The Lie About Manifestation

And What You Need To Know To Consciously Practice It

“As soon as you decide who and what you are, everything unlike it will come into the space.”

-Neale Donald Walsch

I love the quote above. It’s so honest it hurts.

Walsch speaks of the difficulty of manifesting— which is change brought on by conscious embodiment of who you want to become. His point is that once you decide who and what you are, you will suddenly be pressured by all the things around you that you no longer identify with but are still present in your life.

Things like snacks in your cupboard and cravings for those snacks; friends and family who make you play out old patterns and roles you no longer wish to take on; a bank account that flashes ZERO in spite of your commitment to longer be poor.

Even if you brilliantly manifested your dream, just as miraculously as Jesus turned water into wine, you still have to deal with that last incessant thing that plagued the most virtuous spiritual warriors— doubt.

Can you do it again? Can you REALLY? Who do YOU think you are?

The most difficult part about manifesting is staying on track while walking out of the valley of the shadow of death of who you once were.

THE LIE

The lie about manifestation is that it’s a practice of abundance.

Not exactly.

Manifestation is a practice of being.

However you are being, is what you are manifesting.

In other words, if you are being abundant, you will surely receive abundance. If you are being (living in a state of) lack, your life will be lacking.

This is because you are manifesting all the time. Whether you want to or not.

All the good stuff in your life. You manifested it! All the suffering? You manifested that too.

Why?

Because most of our manifestation comes from the use of the subconscious mind, which runs 95% of our thoughts, beliefs and decisions.

And if your subconscious is chock full of self-defeating thoughts, that stem from unchecked harmful beliefs, there’s no way you can maintain a state of abundance required to make a change. You’ll easily get derailed by your own tumultuous inner experience.

IN MY LIFE

Two things:

1. I have always believed that money was rare. And for most of my life it has been.

2. I have never believed that I’d be alone. And for most of my life I’ve not been.

What a perfect lesson of manifestation!

This observation of my own life seems so obvious to me now, but it only comes with hindsight and after years of meditation and observation.

Let’s take a closer look.

MONEY

I was an immigrant during my formative childhood years. Money was important. And money was rare. Don’t ask for it. Don’t ask for things that cost it. Money doesn’t comes easy. It is the hardest thing you will ever have to work for. The people who have money are people to look up to. The people who don’t have money are lazy.

Fast forward to me continually working many years for free as a screenwriter with dollops of rare funds thrown my way, and then beginning a career as an Anxiety Coach and also undercharging my rate.

I never really thought about not charging or working for a low pay. It was a subconscious manifestation of my beliefs. And it led to me not making money and feeling like a lazy loser about it.

Here’s how my subconscious beliefs manifested my reality:

Money is rare. Don’t ask people for money. It’s the hardest thing they’d had to work for in their life and you want to separate them from it? Sure you’ve helped others before. But can you help this one? Can you REALLY? Who do YOU think you are to take their hard earned money? Your failures in money are a reflection of who you are. You will always fail.

Does this self-talk sound familiar to you?

RELATIONSHIPS

I grew up in a household with two parents. They fought and worked out their differences together. Same with both sets of grandparents, as well as aunts and uncles.

I grew up believing relationships were inherently safe and guaranteed. I never doubted I’d be in a good one. And I never for a second feared I’d end up alone. It was simply a non-existant reality.

Fast forward to me having been in two 3 year relationships in high-school and college and since then a 17 year relationship with my wife. All of my relationships were good. And each one got better than the last.

Here’s how my subconscious beliefs about my relationships manifested my reality:

Relationships and love are not conditional. They are a right. I have a right to have to a safe and nurturing relationship and I know how to create one. A break up is painful, but I will learn from it and find a new person based on what I’ve learned. I’m not afraid of being alone, because being alone is temporary.

Where do you notice this powerful self-talk in something you’re naturally good at?

YOUR TURN

The differences between my experiences with money and relationships are striking. My entire experience with relationships have become an embodied blueprint for what it truly takes to manifest something you want in life.

I can vividly recall the safety I felt in my family of origin. There was no question of safety. I can recall in my body the confidence I had in beginning my own relationships later. And after the heartbreak of breakups subsided, I still remember thinking, “What qualities do I want in my next partner? How can I do things differently?”

Unlike my ventures into money, the failure of a relationship was not a failure of my self. And this is likely because I was lucky enough to be born into a family that stuck together.

I know this is not the reality for many people. Maybe not for you. Maybe relationships are tricky for you. Maybe money is not. Maybe both are tricky.

One thing I know for certain is that everyone has something good in their life that they manifested subconsciously with natural ease.

Maybe you’re a natural caretaker, a natural salesman, a natural listener, lover, friend, parent, sibling, child, employee, etc. Out of all the suffering in your life, you are naturally good at things too.

Yes, you are!

And if you want to manifest something that comes less natural, you might well be served by taking a closer look at the thoughts, beliefs, energy states and actions you naturally embodied (but may have not paid attention to) to manifest that good thing.

Apply that blueprint to manifest the next thing you want.

This is not just a thought exercise. What you are looking for is an embodied memory of feeling strong, clear, capable and committed, to knowing in your bones that you are a naturally good _______.

Practice embodying this feeling good feeling, because manifestation is more about being, than doing.

This is how you create an emotional blueprint to guide you through manifestation.

And if you want a wonderful short book about this, I highly recommend Bringers of the Light, by Neale Donald Walsch. (I am not affiliated in any way with Walsch, just a fan).

A WORD ABOUT “AVOIDING NEGATIVITY”

So much of what I see in abundance work is about “blocking” negative energy and not watching, listening to or speaking anything negative because you might manifest that into being.

This becomes an unfortunate self-fulfilling prophecy.

When you believe that you can only be abundant if you are not disturbed, then you can be certain that a disturbance will defeat you.

The slightest shake of your castle will unseat you from your rickety throne.

If, on the other hand, you cultivate a vast inner experience. An experience that sees negativity and suffering as a part of life. An experience that says, “There is enough space because I am limitless.”

…That is true abundance.

But for that to be your lived reality, you need to develop self-compassion.