Making dreams come true by using Active Preparation.nnBy Dr. Richard Cawte.nnnClients often say to me, “Richard, I have been putting all my thought into such-and-such an outcome and it is not happening for me. What am I doing wrong?”nnAnd I always answer: you are not prepared for a successful outcome. You are not welcoming the outcome as a certainty, as though it is already here.nnThinking about what you want is not enough. You can think all you like about something without getting anywhere nearer to achieving it. You must actively prepare for it. nnWhat does that mean? It means taking steps in your life as though the desired outcome of your thought has already come to pass. It means impressing your subconscious by showing faith in yourself and in the universal supply by taking action rather than sitting around simply thinking about it. Thinking about it means that you may also think it is not really happening. nnYou’d be surprised how many clients of mine who say they are putting a lot of thought into a desired outcome have also regularly said to themselves: “But I don’t think it will happen, really,” or “I want such-and-such to happen, but it’s not very likely.” They may be putting thought into what they want, but they are not believing those thoughts. They have not truly changed their expectancies. nnActive Preparation paves the way, literally, so that your fulfilled wishes can walk up to your door. nnImagine yourself as a house with several doors. Each door is an opportunity and for each opportunity there are plenty of people who would like to come knocking. If you have not paved the way across the landscape, how do you expect anyone who has your best intentions at heart to know which door to walk up to? You might be lucky: they might choose the right door, but if you pave the way with active preparation, you’ll be putting up signposts to make sure they are directed to you.nnPaving the Way.nnThese days we are so surrounded by images of fear, lack and other words that eat into our self confidence that it is more important than ever to give one’s subconscious a good shaking and make an impression on oneself. nnThe best way to impress yourself is to actively prepare, to take action rather than just thinking about something. Affirmations will work for some people. Meditation will work for others. Creating storyboards can be helpful. But the best way to fashion the future that you want is to do something in advance of the desired outcome to impress your subconscious mind that it is already on its way to you.nnActive Preparation means doing some groundwork too. There’s no point putting your paving stones down on an area that floods in the winter or on ground that is filled with the seeds of doubt, for you can be sure that just when aren’t paying attention, the path will flood or the seeds will germinate and suddenly the access to your door is blocked by weeds. nnYou must weed the ground and dig the foundations of the path before you lay the paving stones. nnFollowing your Leads.nnEvery day we all get promptings, notions or ideas that pop into our heads without us expecting them to. It might be simply to call up an old friend you haven’t spoken to for years. Or it could be to go to a particular shop, even though you have no desire to buy anything from it. It might be a headache that comes on suddenly when you are thinking about a particular person. Whatever those leads are, follow them as you actively prepare for the best possible outcome. nnDon’t think about the consequences. Just do whatever those promptings tell you. They are your instinct at work, which is a faculty that has developed over millions of years. It shows you what to do at that moment, without thinking about the result of your actions. nnFor instance: a client of mine was concerned about going to a meeting with some people he had not met before. He called me to ask for some help. As he was talking about the people, I had a strong, irrational feeling that he should go, even though he was worried that he might make a fool of himself (because he thought all these people were “more successful” and “a lot richer” than he was) and had convinced himself he would not go. nnI don’t tell my clients what I think they should or shouldn’t do, because it’s always up to you. So I asked him to tell me how he felt about the meeting and he said, “That’s just it, even though I don’t want to go, something tells me I should.” Well, I said, you have your answer: you must go. nnI’ve only heard from him once since because he has been working with the people whom he met that night ever since, and has been travelling and following the pathway that he did not truly believe he could. nnYou must be prepared to follow your leads, no matter how little sense they make to you at the time. In fact I often find that they less sense there appears to be in taking a particular action, so long as I am following my instincts, the rewards at the end are far greater than I could have foreseen. nnOne of my favourite lines that comes from many clients is “I don’t know why I did it, I just did…and it all worked out better than I could have planned!”nnTurning off the “why?” button in the brain (which almost always lead to buts, shouldn’ts and can’ts) is a great starting point for actively preparing for the divine design of your life to flourish. You stop questioning and qualifying and you just get on with it.nnHow many times have you thought to yourself “I wish I’d one that” or “I knew I should have done so-and-so”? Following your leads, your instincts, means less regret in your life – see my home page
www.richardcawte.com for more on unlearning the “Three R’s” of regret, resistance and resentment and replacing them with the “Three I’s” of instinct, intuition and inspiration. nnWhen you follow your leads whilst you actively prepare, you open up a world of possibilities, because you are not trying to force a particular outcome, you are simply getting on with the process.n