HOW TO MANIFEST THE GOOD STUFF
Before I start, here's a little insight into the process of putting together a blog post like this. I was struggling to condense the topic of manifesting into something succinct so I called Dad for a 'quick' chat.
After a little over an hour of chatting, mostly listening, and 5 pages of scribbled ideas, what I thought was an extensive topic is really quite simple (and limitless).
One of the hardest but most rewarding and freeing things I have been working on my whole life is how to control my mind and how to observe my thoughts. How to not get caught up and controlled by the voice inside my head. A lot of my life is spent thinking in an unconscious way, but the more I pay attention, the more frequent it becomes conscious and attentive.
I can write with clarity after spending an hour talking to my dad - but the direction I was taking this blog was very different and cloudy beforehand so please don't think I have a great handle on it. Some days (when I feel like crap) I get angry at Dad and tell him that I can't handle any more advice about how to control my mind and other days I could soak it up for hours.
We've all heard countless quotes like 'the mind is everything, what you think, you become' and this blog is all about how we can get a grasp on the thinking stuff - and turn that into things we want to create and experience. Manifesting.
This isn't new stuff either. I wouldn't necessarily label myself as a 'religious' person but I am very spiritual and am interested in the patterns of human behaviour. Given the Bible has been around for a veddy long time it's interesting that even it states 'do not conform to the pattern of this world, be transformed by changing the way you think'. (It's written in a number of different ways but it's Romans 12:2 if anyone is interested - Dad told me to google it and read through all the different ways it has been expressed/ interpreted, I don't think I've opened a bible since year 12).
Last week I was sitting on a bench at the beach next to my dad, staring at the ocean, sunglasses covering my face whilst I balled my eyes out. 2016 has been a tough one and I've had days where I've felt great, but numerous days where I have felt overwhelming clouds of depressive thoughts and feelings. There have been some days where I've been crying so much that I struggle to breathe. I actually wrote in the Notes app on my phone 'A bad day... crying so much that I forget to breathe' in case I forgot how painful it was when/if I wanted to speak about it or share.
Then there are days like yesterday where I woke up at 4:30am headed to the beach, caught the sunrise with my mum, had a stretch, took some photos and admired the incredible turtle tracks of hatchlings that came into the world the night before and followed the moonlight down to the water - very special. Yesterday I felt joyful, appreciative, centered, peaceful and calm. I also felt gratitude for some opportunities that came my way.
Today I felt a greater sense of clarity, joy and peacefulness. A physical representation of that was holding my first tuck handstand (watch it here) for over 20 seconds - something I have never held with control for more than 1-2 seconds. Another personal shift was a complete day without running myself down, rather, lifting myself up - mostly in regards to my appearance or my abilities - two areas of my life that get absolutely slammed if my mind gets on a roll.
P.S. I snapped the photo above yesterday morning when all the good feels were in full swing. Interesting what we notice when we're present and calm isn't it!? Pure, unedited, sunrise bliss! I think the ship on the horizon had prime viewing position!
Manifesting a good feeling...
Want to know the process? It's pretty damn simple. The tricky thing - we're SO skilled at creating things we don't want, and really have no idea how to create that which we do want.
Think about it.. when you feel crap, what do you say in your head? 'I feel crap'.
When you want to feel differently you might say 'I want to be happy'.
There are two important things. The WORDS we use & the FEELINGS we attach to them.
We tend to entertain negative thoughts in the present - 'I am' or 'I feel'.
However for things we want we put them in the future - 'I want' or 'I wish' - and the future is where they tend to stay, unless you change that.
The second thing is attaching a feeling. When we say 'I feel crap' you can genuinely associate that with a feeling of crappiness (for me, it can feel like a big black metal ball sitting on my chest making me feel anxious, feeling numb, moody - pretty powerful feelings). However when we say 'I want to be happy' - we rarely attach a strong feeling of happiness with that thought. We also leave it in the future by saying 'I want' rather than 'I am'.
So when you want to manifest how you feel in life - two key things.
- Present tense.
- Attach a feeling, and FEEL that feeling.
Humans are brilliant creators. But in order to feel better and attract the things we want in life there are two steps.
1. CREATE that which you want
2. STOP creating that which you don't want
Now you might want to know how to do it?
1. Attention
2. Breath
3. Mind
Now to break these down to explain them further...
1. Attention
My dad's most popular phrase - 'pay attention' or 'be attentive'.
How to start paying attention? Pick a task that you do daily. Dad said making a coffee, but I don't drink coffee so let's go with something that we all do. Brushing our teeth - well hopefully we all do that daily... Every time you brush your teeth, pay attention. Pay attention to how you pick up the toothbrush, the sensations you feel in your hand, putting the toothpaste on the brush, pressing the button if it's electric, pay attention to the sound, how the toothbrush feels on your teeth and gums. Pay attention to every intricate detail of this task. CONGRATS you did it, you paid attention. When you pay attention there is no room for irrelevant chatter - some of mine in the mornings when I look in the mirror are greaaat eg. 'you look like a dead raccoon today', 'hellllooooo pimples!!', 'urrrgggghh I feel like crap'. But when you pay attention to the things I said earlier - there is no room for that. Start paying attention.
2. Breath
Breath is something we all have, it keeps us alive and it is the only thing we need to bring us into the present moment. Combine step one with breath. Start paying attention to your breath. Notice the inhale and notice the exhale. We can go into a lot of detail here but I'll leave it at that for now. You deserve another congrats, you've always had the ability to breathe, this is nothing new, now you're just paying attention to your breath. Easy!
3. Mind
Observe your thoughts. This is the hardest thing to do. I would always say to Dad, in a very frustrated manner, 'how the heck can I observe my thoughts whilst I'm thinking them'. Dad has given me a million analogies during my life on how to do this but it wasn't until I was sitting at dinner one night with a bunch of friends and for some reason I imagined a clone of myself (a bit like a ghost/spirit version I guess) sitting at another table observing the situation. At that moment, a light bulb went off, exploded really - because this was the first time in my life that I actually had a handle on what Dad was talking about (around 19/20 years old)! I thought 'WOW, perhaps I quite literally need to step outside of my head to observe my mind'.
From that moment onward I found it quite easy to quickly step outside of my head and observe my thoughts - rather than being so attached to them. If you'd like to describe the one who steps out and observes, I like to call that consciousness. I also like to imagine my consciousness as a mini Eliza that sits in my chest - sometimes it's a flame, other times it's literally a mini version of me, but without all the mind chatter - it's all heart, because that's where it sits, in my heart chakra, middle of my chest - that spot that so many feelings are created.
How to use these three steps to start manifesting what you want
Now that we've got all of that down pat - you can easily introduce what you'd like to manifest. Manifesting is obviously much more than writing down a list of goals and hoping that by sticking it above your desk, they will come true.
Manifesting is living, breathing, believing and creating what you want to feel and experience.
The step where you can introduce what you'd like to manifest is with the breath. The inhale and exhale. Now let's throw in a synonym (the English language is incredibly powerful and this introduces the feeling - PS. credit goes to Dad for this, I didn't realise it myself). We inhale and exhale, we inspire and expire air, inspiration and expiration. Think of the feeling you get in your chest when you think of inspiration - for me, it's light, joyful, bursting with excitement sort of stuff! Funny that... The fact that another word for inhale is inspire.
On every inhale, let yourself be filled with inspiration and intention (feel that feeling in your chest, strongly), pause for a very brief moment at the peak of this inhalation/ inspiration and exhale/expire that air. If you look up the definition for expiration it is 'matter breathed forth' in this instance. Now that you have inhaled/ inspired that air, let it fill you and on the exhale let that radiate out - matter breathed forth, you following? You literally breathe in what you want, let that sit for a very brief moment to notice that which you have created and you breathe that matter forth i.e. radiate those good feels out and make them happen!
If you've ever been to a mediation class they will harp on about two things. The teacher might say something along the lines of 'now pay attention to your breath' (that's actually two of the steps above, we just broke it up a bit more) and 'observe your thoughts'.
Once you've got a bit of a handle on that then you have enough attention to cease creating things you don't want and replace them with things you do want in your life. The only things limiting you are lack of attention, limiting belief patterns and lack of understanding of the creative process. If you are aware of your mind and thoughts you can literally create the life that is best for your self.
Which comes back to those quotes you've heard countless times...
I hope this blog post has helped you as much as it's helped me by writing it - really, this has been a therapeutic and eye opening experience for myself and they are reminders I need every day!
Keep an eye out for part two of this topic where I share examples of how I've manifested good (great!) and bad things in my life.
Lots of love,
Elle :)
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