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19. Fun In The Semi-Zone

The best way I know to increase your chances of getting what you want in life is to think logically. However, there is a far, far superior way to operate that puzzles the hell out of me and it doesn't seem to involve logical thinking at all.

You need logic because we are willy-nilly, experimenting all the time all our lives. We don't say that and we should. We just call it 'living'. Since there is no certainty we are living with probabilities. We are continually taking chances with everything in our lives. Realizing that you are conducting a life-long series of experiments, dances, games, (call them what you will) gives you a more 'elevated' viewpoint of your activities. This cooler, less passionate viewpoint helps you to engage your reason, increases your chances of success and allows you to have much more fun.

You can evaluate things in your head or actually do a 'pilot run' with a small portion of whatever the hell you want to happen. If you don't do either one your chances of success are chancy at best and sometimes, as in mountain climbing, dangerous. If you just assume that things will work out well, good luck.

Then there's what athletes call 'the Zone', that magical place where there's no experimenting; you're in total control and you get exactly what you want when you want it. I have been, like you, in the Zone a few times (mostly as a musician) and the situation is only joy. That's the paradox. How is it that by thinking you increase your chances of winning and when you're in the Zone you're winning, immensely happy, and not thinking at all?

I've tried pretending to be in the Zone, just rushing out and doing something (like skiing) and it was a disaster every time. Deeply religious or deeply spiritual folks who leave the details 'up to God' say, one way or another, I didn't trust enough. I didn't trust with my whole heart, didn't surrender completely, etc., etc.

Here.s the bottom line. If you trust 'in God' too soon, before any investigation, you have to be extremely lucky to succeed. A much more successful technique is as follows.

Although some gurus advocate just keeping your desire as simple as possible i.e., 'I want to feel better', I say be as specific as you can, 'I want the pain in my right shoulder-blade to be gone'. After you frame your desire the next step is to formally put the desire out of yourself. What I do is write it down and put it in a drawer. Then I start imagining.

For instance, I figure my life would be much more zone-like if I was driving a particular car, a Mercedes-Benz SL500 to be exact, and so I have pics of that machine around my desk to keep me reminded of what I want and the joy it will bring me. I don't envy anybody else's Merc, good for them, but focus on the joys to come from my (light blue please) one.

Lately I have started to truncate the future aspect and imagine that the Merc is already parked downstairs and now I'm actually having fun driving a non-existent machine! Please, I know the obvious: that I could get a job and buy the thing in x time but that's not enough fun for me. I do not, in my imagining, specify how the Merc will appear. That's far too complicated and worrisome but I stand ready to cooperate with anything that seems to lead to me getting my Mercedes. I do not put limits on how or when it will appear.

The results so far have produced fun only, so I'm still driving a (very nice) Buick. Stay tuned.

*P.S. The technique worked! As of January 2003 I'm driving a delightful Mercedes. Not the exotic 500SL I had dreamed of, but a more sedate '97 E420 sedan (green) that I preferred when shopping at the dealership. If you're interested, contact me and I'll fill you in with the details.

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