For the past four years I’ve been writing The Letter at about this time of the year. I find it easier and more successful than making traditional New Year resolutions which my Self may want to achieve but my Ego will fight every inch of the way.
The reason why the Ego fights is because it didn’t make the agreement in the first place. That was the good idea that came from our conscious Self. It felt great to the awakened part of us but was flat-out threatening to the Ego. The Ego’s here to keep us in tribal consciousness because that’s what (in its belief system) makes us safe. Of course this is a rather old-fashioned version of safe as in ‘fitting in with the tribe so that we can all run together and there’s less likelihood of standing out and attracting predators.’ The Ego isn’t happy about updating itself unless it is pointed out very clearly (in a life-threatening kind of way) that the old ways no longer work. Okay so you’ve lived with self-hatred, poverty-consciousness and self-denial for years but you’re still alive aren’t you? To the Ego, that’s quite enough. To the Self that’s painful and frustrating and to the Soul, that’s a living death.
We all know that the Ego resists the new resolutions — probably most health clubs pay 90% of their bills from the memberships taken out in January and never followed-up!
So The Letter is a great way of getting round the Ego. Why? Because it’s pure fantasy. It should be as wide ranging and even as silly as possible and it’s a letter of thanks dated at the end 2011 which acknowledges everything wonderful that has already happened.
Because it’s fantasy and because it’s about gratitude rather than wanting, it carries a very powerful energy. The best thing to do is to write it, address it and put it away for a full year and let it do its magic out of sight and out of mind.
Here are more details on how to do it:
Write a letter to a friend — to someone with whom you only correspond infrequently (someone without email probably!). Date this letter 15th December 2011 and in it tell them of all the splendid, wonderful, amazing, virtually impossibly good things that have happened to you throughout 2011. And invent everything you could possibly want from a perfect home, partner or job to living in the Maldives. Don't worry about seeming grasping or greedy - that fear is exactly what has held you back for so long. Let’s assume here that by the end of 2011 what you write will all have been granted because the Universe has found you worthy (though to be honest, the Universe doesn’t give a monkey’s cuss whether you are ‘worthy’ or not; it just responds to your energy). If you’re not feeling worthy now, let’s assume that something may happen in 2011 that helps you feel worthy! Why not put in the letter, “I don’t know how or why but suddenly I realised that I was worthy of all these good things!”
Please understand that there is a reason why Luis Vuitton bags are made and houses and cars are built – it is so that people can enjoy them. And if you are wealthy, you can do SO much more for others. To believe that you can't be rich because of the starving poor is an argument full of holes. If you are wealthy you can donate; teach and offer time to ensure that they too learn how to be prosperous like you. If you are poor, you can do diddly squat.
And if you're now saying 'but my friend would hate me if I sent him/her a letter like that' then I’d suggest that you find a friend who wouldn't! And that's probably one of the best tasks you could set yourself this year - to be with people who allow you to be prosperous. If there's no one, then plan to send it to me, because I'll be SO happy for you! Email it to me — if you don’t already have it, you can find my email address on my website: www.maggywhitehouse.com.
The letter will work best if it's full of enthusiasm and acknowledgement of the good in your life. It's great if you can start off with something that you actually know IS going to happen. That gives you confidence.
Will it happen? Well, it's got a better chance of happening if you do write the letter than if you don't. If you put it away somewhere safe and forget all about it, the chances are pretty high that at least 60% of it will either be with you or on its way by the date you put on it.
What it won’t do is necessarily come true in the way you envisioned it — and it can only come true according to the level of happy energy you place on it. For example, last year one of my written ‘thank yous’ was about becoming a Fellow in the Interfaith Department of Cambridge University. Did that happen? No. But what did happen was an invitation to take up a honorary position at Stafford University which is very much up my street; which doesn’t intimidate me at all (which Cambridge might) and which I can do easily without having to move house. It also came to me completely out of the blue without my having to do another thing to attract it.
The Universe is very clever — as long as you keep the energy high and allow it to deliver what it knows is best for you right now. If I had gone “I don’t want Stafford — I want Cambridge!” I would have denied that good, progressive, organic energy. So I say ‘Yay!” to Stafford and thank you Universe.
Have fun with this; play; enjoy. And I wish you a very happy and prosperous New Year.
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