The following excerpt is taken from the new book Slow Down: The Fastest Way to Get Everything You Want, by David Essel. It is published by Hay House (April 2004) and available at all bookstores or online at: www.hayhouse.com

SLOW DOWN:
The Fastest Way to Get Everything You Want

Chapter 3

Final Thoughts on Manifesting All That You Desire

The routine I’m about to share with you has been a daily part of my life for many years now, and I know that by slowing down and adopting a similar program, you too can begin to live with more optimism, love, and energy.

Each morning when I get up, I go turn the coffeemaker on. Then, on the way back to
my bedroom, I’ll thank my plants for their beauty, thank God and my angels for
another phenomenal day, and then lie back down for a 20- to 30-minute intention/gratitude meditation.

After a deep breath, I mentally open my mind, my eyes, nose, mouth, ears, throat, heart, soul, and body. For example, as I say "I open my mind," I envision the top of my head slowly opening up, and I repeat this for each part of my body. Then I take another deep breath and ask to be filled with God’s patience, love, empathy, joy, abundance, grace, discipline, health, and spirit. From there I’ll go into a session of gratitude where I’ll give thanks for all that occurred the day before. I might be thankful for my sleep, the book I read, a delicious dinner, the friends I visited, the business I accomplished, my workout, the beauty of the day, or whatever, but I always try to specifically recall things to give thanks for. This period of gratitude slows me down and lets me relive the beauty of the previous day.

Next, I’ll say an affirmation for each area of my life that I want to continue growing in and being blessed with. With each one, I ground myself by making the sign of the cross. Here are my affirmations:

• Spirituality: "I am healed and guided to a deeper sense of spirituality at this moment and every moment forward through God and my angels." I then see in my mind’s eye my spiritual path becoming stronger.

• Emotions: "I am healed and guided to a deeper sense of emotional strength at this moment and every moment forward through God and my angels." I then see in my mind’s eye my emotional state becoming stronger.

• Physical health: "I am healed and guided to a healthier state physically at this moment and every moment forward through God and my angels." I then see in my mind’s eye my physical health becoming stronger.

• Career path: "I am healed and guided to a deeper connection with my career path at this moment and every moment forward through God and my angels." I then see in my mind’s eye my career path being enhanced.

• Financial wealth: "I am healed and guided to more abundance financially at this moment and every moment forward through God, and my angels." I then see in my mind’s eye my financial wealth growing daily, of which I give 10 percent of my gross income to help others.

• Love: "I am healed and guided to a more loving state at this moment and every moment forward through God, and my angels." I then see in my mind’s eye my deep love of others as well as myself.

At the end of this session, I ask to be guided to reach my maximum potential in every area of my life. Then I arise, enjoy my coffee, and begin my day.

Intention into Action

Before I truly immersed myself in the concept of slowing down as often as possible during the entire day, my conscious decision to live life with intention and gratitude would end right here. But as I continued to look for new avenues that allowed me to slow down even more, I found that when I asked throughout the day to be more patient, loving, and aware, opportunities arose offering me the chance to do just that. Now I recommend to all my clients that they slow down, and before they leave their houses, mentally go through a list of intentions as they drive to work.

I remember a client named Monica whose daily intention meditation led to action and phenomenal results. She was an engineer at a large corporation, and she had just been given a great promotion. But her excitement was stymied on the day she walked into her first meeting to see 20 male engineers sitting in front of her with "Prove your competency to us" written across their faces. This was a challenge she wasn’t prepared for. Their lack of support continued for weeks, and it became evident that they wanted her to feel like an outsider. (She later found out that there were several people in this group who had been passed over when she was selected for the promotion, and they were determined to make her life miserable at best.)

Although she was normally an extremely organized and competent person, during our first session together, Monica told me that she was becoming unglued. Her confidence was waning and she found herself uncharacteristically scattered, starting a variety of projects at work and at home but never completing them.

I asked Monica to slow down and evaluate all the possible sources of stress and struggle in her life at that moment. Then, together we created a series of intentions for her to repeat before she left her house each morning and once again before she got out of her car at work. I knew that if she continued to let her mind race, nothing would change, so I asked her to create the intention to become calmer, to listen to someone else’s opinion before stating her own, and to have gratitude for everything that was going right in her life.

This practice immediately began to help Monica become centered. She felt a shift every time she slowed down and repeated her intentions, so instead of walking into work in a frenzied state worrying about all that could possibly go wrong that day, she calmly repeated them. She began walking more slowly and confidently from her car to her office, and she also began to take five minute breaks, two times a day, where she would again slow down and repeat the end result she desired to manifest into her life. Her intention and gratitude led to action, and she became a competent, goal-oriented, compassionate, centered, and strong leader. At our final session, she told me that without a doubt, the use of daily intentions was the key to her own internal turnaround.

Your intention might be as simple as smiling at everyone you see at work today. By mentally rehearsing this action before even arriving at the office, your daily thoughts turn into the action steps that improve your daily life.