“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.”
~Anthony Robbins, Author and Motivational speaker
Everyone is all abuzz about the law of attraction. It’s about time…since us magically-types have been clued into this concept for ages. No….literally…..AGES. 
For some the concept is perfect, all on its own. Easy. For others the concept is just a little too big, or too basic, depending upon how you look at it. And then for others the concept is just too small, too narrow of an outlook.
How you look at it is not important. And, to be perfectly honest, the term itself, “Law of Attraction” can be enough to put some people off of even looking into it. Sounds too pretentious, sounds too exclusive.
So for my purposes here I’ll call this the Power of Positive Intent. “As your intentions go, so goes your life.” (That’s my new phrase, based ever so loosely on the whole voting and Ohio thing.)
Now, the general gist of Positive Thinking is just that: Positive Thinking. Of course some things are easier to be positive about than others. Its relatively easy to be positive about going on vacation, not so easy to be positive about receiving a foreclosure notice on your house.
The proof is in the pudding (Boy, I’m just all phrases and cliches today – note to self: Stop watching Amelie so much!)
SO…you don’t have to feel positive about the foreclosure.
But once you are over the initial shock, you need to give the situation a positive spin: “This is an adventure. I am now free to experience a new place. This means that a better living situation is out there for me, one that will enrich me and help me grow.” (For why else would the outside world come in and FORCE you to move your butt?)
You need not beat yourself up about being irresponsible, being unfortunate or any other low-vibration thoughts. You have learned whatever lesson you needed to learn and can now move on to life’s next leg of the journey. 
What we all need to do is twofold: Keep positive vibes in everyday situations. (ie. that very slow cashier, the mechanic who didn’t fix it right, our nosy aunt) And also keep positive vibes flowing toward our specific goals. (Keep saying “It will never happen for me.” And, guess what? It never will.)
With goal intentions, some of them can seem too big, too intimidating. It is easier to focus intent on wanting a new bike, on meeting new friends or on getting that zone 10 plant to grow in your zone 4 garden. It is not as easy to focus intent on larger or more abstract things such as buying a 200-acre farm, opening a million dollar recording studio or curing yourself of Parkinson’s Disease.
So what I offer is a more bite-sized approach to this process, for the manifestation of any intent is always a process. The initial positive thought is the seed. But, as I am learning, you can’t just plant a seed and walk away. Come back and you find all kinds of problems that need addressing for that plant to reach maturity and give off the glorious bloom.
You have to water it. Talk to it. Think positive thoughts at it. Take the weeds out of the way. All the while knowing that you can’t force it.
The bloom will happen in its own time, not with you staring at it from the kitchen window while biting your nails and wondering to yourself if it was all for nothing…if that thing has gotten as big as its going to get and may never bloom.
It will bloom. You’ll walk out the front door one day and it will be standing there beautiful and perfect.
The more positive you are about its becoming what it was always meant to be, the quicker it will happen, the bigger it will be when it comes to fruition. And, as a consequence of your not biting your nails at the kitchen window, the more you will enjoy it and be able to revel in it when it does come. Because instead of relief (that it wasn’t as bad as you thought) you will have confirmation (that it is even better than you knew it would be.)
So in order to focus your everyday intent in a way that benefits the “big intent” you can try using what I call a Goal Map. Some call it a “treasure map” and you can too if you like.
Let’s take an imaginary woman named Erica: She is a college student at present and has exactly $0 to her name. Her parents have no cash either so she has to take charge of her own goals and try to make them happen. We begin with her goal: Live in a log cabin, owned and built by her, with a nice relaxing fireplace in it, located on a nice rural piece of land. (Sound familiar to any of you lightworkers out there ? ;))
Erica decides to use the Goal Map method for manifesting her intent. It works by breaking down the goal into a smaller set of goals which lead in a semi-logical progression toward the ultimate goal. If you want to build a log cabin and you don’t have any money (or even if you do have the money) there are several steps to get to that finished log cabin with you sitting sipping tea in front of the fireplace.
Most people focus easiest in a visual way, so I recommend getting images or photos that best represent a concept and placing them on a piece of paper. They can be really little images or much bigger ones. So your Goal Map can be as little as a piece of printer paper or as large as a bed sheet…it doesn’t matter. (Bed sheets will need to be hung in a place of prominence with your big images pinned to them, a piece of paper can have the images glued to it and can be carried around in your car’s glove-box.)
So you are drawing a map. Think of it like the Game of Life by Hasbro
You can chose whatever shape for the map that you like: ovoid, spiral, zig-zag etc… I like spiraling inward so we’ll say that Erica’s map will be a spiral. Erica is still in college so her progression toward goal would likely start there.
She would need to begin with
(1) graduation, then…
(2) finding a job,
(3) enjoying her work,
(4) saving money,
(5) picking a log cabin floor-plan,
(6) locating a nice piece of land,
(7) either buying the land (if she has the money) or applying for a loan (if she doesn’t),
(8) getting approved for that loan,
(9) hiring a contractor to build her foundation,
(10) overseeing delivery of the log cabin kit (if it was a kit house,)
(11) watching the initial construction take place,
(12) hiring an electrician and/or plumber to do the finishing touches,
(13) getting the keys and moving into her log cabin,
(*14) feeling the happiness of being there, sitting by her fire and relaxing in the power of her own positive intentions.
(Of course you could break it down even further by getting into stuff like having the town grant your building permit and getting the building inspector to approve the house for occupancy…but its more fun the way that I’ve laid it out. Include whatever you feel may be an obstacle, if you wish.)
Begin by choosing the current mini-goal. Look intently at the goal image for at least five minutes, once or twice a day. You can add as much ritual or as little to this process as you wish.
But don’t just look at the goal image. See it happening for you. See all of your inner resources striving for it. Know that the energies of the universe are listening and already beginning to manifest this goal in your life. Feel how all the people and situations in your life are participating, pushing you directly towards the achievement of that goal.
As you complete this process briefly allow the entire structure of your Goal Map to enter you mind and acknowledge your progress towards the ultimate goal.
You can carry the current goal image with you in your wallet or taped to your car dashboard or work desk to remind you to put positive action and mental focus into it throughout your day.
With this process even the most seemingly insurmountable goal will be possible.
But in the end you must know that size doesn’t matter. Really. The same Power of Positive Intention that can bring you a new pair of sneakers can also bring you a Tuscan villa. The one is really no bigger than the other.
Happy Manifestations to you all!
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