Manifestation: Part Two

This is the first post in our three-part series on manifestation:
Part One - Manifestation Is More Than Imagination
Part Three - So What Is Manifestation, Really?

My Santa Barbara Relocation Story

After my post last week, one of my long-time readers told me that my 2012 Santa Barbara relocation story is her all-time favorite!
 
At the risk of boring you with another manifestation story, I thought I’d share it with you because if this improbable miracle could happen, anything can—even during a pandemic!
 
We are all in a forced, collective pause which makes it an especially good time to tune into our dreams. Unlike last week’s post, where my daughter put one step in front of the other as she inched toward her goalpost, our move to Santa Barbara seemed to create itself out of thin air. However, it still required that petrifying leap of faith!

Manifestation. Many Ways!
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Original email sent to my clients (edited for clarity)
 
I have been in a huge transitional phase since early summer when we decided to leave Paris and move to Santa Barbara. This was one of the most difficult decisions my husband and I have ever made and ultimately, we made it based on “signs” rather than logic. Let me explain.
 
About two years ago (2010), I was doing some soul searching on where we should put down roots (we had lived in the SF Bay Area, southern California area, Seattle area, and Sweden, Norway, and now France -- we were feeling unsettled).
 
Here are the steps I took:
 
First, I grounded and released the stress from moving to Paris and worry about my kids not having a stable childhood. Then I reclaimed my energy from our lives in Seattle and Oslo; from my childhood in Sacramento; and my years in Sweden.
 
Once my energy was recollected and my thoughts calm and clear, I asked the question, “where should we raise our children?" I then spun an imaginary globe in my mind’s eye and watched it spin round and round. It zeroed in on Santa Barbara, California.
 
Wait, what?!?! Really? If a coastal town was in my future, why not Newport Beach where we had friends from my grad school years at UC Irvine? Why not Los Angeles where there were lots of job opportunities? We knew no one in Santa Barbara. It was super confusing, but Santa Barbara came through loud and clear.
 
My mind didn’t understand this since it thought you had be Oprah to live in this beautiful part of the country. Also, I didn't think Santa Barbara was a hotbed for business, so it seemed you needed to be self-funded to qualify as a resident. My mind didn’t even think families with young children lived there—random, I know.
 
Nevertheless, inspired by a friend who always does something physical on his birthday to signal to the Universe what he intends to manifest in the coming year, for example, walk the neighborhood where he wants to move, I changed the weather and news on my computer homepage to be from Santa Barbara.
 
Over the next year, I often joked, “When I win the lottery, I’m moving to Santa Barbara!” (I didn’t actually play the lottery so not sure about this strategy.)
 
I certainly intended to live here someday, but in my mind, I assumed I’d be much older since I’d need a much larger savings account to make it possible. As usual, the mind can’t understand the power of Spirit. Just 18 months after this meditation, a series of bewildering and inconceivable events were put into motion that ultimately created a job opportunity that would allow us to move to Santa Barbara, of all places.
 
But of course, at the same time (perhaps a test?) a great job opportunity in London popped up.
 
We were faced with a Grand Canyon sized decision. 
 
My husband has a strong cerebral side and tried to use Excel to help him decide between the job offers. He ran the numbers and listed out the pros and cons. On paper, the London job was the obvious choice as the SB opportunity did not make any sense whatsoever—except for that one little vision I’d had a year and a half prior.
 
We anguished over the decision for weeks! Niklas floated the idea that he could possibly take the London job and we try to get to SB after that stint. However, when you ask, and the Universe answers, you don’t get to say, “uh, thanks, could we wait on this for three years and then accept?” You either trust or you don’t. It’s important to remember, though, there are no right or wrong choices, we have free will. Had he chosen London, it would have been different, but fine.
 
At the last possible minute, we decided that we would trust the vision and committed to Santa Barbara.
 
Following spiritual guidance doesn’t necessarily mean things will be easy. Getting here for us meant taking a scary leap of faith into the unknown. Niklas had to leave the company he’d been passionate about for 14 years and had a golden reputation with, to start as an unknown with a smaller company, and with much less financial security.
 
We arrived here with just a few short weeks in which to find housing, schools, cars, cell phones, drivers’ licenses--it was a mad scramble! It also meant that we had to give up the opportunity to move back to our home and dear friends in Seattle.
 
Anyway, I’ve been thinking of you and wanted to share some of these insights since I’m still blown away by the miracle of me writing this email from Santa Barbara–a place where I’d had a vision of living, but never imagined could ever manifest as a reality—much less so soon!

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This email is as valid in our current Coronavirus time as it was 8 years ago, and will be in 8 years hence.

Have you asked for guidance lately?
 
Use your grounding to help clear away distractions and get clear on the miracles you’re ready to manifest now.

P.S. These last two posts have been about big, life-changing decisions. Had I been more organized, I would have done this manifestation series with next week's post first. Alas, stay tuned if you're new to creating energetically, aka manifesting!