Lyrics & Story Behind Song #12: “See It Done”
“Butterflies and big oak trees, frogs and people too.
What’s your vision? See it done and be made new.”
By the end of 2018 I was using a lot of tools for conscious awareness I had learned attending classes at Faith in Wellness Retreat Center. These included: decrees, energy work, body signals, language codes and eye readings. As I’d learned each one, I’d written a song about my experiences. The one tool I hadn’t written a song for yet was what our coaches called “outcome mapping”.
Based on the work of Neville Goddard, outcome maps are a tool for helping people create what they desire in life by seeing their outcomes “already done”. That seemed a bit bizarre and impossible when I first heard it. I’d been making vision boards for decades. Each January, I’d reflect on the past year. I’d collage a poster with images representing my personal goals and dreams for the coming year. My vision board was a visual bucket list of all the things I didn’t have yet but would like to. Nothing on it was already done. Still, by the end of the year, typically about a third of what was pictured in my collages magically manifested in my life. When I first heard about outcome maps, I assumed they would work the same way. I was wrong.
What differentiated conscious outcome maps from any vision boards I’d made in the past, was the fact that they were created from the energy of “having” rather than the energy of “getting”. These maps created a sense of already embodying your outcome, rather than starting from the hope of having it someday. The outcome map process involved: using a high level of sensory detail; expanding your imagination beyond your known reality; and engaging deep feeling.
In his book Prayer: The Art of Believing, Neville Goddard explains the process this way: “You should awaken within you the feeling that you are and have that which heretofore you desired to possess. This is easily done by contemplating the joy that would be yours were your objective an accomplished fact, so that you live and move and have your being in the feeling that your wish is realized.”
Neville goes on to warn us we will never attract what we desire to attract. Instead, we will always attract whatever we believe is true! That—I realized—was key. Neville also notes that imagination is the beginning of creation. We call our creation into being by imagining it in such great detail that we can feel and experience it as our state of being. When we have imagined touching, tasting, smelling, hearing and seeing it, we are halfway there. Then we imagine hearing others talking to us about it. We feel how it feels to hold it, wear it, and experience the results of having it in our lives. At the point where we forget emotionally and experientially that we don’t already have it, we’ve arrived in the energy of “already having”. Another way to think of this process is to imagine seeing the end from the beginning and working backwards. Now that you already have the dream you’ve imagined--and have had it for five years--what is true? What are you feeling? How is your life forever changed? What is happening?
Six months into my first year of doing outcome maps I created one for giving myself a lifelong dream. As a songwriter, I had longed to someday record and share my music. I made a map of how I imagined that outcome might look and feel. I pictured myself joyfully singing and playing guitar, professionally recording a CD, and sharing it with my small circle of friends. Within three months of making that map I was in a recording studio! However, what happened next was even more miraculous.
One of the principles of outcome mapping is allowing your imagination to go beyond what you believe is doable and possible in your current reality. I didn’t really understand this part of the process when I made my map for recording a CD. I learned what “beyond” really meant as the project unfolded over the next year and a half. First, I was unexpectedly gifted with enough money to develop the music files at a much more sophisticated level than I had funds for. My original plan to record ten tracks expanded to thirteen, and my financial investment in the project tripled. Next, I was connected with resource people who had the perfect combination of heart and expertise required to love, produce and arrange the music. In turn, they brought in studio musicians whose talents enhanced every track. When the timing was right, additional resource people showed up with the knowledge to assist me in CD production, photography, graphic design, legal support, business, bookkeeping, creating a web site and setting up a business. I hadn’t spelled out any of this in my original outcome map!
As the project continued to unfold, it kept expanding and took on a life of its own. About a year into the project, I realized I was now “along for the ride”. I had originally set a creative spark in motion through a lot of personal commitment, courage and deep feeling. Now that spark was a bonfire with its own synchronicity, momentum and design. Instead of “driving the bus” my job had shifted to enjoying the ride. I was continually invited to surrender, trust, and do the work of each task that arose. Ultimately, the final outcome was bigger, bolder and more fabulous than anything I could have imagined. At the same time it was just what my heart desired. My first CD was released in January of 2020. The lyrics and stories behind the song are now being shared on-line. Today I have my own business and web site, and my album is available globally for digital streaming. Soon I’ll be back in the studio to record additional songs.
The idea that the energy of creative intention and commitment is so powerful it can set in motion outcomes beyond our imagination is both humbling and fascinating for me. On the down side, this means we have a personal responsibility to be very careful where and how we use our energy. On the up side, it means we can call forward “our best selves” without having to know ahead of time what that looks like. If we do the work and trust, anything’s possible.
When I sat down to write a song about outcome mapping, the images of an acorn, a caterpillar and a tadpole came immediately to mind. No one looking at a tiny acorn would imagine it holds the blueprint for a thirty foot oak tree. Similarly, no one seeing a tadpole would imagine it carries the promise of a frog. Finally, most caterpillars look nothing like the beautiful butterflies they ultimately become. In short, none of those life forms “knows” consciously what they are meant to be in their fulfilled state. Their old selves would never recognize their new selves. Yet, as they continue to be themselves over their natural life cycles, what was always true within them shapes them into all they are meant to be.
One reason people find butterfly totems so inspirational is that they give us a real world example of what’s possible when we fully embrace who we really are. It’s the lesson of countless stories and children’s books I’ve read and loved over the years, from The Ugly Duckling, to Jonathon Livingston Seagull and Hope for the Flowers. In her book A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles”, Marianne Williamson writes, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.” “Your playing small,” she writes, “does not serve the world…We are all meant to shine…And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.”
There’s a related quote from the Talmud that has always inspired me, “Every blade of grass has its angel that bends over it and whispers, ‘Grow, grow.’” I love the idea that life is always rooting for each and every one us. The universe has our back. Love sees our “already done” state—and it’s perfection. If you haven’t seen the miracle of your own beauty and worth yet, keep looking!
In the work we did at Faith in Wellness there was a saying that growing in conscious awareness required more than a 100% commitment. It demanded continually saying “yes” to whatever life presented. What typically happened in the self-growth process was we were asked to give 100%. Then, just when we were sure we had nothing more to give, learn or explore, more was asked of us. That extra 110%, 125% or 150% was our invitation to take a leap of faith and trust. It was saying “yes” to the unknown that made “more” possible. As I finished the song “See it Done”, I realized that was the message of the last verse. “Could my next 125 set my spirit free?” wasn’t a question my mind could grasp, but my soul recognized the magic in that line.
Lyrics: See it Done
Chorus: Looking in the mirror, expectantly. “What? Wait! Who’s that I see?
Hello you! You must be new. Just who might you be?
What? Wait! Could you be me?”
Butterflies and big oak trees, frogs and people too.
What’s your vision? See it done and be made new.
What’s your vision? See it done and be made new.
Verse 1: I’ve always been a caterpillar, crawling on the ground.
Lots of pairs of tiny legs help me get around.
Lately I’ve been busy, weaving this cocoon—
Not sure why, so I’ll just trust I’ll know the answer soon.
Chorus: Looking in the mirror, complacently. “What? Wait! Who’s that I see?
Hello wings, you crazy things! Just what might you be?
What? Wait! Could you be part of me?”
Butterflies and big oak trees, frogs and people too.
What’s your vision? See it done and be made new.
What’s your vision? See it done and be made new.
Verse 2: I’ve always been a tadpole, swimming in the stream.
Got no use for lungs or legs. I’ve got great self-esteem.
Lately I’ve been changing. I don’t understand.
Who needs lungs or legs unless they’re living up on land?
Chorus: Looking in the mirror, self-consciously. “What? Wait! Who’s that I see?
Hello frog up on this log. Just who might you be?
What? Wait! Could you be me?”
Verse 3: I’ve always been an acorn, brown and round and small,
Clinging to this mighty branch, careful not to fall.
Lately leaves are turning and autumn winds blow strong.
I could end up underground--not where I belong.
Chorus: Looking in the mirror…reluctantly. What? Wait! Who’s that I see?
Hello limbs and roots and leaves. You look like a tree!
What? Wait! Could you be me?”
Verse 4: I’ve always been the way I am. It’s how I’ll always be—
Unless I open up my mind to possibilities.
Lately my heart’s calling, “Trust what you can’t see.”
Could my next 125 set my spirit free?
Chorus: Looking in the mirror, in community. “What? Wait! Who’s that I see?
Hello love, amazing love. Just who might you be?
What? Wait! Could you be me?”
Butterflies and big oak trees, frogs and people too.
What’s your vision? See it done and be made new.
What’s your vision? See it done and be made new.
© 2019 Ann S. Bugh