For now… we’ve come to the final chapter in this series. If you missed the other 4 episodes, start here. If you prefer to skip ahead for now, I’ll start this post with a recap.
To summarize where we left off:
“…The minute I began to apply the laws of thought, unknowingly, was the same minute that things began to move, and circumstances began to gather to see my dreams turn into reality.
Tune in next time to find out what happens when the “Young and the Thought-less” begin to get “Older and more Thought-full! in other words–when we finally started to live in harmony with the Laws of Thought! You’ll see that once we understood the Laws, we were finally able to change directions in our roller-coaster life. Life is full of ups and downs no matter what… but what a difference it made when we purposely applied our new understanding of the laws. It is my hope that you’ll do the same, and see dramatic changes in your life as well.
Your job, and mine, is to think right. It is not to manage the creative process: WE DO NOT HAVE TO KNOW HOW THINGS WILL COME TOGETHER. That’s God’s job. For us, it is simply our job to think right, and trust God.”
– The Young and the Thoughtless | Episode 4 – The Reality of Polarity
After being married and becoming a parent, I often thought about my mom’s impact on my formative years.
At the most critical times of my life, she’d been there for me. Though her efforts and impact extend far beyond what I’ll list here, I remember how much I treasured her love filled gestures… staying up late with me, taking the time to appreciate my sense of humor and laughing at my jokes… and encouraging me with snacks while I took care of homework!
I wanted so much to be that kind of mom for my own kids–to be there for them like she had been for me… but for so long, the busyness of just trying to get bills paid, and the pressure I felt from our financial situation, seemed to loom so much larger than the need to spend as much quality time with them.
How could I spend more time with family when it felt like we were barely holding up the walls of our life? The best I could seem to muster was a half-hearted smile at the end of a hectic day, and for about 7 years my husband and I spent many of those days frantically scrambling to collect paychecks, begging the bank to reverse overdraft fees, and apologizing to our creditors for late payments.
We knew there must be a way to honor our financial obligations, develop a healthy savings cushion, AND attentively raise our children… but how could something so seemingly simple as wanting to just be “mom” feel like such a tall order?
After having read book after book on success and attending seminars all over the country (having tried nearly a hundred, all together), we knew that something had to change. As Albert Einstein is reported to have said,
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
We knew we couldn’t keep doing the same things over and over again and somehow continue to expect different results… but to our surprise, what we thought needed changing and what we really needed to change turned out to be different things entirely.
Among principles taught in the seminars we attended, we learned that having a positive outlook was critical to financial success (or prosperity of any kind). Theory and application, however, are two different stories… and we quickly discovered that maintaining a faithful, forward momentum proved to be more of a challenge than we’d anticipated.
Feeling defeated, I can remember one such time that I completely surrendered myself to the thoughts of despair and depression that I’d fought so hard to keep at bay before…
We’d moved out of state to expand Trevan’s window-cleaning business. As mentioned in the previous post, he’d seen and filled a need for the work in Utah. But as we soon discovered after moving, the market in Arizona was different, and the company that had done so well a state over began to dwindle not long after we arrived. Trevan made the difficult decision to let go of what he’d built to pick up two jobs that made ends meet… and I stayed home with our two preschoolers… though my presence at that time was hardly nurturing.
I was angry and short-tempered. As some of you may recall, I even called the cops on a neighbor boy who had snapped my broom in half. I didn’t have $7 for a new broom! and the thought of not being ABLE to clean the floor even if I FELT like it was enough to send me over the edge.
I took on an escapist mentality and retreated to my bed–not caring if I ever got up again. It was in these moments, of course, that gas was added to flame as I berated myself for despairing and discouraging.
“Dream big, Leslie!” “Picture what you want!”
The phrases I’d heard at the many seminars we’d attended, that at one time filled me with so much hope and encouragement, now only tore and ate at me; and my bitter thoughts brewed anger towards the speakers who had accepted our money in exchange for what I saw, in this moment, as cheap and empty clichés.
On this day, I can recall myself spitefully responding to the echo of these encouraging messages as they continued to irritatingly resound in my mind. “Alright then, FINE! I will!” I closed my eyes, thinking it was such sweet revenge to retreat into my imagination, and decided that since life was miserable anyway… I would simply escape to that dream world where I could pretend that I was living the life I really wanted to be living.
I pictured owning a home for the first time… having a yard… and though I felt guilty for avoiding my reality, this was the only place I could go to feel joy—the world and life that existed inside of my own mind. I could experience the dream life as though it was real… and never wanted to open my eyes again.
Though I’d been very low, I eventually recovered enough to at least regain some of my previous homeostasis. However, about a year later, things had slightly changed… even improved upon what they had been a year before.
We had a starter home with a yard… just like I had dreamed!
Though we were still stressed and strained, I was still sour and ill-tempered, and we still had more debt than we could comfortably manage… my husband even had a better job, with benefits!
It took us about three more years from that point, and dragging ourselves to a few more seminars, before we finally realized that the relative upturn in our circumstances actually had its’ roots in the creation of my fantasy life that I’d mentally lived and emotionally interacted with for a day in my head… so many months before.
After recognizing what had happened, and after gaining an understanding of why it had affected my now present circumstances, I began to experiment with what I had learned. Trevan and I both did! And doggone it! if we didn’t triple our monthly income in less than four months. (How much would three times your income be?)
It was as though the blinders dropped from our minds’ eye, and we finally understood how it could actually be possible to take control of our life, simply by controlling our thoughts. Yes, “have a positive attitude” is key; but the notion had never held any power for me until I was given the whole picture.
So WHY does it work? And what HAD I done, anyway?
There are thousands of books on the market that teach it. I know, because I had (and still have) a library full of them.
But none of them had empowered me enough to effect permanent changes.
I decided that I needed to share what I had learned from my own every-day-person-and-mother-of-six perspective. I needed to write a STORY that contained within it the power to change a person’s life FOREVER.
The result? “The Jackrabbit Factor: Why You Can.”
Is it any good?
Hyrum Smith, co-founder of Franklin Covey and CEO of Galileo Initiative, thought it was… and Bob Proctor, best-selling author and founder of LifeSuccess Productions, did too. You’ll have a chance to see their comments on another page, but I want you to know what people like you and me have had to say about it:
“I just devoured your book… I am sitting here in tears because you cannot understand what a blessing and inspiration you have been…I was really moved by the story of Richard and his family and you don’t know how many times I have asked the same questions that Richard asks himself…and tried to lever myself out of the hole that I have been in. I have always believed that positive thought and faith have helped me to stay strong and persevere but after reading your book I realize that maybe it is time that I can do more than just get by.”
~ Wendy Valentine, single mother of three.
“I am actually at a loss for words after reading your manuscript. Kind of almost shook a little bit if that makes sense…”
~Fred Schofield, Independent IT Consultant
In a way, this story is OUR story. The details vary from person to person, but the underlying foundation and principles of discovery can always be identified. I want “the word” of the messages presented in this book to get out there quickly; to rescue other marriages like ours, and give kids their parents back. I want you to know what I know… finally!
If you’ll go to our Jackrabbit Factor page, you can read the whole thing for free.
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I hope this little blog series and the closer look at our story has provided you with some value and with some questions to consider as you assess whether you’re ready to learn, understand, and then put to practice the principles that we teach here with Rare Faith and the School of Life Mastery.
The principles outlined in the Jackrabbit Factor and my other book, Hidden Treasures, are principles that have been consistently instrumental in changing many lives, including mine and my family’s. I hope they can be instrumental in your life to render you and your family more prosperous in every way… as you learn about them, understand them, and take the time to thoughtfully, and patiently practice them for yourself.
You can do this. And now you know, I speak from experience!
For more inspiration, and for elaboration on principles taught in my books and in our School of Life Mastery courses, follow or subscribe to our blog!
Until next time!
- Rare Faith Waiting for the other shoe to drop - April 15, 2024
- Waiting for the other shoe to drop - April 12, 2024
- Join me for the Thrive Summit: Unlocking 5 Key Relationships - April 2, 2024
