The Harsh Truth About Manifestation
It’s not magic, it’s not prayer… it’s work.
I’m floating.
I’m floating in a sea of atoms.
I’m floating as the sea of atoms, moving through time and space.
Yes, these are the thoughts that get me up and out of bed at 4:30 AM (really, I’ve been laying in bed contemplating them since 3:30) when lately I’ve been sleeping in til 8. I have never been a morning person.
But recently my mind has been on manifesting, the simulation we’re living in, and how to get where I’m trying to go.
All very “out-there” thoughts.
(I promise I’m not high. I’ve been sober 3 months).
But after a talk with a close friend the other day, and reading another Medium article on the Reticular Activating System, I realized it’s not so out there after all.
I’m no expert, but science has always been my favorite subject. Through it we're able to see ourselves through a separate lens — one of understanding and knowledge rather than blind life. We’re not animals anymore; we’re more than that. Homo Sapiens. Whatever that means.
I signed up on Medium to write about self-publishing and creative business. But here is my first article, and it’s basically about magic… but how it’s real, and how you can use it, too.
To me, (and I think, to any enlightened mind) science is magic. Everything we know today would be considered heresy even 100 years ago. And, well, some of it still is, depending on who you ask.
For years, shamans and healers of various type have used psychedelics to transcend the human mind and reach another plane — for healing, for knowledge, and for strength. If you’ve read Castaneda or watched the the Vice/Hulu series, (or, perhaps, attended Burning Man) you know what I’m talking about. Once that was looked on as the devils drug, a tool for hippies to get high… now we’re decriminalizing it across the nation and new studies pop up daily on the positive side effects for treating PTSD, depression and more.
This morning, that magic 3:30 AM hour, I lay in bed thinking about manifestation and magic, and how the two are one in the same. Manifestation is very in right now. Just scroll through Instagram and more than a dozen “manifesting Queens” and “spiritual coaches” pop up, selling some course on it.
You (probably) don’t need a course.
I’ve taken a few, and I do love them. But that’s after years of studying and finding the right person who truly spoke to me through their work. You, the layman, the non-believer, probably can do just fine with some free Google searches, reading a couple books, and learning how to meditate. That’s always a good start.
My boyfriend said manifestation is BS because you’re asking the Good Lord for something you should just go out and get yourself. He’s very much living in the Henry Rollins, David Goggins vein of self-growth that's driven by masculine energy and aggression. It works for him, it could work for you. I appreciate his drive.
But, there’s the rub: manifestation isn’t about any certain god, or deity, and it’s not prayer.
Manifestation is… the convergence of your set of atoms with the certain timeline future-you-set-of-atoms that you can achieve, through hard work, perseverance, and most of all, belief.
I laid in bed this morning and saw the future I wanted to achieve. It’s always kind of the same… A singular moment in time, but it represents so much. I’m standing, arms resting on the wooden railing of my porch-patio, cup of some hot beverage loosely held between my hands. I’m smiling. Content. And I’m there, in the cool morning air looking out over my mountain views, before everyone else wakes up.
You know you’re manifesting right when the vision brings a tear to your eye.
Anyway, no, I’m not there now. I’m in a 2/2 basement apartment in a lonely suburb, no patio, but at least I have the coffee. How do I get from here, to there?
Something magic in that vision tells me how. When you manifest, when you visualize the goals you want to achieve, something pops almost, like an opening, and you’re flooded with thoughts and ideas and images on how you can get to where you want to go.
That’s the Reticular Activating System.
That’s a real part of your brain activating, filtering out all the seemingly never ending thoughts and knowledge in your mind to leave you with the ones that matter to you now. It’s not folk stories, or magic, but science.
We can all believe in that, right?
When I’m working out, doing my morning routine, and sitting down for meditation before getting to my work in the morning… usually I can’t sit for long because somewhere in there a thought of inspiration pops in my head. I’m manifesting abundance that day, and the thought to message a certain potential client or inspiration for a new piece of writing shoots into me and I can’t sit down anymore in case it gets forgotten.
I’m not asking for anyone or anything when I manifest. But when I do, I see the people and the places in my life I can reach out to and open up to in order to achieve what I’m aiming for. I can get the energy to get out of bed at 4 AM to write an insane article for an online platform because I saw how this moment takes me even just one step closer towards that patio, my cup, and the cool mountain air.
Everybody who’s anybody will tell you, you have to believe you can do the thing before you do it. Manifesting puts that belief in you. When you can see yourself doing it, feel the air around you, see and feel and hear things you maybe haven’t ever seen or felt or heard before… you trick your brain into believing it’s real. Our brains are kind of dumb that way, and amazing. That’s how you can wake up in a cold sweat screaming from a dream… we don’t always know the difference.
So, forget the hype currently swimming around the term “manifesting”. It isn’t prayer, it isn’t wishy-washy magic from girls who watched The Craft too much growing up (although, guilty). It’s simply a new term for a very, very old thought process.
What we think becomes action.
What action are you taking today?
Some of my favorite tools for manifesting:
- Exercise: Yoga, running, and weight training all leave some room in your mind for new thoughts to come through, plus it releases feel-good chemicals to your brain. Keep your notebook or note app handy to jot down jolts of inspiration. Listen to a bad ass playlist or motivational podcast for an extra boost.
- Visualization: Close your eyes and see yourself in the place or doing the thing you’d like to do. The more you practice, if you’ve never meditated or visualized before, the easier this will be. Try to fully immerse yourself in the time… What does it feel like? How happy are you now? What else are you experiencing?
- Emotional Freedom Technique/Tapping: If you have a deeply rooted mental block around the area you’re trying to manifest (you believe you’re not worthy, you can’t do it, your childhood stories tell you it’s impossible) try EFT. Essentially you talk through the negative thought, forgive yourself, and input a new, more positive affirmation in it’s place. Try it!
- Journaling: You have to keep track of these dreams somewhere. Take yourself and your goals seriously by writing them down, daily if you can. Start by writing at least 3 things you’re grateful for now (releasing more of those feel-good chemmies!) Then, write your goals as if they’re happening now. This is your Big Dream, your Chief Aim, the thing that wakes you up at 3:30 AM. Write it, revisit it often. Don’t be married to it though. Let it grow and evolve as you get closer to it and as you learn more about yourself.
“Alice laughed: “There’s no use trying,” she said; “one can’t believe impossible things.” “I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” — Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
Keep practicing, and I’ll see you on the patio 😉
