Part of planning to achieve your dreams is to specify what, exactly, they are. We talked about that in our last post.

And we also mentioned that you had to know where you are NOW in order to figure out how to get where you want to go, right?

Today’s Abraham quote aligns with that perfectly:

In your moving yourself up the Emotional Scale, your business will begin to prosper in new and profound ways! Your business, your relationships, your finances cannot grow beyond your emotional response – nothing can grow beyond your emotional response. Everything matches your Set-point of emotions on every subject that exists.

— Abraham

Excerpted from the workshop in Tampa, FL on Saturday, December 6th, 2003 # 628

That last sentence is so important – “Everything matches your Set-point of emotions on every subject that exists.”

When setting goals (which unfortunately we don’t always connect to our dreams and that’s why they often are not achieved but that’s for another day), we often tend to be so objective about it and look only at the facts. But it’s really what’s invisible and inside of us that’s key – our emotional set-point, our feelings about these goals. You can “wish” for something all you  want but if when you “stop” wishing for a few minutes and realize that you have to “wish” because you do NOT HAVE whatever it is you’re “wishing” for, then you’re attracting more of that lack – more absence. And you know what? Often times that’s because that’s where we’re comfortable. Comfortable is a damaging word for sure – it keeps us from growing beyond where we are right now.

Take some time to look at how you FEEL about where you are and how you FEEL about where you want to go. If there is a sensation of discord, then look more closely at the specific emotions behind that discord. Is it fear? If so, fear of what? When we examine our fears we find out so much about where we are and what is keeping us there. Also, when we begin to examine the fears and get specific about them then we can see that whatever is behind them is not really so frightening at all. When you get specific, you can evaluate where you are and what you want to do about that one particular specific thing.

So your action step today is to determine where you are emotionally in regard to your dreams. If it’s “that was a great dream I had but there’s no way I could ever achieve that because I’m too old” or something like that – stop and examine all the parts to that one sentence and see if it’s really true.

Write all these things down too. It’s important to connect the hand and mind to help you analyze and feel them better. Keeping a record will also help you later when you want to change these feelings and emotions or when you want to measure your progress!

Terrie

  Another reason we don’t get far in achieving our successes is our fears. Often we are too afraid even to examine our fears.

Refusal to do that however, is a sure way to remain stuck in the same rut we’re in.

But to tell you to examine your fears is one thing. To actually do it is another. Often it’s difficult to do this because it involves being able to know what that success is like. Here’s where your visualization and imagination come into play. Remember that visualization is a vital element in creating your Success List. You have to be able to see yourself with that success in your “hands” so to speak. It has to become yours in your mind before it can become yours in the external world. So part of your job in visualizing this success is to see how your life will change and what will be required of you when you hold that success for real.

Let’s take a few examples:

– Weight loss or getting into shape.

What happens when you lose weight? Well, you get lots of compliments and people pay attention to you. Can you handle all that? Are you good at taking compliments? Do you just prefer to fade into the wallpaper? You’ve probably heard that one reason women gain weight is that they’ve been a victim of some sort of abuse in the past and this is their way of protecting themselves from abuse – they try to make themselves unattractive. So what will happen when they take the weight off?

You’ll have to alter your outfits so that will involve shopping and money. Do you have the money and the desire to get new clothes? Will that involve doing something you’ve never done before? Maybe you don’t have alot of money or your spouse doesn’t want you to spend money on clothes or you feel guilty. Or worse yet, you don’t want to get new clothes because you’re afraid that you’ll gain the weight back. This applies to your having to get rid of your old clothes too. There’s that fear of letting go.

These are all underlying fears and they can all serve to sabotage you if you’re not aware and don’t do the clearing (denials) needed to lay the groundwork for a new you.

– Prosperity

You’ve all heard that a great proportion of people who win the lottery are broke again in a few years (or less). If you’re going to be prosperous, you have to know more – know how to handle money, how to save, invest, properly pay off bills etc. You also have to have the proper demeanor when you are prosperous. You need to wear the right clothes, go to the right places, behave in the right manner, etc. Are you prepared to change? Do you want to change? Do you want to learn the new things you have to learn? If you’re afraid of money because you’ve already had problems with it before, then you’ll shy away from achieving what you really deserve. If you’ve been told that you’re no good with money, you’ll have that belief that has to be changed to.

Maybe you think that all prosperous people are snobs or greedy or something negative and you don’t want to be like that. That’s certainly a fear and/or limiting belief.

– Improved relationships

This is a big one. If you’re looking for a significant other, there are many changes you have to make. Are you happy living with someone or are you someone who prefers to live alone? Do you have enough closet space for another person or are your closets all full of your stuff? If so, the Universe doesn’t believe you have any real intention of having someone else in your house. What about your garage? Is there enough room for another car? Do you like your freedom and are afraid that you won’t have this freedom once someone else comes into your life – you won’t be able to come and go as you please?

Do you have habits that you might have to change if someone else is in your life? For example, do you get up early to do stuff around the house or to go running? Maybe that new person in your life won’t like that. Are you willing to give that up? Or, are you afraid of having to change all your habits? Do you have animals and are afraid that a new person will not tolerate them? Are you afraid because you don’t know how to cook? Or don’t clean things up like others think you should?  Do you have so much stuff that there’s just no room for another person?

There’s so much more to think about that can uncover fears and desires of your own. It’s so important that you look beyond the romantic notion of someone paying attention to you. There’s so many more facets to relationships and you have to anticipate them all and decide if this is really what you want.