Success: manifesting the perfect creative live/workspace

[Wandering_Star]

I'm an artist, and do many other types of creative work. And for my entire adult life, I've struggled with inadequate live/work space. Either I lived in places that were too small, or, when they seemed like they should be big enough, they really weren't because the floor plan of the house and indoor/outdoor access was a problem.

My current house is great, but too small for both live/work, and doesn't have enough climate-controlled storage. I also wanted to buy another property as a long-term investment. So back in October, I started looking for something nearby that I could use as work space, while continuing to live in my current house. The most likely candidates in my price range were all small houses on semi-rural properties that had large shop/garage spaces. I found one that, at the time, looked like a good option. It had been sitting on the market for many months, with no price reduction yet, so I just bookmarked it and kept looking.

While I kept searching, I started organizing art supplies for the big move, and kept visualizing myself in the one property that seemed right.

The problem was, however, was that all of my visualizations kept drifting away from happily doing creative work there, to all of the improvements I would have to make on the huge garage and little, nondescript house for it to be a place I wanted to be in. There were no critical repairs that needed to be done, and it would have been perfectly adequate, but it was all just sort of...ugly.

Long story short, in January (after a nice price reduction), that property sold—to someone else. I checked the listing, and it said "Sale Pending."

To my surprise, I was completely okay with this; I was not heartbroken; I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything. Because, as I kept trying to visualize myself in this place, I had started to feel like it was just too cheap and ugly, and decided I wanted something better. I spent some time looking into my finances, to see if I could afford a nicer place, and decided I could.

It wasn't a waste of time to visualize myself in that property, however, because doing so got my vibrational juices flowing, so to speak. I started with the thought, "I think I want a dedicated workspace," in late October, having only a vague idea of what I wanted, and a lot of limited notions about what I could afford, and what I should expect to be able to buy. So I latched on to a property that was a match for those early assumptions. As I visualized it over time, that helped me refine my ideas of what I wanted, helped me realize I could do much better. (That's why asking for, "This, or something better" is commonly advised in LoA circles.)

I expanded my search area. Once I did, I immediately found the perfect place. And I knew it was the perfect place because I felt an intense rush of excitement the moment I saw the listing photos, and knew immediately it was my next house. I've had that feeling before, and it's always a sign that I'm doing the absolute right thing, the thing I am meant to do.

It's a big house, built into a hillside overlooking water, trees, and mountains, with living quarters upstairs, and a huge, partially-finished basement that has direct access to the outside and lots of daylight. Much of the basement is just a large, open space, which is exactly what I need. There is tons of storage. It's on a big, wooded lot, extremely private, and invisible from the road below.

The trouble was, when I went to call the real estate agent the next day, the listing had changed to "Sale Pending." And I felt crushed.

But not for long. I pulled myself together, decided that the house was mine, and I was going to have it. Home sales fall through all the time, for all kinds of reasons; so could this one.

So I called the listing agent anyway, and told her that I was interested in that house, and if the sale didn't work out to give me a call. That was on a Tuesday.

And then, being an artist, I got hit by the inspiration to make drawings of the interior of the house, based on the listing photos. I hadn't even toured the house yet, and only had the photos to go by, but they were enough. I started with the kitchen and living room, because I the felt the most enthusiastic about them.

I colored those drawings with all the paint colors I would use in those rooms. I put murals on some walls, and started real sketches for those murals. I drew my own furniture, art, and belongings in the house. I went to the paint store, picked out color chips for all the colors I might want to use, and then spent a couple of hours looking at light fixtures, tile, and flooring for my new house, imagining what everything would look like once installed. There's a deck that looks out over the water, so I drew my patio furniture into a picture of that deck, with my cats lying in the sun, and my favorite coffee mug sitting on the table.

And as I did all of these drawings, and looked at things for the house, I visualized myself in the house—decorating it, moving furniture around, unpacking all of my books, setting up my studio, putting up shelves in the storage rooms, making it mine. And this time? It was easy.

I spent about 24 hours (Tuesday from about 10:00 AM until Wednesday at 9:00 AM) doing all of this with absolutely ferocious intensity—it was nuts. I hardly slept or ate; I just drank lots of coffee and worked at full throttle until all of a sudden I couldn't. It was like all of the energy just drained right out of me. So I went to bed, and when I woke up later that afternoon I felt really calm and happy. I hardly thought about the house at all, and didn't look at the listing, but I did continue sorting and packing art supplies, telling myself I'd be moving soon.

The following Monday, I got a call from the listing agent. The buyer had just received an incredible job offer overseas, decided to take it, and had to back out of the sale. Was I still interested?

Ha ha—was I?!

Anyway, it's been a little over a week since then, and I'm now under contract; the sale closes and I take possession of my new house and workspace on the 15th—barely more than a month since I first saw the listing—and I couldn't be any more excited. I've pulled off some pretty big manifestations over the years (including getting my mortgage loan on a previous house completely forgiven), but for sheer intensity in the process, this one really takes the cake.