I wonder if it isn’t the other way round – that the conscious mind is what puts up the barriers, whereas the subconscious has a more direct path to what we require. That is certainly true of creative work, in which the subconscious nearly always knows far more than the conscious – although the conscious does need to exert a degree of control.

I don't think it was my quitting that brought about what I desired...it was the culmination of everything that happened from the first time I knew what I wanted ,including the quitting, that brought about it and other changes I desired. In the end (altho the process is still on going), I not only created the one desire, I ended up bringing about many desires I had wanted in my life.

The article below supports dhw's statement above. (I can say that when I wrote my second book, it seemed to pour out of me. I only had a rough outline in my head, an overall concept for each chapter, but when I was done everything seemed very logical.)

http://carlsonschool.umn.edu/assets/165663.pdf