Having achieved a house to live in that met every criteria I asked for (near BART, in price range, 2nd story, 2 or more housemates, accepting of cat, hot tub, ability to decorate living room), I thought I would further test my manifestation abilities the other day:

I received in the mail a few weeks ago a car key, and a flyer from my credit union about a used car sale happening. The flyer announced that a winning key had been mailed out and that one only needed to show up at the used car sale and test the key in their lock box to see if it was a winner. So a week ago, the second/final day of the sale, I had stashed the key and flyer in my purse and headed off to church. I had allotted just enough time to get to church assuming a bus would come within 10 minutes. When I got to the stop, the scrolling screen announced more than a 30-minute wait. I glanced across the street and noticed a bus was coming for the opposite direction. That bus would take me toward the used car sale. I decided to run across the street and take that bus instead.

I stopped off at a coffee shop along the way, pondering my odds of winning the car, which was a 2012 Mercedes. I also considered my need for a car. I was soon to be moving to Berkeley, and between coaching and my businesses a car might really come in handy. I wondered to myself whether I could affect my luck by simply believing that I would win. A few months back, I had attended a summit where a coach’s name was drawn from a basket of names (of which mine was also included). When she won, she declared she just *knew* she was going to win. She had wanted it oh-so badly. I remember having felt somewhat indifferent about whether I would win. So I wondered if the desire to win could really impact the odds of one winning, and thought I might test this hypothesis.

It is said that to get what you desire, you must bring yourself to the frequency of whatever it is you desire. In this case, I imagined myself sitting in my new Mercedes, feeling not surprised that I won it, feeling like its owner. I tried to imagine myself winning it and feeling what that would feel like, but as if I had *known* I would win it all along. This was a difficult visualization! I wasn’t sure exactly what this energy should feel like, but I tried meditating on it as I finished my breakfast.

One thought that interrupted me was “What if someone already has won the car yesterday?” I knew this was within the realm of possibilities, yet I tried not to dwell on it so as to not have it affect the outcome! I also thought, “How could you change destiny now?” The keys had been chosen several weeks prior, so was there even a way to affect the outcome at this point by the power of my mind? Although the likely answer was “no”, I continued my “New Mercedes” energy and traveled on toward the used car sale.

When I arrived at the sale, the faces of the men sitting at the “Try your key here” table said it all. The car had been won the day before. I shrugged it off, tried the key in the box anyway for good measure, and went inside the lot to browse the vehicles. Immediately one car stood out to me: a used 2009 Smart car with a white exterior, sunroof, and a flashy red interior. I remarked what a funny-looking car it was, and the salesman asked me if I wanted to drive it. I did. I had been thinking about driving a Smart car ever since I started seeing them during my valet jobs. Everyone kept telling me how poorly they drive, how stupid they look, and how unsafe they must be, but I could only see the benefits: likely safer than a moped or motorcycle and could cart groceries and/or two people.

And with the convertible top open and the fun gear shift hand pedals, I just fell in love driving it! Before I knew it I was inside making the deal happen and had papers in hand. I decided to have my law firm review the papers, which annoyed the sales guys, who wanted to finalize the sale same-day. At that point I was in a hurry to leave to my next appointment. The sales guy asked me if I wanted to put down a deposit, but I decided to play my bets that it wouldn’t sell and told him no, that I’d just get back to him the next day.

Around 4pm the next day I had finalized insurance quotes and had an attorney review the contract with me, but by the time I called in, the salesperson let me know with as much empathy as he could muster that they had sold my car the night before. “Well, I took that risk,” I told him, and he mentioned I could look online for similar cars at their Fremont dealership. I decided then to pay the local SF Smart car dealership a visit, to see what they had in stock. After speaking with the sales lady there, she mentioned the terrific lease deal they had going for new Smart cars. I told her about the model I had tried out and she candidly mentioned that they had improved a lot since then (transmissions especially) and stopped just short of saying that she wouldn’t recommend the used version anyway.

So in the end, I may end up with a brand new 2012 Mercedes after all, and for less money than the used version would have cost me. Was it the power of my mind? Did I just manifest a car? Did I want it so strongly that it made itself happen, albeit in the most unexpected way? I’ll give this experiment a solid *maybe*. :)