Wake Up

The Order of Events: Building Your Life with Purpose and Intention

• Douglas James Cottrell PhD • Season 2 • Episode 8

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What does it truly mean to live a conscious, spiritually-aware life in today's chaotic world? Dr. Douglas James Cottrell draws from over four decades of spiritual teaching to offer profound yet practical wisdom on navigating life's journey with purpose and intention.

Throughout this episode, Dr. Cottrell explores the delicate balance between divine providence and personal responsibility. "Prayer is reaching out into the great beyond," he explains, but prayer alone isn't enough—we must be ready to recognize and seize opportunities when they appear. Through the engaging story of antique salt and pepper shakers, he illustrates how the universe delivers what we need, often at unexpected moments that require immediate action.

The concept of "order of events" emerges as a powerful framework for achieving any goal. Just as painting a room requires specific steps in sequence, our life journeys demand we understand the proper progression toward our desires. This structured approach transforms overwhelming aspirations into manageable processes, providing a clear roadmap toward achievement. Equally important is the distinction between character and reputation—while we can't control what others think of us, we absolutely own who we truly are.

Whether you're seeking a life partner, greater spiritual awareness, or simply peace of mind, Dr. Cottrell's message is both encouraging and challenging: "You're the author of your own success." The universe will provide the staircase of opportunity, but only after you take that crucial first step. Subscribe now to continue receiving these insights, and share this episode with someone who might need to hear that their spiritual journey matters—and that they possess everything needed to move forward with confidence.

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Announcer:

Welcome to Wake Up with Dr Douglas James Cottrell, your source for helpful information, advice and tips to live your life in a mindful way in this increasingly chaotic world. For over four decades, Dr Douglas has been teaching people how to develop their intuition and live their lives in a conscious way. His news and views of the world tomorrow, today, are always informative and revealing. And now here's your host, Dr Douglas James Cottrell.

Douglas James Cottrell:

Good evening, my friends. You know, we're all on a spiritual path and we all have questions. We're attempting to find the right way, how to be a good person. Is there somebody in life for you? Of course there is. Do you want somebody in your life -- you know, a special person, a spouse, a mate? Well, first of all, you have to want them. Maybe your job is a little more intriguing than having a partner. Maybe you have concerns about how can I support a family? What kind of parent am I going to be? Okay, those are all legitimate questions. You have to work that out ahead of time and then decide okay, I want to be a parent, I want to have children, and there will be somebody out there for you. There always is, because two people are attracted to each other like that, and sometimes it's difficult. But you just say this simple prayer God Almighty, from your infinite supply of men or women or partners, please send me one, and the sooner the better. From your infinite supply of possibilities of partners for me, please send them to me, and I'll be grateful. And what else do you have to do? Well, in your mind, you have to be attractive. You're looking for them, you're hoping they show up any minute. The way you physically look, you have to look attractive all the time and, finally, you have to be aware that they might show up unexpectedly. So when they do, don't be afraid to ask questions like hey, you look like somebody I had in a dream. What's your name? You look so familiar to me, et cetera, et cetera. Don't be afraid to ask the question. Don't let the opportunity pass you by.

Douglas James Cottrell:

As you evolve spiritually, you become more aware. You'll have dreams that will come true. You'll have feelings or senses that something's going to happen. You will just know something's going to happen and it will. So you can perceive the future. Hunches, coincidences, chances, gut feelings, etc. Pay attention to those and attempt to say where'd that come from? How did I know that? How did I know who was at the door? How did I know it was going to rain on the day of the picnic, when everybody said it was going to be a sunny day?

Douglas James Cottrell:

I'm throwing that out to you to say that your perception in the physical sense is limited to the five physical senses. But the sixth sense, the seventh, the eighth, the ninth, the tenth and beyond, well, those are senses that are unseen and invisible and you need different instruments to measure them. But as you perceive the great beyond, you're looking beyond yourself, are you not. Look within yourself and within your own mind. Come to understand who you are. And if you can do that, if you can master yourself, you will always be at peace. You might not always be happy, but you'll be at peace.

Douglas James Cottrell:

And then, most importantly, you can control your environment. You can control your life, and you'll be at peace. You'll have content, you'll have achievement, accomplishment and you will feel purpose. You won't always be nervous about what I should do or shouldn't do. Who should, I believe? Whose fault is it? You'll find yourself lessening blaming others for your own failure or your own inadequacy or your own wants. Remember, God always provides. The universe provides everything. All your needs will be given. You have to do something to get it. You know if you say to the fireplace: give me heat and then I'll give you wood, well, everybody knows that's just crazy. Yet there are people that live their life attempting to do the same.

Douglas James Cottrell:

Order of events. The events have to be in order, building one on the other to get to the last successful event or the goal. If you don't apply them in order, you'll fail. So learning about order of events is something that you come by experience. If you want to paint a room, order of events: Buy the paint, put tarps all over the floor, take all the things off the wall and the furniture out of the room, get the paint trays, mix the paint, put it in the tray, put the end of the sponge on the roller, put the broomstick on the end of the roller and then paint the walls. And then you have to paint the trim around very specially. Anything out of order, from what I just said, you can paint the room but it's going to be a mess, it's not going to work out. You're going to paint over top of the furniture and you'll have paint droppings on it, you know. You know what I mean? I'm using that as a simple thing. Order of events, and that's a very important lesson. Everything you do, if you can write it down what is the order of events, what are the steps, and you follow them in order, I almost guarantee you'll be successful in whatever you do. Whatever you do.

Douglas James Cottrell:

Reverend Alex Holmes, my teacher about spiritual matters, once told me: prayer is reaching out into the great beyond and praying to the universe for something. Anything, it's okay. You have permission to ask for, p ray for anything. Don't pray for silly things that you know aren't going to be true. Oh, I want $10 million by Friday. You know that's going to go in one ear and out the other. Pray for things like somebody you want in your your life, a promotion in your business, an added something materially to your life. Remember it comes, it's yours and then it leaves. So you might as well ask for the best, but when it comes to you, grab it, it's yours. You prayed for it and there it is. I'll give you a simple real life story. A person I know was looking for antique salt and pepper shakers. In their mind, that's what they wanted. They were looking for a set, for whatever reason, and they went into one of these places where they had people with little booths, you know, selling knickknacks and whatnot. And lo and behold, they walked in the door and there was the exact antique salt and pepper shaker. Remembering my teachings, which is: if you see something that you want, you grab it, they did. There were several sets of these salt and pepper shakers. I think it was six sets, and they told me the story later. They were going to pass it by and get the salt and pepper shaker on the way out, but they remembered my words: If something appears in front of you and you want it, take it because it has come to you in that moment. Might not be there a moment later, but it's come to you. So they took the salt and pepper shaker and as they went to go home, they walked past the same booth and, lo and behold, all the salt and pepper shakers were gone. Had they not taken advantage of that salt and pepper shaker opportunity, they would have lost out, and they were looking for a set of salt and pepper shakers for a long time. That's a real story and that's how things are in life.

Douglas James Cottrell:

Procrastination is a sin! Okay? D on't procrastinate. When something comes in front of you, grab it. There's a cliche that says opportunities look bigger when they're leaving than when they were coming. And that's an answer that when you find something in your life that you want, it's an opportunity, take advantage of it, grab it, as my good friend, Reverend Alex Holmes would say. Because when you ask the universe for something, when you pray, it provides for you, from all different angles, all kinds of coincidences, and chances for that thing to get in front of you is enormous. And when it's there, you can't be fickle. You say, oh well, even arrogant, if you want, it'll be there when I come back. If I'm supposed to have it, no, you're supposed to have it because it's in front of you.

Douglas James Cottrell:

And applying that same in life, another lesson is when you see people on the street and they put their hand out to you, You are obligated to give them something, to give them money or whatever they need. you are obligated because they have appeared in front of you. How much money you give them or what you give them, well, that's your free will and free choice. But you're obligated to give them something and you ought to. And you ought to be generous. Because you see, if you think they're just going to take the money and go use it on drugs or whatever, alcohol, that's a judgment and you're not allowed to do that. That's a negative way of experiencing something that's wonderful and that you're being of service to someone. So when you see somebody with their hand out, don't judge them. Give them something because they've come to you. If they don't come to you, pass them by, or if they catch your attention, you go over and pay attention to them. And, adding to that, you can give them not only money or sustenance, clothes or food, you can give them back their dignity by introducing yourself. Hi, my name's Douglas. What's your name? Glad to meet you, Mary. Glad to meet you, Bill. Have a good day. I hope you're okay. May God bless you.

Douglas James Cottrell:

You might just change that person's whole attitude in the moment that they'll be more successful, that something will pick them up, they'll have some dignity and they'll move on. You don't know, because you've gone on down the street. But you're obligated to help, to be of service in that one small way. Try it out. See what happens when you give somebody $20. Oh, my God, they're so happy. Tears come down their face because you're showing them that you care, you're showing them affection. Remember the old saying: there but for the grace of God, go I.

Douglas James Cottrell:

These are lessons in life that I'm in, attempting you to find your way to be successful, to be more aware, to look at life from a different perspective from this moment on and to realize you have a destiny, you have a purpose and if you take your time, remember, this spiritual being that you call the soul has come into this physical body and the soul is immortal and this life is but one breath in the life of the soul. There's no need to hurry. Keep breathing, keep finding out about who you are. You will be amazed at who you are. You will constantly find surprises about yourself. You will be proud to be a just and upright human being.

Douglas James Cottrell:

You might have people criticize you. They will ruin your reputation, they will speak bad things about you, but that's okay, because nobody owns their own reputation. It's impossible. Your reputation is out in the public. What you do own is your character and no matter how the rain comes down with insults or sniping or criticism or people behind your back, it doesn't matter, it's going to happen. Look at the lives of all the great masters and you'll see exactly that: rumors, derogatory things. They attempted to assassinate many of them. They attempted to get rid of them because the religious authorities or the people in authority, the military, they were all seeing these people who were obviously not a threat, but seeing them as a threat because they were going to change the thoughts or the will of the people. To do what? To be loving, to be balanced and to seek their spiritual progression themselves. So when those things happen and people ruin your reputation or you think so, don't pay attention. It's not true. Don't pay attention to the way you think people think about you. They don't. They don't think about you as much as you're thinking about what they said to you or what they did.

Douglas James Cottrell:

And remember, you're here to be of service, to help everybody in the world. You're here to progress yourself, to be a spiritual being to the highest degree of awareness that you can, as a spiritual being, possess a physical body. That's your goal. So enjoy life. Do as many things as you like, find a way to occupy your time, but choose where you want to go. The best advice is to pick where you're going to be when you're 50 and work backwards. When you're 60 and work backwards, make the plan retroactive or go backwards, I should say, because then you'll know where to start, because now you have all the steps to where you want to be.

Douglas James Cottrell:

Life is so simple, it's so predictable, it's amazing. But remember this in closing: you work to live, you don't live to work. You have four aspects of life. You have to work a little, you have to play a little, you have to rest a little and you have to take care of yourself physically a little, and if you have those things in balance, then you'll have a good life.

Douglas James Cottrell:

But never, ever, ever doubt yourself. Never let other people tell you that you're not as good as they think you are, or let them put you down in a situation where you start to believe what other people think, because I can tell you they don't know. Nobody knows what's in the mind of God. But there are people who will tell you they know what God thinks, they know what God says. They know God says this is right and that's wrong. No, they don't. They're making it up. It's true. Who is so vain enough to know, as a human being, what's in the mind of God? A finite mind attempting to understand the infinite mind. Does that make some sense? So, whatever comes before you, there's always an alternative, there's always a different answer. There's always a step to take. Unless you want to lay down and rust, give up and die, there's always something you can do. But even if you choose to rest, lay down and die, that's your choice. That's free will. But you don't have to. You don't.

Douglas James Cottrell:

The point being is you're listening to me now. God sent you to this moment, to this point on this broadcast, and I've been talking all over the place. So I'm talking to one of those 144 patterns and the little thing I've said here or there might make sense to you at this moment and it'll wake you up. And all the things I've said, they're just off the cuff. I'm talking spontaneous to you. Things are coming to my mind and I'm addressing these items, so I'm picking them up from the universe so that I can give them to you free of charge.

Douglas James Cottrell:

However, I wouldn't mind it if you would share this video and this podcast with friends and sign up and subscribe to it. I really would. That would be payment enough to me. But, most importantly, the payment I get is I've changed your life. I might not ever meet you. I would be grateful that I've had this opportunity to do this for you. I can tell you, I can advise you, I can suggest things to you, but I can't do it for you. Only you can do it.

Douglas James Cottrell:

And so remember, you're the author of your own success. You can take steps to be successful or don't take any steps and just stay where you are for this lifetime and the next and the next. And somewhere along the line you're going to get it. You're going to say I'm not codependent on anybody, it's my duty to do what I have to do to get to where I want to go. My responsibility I can help and share with other people, like mentors or lawyers or ministers, and they will add, they will help me, and that responsibility for my own success will be shared. But your duty is yours only. It can't be changed, can't be offloaded, can't be given, can't be sold, can't be bought. It's yours and yours to take. And as soon as you understand it's your duty, when you're in that situation where it's tough, you take that breath and say, well, nobody's going to do this, but I'm able and capable and I'm going to do my duty. And you're going to take a step. And I can promise you this: If you take the first step, the universe will provide the next and the next and the next. That is to say, they will provide the staircase and all you have to do is keep taking the steps. Guaranteed. But they won't provide you three or four steps ahead. Like I said before, order of events. You take one step and you're up a level, another step and another level. You know, when you get up to that staircase you can see down below, that you've come a long way and the world is a broad place. But when you're at the bottom of the staircase, it's a struggle. You got to lift up that foot. Commit, take that step, take another step, commit again. You might not know what's at the top of the stairs, but you'll find out when you get there. But if you never take that first step, you'll never know. Until

Douglas James Cottrell:

next time time, My my friends, god God bless,. I wish you great success and I wish you the most important thing you can possibly have in your life life: Peace peace of mind. Take care.

Announcer:

Thank you very much for listening to Wake Up. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe so you'll be notified when a new episode is posted, and we'd greatly appreciate your review of our show on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts to let others know about the great content we're producing. For more about Dr Douglas' self-development classes, books and other related products, please visit his website douglasjamescottrel l. com. Until next time, we wish you all of God's blessings: health, wealth and peace of mind.