It’s All Happening

New Year’s Eve was the culmination of one of the most incredible years of my life and if it was any indication, the start of a year that’s going to be even more off the charts.

Let’s start with the day of New Year’s Eve itself.

I spent the first half of the day with a man who has been a mentor to me from a distance for years, Lee Brower.  Lee was one of the teachers on the movie “The Secret” and he not only gets the concept of family wealth planning as about far more than passing on just your money, his Brower Quadrant epitomizes it.

Lee shared with me his vision for the future of his work, we talked about the Law of Attraction and a new Universal Law he introduced me to called the Law of Precession, which if understood explains why many of us never get where we want to go, and he gifted me with several things before he left:

1. a gratitude rock for myself and a few for my family,
2. two books written by William George Jordan, the Power of Truth and the Majesty of Calmness,
3. a deeper understanding of what I call Family Wealth Planning, he calls Family Leadership planning (see chapter 11) and you know as estate planning, and
4. the knowingness that he and I will do amazing work together in the future.

I can’t imagine a better way to end the year than with the promise of an amazing new beginning.

Then, later that afternoon, Dave and I left for a retreat out at the Glen Ivy retreat center.  My good friend Max, the founder of a new movement inspiring young minds to meditate called Self-Centered, had invited me to the retreat, which was hosted by the folks at Elevate Films.

It turns out that the Elevate Films crew had just (literally at 3am the night before the retreat began) put the finishing touches on a new film about Rev. Michael Bernard Beckwith, the Rev. at the Agape International Spiritual Center, where I am a member.

We got to be the very first people to ever see the movie!

It’s fantastic.  And, if you want to read a great book about living a liberated life now, check out Rev. Michael’s book Spiritual Liberation, today.  I’ve been reading it for several weeks now and it’s definitely made a difference in my life.

The Rev. is going to be on Oprah on Wednesday, January 7.  Watch him.  He’s been a primary teacher in my discovery of the all good that life is.

The Elevate Films crew got the call to make the movie they screened for us only on Thanksgiving.  What they created in such a short time is a testament to the power of Spirit and you definitely want to get the film when it comes out and discover what’s possible when you have a vision and spirit on your side.

If all goes well, I’m going to be working with the Elevate team to get a marketing strategy in place to capitalize on the Oprah experience for Agape and get the word out about the movie.

This is something I dreamed about happening a few years ago, kind of like I dreamed about working with Lee Brower a few years ago and now it’s all happening.

Another reminder of the power of envisioning what you want and then focusing on it happening with a mindset of non-attachment and without worry about how it will happen.

Here’s what I mean:

I knew I wanted to get involved at Agape.  I knew I wanted it to be in some sort of a behind the scenes way that would be a perfect fit for my skillset.  I didn’t know how it would happen and didn’t worry too much about the how.  I just knew I’d be ready when the opportunity presented itself.  And now it has and it’s unfolding better than I could have ever planned.

Also, while I was at the retreat, I had the opportunity to get very clear on a gift I have, but was somewhat unclear about before.

I’ve been working on a book about solving legal conflicts in a new and unique way.  It’s not mediation.  It’s better than that.  I’ll have to come up with a specific name for it, but I don’t have it yet.

What I do have, thanks to what happened at the retreat, is a new, much clearer title for the book I’m writing.

Here it is.  You heard it hear first:

Should I Sue? 33 Real Life Opportunities to
Be the Change You Want to See in the World.

The title came to me after I had the opportunity to counsel a woman who was considering whether to sue her neighbor.

I’ll save her story for another post, but in the process of counseling her I clarified a gift I have for helping people embroiled in conflict situations determine how to resolve the situation, whether to sue and helping them to transform the conflict from a negative, draining situation into an opportunity to gain clarity about who they are in the process.

So many people are mired in these conflicts that are holding them back from living the lives they deserve and I am so grateful to God for showing me how I can be of service in such an important way.

At the same time all was happening, I was also coming to the conclusion that to make room for everything that’s unfolding, I’d have to close down my law firm.

I sold the majority interest of my law firm back in July and have remained on as a partner, but I’ve accepted that even holding on to a piece of  it is keeping me held back from everything else on the horizon and I need to completely let go.

Unfortunately, when I told Art that I could no longer remain on as a partner, he let me know it’s too much for him to run his firm in Marina Del Rey and the Redondo Beach office, so we decided to close down Martin Neely & Associates.

I spent the weekend writing a letter to my clients, which turned into a ten page retrospective of the last 5 years, the lessons I’ve learned, what it means for them and how they can continue to work with me on an ongoing basis.

If you are a client, look for that next week.

After all of the clients have received their copy by mail, I may post a copy on the firm’s website.

Everyone I’ve told has asked me if I’m okay with it or if I’m really upset, or what.  And, you know what?  I am okay with it.  It’s all unfolding perfectly.  Is it what I would choose?  No, not necessarily.

But, what I do know is that the divine creator of my life knows far better than I do about what’s supposed to happen, when and how.  All I need to do is Trust and get out of the way.

And, it’s all happening.