Thinking About The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

You may have read The Metamorphosis by Kafka in high school or college. I don't know why but something made me think about the story today. Specifically the ending, although the beginning means something too.

If you're not familiar with the story, here is a link so you can read it:
http://www.kafka-franz.com/metamorphosis.htm">

The basic story is that Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning to discover he is now a large bug. He's worried because he's the sole support in the family. It's been causing him a lot of stress. Now he's worried because hey, he's a bug. How is he going to care for his parents and his sister?

How many of us do this to ourselves? We burn out, possibly even getting sick (although hopefully not turning into bugs) because we don't give ourselves the time we need to recharge our batteries. We all need some respite, some vacation, sometimes.

Yes, sometimes things are for a season. Children won't be small forever. Puppies will eventually be house trained and they will stop chewing the furniture.
People will come and go at work, creating their own challenges. But we still need that respite at times. Moms, you need to take advantage of Mother's Day Out programs and weekly babysitters. We need to sometimes put the puppy in its crate while we cry over our chewed shoes. We need to focus on the good things at work, but nothing is wrong with using your vacation days and not checking in at the office.

It's okay to love yourself.

Back into the story now. Gregor's family discovers what happened. They begin taking care of him but they are concerned about money too. What are they going to do? Well, some changes have to take place. The three of them got jobs and they took in two boarders to help pay the bills. While things were a struggle at first - figuring out how to do things they'd always depended on Gregor to do - they eventually started doing well.

While it seemed at first Gregor's change was a bad thing - I'm sure it was to him - the rest of the family finally had to make some changes in themselves. Once Gregor got out of the way and stopped taking responsibility for them, they had to take responsibility for themselves.

There has to come a point in life when we finally say, okay, enough. Some may say it's selfish of us to do this, but we have to say I'm going to live my dream. I'm going to make a choice. That may mean changing in a radical way - moving, quitting a job, getting a divorce, getting married, starting a business, writing a novel during lunch breaks and after dinner. It means doing whatever it takes to live your dreams. That may mean telling someone, no, I'm sorry, I can't do that. And that feels wrong to so many of us. Aren't we supposed to be helpful?

But if we don't love ourselves, if we don't take the time to recharge our own batteries, if we don't do something to love ourselves, what will we become? Do we want to be the dead bug in the storage room or do we want to take the morning off work, enjoy a spring day and find the good in our lives?

Long Term Travel Continued

I had been affirming and praying over this desire for a few days when my husband found the notes I'd written about my ideas. He asked me about them in a calm way. There wasn't any fighting. I let him know that I still had a desire to travel but I was willing to compromise. Now, I didn't tell him that I would do it on my own if he didn't want to come. I figured I would cross that bridge if it came to it. To my surprise, he was willing to listen to my ideas. He was receptive enough that I asked him to go with me to an RV show. I figured we could find a travel trailer to take on short trips, maybe a camper van to use during a longer trip or a summer trip if we wanted. And he agreed.

We had a wonderful time at the show. It was in a larger city but we found the convention area fine with no fighting about directions. When we can go on a trip without fighting over turn lanes and blinkers and which direction to go, then you know we have become completely different people!

He fell in love with the coaches, of course. But we found two fifth wheels we liked as well, and a travel trailer. I told him again that this didn't mean I wanted to full time for the rest of our lives. I just wanted to do some type of long term travel, maybe a summer, that was all. He agreed and said he understood. I just wanted to come clean about my feelings. And even though I would love to full time in an RV, I was fully prepared to compromise for summer travel - either together or alone.

He surprised me today. He forgot his lunch so I took it to him at work. We talked about a lot of things - how he's unhappy in his job, the books I'm writing, my transcription website, the ideas I have. And he told me that since I'd shared with him the concept of life coaching he'd been thinking about it. I'd had two free session with coaches and enjoyed them a lot.

So now we have more ideas on how to earn money and still be free for work and travel. This is ultimate freedom. This is what we want - to work at something we love, earn a living, and live a life in abundance, affluence and creativity.

He's going to start life coaching training in April. I'm going to follow him, possibly in the fall. And we'll have yet another non traditional income source to add to our possibilities.

We're seeing that $100K a year getting closer and closer than we've ever dreamed. And to top it off - he's agreed that we can do it from an RV, traveling while we're still young enough to enjoy it.

Yes, life is good, and I am blessed.

Long Term Travel in the Works

A year ago when my husband and I divorced I had been expressing an idea to travel in an RV or travel trailer, workamping and living all over. It seems that this idea was the last straw for him. Or maybe one of the last straws.

After he left I knew that I had to put that particular idea on hold. It was still something I wanted to do and I was determined to do it on my own. But I still had a teenager at home with me and I had no money. I had to provide for my son and myself. So I manifested my job - complete with a higher hourly rate than I'd asked for, benefits and vacation time. I discovered law of attraction and positive thinking. I began to rebuild my confidence and self-esteem. I apologized to my then ex-husband, realizing that I'd been selfish for many years.

When we decided to get back together I thought I had to let go of my dream of extended travel. Even though we were better off financially together, we were still tied to traditional jobs. He wanted a house, a place for roots. I was just going to let it go, but that dream still stayed in the back of my mind.

I'd recently realized that I still had that dream and and I was under the false assumption that because we'd gotten re-married that I had to completely give it up. But why? I asked myself. Why? I'm a grown up. If I want to travel, I need to find a way to travel. I need to find a compromise.

My compromise was this. I would save enough to buy a used camper van. Then I would save enough for a trip, maybe a long term trip, two or three weeks or even a summer trip. This may take some time, but we could use the camper van locally on weekends. So how would I pay for it? Well, I have a job. I would save money from my job. I would save money from my transcription business. I was writing, submitting short stories to e-publishers. I could save some money from that. And I had my websites - this one and another one about transcription. I could earn money from these sites. And when I got to a certain point, I could share my ideas with hubby and compromise.

Now, how to get the extended time from work in order to do these treks? I decided to start looking for a job in the school system, something with summers off and regular breaks during the year. I thought if he could also get something with the school system, then that could be a perfect compromise. He would have the job security he wants, along with a house to have as a base, and we could travel during the summers.

I wrote out this plan and an affirmation and I prayed over it. I didn't want to be selfish like before. I just wanted my desires to happen too. I didn't want to give up any of my dreams simply because we'd remarried. But I didn't want any of the old arguments to come up either. So I prayed and affirmed that there would be no fighting over this.

Then I realized as well that I didn't necessarily have to compromise with him. I am an adult, and if I wanted to travel during the summers - alone or with a friend - I was perfectly capable. If I had the money, if the bills would be paid, if I had something for safety, then why not? Why compromise? So I decided that I was going to let go. I was going to make my dream come true.

(Continued in next post)

Photo Post - 100 Percent Responsibility

Dreams coming true :)

There have been a few things I've wanted in my life. Since discovering Law of Attraction and positive thinking a year ago - and what a year! - I have come to believe that anything is truly possible.

These are the things I've wanted to do the most:

Publish a novel with Harlequin
Earn $100,000 year with nontraditional income
Long-term travel

I am on my way to publishing. I have my novel half done at 25K words. I will have it finished by the end of the month, then I'll have some beta readers go over it, do some edits, then have it ready for submission by August. I believe firmly that I will be accepted by Harlequin. I also have ideas for several more stories ready to go.

I believe I'm on the way to earning that $100,000 as well. I'm playing with what nontraditional types of income I can have in order to create that amount of annual income and this is what I've come up with:

Writing novels, publishing through traditional means or nontraditional means
Online income through advertising on this blog and my other website.
Life coaching. I have thought about this a lot for the past three months. I've been researching and we've found a training program.
Speaking fees. Once we become life coaches, we'll be able to travel and speak all over the United States.

Long term travel. It's looking like I'll get that wish soon as well in a few years. That will be shared in the next post as I believe I've manifested something I thought I'd had to give up / compromise on.

The point of this post is to continue to believe in yourself and your abilities, believe in your dreams. No matter what anyone says to you, never give up.

Abraham Hicks on Allowing & Co-Creating

This kind of hit at me based on what I have been feeling and what I posted a couple of days ago. I do believe I need to take the time to be in alignment, even if it's only a few minutes a day. "Allow them, whether they allow me or not." Very powerful.

Forgetting the Power

As time has gone on and life is moving day by day, I am forgetting the things that I learned this time last year. I am letting events dictate how I react instead of creating my world and dictating the events.

It is very hard to co-create with someone. I want one thing, they want something else, and yet other people want other things. This is one of the most frustrating things about manifesting and LOA for me. When I have to wait on another person and I spend days affirming -- they will call today. The job is his. This will be our house. Then to continue waiting, waiting, waiting and then finally having to let go. That is very hard. But obviously, we are co-creating with other people. Those other people have meetings, they have dreams and goals and things they want to create as well. So they are paying attention to those things right in front of them and apparently by doing so they are creating a more powerful intention than I am. 

But I am only responsible for me. So I think over the next couple of weeks I'm going to revisit some of the books I've read, I'm going to watch The Secret again and remind myself of the power that I do have. I signed up for the 21 day meditation and I've only done one day. I need to take that time for myself, to get myself in alignment, and feel that peace.

Releasing the Outcome

Never be too hasty with a decision. Remember that we are creating our lives, and sometimes when we say we want something, and we get it, it may come in a completely different package than we expected originally. That is why we should always be open and willing to see things come in a different way. If we stay attached to how we think things SHOULD happen, then we'll be disappointed over and over again.

We've all heard the joke about the man in the flood. He is sitting on the roof of his house, surrounded by water. He prays to God to save him. Soon a man in a rowboat comes by and offers to help him down. The man says, "No, God will save me." An hour later a family in a motorboat comes by and offers to help him, but he again turns them down, saying that God will save him. Then an hour later a man in a canoe comes by, and he gets the same story. As he's left alone again, the man looks up to God. "God, why haven't you saved me?" And he hears a voice from heaven - I sent a rowboat, a powerboat and a canoe. What more do you want from me?

Our lesson here is that sometimes what we think we need to happen a certain way doesn't need to be that way. Apparently the stranded man was wanting a supernatural rescue. When the rescue came in a perfectly normal way, he questioned that it could be of God. But God sends people to us when we need them. Everyone in our life, every experience in our life, is there for a reason.

So the next time you are wanting something to happen, release yourself from the need to have it happen a certain way or be in a certain place. Stay open, stay watchful, and when the time comes and the answer is in front of you, don't turn away from it because it's not what you envisioned.