Manifesto on Manifestation

Or How to Make Stuff Happen, Part 1 of 2

From my perspective, here are some widely embraced principles that are shared by a lot of philosophical lineages, psychological theories, various approaches to living life more fully, and my 67 years on the planet (30 plus in the field of Psychology…)

A. Your thoughts, beliefs and attitudes influence outcomes in your life.

1. 1. Henry Ford: “Whether you think you can, or think you can’t, you are right.”
   2. This is the core of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
   3. This is the core of Narrative Therapy
   4. This is the core of the philosophical school known as “New Thought”
   5. An even stronger version is “Your thoughts create your reality”, and if you want to explore that even bolder version, you can Google that exact topic

B. How you choose to think about something influences the feelings you will experience.

1. 1. William Shakespeare: “There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.” In a sense, the popular and effective therapeutic approach known as cognitive behavior therapy (or CBT) is based upon this very idea.
   2. Flying in a plane, going to the gym, going to the dentist, going on a first date, finding out you have cancer, finding out you won the lottery, getting an important job interview, getting furloughed during COVID, and virtually everything else in life arouses some thought about that thing or event or experience, and the thoughts/beliefs you have about it will dictate your feelings about it. If you go to the negative view of the thing, your emotions will follow in short order…We often think it is the thing, the experience, the other person’s behavior, that makes us FEEL the way we do, but it is actually the thoughts we have about the thing, or the person’s behavior. Think of the radically different impact Trump’s behavior has on Trump enthusiasts and Trump haters. Same behavior arousing WILDLY different thoughts and feelings…

C. Focusing on the negative tends to beget more of the negative.

1. Google this one. There is a holy TON of literature making the point that negative thinking begets more negative thinking, that focus on the darker side of things makes everything look like the darker side of things. It is a downward spiral, a rabbit hole, it is quicksand and the alligator’s jaws. It’s the dark side of the existential moon, it is the tunnel with no cheese, it is bad pizza.
2. People these days (actually, miserable people) LOVE to bash “Positive Thinking”—it has become kind of a backlash sport. I don’t give a shit. They are running themselves deeper into the ravine, over the rumble strips, into the woods, off the cliff, into the cognitive crapper. They like to think they are smarter for this, but to me that is just arrogant and stupid. OK, make yourself miserable and focus on all the crappy stuff, and YOU WIN?!? No thanks, pal…Not having any…
3. In the midst of a pandemic, you can set an intention on health, and in the midst of the George Floyd protests, you can focus on justice, freedom, equal privilege for all. Subtle, energetic differences. Huge difference in your life.
4. I personally find “Against-ness” a really un-helpful position to take. I totally get why people do it, and it is very popular, and it often makes people feel righteous, and right, and they bond around it, and whatnot, but I think it is really not the direction to go. What is it you DO want?!? Not “What do I want to wrestle to the ground and kill?” And I get it, in this day and age, it is really easy and tempting to find stuff to be Against…
5. Viktor Frankl was in a Nazi death camp, and survived by focusing on what he did have control over. He went on to write “Man’s Search for Meaning.” You might say he had a few reasons, while in that camp, to drift into negative thinking. But he knew that would be the death of him…

D. Identify and Focus on the FEELING you are looking for.

1. 1. Your emotions are your internal GPS system telling you whether you are 1) Moving toward feeling better, or 2) Moving toward feeling worse… We have a thousand terms for the various emotions, but they are generally either moving toward feeling better or feeling worse, and the difference is not that subtle.
   2. You are often asking for the “thing” or the “experience” because you believe you will feel better in the having of it—there may very well be other ways to get that feeling besides the “thing” or the experience you think you want. “Young, vibrant, fit and alive!” can be achieved through a red sports car or learning to paddle board, or taking Zumba classes, or, or, or… None of those ways are righter or wrong-er, but it is important to not get too locked into the notion that there is only one right answer…because….

E. There is always more than one right answer.

1. 1. “Who should I date, what job should I take, what should I study, where should I live, where should we eat tonight, which dress should I wear to the party?” There may be particular right answers you think you prefer, or find more shiny, but there is always more than one right answer.
   2. When you get to thinking there is a right answer, and I have to find it or I am screwed, you create an incredible amount of pressure, and actually decrease the chances of making a really satisfying decision..
   3. Dewitt Jones is my favorite on this topic. Watch a few of his videos… Seriously… https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=YI-9tuMg1s8&feature=emb_logo

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