Budweiser's American Dream , Law of Attraction, and the Gospel of Greed

This adorable video reminds me of Joseph Campbell who said that it wasn't until he was advanced in years that he was able to look back on his path in life and realize that he had been guided by unseen hands.

It also reminds me of the saying that the Universe never gives us more than we can handle.  So if you've put yourself in the harness and it feels like you've taken on too much, take heart. You don't have to do it alone. 

Help comes in many forms. It may come through dreams or intuitions. Signs or synchronistic messages. It may come from friends or complete strangers. 

Like Lilou Mace.

Yesterday, Bob and I decided to go on a "Sea Cruise." Just for the fun of it. We've both had our shoulder to the harness and needed a time out to reconnect. So, we hopped the ferry to Vancouver, then caught the City Bus to the Bridgeport Exchange where we got onto the Sky Train.  We rode the Sky Train out to the airport, then caught a hotel shuttle back to the Sandman Inn, where we had lunch before making our way back to the ferry.


It turned out to be an interesting theme day.

The two-hour ferry trip gave us plenty of time away from the daily demands. Time to chat and read. That's when I started reading Lilou Mace's e-book. 

Lilou (pronounced Lee-Lew) writes about how she got fired from her job. And instead of feeling "this is awful" - fear, anger and despair - she made a conscious choice to perceive what was happening as a "good thing." 

She didn't know how it was a good thing, but she decided to see it as an adventure. And it got her feeling excited about where all this might be leading her. (It eventually led her into her dream job!)


So rather than feeling a sense of loss, Lilou embraced her sense of adventure! She set her intention to live life  from a place of passion, fun, inspiration, and purpose. What she calls "juicy." I found myself thinking, "Yah, bay-bee, I want me some of THAT!"


One of the things she wrote was, "I am 100% responsible. If I am not feeling good then I need to change something." This is such a great statement! It's now hanging on my office wall! We're not responsible for the world of outer things. We're responsible for how we feel about those things. Taking 100% responsibility is a choice to no longer be a victim to external conditions. 

As Forrest Gump said, "Shit happens." The world is simply the out-picturing of collective thought. So don't take it personally. You didn't create the war, or the recession, or the government bailout scheme. You didn't create poverty, or human traffic. 

At least, not on your own.


You contribute to it. We all do, by participating in the global system which generates it. An example of this is the concept of investment. The idea of making money by simply investing it is ludicrous. If you understand what money actually is, this is apparent. But that's not a diatribe I want to engage in at this time. The Buddha would say, "what is, is." And we all act out of our current level of consciousness. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.


Bob and I got talking about Kevin O'Leary. He has his own TV show now. We used to watch him on Dragon's Den and he made my skin crawl. 

O'Leary is a little man with a lot of money. His religion is greed. Apparently, he feels entitled to treat anyone beneath him like a maggot. "Greed is good," he says. 

It seems Greed has replaced God. And if you're not following the Gospel of Greed, O'Leary's Inquisition will gladly have you burned at the stake as a "loser."


Little Kevin is not the devil. He's merely one of the minion preaching the Gospel of Greed. Like Tom Vu, he uses guilt, shame, and criticism to add weight to his sermon. If you don't have a big yacht and lots of beautiful women clamoring for your attentions, you're a L-O-O-Z-A-H!


What they don't mention is that money can't buy everything. Sure, it can buy you better health care. So if you need a new heart you'll probably get on the list. But it won't buy you a soul. 


And that's what Lilou tapped into. 

Living juicy is living a soulful life. It's living 100% responsible for feeling good. Kevin O'Leary will surely argue that he feels great. He sleeps like a baby on his million dollar mattress every night. And I say, sleep on, Kev.


"The soul is dead that slumbers." - Henry Wadsworth


I pity O'Learly. At least, the O'Leary I have in my head. After all, it's my dream. The Kevin O'Leary that's marketed on TV is a Big Jerk that gets massive ratings. For all I know, he could be a closet saint financing orphanages and school lunch programs. But I kind of doubt it ...

Shift happens.


Lilou writes, "anything that feels good will help to you shift your energy." 


Well, Kevin makes my skin crawl. My stomach does a slight roll and my heart winces every time he opens his mouth. I don't like bullies. So I want to shift my focus to things that feel better. Things that inspire, that spark the "juice." 

That's the place I want to make decisions from. Not from "should", or "have to", or "you'd better, or else." The only thing fear and common sense has ever given me is misery, pain and despair. Too much darkness. 


I read a great sign the other day. "Please do not open the door. It lets the darkness out." 


I'm going to be the Rebel, the Contrarian that goes counter-culture, by opening the door to my heart and mind. I'm letting the dark thoughts and feelings OUT. Maybe this is opening a Pandora's Box. But if you know your mythology, you'll remember that once all the spites were released, something yet remained. Hope. And that is a light.

This is soul work. 

 As a dream worker and a hypnotherapist, I work with images. So, as I wrote, numerous Tarot images came to mind. 

The Rebel is Key 4, the Emperor. He (or she) lives by his own rules, not by the cultural values or opinions of others. True rulership is self-rulership. Self-authority. That's being 100% responsible.


The 5 of Cups depicts disappointment. When I did the Satir Transformational Healing Training I realized this is a place I hang out in. It's just never good enough. The 5 of Cups is an image of Pandora's Box. All the spites have been released in one's outer life. The evidence appears as loss, spilled milk, not the results you had hoped for. 

Lilou lost her job. she could have focused on all the evidence for feeling bad - scared, angry, disappointed, alone, frustrated, guilty. It was all right there - an opportunity to feel really shitty. 

But, "Shit happens."  And the whole story hadn't yet been read. The movie wasn't over yet.

In the next scene, the two remaining cups become evident. They're full of "juice." And they are there now, contained in this moment of apparent loss.


This is so much more than just finding the good. 

It's about trusting in the Plan to which your life has purpose, which defines your Path. And when you're on your Path, you feel good. And that is being in alignment with God, what Julia Cameron calls "Good Orderly Direction." That's the best we can hope for. 


There's no need to ask for anything because it is already given. That's what the 5 of Cups shows. We just need to do a one-eighty to be able to see it. 

The problem is that the negativity of the world and of our personal life events fits with our perception of how life should be. It fits with our beliefs. Our expectations.

But there's more to life than what we perceive ...


By releasing the loss - the uncomfortable feelings that life has dished us up a big bowl of toenails - we can shift the energy and discover what's left. 

What's left brings Hope. The Light. And the Light contains all the juice. So open the door, let the darkness out. Because, like Motel 6, G.O.D. left the LIght on for you.


The Light is depicted in Key 9, the card of the Hermit who carries a lantern to light his way as he makes his way up the mountain. There's a suggestion of striving in this card, but it's the inner quest, not worldly achievement that's depicted. 

We each climb the mountain alone. That's how Wisdom is achieved.


When Moses went out into the desert he 'went up the mountain' daily. Eventually he had his burning bush experience and his life's purpose was revealed to him. It was there, in the cave of his innermost mind, that he "saw the Light". 

Like Moses, the Hermit is an archetype of soul searching, finding sufficient Light - joy, inspiration, purpose, JUICE - to guide you in your own life. Joseph Campbell called it "following your bliss." 

However you do it, that's your teaching. Your belief.


"My life is my teaching." - Sai Baba


Your conscious beliefs or aspirations or how much material wealth are not the measure of your worth or wisdom. It's what you demonstrate. That's your actual level of consciousness. 

It's how you light your way.

www.devilstherapy.com