Printed in the Conscious Creation Journal
August-Sept 1999, Issue 7
Three Steps Into the Magical: The Power of Thought
by John J. McNally
For the last month or so I have been feeling incredibly free. It’s a wonderful, exhilarating, powerful feeling, but every time I tried to write about it I would get stuck. The words just wouldn’t come, and I realized that even though I was experiencing freedom, I had not consciously formed a manner in which to describe it.
There was no real logical basis for my new sense of power. While we had some financial windfalls in July, they certainly weren’t enough to give us much future security, nor had I received any more hours at my job, despite the promises of my boss. In short, from a purely rational perspective nothing had really changed.
Internally though, I have changed a great deal. I finally achieved that sense of trust in myself, and the universe as myself, that had eluded me for so long. I have a strong sense now of connection and knowing, a trust in myself and in the NOW moment. I no longer choose to worry about the future, but instead put my energy into creating the present.
How did I make this change? Where did that sense of trust come from? I’m not content to just say, “I just changed” and go on. I like to understand every nuance of reality creation.
What it boils down to is that I have finally recognized and accepted the power of my own thoughts. I see clearly now that thoughts are real, they have a life and energy all their own and when you accept a thought as true (believe it) the thought manifests into experience. Consciously choosing which thoughts I want to accept, while releasing those I do not, has moved from the realm of theory to the realm of practical application.
I feel and monitor the flow of my thoughts as I go through my day. This is not done out of fear of “bad” or “negative” thoughts. I do not judge these thoughts. I simply acknowledge them and reinforce the ones that are in harmony with my desires. When my present appears not to be going the way I want, I relax my focus from it and trust that I am creating in my own best interest.
There’s a great scene in the new Star Wars movie in which a young Obi Wan Kenobi asks his master Qui Gon Jinn what they would do if Qui Gon’s seemingly risky plan to wager their space ship on a racing event should fail and leave them stranded. Qui Gon calmly replies: “Then another opportunity will present itself.”
This is a great example of trusting both in the NOW moment, and the power of intention. Qui Gon didn’t know for sure that his plan would work, but he did know it was the right thing to do in that moment. He was clearly acting out of trust in himself and in the force, rather than acting out of a sense of desperation and fear. In my own life, it took me a long time to understand this process. There was always a large portion of my energy looking toward the future, wondering what would happen and trying to prepare some sort of contingency plan “just in case.”
My newfound sense of power has included a releasing of these old habits. I don’t worry or wonder about the future anymore. I hold my intention for what I want, like a wizard holding a wand, and I project it outward. I know that I am creating it, therefore I can trust and allow its creation.
One area in which my partner Kristen and I have been focusing our intention is in moving to Astoria, Oregon. It’s a place toward which we both feel very drawn. There have been numerous Oregon connections for us in the last few weeks, but I wanted to illustrate one in particular, which really demonstrated to me the power of trusting in the moment.
My car had broken down at work, it wouldn’t start and I had to have it towed to a repair shop that I had never used before. Despite the outward appearance of spending more money on car repairs, I had maintained my sense of trust and focus. Both Kristen and I remarked upon how this felt like part of the process, even though it didn’t seem to be.
Upon arriving at the repair shop the mechanic remarked while taking down my information: “I have a brother in law named McNally – he lives in Oregon.” I had to hold back my laughter at that moment, talk about your universal clues! Later, when the price quoted for the car repair was 150 dollars, I allowed my feelings to flow with this, only holding on to the intention of what I wanted: a working car. The next day when the repair job was completed and I asked for the total, it was only about 75 dollars! Apparently the mechanic had only put down 1 hour of work, when he “should” have put more.
Later on that day, I wandered into an office supply store before going into work. The store had a 56k modem on sale for 40 dollars. It seemed like a good deal so I decided to buy it. When the clerk scanned it into the register it came up for 24.99, quite a bit cheaper!
During this time stray thoughts had crossed my mind: What if the car repair was very expensive? Should I buy a modem when I still have lots of bills? Maybe I should save that money. However, I no longer believed these thoughts to be reality. I recognized them as just thoughts that were based in fear, and let them go. I held onto my intention for what I wanted (I had been intending to get a new modem for quite some time) and trusted myself that it was the right time to buy it.
The thoughts I had been accepting as reality could be read as: “My car will be repaired.” “I want a new modem.” “I am moving to Astoria, Oregon.” These thoughts are where I am putting my energy, I intend to manifest them. When other thoughts come up I look to see whether or not I want to believe in them. If not, I let them go from my experience. That sense of freedom that I am experiencing comes from the recognition of my own power in choosing these thoughts. No thought is truly stronger than another except for the amount of power that you put into that thought. Someone once said: “You can never give away your power, you can only refuse to use it.” This applies to your thoughts and beliefs as well. Your thoughts require belief on your part in order to manifest. This is your power, your magic wand, and it is always your choice as to where this power is focused.
(c)1999, John McNally. Published in the August-September 1999 issue of the online Conscious Creation Journal. http://www.consciouscreation.com Feel free to copy this article for personal use – please include this copyright notice.