What does it mean to have a visual image of you? I’m not talking about a photo now. I’m talking about the hottest new social network around: Pinterest.

I fought this one tooth and nail. No way. No how. Not another social network. No time. No energy. Not me.

Then someone told me that as an author I could use Pinterest to give my readers and potential readers a visual image of who I am. Interesting. No words. Or less words. Just pictures.

Then someone mentioned that I could create a vision board on Pinterest. A board (on Pinterest you create boards) where I could pin (on Pinterest you “pin” photos) photos of what I want to create.

Now I was getting interested. Then someone sent me an invite, and I followed the link.

And now I’m a pinner. I have a Viritual Vision Board! I have a board of things I would wear–a sort of virtual vision shopping trip! And, yes, if you visit me on Pinterest, you will definitely get a visual sense of who I am, what I like and what I’m interested in by looking at my boards. They show you my interests and my tastses–at least some of them. And you’ll get a better image of me if I spend more time on the site.

And I definitely DO need to spend more time there–when I have time. Then I’ll have more boards on more subjects and the picture of who I am will become more complete.

And so many of my friends are there…dancers, rabbis, writers, inspirational teachers, you name it…they are there. And I can see who they are, too.

Pretty cool really. Pinterest. A visual image of me…and you. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you might want to.

What do you think? Is it possible to create a visual image of a person (to get to know them) by  looking at the pictures they’ve posted on a social network?

I do a lot of things to help make my dreams come true in the physical world. I take a lot of action steps. I do the things I should do. I do the things I’m inspired to do. I seek answers and solutions and I work at achieving my goals many hours a day. I don’t give up. I don’t accept rejection as failure. I ‘m determined. I persevere.

But there are some other things I do, too. These are not necessarily done on the physical plane…or not all of them. They have more to do with using my mental focus to create what I want in my life. Some of you may find these actions, if you will, somewhat woo woo, metaphysical or spiritual, but some of the most successful athletes, businesspeople and creatives I know use these same steps in one form or another. So, today I thought I’d share them with you.

First, I get very clear about what it is I want to create. For some people, this might be a new job or relationship. For others it could be better health or a new car. Because I work with a lot of aspiring writers, I’m going to use a writing example. Maybe you want to create a career as a writer, a published book (a career as an author), a relationship with an agent, an acceptance by a publication, or something else related to your writing. In this first step, write this down in fine detail, but do so in the present tense (as if you had already manifested what you desire). You can write about it in the past tense, too. Create a clear picture of what you want using words.

The second step often is missing from this process. Consider how your creation–your article, book, career as a writer–will serve others? How can you give to others by getting what you want? Will you donate money to charity? Or will your book or article actually help solve an important problem people have? Can you give the gift of support via your writing? Or can you go a step farther than that? Consider how you will share your creation into the big picture of actually creating it.

Third, read this description of what you want aloud. When you do, instil in it all the feeling you can muster. By feeling I mean all the emotion you would have in this moment if you already had what you want. How would it feel to have just gotten off the phone with your agent, to be holding your published book, to see your article in a magazine, to pay your mortgage with the income you make as a writer? Don’t forget to imagine what it will feel like to share your dream come true with others. Muster up these emotions and combine them with your imagined scenario.

Third, close your eyes and consider what actions will bring  your dream into reality. What must you do? More importantly, what do you feel inspired to do? Or what do you feel intuitively that you must do? Create a to-do list and start taking action to help bring your desire into your experience.

I employ these steps all the time. In particular, I use them when bringing my dreams into reality feels difficult, or when I feel things aren’t going as I’d like.

I call this Kabbalistic conscious creation. It’s similar to other deliberate creation processes, but they tend to not include the aspect of giving. When I teach this, I also speak about the four worlds. You can learn more about this in my book, The Kabbalah of Conscious Creation.

Try the process, and then tell me how it works for you. Leave me a comment, and tell me your results.

Chanukah celebrates miracles–the miracle of a small army defeating a large one, of a small jug of oil that should only have burned for one day lasting eight days instead.

This year Chanukah and Christmas fall during the same week. Christmas is about miracles,too–the miraculous birth of Jesus.

It doesn’t really matter if you believe either of these stories are true. Our wisdom teachers–the Kabbalists in particular–tell us that this is a time when we can access the energy of miracles.

As we soak in the light of the Chanukah candles–or any candles–we can become receivers of miracles. Like the oil put into receptacles used to create light, we can make ourselves receptacles for God’s goodness.

Light has always been associated with God. And the Kabbalists say God created us as receivers. We need only open ourselves to that light, allow it in…make room for it in our lives and with ourselves.

How do we do this? I suggest we spend eight days considering the miracles in our lives already. Gratitude is the strongest prayer of all, so why not consider the miracles we already have in our lives, and be thankful for them?  Each night, thank God for a small or large miracle you now experience or have experienced over the last year.

Bask in the glow of miracles.

If you want, you can also imagine the miracles you’d like bestowed upon you in the coming year. Offer gratitude for them–as if God had already graced you with them.

Bask in the glow of these miracles as well.

Eight days of miracles…When you spend more than a week considering miracles, you’ll realize you live a miraculous life all the time. You’ll appreciate the miracle of life and the miraculous nature of God.

That’s the miracle of truly observing Chanukah.

I’ve been working really hard lately to change my negative thoughts into positive ones in a variety of areas in my life. I’m a firm believer in the creative nature of our thoughts and words.

Sometimes, however, I need inspiration as well–I need to be reminded that I need to keep persevering even when something feels difficult, when I’m experiencing rejected, when I feel alone, or when I perceive obstacles getting in my way. So, I thought I’d look for a video to inspire me that I could also post here to inspire others who might feel some area of their life was getting them down.

If you feel like something has happened in your life that has caused you to fall and it’s become difficult to get up and, therefore, to achieve your goal, watch this video.

Then get up. You can do it. And try again. You can do that to. You can achieve any goal if you set your mind to it. If this guy can do the things he does, you can, too.

Lately I’ve been feeling stuck. I want to be unstuck. Ever been there?

I’ve tried prayer. I talked to God. I cried to God. I pleaded with God.

I tried counseling. And I got really honest with myself and with others, baring my deepest feelings.

Today in the car I decided to follow Rebbe Nachman of Breslov’s advice and sing. I sang along with the songs my son played on my Ipod.

I still felt stuck.

Tomorrow I will get off my butt and start moving my body. I will exercise. No more staying at my desk all day long. I need to get the energy moving.

I also will start doing my own Kabbalistic conscious creation visualization and exercise on a daily basis again.This will help me focus on what I want in my life rather than on what I don’t want–on being unstuck rather than stuck.

Additionally I will implement affirmations into my daily practice–a.m. and p.m. These will help convince me on a conscious and unconscious level of who I truly am and can be.

And I will start using gratitude exercises in the morning and evening, reminding myself of the things for which I am thankful.

And I’ll get one thing knocked off my to-do list each day that gets me closer to my Big Goals.

The point is to change my energy as well as my thoughts and to feel like I am getting unstuck, almost like I’m pushing a car out of a muddy rut.

That’s the problem with getting stuck: All you see is the mud. All you hear is the spinning tires. And all you feel is exhaustion from trying to get unstuck.

You have to do something different. Wait for the mud to dry. Turn the tires. Reverse. Get out of the car and walk…or run.

What do you do when you get stuck? What gets you stuck?

I often consider and write about the idea of living in the moment. I know it’s not just a concept; it’s a worthy goal and one some people achieve. I have found it difficult to do so, although it remains one of my goals.

Quieting my mind during meditation also remains one of my goals, yet I struggle with this as well. My thoughts flow one after another no matter what I do.

Today, however, I read something that connected what I think of as the flow of thoughts to living in the moment. In fact, I learned that most thoughts are not connected and when we become conscious of the separateness of each thought we learn to live in the moment. This idea intrigued me, especially since becoming conscious of our thoughts represents a requirement of conscious creations on any level–including simply (or not simply) creating change in our own lives.

I learned this while reading a meditation tip written by Swami Nithyananda. Known as the “life bliss swami,” Paramahamsa Nithyananda is a young enlightened master of Yoga and meditation who has inspired more than four million followers worldwide. He has dedicated his life to helping people overcome mental, physical and spiritual barriers to achieve enlightenment and live lives of bliss, success and peace.

He claims that when we learn that each thought is a separate entity, not connected to the one that comes before or after, we can live in the present moment. When we do that, we can experience bliss. Now happiness is one of my goals as well, but bliss sounds even better.

Rather than try to paraphrase his meditation tip for you, I thought I’d just let you read it for yourself. I suggest you not only read it but try it. Here it is:

The mind is nothing but a collection of thoughts. These thoughts rise up in succession like the bubbles in a fish tank. All these thoughts that rise in the mind also appear to be connected. But just like the bubbles in the fish tank the thoughts in the mind are also independent and unconnected.

You can do a small exercise. For ten minutes sit silently and observe the thoughts that arise in your mind. Don’t try to control or stop thinking. Just be silent and witness the thoughts coming. The moment a thought comes quickly, write it down on paper. Then, at the end of ten minutes read out whatever is written. You will see that it’s a mad man’s diary. There is utter chaos. There’s no connection between the previous thought, and the next one. Only when you write down your thoughts you come to know that the thoughts have no real connection. You may be thinking about having a cup of tea and the next moment you think about some pending office work. There is no real connection between having a cup of tea and the office work. Both are independent events. Even if there are two consecutive thoughts about the same event, the thoughts are unconnected as there is no continuity. There exists a silent gap between these thoughts of which one is not aware.

These thoughts by their very nature are unclutched. The problem begins when we start connecting these thoughts. When these independent and unconnected thoughts are linked together, we create illusions of pleasure or pain based on the nature of thoughts that we choose to combine. This is a play of the mind that is constantly happening within us.

When we perceive every incident as a new incident we will see life in a more beautiful way. Everything seems joyful and blissful. You stop taking things for granted. Once you start accepting life from moment to moment, bliss happens to you naturally.

(You can find out more about Swami Nithyananda at www.innerawakening.org and www.dhyanapeetam.org.)

During the season of gift giving, it’s easy to get caught up in the commercialism of the holidays. However, you can make the season meaning-full and spirit-full by giving gifts that come from your heart as well as from your soul.

Most people find it easy to give heart-centered gifts. By simply thinking about the people we love and considering the things they love, we can give thoughtful gifts that feel loving, filled with love and that come from a place of love.

Giving soul-centered gifts may feel harder. Doing this involves giving gifts you feel come from your soul purpose. You must, therefore, have a sense of what your soul purpose is. Do you have a passion? Are you good at something? Do you feel you feel gifted in some way? Do you sense that you are supposed to do something while here on this earth? If so, this likely constitutes your soul purpose.

If you can find a way to give from that purpose, you will give a soulful gift. One way to accomplish this involves creating something you can share with others that also fulfills your purpose. To do this, take some time to imagine what you would like to manifest or create that would fulfill your purpose. It could be anything…a book, a garden, a daycare center, a professional speaking job, quilts for the homeless, time for your children, jobs for homeless people, beautiful jewelry, how-to articles, unique meditation spaces, drivers for the elderly…

Now take some time to focus your energy and thoughts on manifesting it.

• Imagine first that you are connected to the Source of all abundance. You are one with the One.
• Then sense your purpose pulsing within you. Get a clear feeling or picture of that purpose.
• Now feel the energy of wanting to create something. What is it you want to create? Focus your thoughts on it. Develop a clear and concise though of what you desire to manifest that will fulfill your purpose.
• See yourself going through the necessary and the inspired action steps required to bring this desire into physical manifestation. Imagine how good it will feel to take those action steps and to see them come to fruition.
• Imagine what it would be like to actually create this desire and fulfill your purpose not only by manifesting it but also by sharing it with others. Feel what it would be like to give what you have created to others and, thereby, to fulfill your soul purpose.

Now, go out and begin doing what it takes to give soulful gifts. If you can create them in time for your holiday (or if your holiday has passed), give the people you love an IOU. They’ll understand and appreciate your intention.

If you enjoyed this exercise, you can find similar ones in my ebook, The Kabbalah of Conscious Creation.

The other day I read something interesting: According to Jewish teaching, two types of “good” exist. There is objective good and subjective good.

When we desire good things and long for good things and try to manifest good things in our life–or things we perceive or judge as “good,” fall into the category of subjective good. Our human concept of good is subjective; we are limited in how we see things and we can’t see into the future to know if the things we want are actually good for us. In fact, many of the things we want aren’t good for us. That’s why in the Jewish tradition when we wish for something or try to manifest something “good” in our life we qualify our prayer with the words “for the good” or “l’tovah.” The prayer often said is: May God fulfill all desires of my/your heart for the good.” This refers to the objective good.

What is the objective good? This is what is actually good for us, and only God can know this. Possibly our soul knows this as well. We don’t know what is good for us–at least not often.

While we long for a “good” life, health, job, relationship, finances, car, etc., sometimes these things and conditions lead us down paths that don’t benefit us. We become jaded with wealth and turn to alcohol or drugs or success causes us to become corrupt in our business dealings. Good relationships or an easy life may cause us to forget to appreciate what we have and to take advantage of those we love or for get to care for what we have. On the other hand, sometimes misfortune and a difficult live consisting of what we subjectively deem “bad” causes us to advance, grow, become strong, persevere, appreciate things more, become wiser, become a more giving person, and ultimately achieve more success and happiness.

When we don’t receive the good we want in our lives, when we don’t manifest what we want and think is best for us, maybe it is for our own “good.” Maybe God, or some higher power, knows better and is preventing us from having what we want. Consider that when you think your creative visualizations, the Law of Attraction, deliberate creation, your prayers, or some other technique you are using to manifest good in your life doesn’t seem to be working.

For those of you who know nothing about The Kabbalah of Conscious Creation, or the coaching programs I offer in conjunction with this booklet, I’ve decided to begin offering a monthly audio coaching tip here. This gives you a chance to experience what Kabbalistic conscious creation coaching is all about.

This month we will start at the beginning. This coaching tip discusses why discovering your soul’s purpose is important to manifesting your physical and spiritual desires. It also touches on the need to share what you create. These are two steps not include in most other Law of Attraction tools or models. This also allows for spiritual manifestation–getting close to God.

To listen to your Kabbalistic Conscious Creation audio coaching tip, just click on this link:  Kabbalistic Conscious Creation Coaching Tip#1

For more information on Kabbalistic Conscious Creation Coaching, click here. To read the book, The Kabbalah of Conscious Creation, 7 Steps to Mystically Manifesting Your Physical and Spiritual Desires, click here.

Much of the time, we are consumed with desires. We want to have something different than what we now have. We want to be something different than what we now are. We want to go somewhere different than where we now exist.

Although God created us in such a way that it is natural for us to have strong desire, it’s also important for us to learn to accept where we are and what we have in this moment. We have to learn to have desires and also be in the moment—and feel okay in the moment. If we are constantly longing for something else, this causes us to “future” in a negative way. We constantly creatively vision about the future and create negative thoughts and feelings that go with those visions because we don’t have what we desire.

Thus, we must learn feel good about our desires and then to move into acceptance. We must feel “okay” with where we are and with what we have despite the fact that we possess as yet unfulfilled desires.

If we remember that God is in the moment—not in our futuring and dreaming and visioning. That’s why creation happens in the moment. We create our desires in the moment. Knowing this helps us learn acceptance.

Simply be with God in the moment and know that as you connect with God and feel good about that connection, your desires are being fulfilled. Let God know about your desires and then let them go: Let go and let God.