My friend Donna needed a miracle. Her husband Bruce landed a new job in a far-flung suburb on the other side of the metro area. They loved their current home but it was "too much house" as she said -- too big, too expensive... Because Bruce had been working from home for the past few years, they had already given up one of their two family cars to keep their finances comfortable. But now, in order to transition up with entirely positive changes in their circumstances, they needed to relocate into a smaller home with a lower monthly mortgage, closer to Bruce's new job. They could use the extra money to put a second car in the garage again.
Donna is a unique client for several reasons -- I've known her for ten years; she's my hairstylist; I get to work with her in person; and I get to do readings for her on a monthly basis. We began bartering our professional services a few years ago when she opened her own salon and I coached her through the start-up of her business.
The Worst Case Scenario
After receiving my congratulations on this new success for Bruce (and their family), she stood behind me snipping away and launched into the stressful details of what she kept referring to as The Worst Case Scenario -- chock full of phrases like:
- "Plan B"
- "If it doesn't work out..."
- "If we can't..."
- "If that doesn't happen..."
She also caught me up on the conversations she'd been having with one of her best friends, whose husband lost his job and whose house had been on the market for fifteen months in Nevada... all the trials and tribulations they were going through, how much they were representative of dire statistics about the grim housing market, etc.
Donna said she'd been praying a lot about how to handle all these challenges and getting a lot of good intuition regarding "back up plans."
...and The Best Case Scenario?
Now, Donna is one of the most faithful and most religious people I know, so I gently asked her:
"What kind of insights have you received when you pray about The Best Case Scenario?"
She abruptly stopped cutting and looked up at me in the mirror, her jaw literally hanging open. "What do you mean?" she asked. I could see the gears already clicking though, so I waited patiently without answering as she processed the question in a matter of seconds... Her eyes closed, her hand went up to cover her mouth.
"Oh my God," she said. "I am so busted!"
She looked a little panicked. "I totally get what you're asking me. I haven't even thought about the Best Case Scenario -- I've only been praying about the Worst."
"It's okay," I reassured her. "Back-up Scenarios and Contingencies and Practical Plan B's are all good. You've done a lot of work defining those. But you need to at least know what the Best Case Scenario involves. You gotta give Everything Working Out some air time too."
"I have been spending all my energy, straight out of the gate, on how I'm going to handle failure! I get it."
"Well, let's walk through defining the Success, right now," I suggested, "so you can start praying and manifesting that."
What is The Best Possible Case Scenario?
- What does that look like?
- What are the details?
- What does that feel like?
And don't worry about the How -- the cool thing about miracles is you aren't required to micro-mange their progress.
Her Miracle Features:
- We put our house on the market ASAP -- like, this week.
- We get tons of people looking at it.
- We get multiple offers.
- We sell within three months.
- We immediately and effortlessly find a smaller, cheaper place near Bruce's work and we use the difference we're paying on the mortgage to get a second car again.
- All timing is Divine.
... but then she appended it with more doubtful comparisons to her friend in Nevada's horror stories.
First of all, I pointed out a few things that do not warrant her comparison to her friend's situation -- not in the Mystical Spiritual Law of Attraction Realm -- but in the Literal Physical Here-and-Now of the Third Dimension.
- Her husband has not lost his job -- he's just landed a new one.
- The Nevada real estate market is not the Tennessee real estate market.
- Their house has not been for sale for over a year -- they haven't been trying and failing -- they haven't even listed it yet.
And, incidentally, with something like selling a house (or even landing a job) you don't really need multiple options and offers -- ultimately, you only need one -- the right one.
(We are all so quick to collect other people's well-intentioned cautionary tales -- what about at least modeling one other person's fantastic success story?)
What's even better than The Best Case Scenario?
Based on my personal experience, there is a tendency to pray for -- or manifest, or creatively visualize -- the Least that you need and call it the "Best."
- "I just need $500 extra dollars" -- Why not go for $1000?
- "I just need this to happen within three months" -- Wouldn't one month do the trick, too?
"Well, yeah!" Donna said. "Selling our house within one month would be great -- but that's beyond a Best Case Scenario -- that would be a Miracle!"
"And it just so happens that you not only believe in miracles, you've experienced them..." I reminded her. "I recommend you at least start with a miracle."
A Scene from Alice in Wonderland:
"There's no use trying," Alice said, "one can't believe impossible things."
"I dare say you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
Three people looked at Donna's house. The first person made an offer. She and her husband sold their house ten days after putting it on the market. She told me later that out of all the planning she'd worked on, the one plan she ended up needing was the one she hadn't prepared for -- what to do when everything works out better than you could have ever expected.
I do believe in miracles. I especially believe a Miracle should at least be one of your options.
