if it has already happened. Express gratitude. For example, “I am so happy and grateful my baby goes to sleep peacefully on her own and sleeps through the night. etc.”

2. Use energy work such as Emotional Freedom Technique EFT or Calyco Healing to find the emotional block and clear it. EFT is a free technique that uses tapping on acupressure points while repeating a release statement, followed by repeating the affirmation of what you want to create. For example, when I first attempted to put my baby on her crib mattress, she cried. While she cried, I comforted her and tapped lightly between the eyebrows, on her sternum, underneath her armpit, and on the crown of her head. I could see her distress lessen. 

3. Use muscle-testing to pinpoint the root cause of the challenge. One method is to make an “O” with your thumb and finger on one hand. Use your other finger to try to break the O. Practice by testing the difference when you say Yes versus No. For example, the second night when my baby cried, I thought she was still resistant to sleeping on her mattress. Muscle-testing revealed that she was fine with her mattress, but was not comfortable with sleeping apart from me. We were able to clear that through Calyco Healing.

If you are not comfortable with EFT or Calyco Healing, you can always seek help from an energy work practitioner. Calyco Healing has been an amazing tool I use with my own clients because it can release emotional blocks about multiple issues in one session.

Know that when we face a challenge, this is simply the in-between space before overcoming the struggle. Keep on moving forward and the storm will pass. Remembering this will help shift the vibration faster in your favor.

Now, my breastmilk-fed baby sleeps until the morning. 

Happy Parenting!

This opportunity was the perfect time to teach this lesson about manifesting our desires. The movie The Secret popularized this universal law as the Law of Attraction: what we send out comes back to us. It is also called the Law of Vibration. It can be summed up as “our thoughts create our reality.” In Genesis we read about this law in the story of Creation, so it is appropriately called the Law of Creation. When the Lord created the heavens and the earth, he created first by his Word, and then it was so. Everything was created spiritually before it was created temporally. There was a Divine Plan before it was manifested in reality.

As God’s children, we can aspire to do as He does: to create things spiritually in our minds, to ask, believe, and receive. First we decide what we want and desire. One caveat is that our desires must be aligned with God’s desires. A lily does not desire to be an orchid, but to fulfill its mission of lily-ness. While admittedly we possess a greater consciousness to desire many things, we are directed to seek God’s will. Sometimes people confuse this warning by shrinking from desiring wealth and things. But we are only told: seek after riches only after seeking to build up God’s kingdom. 

Here is the formula I taught to my daughter: First, we ask for what we desire. She asked for a rainbow. Then, we imagine the rainbow as if it already there. We feel the spectrum of emotions in our fulfilled request. She closed her eyes and imagined her delight in discovery a rainbow blazing across the sky. Then, we express our thanks to God as if it has already happened. And we continue to believe and remain confident that the rainbow will appear.

One very bleak morning, I rounded up the kids for school. My heart ached with grief. I miscarried the night before, and my husband was away on a business trip. Our whole family had wanted this child, and now this pregnant possibility was temporarily suspended. In the car we drove in silence with only my occasional sobs. But as we ascended a hill, we saw a rainbow in the distance. It was in fact, a double rainbow. My heart lightened, and I wept. My daughter’s prayer had been answered. And  though it had taken several weeks for her request to be manifested, what a perfect time for the fulfillment of this request: to bask in our Father’s Love. We thanked Him again for this miracle. It was a perfect lesson on manifesting and the Law of Attraction.

My son vehemently disagreed. “I need SpiderMan Band-Aids,” pointing to the ones I stored high in the cupboard. “Three.” The frequency of his request triggered my resistance. After all, I thought, I bought these Band-Aids for real scratches. If he keeps this up, I won’t have Band-Aids when he really needs some. My first impulse was to deny his request. This was getting to be a silly habit. But I stopped to reconsider.

My 3-year-old entertains no thoughts of scarcity. He expects his request will be fulfilled. His mind perceives an abundance of BandAids. When these SpiderMan BandAids run out, they will simply be replaced with more BandAids– a limitless supply.

While it is not my job as parent to be the Infinite Provider, I could honor this simple request, even if it means more frequent trips to the store. In fact, my resistance revealed more about lingering false beliefs that I needed to clear. As I bandaged my boy, I silently thanked him for this teaching moment and strengthened my own connections to Abundance.

Thriving includes financially thriving, and most parents want that for themselves and their children. Teaching our children to live the laws of success will help them create prosperous, satisfying lives. If we are not struggling, we have more energy to create, to love, and to serve others. Yet all too often, our actions speak louder than our words. When we feel an overly strong feeling about something–like anger, anxiety, or defensiveness–that seems bigger than the situation warrants, it might indicate subconscious beliefs. We can use such incidents with our children to assess our prosperity parenting inventory.

What thoughts do you still hold that get in the way of teaching prosperity to your children? How have you shifted?

I am a pregnant momma, only 9 more weeks until the arrival of my 3rd child. As I write, I am in the hospital–treatment for blood clots. So painful, I cannot walk. Blue and purple veins scrawl across my legs, monstrous appendages fit for a horror film.  

Before I became pregnant, I knew this pregnancy would be different from previous pregnancies. I would THRIVE: working out, finishing my dissertation, and caring for my children–like one of those mothers who love every minute of their pregnancy and recover their pre-pregnancy figure by the time they leave the hospital. This time was different–I reasoned–equipped with the tools of energy healing. I could just clear and release those subconscious beliefs that no longer served me. I could plug into positive affirmations about a vibrant pregnancy. After all, if we understand the power of thoughts and energy, simply manage our thoughts (and energy) and create a fantastic life. Right?

Yet we here on earth to learn and grow. We learn how to master our thoughts and how to become co-creators with God. I had cleared the negative energy in my varicose veins and about my pregnancy. I even worked with fellow energy healers, in case I missed something. My energy was clear, yet I still faced this health challenge.

This time, I noticed a shift in thinking.  Only 2 weeks prior, I had experienced a blood clot for the first time. The pain was excruciating. I sunk in discouragement. The victim sackcloth was too familiar. I wondered, how can I endure this for the next 11 weeks of pregnancy? How can I take care of my kids? Yet this time, I felt cheerful. I knew the pain didn’t have to last for weeks, only a couple days. I got through it last time; I can get through it again. I realized–I signed up for this experience because I was learning how to master my thoughts. It’s easy to think positively when life is running smoothly, but can I still maintain a cheerful disposition when feeling physical pain? 

I felt grateful for this experience as I witnessed personal growth: how quickly I found good in this situation. I was using the Law of Polarity (for every negative experience, there is something inherently positive) in my favor. With help from above, I was turning a weakness into a strength.

“I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them”

Ether 12:27

These items from our past evoke memories and feelings, sometimes painful, sometimes tender. As I sifted through bins of folders from my academic life, it overwhelmed me to act decisively. I might use this info. if I teach English again. This article might be helpful for my research. I ended up putting the plastic bins aside. After all, we have this huge Minnesota basement. There is room for these several boxes of papers. Yet I will invariably cart these around to our next home, if we should move again.

This business of clearing clutter struck me as a metaphor for the work I do with Calyco Healing. We retain memories of our past experiences, but alongside the memories, there is an energetic imprint of our experiences. This imprint ranges from very low frequency of doubt, fear, hate, resentment, jealousy, etc. to the high frequency of gratitude, joy, love, etc. Like the excess stuff I store in my basement, negative energetic baggage gets schlepped around. Our subconscious is the metaphorical basement. We aren’t even aware of it, most of the time, yet this energy impacts us–the decisions we make, our ability to create prosperity, to live the life of our dreams.

This past year, every time I visited the basement, I would recoil inside–just a nagging feeling that this space needed to be organized. My children like to play down here, particularly in the wintertime, but it just didn’t feel peaceful with toys scattered across the floor, surrounded by other boxes and mismatched furniture. Yet even as I was addressing the clutter, there were things I wanted to keep. It felt comfortable and familiar. It was even scary to let these boxes go. What if I should need them again? Or I might finally decide to get rid of some books, only to keep them in the garage for another year, until I finally make a trip to Goodwill.

Sometimes, the energy is cleared, but it gets stuck in outer energetic layers. I will check to make sure that this low-vibrational energy is entirely cleared. But a client may decide, just like I did with my school boxes, to keep what has been cleared. He or she may not feel ready just yet. It might seem a little to threatening to release what has been a familiar friend. And that’s okay. I will get to those boxes when the pain of schlepping them around is greater than the pain of sorting through them. Sometimes, it might take another energy session for the client to be ready.

Tomorrow, my husband and I committed, we finish the basement. How freeing it is to clear the clutter! I truly believe that as I get rid of the excess, what no longer serves, I welcome more prosperity into my life. The good energy can flow because I have opened up a space, a vacuum, that the Universe must now fill, invoking the Law of the Vacuum. What a gift to welcome the New Year (and increased prosperity) by clearing the clutter! I am so excited about this upcoming year.

What have you decided to release to make room for your dreams–this year?

But what does laundry have to do with the Law of Attraction?,  you might ask. To enjoy a serene, orderly home requires daily maintenance. It dawned on me: what a metaphor for our energetic (aka spiritual) maintenance. Positive thinking, posting up affirmations, and vision boards are only as effective as our subconscious will allow. As an energy coach, I clear energetic/ emotional clutter. As a recipient of energy clearing sessions, I found former struggles now seemed effortless. That’s because all the emotional and generational baggage that we carry around with us weights us down. We hold onto false beliefs, like weeds in our subconscious so that it’s harder for positive affirmations to root. Clearing the weeds allows space to plant affirmations so we can attract the life we want. 

My laundry was a subtle sign about needed energy clearing. Sure, I could wait longer until it became urgent, but if I cleared it now, I might quickly fall into the sync of serenity. 

I write my goals and purpose. I visualize my dream-life as if it has already happened. I express gratitude and excitement to live my dreams. But sometimes, the energetic clutter keeps us from stepping into the full measure of our joy and might very well keep the Dream at bay.

How are you working the Law of Attraction in your life? How are you manifesting the life of  your dreams?

What do I really want? I browsed through Craig’s List at other couches and through furniture magazines. There are so many choices–the task is daunting. But I cannot not expect to receive anything from the Universe unless I have a clear mental picture of what I want–imbued with emotion–and write it down on paper. Unless I take the time to put it in writing and create my desire first through thought, how can I expect God to give me what I request? To take me seriously? At the same time, I recognize the responsibility that goes along with asking for what I want. My request needs to resonate with my values and the life I desire with my family.

How clear are we about what we want to create in our lives? How much thought-energy do we devote to creating our dream lives?

As for the couch, it’s on hold for the time-being. There are more pressing dreams to channel my energy. But through this little exercise, I ceased complaining, feeling gratitude for the couch.

I have learned to focus with a single-mindedness that shifts dreams into reality… The book Jack Rabbit Factor by Leslie Householder was an instrumental paradigm shifter for me: to stop looking at what others are doing to create success and concentrate on developing my own unique gifts as I master the Laws of Prosperity. It reads like a novel while introducing you to how to use the principles of success in your favor–what most prosperous people inherently understand and practice on a daily basis…

Although I purchased a copy, Leslie offers a free copy of The Jack Rabbit Factor as an ebook if you click on this link.

That sudden realization started a quest for a lifestyle that allows me to radiate my own God-given brilliance. First, I eliminated diet sodas. Somewhere along the journey of graduate school, mommyhood, and dissertation writing, I became a bonafide caffeine-drinking, diet soda addict. I bought the lie that it got me through the day, the next five pages, and yes, laundry. I embarked on a raw food diet to help me detox from years of chemically-laden choices. The energy I soon felt was astonishing. While I now choose a more balanced diet (the regimen was too all-consuming for me), the raw food experience connected me physically to food as energy. 

This blog is dedicated to thriving and inspiring moms who might face similar challenges.  Jesus once commanded us, “Be ye therefore perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect.” People often ponder this commandment since it is humanly impossible to be perfect in all things. Yet I submit that we can thrive perfectly. Children, if they are given physical, emotional, and intellectual nourishment, thrive. A beautiful flower thrives if it is given proper nurturing. So the question I ask, “What do you need to do today to move towards thriving?”

Thriving is simply living in integrity with our core values. When we thrive, we are being our authentic selves. We can thrive physically, emotionally, financially, intellectually, and relationally. What area needs your focus today?

As I pondered this question this week, I noticed my energy sank when I thought about my dissertation. I am in the final stages, and I was encountering a block about writing the introduction. It felt hard. I realized that my dissertation-commitment was a form of bondage, a debt of sorts, or commitment that I had made to myself, my spouse, and my family. I could not thrive–in integrity–unless I lived up to that agreement. The costs would be too high. I focused my efforts on increasing my desire and excitement for my dissertation-completion and wrote the necessary affirmations to create my success. As my energy and enthusiasm soared around my dissertation (with much heavenly assistance, I might add), I plugged into the energy of thriving. 

I challenge you to increase your efforts and focus in one area and enjoy that blissful energy of thriving.

My friend humored me with an explanation about daily consistency and added, “It’s work.”

Truly, I struggled to conquer laundry. It wasn’t always a problem, certainly not my favorite chore in the house. But in-between kids and keeping a house clean, I dreaded it. Occasionally, my husband would “help” me by putting the clothes in the laundry. But it wasn’t the putting-in that I dreaded. It was the endless folding and putting things away, yet the clothes were never entirely put away. I yearned for a house of order. And those folded clothes stacked on the couch and coffee table teased me about my inadequacies as a mother.

Laundry was a droning conversation at my house. It irritated my husband, but really I just wanted him to magically make it disappear. It wasn’t that I felt lazy to do the work. It was the loose ends, the socks unmatched, the ripped towel, the overgrown shirt. It was like running up a steep mountain with loose gravel so you slipped every time you neared the top.

But this tale has a happy ending. Whatever made it seem so difficult–the blocks have been cleared. Recently, I read a book on organization that really resonated with me, or I was just ready to hear the message. I have a system: wash one load at night, dry and fold in the morning. I put the laundry in each child’s basket. My children put their own clothes away each morning. I commit to putting my own clothes away. In completing the task, I enjoy the fruits of my labor. I honor myself and my home by completing the cycle.  I feel joy in laundry.

I celebrate and share this miracle because I suspect there are other mothers who might relate to laundry dread. And whatever the challenge, it is entirely possible to shift.

The dismissed book didn’t resonate with her at that point in time. She felt hopeless–one more self-help book could not change her life, she thought. Pleased, I accepted the book. I found the self-help genre a welcome respite from abstruse academic prose. 

 Recently, I discovered the value of self-help books, audio tapes, or seminars: these investments simply shift our energy. For example, weight-loss programs and diets work when there is an energy shift–the thin button is turned on. I noticed times when maintaining my ideal weight felt like “magic,” simply effortless, with the freedom from obsessing about food. Yet other times, my “thinking” about my weight weighed me down. An effective diet or exercise program might shift my thinking (and energy). When I started feeling and thinking thin again, I inevitably was….

Every thought, action, and thing consists of energy. Money and time are simply resources exchanged, a form of energy. Viewing life choices in terms of energy shifts our paradigms. For example, if I spend my money/ energy on this item at the store, how much value will it return to me? Or as organizational expert Carrie from Carrie Thru points outs, “how much will owning this item actually cost me?” How much life energy will this item require of me when I take it home? What energy will this food item give me? How will my energy calibrate after watching this television program?

Knowledge is a form of energy and the only expenditure take with us when we die. Even though certain experiences will increase our energy, some choices only make a temporary effect. Perhaps, that is what my friend lamented. Have you ever started a new exercise regime to let in falter? Or read a book with every intent to implement the idea, but it never becomes a permanent habit? My friend yearned for more lasting change.

But it is completely possible to internalize the energy shift so that it might have lasting effect. If we remove the mental blocks that keep us from our authentic selves, it is easier to shift into who we really are. Prayer alone would work, but sometimes I don’t think we are specific enough in our requests, or know what we need to release. I am grateful for the various energy modalities that are available here on earth, and in particular for Calyco Healing . It really is simple to let go of emotional debris–when the student is ready…