Chasing water ...

... why everything you want comes when you stop running towards it!

I was barely three years old when I discovered the secret to manifestation, though I wouldn't understand what I had learned for decades to come.

It was my first trip to the ocean—Rehoboth Beach—and the moment I saw that endless expanse of sparkling water, I was completely enchanted. Without hesitation, I ran straight toward it with all the enthusiasm a toddler can muster.

But something magical and confusing happened: the water ran away from me.

I would chase it, chubby little legs pumping as fast as they could carry me, reaching for the shimmering surface that promised such delight. But just as I was about to touch it, it would retreat, sliding back toward the horizon like it was playing a game I didn't understand.

Then, suddenly, it would turn around and chase me back.

I would squeal with delight and run in the opposite direction, the cool water nipping at my heels before retreating again. My parents, wise enough to let this dance unfold, recorded me playing with what I called "the chasing water"—a name that perfectly captured the dynamic of the game.

This went on for a while: me chasing the water, the water running away, then turning to chase me while I ran away. It was both exhilarating and tiring. A lot of effort, hoping to actually get a chance to play with the water, not just chase it.

And then, in the way that children sometimes stumble upon profound truths, I had a realization.

Right at the water’s edge, I simply sat down and played.

I know you know what happened next. The water came back to me. Over and over again.

Every single time. Wave after wave, it would reach exactly where I was sitting, flowing around me, over me, inviting me to enjoy. I didn't have to chase it anymore. I didn't have to run or strain or desperately reach for what I wanted. I just had to be present, be still, and trust that ‘my’ ocean would come back.

In my little three-year-old mind, I was abundantly pleased. I had discovered that I could sit and play in the sand, digging holes, finding baby clams being completely absorbed in what I was enjoying—and the water—the very thing I had been chasing so desperately—always, always came back.

I had plenty of water to play with. I had found the secret.

The Tragic Love Story of Outward Focus

Years later, listening to Dr. Joe Dispenza speak about manifestation, I realized that my toddler wisdom at Rehoboth Beach had revealed something profound about how abundance actually works. He talks about surrender, tuning in, going all in—essentially, the sacred gamble of trusting yourself so completely that you stop directing energy outward and start pouring it inward.

This is what I had unknowingly discovered in the sand that day: when you stop chasing, everything you want naturally flows toward you.

But somewhere between childhood and adulthood, most of us forget this essential truth. We become convinced that we have to run toward what we want, that we have to chase, strive, push, and force our way to abundance. We develop what I call the "chasing water" approach to life—always running toward retreating possibilities, always just out of reach of what we desire most.

This creates what feels like a tragic love story: we're enamored with the abundance we see around us, yet we tell ourselves we can't have it, don't deserve it, or can't achieve it. We notice the separation—the gap between where we are and where we want to be—and we make that gap the focus of our attention.

The more we focus on the gap, the larger it becomes. The more we chase what's retreating from us, the faster it seems to run away.

We become outwardly focused, constantly scanning the horizon for opportunities, relationships, successes, or experiences that might finally give us the satisfaction we crave. We live in a state of perpetual seeking, hoping to catch something that appeals to us, striving for a win that will prove we're worthy of what we desire.

But what we don't realize is that this very approach—this chasing energy—is what keeps pushing our desires away from us.

The Overwhelm That Calls Us Home

I used to tell my clients and audiences that overwhelm is your higher self directing you to tune in to yourself. When we focus outward, there's a multitude of possibilities, and the sheer volume of options can feel paralyzing. We see everything we could do, be, have, or become, and we frantically try to figure out how to grab it all.

But overwhelm isn't punishment—it's redirection. It's life saying, "Stop looking out there for what you already have in here."

When you're overwhelmed by external possibilities, it's because you've forgotten the most fundamental truth about abundance: it doesn't come from acquiring things outside of yourself. It comes from recognizing the fullness that already exists within you.

The three-year-old at the beach understood this instinctively. She didn't get overwhelmed by the vastness of the ocean or the endless waves. She simply found her spot in the sand, became present with herself, and trusted that everything she needed would come to her.

The Physics of Presence

Dr. Dispenza talks about "collapsing into yourself"—calling things into the space you create by redirecting your focus inward. Instead of directing energy outward in desperate pursuit, you pour energy into yourself, creating such a powerful magnetic field that what you desire has no choice but to be with you.

This isn't mystical thinking—it's practical physics. When you're chasing something, you're operating from a frequency of lack, desperation, and separation. That energy actually repels what you're trying to attract because nothing wants to be chased, captured, or desperately needed.

But when you sit down in your own presence—when you become so absorbed in your own creative process, so pleased with your own company, so fascinated by your own inner world—you naturally emanate the frequency of abundance. You become like that child in the sand, completely content with where you are, and suddenly everything starts happening with you.

This is why the sacred gamble of self-love is so powerful: when you bet everything on your own worth, when you become abundantly pleased with your own presence, you stop chasing water and start attracting oceans.

The Art of Sitting Down

Learning to "sit down" in your own life—to stop chasing and start attracting—requires a fundamental shift in how you relate to desire itself. Instead of seeing what you want as separate from you, something you have to acquire or achieve, you begin to recognize that your desires are actually calling you home to aspects of yourself that want to be expressed.

The relationship you desire isn't "out there" waiting to be found—it's calling you to become the person who naturally experiences that kind of love.

The career you want isn't something you have to chase—it's inviting you to develop the qualities and skills that position you with those opportunities.

The abundance you seek isn't separate from you—it's asking you to cultivate the inner wealth that makes external wealth inevitable.

This shift from chasing to attracting happens when you learn to sit down in the sand of your own being and become fascinated with your own creative process. Instead of constantly looking over your shoulder to see if what you want is coming, you become so absorbed in building your own castles that you trust the waves will reach you when they're meant to.

The Frequency of Abundant Pleasure

"Abundantly pleased with your presence"—this phrase captures the exact frequency that attracts everything. It's not about positive thinking or fake it 'til you make it. It's about genuinely enjoying your own company so much that you become irresistible to everything that's meant for you.

When I sat in that sand as a toddler, I wasn't trying to manifest anything. I wasn't visualizing or affirming or setting intentions. I was simply delighted to be myself, in that moment, digging holes and playing with whatever was right in front of me.

And because I was so genuinely pleased with everything, there was never a gap. The ocean and I found our rhythm.

This is the basis of authentic manifestation: not the desperate reaching for what you lack, but the magnetic pull of someone who has remembered their own completeness.

I recently asked my grandson what his favorite thing is. His answer was: everything…

The Water Always Returns

The most beautiful part of my beach revelation was the trust it built: the water always came back. Every single time. I didn't have to worry about timing or worthiness or whether I was doing it right. I just had to me, and the ocean would handle the rest.

This is the faith that transforms everything: the knowing that when you stop chasing, when you sit down in your own truth, when you become absorbed in enjoying yourself, everything that's meant for you will find its way to you.

You don't have to figure out how or when or from what direction. You don't have to strategize or manipulate or force outcomes. You just have to trust what that three-year-old knew in her bones: when you stop running toward what's retreating, you create space for more to flow back.

The Revolutionary Act of Stillness

In a world that's built on the mythology of chase and conquest, sitting down becomes a revolutionary act. Choosing presence over pursuit, being over doing, attraction over action—these choices challenge everything we've been taught about how life works.

But here's what the chasing water taught me: the universe operates on ocean time, not human time. The waves come and go according to rhythms we don't control and don't need to understand. Our job isn't to make the water come—it's to position ourselves where we can receive it when it arrives.

This positioning happens in the inner world. It's about becoming so aligned with your own truth, so present to your own worth, so absorbed in your own creative expression that you naturally become magnetic to everything that resonates with that frequency.

The Cure-All of Self-Love

Self-love, I've come to understand, isn't something you learn. It's what you are when you're simply present with yourself, enjoying what comes to you, trusting the natural rhythms of give and take that govern all of life.

It's what emerges when you stop trying to prove your worth and start assuming it. When you stop chasing approval and start approving of yourself. When you stop running toward love and start recognizing that you are love.

This is why self-love is the cure-all: not because it fixes what's broken, but because it reveals that nothing was ever broken in the first place. You were never lacking what you needed. You were just chasing it away with your needy energy.

The Game That Never Ends

That day at Rehoboth Beach, I played with the chasing water for hours. Even after I learned to sit and let it come to me, I would sometimes get up and chase it again, just for the joy of the game. The difference was that now I knew I had a choice.

I could chase when I wanted the excitement of pursuit, and I could sit when I wanted the peace of reception. But I was no longer wrapped in the chasing. I no longer needed to catch what I was running after.

This is the freedom that comes from understanding the secret of the ocean: everything you want is already coming toward you. You don't have to chase it, earn it, or prove you deserve it. You just have to position yourself to receive it.

The Infinite Ocean

As an adult, I've returned to that beach many times. I've sat in that same sand, watching new toddlers discover the magic of chasing water, and I'm always amazed by the perfection of that teaching.

The ocean is infinite. There is no shortage of waves. There is no scarcity of water. The only limitation is our willingness to sit down long enough to let it reach us.

This is the truth about abundance in every area of life: it's not scarce, it's not withheld, and it's not reserved for the worthy few. It's as natural and inevitable as the tide.

The only thing standing between you and everything you desire is your willingness to stop chasing it long enough to let it catch up with you.

Going All In on Presence

Going all in—the sacred gamble we've been exploring—isn't about risking everything in some external bet. It's about risking everything on the radical possibility that you are already enough, already complete, already worthy of everything you desire.

It's the willingness to sit down in the sand of your own being and trust that the universe operates like the ocean: abundant, rhythmic, and infinitely generous to those who know how to receive.

When you go all in on your own presence, when you become abundantly pleased with your own company, when you trust the natural flow of giving and receiving that governs all of life, you discover what that toddler knew: the water always comes back.

Everything you've been chasing is already chasing you. You just have to stop running long enough to let it catch you.

The secret isn't in the pursuit—it's in the presence. The magic isn't in the chasing—it's in the sitting down. The abundance isn't out there—it's right here, in the simple delight of being yourself, exactly where you are.

And the water, the beautiful, infinite water of life, is always, always coming back to you.

In a world obsessed with chase and conquest, the radical act is sitting down. When you stop running toward what's retreating, you create space for everything that's meant for you to flow naturally back to you. The ocean of abundance doesn't need to be caught—it needs to be received.

This is a very special conversation! When you’re ready to lean into self-love for optimizing your life, click here to pick a time on my calendar and book a call with me.