Playing the Matrix: A Program for Living Deliberately and Creating Consciously

by Mike Dooley

1) Self-doubts and fear are normal in any journey, and they alone should not be allowed to stop you! Don’t worry that you worry. As long as you continue doing all you can, with all you have, from where you are, you will become unstoppable.

2) I still had the rest of my life to figure out, as you probably do right now, which meant one thing, I and you, must keep on keeping on, no matter where we are.

A big miracle day for me that I was completely unaware of. Remember, however, that just because you

can’t see the miracles doesn’t mean they’re not happening. They are. Every day. In your life. Today, even. KNOW THIS! We don’t usually know about most miracles until long after they happen. This is where faith, through understanding, comes in. This is life’s greatest hook—requiring us to behave in line with our dreams, not with what our physical senses are showing.

First, whenever the unexpected or unthought-of happens, it is always because just beyond it there was something you were thinking about, and the only way to get there was through the unthought-of territory. Thinking otherwise you jettison your power. You had control of whatever happened to you, albeit the reasons, purpose, and meaning behind such events is not always clear. But this neither means you must figure out why or how you specifically brought it about, nor does it mean it can or will repeat in the future. Best to simply claim responsibility for it, thereby retaining your power, and look ahead. Second, I’ve used the term train wreck throughout this book because it’s one we can all relate to, yet, while it indeed implies disaster, as you come to understand these things, you’ll start seeing them as flash points more symbolic of hope than doom. In truth, as I trust I’ve also made clear, all setbacks are setups for greatness; self-arranged gifts, sometimes wrought of “chaos,” that can take us

higher than we could have gone without them. Always. In my case, from the depths of my despair 17 years ago, I knew I didn’t want to “look for what was wrong with me,” nor try to explain, metaphysically, what had just happened, because if I had, I would’ve either found stuff or made it up. Instead of staring at the carnage of my train wreck, I doubled down on what I did know, how life, generally speaking, does work, that we are inclined to succeed, that our thoughts become things and we are born of, by, and for the Divine with default settings aimed at soaring.

TAKING ACTION Life is so not fair. The cards are stacked in your favor! Just make your end results general, get excited about them to the best of your ability, show up, do stuff, never stop. It’s going to feel beneath you. It’s going to seem futile, like my icebreaker speech at Toastmasters. But the physical senses deceive. They’re the biggest liars in your life. You’re a magic instigator! A manifesting matador! A natural born creator! Again, your positive thoughts are far more powerful than your negative thoughts. So, if you worry, or even have daily pity parties, ha! Enjoy them too, just be sure to do all else contained in this book, so that nothing can ever keep you down. In particular, for this chapter, understand: Taking action summons resources, emboldens beliefs, and avails you of life’s magic.

For every step you take, the Universe takes 10,000. Sometimes knocking on one door forces another to open. What you do is not as important as that you do it. By trying many paths, you automatically navigate around invisible limiting beliefs. Never stop asking for help, trying new directions, responding to conditions, innovating, evolving—stay in motion. The more you enjoy and can afford what you do, the more specific you can be.

Alternatively, you can try a different version of this exercise, like in the last chapter: Take a deck of five-by-seven-inch ruled index cards, and at the top of any number of cards write down one area of your life you’d like to see transformed. Some cards may be very general, like “Happiness” or “Health,” and on a few you might “dabble” on the right side of the Matrix, writing down “My New Car” or “My New House.” On each card, based upon its heading, you will then jot down all the things, even seemingly futile, that you could now physically do that might “inch” you closer to the manifestation. Later, of course, do them—like this week!

Doesn’t the person who always has something to do and somewhere to go catch your eye? Their motion creates an air of purpose, fulfillment, and happiness. Any of us can be that person. Not only will it foster quicker manifestations, because you’re out doing more, presumably happier (or about to become so) for your busy life, but just for the math of it, you’ll make possible more opportunities for life’s magic to find you.

Thinking big but acting small is the same as thinking small. Want to know if your thoughts are in congruence with a dream? They are if you’re physically doing something about them on a very regular basis.

Guidelines (not rules or laws) for Creative Visualization 1. One time a day is all that’s necessary. You don’t need to do it anymore. With one serious shot, you’ve created enough of an impression to convey the dream to the Universe. Let it go. Get back to the present moment. I take weekends off, you can too. Again, such is the leniency of life’s magic. 2. No longer than 5 or 10 minutes at a time. If you try to visualize longer, you’ll invariably begin daydreaming and then getting angry with yourself for losing your focus. Then you might even start labeling yourself

adult ADHD, and begin believing you can’t visualize! You can. It’s easy. Give it just a few minutes each day. To help with this one, you can use a timer. I used a kitchen egg timer for many years, until I thought to use my smartphone to silently count down four minutes, at which point an alarm sounds, and I’m done until the next day. 3. Ritualize it. Make a daily routine out of it, like you do for brushing your teeth. In advance, choose the following: the time of day, the specific room in the house, a chair in that room, draw the blinds, and start the timer. You’ll be far more likely to stick with a ritualized session than trying to remember “when you think of it and can spare the time.” 4. Imagine every conceivable detail. Sights, sounds, colors, texture...

faster the manifestation. Speaking of emotion . . . 5. Feel it. Throughout each session, get into a space of joy. Fake it if you have to, and you probably will. You don’t even have to have a reason for your joy, and not having a reason actually gives the Universe more leeway in bringing it to you later. Cut to the chase and imagine hearing congratulations from friends and strangers, smile ear to ear, clutch your fists, wave your palms, happy dance if you want (physically and/or mentally). Remember, it’s joy and happiness that you’re ultimately after, life’s ultimate end result, and when followed up with action each day, all of life’s details, players, and circumstances will be aligned and pos...

6. Script it in ...

Just a minute or so before you begin, decide upon a scenario you’ll imagine moving through. Decide where you’ll be, who with, doing what, when, where, why, etc. For example, you might be pushing a grocery cart through a familiar parking lot looking for your gorgeous new car. After you load it with your grocery bags, you’re off to your new office space to see if the package from your publisher arrived. Yes! Your new book translated into Swahili was delivered at 9:49 A.M., you show it off to your co-workers before leaving for the local high ...

7. Put yourself in the picture. Imagine yourself inside each image, experiencing all the details you’re visualizing, seen from your eyes, heard from your ears, felt in

your heart. This is your life, this is right now, this is happening to you! Let it be your hands on the steering wheel of your dreamed-of car. Your palm in someone else’s palm as you walk side by side down the beach. Your toes in the sand.

8. Dwell from the end result or beyond. Do not visualize your dream coming true. Right? See the twist? Again, do not visualize your dream coming true. Visualize your life as it will be after your dream came true—past tense. It’s already done! You’re already celebrating. Everything is super amazing, better than you had earlier imagined it would be. Now what are your dreams, your priorities, your challenges? This perspective implies you hit a total home run. That everything worked out. That you did it (not that you are doing it). Why? If you are “doing it,” that would mean you are visualizing a “how,” right? Imagine your life a week, a month, or a year after the dream has...

find the shortest, fastest, most harmonious way, maybe even in ways you hadn’t thought of. Now the Universe will be unfettered by any imposed “hows” you would have visualized. 9. Get physical when visualizing. I’ve learned these strategies by doing them. This last suggestion came about when I noticed I add a step to these guidelines when I visualize for one minute (using my timer) as part of my daily writing routine. In this exercise, I imagine (remember) what it feels like to have written a really good Note from the Universe—the emotion! Whoohoo! I did it! It’s awesome. I can’t wait to send it out! That’s the end result I’m after every time I write, a feeling of euphoria for having written well. Of course, I haven’t written anything yet, but the visualization is, It’s done! I did it. I love it! I do not visualize myself, for example, imagining that today I will write about grati...

guidelines, is that I notice that during this one minute I’d be pumping my fists, waving my palms, physically and audibly celebrating that I just wrote a great Note. And then, as soon as I’m done with this drill, which was step one of the Miraculous Mechanics of Manifestation, I do step two: Start writing, even though I have no idea of what I will write. Anything that comes to my mind. It’s usually pretty bad. Invariably it gets deleted pretty quickly, but then I’m on to something else. I edit it. Cut and paste, delete some, add some, and within an hour or three, sometimes more, I get to that whoohoo place, the manifestation I was after, that was ordained by my earlier thoughts and theatrics. Do you see, the only way I could ever get to my felt end result of “joy for having written well,” is if I write well! The means, the hows are forced, emerging as I actually wrote, anything at first, ...

Question: What do rich folk daydream and visualize about? Answer: Yeah, whatever they want. Trick question: What do poor folk daydream and visualize about? Answer: Yeah, whatever they want. You’re coming along so quickly, The Universe

P.S. Whether or not more money is your “thing,” it works the same no matter who you are: You’re free to think about whatever you want . . . and you’ll get it.

Preparing the Way The first type of demonstration is about doing something that “prepares the way” for what is implied to be the inevitable arrival of your dream. For example, if you were to order furniture tonight, and they said, “Thank you very much! Your new furniture will be delivered this Thursday at 2 P.M.” What would you do at home between tonight’s ordering it and Thursday at 2 P.M.? Maybe move some or all of the old furniture into a new room, buy complementary throw pillows or a matching rug? You’d prepare the way—physically—for its inevitable arrival. You wouldn’t go home and worry, What if it never shows up? What if I don’t believe in myself? What if it’s not right for

me? No. You ordered it, it’s coming, get your home ready to receive it. With confidence and understanding (again, even if you have to fake either) you should do the same for your “orders” placed with the Universe. Don’t worry about it. Or, even if you do worry about it, still prepare the way for its arrival. Maybe you really want the furniture from this hypothetical example, but you can’t afford it now. Can you afford the throw pillows? The rug? Get them! Start acting like you know the furniture’s coming (while you also do what you can, moving in its general direction). Maybe you can gently rearrange some of your existing furniture too. Not that you should vacate the room. Similarly, considering your priority areas for transformation that you named in earlier chapters, where might you start preparing for the inevitable changes about to sweep through your life? Do you want more friends, to relocate, find a new home, change careers, make more money? Then go! Do stuff that tells your inner witness (your deepest, truest self), “Everything is about to change in fantastic new ways!” This becomes Limited-Belief-Busting Freebie Tip #4: how to install new,

empowering beliefs (that your life is about to change), without admitting to any limiting ones, simply by acting like it on a regular basis. Some more examples follow, to get you started on making your own lists of make-believe-pretending, which you will follow through on and actually do: Prepare-the-Way Examples Rearrange the “furniture of your life”—as just reviewed. Shop for and test drive your new car—as if you will soon be buying it. Know interest rates and depositor insurance limits at banks and brokerage firms—you want to be responsible with that avalanche of abundance coming your way! Buy exercise or running s...

don’t have to spend a dime on this stuff, yet, but you can window-shop in preparation, and you can fill up online shopping carts to be ready. Acting “As If” Alternatively, although similar, instead of preparing for the inevitable arrival of your desired changes, you can deliberately act “as if” they’ve already happened in your life, probably pretending it was in the very recent past, through simple demonstrations. Acting “As If” Examples Have a dinner party celebration (with friends who get this stuff). Speak of, celebrate, and toast each other’s latest outrageous escapades (your dreams that will b...

could I share some stories here, of how women seemed to appear out of thin air after such demonstrations, ironically shifting my issue of loneliness to something else . . . Get a gift for the person you dream of being in your life, as if they already are. If you feel time-starved, take unplanned time off—as if you felt you had more free time. This is a great way to show yourself that you really do have more time than you’ve probably been complaining about. Write a letter telling someone dear of your latest successes—this is such a favorite of mine, let me elaborate. Write a Letter Telling Someone Dear of Your Latest Successes This is not ...

great emphasis on present dreams you have for your future, as if they had already come to pass. I suggest making it four parts: Part 1 – A paragraph or a page to reacquaint. This will be based upon your shared past, true and factual. For example, I’ll offer you a hypothetical mini-starter: Hi Roxy, how are you and Tigger? Have you been sailing lately? I really miss our nights out. Part 2 – A paragraph or a page on a dream of yours that has “just come true.” Guess what! Remember my invention, the kitten leg warmers? The guy who starred in The Apprentice just bought the patent. He paid me $7 million. He also asked me out, but I had to fire him. Part 3 – Now, this paragraph (or page) is an exercise in and of itself. Explain why “this time” achieving your dream was so easy. Instead of rationalizing why something might not work, as we too often do, I want you to explain why it was such a roaring success. You will be challenged. You’re welcome. Ever since I learned to play the Matrix (shameless plug), my life has been easy. I also think it helped that I learned to knit, plus going to the gym, joining Toastmasters, and finishing high school. I’ve realized I’m a natural born entrepreneu...

1. Write a blueprint for your life. I first wrote such a blueprint, or script might be a better name, back in 1983, and I still have it. I save most of these things I’ve done, which allows me to quote them now, verbatim. In this exercise, you’ll write down (or I suppose you could draw/paint it if you’re

so inclined) a narration depicting the amazing, clarifying, and happy events that are soon to unfold in your life. You won’t write things like, “I hope” or “I want.” Instead, as if you had a blank check to write the future upon, you are to confidently go into future-mode and reminisce by saying things like, “I did” or “I went.” Despite such verbiage, the point here is to show yourself how things might go, not how they will go (unless you’re general)—there isn’t to be any “insistence” that things will go as you write. You’ll simply review what you’ve written from time to time for inspiration, or to charge yourself up before you might visualize the same. You’ll find, particularly if you’ve been feeling low, that this exercise stirs hope and creates possibilities for your future thoughts and manifestations. Here’s some of what I wrote that first time, that showed me how I might emerge from the abyss I felt I was in, during the three months in between graduating from college, unemployed with a fancy convertible to pay for, and landing my first degree-related job: Blueprint. June 8, 1983. Page 1 of 12.

Where you are is never who you are. You’re unimaginably more. More than the step, more than the path. You are God, you’re rich, you’re healthy, you’re gorgeous, you’re powerful, and you will be forevermore.

7. Scrapbooks and vision boards. Books and card decks are dedicated to this. Make one, dude! These are awesome tools because they steer your thinking toward end results representing the life of your dreams, or to whatever you make yours represent, automatically bypassing the “cursed hows.” And then, those thoughts, when acted upon, will become your things.

Approach creating change as play, not work; as fun, not mandatory. Thinking positive thoughts is never enough; you must act on those thoughts.

A tip on legend making: Do what you most want to do and do it your way. Every single challenge of your life bears a gift, “lucky” you. Playing make-believe is the fastest way to believing, and believing is the fastest way to receiving.