Lester came to my very first Heart's Desire workshop twelve years ago. I was nervous about teaching the class because I had never done it before, but I was very eager to share the Principles. When Lester showed up, I knew I was in trouble. Thick glasses, notebook, calculator, and tape recorder-Lester looked every bit the chemical engineer that he was. He was reserved, analytical, and argumentative and was going to challenge my every point; I could just feel it.

Lester went along with me in the class as we worked step by step through Principles One through Four, but I could tell he felt he was humoring me and wasting his time. He didn't say anything as we went through each Principle, but his body language let me and the other students know that he didn't think much of what I was saying.

When we got to the Fifth Principle, Lester had a fit. In his very reserved Asian way, he interrupted.

"Excuse me! Excuse me ... but I have to stop you here. Fine! Fine! Focus, imagine! Clean your house! But now you say that if I am quiet, I will be led to my dream. I don't think so. You explain to me how!"

He had drawn his conclusions and was staring me down. Lester had decided that unless he knew in advance how he would get his Heart's Desire, it wasn't possible. Period.

"Lester," I began, "my point is that if you do all this preparation work and are authentically serious about realizing your dream, then your own soul will show you how. And very likely in the most surprising way. That is the Principle. Be receptive to being shown how, and be willing to be surprised."

"No! I can't believe it! Impossible!"

"Lester," I said, "what is your Heart's Desire, anyway?"

"Well, first I want a wife. Very unlikely desire because I am a very rigid, boring man and I never even date. I don't want a mail-order bride, either, although some people have advised me to consider this. I am a romantic. I want to be in love.

"Second, I am a chemical engineer for a big laboratory. I dislike my job, but it pays pretty well. I would like to work for myself, but as a chemical engineer my entrepreneurial options are very limited.

"Finally, I despise the weather here and I want to move. I have applied for engineering jobs in warm-weather cities for many years. The only responses I've received have been low-paying demotion positions. So your theory may be fun, but logically speaking, I am very much stuck to my life and cannot see how it can possibly change!"

Underneath this cool, logical facade, Lester's despair was evident to me. " Lester, " I said, " as a scientist you learned to experiment, correct?

"Yes, why?"

"Well, I would only ask you to apply the same rules of experimentation to these Principles as you would to chemistry. I am sure a good scientist never draws conclusions in advance, as you have. Try these Principles honestly. Experiment first, and only then draw your conclusions afterward. Fair?"

Lester thought quietly. "Okay. Fair enough. But..."

"No but! Open your mind. It is my hypothesis that if you follow Principles Number One through Four-focus, believe, imagine, and prepare-then Principle Number Five will direct you to your dream. If you are open to it. Are you?"

Lester accepted the challenge. He agreed to give the first four Principles his all.

A few months later Lester received an invitation to his twentieth high school reunion. It was being held on a three-day cruise in the Bahamas. After opening the invitation, Lester threw the letter away. But for some reason he felt uncomfortable when he did this. His inner voice, his intuition, told him to get that invitation out of the trash and think about it.

Lester retrieved the letter and set it aside for two weeks, trying to ignore it. He hadn't even liked his high school experience, he thought. Yet his intuition, his soul, said, "Go!" Finally, giving in to this voice, which was very much out of Lester's conservative, logical character, he signed up for the cruise.

While on the cruise he became reacquainted with a high school friend who had been in his chemistry class. Her name was Bonnie, and she lived in Florida, where she ran a small pharmacy. One thing led to another, and Lester and Bonnie fell in love. Lester quit his job, moved to Florida, and started helping Bonnie run the pharmacy.

In a word, he was guided to his miracle by Principle Number Five.

The guidance did not come like a carefully planned road map. Quite the opposite. It came in one word--"Go!"

Lester sent us a wedding invitation on which he had written, "Miracle came true!" And inside it said only, "Principle #5. Sincerely, Lester."

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