I was just watching An American Experience special on PBS about Robert Ripley and his “Believe it or not!” work. I have always loved Robert Ripley. I thought his “Believe it or Not!” columns showed just how wonderful the world really was. Not all of them were about big or grotesque or monstrous things. Sometimes it was about small things: a bug will live his whole life in a day or something like that. It would be trivial seeming but true and Ripley made it seems magical and wonderful by saying, “Believe it or not!”
But the best part of the story was Ripley himself. Early in his career, when he was a sport cartoonist in a newspaper, he had a chance to take the first round the world cruise on a ship. He had always wanted to travel and now he was going: AROUND THE WORLD. Believe it or not! This cruise opened his eyes to the wonder of the world and turned him into the man he was to become, but I think the most miraculous part was that he was given such an opportunity.
He always wanted to travel. Now he was given a marvelous opportunity to do it. This is the lesson I want to impart to YOU: I believe in the power of the mind to shape our reality. If we want something badly enough, we will get it. It may not come early or easily but if you want it, YOU WILL GET IT.
Want to travel? The opportunity will come. Want to buy a car? The opportunity will come. (Yes, it will. Back in my psychic fair days, I had a friend who needed a car. One day, a fellow psychic put her in touch with a friend who had an old car he wanted to get rid of. She bought the car. Sure it wasn’t a fancy car or every new, but it was WHEELS that she sorely needed. )
Yes, we must wish for it, but we must also WORK towards it. If you want to be a writer, you must write. Every day sit down in a chair and write for a set time or a set amount of pages. If you want to be an actor, get out and perform somehow and somewhere. Do dramatic readings at Poetry slams, anything. To be REALLY successful at an art it helps to have talent, but you will know if you have it. You will feel the growth as you get better and better at what you want to do.
Sometimes it helps not to be too specific. Years ago, I worked at a job I really hated. I wanted to work at reading tarot cards but I didn’t know how I could make it pay. I worked at psychic fairs and honed my talent. One day (isn’t it ALWAYS like that?) I got a call from an Entertainment agent. They needed a reader for a party and a friend had recommended me. I had ANOTHER friend put together a gypsy costume for me. At this first party, I met a very successful magician and Mentalist who took me under his wing and explained what I needed to do to break into doing parties and entertainment as a Psychic Reader. I worked hard, did more parties for this agent who liked what I had done at this first party, got some nice recommendations from the Mentalist, and within 3 years I had quit my “day job” and was making my living as a Psychic Entertainer. A job I still do and enjoy to this very day.
Years ago my mentor, the woman behind my tarot deck of choice, the WorldTree tarot, said that if we want something, we can get it but we must let go of the path that gets us there. And even worse—we must let go of the time table. THAT is the real hard part. I remember the song by Janis Joplin:
Oh Lord won’t you buy me a color TV….
I wait for delivery every day until three.
It just won’t come that easily guys! You can’t just sit around and hope for it. Work at your goal. Work at honing your talent. But your break will come and often in the most unexpected way possible.