Part 3 of 3: The Power of Manifestation per Annette Carter’s request
After I decided to shut down the development of my dream retreat compound property in Kauai due to the outbreak of COVID, I called a bit of a Hail Mary. This is a term used in football when you have the ball on the fifty yard line with only two seconds left. The quarterback only has enough time to chuck the ball in the end zone and hope the wide receiver comes down with it, while heavily defended, for the win.
Over the decades, I had unsuccessfully searched for the property that would make my dream come true. Recently, I had experienced three gigantic failures on the island of Kauai. Battered and bruised, but not yet defeated, I called my realtor to huddle one last time.
“Hey Ben, I’m sorry things didn’t work out and for your losing out on such a great commission after so many months of work. But, before we totally shut things down, do you mind checking the other islands to see if you can find something similar to what I was going to build on Kauai? We’re entering a recession and you never know what might be put up for sale at a time like this.”
Total Hail Mary!
Then, out of nowhere, the Universe stepped into our huddle and said, “Eric, why don’t you let me handle the QB role for this last play of yours. You’ve done enough. Been at this for over 30 years. Proved you will never give up on this dream that you’ve had since you were 19. Let me help you go the distance. I’ve got a special play that works great for this exact situation.”
My realtor calls me back in less than twenty-four hours and says, “Eric, I found a property I think you’re gonna really like it. I’ll caution you in saying, it might be too good to be true. The super low price just can’t be right. I’ve never seen anything priced this low for this much oceanfront property. When can you get out here to see it?”
He was right! It did look perfect. The price was 1/5th what I was going to spend for the Kauai property and build-out. Seeing will be believing. But how am I going to see it? We are in the middle of a global Pandemic. The Governor of Hawaii was forcing all visitors to quarantine for fourteen days, and as a result, almost all flights from the mainland to Hawaii were grounded indefinitely.
I did say almost! I found one airline still flying to Hawaii - Alaska Airlines. How bad did I want this? Pretty damn bad apparently cause I submitted a formal offer on the property sight unseen the next day. Who does that? My offer was accepted and I entered escrow for the third time in a year. The next day, I booked the only flights available for June 1st (over a month away), hoping the Governor would end the quarantine by then. He would not, and we would have to take a very indirect route to make it there.
Our various flights got cancelled a total of four times and we had to rebook through Seattle. As we were flying to Seattle, protests and riots broke out everywhere in the U.S. due to the George Floyd murder.
We were so saddened to see what was happening in the world but at this point, we were committed. There was no turning back now. After two rather scary days of travel, we finally arrived at the property.
Oh, my God! The property was everything in my dreams and then some. Check out the similarity of the aforementioned house in the movie “Field of Dreams” and this one side-by-side. And just like in the movie, I asked my wife if she would support me in buying this place so I could fulfill my dream?
Lori said yes! Maybe it was the white wrap-around porch that convinced her that it was meant to be. Maybe it was simply out of love. Either way, her support meant everything.
My favorite book of all time is “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho. In it he writes, “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” This quote was on my vision board. Turns out, it’s true!
I decided to re-name the property Bliss Island Resort. I hosted my first practice retreat in September 2020 and officially opened this June. I have hosted twelve fabulous retreats since.
This is the end of this story, but just the beginning of the life I began visualizing at age nineteen. Hope you’ll come visit for some sun, bliss, joy, peace, love and transformation. I make an epic Mai Tai. I’ll have one waiting for you. Aloha!
