Success is not to be measured by how much material wealth is possessed,
but whether you are able to create at will what you need.

~ Paramahansa Yogananda

The Universe - on Caller ID

One year, I had the opportunity to do a business project that I had not done before. Yes, I love a challenge, but more importantly, this was during one of those financial “dips” and I was focused on generating new income.

This project required a very special type of property. The client was a film production company seeking specific locations for their movie shoot. I had never booked locations for a film before. My niche was strictly special events. I had always turned away calls when people mistakenly thought I was a film location company.

But as soon as I received the call, I knew I had to live up to the challenge. The timing was right, and I needed to be open to all possibilities given the financial climate.

For this client, I needed to find commercial space – a slick, new office environment that would become the offices of the main character in the film. I felt that an executive suite situation would be perfect for three weeks of filming, since executive suites usually have available office space, have short term rental options, and many of them provide furnished spaces. The producers required a very specific ambience and they had a very specific budget – it was a small independent film.

I started looking up numbers to commercial real estate entities and executive suites listed in the phone book. I remember calling a couple of numbers and then dialing a wrong number. When I heard the voice mail message, it was obvious that I had misdialed and I hung up. I didn’t feel it was necessary to say anything.

Now you have probably discovered as I have that in recent times, you really can’t dial a wrong number – and remain off the hook (so to speak – pun intended). Don’t you find that someone will sooner or later call you back from their caller ID, especially if you reach a cell phone?

On this occasion, a woman did call me back to find out who had called her. After an initial bit of confusion, I explained that I had dialed a wrong number while calling real estate companies. I don’t even know why I mentioned what I was looking for, but I did. And after you hear the rest of the story, I think you will agree that the Universe made me do it. :-)

Somehow the conversation got started, she asked what I was searching for and I told her that I was looking for an executive suite. She then told me that she had just visited that type of property in a business center the day before and that I should check it out. She gave me the name of the suites and said they were brand new and very modern. I thanked her and said I would definitely check them out. I asked if I could have her name and telephone number to let her know what resulted (I would have even been happy to pay her a finder’s fee). She refused to give her information and just said she was glad to help. I thanked her again and we hung up.

The property she referred me to turned out to be the EXACT situation I was looking for, down to the last detail, budget, everything. The requirements were extremely specific, so this was truly the needle in the haystack and a one-of-a-kind office situation in Los Angeles. Although the executive suite management company was a national firm, I had no previous knowledge of their venues or their properties here in Los Angeles. I was familiar with other executive suites – after all, I was a tenant in one for many years – but none of the others had the décor and ambiance requested for this film.

I made arrangements for the client to see the offices and they loved them. The suite management wasn’t sure they would have availability during the time of the film shoot, but I knew it would work out. How could it not consummate, in light of the path that guided me there?

I negotiated the deal for the client. The fact that this deal consummated as a result of an incorrectly dialed telephone number was all the more delicious – and it impressed me even further with the unique and striking ways in which our guidance can appear.

Take Two

After negotiating between the production company and the VP of the suites in San Francisco, I received the contracts from him and I thought we were ready to go. However, the producer of the film stepped into the fold (I had been dealing with others at the production company). She was a very demanding person and not easy to deal with. She wanted the suites to include an additional space for the shoot but she didn’t want to pay any more. Well, I had already worked out the terms and budget with the suite management - with a good deal of finesse I might add – and I didn’t feel good about asking them to include more at that price. And I was not going to interfere with the profit I had built in – I had earned it.

My feelings were sound. On behalf of the client, I called my contact in San Francisco. He was nice but clearly stated that although he appreciated what I was doing to help my client, he no longer wished to be involved with this project. After all, he said, they were not in the film business. He was busy completing leasing contracts with large clients for hundreds of thousands of dollars and didn’t want to spend any more time over a minor film deal with a demanding producer. He asked me to please tell the production company that he decided to “kill this deal” right now. I was stunned. Stunned.

A “Wing” and a Prayer

During that time, I had been introduced to and became friendly with a very special woman. Marti Wing was 49 years old when she contracted the most life-threatening form of leukemia and almost died. She wrote her story - a book that remained in her computer but I told her needed to get published - about how she used mental and spiritual laws to attract everything she needed to get a complete healing. She was able to manifest the right medical treatment, the right marrow donor, the right spiritual insights - and I was fascinated by the fact that she refused to let a doctor or anyone else say anything negative to her during her illness. Whenever a doctor attempted to give her the facts, she would hold up her hand and tell them, “No!” She didn’t even know what her prognosis was until after she was completely cured (she had less than a 25% chance of living). That was five years before I met her.

Marti and I were having telephone conversations around that time. Later that evening, on the day that the VP had told me our deal had gone belly up, I spoke with Marti, expressed my frustration and told her that this producer just ruined MY deal - MY deal - the “done deal” that the Universe handed to me with such precision.

She listened to me vent for a bit, and then I will always remember the words that came from her. I have used them many times in my posts and they have become an integral part in my teachings. All Marti could say was…

“I can’t wait to see what good comes from this! Your trust fund is enormous.”

And so it was. I was put right back on track.

I also made a call that night to the World Ministry of Prayer – I have called them periodically over the years when I could not “get out of my own way” and wish to regain my center of peace. The prayer practitioners are highly trained and lift you to the realization of your answered prayer. The realization of the solution creates the solution. That is true prayer, scientific prayer.

I wasn’t taking any chances. I used whatever mental and spiritual means were at hand to regain my composure and claim my “done deal”.

I fell asleep that night feeling peaceful and enveloped in the Universal arms.

The following day when I felt centered and ready, I spoke to the production company and explained what had happened. I think they were somewhat humbled, having lost their prime venue. I then called San Francisco and asked the VP to reconsider, that the production company was willing to abide by the terms. He was receptive and the deal was consummated.

To Err is Divine

“I can’t wait to see what good comes from this!”

While we were signing the contracts for the three-week shoot in the executive suites, the production company told me that they needed to find an exterior location to represent the building where the character’s offices were located. So, not only did my deal remain very much alive – I also booked an additional location in the same business center. The entire project brought me a few thousand in profit – income that was very much needed at that time.

No one can tell me there is no such thing as intuitive or “divine” guidance.

What if we dialed a wrong number but instead of hanging up, we had a smidgen of faith that our Universal or subconscious guidance system might actually be directing us to our good – a referral, a client, an answer, a solution – a friend.

Perhaps we can turn an “error” into a prosperous connection. Or perhaps the error was really not an error at all. Makes you think, doesn’t it?

To be continued…

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