A Simple Manifestation Exercise Part 2 of 2: Commentary and Explanation

The Union Path Podcast

"A Simple Manifestation Exercise Part 2 of 2: Commentary and Explanation"

Full Episode Transcript:

This episode is part two of the simple manifestation exercise. If you haven't listened to part one, that's where the exercise actually is and it's the episode immediately prior to this one in the feed. This episode is really more of an explanation and a bit of a commentary track on that episode and that exercise, just because, personally, although I find exercises really handy, I find it even more handy when I understand why I'm doing what I do, at the very least the point of view and the perspective and the assumptions that were being made when the exercise itself was constructed and just how to think about what I'm actually doing, as well as how to think about what I'm actually trying to accomplish. So, without any further ado, here's the commentary or the explanation on the simple manifestation exercise. So this exercise consists of three steps well, four steps really, if you include the intention part, but again, I kind of feel like that goes without saying. So the three steps are centering, envisioning and releasing, and all these three steps have a very vital role in this process. But what I like about these three steps is not only do they have a bit of a synergy when done together, that they seem to make the overall exercise more potent and more powerful. At the very least it seems to really amp up the overall feeling and the experience of the exercise.

But each one of these steps can be done in and of itself, because each step does a different thing. There is value in doing all of them. There's also value in just doing one when that's the right step to take, when that's the right thing to do, when that's the remedy that seems to be called for for whatever I'm experiencing In the first step, or really kind of the step zero of the whole thing, the setting, the intent. That's the most important part of the whole thing. If we do nothing else, just living a life of intention, just striving to live a life on purpose, will make more difference than anything else. If we don't do anything else, if we just stop there, that in and of itself will change our life. Just shifting from a life that's lived passively or lived in a reaction state to a more intentional life, to a life lived more on purpose, will make more difference than anything else. But again, I assume if we're doing a manifestation exercise we've already done that part, that we don't go into an exercise like that. Try to figure out we want that exercise is really more of a tool to how to figure out how to actually get what we want and to do it in a skillful way, and perhaps to do it in a different way than we've been trying to do it before, to do something different than just pure effort and pure willpower and pure striving, and look for more of a spiritual solution to bring in what we're actually trying to bring in.

Once we have our intent in mind, we move on to the centering step. Why this step is critical is that it really reconnects us with our ground state and it really creates a place from which we can set our intention that is as clear and as clean and unencumbered as possible, that a lot of times we can really get in our own way when we're setting intention, when we're dragging too much into it, when we're giving it too much of a job, when we're overloading it with expectation and history and needing and wanting and attachment and all of the things that we can add on to it, that we can just sort of bolt on to our intent of instead just trying to get to as clean and open and as basic of a ground state as we possibly can, just to kind of start with a blank slate to start as basic and fundamental of a place as we possibly can because one of the big things with achieving any sort of intent is letting go of the past Letting go of the past but also letting go of our attachment to any particular future that when we think about intents it's really difficult to separate what we've done, what we've been, what's happened to us, and it's also really difficult to separate what we want to have happen, what we want to experience. And so if we can just start with this basic idea of I am, if we can start with this basic sense and awareness of our own being, of our own I am, and not condition it with anything else, not condition it on anything else, just focus on I am, that can really let a lot of those attachments go, can let a lot of that momentum go, can let a lot of those expectations go, can let a lot of that resistance that gets in the way of us actually achieving our intention and let it go Again. Start this intention process from as blank of a slate as we possibly can, kind of come into it with as much of sort of a beginner's mind as we can, and one of the most effective ways of doing this that I've found anyway is through doing a centering exercise, such as just focusing on my own being. On my own I am.

But the centering exercise is also really effective when I'm going through times of struggle or strain or confusion, or I have conflict within me, when I just have sort of a storm of uncomfortable emotions within me or I just feel a bit off discombobulated, I'm confused, I don't really know where I'm going or what I'm doing. I've just been knocked off my center for whatever reason. This sort of centering exercise is really effective, is really helpful, because it brings me back. It brings me back to my most fundamental, to just my own being, because that's what I create everything from anyway. That's what I exist from anyway is my own being. And the more I can connect with that I can kind of create a bit of separation. I can kind of step out of the tumult and the storm of all of my feelings and emotions and just my current state and just find a place that's more peaceful, that's more quiet, that's more grounded in the fundamental, that's more grounded in who and what I really am. Because it's just a nice exercise to do, it's just something that just feels good just to reconnect with being. It's always soothing, it's always nurturing, it's always calming and sometimes I can't get to 100% soothing and calming and peace, but it always helps, it's always helpful and it's also always a really handy, really useful place to start any kind of intention setting or manifestation practice from and then in the next step, in the envisioning step.

Obviously this part is critical because this is when we actually start to apply and inject our own intention, when we start to set an intention for what we want to actually do. That, yes, it's wonderful to connect with our being, but as creators, we also have the opportunity to set the intention of our life, to set the purpose of our life. What do we want to do? What do we want to experience? How do we want things to be?

Again, it doesn't mean things are necessarily going to go this way. In fact, when intention is fulfilled, when manifestation happens at least as my experience it's almost always a surprise. It's almost always a surprise in how it comes through or the timing that it comes through, or both. But at the very least, life is a co-creative process. So we get the opportunity to set the intent for our life. It doesn't mean we get to control and make it be exactly how we want and exactly when we want.

We do have the power to say what we want. We do have the power to claim and declare our intentions, our purpose to live life on purpose, and so when we walk through this envisioning process, it's really important to get clear on what do we really want and take it to the end Not what we think we want or a partial thing of what we want like what do we really want and what's the full version of what we really want. This is why I focus on the mantra of I am whatever my intent is, but from the perspective of reflection after having achieved it, that idea of I am blank. I really am. This really happened. This is really real, because what I'm trying to do is access a feeling, a set of feelings. I'm trying to access the set of feelings of ultimate attainment, ultimate fulfillment of what this would really feel like is completely and clearly as I possibly can. And so I try to connect with that energy through the mantra of whatever the most powerful set of words would be around, I am, what accomplishment would actually be and what the maximum version of that would actually be, because I'm trying to stoke feeling, not only clearly but strongly. I'm trying to elicit and evoke as strong of a feeling as I can because it's the feeling that matters.

But it's so easy with mantras and manifestations and intent to get lost in the words and trying to find the perfect set of words from a logical perspective and to me anyway, the words are useful, but the words aren't what matter, the feeling that matters, and I want to get to as much of the feeling as I can possibly get to. But I use the right set of words in order to get there. That it's the right set of words that enable and equip and empower me to feel the feelings that I want to feel. It's not the words themselves, it's the feeling that matters, it's the feeling that's the priority. And so I really work and I really strive to feel around for what's the right set of words, the maximum I am, statement that brings up not only the exact feeling I want to feel, but as strong of a feeling as I can.

Do you strong words? Use a succinct, accurate, complete sentence. Be as complete in my mantra as I possibly can. Construct the mantra that elicits and evokes the maximum feeling, and this can be done through adjectives, it can be done through the exactly right word, it can be done through specificity. Then, instead of saying I want to be successful, I want to be wildly successful. To me, those two things feel different. This is more of a yes or no or more of a logical thing wildly successful but that feels completely different. So, again, it's feeling around for this right set of words. It's landing on a mantra that feels right, like if our intent is to be married, well, we don't just want to be married, we want to be happily married, we want to be blissfully married, we want it to be wonderful, we want it to be amazing. And so it's connecting with the best version of whatever the fulfillment of our intent is. Really strive after fullness, really strive after completeness.

Don't stop at the B plus mantra. Go for the A plus, go for the bullseye, go for the one that really hits it on the head. That really is the full version of completely what you want, and you'll know when you hit it, because you can feel it. You can feel that bullseye, you can feel that energy stir, you can feel something awake within you. You can tell the difference. You can tell the difference between exactly right and almost right, and it's important to get the mantra whatever it is. That's exactly right and this might change. This might wiggle around a little bit.

I've had circumstances where I'm doing this exercise where I can land on a mantra that's really powerful but then after a little while it seems to lose a little bit of its juice, or I just have another mantra that's similar but even more effective, even more powerful, and when this happens I will move over to whatever the best version of this mantra is. These things aren't meant to be set in stone. This is an organic process. This is a life process and we can move with it as it grows and changes and gets better, because what we want is the best possible version. And if that takes 30 different versions of a mantra to get there, well, that takes 30 different versions, but again, we can feel after it, we can know the difference and we can trust that we'll know when it's right, when it's exactly right, when we hit that mantra.

That's a bullseye, because this will also tend to bring up powerful feelings. This will tend to bring up ideas and imagery in our mind. It'll seem to kind of multiply and spread of where we can envision all sorts of different things that would happen if this were true, that it's like our mind or our bodies or our feelings or our emotions, our soul kind of grabs onto this and runs with it and we get to run with it. That's one of the beauties of this exercise is that as we work to stoke these feelings, stronger and stronger and stronger, it gets better and better and better. We'll find ourselves smiling, we'll find ourselves happy, we'll find it. This just feels better just through doing the exercise and personally I think that's an amazing thing, at least on a partial level manifestation accomplished, because ultimately, what we want is to feel a certain way.

Yes, we would absolutely want these things to happen in our life. Yes, we would actually want these manifestations to happen, which is why we're doing this exercise in the first place. But ultimately, we want things to happen. We want to have certain experiences, we want to have our life be a certain way, because we want to feel a certain way. And it's a beautiful thing to realize we can feel that way now. We can access those feelings now, and it doesn't have to feel false or fake or artificial, because it's just feeling. And what does it really matter how we get to the feeling. That's a beautiful thing to realize, that's a beautiful thing to know that we can feel however we want, to feel whenever we want, or at the very least, we can work to approach it, we can work to cultivate it, we can invite those feelings in, and then we'll find ourselves feeling those types of feelings more often, we'll find our life imbued with those sorts of feelings more often, and that's a beautiful thing.

And once we've gone through the envisioning and repeating that mantra as much as we want, then we move on to the releasing phase. Because with achieving an intention, with actually bringing manifestation in, a big part of it is getting out of our own way. A big part of it is releasing our own resistance, and usually that comes in the form of our own fear, worry, doubt or just projection of our past, projection of our fears, projection of what we think will happen in the future, which will stand in our way. And, very similar way to the centering process that we started with, we can really create a nice ground state for our intention to come through, for our manifestation to be fulfilled, by getting this resistance out of the way, by clearing it from us, by releasing it, because everything we're releasing, even if it's circumstance, another person. It's all within us. These are worries we have, these are doubts we have, this is skepticism we have, this is cynicism we have, this is insecurity we have.

And all of this exists within us. All of this energy exists inside of us and we can release it. We can use this bubble exercise to just pack all of it in and let it all float away. We can liberate and release all of this resistance from ourselves and our lives simply by envisioning the release of this resistance and watching it float away. And perhaps this sounds funny and perhaps it doesn't, but these metaphorical visions can be really powerful, which our state, can change how we feel about things, because we've envisioned a metaphorical solution to our problems. And by letting these things go, by visualizing the release of all of this resistance and watching it go away, saying goodbye to it, bidding a fond farewell to all of these obstacles, all of these things that have stood in our way, that we think stand in our way, that we're worried might stand in our way, freeze all of this energy up from within us. It allows it to stop cycling, to stop circling, to stop influencing and affecting what we want, to stop influencing and affecting our current state.

And it's been my experience anyway that every time I do this, once I really let this go, I can feel it. I can feel a sense of an emptiness within me, a void that's been cleared, because I'm not carrying all this resistance around, I'm not harboring all of these obstacles internally. I've let them go and now I feel far more open, I feel a lot of space, feel a lot more free, and then I can use those feelings that I stirred up through my envisioning to fill that space, to allow myself to be completely full with those positive feelings, with that warm, golden, glowing joy that I stirred up through the envisioning exercise. And I can feel these feelings fill me completely, that I'm not part joy and part doubt, I'm not part happiness and part fear, I'm not part hope and part skepticism. I'm all positive feelings, I'm all warm, golden glow.

Now, when I've released this resistance, it creates a void, it creates a vacuum and I let those positive feelings go in and fill that, to fill me up, to fill me up to fullness so that I am fully and completely in joy, in happiness, in freedom, in fulfillment, in feeling it, now that I've removed that negative energy that's been contradicting, that's been negating the achievement, the fulfillment of what are my intents, are that has prevented the manifestation from coming through, because I've been standing in the way, because I've been injecting negative energy to this positive energy that I want to flow to me, that I want to expand within me, and that's it. That's the exercise and, like I said in the episode, we can do it as many times as we want. But I think one thing that's really vital to keep in mind is this isn't like physical effort. We don't get what we want because we do this exercise a certain number of times. We're not making deposits in a spiritual bank account which we'll be able to withdraw for cash later.

The point of doing this exercise is to connect as deeply as we can with these positive feelings that we're trying to manifest and live, while simultaneously resisting the negative feelings and the negative energy that's gotten in the way. Whole purpose of this exercise is to feel better, because why do we want what we want when we want to feel better? But we can feel better now. We can feel better through doing exercises such as this, but we don't earn what we want through doing this exercise a certain amount of times or doing it perfectly. That has been my experience anyway that manifestation is far more based on grace than it is on merit. We don't have to earn everything we can receive. We can receive what we want. We make that process easier and more fluid when we get our own resistance out of the way, when we stop standing in our own way, when we stop tripping ourselves, when we stop tying our own shoelaces together, because, also, as I said in the episode, typically when manifestation happens it's a surprise. It's a surprise in both form and timing.

And by going through this releasing process all the way, we can release our need, our desperation, our clinging, our dependence on whatever it is we want, on whatever it's we want coming through. We can set it free to come to us however it will, whenever it will. Sometimes it's instant, sometimes it takes well, sometimes it comes in the form very closely related to what we imagine, sometimes it's completely different. But we allow this manifestation process to be co-creative. We allow ourselves to place the call, to place our request, and then let the answer come in on its own accord, that we live at the beginning and the end of this process, but we leave the middle up to life. Yes, we set the intention. We set this all in motion. We are the initiation, we are the beginning of this process and we also live through the manifestation. We live through the end, we live through the culmination, we live through the fruits, the expression of this intention.

But things get pretty squirrely when we get too involved in the middle part, in the trying to make things happen, even in our own awareness of we're walking around eagle-eyed looking at everything as a possible opportunity to give us what we want. That's resistance, that's us getting in the way, that's our own attachment, that's our own obsession, that's our own need. And the more we can free ourselves from that energy, the better. And again, all steps of this exercise can be done by themselves. They all have a different purpose, they all have kind of a different role in this process and sometimes it's really useful to just set an intent and just know what we want. That is very easy to undervalue, but that's really important If we don't do anything else just knowing what we want, knowing what we really want deep on the inside, knowing what's really important to us and cultivating a sense of deserving, a sense of wanting, from the perspective of really wanting to live this, not have it be in some far off, maybe someday, if only.

But really wanting something and really wanting it to happen, really inviting it in, is vital. Using the centering exercise to recenter ourselves when we're kind of off base or off kilter or just need to just kind of come back home, come back to something more fundamental, something a little bit more peaceful, a little bit more calm, that centering process is really useful. That envisioning process is useful as well, of really spending time imagining and living through our own minds the manifestation of what we're trying to create. Really getting in touch with those feelings, really getting familiar with those feelings To some extent, walking around with those feelings a little bit active all the time, can be really useful. It can be really enjoyable too.

Again, this isn't all about work. This isn't all about just trying to get something done. A big part of the usefulness of this exercise is how it just feels good, which, in kind of a funny way, I find I tend to get more of what I intend when I feel good, and so if this exercise does nothing else than just makes us feel better, that's not nothing. We tend to get what feels good from a place of already feeling good, and if we can use exercise like this to feel better. That in and of itself is a worthwhile achievement. That in and of itself is useful, that in and of itself is good. And then we can use the releasing exercise when we find ourselves just gripping a little bit too much, or if we feel a little bit too put upon by life, like the obstacles and the resistance of life or circumstance or ourselves has just gotten a little overwhelming, we can use that releasing exercise to just let it go, give it a place to go, put it in this bubble and let it float away, and watch it float away and know that we've released it, and then fill that space where all that resistance, where all that turbulent, negative energy was, and fill it with something more positive, with something that feels better.

But I found and the reason why I did this episode is when I do these three steps together, in this order, it's profoundly powerful. It changes my life immediately. But the best way it changes my life is I feel better, I have a better day, have a better week, have a better month, and because I'm letting things go I'm not trying to watch the pot boil, I'm not constantly alert and aware for whatever I'm trying to manifest to come in. Honestly, I kind of forget about it because I already feel good. In some ways it feels like I've already achieved. I've already accomplished, I've already experienced what I'm trying to experience.

And then the funny thing is, when that manifestation does come through, often it's after I've completely forgotten about it and it's only in a realization of oh yeah, right, I was envisioning this very thing. This happened to me so many times, where months have gone by and I find myself all of a sudden just struck. I'm looking at a scene and it's exactly what I imagined. I'm doing something. It's exactly what I imagined, like down to the detail.

And so again, this kind of a funny thing, like I truly believe in my bones that this exercise works, but one of the keys to it working is letting it go. It's kind of stating an intent and being really clear about it and being precise about the way that I go through these exercises and then just kind of letting go and forgetting about it, not worrying about the middle part, the in between, the how, know that I'll experience this when I'm supposed to, probably in an unexpected way, probably in an unexpected timing, and I don't have to worry about it. I can allow myself to be surprised, I can allow myself to be delighted through living the manifestation of my intent. And I make this process so much more effective when I let it go, when I let go of resistance, when I get out of my own way, when I get out of life's way, when I get out of the way of the energy that's trying to flow towards me because there's a resonance, because there's an attraction, because there's a completion, a fulfillment that's trying to happen. And I allow that fulfillment to happen by keeping as much of my own resistance and other nonsense out of the way.

And the more I do this exercise, these types of exercises, the easier it gets, because my creative confidence grows. Then I'm less and less likely to try to watch the pot boil, to be constantly alert to things happening, to trying to control the manifestation, because I have the creative confidence. If I know this works, I feel assured, I have faith, I have belief and I know that me getting in the way is only going to defer what I want. So I might as well not do that. I might as well stay out of the way when any attempt to affect or influence either form or timing is just going to kind of be a mild form of sabotage. At the very least, it's not effective and my helping doesn't really help. These processes don't really need my help.

These processes work because I do my part and leave the rest to life, to spirit, to energy, whatever we want to call it. Doing my part, doing it completely, creating the space and then getting out of the way, letting it go, allowing the intention, the manifestation to happen and to happen as it will, knowing that any influence that I try to assert will really only get in the way. So I try to stay out of the way and in kind of an ironic, paradoxical way, the best way I can stay out of the way is to stop trying, is to forget about it, is to let it go completely. And it's kind of a funny thing that when the manifestation happens, it almost happens backwards. I don't see myself like ramping up and leading to a manifestation, like a light at the end of a tunnel. It's almost like I see the light and then, oh, there's a tunnel here, and it's almost always through hindsight anyway. So I try to relax all of my foresight. I just let it go, let it be and live my life, stay present, do what I want to do now, do what seems right to do next and keep moving.

And if I want to do this exercise once, I do it once. I want to do it over and over again. I do it over and over again, but again, the repetition isn't through trying to earn anything, isn't trying to accumulate anything. I just do it because I want to and it feels good, and I leave my resistance out of it, I leave my needing out of it, I leave my control out of it and just be, just be knowing that exercises like this are effective, and so I don't need to worry about making them be effective, I don't need to control them, I don't need to make anything be a certain way. If there's something I'm supposed to do, I'll be inspired to do it. I'll usually find myself do it without even thinking about it anyway, so I just let it go, let it be.

Use a process like this because it's valuable, but also get out of the way. Stay out of the way. Live life and let life live me. Let it be a co-creative process. Go into life cooperatively. Trust that I've done my part. I've set the intent. I've gotten really clear about it. I've removed every obstacle I can find. I've released the intent to manifest, however will and I've done my part. No further effort or efforting is required and I can trust that that manifestation will happen precisely when and precisely how it's supposed to.