In midwinter of 2000 I was conducting a seminar at a beautiful resort in southern Florida. The focus of the seminar was to break limiting beliefs and create new ones to bring prosperity and abundance into a person’s life.

At the end of the last day I went to my hotel room, and as I entered, I noticed that the red message light on my phone was flashing. I called the front desk, and there was only one message: it was from my business partner, telling me that a major snowstorm was developing over the Midwest and that I might not be able to fly back to Chicago the next morning. I was concerned, but I was tired and had to get up early to catch my flight home, so I went to sleep.

The next morning, while I was getting dressed, I turned on the national weather channel. The forecast was indeed for a major snowstorm to hit Chicago. I decided to continue to the airport in the hope of beating the storm. During the ride to the airport I began to think that maybe I should change my belief about this storm delaying my arrival. I was in serious doubt about my chances of making it home. Then, I thought about the snowstorm and laughed because my beliefs certainly couldn’t have had any effect on the weather.

When I arrived at the airport, I asked if all flights were still a go. I was told yes, so I boarded my plane, which was bound for a connecting flight in Atlanta. When I arrived in Atlanta, everyone was immediately informed that flights to the Midwest and various other destinations were being cancelled.

I thought it was worth a shot to go see the ticket agent and ask her my options. I was told that I had none and that she was booking me on the next available flight to Chicago, which didn’t leave until Wednesday. “What?” I exclaimed. “Wednesday? It’s Monday!”

“Sir, everything is closing—this storm is huge. We will put you up in a hotel.”

Disappointed, I agreed and was quickly shuttled off to the hotel. When I arrived, I was appalled. It was the nastiest place I had ever seen, and the room was disgusting. The more I thought about where I was, the more I wanted to get home. I told myself that I was going to believe myself all the way back to Chicago, so I went to the lobby and asked for a ride back to the airport.

When I arrived at the airport, it was filled with people who were desperately stranded. The hotels were full, and there was no place to go. I went to rent a car, only to find that there were no more available.

Believing firmly that I could still make it home that night, I approached the ticket agent and asked if there were any flights left headed for Chicago. Without blinking an eye, she told me that everything had been cancelled. I asked her if she would check her computer again, but she repeated her statement. I calmly but firmly asked her if she would just please check one more time. She wasn’t happy about it, but she did.

To her surprise, she found a flight bound for Chicago that night with one open seat, but if I took that seat, I would lose my spot on the Wednesday flight and might not get home until later in the week.

I asked her to give me the seat. She began to protest, but I stopped her midsentence and said, “Please, put me in that seat, I am going home today.” She reserved my seat, and I had to wait almost 12 hours to board my plane. During this time I decided that I needed to keep my mind focused on my outcome. I needed to think, feel, and act like I was going home. I needed to expect it with every fiber of my being.

All around me, there were people lying on the floor. People were complaining about being stuck in Atlanta with no place to go. In many cases, tempers began to escalate. I walked around, read for a bit, and had something to eat while continuing to hold the image in my mind of safely landing at O’Hare airport in Chicago.

The hours passed, and every flight on the departure board was cancelled, except for mine. The news on the television was talking about little else other than the massive snowstorm. Then, it happened: the news said that O’Hare airport was officially closed—they had not been able to get any flights in or out all day.

I walked over to the departure board one more time and saw that my flight still had not been cancelled. I held closely to my vision and tightly to my belief that I was going home that night.

As the time for departure approached, I was sitting near the gate and could overhear the ticket agents talking about how strange it was that my flight had not been cancelled. After all, the airport in Chicago was still closed. Then, the pilots showed up and were asking all kinds of questions as to why my flight was still scheduled.

The plane began to board, and as I boarded the plane, I could hear the pilot asking someone on the radio if he was sure they should go. I began to see that my belief was working. I had a bit of a smile on my face as we raced down the runway and became airborne. Soon, the pilots were announcing how amazed they were that we were actually about to land and said that we were the only flight granted permission to land at O’Hare that day.

I have experienced many more events just like this story since that day and so have the people I have taught to “just believe.”

David Neagle
http://www.DavidNeagle.com