Sitting on the back porch, I kept looking to my right where I could see a brown “haze” under the weeping fir. I kept getting distracted because I couldn’t figure out what it was.

Thinking the rain or the morning light was doing something weird to my vision, I looked and looked and wondered why I had never seen a large brown bush or lower dead branch on the tree.

I was distracted the whole time I sat there, until I suddenly remembered that we had dumped forty tons of dirt the day before that we would use to level the ground in that area.

Immediately my focus cleared and I saw the large pile of dirt, no longer a brown “haze”.

Earlier that morning, looking out our front window, I saw a bush that I had never seen before. It was dark, but still, this is a garden I work on every day. How could there be a bush there? I knew that the day before what was there there was a big bush of chives in bloom.

Once I remembered that there were spring onions there, I saw that it was not a new bush, but the clump of spring onions scattered by the torrential rain from the night before.

Two reminders that the mind cannot see what it does not know.

This is good to know, for two reasons. One, if we want to see something, we have to learn to see what is already there. And, two, if we see something, we can be sure that we already have it because, once again, the mind does not see what it does not know.

How does this apply to everyday life? Let’s take the first idea. If we want to see something, we have to learn to see what is already there. Yes, I am validly assuming that everything is already present, and we just don’t see it because we don’t know it.

This is a valid assumption because it is easily proven. From quantum physics to spiritual consciousness, we know that the moment something is known or thought, it is.

Given this, what do we want to see that we are not seeing? Let’s say we want to see more wealth, in all its forms, in our lives. “In all its forms” is a key statement because that’s the place to start.

How many forms of wealth are there? Is it just that green stuff that we exchange and call money, or is it also the leaves of the trees, the kindness of a neighbor, a found treasure, a hug, a gift? Yes, each of these symbols, and the myriad of other symbols like it, are all wealth.

Instead of avoiding looking at wealth, we must learn to look at it. As we see wealth, recognize it, appreciate what we see, whether it appears as our own wealth or that of others, then the doors of perception begin to open and wealth appears in all its forms and becomes visible and visible. usable for us.

The brown haze transforms into a visible acknowledgment of what is really present.

The second idea follows the first. If we have seen it, it follows that we know it, which means that it is now ours. If we are hungry it is because we already know about food. If we desire beauty, it is because we already know beauty. If we long for love, it is because we already have love inside.

Once we accept this as truth, then the need for something no longer scares us, it encourages us to learn more about what we feel we need. It deepens our commitment to seek, honor and understand the true substance of what we want.

As we do this, our mind knows what to see and find, or indeed reveal. In this shift in perception, once again we discover that what we need is already present, but often not exactly in the package we were looking for, which brings us back to our first idea. We need to know, in order to see.

While I was staining the deck, I sent Del out to the garage to get some wood filler to fill in the holes in the deck. When he didn’t come back right away, I went to help him. I found the wood filler in just a few seconds. Why did I find him right away and he didn’t? It is not what you are thinking. It’s because he knew what the container looked like and he was looking for the type of container he used to enter.

We looked in the same place, but his mind expected to see the wood putty one way, and mine expected to see it another.

Do you see the implications of this? Yes, what we “perceive as reality is magnified.” Being responsible for expanding our perceptions, beginning with the reality we wish to live in, we take the time to constantly update our perceptions through awareness and gratitude, and as a result, wealth in all its forms becomes visible.

Within this perception there is no need for greed, panic or fear, there is only grateful anticipation for the revelation of the abundance that is already present to all equally and consistently.

Our work then becomes learning about the substance of Spirit, opening our vision, changing our point of view of perception to one of infinite and intelligent Love, and our state of mind perception to gratitude for His provision.

“If the doors of perception were cleared, everything would seem to man as it is, infinite. Because man has closed himself, until he sees all things through the narrow cracks of his cave.” -William Blake