Behind the scenes of my favorite blog, Humans of New York

Recently I took a How to Blog class with Gotham Writer’s Workshop. I have taken a number of great classes with Gotham and enjoyed them all. The teacher of this class, Kim Brittingham, is involved with around 30 blogs and has written a memoir, Read My Hips. Each of her lectures mentioned even more blogs, over a hundred in all. I couldn’t figure out how she found time to read them all.

I took the online version of Gotham’s How to Blog class, which lasts four weeks. The class had 24 participants, of whom 22 posted a biography and of whom 9 took part in discussions. There was a writer’s lounge at which I met 2 other students. One of the students confided in me that she was a horny old broad, but didn’t take me up on the idea of creating a blog around that topic. She later invited me to join her for a dinner of buckwheat noodles with spinach, pine nuts and wine, but I couldn’t get to CA in time.

Images from another favorite blog, Never Seconds

By the end of the class, nine students had posted working blogs. We had a xenofiction writer, a world traveler, a kitchen sink philosopher, a few moms, notably one who blogged from her kids’ point of view, a chef and a sports enthusiast. If you put us all together we could form a soccer-playing Supercult in another galaxy with plenty of kids, and have philosophical dinner conversations over our home grown vegetarian creations. But on the interwebz people come and go at the speed of a click, and we may never cross paths again. I have, however, scheduled a Simply Healed session with one of the bloggers and I hope to have an update on that soon.

Last Saturday, I went to an Abraham Hicks workshop in Stamford with Rich, who I met two years ago at another local workshop. Abraham is the "infinite intelligence" channeled by Esther Hicks. At these workshops, people ask questions and Abraham answers. Rich had been preparing his questions for weeks.

Abraham started with some introductory words.

“Most people pray in their yearning for a better life. I look for what I want to see, for evidence of my desire. Your attention on something missing in your past or present, even if it’s a tiny part, is increasing it in your vibration.

Can you offer vibration to something not yet manifested? If you can do that, there is nothing you cannot do, be or have. Focus on the things that resonate with what you want. Anything you focus on becomes your truth.”

The room was overflowing by the workshop's opening

Rich was one of the few chosen from around 200 participants to sit in the hot seat. It was almost like winning the lottery.

“I don’t want to work,” said Rich. “But I want money.”

“Do you need a job in the next ten minutes?” asked Abraham

“Not unless you want to hire me.”

“You’re unemployable,” said Abraham. “It will take at least ten minutes for that to change.”

“You are not quite ready to give your vibrational approach your undivided attention,” said Abraham. “It would be better for you to get a job so you could stop worrying about money.

You want inspired action, not required action. You can tell instantaneously whether it’s in keeping with your vibration. The contrast brings you to greater clarity easily.

It doesn’t matter if you didn’t get it right the first time. The contrast is part of what is right. You are in a good place. You have focused desire.

The masters of this world would all say they wouldn’t give up one miserable moment because it has made them what they are."

Workshop participants during a break

As the event closed, Abraham offered a conclusion.

"The short answer [to how you accomplish your goals] is, I expect good things to happen and they do. The long answer is it’s really hard to keep expecting good things when there is not evidence but I am persistent.

What we want you to take home is I can control the way I feel. The way I feel is everything.

I am singularly responsible for everything that happens, depending on whether I look at what is pleasing or what is not pleasing.

When I feel exhilaration, I am in harmony with source. Source wants me to be the recipient of everything I have been asking for."

So people who believe in incredible possibilities can change reality. I look forward to seeing Rich get a lot more rich very soon.

Abraham logo on one of two big screens