In my history of creating and manifesting goals I have often found myself stopped for reasons which at first seemed hidden. Experience and investigation have taught me that being too serious was often the source of my difficulties. I have listed some of the signs which tell me I've gotten weighed down in the form of a questionnaire.

Would you ever answer yes to any of the following questions:

1. In attempting to manifest a goal do you engage in complex rituals, program all of your crystals, and say affirmations many, many times a day?
2. The moment after you've done something positive towards manifesting a goal do you think of all the reasons it won't materialize?
3. After deciding what you want and performing whatever ritual you prefer do you say, "Well, now it's up to the universe"?
4. If the deadline for the manifestation of your creation has passed do you say, "It just wasn't meant to be"?
5. Do you get angry/upset when anyoneã
   a. Says they can't help doing, thinking, or feeling something?
   b. Talks about fate?
   c. Says that there are things nobody can change?
   

Answers

Any "Yes" answer may indicate seriousness.

1. It's fine and fun to work with crystals, ceremonies, and affirmations for creative purposes. I've been doing this for years, with some remarkable results. I've noticed, however, that when I think I ought to program a few more crystals, make an affirmation which is letter-perfect, or do a really serious ritual I'm putting my faith in things and procedures which are outside myself. I'm getting really serious about my goal, and possibly desperate. I'm also revealing my disbelief that the ultimate power is within me.
2. What are all those reasons, and who created them? I don't recommend resisting or ignoring doubts. Doing so gives them the chance to sneak up on you and attack. It's important to be familiar with your doubts, perhaps even welcome them for showing you that seriousness has deepened into discouragement or despair.What isn't necessary is to give these beliefs power. Then you'll really feel serious.
3. Leaving it up to the universe more often than not is telling yourself that you've abandoned the goal. This could happen because you are no longer committed to it--which is fine, but an open acknowledgment of this will release whatever energy is still attached to the goal. It could also mean that you don't believe the goal can be achieved and would rather abandon it because you take failure very seriously.
4. The answer to question 3 applies equally to this one.
5. It's no fun to be around people who challenge our beliefs. The main reason this is so is that we've convinced ourselves that they have the power to drain away all of our positive energy--which is, of course, a very serious situation. The more heavy and serious our own energy is the more we tend to attract people of similar density.

The Importance of Being Light-Hearted

I am most likely to get stuck in disempowering beliefs such as the above when I want to create something which is really important to me.

My rituals get elaborate. I check my affirmations to make sure they say exactly what I want them to. I hope the universe is listening. I steel myself for disappointment. I avoid negative people. My energy contracts as I avoid any tendency to laugh about my serious aspirations. During these periods I have been known to get grim, even morbid. I manifest an astonishing array of physical complaints, and find myself looking up at the sky and whispering, "Please, please, please."

At such times I'm confusing important with serious. When something is important we give it worth or value. If you'd like to have a new career you give this priority in your life by making it important, by focusing on it with more attention than you focus on other goals.

When something is serious we're supposed to be solemn, sober, and appropriately reverent about it. If you tell someone that you must change your career or your life won't be worth living you will probably take offense if they tell you to lighten up.

That, however, is exactly what we need to do when we begin to look at things as being serious rather than important. The more serious we get about something the heavier our energy gets. The heavier our energy gets the more likely we are to attract serious and undesired creations. The appearance of these unwelcome manifestations adds to our fear that we can't create anything good, thus adding even more weight to the burden. Gloom quickly follows doubt, which leads to despair and helplessness, "please, please, please," and "yes" answers to all of the above questions.

Breaking the Seriousness Which Binds Us

Below I describe some specific crystal and flower essence antidotes to the serious cycle. Here are some other suggestions.

Watch a funny movie or call up someone whom you know will make you laugh.

Turn your attention away from the creation in the works and either plan the next one or review your history of successful creations.

Remember that you, as the creator of seriousness, have the power to dissolve it.

Perhaps most of us don't believe enough in the possibility of physical flight to achieve it, but the lighter we become the more we can create and the higher our spirits can soar.

Light Stones

Crystals, though dense in molecular structure, are well-known for both the physical light they radiate and the uplifting qualities of their energies.

Herkimer diamonds have a well-deserved reputation as the happy stones. I've achieved lightening results when I've placed them areas which felt emotionally congested. They can help to relieve a heavy heart, a constricted solar plexus, a throat weighed down with unspoken words, an aching head, or any other tense or blocked area.

To choose other stones for lightening your spirits it will help to determine the source of your heaviness. If you're feeling weighed down by powerlessness you could choose to work with citrine. If self-esteem is the issue smoky quartz is a helpful stone. For deepening your feeling of self-love rose quartz is a good choice.

If you feel burdened by too many decisions to make a combination of sodalite, for clearing up mental confusion, carnelian, for being grounded in the present moment, and kunzite, for making loving choices, may be helpful stones.

If you suspect that undiscovered beliefs are holding back the creation of your dreams azurite, when placed on the third eye, or obsidian for a big wake-up call, can be useful.

Flower Cheer

Just the sight of flowers can lift one's spirits. Experiencing them internally may be even more uplifting.

A trinity of Bach Flower Remedies handles discouragement, despondence, and despair. They are Gentian, Gorse, and Sweet Chestnut.

Gentian is the remedy for discouragement, especially after a setback has clipped your wings. It teaches us that such setbacks are really valuable lessons which will help to strengthen us for long-term flight.

The Gorse condition is heavier, and often relates to despair in the face of chronic physical illness or a quality of emotional despair which seems always present, regardless of circumstances. Gorse restores lightness and joy to the spirit.

In the Sweet Chestnut state things are about as serious as they can beãalso known as "the dark night of the soul." This flower essence helps us to open up to the transcendence of suffering and to a new spiritual identity.

Zinnia is especially helpful for those who, knowingly or unknowingly, feel that being grownup means being serious. It restores a sense of play and joy and helps us to laugh as we travel our spiritual paths.