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Have you ever experienced set-backs in an area of your life repeatedly and declared to yourself finally: “I will never let that happen again! From now on I will fix my finances/relationships/timeliness, etc.” - fill in the blanks? Only to find however, that after your declaration, you experience a sequence of awful misfortunes in that same area of your life?
So you conclude that you now have proof and, despite your best intentions, you are in fact serially no good in that area of your life, and must accept poor performance and limitation in it forever.
Your misfortunes may be a blessing
Those misfortunes may not be such a bad thing, however. They may in fact, be demonstrating that you are on the right track following your declaration of intent. I first saw this principle described in Neale Donald Walsch’s excellent short book, ‘Bringers of the Light’ in which he was discussing the purpose of life.
Everything exists in relation to its opposite
He was also saying that everything in the world of form exists in relation to everything else and particularly in relation to its opposite. So the colour white cannot be white in a world of white but can be white in a world of black, or black in a world of white. Left can only exist relative to right; high relative to low, etc.
So in the world, when you declare that, henceforth, you will be great with your finances/relationships etc, you can only be that in the face of its opposite. You cannot be skilled with your finances, for example, in the face of pampered financial circumstances, only in relation to challenging ones.
You may be on the right track
So when you experience a slew of poor or adverse circumstances immediately after declaring your good intention, don’t conclude that this is a sign or confirmation that you are no good after all. On the contrary, assume that your declaration has been heard by the universe which is now responding by sending you its opposite so that you can be as good as you intend.
It’s almost a confirmation that you are on the right track: your declaration has been heard and you are now receiving its response. You can only be great, in this respect, in the face of not great.
As NDW says, “As soon as you decide who and what you are, everything unlike it will come into the space.”
Welcome what doesn't work
I experienced this when I had just become a seminar leader apprentice with Landmark Education, now Landmark Worldwide. I was learning to teach transformation and my life was not going well - hardly transformed, in fact.
I was attending a training weekend and feeling a complete fraud when I mentioned to a fellow participant how my life was going. She responded: “To be a great seminar leader, you need a life that . . . doesn’t work!”
Oh how right! You cannot be or teach transformation from a life of pleasant or nothing ever going wrong. For transformation to work, it has to work under all conditions - especially the unfavourable ones.
Practice
It’s almost like your misfortunes are given you for practice. If you can manage yourself such that you transform the misfortunes following your declaration, you will be on track to achieve mastery in that area of your life.
And then transform it
So when you declare yourself, welcome and be grateful for any misfortune that ensues. Use it to transform it and achieve mastery.
Because as you’ve declared: now that’s who you are.
Christopher Jones-Warner
Recommended further reading:
Bringers of the Light - Neale Donald Walsch
ReCreating Your Self - Neale Donald Walsch