Do you remember Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho’s classic “The Alchemist” (first published in 1988)?
It’s a story about a boy who leaves his home to go on adventures in foreign lands searching for a treasure. After a lot of adventures, for better or worse, he decides to return home only to find out that the treasure he so longed for had been in his backyard all along. However, all those experiences were necessary for him to develop discernment so that he could SEE the treasure. Here’s the good news: you too can become an alchemist!
Many people are unable to see their treasures because they are focusing on what’s not working: the problems they feel need to be fixed. It’s like always going outdoors with an umbrella because you always expect it to rain (focus on problems), but forgetting about the sunglasses because you don’t expect it to be sunny (faith in what you want). How are you going to see the sunlight if you are always blocking it with your umbrella?
To resist or not to resist – that is the question
Life has its ups and downs, that’s part of the journey. If all your days were to be sunny, wouldn’t you get terribly bored? Contrast is helpful when it comes to seeing nuances, and to feeling appreciative of the good stuff.
When you find yourself in a state where you experience negative emotions, you have two options. You can resist it and make things more complicated for yourself. Or you can accept it fully through surrender. It can help to first go into the emotion fully and then release it. A tip is to put an alarm for the time you allow yourself to experience the emotion fully – a few minutes should be enough – before you release it permanently.
You could also sign up for Emotion Code sessions with a certified practitioner who can help you release negative emotions that became trapped in your system during difficult experiences in the past. Doing so could reduce the frequency with which you’ll experience negative emotions in the future. This is so because the Law of Attraction, contrary to what so-called “experts” have made the public believe through their marketing efforts, responds to what you ARE rather than to what you want. In consequence, if you have plenty of trapped negative emotions in your energy system, you can spend all day long on visualization exercises or mindset techniques without getting where you want. You need to raise your vibration so that the Law of Attraction can meet you where you are /where you want to go.
For more in-depth information on the Law of Attraction (the real one!), consider signing up for my group workshop “Conscious Manifestation for Highly Sensitive Entrepreneurs“.
Gratitude allows you to see your treasures
More generally speaking, try and focus on the aspect(s) that inspire gratitude in you in any and all situations you find yourself in. Gratitude is what allows you to see your treasures. Focusing on gratitude not only creates happier future moments but also reflects back gratifying previous experiences, which can help you through whatever you are going through. It’s a virtuous circle that creates ripple effects both into the future and back to the past. This is so because the mind will spot and bring back to you memories from its database that match your current state of being, as discussed in a fascinating article I wrote on the intersection between Consciousness and the Universal Laws.
There’s a famous quote from the Buddha saying ”If you want to know the past, look at your present. If you want to know the future, look at your present.” The present moment is key, whether you perceive it as something positive or negative.
When you learn to extract gratitude from hardships, you have become an alchemist. You have learned to transform ordinary metals into gold. Alchemy never was a matter of metals – it always was, and still is, a matter of transformation. Transformation of what exactly? Transformation of Consciousness.
Mind over matter
Remember, the mind vibrates higher than the body. Consider this: which is easier to manifest, an idea or an action? An idea, right? That doesn’t mean that we can live on ideas only – actions are indeed necessary too. However, it’s important to understand what ”mind over matter” really means.
If you take action holding a negative expectation in your mind, manifesting a positive outcome will be against all odds. It will be a struggle. If you take action holding a positive expectation in your mind instead, your expectations and the outcome will be aligned.
We live in an attraction-based Universe. ”Like attracts like” – it’s all about alignment. The less resistance on your part, the easier the manifestation can happen in your world.
What makes things difficult for us is that we have been conditioned from birth to look at the manifestations in the world, trying to intellectually understand the why:s and the how:s – without understanding that all manifestations are manifestations of Consciousness.
Mind over matter – Consciousness first, manifestations in the material world second. Hence the interest in becoming an alchemist. When you transform yourself from the inside out, the world around you must transform as well; this is Law.
The Universe makes no mistakes. Humans make mistakes, and that’s okay. Mistakes are part of the journey of expanding our consciousness. If we already knew it all from the start, would there be a point in being born at all?
Now tell me, dear reader, are you ready to become an alchemist? I’d be more than happy to work with you if you are!
About the author
Susanna is a Highly Sensitive Writer, Energy Worker, and Psychologist on a mission to help raise Human Consciousness. She offers 1:1 sessions as a certified Emotion Code and Body Code Practitioner, as well as group workshops about Conscious Manifestation.