The big theme in my journaling practice for Grow Your Depth, Nurture Your Brilliance (the year-long journaling program I’m doing in the Creative Dream Circle) this week was this: there are 2 ways to pray.

One way is how most people do it.

The other way is not just more effective – it actually turns you into a dream magnet.

The first way: From a rigid ego place of asking for what you want then waiting until it shows up in your life exactly as you expect it should look like.

This doesn’t work and can make you pretty miserable in the process.

But for some reason, we’ve all got a part of us who really seems to think that this is the way.? That we somehow have every right to expect the universe, in its infinite wisdom, to bow down to us and our limited vision and to hand it over and to have it look exactly how we think it should.

The second way: From a place of openness and wonder and connection to the miracle of life where you ask for what you want and then stay in the process of receiving it.?

The real work here is in building an internal sense of trust and deepening/maturing your relationship with your spirituality.

Trusting that your prayer was heard and granted, which means remembering that the universe has an infinite perspective and you have a teeny tiny extremely limited perspective and so trusting that the universe can respond to your prayer in the most appropriate way.

In other words, remembering that you don’t control the universe.

Not only is giving up on trying to control the universe a huge relief and a big energy-booster, it means you can open your eyes to all the ways your prayer has already been granted.

When you let go of what you think it “should” look l like you get to have what you want, right now.

Because it’s already here for you.

In a decade of working with people to help them bring their dreams to life this remains consistent: what you need is already here for you.? The essence of your dream is ALWAYS accessible to you.

You just have to crawl out of your bullshit stories and sit with the truth long enough to see it.

Taking this approach also means being willing to do your part.

You don’t just stand back and wait for your package to arrive before you believe that your prayer was granted – that’s the childish relationship to spirituality.

When you really believe that it’s on the way you act differently.? You do all the things that are in front of you to do in service to your prayer.? You deal with your fears and doubts.? Physically and energetically – you clean up make space for the thing in your life.? You take steps to meet it.

You turn your life into a welcoming atmosphere for dreams.? You turn yourself into a dream magnet.

Here’s the kicker: once you say your prayer you have to accept that whatever happens next is the prayer granted.

Everything in your life is happening in response to your clear intention.?

I’ve got a lot of stuff coming at me right now.

Nothing earth-shattering or anything, just a lot of things (good things and not-good things) are coming my way both personally and professionally, causing me to feel overwhelmed and stressed out.

Until I remind myself that everything is happening in response to my clear intention.

So I must NEED to have a lot of stuff coming at me.

Why?? Where’s the gift/lesson in this?? How can I work with it?

How do I unwrap this gift?

Am I willing to sit with my discomfort long enough to even see the gift?

Looking at it in this way immediately changes my relationship to it.

Everything that happens is a gift.

How you respond to the gifts determines what your life looks like.

Not that this is easy – this is the advanced practice of living an openhearted life.? And the thing about practice is that you have to keep practicing.

I want to write more about that – about how hard it can be sometimes to practice as a way of living.

Right now I can say that the more you keep practicing the more you become a dream magnet.?? And that the more evidence you see in your life that it’s working the easier it gets to stay in the process.

And that making the practice as enjoyable as possible really, really, really helps.

All of my training as a spiritual teacher was dry, dry, dry.? All of the emotional healing work I did was scary and hard. So when it came time for me to set up my classes and services I knew I had to bring in the stuff that helped me stay in the process: CREATIVITY and PLAY.

That’s where the fuel comes from for me to stay on the path.

What fuels your path?? What keeps you going when it’s too hard?? If you don’t know – explore, find out.