Yesterday I had a big breakthrough -- with the help of my dear friend Crow, I was able to let go of a long-held belief:  there's no money in being completely myself out in the world.

The way this translates is that I am not able to experience abundance when I am doing my work.

My limiting belief took the shape of Carol Burnett in the movie Annie (not one of my favorite characters OR movies).  The aspect of this archetype that was very clear was that she is a grafter.  She has to con people into giving her money. 

This belief was born out of a series of experiences I had when I was first becoming awake to my spiritual self.  I had a friend at the time whom I gave a lot of power to.  This person had lots of beliefs about being pure and holy, was an amazing perfectionist, and had lots of negative beliefs about money.  I picked and chose some of those thoughts and took them on as my own.

(For more info on the process I'm describing, visit Re/Transformation.)

This belief hasn't been fully in operation in a while (although it has reared its ugly  head from time to time)  because other beliefs were very busy blocking its expression.  That may be a little confusing. 

Here is what I saw: an image of my beliefs around integrity acting like white blood cells.  They were attacking, or at least holding at bay, the invasive organism of this grafter and con artist.

As I moved through the Re/Transformation process, this limiting belief shifted.  She became a guide to information about all manner of creative ideas that I've had in the past (and some that I haven't had yet).  She showed me a library of big folio books.  She took one off the shelf and I opened it to a random page.  It had an image of an idea I've had for a TV show.  I realized I need to get in touch with my friends in the TV production business.

Here's the part that I'm still amazed about -- this belief I had about conning people revealed its wisdom:  integrity.  I thought of everyone I've ever known who was a con artist or thief in one way or another (not really law-breakers, but people who were always trying to get something for nothing).  Each of them was living in a circular pattern that kept them trapped in their belief system.  But they all had some level of integrity that would show up in really clear ways. 

One woman I knew a long time ago was quite proud of her ability to "walk in backwards" to shows or workshops (that phrase means getting in without paying).  She claimed to have done this at one of Elvis Presley's concerts in Las Vegas in 1968.  And I had no reason not to believe her.  I saw her do it on more than one occasion. 

And this woman had tremendous integrity when it came to telling lies.  She simply couldn't lie.  But there were times when she had to, so she would simply not speak.  Or she would create a physical ailment that would remove her from a situation where to tell the truth would have created a big problem (or so she thought).

The point here is that everyone has integrity about something.  Even if we lie, cheat, and swindle on a regular basis, we have some part of our lives where we are incapable of being dishonest.  For me, this shows how we end up being true to ourselves in spite of our beliefs, actions, and words.

And it brings home the more germane point:  in every one of our limiting beliefs there is a heart of wisdom. 

Instead of pushing away what we don't want to think about or see because we are afraid it will be too painful, we grow by embracing what we believe so we can observe it in the light of our consciousness, gain its underlying wisdom, and transform it.  We experience who we really are.

One last thought.  Re/Transformation has many different aspects to it.  I became distinctly aware of one of them yesterday.  When we look at our limiting beliefs, acknowledge their wisdom, and transform them;  we are forgiving ourselves and those who may have been involved in helping us create them. 

During the process, this is self-evident.  However it may not be obvious if you have never experienced Re/Transformation.

If you're interested in finding out more, please visit the Re/Transformation website:  http://www.transformation.com.

All the best!
Frank

Be sure to check out Oprah's show today when she interviews some of the folks who created the movie The Secret.

She's interviewing Rhonda Byrne (the executive producer -- the one who made it all happen), James Arthur Ray, and Lisa Nichols (one of my favorites), among others.

Looks like she'll also be speaking with people in the audience about their experiences applying the law of attraction in their lives.

I was just talking with a friend of mine here in Austin -- Michael Skye -- about The Secret.  It's funny, everyone has a different reaction to it.  Some people really love the movie and it's obviously changed some lives already.  Others are a bit critical of the simplistic message.

For myself, I see it as a beginner's tool (as well as a great reminder of the fundamentals about how we create). 

It's a start.  And I'm certain it will lead people to further exploration as they begin to understand and experience why the law of attraction works and, also, why it doesn't work.

In fact, my favorite thing to say about the law of attraction is that it works except when it doesn't.

What I'm saying here is that it is a powerful tool and a part of everything we do.  And we block and sabotage ourselves in ways we can't always see.

Since my focus is on consciousness and how we create out of that, I often remind myself and others that the law of attraction works from the totality of consciousness. 

So, when it doesn't seem to work, it may be that I have an unconscious belief that is limiting me. 

It's important to clear these beliefs when we are creating our lives through the law of attraction (see my website for more on this:  www.retransformation.com ).

As we transform our limiting beliefs, we release a tremendous amount of creativity.

And this brings me back to the conversation I was having with Michael today.  One of the things we were talking about is how visionaries, leaders, and really everyone....  as we discover what we want to create for the world to benefit ourselves and others, we usually have some stuff (read here: limiting beliefs in the unconscious) that we need to clear.

It's important that we do this work.  We need to get about the business of what we are here to do and the ways we are here to contribute.

And the beliefs within us that get in the way....  let's transform them so we can move on.

You can also find this at http://www.frankbutterfield.us/blog.