‘Ask and Ye Shall Receive —
And your joy shall be complete.’ — Matthew 7:7
We ask, all day every day. What stops us from receiving?
Masters throughout time have taught that we create our own reality. That the Law of Attraction is the mechanism to make it so. We can’t help asking, life brings desires with every waking moment. What is getting in the way of our joy? What stops us receiving our desires?
“Whatever the mind of man can conceive and feel as true, the subconscious can and must objectify.” — Neville Goddard
It sounds so simple, what makes it so hard?
This statement holds the key.
“It is not your job to make something happen — Universal Forces are in place for all of that. Your work is to simply determine what you want.” — Abraham-Hicks
‘It’s not your job to make something happen.’
What if the only obstruction to receiving were that we think we are the ‘do-ers’ instead of the receivers?
It’s the ultimate irony. We emerge into physical form with the power to drive the car of our lives; turn the key, steer, go wherever we choose… The engine is perfectly designed to run on joy, with the Law of Attraction turning all the parts.
What could possibly go wrong?
We think it’s our job to make the wheels turn.
If you thought that you had to work all the moving parts in your car’s engine and spin the wheels manually, how far would you get? How exhausting would life be? How much futile effort would you expend?
Our job is not to spin our life car’s wheels, but to keep the tank full, to choose the direction, start the car, steer — focusing on our destination and enjoy being carried to all that awaits us. We receive the thrill of the drive. We don’t do’it.
Receiving-mode and good-feeling emotions go hand in hand. Generate one and you’ll generate the other.
‘Your feelings create the pattern from which your world is fashioned, and a change of feeling is a change of pattern.’ — Neville Goddard
Exploring the good feelings of receiving and appreciating these emotions will bring more of them into your world. Want more sense of receiving? Appreciate how delicious receiving feels.
What if you feel you’re a really bad ‘receiver’?
You may like the idea of receiving, but be quite sure that you really can’t do it. If you’ve been running with the belief — the harder you work, the better — receiving, not doing, may feel like flexing a limb you don’t have.
You may believe, as I did — I’m no good at receiving.
That’s a pretty hopeless belief to hold when the whole of creation rests on receiving!
The shift I received in replacing this belief has transformed my world. My clients love it too.
We are receivers
A while back, I took my bogus belief to my inner Dream Team. Here’s the journalling I did…
What do I do with this, Folks? I am no good at receiving! I’m stuffed. I have no more energy for the effort of ‘doing’ but I can’t sit back and receive! Joyous creation means relaxing to receive. I can’t do it! It’s hopeless.
My Dream Team re-routed me thus (their words are bold italic):
What makes you say you’re a rubbish receiver? From where we stand, you’re receiving 24/7, and doing it easily much of the time.
What do you mean? I’m a terrible receiver. I’m always trying to control life and make things work. Impatience, frustration, efforting, these have been my hallmarks. I’m living differently now, but their legacy is strong…
Are you efforting to breathe?
Well, no.
Does it frustrate you to do what it takes to hear the music stream you’ve chosen for this segment of your day?
No —
Does walking make you impatient?
No… but, you know, they’re givens aren’t they? I mean, I know I should be more appreciative — for some these aspects of life are a real struggle — but breathing, hearing and walking, I don’t have to make these things happen…
They are givens. Yes.
And you receive.
You are given the air you breathe.
You are given a diaphragm that moves in the exact sequence and co-ordination to bring the perfect amount of air into your lungs…
You are given alveoli, with their intricate exchange, to receive oxygen and release carbon dioxide…
These are givens.
You receive the sound-waves, landing on your eardrum, starting chain reactions you can’t begin to understand. A magical sequence translating to you as the music that charms your soul.
You receive the vibrations. You receive their translations.
You’ve no idea how. You simply allow.
These are givens.
You move, one foot in front of another. Hips, back, arms, head, all moving forward in perfect alignment.
You don’t know how. But your body does.
You select the destination and receive the movement.
Your body gives. You receive.
These are givens, yes.
And you receive them, beautifully.
These words, received, stopped me in my tracks.
It’s true. I thought. I am receiving 24/7. So much so, I’m doing it without realising it. I am a receiver, an allower of life.
Of course I don’t always receive fully in all areas of life. Even in these examples, I don’t receive all that I might. My right hip’s been in repair since Michael’s translating. It’s heaps better now, but I still get an occasional twinge…
The lack of receiving in areas we find difficult is not telling us we’re not good receivers. It’s just saying we could be receiving more. (We’ll explore this further next time.)
We don’t have to learn ‘how to be a receiver’, it’s who we are!
Byron Katie’s questions sprang to mind. As I questioned the ‘truth’ of my belief: I’m not good at receiving/allowing, I realised it wasn’t totally true.
In fact, as I examined it, it was hardly true at all. When I thought about the ‘big’ areas of life where I want change or transformation, my ‘big’ desires became minuscule in the grand scheme of receiving…
When I flipped the ‘I’m not good at receiving/allowing’ thought round to its opposite or better, I got, “I am really good at receiving/allowing.” Playing with how this statement might be true, I started to perceive life through a ‘receiving’ lens…
What if I viewed every aspect of life as an act of receiving or allowing? What if I weren’t the do-er of life at all?
Exploring possibilities further it hit me…
I am not the do-er! I can’t be.
I have no idea how to make even one finger move. The muscles and tendons do their own thing. I’ve no idea how it all happens… How do I ‘do’ any action I claim as mine?
I don’t! My body ‘does’.
How do I make thoughts happen?
I don’t. My mind ‘does’.
I have no idea how! I don’t know how to fire a neurone to generate a word, to compose one single sentence!
Clarity grew stronger within me. This would mean that I can only choose my actions, then sit back and receive the out-picturing of them.
There would be nothing for this ‘me’ to do, but decide and then let my body do, my mind do, while ‘I’ receive their actions.
What if I were receiving every single experience of life?
Wow.
Blog writing is normally an act I attribute to myself, something I choose to ‘do’.
Through this lens, it becomes an activity I have chosen from life’s menu. I’ve ordered it, I’ve relished the thought of it’s ‘done-ness’. Now, I am receiving it, rather than imagining myself the do-er of it.
As I type these words… I am receiving the impulses. The words come through. My fingers type. My mind smiles. The next words appear. The flow continues and I flow with it.
I am watching my mind and my body perform this typing task. I am in wonder at the brilliance of my fingers and the miracle of thought, turning to word, translating to text for you to read.
Whilst I have ordered this blog, and I am here, at the keyboard happily typing, this blog is writing itself through me. Thoughts are rocking up, one after another…
Suggestion thoughts, editing thoughts, creating thoughts… I am in awe of the process and loving what’s happening as I watch and enjoy and appreciate.
The more I appreciate, the more enjoyment there is in watching the outcomes appear on the screen.
The more I thought it, the more true it became. How delightful!
I realised the truth of what the masters teach us. Ask and it is given. It is given! It is done.
Is there some doing involved? Yes. But it’s tiny in comparison to the effort I’d previously imagined. It’s turning the steering wheel, choosing the gear, not dragging the chassis uphill!
Stop. Breathe. Steer, don’t strive
Clients sigh with relief as I take them through this paradigm shift. Together we stop. We let go of the ‘efforting’, with a long, long breath out.
We appreciate the wonder of the body and mind. So ready to do our bidding! So beautifully set up to serve.
Our work is to choose the direction, and the way we want our action to feel. Then we relax.
We imagine receiving all the ‘doings’ of the day from our wonderful limbs and logic, muscles and memory. We see, hear and feel ourselves allowing our day to unfold as we — the drivers, the directors — watch and enjoy, feasting on the fabulous out-picturing of it all!
So easy!
So much fun!
Receiving becomes our M.O.
As we appreciate the wonders of hands cleaning a sink, fingers typing an email, words coming forth to encourage, seeing them all as gifts we receive, the beauty and wonder compounds…
Every thought, action, heartbeat, received, received, received…
‘I’ve got too much to DO!’
is replaced by
‘I love how my body and mind is going to manage all I’ve got ahead of me today. What a wonderful being I am! How lovely to receive all that energy for action, all those ideas for creating…’
Wow.
My day is given to me, breath by breath, act by act, thought by thought by thought. All bathed in wonder.
Glorious or what?
Acknowledgement: My blogs, my coaching and my life are founded on many wondrous teachings, most particularly those of Abraham-Hicks.