Creating A Treasure Map To Achieve Your Desires

by Linda-Ann Stewart

Sages say, "A picture is worth a thousand words." This is true because images are the way the subconscious mind processes information.

A word or verbal phrase translates into images in the inner mind. Think of the difference between reading "Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets" vs. watching the movie. Which one was more powerful & evoked more emotions?

Most likely it was the movie. The words on the page had to be transformed into mental pictures, but the movie was in the very language of the subconscious, thus grabbed it more directly.

This is why so many goal setting techniques suggest using visualization & cutting out pictures of what you want to help to manifest your desires.

We co-create our world by the images we hold in our minds. Looking at pictures of our goals helps to keep our minds focused on what we want. There are lots of different terms for this technique. Master Mind designates it "image book pages," Joseph Murphy & Mary Katherine MacDougall call it "treasure mapping," & Catherine Ponder's phrase for it is a "wheel of fortune."

No matter what it's called the basic technique is the same. A person cuts out & collects pictures from magazines that represent what he/she wants. The action of finding the pictures, cutting them out, then pasting them onto paper helps to convince the subconscious that you really do want this goals.

The pictures may simply evoke the feeling of the desired result, such as a sunset for peace or a lit candle for enlightenment, or specific pictures of a cruise, car, income or job. The idea is to find pictures that speak to you.

For a job, you might find pictures of someone doing that specific job, or a picture that symbolizes it to you.

Underneath the pictures, you write an affirmation that directs the mind. The affirmation can be "I know that my Higher Mind wants this for me & my creative mind finds the best way for it to manifest" or "I now have a lavish income of X coming to me easily & freely."

Any statement that clarifies your goal & supports the belief that Spirit is manifesting it now will work. This helps keep you aware that the Universe wants this for you as much as you want it for yourself.

There are different ways to use the basic technique. For a single goal, such as a job, relationship, travel or new house or car, you can get a page of colored construction paper or large posterboard & paste the pictures on it.

I had a friend who created a treasure map & placed it on the inside of the door to her closet, where she saw it every day. You can also use a corkboard or styrofoam to pin the pictures & affirmations to & change them as you choose.

For several different goals, you can get a posterboard & divide it into the areas of your goals. You could segment it into 4 parts, such as:

• work
• play
• relationships
• health

Then paste the pictures & write the affirmations as you would with a single sheet in each area. At the center, you could have a picture & affirmation that recognizes that the Universe is the Source of your good.

One of my early metaphysical teachers used a notebook for his treasure map. He was a businessman & kept it in a drawer of his desk to look at several times a day & said that all of the desires he put into it came to pass.

You can take a folder with fasteners, like you used in school & put pictures & affirmations on sheets of unruled paper. Again, each goal should have its own separate sheet of paper.

With a treasure map, you need to have it where you can look at it several times a day, but where no one else can see it, such as a closet or drawer. This keeps it private, between you & your Higher Self.

If you have someone who'll be completely supportive of your goal, you can share it with them. Look at your map several times a day & each time give thanks that the Universe & your creative mind has already given you what the pictures represent.

By giving your mind a picture of your desire, keeping your attention focused on it, the Universe will find the perfect way to transport you to your destination.

Affirmation

Changing a Willingness to Make Love into a Desire to Make Love

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Lustful men are little devils, but women are often tramps

Why female desire still makes society squirm

By Brian Alexander / Contributor - MSNBC Updated: 3:11 p.m. ET Oct. 18, 2004

I wonder what the Grand Inquisitor would think about the testosterone patch.

Testosterone, as you may have heard, is proving to be a valuable weapon in the effort to give women (& men, too, for that matter) better sex lives.

For a few years now, some women have been using testosterone gels & creams obtained from compounding pharmacies in an effort to boost a waning sex drive, often brought on by menopause.

And recently, Proctor & Gamble announced data from clinical trials of its Intrinsa patch for women. Seems the patch gave women a bit more octane in the old engine. Should the patch be approved for sale, making it the first drug treatment for female sexual dysfunction on the market, P&G & likely other companies to follow will reap huge economic rewards.

Why the wait?
All well & good, but here’s a question: Why did it take so long? Way back when, like about 30 years ago, doctors noticed that women given testosterone-related steroids for treatment of medical conditions reported a sex drive boost as a side effect.

During these intervening 3 decades, as many as half of all women are estimated to have been suffering from low libido & other sexual problems. Yet only now is anybody trying to do something about it.

“It’s been almost a social taboo,” argues Dr. Crista Johnson, a fellow at UCLA’s Female Sexual Medicine Center. “You didn’t want to talk about these things. Women weren't supposed to [have desire].”

No kidding. The Grand Inquisitor, placed in charge of Europe’s spiritual purity by the Catholic Pope during the Inquisition, regarded all women as potentially corrupting & women who showed any inclination to actually wanting & enjoying sex were regarded as possible succubi, vessels of Satan.

If the accusations stuck, they could be killed. Similar punishments awaited (& still do await, sadly) Muslim women who get too friendly with men they aren’t married to. And of course, "The Scarlet Letter" is about American Puritans.

Religion, though, is just a cover. Men are simply scared.

Johnson has researched the practice in some societies, especially African, of female genital cutting, the removal of the clitoris & the sewing together of the outer labia of young women. “Thousands of years ago, patriarchal societies feared women’s sexuality," she says. "They felt it was necessary to curb their desire. Voracity had to be controlled.” This is still true today.

Mixed emotions
But don’t get too comfortable with the notion that we here in modern America think differently. We’re all messed up about how to regard women with strong sexual appetites. We rightly fret about sexualizing young girls, but we also tend to condemn adult women who celebrate their sexuality.

Look at our reactions to women who wear mini-skirts, cleavage-revealing tops, thong bikinis. (Attorney General John Ashcroft was so unnerved by the Justice Department’s statues depicting nude women, he ordered them covered.) Men seem to want the women we love to desire us, but we get tetchy about them having desire in general even while we men are being encouraged to act like little devils by the makers of Viagra.

That male view is often shared by other women who are just as willing to label a sexually aggressive woman as a tramp. And as Johnson points out, it's women who do the genital cutting.

Yet we also fetishize highly-sexed women. Helmut Newton’s photography of strong, proud nudes worship them. Artist Hajime Sorayama’s “gynoids” turn women into depersonalized sexual machines capable of draining every last drop of our male vital fluids, leaving us quivering piles of wimpering Jell-O.

Yee-haw.

There seems to be no space in between for the average woman who just wants to feel good about wanting & having a rich sexual life. But that’s all changing.

Johnson herself exemplifies why. She’s 29, a freshly minted ob-gyn, who says she got precious little medical school education about female sexuality. Now, she notes, younger women like her are saying, “I demand my sexual needs be taken care of. I demand a sexually fulfilling life. My desires are important & valuable. We're finally breaking the old traditions.”

It’s not easy though. “We’ve been socialized to view sexuality in a negative light," Johnson says. "People put together in one lump sum promiscuity, prostitution, the gaudy things that are in music videos & movies & say these are negative consequences.

We have HIV, teen pregnancy, [STDs]. What needs to be distinguished is what a healthy relationship consists of. Too many people in this country are attaching a negative image to sexuality.

They aren't distinguishing. That’s the challenge, to look at sexuality as healthy & desirable, not something to be banned or hidden.”

Benefits beyond the bedroom

A possible breakthrough like testosterone therapy isn't just about having orgasms or suddenly feeling the urge to install a stripper pole in the living room. Women just enjoy feeling sexy. They like having desire.

Far outside the bedroom, that spark helps them feel alive & vigorous.

Sexual health experts hasten to say that testosterone is no cure-all. All the testosterone in the world won’t make a woman in a troubled relationship or with a poor body image want sex any more often & a host of medical problems, like depression, gynecological conditions & high blood pressure can stymie desire.

That tingle between your legs is more complicated than how much of a hormone you make.

But however testosterone therapy fits in, it's an encouraging sign that we're just going to have to get over our collective squirm over sexy women. Women from their 20's thru their 70's are coming to the UCLA center & to other centers springing up around the country, hoping to feel the urge again. They're not content to accept less, nor to accept a “natural” decline.

I’m not sure if that means we'll see 70-year-old grandmothers in latex chaps, but grandpa could be in for a surprise. 

Brian Alexander is a California-based writer who covers sex, relationships & health. He's a contributing editor at Glamour & the author of "Rapture: How Biotech Became the New Religion" (Basic Books).

4 Signs That a Man's Ready for Marriage & 4 That He's Not by Sherry Amatenstein for iVillage

excerpt: He's Discovered His Desire to Be a Dad

Carol Morgan, a Boca Raton matchmaker (www.carolmorgan.com), observes, "He's ready for marriage when he stares longingly at kids & suggests you would have beautiful children." [Editor's note: I'll say!]

If your man isn't as straightforward, take a cue from John Malloy, who says, "Most men want to be young enough to teach their sons to fish & play ball & do the male-bonding thing."

His research has found that age can have a great effect on a man's attitude toward marriage. Most college-educated men don't consider marriage as a serious possibility until age 26. In fact, they enter a phase of high commitment between the ages of 28 & 33.

Men who've gone on to graduate school - doctors, lawyers, etc. - hit their commitment-peak phase during ages 30 to 36. But Malloy says that once a single man hits 37, the chances that he'll marry start to fade. And after his 43rd birthday, he'll probably remain a bachelor for life.

That's not to say that a man won't catch marriage/fatherhood fever later in life. Mitch J. was 39 when he started seriously wanting a child. The problem for the Los Angeles film publicist: His live-in girlfriend had two children from a previous marriage & no intention of becoming pregnant ever again. Mitch recalls agonizing:

"If I stay, I know I will have a good relationship and a stable future. If I leave, who knows if I'll ever find a woman I really love & who wants children."

Finally, he chose to leave. Within a year he met Pauline. They're now married & have a baby girl.

Reunite With Your Desires - By Amy Hale, CHt

For most people on they spiritual journey, it’s been long & bumpy roads. Knowing what we want isn’t always easy & knowing how to get there is sometimes even more mysterious. A good question to begin with is ‘where are you now as opposed to where you'll be next week?’

By creating & continuously reuniting with your desire, you create fruition. You become more attuned to your desire, making it easier for you to grasp it.

We all experience ups & downs in life. Have you ever been able to experience something that wasn’t in your essence? We can't experience what we don’t think about or pay attention to.

Where we focus our attention controls where we will be even in the next few moments. Are you stuck, or attuned in your present situation, feeling trapped or hurt? Or are you becoming aware that you can provide a different transformative thought?

Our thoughts are producers of feelings that direct our future awareness & therefore attract our everyday factors, making it easier to understand that we’re incredible creators merely by moving our thoughts & emotions.

For our own self-worth, this also requires that we pay attention to what it is we want out of each & every day. Are you worthy of having a day that runs smoothly or are you destined to have things happen that disturb your internal equilibrium?

I have a friend who is building & maintaining a very nice jewelry manufacturing enterprise. She knows she wants to be successful at what she does & yet she’s unhappy with where she's going.

Her business partner knows where he wants to go, but it’s not in the same direction as hers. I asked my friend one day, "In the beginning of your venture, when you imagined how successful you’d be & all the little details, what was it like?"

She realized that she had shifted her ideals & made so many compromises that she felt as if she wasn’t in charge of her progress anymore. By reuniting with her desire, including how she wanted to feel, she was able to get back on track with her own success.

There are things that we all can do to make our days & nights a little easier & productive. Following a daily practice of reuniting with our desires can comfort the equilibrium of our true self.

By following these simple measures, you can create a stunning picture of who you are, who you want to be & where you want to be.

1. Make it a daily practice to reconnect with your essence. If you’re not feeling as good as you’d like to about your circumstances, connect with your inner advisor thru meditation & self-hypnosis. Create a Temple of Wisdom within your mind & invite the all wise & all knowing part of you to communicate with you.

2. Think often about what you’d like & how you’d like to feel & then illuminate it to spirit. Surround your positive intentions with the purest form of illumination & allow for the Universe to help bring it forth.

3. Do you feel worthy of your desire? If not, it’ll take a long time to come into fruition if it ever does. If you feel that your desire is difficult to accomplish, journal about why you feel it’s so hard & why you can’t have it. At the same time, write simple phrases such as "Even if it is difficult, I can & will accomplish my goal." Bridging toward more positive thoughts is helpful in creating a more positive outlook & can help you move forward toward your desires.

4. Be thankful that you're taking steps to fulfill your truest & purest desires. You can create something good for yourself. Be thankful that the Universe is such a wonderful & willing co-creator & will help you bring about your desires as graciously as you allow for them.
By taking a few simple measures like these, you can ensure your progress toward your desires & outcomes. Make everyday a masterpiece of art, where you decide & create how you want to experience it. Then commit to what you have chosen & watch how beautifully you can transform your daily existence.

Desiring What Is - By Nirmala

Buddha said that desire is the root of all suffering. He didn’t say most of the suffering or much of the suffering but all of it. Every single contraction of being is caused by desire. Because desire is such a powerful force, it's worth looking into.

As powerful as desire is, every desire is a lie. Every desire is based on the idea that things can be different than they are & that's just not true. Things have never been different than they are in any moment. Things are always the way they are.

You can see how this lie might come to be because things are always different than they were. Because things are always changing, we think we can decide how it'll be next, which is another lie. Take your own experience: How often have things turned out the way you wanted them to?

Unfortunately, every now & then, things do turn out the way we want, so we get hooked on desiring - like playing a slot machine. But, like a slot machine, it’s a matter of luck: If you play the game of desire enough, once in a while you'll win.

When people see this lie, they become more accepting of the way things are. It’s funny, though, their acceptance often has the quality of defeat or resignation: I’ll accept it, but I don’t have to like it! I invite you to consider another possibility.

It’s a strange possibility, but the results are wonderful & that's to desire what is: Meet what is with the same passion you may have had for what could be or what should be. Meet what is with that kind of passion, with the same force that is able to generate all the suffering in the world. Bring that force to bear on the truth instead of on a lie.

Gratitude is another word for this way of meeting what's in the moment. Gratitude is different than acceptance. Acceptance lacks passion & juice.

That’s why, even though people may see that things are the way they are, they often go back to the juiciness of wanting things to be different. At least desiring has drama, intensity, passion & life - even if it does result in suffering.

The alternative to this suffering is desiring what is wholeheartedly - truly saying yes to this moment exactly the way it is right now - bringing that kind of passion & aliveness to the way things are. This results in instant unlimited happiness because every desire for what is, is always fulfilled!

The reason people don’t make this choice to want what is, is because it's so simple. Nothing is needed. People shy away from this because, in wanting what is, there isn’t anything left for “you” to do. That is the price to be paid: To truly want what is, you have to give up the idea of being someone who can change what is. There is no longer a place for that. Changing anything would be working at cross-purposes to what you desire.

Then you come up against the inescapable paradox that even your desire for things to be different is something that you need to desire. You can’t leave that out. You can’t leave out the desires that arise - or a relationship or for money or for spiritual awakening. You have to meet them with the same gratitude.

You're never done being grateful because what is, is always changing, always new. Every moment is a completely new chance to be grateful. Whatever is happening has never happened before: Every emotion, thought, sensation & experience arises completely fresh & new in the now.

The opportunity to meet whatever is arising with gratitude & to passionately desire it, is always available. You never run out of things to be grateful for. Recognizing that whatever is, is only here for this moment & will never be exactly this way again gives us the passion to meet it with gratitude.

Often, the reason we don’t dive in with gratitude in moments of suffering or pain is because we think that if we do, things will stay the same. We think that if we love this moment the way it is & all of its pain (if that is what is present), we'll get stuck in the pain, when the opposite is true: only when we resist what is does it stick around. If, instead, we embrace the moment, it naturally unfolds into the next new experience.

What cuts thru suffering is simply choosing to love what's in every moment, including every thought, feeling & desire. It’s not more complicated than that. You just meet whatever is arising with passion & gratitude, no matter how often it appears. The invitation is to find out for yourself what happens when you're willing to waste your desire on what is. Don’t take my word for it. For just this moment, meet whatever's present with a passionate embrace & then see if you can find any suffering here.

How To Manifest Your Inner Desires - By Steven S. Sadleir

Within each human lies the instinct to evolve. Your desires draw to you the learning experiences that cause you to discern what you like & dislike, what you want & don’t want & thru this process you learn & grow & evolve to realize your full potential. Thru this variety & diversity of life experience what you innately want becomes clearer. As what you want becomes clearer your power to manifest what you want becomes stronger.

Feelings of joy, peace & excitement serve as a honing beacon guiding you towards experiences that help you to fulfill your life purpose. Feelings of discontent, discord & being stuck help you to see how you're moving away from the opportunities to realize your full potential & find happiness.

When you're connected with that inner guidance & to the degree that you do connect, greater prosperity, happiness & peace are attained. This peace is innate; you just need to connect with it by being true to your intrinsic desires.

Desiring has energy. As you think about what you want that desire builds strength. Where you mind is focused energy follows. As you become more focused & clearer as to what you innately want, the energy to manifest gets stronger. This energy can be felt as excitement. The vibration of your intention is transmitted like a radio signal & the innate intelligence of the universe responds to it in kind. Put your attention on the joy of your desire & you'll joyously attract that into your life, we see this miracle again & again with our students. Put your attention on what you think you lack & you attract more lack. It's a state of consciousness.

Create a clear picture of what you want in your mind, what does it feel like having what you desire. Be in that state of enjoying it whether it has manifested or is being manifested. Then put your life force energy into the vision, like a light shinning thru a motion picture film, the desire is projected into your world.

The more powerful the projection the more powerful the manifestation. To increase your power to manifest, connect with the source of life within you. Meditate. It comes back to getting in touch with the source of life within you. It comes back to getting in touch with your Self. It comes back to Self-Realization.

From the heart, Steven

Steven S. Sadleir is Director of the Self Awareness Institute and author of several best-selling books. Mr. Sadleir provides training seminars for corporations and individuals on How To Manifest as well as Self-Realization and other topics. For more information go to www.selfawareness.com or call 949-355-3249.Next training is on April 1st in Newport Beach, California.

Secret Plan to Achieve Your Desires - by Lisa van den Berg

Secret Plan to Achieve Your Desires
Copyright© Lisa van den Berg

Do you want the secret to attaining all you desire? Keep your thoughts targeted on what you wish to attain & the means for their attainment will flow to you.

Although the plan I'll present to you is easy enough to formulate, it's only by means of Absolute Faith that it can be properly implemented.

Once you have decided what it is that you want from your Life, write it out in complete detail. You should write down everything about what you want to achieve, your plan for achieving it & what you will give in return for its fulfillment.

I follow this plan & let me tell you that it works like nothing else I've ever tried. Follow it & you'll see.

Keep thoughts of attainment in your mind. Carry that piece of card on which you've written your Statement of Desire with you wherever you go.

When James J Hill was formulating the idea that he wanted to develop a Transcontinental Railway System that stretched from the one coast of America to the other, he had no money & no friends of influence that he could turn to, to help him.

What he did have, however, was Absolute Faith. He drew in his proposed path for the railway system on a map of the US & slept with it under his pillow, he carried it with him wherever he went & referred to it all the time.

He submitted it to his subconscious until his dream came true. What he needed for the fulfillment of his desire came to him because of his Absolute Faith that it would.

Sit down & write out your Statement of Desire.

Write out all the things you want to accomplish, a plan for making them happen & what you'll give in return for them coming to be (time, hard work etc).

Repeat your statement continually throughout the day. Imprint it on your mind by visualizing the outcome of your desire, as if it was already real.

Remember that nothing physical comes about without an idea to start it off. Before you build a building the architect first draws a picture of how the building will look from the picture he has in his mind.

From his drawing the builder can determine what materials are needed to build the building & then set to work on making the picture in the developers head, a reality.

In order to get what you Desire you need to develop a strong sense of self-discipline. You need to see & feel & believe that what you want will come true. I set an alarm clock by my desk to remind me to repeat my Statement of Desire, every 2 hours throughout the day.

I have a picture of it burned onto my brain so that I have created a Burning Desire. It gets to the point where you no longer have to drive it, because it drives you.

In all my years of searching for the answers to all my questions & looking for the formula that would help me to help myself, this is the one that consistently works for me.

You'll find that the mechanics for realizing your Desire will come to you when you're willing to do what it takes to make it a Burning Desire.

If your Desire is to give your children the best education you can, you'll find that perhaps you learn that a prestigious college is offering scholarships for which you can apply or that an excellent teacher will be holding a summer school on the ways to enrich your child, that isn't offered at school.

Perhaps you'll get a windfall of money to help you send your child to a college that specializes in their field (drama, art etc) or have access to a previously unavailable source of learning materials that your child will love.

Maybe a course will come along that will teach your child how to study more effectively & retain more. The possibilities are endless & they'll come with Absolute Faith.

Create your Statement of Desire today!

Namasté
Lisa van den Berg