Don’t Limit Your Demands

There is a story of a man who died and was being shown around heaven by St. Peter. They came to what St. Peter called the “heavenly junk yard.”

“Here you’ll find all the gifts from heaven,” he explained, “that people on earth rejected.”

“Why, that’s impossible!” exclaimed the newcomer. “Some of these things are beautiful. Look at that Cadillac over there. Who could possibly have rejected that?”

“Well, it’s interesting that you should ask about that particular car,” replied St. Peter. “As it happens, the person who rejected that Cadillac is you.”

“Impossible!” protested the other. “I’d never have refused such a wonderful gift.”

“All the same, it was you. You see, the Cadillac was ready and waiting to be delivered to you. But every time you prayed for a car, you kept visualizing a little Volkswagen.”

Most of the book I know that teach people how to actualize their ideas stress the importance of visualizing clearly the exact description, complete to size and shape, of the things they want. Do they want a car? Then see the exact model car they want, its color, its shape, visualize it sitting in their garage, perhaps even with the key in the ignition.

The Secret to Visualization

The point of the above story, then, is that is not possible to anticipate in advance all the opportunities life holds in store for us. By demanding one specific opening, we may inadvertently fail to notice another.

We have already described money as an energy-flow. A flow of any kind is incompatible with rigidity. In an energy-flow, one doesn’t think of fixed stopping points. One thinks of continuous movement—beyond the known and visible to the unknown and invisible.

In my life, I have often had to put this principle to use. Rarely have I found it helpful to have too specifically in mind some physical thing that I wanted. What I visualized, rather, was the direction I needed to move in.

Had I wanted a car, then, what I would have done—what I have done—is visualize clearly the service and joy a car would give me, rather than the specific vehicle itself.

Excerpted from Swami Kriyananda’s book Money Magnetism: How to Attract What You Need When You Need It

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