The Front Door

Squibs & Blurbs

by Jerry Zimmerman

TEANECK, NJ—(Weekly Hubris)—12/20/10—“Ask and you shall receive” evolved into “The Power of Positive Thinking” and, even more recently, morphed into “The Secret.”

These are all manifestations of a very powerful idea, the idea that you simply need to direct your energy toward that which you wish for in life in order to attain it.  However, we shouldn’t mistake this philosophy for an easy solution to what troubles us in life.

It is not easy to get what you need or want. Wishing for it is lovely, and maybe even the first step, yet our desire for a better life cannot be had by dreaming on our couches, feet up, scheming about how to spend our future riches. That’s pretty much like buying a Lotto ticket and praying for the right numbers—it works fine, but only for one in a hundred million.
Perhaps we can increase the odds for a better life for ourselves.

And, more important, maybe winning riches isn’t what we really deep-down desire.

Maybe we can be happy with love, respect, satisfaction, usefulness, connection. Maybe what we really need can’t be found at the bank or in the store.

And, truly, getting any riches cannot be had through empty day-dreaming.

Yet, I do believe in the power of thought and desire and energy. These are the necessary first generators of movement in our lives—but they are not the complete process for attaining our dreams, our hearts’ desires.

One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was from a very special teacher of mine, Frank Sinclair. When discussing any thorny issue or problem, everything from how to effect a difficult home repair to solving some very deep spiritual issues, his defining advice was always: “You simply need to begin by putting your foot out the front door.”

Well, lovely, but what then?

“What then” is the beginning of the answer for you.  There has to be movement to get anywhere, physically, mentally, spiritually. Mr. Sinclair’s call was a call to action, the first bugle charge to marshal your forces to get started. The real power is in the starting, the beginning of the work, since nothing happens without it and everything happens after it.

We often try to figure out the answer before we embark on the work to accomplish it; spinning our wheels endlessly deciding on the best way to get there. We must, of course, make a considered choice as to how and where we should begin, but this always involves unknowns and we cannot be afraid to start while still not knowing.

Everything, including the answers, the questions, the desires, the accomplishments, is out there. We need to get out the door with a thirst for discovery and a resolve to work at what comes our way.

Thinking, wishing, dreaming of what we want—these bring our desires to life, give them a form, set in motion the energy to pursue them and, while on the hunt, the big life hunt, give us the opportunity (surprisingly) to discover our own truths and our own lives along the way.

The secret of getting what you want IS wishing for it, putting it out into the universe, keeping a focus on it.

We just have to understand that this secret of our desire will always work as long as we pick it up off the couch, open the front door, and lovingly and carefully carry it outside our homes to begin the hard work on it, entering into the unknown, into the everything, into the universe that holds our deepest desires . . . especially those we haven’t even dreamed of yet.