- Image by Salon de Maria via Flickr
When the Student is Ready
For years I’ve been looking for ways to get into a new career; something where I can do what I love from home utilizing all my natural skills. Like many people, my first inclination was to jump online and grab my share of the internet gold rush. Well, I can’t tell you how expensive that education has been, both in terms of dollars as well as time.
But all is not lost. In spite of my long journey, with all its twisted detours and delays, I did come out with a pocket full of extremely useful tools and skills that will allow me to independently manage every aspect of my new career.
It was quite by chance that I actually stumbled upon my choice. In February, I put together a collection of love songs for Maggie on Valentine’s Day. I really loved the feeling of doing the research, finding just the right songs. I loved the feeling of being able to write my own poetry and set it to my own music. I also loved the feeling of being able to design pages using my fantastic website building software, XSitePro. I especially loved the feeling of anticipating Maggie’s surprise and appreciation for my unique expression of love.
The end result wasn’t a labor of love… it was a veritable playground! LoveThatFeeling.com was registered on February 23 and on February 27, the first blog post appeared.
Yesterday Once More
In yesterday’s article, “Wants or Desires – You Decide” I wrote about the principles of desire and gratitude opening doors and lighting pathways. My desire for doing something online had already been building for years. Now, mixed with the love, joy and gratitude of putting together my Valentine’s Day project, I received a ‘gift’ in the form of an idea. I recognized the opportunity at once; I KNEW I had to do this. I decided!
The series of events that began to unfold and continue to do so right up to today may seem coincidental to the casual observer. I know better. “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear” is just another way of saying, “What you decide on will be done, and light will shine on your ways.” I am creating and manifesting my own destiny! Way cool!
Anyone who has had a WordPress blog for more than a year will tell you that things are so much easier now than they were even a year ago. Back in the earliest incarnations of WordPress, you definitely had to be a bit of a geek. Although I love to figure things out for myself, I have to admit that I was mightily intimidated by WordPress and I avoided it like the plague.
Jason Johns - WordPress Demystified
Then, just as ‘luck’ would have it, I was introduced to a new friend Jason Johns from the UK who just so happened to have recently written an amazing WordPress Tutorial called WordPress Demystified. Jason and his program really DID take ALL the mystery out of WordPress, explaining and decoding all the new terms like plugins, widgets, themes, permalinks, sidebars, settings… he walked me through EVERYTHING. This one program single-handedly gave me the confidence to explore even greater horizons.
More Serendipity
Darren Rowse - ProBlogger.net
Armed with my newfound confidence, I tweaked my blog, experimenting with new themes, installing extra widgets and plugins for added functionality and enhanced user experience, changed the appearance, you name it. I was having a ball. At this point, I couldn’t believe how I was EVER afraid of WordPress.
Within a few short weeks, I realized that there were so many more possibilities in blogging. POOF! Darren Rowse from ProBlogger.net, one of the world’s most recognized and respected bloggers entered the picture. If this guy was so great, why had I never heard of him before?
Um, Russy… “When the student is READY!”
I think the ProBlogger name is actually a bit modest. Words like ‘Extraordinaire’, ‘Magnifique’ and ‘Par Excellence’ spring to mind, just to name a few. (so much for my French heritage) The fact is, Darren literally gives of himself so much in his content. His writing style is fun, honest and genuine. His information, most of it FREE, is top notch! Darren is influencing my own writing style, challenging me to try new formats - (you’ve noticed a lot of ‘list’ articles recently)
Brian Clark - CopyBlogger.com
Darren then led me to Brian Clark of CopyBlogger.com. Brian and his staff put out an extremely entertaining and informative newsletter and blog which specializes in copywriting. However, one of the biggest benefits of hooking up with Brian was that he encouraged me to use a professional blogging theme for WordPress called Thesis. In one weekend, my site went from a dark, drab orange color with mediocre navigation and functionality, to the sharp, clean look you see today. Thanks, Brian. 
Leo Babuta - ZenHabits.net
But that’s not all folks! In one of his blog articles, Brian introduced me to super-blogger Leo Babauta from ZenHabits.net. In only two years, Leo has gone from zero to 110,000 subscribers – true testament to his incredible writing and networking talent.
So what, Russy.
Well, starting next Tuesday, I will begin a ten day blogging course, studying and interacting one-on-one with ALL THREE of these great men! Each of them will be sharing everything they’ve gleaned over the past few years so that I can accelerate my own learning curve, taking LoveThatFeeling.com to the next level and beyond.
And to think that just two months ago, I had never heard of any of these guys!
“When the student is ready.” Indeed!
The Hits Just Keep On Coming!
I don’t know if you caught this – to me, it’s the most incredible part of this story. The moment I stopped chasing the almighty dollar and started putting myself into creating things of beauty and value, first for Maggie and then for the world, that’s the same time all this ‘fortuity’ started.
Did I say, “When the student is ready?”
Can you tell I’m excited? Today I’m living my dream. Sure, you can argue that I’m not ‘THERE’ yet. For me, the journey IS the destination. Just like putting my Valentine’s Day project together for Maggie, I’m having the time of my life creating and manifesting my vision. I already see it in my mind and that makes me incredibly happy.
That’s the formula, my friends.
- Seeing and believing intensifies the desire.
- Gratitude and happiness raises the vibration of the Law of Attraction.
- Suddenly, light floods your path; doors are thrown wide open; the right people and circumstances magically appear at exactly the right time.
What could be more exciting than that? All together now, boys and girls… you gotta Love That Feeling!
Russ, all I can offer is, ain’t serendipity grand!?
I will be contacting you on the forum later with further comments.
Thanks Al
Looking back, I’ve had many other serendipitous experiences throughout my lifetime. Everything happens for a reason, even if we can’t see it right in that moment. The old saying is so true, “What you resist, persists.”
Easy to say – I’m still learning to let go earlier in challenging times and go with the flow. However, I really do believe that everything is for the ultimate good. Why not get there sooner rather than later? Life is a journey. Sit back and enjoy the ride. You gotta Love That Feeling, right?