How general or specific should we be?
 

... Well? ... Thoughts?

My coach advocates focusing on what you want, not how you are going to get it. It makes sense for me.

So focusing on living in financial abundance would be a what, winning the lottery is just the how to that end. A love partner would be a what, Jane Smith from Accounts to be your love partner is focusing on the how.

Personally for me, anytime I limit one specific person, event or action to deliver one specific result I lose out on so much more and all the possibilities the universe is offering me. If I take a girl I meet on a Friday night as only a potential serious exclusive relationship I could miss out on an exciting passionate romance, a new friend with no sexual interest, and the chance to further me towards my other goals that I have.

So what I do is I have my goals and aims that are in alignment with my destiny and live purpose, and then every single thing is an opportunity for any of those goals to be realised.

Colm

In The Secret, one of the speakers was talking about intending a million dollars, and they got $9xx,xxx. In another thread someone said to intend a few bucks and exact change to see if the LoA works. Also mentioned was why nobody intends the winning lottery ticket (which is where I got that part in the quote of the original post in this thread). I just think that some people are bound and determined to prove that it doesn't work.

As I mentioned in another thread, if the LoA is true, then it is working all the time for every single person. Anyone should be able to look at their surroundings; their job, where they live, their mate (or lack of one), their financial situation, the car they drive, etc, and see what they created for themselves. Don't like what you're creating? Then create something else! I think that's what we're all doing here - learning how to harness this power to get the things we want.

If you look at anyone successful, there is always work involved. Often, very hard work. Look at this very site. Steve had an inspirational idea, and pursued it. This site didn't just build itself, there's quite a bit of writing and coding going on, not to mention all the work that goes into the experiences that are written about. Take a look at Andrew Carnegie. Do you think he created his wealth without lifting a finger?

This stuff isn't magic. People notice the LoA in operation all the time when they mention things like "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer." Like attracts like. Those who operate out of scarcity will attract more scarcity into their lives. I can't help but think that someone who has to have that job, or that mate is possibly operating out of scarcity. Are there not enough jobs and significant others to go around? Is your happiness hinged on one specific person or a specific dollar figure down to the penny?

The way I see it, if we know what we want, and we create it in our minds enough, then it will come to us in a way that we have some sort of inkling about. You can't just get millions of dollars out of nowhere. There has to be a logical explanation for how it comes to you, but if you can see it in your mind, then it should be able to come to you. And be specific to the point of exactly what it is you want. That will give the universe clarity...just some thoughts...

Wreck, so well said and I think you are so right here---- about LoA working all the time and the wisdom of looking at all circumstances as things we have attracted along with the realization that just as we have attracted these things, we can attract other things.

Also about the work involved in making something good happen, no kidding! And I like that so much better than the idea that this is somehow "magic".

This board as well as the forum has been really inspiring and encouraging for me and I think and hope for a lot of others. Posts like yours IMO are a good reason for that :)

I agree with you, Colm and that does bring up a very frequently asked question, Keith's below here: how specific or general should one get?

There was a whole crowd of books in early parts of the self help movement that advocated a high level of specificity, especially in regards to financial goals. I think Napoleon Hill went this route. Idea being something like: " I will make a million dollars by [specific date and maybe time of day ;) ] and maybe "I will have a [particular brand of car] or [highly detailed description of a house]. There was something to that in relation to material goods that seemed to work for people, based on a lot of later writing and reports. So, maybe, for some people at some time in history, or in their lives, there is a usefulness to this level of specificity.

I personally think that there is a lot to happiness and meaning in life besides financial or material goals. Not to slight the advantages that come from material abundance and the good one can do for oneself, one's family and others with material abundance. I think that in a more global, wholistic, general sense, the LoA and practice of Intention-Manifestation is a bit more workable and understandable when you include a general direction and aim at the top of the list for wisdom, understanding, consciousness and that sort of thing.

That's real general, I know, but if you have a specific goal (e.g. a change in career/work activity), then you'd naturally become more specific because of the goal. If you hold the idea of understanding, consciousness, wisdom high on the list while while lining up your attraction of a career/work activity that suits you, then I think you're on a good road to finding/creating the specific thing that works for you.

Another way that I have found my intention work to proceed from general to specific is this: I might want a particular thing to change or manifest. I start out with that in line with the global elements I've just talked about. Well, I'm attracting the specific wisdom that I need to make this particular change. OK, a few days with that intention active and here comes another one: this one tells me something I might do in order to encourage that change to happen. Does this make sense?

A (made up) example: There's a new person, or a new behaviour in an existing person in a working group ( a neighborhood, household, work group, musical group etc.). This person has some presonal, financial or other resources which allow him or her to exert control within the group which some of the group members have fallen in with for various reasons. I see that this person's influence is not good for the group, the situation or maybe just not good for me. I either don't have or don't want to spend the time or energy to engage in a "political" battle to put this person or their actions in a less intrusive position, but I want the situation to change.
OK, so my first intention might be: "I intend for this (working/family/neighborhood) environment to continue to develop in a peaceful and well balanced manner and a manner that is helpful to all involved". And, along with that, "I intend wisdom, compassion, understanding and love in my own heart, mind and actions as I participate in this environment and situation." Great start. I'm thinking about how nice it would be to have a good situation here (from my POV anyway :) ), and I'm internally "positioning" myself in a spiritually centered and conscious way intending for this personal positioning to guide all my interactions within this situation.
After a little while, the thought comes up that if I (Enter: a specific improvement in my own interactions or behaviour which I myself could make for the greater good of all as well as for my own comfort level. For example, let's say I'm typically late getting to work, to rehearsals, getting home at night-- depending upon the situation I'm working on. This tardiness on my part does not put me in a good position to have a positive influence and I might well be missing out on important information as well as opportunity to exert a positive influence.).
So my intentions then become the first 2 above, because they are still highly relevant. Add on "I intend my own consistently early arrival (to home, to rehearsals, to work) and appreciate greatly the benefits of being there early which include a relaxed feeling, keen attention to my surroundings and the ability to interact with people in an increasingly positive manner. This helps me to help this situation become every more peaceful, helpful to others and well balanced"
So it's a full circle, there isn't it?
Hope this makes some sense.

I'd love to hear your and others' thoughts about this question of general / specific and any such development between general and specific you might have experienced.

All best,

Ati

This is my belief exactly.

I, for one, am not crazy about generic affirmations. In The Secret, Jack Canfield was VERY specific about the amount of money he wanted to make.

I have mixed feelings about the HOW of getting it. Colm says that focusing on Jane Smith is "the How"....but what if she's the Love Partner that you want.....???

Back to Jack Canfield again....the HOW popped into his head while showering one day (the 400,000 books and the idea about the National Enquirer). He did have to act on the HOW. It is essential that we don't skip this step. Like Andrew mentioned...it's not going to be dropped into our lap. You actually have to do something a lot of the time. (I will agree there are exceptions to do....like unexpected $ in the mail etc.)

The Law of the Harvest is also a Universal Law...and it states that you reap what you sow. If you sow nothing...you will reap nothing.

let's not forget that action is required. I've never met a lazy rich man...have you?


Now, for what I do as far as specifics...... I go for specifics in minute detail, followed by the action that I see as my shortest path to get what I want. But my heart and my mind are very open to other possibilities. Sometimes when I'm focusing on my "action" plan ....or THE HOW!...I have new ideas that pop into my mind. I take this as a sign from the Universe( or God) that there are other alternatives that I should consider. I don't feel that specifics limit me in any way.

But for me....being vague about what I want have never served me. I just get really vague results...(or nothing). I ask for abundance in my manifestations....and then I follow it up with what abundnace means to me. hmmmmmm...today it means debt free and $1.5 million in assets....next year, I'm sure it will be different. :)

So my point is....abundance is relative!

I will concede that when I'm not sure what I want, I start my affirmations and intentions out more vaguely...and my mind/brain pretty soon, lets me know that my wheels are spinning. Within a short time, I force myself to get really clear on what I mean by "abundance" and so it evolves.


my 2 cents (hmmmmmm 25 cents???)

Annie, you said lots of good stuff here!

I COMPLETELY agree with you here. He mentions he didn't get exactly a mill, it was a little less. And he went on to mention that in no way did he feel that this meant that the LoA wasn't working.

Here's what I'm thinking, and notice I said thinking. Is it that you really need Jane Smith, or is it the feelings that you get when you think about her and your "idea" of how a relationship would be with her? I'm thinking that scarcity would say that Jane Smith is the only way I can get these feelings, and there isn't enough Jane Smith to go around. If I can't have Jane Smith, then I'll never have what I want.

My thought is that if I were to realize exactly what it is I wanted, my true desires, which would be the feelings I would get from such a relationship, the idea of having someone with these certain characteristics in my life that I could care for, that this is where I'd want to be.

I may be wrong on this, at this point is just some thoughts, so someone feel free to correct me. :)

Now the tricky part is, and I'd posted a thread on this, how is it that we learn to distinguish our true desires from our wants? How do we learn to intend specifically without it being an intention from scarcity?

Good stuff! He was wanting his million dollar idea, and he got it. When the doors opened, he realized it and took the necessary steps to walk through.

Absolutely! For you it may be 1.5 mill, for someone else it may be 1 mill, and for yet someone else it may be 4 mill.

It works pretty much the same way for me too.

The only other point I want to make is that two different ideas of "specific" have been brought up; one as a matter of defining a goal or ideal with as much detail as you can (which I agree with), and the other of the goal or ideal being a specific one-and-only (which I'm unsure of).

WOW... I've seriously read this about 3 times and it's just barely starting to gel.

But still sort of doubting myself if I do indeed catch the vision of what you're saying.

Are you sort of saying that the HOW (Jane) is limiting me? I agree.

I've had this experience several times and you'll have to be open to my frame of reference (because it's religious). But I feel God has "saved me from myself" many times. For instance. I wanted a certain house...SO BAD! We made an offer, then another offer. We didn't get it... And yet 18 months later, they sold it to someone else for $75,000 less than we offered them.

That experience was strange, because a year later, I was SOOOOO glad that they hadn't accepted the offer, because I found my dream house in the mean time.

In that situation, I should have just intended the perfect house for me and I wouldn't have gotten caught up in all the emotional meltdown that occured when i didn't get the house.

anyways...long ramble.

Wreck....talk to me more about intending. Tell me your thoughts on your own question.

How do we learn to intend specifically without it being an intention from scarcity?

Do you think once you get specific you always come from scarcity?? That it's "limiting"?

So by intending $100,000 am I limiting myself from $1,000,000?

hmmmmmmm

I'll have to think about this.

(PS...am I following your train of thought?....I could be WAY OFF!)

annie

He probably did manifest the full million, but it was subject to "universe tax" -- nine-hundred something grand was just his net take-home. :D

You know, the more I think about this joke, the more I think there might actually be some truth to it! :eek:

Wasn't Canfield Initially intending $100,000?
 

I watched the movie (again) earlier today. I bought the DVD and regularly show it to freinds.

Wasn't he trying to attract $100,000 in a year at first and got over $90,000? Then he asked his wife, "Gee if it works for $100,000, would it work for $1,000,000?" Then he goes on to say that his publisher drew a smiley face on the check for the "Chicken Soup" series, because it was the first million dollar check he's ever written.

And a question on the topic of hard work...

And didn't Joe Vitale give an example intention along the lines of, "I would like $25,000 of unexpected income within the next 30 days." How do you work hard for "unexptected" income?

Annie,

Thanks for your comments. I was brief in my original post, the HOW does come into it, of course. You set and intention, and then keep your thoughts, actions and emotions in line with it.

When a HOW door opens, you still have to walk through it (keeping your actions in line with it). Overall I want to enrich the lives of the greatest number of people in the most profound way possible with the gifts and abilities I have inside me. That's my what, my destiny. My hows are coaching children's martial arts, life coaching and blogging. These still take action and work! I haven't even gotten my blog up to launch level yet, but I am working on it and everything seems almost effortless when I am writing/learning about feeds/AdSense etc.

I am open to amazing things to just happen to me. I'm not using that, however, as an excuse for inaction. I'm on purpose, and I do have strong intentions with every thought, emotion and action.

Lots of love,
Colm

Goodness, I don't know. That was just kind of stream of consciousness writing there.

It all depends on what you're referring to by specific - as I pointed out, there are two definitions floating around in this thread. I definitely think our intentions should be formed as specifically as possible. For me, the more I define something, the easier I'm able to visualize it and get into the feeling of it. I don't think it needs to be very specific to begin with, but I think over time, the ideal will develop.

Should we intend Jane Smith, the winning lottery ticket, or that specific house on that corner two blocks down the street? I don't think so. For some reason this seems like tempting God. I don't want to say always as someone will come up with an exception as soon as I do, and I don't want to say that it has to be scarcity. But I think you have to ask yourself, what is the intention behind the intention - and that is what to shoot for.

I would have to say this though, that I think any intention of scarcity will likely bring more scarcity.

Well, obviously I would think yes. But I don't see any reason you couldn't intend the million after you've attained the $100k.

But lets make the argument a little harder. :)

Two people are intending $1,000,000. The first person decides to buy a cheap tiny condo in the ghetto, renovate it, rent it out or flip it for some profit. Once they've bought the condo, they've got a budget, a plan and have a target amount of profit they expect. That's pretty specific - this condo needs to sell for this amount of money by this date. The second person buys a lottery ticket. They think about how much they'd like to get. They figure the pot would need to grow at least a certain amount, and even larger if it's going to be split and still expect to get a certain amount out of it. How different is it really?

You're probably right, I haven't seen it in a while. But my point still stands. Even though he didn't get the exact amount of money, he still believed the LoA was working.

"Mr. Vitale? Yes, this is Mr. Management Guy from Anycorp. We're planning a 3 day retreat for our senior executives, a group of about 15 people. We'd like you to come and speak for the 3 days. We're prepared to offer you $25,000 and pay all expenses."

Can someone hold an intention for a sum of money and get it by winning the lottery, the death of some wealthy distant relative, or some other random means that requires no labor? Abso-freakin-lutely!

But do you really think that's the basket for all one's eggs?

Here's a relevant post:
http://www.stevepavlina.com/forums/i...html#post11342

In negotiating books, there's an important section at the beginning on setting limits. This is where you think about what you really want out of the deal. When you walk into the clothing store, do you really want that red sweater? Or do you want something that goes with these pants? When you're negotiating with the boss, do you really want an extra $100/month? Or would you be just as happy if she offered you the same salary + a Netflix subscription?

I think that's where your intentions have to focus. Do you really want to win the lotto? Or would you be just as happy if an old entrepeneur walked up to you and said, "I don't want my kids to be dependant on money, so I'm giving away my fortune in million-dollar chunks. Would you like one?"

That being said, my primary intention is $5,000/month passive income. But every time I come up with a good way to get that, I set up a new intention for it to come to pass. So I would intend to get a million dollars, intend to win the lotto, and intend for a wealthy person to decide to give me money.

If I were God (and Steve says I am ;) ) I would grant your intention for the winning lottery ticket, but make 7 other people share it, or have you lose it, or make it be on a day when the pot was really low. If it were for the house 2 blocks down, I would grant it... but a better house would go on the market a month later.

I see it as extremely different. If the first investor is semi-intelligent, he's picked the average market price within the average days on market. Or significantly below average market price within less time. But his probability should be well over 50%. Whereas odds of winning lotto are one in 35 million or so. So I see them as being different by a factor of 17.5 million.

Exactly my ideal as well! What I'm doing right now, is holding that intention as well as intending $1 a month in passive income. My thinking is that the $1 is something that can grow - like attracts like. I'll go from $1, to $5, $10, $20 and so on. At any time the "big idea" could come that would generate my $5k, but also I'm building it at the same time.

Reputation points for you! You just make me laugh out loud.

Right - that's the point I was trying to get at. It's not just a matter of intending specifically, because both examples use a specific intention. (FWIW, odds shouldn't matter with intention.) The first is using skill to minimize the risks and improve chances, to formulate a plan. The second uses no skill, and is of extremely high chance. If we reap what we sow, who's more likely to bring in the harvest? Which intention is most likely to bring harmony?

The trick for me is finding the line between defining something to the point where I could see it clearly, but not define it so much that I am attached to that particular thing.

For example, if I wanted to manifest a house. I would get clear on the feelings that I want in the house. I might get down to the number of rooms just because I would feel roomy in a 3 bedroom rather than 2. I might even envision the colors on the wall just so I could get really clear on the feelings I want in the house. Now, if I find a house that has 3 bedrooms and the colors, but not the feeling, it's not the one. If I find one that's a roomy 2 bedroom with different colors, but I get the feeling I wanted. Bingo!

In the past, I've gotten down into to deep, deep specifics and by then I am grasping it so tight that I am not open to the full experience of what I am intending.

I've learned to say "For this or better" and "For the highest good of all." I, individually, do not know everything, but the Universe, well, it's got its eyes all over the place.

That reminds me of...

A flood is expected to wipe out a small town and evacuation is begun. A jeep is driving through town and comes across a guy standing on his front porch. "Hop in," they said, "The flood will be coming in any minute." "Don't worry about me," the man replied, "I have faith that God will save me." Unable to change his mind, they drove on without him. Soon the flood waters began to roll in, and a rescue team drifted by this man's house in a boat. "Hop in," they requested, "We'll get you out of here." "Don't worry about me," was the man's reply, "I have faith that God will save me." Unable to change his mind, the rescue team continued on without him. Not long after that, the flood waters had completely covered this man's house, and he was hanging from the chimney. A rescue crew in a helicopter spotted him and dropped him a ladder. The man refused the ladder insisting that God would save him. Unable to change his mind, the helicopter went on without him. The water continued to rise and the man drowned. On his way through the pearly gates, he met up with God and exclaimed, "You really let me down! I had faith that you would save me and look what happened!" "Well let's see," was God's reply, "I sent you a jeep, a boat and a helicopter."

Yes, we stand corrected. It still stands that one of his manifestations was "really darn close" but not exact. Maybe his manifestation skills improved as he went along.

Wreck,

That's exactly how it is. I completely miss the car, the boat, the helicopter, the twig, and everything else waiting for things to happen exactly as I intended. I am getting over that. It's all about the idea for me. The specifics just help me to get to clear intent. Then it's a firm idea, not "how" or even what.

You're right.
 

Forgive me if I sounded like I was trying to disprove any points you were trying to make. I whole heartedly agree that he still believed it was working. And that it did work. I just didn't want anyone to think that he wasn't actaully able to manifest the million $.

Nah, I never said it was or wasn't.

Don't get me wrong, hard work does pay off. I own a few real estate investment properties, and I've worked extremley hard to acquire, gut, reno, and keep them occupied. And I'm also a Value Investor so I do a ton of homework before buying into any company. But I think that if I put any emphasis on acheivement by "hard work," that's the only kind of opportunities that'll manifest. Heck to me, lazy money is even more pleasurable to spend as hard earned money.

But that's all subjective anyway, if you like hard work and it makes you happy then by all means, "Follow your Bliss" as Esther Hicks would say. Plus, what could be considered hard work or some might be considered just play to others. So "hard" is only an opinion.

Besides that I'm totally seduced by the concept of leveraging other people's ideas, time, effort, and money. I'm totally fine with going along for a ride where I didn't produce any value myself, but still get paid because I was part of the action. So what I've been trying to do lately is pull away from the "do-it-yourself" mentality when it comes to business, and that has opened up many doors.

Fantastic thread of ideas here, please keep 'em coming!

I think that starting in a general way with attention, humility (i.e., strong interest in learning and development), and wide open eyes allows intentions to naturally become more specific in ways that are likely to work. For example, instead of Jane in accounting to start out with, an intention for "a meaningful relationship" (nice but pretty broad and with no specifically articulated context to the person intending or that person's current environment and circumstances) may well lead to an intention to "naturally and consistently understand what it takes to develop meaningful relationships". That one may lead to an intention to "interact on a daily basis with others in a loving, compassionate, humorous, fun loving, sincere and interested manner which leads me to recognize people who will become truly meaningful to me as I get to know them better', just for example. And then, as Jane (or somebody else) is found to repeatedly make eye contact and smile, well then perhaps an intention to "maintain confidence in my interactions with others so that it is easy to meet people and see what they are about" and so on!

Now, since we have people experiencing success with parking places, perhaps the idea of Jane is not so far fetched. Then, perhaps a specific intention that Jane looks up with smiling eyes might lead to an intention that "when Jane looks at me I easily and confidently smile at her and project both interest and openmindedness, while at the same time, trusting (God, the universe, my intentions, myself) to notice the right things and interact positively.

Just some thoughts to add to this great thread. I agree that in most cases hard work (yah, even in relationships) is important and the love of hard work along with the choosing of meaningful hard work is essential. There's another intention brewing in that, isn't there/

Last, I think the most powerful intentions boil down to things we become able to change in ourselves, and often when we think we are just lucky or have manifested a material thing, we have in truth manifested an improved state within ourselves--attention, positive thought, easy natural positive interactional skills, love for others, concentration, discipline, the ability to recognize and put to good use opportunities that come around our radar screens.....

All best,

Ati

Thank you so much for answering a question I hadn't found the words to ask yet! This was exactly what I needed to read.

I've always tended to zero in on Jane prematurely, but I do think as I get older and wiser, my Janes get more and more suitable. Who knows, maybe one of the Janes on my current radar may be right -- but if not, even if I start from scratch and go through all the steps outlined above, I'm sure it will be a shorter series of leaps than it would have been fifteen to twenty years ago. :)

I mean, for people to finally "close the deal" on any relationship, they have to at some point -- hopefully more than a nanosecond prior -- decide to focus a good deal of energy on a specific person. But it only works if that person is doing the same with you; there can't be much imbalance. Maybe small imbalances, like the left and right feet as you climb a ladder. But the right foot can't go all the way up while the left is still on the floor.

Can you tell me more about this? :)

I have a big time "do-it-yourself" mentality, so much so that I see it sometimes being a hinderance.

Hm... I hadn't thought of that. I might not get in my way so much if I was only trying to manifest $1/month. Everytime I sit down to tell myself I'll get $5,000/month, a little voice at the back of my head says, "You? Yeah, right!" But apparently my little voice doesn't think $1/month is worth disparaging. I can sneak $1 in the back door, and then double it, and double that, and so on, and hopefully have my passive income before the little voice realises what I'm doing. ;)

Ooh! I like that! Then I can be specific without limiting myself.

My new intention is "In an easy and relaxed manner, in a healthy and positive way, in its own perfect time, for the highest benefit of all, I intend to generate $1/month or better of passive income."

You guys are smart!

You probably already know.
 

I'm sure you do fine, you seem really intelligent. What would you like to know? It's a pretty broad topic. And I'm still trying to transition myself.

Here's an example, if you want. A friend of mine is 100 times more successful than I am in real estate. He mostly does residential flips and rentals. He has a whole team of people who are a part of his business. Realtors, contractors, accountants, lawyers, property managers etc... I don't think the guy's ever hammered a nail in his life! But his fixer uppers are some of the most beautiful homes I have ever seen. And he doesn't even find the houses himself, he uses "bird dogs" to find them. Bird Dogs are people you give you search criteria to and they go and look for homes for you. I think that he pays them around $500, if he closes the deal on the house they pointed him to. The money he gets for his deals is from other people too, they are from banks, other investors (a little from myself on a couple of occasions), even sellers of the property he wants to buy! Him and all his people make profit from each deal. But, IMO he's the one that works the least, but he'll probably won't admit that. ;) But in a conversation we had over drinks, he stated he probably only works about 15 hrs a week on average, and he doesn't really even consider that work!

It's all about sales and leadership skills, I think. That's what he's insanely good at. He's the type of person that could sell you a pet rock for $100,000 and you'll still leave thinking you got a great deal for it!

I love to hear about people like this....they make me smile! Work is actually "play". I'd love to learn a few lessons about that kind of a real estate business :)