The Power of Thought

by Jerry Mooney

A couple years ago, I hit a low point. I hated my job. I suffered through its daily grind for six years. Although it was a high paying job, I was bouncing checks and strapped for money. I was out of shape. I was stressed-out and depressed. I made excuses to not do things I enjoyed, like skiing and kayaking. I was stuck in a boring, unsatisfying rut. My logical side continued to justify my misery. I told myself, “Jobs like this are hard to find.” I felt obligated to stick with it for my family, for my future, and to prove I wasn’t a quitter. The entire time, my heart, my intuition, my body, my friends, and my family were telling me, “You have to quit that job. Who cares about the payday if you’re miserable?”

Eventually the message soaked in. After a dramatic conflict with my supervisors over an unconscionable way of treating customers, I couldn’t take it any more. The corporate bottom line had pushed me too far from my personal values, and I couldn’t stomach it any longer. I took a leave of absence. In the three months that followed, I received psychological counseling. I became introspective and analytical about the status of my life. I decided I didn’t know everything about what I wanted to do, but I was sure what I was doing was not it. I labored over the idea of leaving the company; it seemed like there were so many practical reasons to stay. It felt like I was contemplating jumping off a cliff with the hope I might be able to fly (or at least land without too much damage). The logical part of my brain vigorously rejected the idea of leaving such a “good job.” My logic had me in a stranglehold. I came from a background of poverty and irresponsibility, and I was unwilling to continue the chain. Working at a respectable job, regardless of its emotional toll, was easy for me to justify.

The counseling allowed me to reexamine my values and my relationship with my job. Finally, I summoned the courage to quit. I not only quit, but my exit was so colorful, I wouldn’t be concerned with returning. I burned the bridge down and did so intentionally. I did not want to look back, and leaving the door open to a return might be too tempting in the face of adversity. Instead, I jumped. I quit. I left without knowing what was next. I didn’t have a new job lined up. I didn’t have a lead on any possibilities. I took a leap of faith. I did a summersault into the abyss.

I felt really good and decided to focus on that. I admonished myself to look forward and become excited about the possibilities ahead of me. Moments of doubt and pangs of anxiety crept into my mind. I quelled them and directed my thoughts to possibilities.

Shortly after my exit from the workforce, my mother and I went to my aunt’s for dinner. She was thrilled about a book she recently stumbled upon, Ask and It Is Given: Learning to Manifest Your Desires, by Esther and Jerry Hicks. My mother, my cousin, and I politely acknowledged that it sounded like a fine book and continued to direct the conversation toward our regular topics of discussion. My aunt was unrelenting, however. She didn’t want us to simply agree the book sounded good. She wanted us to read it right then and there. I was more interested in discussing the fact that I left my job and really needed some projects to work out. I promised to read the book, hoping to return the conversation to my dire situation.

My aunt wasn’t satisfied. She wanted us to read it immediately—at the dinner table. She decided our consent was no longer necessary, and without regard to our resistance, she fetched the book and began to read. We listened as she read aloud. The first chapter didn’t take long to read. Once I got over my incredulousness and listened, I realized she was right; this was important. She then passed it to me, and I read the second chapter. We did this for a few hours. The book outlined how we are vibrational creatures living in a vibrational world. Our thoughts are more powerful than we realize, and our attention to this would change our lives for the better. The dynamic of the table grew energetic. We discussed this new way of thinking after each chapter or when moved by an idea. It became clear I must get my own copy. Although the material was completely foreign to me and contrary to the way I thought up until then, it was also intuitive. It was the opposite of everything I was taught and everything I heard on TV, the radio, or read in the papers. It made too much sense to ignore. It rang true inside of me, and this was a voice I was learning to listen to.

I took the book home and tried to read it all at once. I found each chapter made me very tired. The chapters were not long or exhaustive, but I couldn’t read more than one at a time. After each chapter, I had to set the book down and allow it to sink in. These ideas were paving new roads in my brain, and that was exciting, but exhausting. There were no complicated words or exasperating sentences, yet I could have read Kafka at a faster clip.

Since I wasn’t working, I dedicated my days to reading and absorbing this new material and insight. Once I finished, I immediately started rereading. Each time, I was able to take on larger chunks. I began doing the exercises in the book. I really trusted that this stuff worked, but I had no history with this insight. I must confess, my habits and old thought patterns persistently crept into my mind. I would derail, but I used this new insight to help me get back on track. I had plenty of bad mental habits, and these habits were hard to recognize, let alone put down. I still had habits of worry, habits of concern, habits of anger, and habits of fear. These habits kept demanding my attention, but I was committed to my new path. My conscious self wanted these ideas to work. I needed it to work. I dedicated myself to making a mental shift. I immersed myself in the subject. I knew I had a lot of work to do.

Just before I left my job, I had bought a very nice, but modest home. The house was surrounded by beautiful landscaping. The layout was friendly and sound. Behind the main bedroom, a beautiful pond and waterfall provided a place for koi to swim, squirrels to drink, and birds to land. It was a serene sanctuary for my thoughts and me. The yard was bordered by enchanting trees and plants that overwhelmed the senses with aesthetic beauty and fragrant aromas. This house had a healing effect on me. Because of this, I placed tremendous value in it. One of my most persistent fears was that I might lose this beloved house. I knew whatever I did, I had to hold on to it. I had about $9,000 to work with. I figured that would buy me a few months while I plotted my next step. I didn’t want to exhaust my modest savings and be confronted with the fact that I was broke and out of time.

At this point, the people who told me to quit my job were clamoring that I had to make money. Some were pressuring me to get a new job. Others wondered, “Where are you going to get money?” A cacophony of doubts surrounded me, pushing me deeper into my determination to make this work, my way. I had embarked upon a new path, and those questions and concerns were married to my old way of thinking. I did my best to keep them at bay.

I knew I had to envision my life the way I wanted it in order to get it. That meant no dumb job. No more doing it the way others expected. I had to be as committed to my transformation as I was to my old story. I continued to reread Ask and It Is Given and do the exercises. After reading it a few times, I wanted more on the subject but had no idea if there even was more. I had never heard of these concepts to this point. As I contemplated the idea of getting more perspectives, I noticed the foreword was written by Dr. Wayne Dyer. I figured I ought to get some of his stuff. The same day, I was cleaning my living room and found a box containing four cassette tapes I had never listened to. It was the Power of Intention program … by Dr. Wayne Dyer. What a miraculous coincidence! I immediately ceased cleaning and listened to the tapes. I kept them on auto-play for days. I began feeling very good!

As good as I felt, my little bank account was dwindling. I continued to worry about money. Instead of letting this worry infest my thoughts though, I began consciously dismissing my fear. This was new. I was beginning to assimilate this information. Wayne spoke to me every day (although, he kept repeating himself), and I was reading inspirational material. I knew something would work out.

One “ace up my sleeve” was a speculation home I had started months earlier. Once finished, I would have some financial breathing room. However, as if to test my faith, my builder called to inform me of a glitch. Poor structural planning required us to scrap the original blueprints. My house was another five months out. I immediately found myself back into old thought patterns. I began to fret. I began to freak out. I began to panic. But I caught myself. I became calm. I decided I wanted to dismiss my doubts. Then, something miraculous happened, and it cemented my newfound faith.

I lay on my bed focusing on possibilities. I tried to quiet my mind. I felt myself becoming lighter. In my mind, I saw myself floating away. I floated into the sky past the Earth’s atmosphere into space, transcending the solar system. I crossed into pulses of light speeding through grid-networks. As I observed, I heard a voice ask, “What would you like?” I said, “I would like my project to finish so I’ll have enough money to get by until I figure out what I’m doing.” The voice replied, “You’ve come to the ocean with a thimble.”

No joke—immediately after I heard the voice, the phone rang. It was my builder. Since I had referred so much business to him, and they botched the plans for the house, they were going to give me a house that was already done. That house had $50,000 in equity and provided exactly what I asked: it bought me time.

It has been less than two years since my aunt introduced me to Ask and It Is Given. In this brief period, I have experienced many more of these miracles. I now own millions of dollars in real estate, I have a big, fat bank account, and I live in a million-dollar mansion. (I still have the original house.) I feel like I’m just getting started. These events are so dramatic in contrast to where I came from and what I’ve known that I feel an obligation to share my insight and make the method of this transformation more understandable and practical for everyone.

Message: We squander our thoughts. If we use their power, we can create more amazing lives.