Free Sara, Book 1 by Esther And Jerry Hicks Page A

aren’t some places a lot worse than others? I mean school is just the worst place in the world to be.”
    Well, Sara, it’s easier to find positive things in some places than others, but that can become a pretty big trap.
    “What do you mean?”
    When you see something you don’t like and you decide to go somewhere else to get away from it , you usually take it with you.
    “But Solomon, I wouldn’t take those mean teachers or rotten kids with me.”
    Well, maybe not those very same ones, Sara, but you would meet others, very much like them, everywhere you would go. Sara, remember “Birds of a Feather.” Remember the “Light Board.” When you see things you don’t like and you think about them and talk about them, you become like them, and then everywhere you go, they are there, too.
    “Solomon, I keep forgetting all of this.”
    Well, Sara, it’s natural to forget this, because you’re like most people who have learned to respond to conditions. If good conditions are around you, you respond by feeling good, but if there are bad conditions around you, you respond by feeling bad.
    Most people think that they must first find perfect conditions, and once they find those perfect conditions, then they can respond by being happy. But that is very frustrating to people, because they discover, very soon, that they cannot control the conditions.
    What you’re learning, Sara, is that you aren’t here to find perfect conditions. You’re here to choose things to appreciate— which causes you to vibrate like the perfect conditions—so that you can then attract perfect conditions.
    “I guess,” Sara sighed. This all seemed too big to understand.
    Sara, it really isn’t as complicated as it seems. In fact, people make it much more complicated as they try to make sense of all of the conditions that surround them. It can get very confusing if you’re trying to figure out how every condition is created, or which conditions are right and which ones are wrong. You can drive yourself crazy trying to sort all of that out. But if you will just pay attention to whether your valve is open or closed, then your life will be much simpler and much happier.
    “My valve? What do you mean?”
    Sara, in every moment, a stream of pure, positive energy is flowing to you. You might say it’s a bit like the water pressure in your house. That water pressure is always there, right up against your valve. And when you want water in your house, you open the valve and let the water flow in. But when the valve is closed shut, the water doesn’t flow in. It’s your work to keep this valve to Well- being open. It’s always there for you, but you must let it in.
    “But Solomon,” Sara protested, “what good does it do for me to keep my valve open in a school where everyone else is angry and mean?”
    First of all, when your valve is open, you won’t notice so much of the meanness, and some of it will change right before your eyes. There are many people who are sort of teetering on the edge of an open or closed valve, and when they come into contact with you and your valve is wide open, they easily join you in a smile, or a nice interchange. Also, you must remember that an open valve is not only affecting what is happening right now. It’s affecting tomorrow and the next day. So, the more todays that you’re feeling good, the more conditions of tomorrow and the next day will be pleasing to you. Practice this, Sara.

    Make a decision that no condition, no matter how bad it may seem to you in the moment, is worth your closing your valve. Decide that keeping your valve open is the most important thing.
    Here are some words to remember, Sara, and to say, as often as you can: “I am going to keep my valve open anyway.”
    “Well, all right, Solomon,” Sara replied meekly, feeling tentative about the whole thing, but remembering how much better things, on the whole, had been going since she had tried some of the other techniques Solomon had