About 20 years ago, my husband and I decided to convert our relationship of a marriage to a divorce. That prompted me to set a goal. I was very clear that I was going to buy a home for my son Michel and I.

As part of my practice, I became really clear on what it was I wanted by writing on a goal card, I am so happy and grateful to live in my beautiful four-bedroom home. It is professionally decorated. It’s fully furnished. We live in a gorgeous neighborhood. I wrote all of that down and became connected to what it would feel like to own that home.

Charles and I had put our own home up for sale. It was in the country. Houses in the country don’t sell as quickly as those in the city. We weren’t getting any activity on our house whatsoever. Despite all of that, I stayed focused on my goal, and I’d go look at homes for my son and I to buy once our other house sold.

When I set a goal, I don’t have to know how it’s going to happen. Everything doesn’t have to be planned out. I just have to see myself in possession of what I desire. We decreased the price on our house several times, but months went by and nothing was happening. It seemed like I was stuck.

Meanwhile, I heard about this fundraiser called The Dream of a Lifetime. It takes place once a year for Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO). You could buy a ticket for $100. The prize: a beautiful, fully furnished, and decorated four-bedroom home in a wonderful neighborhood full of young children. You could go visit the home and buy tickets. I drove out to the house and when I walked in, I realized that it was exactly what I had described on my goal card.

I bought a ticket, and I changed my goal card to read: “I, Peggy McColl, am so happy and so grateful now that my son, Michel, and I live in this beautiful home located at . . .” and I put the house address on the goal card. I stepped into the whole experience of feeling what it would be like to live in the home.

This was my ritual. I would visualize going and sitting on the furniture in the family room and I’d touch the furniture, feel the leather, and then I’d go into the living room and I’d touch the furniture and feel the fabric of that couch. Then I’d go to the dining room table and sit at the head of the table and imagine we were having our family thanksgiving dinner, and I could see my sister passing the potatoes and really felt into the experience. Then I would go upstairs and I knew exactly which room would be my son’s. I went down the hall to the master suite and sprawled on the bed and looked at the ceiling and just imagined going to bed at night in my bedroom. I walked into the bathroom and there was this huge Roman tub. I stepped into the tub and I lay down and fully connected to what it would feel like to have a bubble bath in my Roman tub. I could literally smell the bath salts.

The draw finally came. I didn’t win the house, but I knew not to throw away my goal. We can’t dictate to the universe exactly how things are going to come to us. We can only look for ways and seize the opportunities when they are presented. We can stay open to the means and we should take some action. But if it doesn’t happen the exact way that we think it’s going to happen, we can’t let our dreams go down the drain. So I simply adjusted my goal card to read: “I, Peggy McColl, am so happy and grateful that I own a beautiful home where my son, Michel, and I live.”

Three months passed, and our house remained unsold. I was at my brother’s cottage when I woke up in the middle of the night with the message, “Go to the house.” This was really bizarre. But I knew exactly what it meant. I didn’t understand it. I didn’t question it. I don’t know where it came from.

The next day, with my son and my nephew onboard, we drove to the neighborhood where the CHEO home was located. As we approached the house I saw a FOR SALE sign on the lawn. I immediately called the real estate agent and booked an appointment to see the house.

When I told some friends I was looking at it again, they said to me, “Why are you going to see that house? You don’t have any money. You haven’t even sold your old house.” I replied, “The real estate agent doesn’t know that.”

The realtor unlocked the door and let me in. I immediately went into the state of imaging how it was already my home. I didn’t know how I was going to do it, but I told myself this is my home. We walked through the house and, again, I felt a very strong sense of ownership. “This is my home,” I kept repeating to myself.

Several days later, I asked the real estate agent for a second visit. I brought Michel. We sat at the dining room table, the same dining room table where I had visualized giving thanks for family dinner, and I said, “Here is what I’d like to offer Dr. John Goodman, the owner of this house. I would like to pay him a respectful amount of money the day I move in. I would like to move in thirty days from now. Then I will pay him an occupancy fee for six months. I will close the deal on December 1st.”

The real estate agent looked at me with a weird expression on his face.

“Is this a legitimate offer?” I asked.

“Yeah, I guess so,” he replied, and promised to forward my offer to the owner.

The owner accepted my offer. When that happened, I felt the fear well up. I thought, “Oh my goodness, what have I done?”

One thing I know about myself is that when I make a commitment to something or someone, I find a way to make it happen.

About a week later, I was having a conversation with a good friend of mine, Val, a successful woman who is totally into personal development. I was telling her what I had done. She pointed out that I had a small amount of money in a retirement account. She advised me to cash it in because a home is an investment. That idea had never even occurred to me, so I called my investment guy; the amount of money, after penalties and fees, was the exact amount that I had committed to in order to move into that new home. The universe was responding to my plea.

I didn’t have a lot to pack because the house was fully furnished and decorated. People I knew who saw the house said, “This is an amazing house. How did you do this?” I didn’t tell them I hadn’t yet closed the deal because I figured I’d find a way. I had put myself in a position where I had no choice but to follow through.

In that first six months in the house I felt a lot of fear about closing the deal, but I created strategies for switching to emotions that I knew would be far more in keeping with the law of vibration, attracting to me what I wanted. If I felt fear well up, I would start thinking, “Peggy, what is it that you want to experience? I want to experience closing this deal, owning this home. What is that going to feel like when you own the home?” As soon as I asked myself these questions my breathing changed. I’d feel more relaxed. And I would say to myself, “It’s going to feel great. I’m going to feel grateful.” Then I connected to what that feels like.

At the time, I was working for a company that had just started selling dedicated World Wide Web access. The company decided to go public. I had absolutely zero experience with IPOs (initial public offerings). I didn’t know anything about the stock market, so I decided to educate myself. I asked a series of questions. I learned that as employees, we would get a really good deal on buying shares, and the day the company went public, we could sell them.

The company was scheduled to go public on October 26; my deal was closing on December 1. Even if it didn’t work out, I would have a little time to figure things out. I knew I would.

As we approached October, management realized they weren’t ready, so they moved the IPO date from October 26 to November 26. My broker told me I would get my money four days later, on November 30. Talk about cutting it close. That had me hyperventilating.

I knew the fear state wasn’t going to help me, so I practiced my switching technique. I put myself back into seeing it all unfold easily and beautifully and harmoniously.

When the company went public, the stock skyrocketed. I sold at its peak on that very day. I got my money on the 30th and took it over to the lawyer’s office and closed the deal.

The house was mine.

Peggy McColl

Peggy McColl is a New York Times Best Selling Author. If you want proven strategies to manifest the home of your dreams take a moment and go to: http://ManifestYourDreamHome.com