That works for a lot of things, I observe.

I'd say it's very similar but slightly different in the sense that when Bruce wanted the peanut butter he started looking for it with the frame of mind of "Where is the peanut butter?"  He believes that that frame of mind is what blocked his perception of it. 

With me and my guitar pick, I wasn't in that frame of mind.  I only wondered where my guitar pick was after I only saw 3 of them on the bed.  So I wasn't exactly in the same frame of mind.  It wasn't until after I noticed the black one was missing that I thought, "Where is my black guitar pick?" 

But I think the concept is relatively the same.  The guitar pick was somewhere, I just couldn't see it.   I actually hadn't even used the black one, I was playing with the purple one, so I have no clue why the black one went missing.  Chances are it just slipped off the bed, but the fact that I didn't see it even though I purposely looked on the floor is very odd.  In similar fashion to the concept that Bruce describes of the missing peanut butter jars, once I began looking for the black guitar pick in the frame of mind of "where is my guitar pick?" then I probably was blocking my perception of it.  A fun thought experiment would be, what if my daughter was walking down the hallway and looked in on me as I was looking all over for the guitar pick, not knowing what I was doing?  It's quite possible she would have seen the guitar pick laying on the floor, asked me what I was doing, and when I said I told her what I was looking for she would have been able to say, "it's right there on the floor".  It's fun to think about.

The same thing happened to me with a magnetic ankle bracelet.  I had laid it out to wear one morning, but when I got to work I noticed I wasn't wearing it.  I realized I must have forgotten to put it on.  But when I got home I couldn't find it anywhere.  I looked everywhere it could possibly be.  Knowing that objects tend to "disappear" for me...whether they actually do disappear or it's just me being absentminded...I changed my frame of mind from looking for the bracelet to "I want my bracelet!"  I walked out of the room and went into the other room and watched TV for a little while.  I thought of my bracelet again, remembering "I want my bracelet!" and walked into my bedroom, and there it was right in the middle of the room on the floor.  There's no way that I had merely walked over it, since earlier I specifically was looking all over the floor while looking for it.

Bruce does point out to state "I want my ____" instead of "Where is my ____?"   And I agree....I think it would produce results more quickly and without the need to get upset about it.  (I think my walking out of the room in frustration and then coming back signifies the change in frame of mind that Bruce talks about when he says to change your frame of mind from "where is" to "I need").  Same concept, same shift of consciousness.   

I think in cases like these examples, the object is actually there, not not there, but it's our perception that shifts to another area of consciousness, one in which the object is not there.  (Which is kind of the same thing right?)  The difference is, if the object actually disappeared then we'd be viewing the reality in which the object disappeared from.   But if the object merely isn't able to be perceived, it's because we are perceiving a slightly different reality, one in which the object doesn't actually exist.

Our beliefs not only alter our perception but also can alter our experience of reality, thus causing us to experience an altered reality.  When Bruce was looking for the channel changer, even his wife was unable to see it even though technically they were both looking right at it, that is, if they had been able to see it there. 

It's a really fascinating topic!

I once experienced a case of an object actually disappearing.  I'd say it was a case of dematerialization.  Rather than our perception or reality shifting, I think this object actually did disappear.  I'd been reading about dematerialization and challenged my belief about it (my doubt that it could actually happen) by telling myself "I'd have to experience something dematerializing before I can believe it's possible".  That evening I was with a group of friends and one of them lost her set of keys.  She had several keys and keychains so it was pretty big and hard to miss, but she couldn't find it.  All evening long they had been sitting on the table between us, we'd all seen them.  But when she went to grab them they were gone.  We all looked everywhere.  She looked through all her things (scrapbooking supplies) which she had brought in a big plastic bin. Her husband eventually had to come pick her up since she couldn't drive home without her keys.  That night at home she was so angry about her keys, she said, "I want my keys!  I know they are here, they must be!"  She immediately opened the plastic storage bin to look through it once more.  The first thing she grabbed was a zipped binder.  She unzipped it and opened it and there were her keys!  She said it was SO bizarre that they had even fit in the binder.  In fact, she tried to close it up again and zip it closed, and they wouldn't even fit!  It was as if the keys had literally materialized right at the moment she opened the binder!

That experience was so remarkable not only because I had challenged my belief by basically asking for an experience of dematerialization to happen to me, but also because there were so many witnesses of this experience.  It wasn't just me who experienced the keys missing and reappearing. 

I do think this is an interesting topic. I have previously, under different forum names, described a couple of instances in which I had a disappearance or reappearance of objects. The most similar to the disappearing guitar pick would be the time I was looking for something (can't remember what, exactly) that I was using to work on a bicycle in my apartment. I could not find it anywhere. Because I felt I was wasting my time I stood in the center of the room and chanted Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, which is a mantra very familiar to me. It has a lot of power within it, in that it stirs up truth from the core of one's being, in my personal opinion. As I stood there and looked down after only one repetition, which had a lot of conviction in it, I saw the object at my feet. I am certain it was not there previously.

To me, that indicates the power of belief to actually change one's physical experience in this world. Changing the state of one's consciousness changes one's reality. Period.

The difference between "where is" and "I want" becomes obvious, doesn't it? And the difference between "I want" and "I have" is even more powerful, as I see it. This is an area of consciousness I am working with at the present time. To explain, after many years on this planet I am only just now realizing how much I look into the outer world for my sustenance. It is much more important to keep awareness of one's inner landscape, and to make subtle adjustments to it, which absolutely changes the flow of one's life, in my experience.

For an example, rather than look outwardly and become dismayed by the lack of emotional support from others, it is much more helpful to look within and to find the aspects of oneself, the places within one's own personality built up over time, which remain sad, angry or helpless because of traumas one has experienced. I would imagine that to emotionally "rescue" that aspect could be considered a retrieval of a part of oneself. When the time is taken to do this, which can be done slowly and carefully, or even in a moment when one has discovered the method, it is apparent that the outer world actually has changed as well. This is how we truly heal.

However, to return to the topic. Another instance, long ago, in which I experienced a disappearing act, was almost frightening. I heard a commotion outside and walked outdoors to see a huge tree branch fallen in the parking area. This was directly below my door, as I am on the second floor. It would have crushed a person while falling and was long, cumbersome, and would have required an effort to remove. One person could not do it. I momentarily thought how glad I was that no one was hurt. I returned inside. For whatever reason, I went back outside on the balcony a few minutes later and it was gone. Every trace. No bits of bark on the drive. Nothing. Someone came around the corner and I was so shocked I simply asked, "Did you see that?" They did not know what I was talking about.

I have no explanation for that. I have no reason. I do know that I was sitting at a table and my thoughts were drifting at the time, and the entire experience was startling.

The thought that one must never think: the reality we experience is All There Is.

To me, it's like holding an ice cube and believing I see the full expanse of the glacier, and all the other glaciers, and the ice sheets .... Ugh. Poor analogy but you get the gist.

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That's fascinating!  But I do feel it's too bad the bracelet went *poof*.  I get very attached to my jewelry even though it's not worth money.  When we love a particular piece of jewelry and wear it all the time it really does absorb our energy.  I guess any item can do that.  I love that show "Haunted Collector" 

Well that was strange. A memory Selfica that is always inside my field went missing and just turned up with no explanation. It looks like this:



The powder blue silk pouch I keep it in showed up on the floor minutes after I found the Selfica. It was the cat who showed the pouch to me.

Hi, Vicky,

Reading the stories here reminded me of one of my own.  The case of the missing checkbook.  I keep my checkbook in the bottom of my purse under my wallet along with a couple of pens.  I take it out every month when my son comes to do the paperwork of the monthly bills.  (I hate paperwork of any kind, ), but I do write the checks.  Well anyways, on this particular month I reached into my purse and the checkbook was gone.  I searched every part of the purse, finally emptying it completely, and turning it inside out.   Then started the big search of all the logical places the checkbook might be and then the illogical.  It was nowhere.  I ended up pulling another book of checks from the box in the desk, so I could pay bills.  I really dislike having two books of checks in use at the same time.  It is too easy to mess up my account, so I was not happy about this turn of events.  I even demanded my checkbook back from 'the powers that be'...no luck.  In the meantime I put everything back into my purse and was grateful I had a clean and tidy purse again.  It must have been a couple of days later.  I again looked for my checkbook as I was getting ready to leave the house.  I remember again getting angry and telling the air "Bring my checkbook back."  I left my purse on the dining room table and went to my bathroom to shower and get dressed.  I was almost ready to leave a bit later when I looked into the top of my purse, and there sat my checkbook, on the very top of the purse, on top of everything else.  I said "Thank you" and placed the checks on the bottom of the purse under the wallet where it belonged.

I have always thought I live with sprites and they amuse themselves by taking something of mine and leaving me hunt for it.  One of the reasons for those thoughts is because they usually return it if I get angry...but not always.  I also see glimpses out of the corners of my eyes.  You know those things you look at directly, and they are no longer there.   By the way, my son tells me the reason we can't see them, when we look directly at them, is because of the way the human eye sees their energy.  For us it is easier to see them with the image coming into the eye from the side.  He has me trying not to turn my head or eyes when I see them and view them with my peripheral vision.  He tells me I'll see a lot more.  So far I haven't mastered the control to not look at them directly.

I thought I'd send along another point of view.

Sending hugs,
T'ressa