The Power Of Willingness
The movie "The Secret" blew my mind when I first saw it. I loved how exciting it made the creative process feel. I must have watched it a hundred times in a row, doing everything it instructed so I could manifest the life of my dreams! I'll be the first to admit that this movie helped me experience a good amount of change... to an extent.
One challenge I came up against was trying to affirm something that I just didn't believe was true. For instance, it was challenging for me to wrap my head around the idea of affirming my abundance when I was struggling to pay my bills. I would visualize a million dollars in the bank and do my best to believe that it was on it's way. I crafted a vision board that reflected my desire for wealth and health and repeated prosperity affirmations over and over, but in the end it just felt like I was kidding myself.
I shared my experience with my friend Jennifer. She suggested implementing the word "willing" into my affirmation statements. Instead of saying, "I am abundant" I could say, "I am willing to feel abundant". This small adjustment made all the difference. The truth was, I didn't feel abundant but I was definitely willing to!
Willingness was the bridge that connected my subconscious and conscious mind. It allowed them to work together. I no longer was making affirmation statements out loud only to have my inner voice say, "Um... you're only fooling yourself." Even the critical part of my mind could get on board with willingness. I could almost hear it say, "Alright, I'll give you willingness... you're definitely willing."
It didn't take long for the willingness affirmations to shift my energy. Soon, I actually started to feel abundant and was able to drop "willingness" from my abundance practice. I could honestly state that I felt abundant without hesitation. The more I felt abundant, the more I began to find evidence of abundance all around. It didn't happen over night, but through practice I was able to grow into an abundant life.
It's important that we be gentle with ourselves when starting something new. Our willingness is all that's required to continue the process of transformation. It can take time to learn a new way of moving through the world; how can we expect to be masters of something that we're just beginning? If we stay willing, we can stay present as we grow, which will allow us to create change that lasts.