It is sometimes said, especially by our friends, Abraham, that “words don’t teach,” and they offer a lot of words (just as I do).  And, I do believe words can sometimes provide us with just that perspective that had eluded us.  Yet, sometimes seeing just how someone else has pulled off a seeming miracle is more powerful than any explanation of how the Law of Attraction works.  This is one of those situations.  You need to hear this story; it’s a powerful example of how we can pull off what we have put into the category of the “big stuff.”

I was lucky enough to see and read a couple of interviews with the incredible actress, Uzo Aduba, best known now for her role portraying Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren on Orange is the New Black. She has won both an Emmy and SAG award for her work on Orange.

Although I love her incredible work on Orange is the New Black, I am even more captivated, at the moment, by her explanation of how she landed the much coveted role on Orange.  Consider your own desires when you read this story and let it perhaps challenge some of your beliefs about what might be possible for you, especially when it comes to an unfulfilled desire that doesn’t seem destined to become a reality. This is all about mindset and how it completely creates results, and it could not be a better demonstration of how you might need to shake up your inner game when it comes to certain goals in your life. Although all goals are created equal, that is, it is as easy to create something “big” as something “small,” some goals may require a different attitude and focus than we usually bring to the table.

Now, although Uzo Aduba has been a talented working actress for many years, she had never landed a big television role or produced any work that would make her a highly recognized and award winning actress.  She was good, obviously, and had many theater performances to back that up, but the “big role” had eluded her for years.  In fact, she was feeling like she had hit a breaking point, that she just couldn’t keep trying any more, working so hard, for her dream desire. She was offered an audition for a small role, speaking a couple of lines on the show, Blue Bloods, and was preparing herself to do something unique with that two-line opportunity.  She arrived for her audition to find out she had been given the wrong instructions.  She was twenty-five minutes late for the interview and she knew when she walked in that she would not get the role.  She didn’t.

She tells it best.

“I went in. I read. I remember feeling like I’d done a really great audition, like they liked me, but I figured, ‘You’re never going to get that job because you were 25 minutes late.’ I just knew the job wasn’t going to be mine. It wasn’t for me. And I broke into tears on the way home. I’m riding the train home – three trains – and I was just sobbing the whole time. I got home and I was boo-hooing, and I finally said to myself, ‘That’s it. I quit. You win. I’m giving it up.’ My parents had always wanted me to be a lawyer anyway. I wouldn’t say I was happy about any of it, but I was definitely at peace with it.” 

So what happened?


“It was a Friday evening, September 15, 2012. I decided I’d call my agent first thing Monday morning and let them know I was done. And then, at 5:43 pm, I got the phone call that they wanted me on Orange is the New Black.” 

“That’s true. Forty-five minutes before I was offered Orange, I had quit acting.” 

What can we take from this incredible turn of events?  This is my take on what really happened and how we can incorporate that powerful evidence into our own attempts to manifest something that is “big,” one of our fondest desires, which doesn’t seem like it’s ever going to happen.  When Uzo Aduba said, “I quit,” she basically surrendered all of the resistance that had built up for a loooooong time on her desire to land a major role.  She didn’t give up on her belief in herself.  She just said, “this isn’t working. I surrender.  I just can’t keep feeling like this anymore.”  She may not have felt this consciously, but she may have felt like a ton of bricks had been lifted off of her back.  The relief must have been palpable.

Yet, the belief and expectation that she had cultivated for years, that she had the talent and would land the great role that she deserved, were still in her vibrational escrow.  And the energy she had put forth in creating that dream role had resulted in a huge manifestation (it was just in her vortex, not in her physical reality).  When she said “I quit,” she let go of the resistance, the feeling of struggle, the feeling of “this isn’t working,” the feeling of “I’m not doing something right here.”  And, that natural tendency for Well-being that is the true energy of our Universe swooped in to fill that void, and it happened fast.  She had let go of the feeling of striving.  Her vibe became a vibrational match to what she had wanted for so long.  Does the fact that it happened in 45 minutes speak to you?  It speaks to me.  This is so powerful, such a perfect example of letting go, surrendering when what you want has become a struggle.  You’re not giving up on the desire, you’re just giving up on the feeling of struggle and disappointment.

I’ve seen this happen before, when a close friend was having difficulty becoming pregnant and she and her husband had given up the struggle and decided to adopt a son.  They were overjoyed with their new son and no longer feeling like, “we can’t have a child, we can’t have our child, it’s not working for us and it won’t work for us.”  Very soon after their beautiful adopted son arrived in their home, my friend found that she was expecting a baby, a new sibling for their adopted son.

So what happened?


Again, they gave up the struggle, the striving, the feeling that it might just be impossible.  They never let go of their desire but it became softer, not desperate and clingy.

While I don’t advocate thinking of some of our desires as “big” and some as “small,” as it only serves to make what we think of as the big desires feel less attainable, we do have that tendency to categorize our desires as simple and complicated, minor and major, small and huge.  If it’s possible to let go of that tendency to label your desires, please make that attitude adjustment.  That is immediately going to raise your vibration on the formerly “big” desire.  And, if you’ve been working at it, trying, doing everything you can think of to do to bring that desire into your reality, think of Uzo Aduba, and say “I quit.”  I’m letting the Universe handle this one.  I’m okay with where I am right now and I know that anything is possible if I don’t have a huge amount of resistance, that is, negative thoughts and expectations, around the desire.  Find that feeling of peace which wasn’t possible when you were struggling to make it happen.

I would expect to see your desire coming into your experience fairly soon after making that mental shift.  It might not happen in 45 minutes, it might happen in 30 minutes or it might take a couple of weeks or even months, but, by making that mental shift, you’ve allowed it into your experience by virtue of your natural tendency to be in alignment with your Well-being when you’re not resisting it; it’s on it’s way to you.  It’s inevitable.  It’s up to you to make the inner shift. 

I just love this story and I loved writing about it!  I can’t wait to catch up on Orange is the New Black and to remind myself of how quitting can sometimes be our best bet.  Never give up on your desires, just the struggle to make them happen. 

While I am busy and very close to completing my online course, “How to Allow–The Course, Using Your Superpowers,” I thought this post was worth a repeat.  It was a good reminder for me and helped me to get into that relaxed resistance-free state where I am just excited about getting my Course out there!  I hope this story can help you to ease the feeling of struggle around some of your desires.