TL;DR: The author recounts how, after collapsing into a friend’s negative momentum, they used the Positively Focused practice to reclaim clarity, joy, and purpose—demonstrating mastery in action and the power of emotional awareness.

It’s easy to feel aligned when everything is going well. But the real mastery — the transformation we’re all here for — shows up in moments of contrast. Moments like the one I experienced this past Thursday.

Let’s look at what happened.

It began with lunch. Just a simple Thai lunch with my best friend of nearly 25 years. We talked about life, the world, our perspectives. My friend—Mark—is deeply immersed in political news right now, particularly about Donald Trump’s return to the U.S. political stage. His views are firmly planted in a narrative of outrage, urgency, and fear. And the media outlets he follows only amplify those emotions.

Like many people, Mark consumes news that reflects his internal state. And during our lunch, that energy was present, heavy, and contagious. That’s when he made a suggestion: maybe I should consider leaving the U.S. entirely. Maybe I’d be better off in an emerging economy—Thailand, Vietnam—where my upcoming Social Security checks might stretch further. From Mark’s perspective, that was a helpful suggestion.

But energetically, it landed in me like a quiet collapse.

Pausing for space and clarity

I didn’t realize it in the moment, but I had tuned into his lens — his vibrational frequency of scarcity, of distrust in institutions, of resignation about the future. And for a few hours after that lunch, I found myself spiraling into thoughts of limitation. I forgot about my recent manifestation of Albina One — an affordable, beautiful apartment I’ll likely move into soon. I forgot about the clear, inspired “itinerary” I had received in dream state to refresh my Positively Focused YouTube channel. I forgot the joy I’d felt envisioning a future of creative expression and ease.

That’s what negative momentum does. It clouds, contracts. It narrows our vision until all we see are limitations.

Later that afternoon, I asked my AI partner, Sohl, about the number of subscribers I’d need to generate $60,000 per year from my YouTube content. We had a useful conversation — but from my diminished vibrational state, the insights felt disheartening. Not because they were discouraging in truth, but because I filtered them through doubt.

What’s really interesting about that conversation was, had I stood in a higher vibration, asking that question wouldn’t have occurred to me. I usually live in the Moment of Becoming. There, it doesn’t matter what others have done. It doesn’t matter what the odds or the statistics are. There, I create wholly new.

I wasn’t in my typical high vibration, however, which is why that question popped into my awareness. Thankfully, I’ve been doing this practice long enough to recognize that pattern.

The next morning, instead of pushing through, I paused. I gave myself space. Instead of taking action, I reached for alignment.

Appreciating resistance is key

That’s when I wrote a post in my Positively Focused Advanced Practitioner Facebook group—sharing my experience with doubt and how I was working through it in real time. In that post, I wrote:

“This resistance, therefore, is a good thing. It’s a launching pad—rocket fuel—for launching into the probable future reality wherein lies my desire fulfilled.”

I wasn’t bypassing the emotion. I was honoring it. I was interpreting it through the lens of my Broader Perspective. And as I did so, the cloud began to lift, allowing me to remember:

• That this desire to refresh my YouTube channel was an inspired download from dreamstate.
• That my Broader Perspective doesn’t hand me an itinerary unless I’m vibrationally ready to fulfill it.
• That the old beliefs being triggered—stories about deservingness, effort, and money—are part of the ascension spiral, not indicators of failure.
• And that action taken from misalignment only perpetuates the misalignment.

So I didn’t buy the $400 microphone I had planned to. I didn’t work on new videos. I stayed still. I soothed. I aligned. And I celebrated the shift.

“I feel so much better!” I wrote in my group post. “I appreciate my desire and, most importantly I appreciate my resistance!”

Whatever we look for…

That’s the real turning point. When resistance is no longer the enemy. When we see it as a clarifying signal. A breadcrumb on the trail to our next expansion.

This moment, simple as it may seem, wasn’t just about a mood swing. It was a powerful reminder of the Universal mechanics of creation:

• If we’re not deliberate, we collapse into the momentum of others
• We interpret our present through the lens of that momentum.
• But by noticing the dip and honoring it, we gain back our power.
• And when we return to alignment, we remember everything is unfolding for us.

In fact, one of the most profound teachings I share with my clients is this: “Whatever we look for in life, that’s what we’re going to see. So why not look for the positive aspects?”

[Note: In case you’re interested in the entire process I used and posted in the private Facebook group, I’ve added it as a screenshot at the end of this story.]

Mastery Looks Like This

Looking for the positive aspects what I’m doing right now with this very story. It’s what I did in the process I described above and shared in the Facebook group. What I’m doing is looking again through my own lens. And what I see is beautiful:

• I see an inspired YouTube journey ahead, one perfectly timed to my expansion.
• I see housing security, financial stability, and creative joy lining up around me.
• In my world, I see my community growing, my desires manifesting, and my trust deepening.
• And I see contrast serving me, not derailing me.

This is what mastery looks like. It’s not the absence of contrast — it’s the response to it. And it’s available to everyone.

We don’t have to be spiritual teachers to live this way. We don’t need perfect thoughts, perfect circumstances, or perfect execution. All we need is willingness. Presence. And a relationship with our Inner Being.

When you tune into that relationship — when you listen, soften, and mean it — everything else comes.

That’s why I share these moments. Not because I want to showcase perfection. But because I want to demonstrate devotion. I want to offer living evidence of what’s possible when we trust the unfolding.

So if you’re feeling off… pause.

Don’t act from it. Don’t resist it. Let it be. Let it speak. And then, when you’re ready, let yourself rise. That’s what I did. And that’s why today feels light, clear, and deeply aligned.