Cupcakes!

Posted by Fiona Harrold | No Comment

Have you ever noticed what happens when you really focus on something, whether it’s a type of car or a type of person, and you suddenly begin to spot that very car or person all the time?

Or it may be thinking of someone, the phone rings and lo and behold! It’s as if we place ourselves on the same wavelength as the object of our focus.

One woman who did this and turned her life around is the Hollywood actress, Virginia Madsen, star of “Sideways” and “The Number 23.”

Up until her role in “Sideways” she had been out of work for some time and her LA home threatened with repossession.

Here’s what she says:

“I created the change in my life. I turned my life in a different direction and really started living with intention. Anyone can do that, and certainly some of the greatest minds in the world do it.”

She’s talking about the power of focus and visualisation. To prove the power of focus, this is what she did:

“I decided I would only think about cupcakes and I wrote down the word ‘cupcake.’ Lo and behold, they began to appear everywhere. I got out of a cab and there was a grand opening of a cupcake place. I turned on CNN and there was a story about how cupcakes are now all the rage. I got a present from my agent when I started this film: a basket of cupcakes.”

Fuelled by her new awareness of how she was influencing what showed up in her, life she began to create a momentum in her life – getting into shape, taking more acting lessons, calling casting agents. And then she received the call that led to “Sideways” and her Academy Award nomination.

What’s Your Cupcake?

I was discussing all of this at a recent Saturday morning Success Group. At the end we all chose our own “cupcake” – the one thing we would focus on and work to pull into our lives. I did not mention my cupcake until later over coffee when Rita Hamill, my assistant on the course, asked me what my cupcake would be.

Thinking about it, I identified a new literary agent. To be honest, I already had someone in mind and on the following Monday morning set about preparing the three chapters of my new book to send to the agent.

At 11am I took a break to call the local GP to make an appointment for my teenage son (spotty skin!). I dialled the number and a woman’s voice came on the line.

I had not reached the Lilyville Surgery but the offices of a leading London literary agency! The last four digits of their number are the same as my doctor’s – the first three are completely different.

Laughing at the coincidence, she asked about the book and then suggested I send the chapters in to them. It also transpired that they are based in West London, a ten minute walk from me. That’s my cupcake!

So, how elegant could life really be if you focused exclusively on what you wanted to show up in your life?

How different would your life be if you controlled what you focused on? Too often we focus on what we don’t want and inadvertently use the power of our intention to visualise that very outcome. It’s called worry.

Too often we avoid thinking about what we want so we won’t feel too disappointed if it doesn’t happen. And on and on.