Do you think of your past and say “If only…..”? Or do you say “What if….”? Are you bitter about your past? Do you have regrets? Or, do you look at your past and say “Wow, I can’t believe how that event or situation changed my life”? Or even “What if that hadn’t happened? How would my life have been different”? Take a chance and a few hours and travel into your past writing down different things that have happened to you. They may be big events or small events. Just start by writing down events you can remember that seem(ed) significant.

This may take a bit of time but just let your mind wander. It does not matter if you write them down in chronological order or in order of significance. Everything will come into the proper perspective later. It helps if you actually use pen and paper. There is something about that hand-eye-brain connection. It certainly stimulates your creativity so it could very easily help you recall more memories.

Once you’ve taken the time to list your thoughts and prior activities, look at each one and see what happened after that event. This may take some thought because the consequences or related situations may not have occurred in close proximity. Some may be really close and others may be far apart. Let me give you an example. I didn’t get accepted into medical school right out of college as I had “planned”. I was devastated of course. I didn’t know what I was going to do with my life since I had wanted to be a doctor since I was 4 years old. But life continued. I kept applying every year and the second year I didn’t get accepted either. So, what good could possibly have come from that? Several things. First, it gave me time to mature which was very important as I began my trek into medicine. But more importantly, I developed a medical issue that wasn’t diagnosed for approximately a year. Had I been in medical school when this developed I would have either dropped out or failed out because of this condition. So, my not getting into medical school when I wanted was actually a very good thing. I was able to go after my condition was diagnosed and stabilized. During those two years I was feeling down and out, however, it did not feel like a good thing. We have to have faith that things really do happen for a reason.

Take the past and the things that have looked like bad luck and see what happened after them. How would your life have turned out had that ‘bad luck’ not happened? Although you can’t change things now, you can declare them good and be grateful for what has happened to you. Remember, declare everything that occurs as good and say “I declare this good and I see the good coming from it”. Do this no matter how dark and dismal something may appear. This statement will convince the Universe that you believe it and the Universe will make it good.

Your life really is what you make of it. You can learn how to craft the events that happen to you and manifest your goals by altering your thoughts and words. The Art of Making Things Happen will assist you in this process.