You
are indeed a very powerful person ... for instance, I have
had your email address for almost 2 years, and feeling that
you would not want to be bothered by trivia, it is only now
that I come to pen this letter. (It is touch-and-go whether
I will send it, so if you receive it, then you know I have
sent it!)
I read a few of the questions and answers on your website
-- especially the ones about disguises, and I thought, "wow,
Arnold sure is getting good at this by now!" (I am laughing
as I type this.) Yes, you are more concise and direct than
ever. I suppose in a few years time you will stop talking
altogether.
I met you some 12-13 years ago when you did a couple of
workshops at Dartington Hall Devon, England. I came with a
group of friends from Hull, Ian being the instigator. Ian
heard about you through the ex-scientology "network." I have
enclosed a picture of me, to jog your memory.
We had been in a support group based on Principle and
"You Can Have It All," some months before coming to your
first workshop. We continued afterwards ... I even wrote a
couple of articles for 'On Purpose -- remember that?
Anyway, to cut a long story short, it took over 10 years
for me to finally make "real" headway in living by these new
principles. I remember at your workshop, and in our own
group, all the questions about abundance were related to
questions of cash. Over and over again, you said "when the
abundance is flowing in your life, it will be reflected in
monetary flow." But always, people including myself were
saying, "love and abundance are all very nice, but can you
tell me how to double my income?" You must have been
thinking to yourself: "You people just don't get it!" For
many years I felt short of money, and I focused very
narrowly on getting people to pay me. I got what I wanted,
but with such an effort, and even on one occasion, at cost
to my health.
I don't know quite where I picked up the idea, but I
began to feel convinced that one of the main keys to
abundance of every kind was to give thanks for everything I
already had. I really tried to make it become an automatic
reflex to noticing I had something. Money stopped being such
a problem about 4 years ago, and I am getting more and more
relaxed about it. I also learned a lot from watching my last
boss before I set up on my own. He never focused on the
money, only on the quality of his work, and making the
customer happy. Most years, when other companies in his
sector were going bust, his kept growing. When I left after
9 years, the workforce had gone from about 20 to over 40.
A wonderful example of my more relaxed state happened
this morning. A customer that we are writing some software
for, kept changing the specification of what he wanted, but
I had offered him such flexibility in the contract. The last
change had been much more work than I had anticipated. He
asked for yet another change, and I began to feel that the
balance between work and pay was just beginning to tip a
little too far in his direction (in other words I was fed
up!). So I wrote him a short email, alluding to this and
saying that we would be happy to implement the new change if
he could pay the next installment of 3000$. I got a reply
this morning from him saying: "No Worries, I will get the
cheque sorted, thanks."
The main reason I am writing to you is this: I am
thinking of running workshops.
I love public speaking, and like you, I don't use notes.
At one point 12 years ago I went around giving lectures on
your work, and afterwards I would invite the audience to buy
copies of "You Can Have It All."
I like the software business to some extent, but it can
be quite stressful for me, due mostly to the endless detail
and complexity. The other day while meditating, I remembered
that "I can do anything I want" and suddenly realized that I
can change my career if it feels good to do so, and I feel
supported in so doing. Even more amazing, was that while
meditating, I moved from a mild feeling of tension to a
glowing feeling of bliss, right at the top of my head -- and
I thought to myself (but I was so deep by then, it was as
much a feeling as a thought), if I want to change my career,
I must not start with the details, but must start with the
feeling. I explained it to my wife, who is also interested
in the workshop thing. It was funny, because while in the
subtle realm of my meditation, it all made perfect sense,
but when I said to my wife: "We must start with the feeling"
it sounded a bit nebulous!