This post is going to bust some serious misconceptions about the law of attraction. Specifically, did you know that creative tension is one of the most essential elements in manifesting your desires?
No, seriously. It is.
But not in the way you’re thinking of. I’m not talking about anxiety, or stress, or anything like that. Obviously, those things will keep your manifestations at bay as always.
No, tension, like I am talking about here, is a very different thing altogether.
My Own Discovery of Creative Tension
Before I get into the details, let me describe my own discovery of tension.
I’ve been seriously getting in the zone when it comes to manifesting lately. Ever since I started setting monthly income goals, I’ve been reaching each one. Last month, it was down to the very dollar: I was only 88¢ over my monthly goal.
If you listened to last week’s support call, you heard me describe already how I have been looking back over my manifestations, and specifically how I manifested them.
And I realized something: besides the element of confidence that I mentioned recently, there was also an additional element that I had not previously noticed.
That element was what I could only call tension. There was this force pulling me forward to my goal, because I refused to compromise on my vision of what I wanted. That creative tension wasn’t resolved until the vision was achieved.
I found this odd, initially, because it seems to go against so much of common LOA wisdom. However, as I looked back over my life, I saw that all my biggest manifestations, even the unintentional ones before I knew about the law of attraction, had this element of tension.
When I got into the music school at Duquesne University in 2007, I didn’t know how I’d do it, as it is pretty difficult to get accepted there. But I set it as a goal, and felt creative tension, due to my intense desire, pulling me forward until I did indeed get accepted.
I’ve often talked about my experience from September 2015, when money was super short, and I had to manifest everything we needed for the month. That, too, had creative tension, due to the urgency of the situation.
The house Christine and I currently live in is owned by Christine’s mother. We used to pay her very reduced rent, which she didn’t mind while we were getting on our feet. I told Christine we’d pay her extra if we had it at the end of the month. But, of course, we never had the extra.
That is, until I made the decision to pay her the full amount every month. It was super scary, but we went ahead with it anyway. And, surprise, surprise, all the money we needed to cover the extra cost was effortlessly manifested, thanks to the creative tension produced by the need.
Finally, I used to think I had the belief that I could only have just enough money. I used to only have $25 or $50 in the bank at the end of any given month.
Then, I had one of the biggest breakthroughs I’ve had so far. I realized that there was tension created to manifest the money to pay all the bills. But once I had just enough money, that tension was resolved, and so I didn’t make any more, meaning we ended the month with very little.
So, I made the deliberate choice that I would now have more than enough. I started setting goals above and beyond “just enough”, so that the creative tension wouldn’t resolve until I had reached that goal.
And, it worked. Two months before I made this decision, we ended the month with $28 in the bank. The month just before this decision, we actually ended with $2 overdraft.
The month immediately after making this decision, though, we ended with $103. The next month, we ended with $228.
It was all due to the creative tension that kept pulling me towards my desire until I reached it.
Creative Tension: The Root of the Creative Process
In discovering this trend in my life, I remembered back to a book I read last year, called Path of Least Resistance by Robert Fritz.
The book discusses the creative process, which is essentially the process of how to create anything you want in your life.
Robert Fritz teaches a concept called “structural tension”, which is essentially identical to what I have been experiencing in my life. I’ve seen it also called “creative tension”, which I prefer, as it is more descriptive of the process.
The idea is that everything has a structure. The structure of a system will determine how the energy flows. For instance, a riverbed determines where and how fast the river flows.
When a system has tension, it tends to want to resolve. Imagine a rubber band. If you pull it tight, it has tension, and naturally wants to resolve back to the relaxed state. Eventually, that will happen, because you can’t keep it in the unresolved state forever.
Fritz discovered this principle in music school. He realized that artists, composers, and others in the arts, use this principle all the time. When an artist is painting, they have the vision of what they want to create in mind, as well as the current state of their painting. The discrepancy between current reality and their desired vision creates tension, which naturally resolves towards the completion of the painting.
He realized that this could be applied in other areas of life as well, and that is the topic of the book.
It’s a great book. However, as a warning, he is very much against any kind of magical thinking. He scoffs at the use of affirmations, the idea that subconscious beliefs have any influence on your life, and believes that hard work is almost always necessary. So, be willing to read between the lines a bit, and take out of it what you can.
Luckily for me, this book was recommended to me by an instructor of a course I took last year. I’ve mentioned this course before, and it has been the biggest influence on my success with the law of attraction. The course is called, Hypnosis and the Law of Attraction. It’s taught by Joe Tabbanella, who seriously could not be a more helpful, friendly person if he tried.
Anyway, Path of Least Resistance was one of his major sources, but he put it into a context that included the subconscious mind, mindfulness, radical acceptance, and more.
Given Fritz’ dislike of the law of attraction, it was a bit hard to bridge the gap between his ideas, and those I’ve come to teach myself. However, my own experiences helped a great deal, as well as the above mentioned class.
How to Form Creative Tension
One important thing must be kept in mind: your outer reality is a direct reflection of inner reality. It is a mirror, or projection.
If you look within yourself right now, the state you feel within is going to match the feeling of what you experience in outer reality. It must be so, unless you are a deliberate manifester and already know the key to this.
But now, imagine that you deliberately change your inner state to be out of sync with outer reality. Imagine that you choose to focus on the vibrational signature of your goal, such as feeling abundant if your goal is more money, or feeling love if your goal is a relationship.
Now, there is a discrepancy between inner and outer reality.
The law of attraction could essentially be summarized thus: inner and outer reality must match.
If they don’t match, then one of two things must happen:
- Inner reality must be brought into alignment with outer reality, or
- Outer reality must be brought into alignment with inner reality
There’s no other way around it. The discrepancy generates creative tension, which must be resolved somehow. It cannot remain.
Now, the subconscious mind will do its best to pull your inner reality into alignment with outer reality. That’s why resistance pops up in the form of doubts, fears, anxiety, etc. That’s why you might be tempted to give up your vision of what you want, because it is easier, and it’ll keep you getting the same things over and over again.
Your subconscious mind doesn’t hate you, really. It is just familiar with the current state of things, and its job is to perpetuate and habituate whatever it believes to be true.
But, if you hold to your vision, something magical will happen: your subconscious mind will get the message that this new reality is more important than what it previously believed to be true. So, it will pull outer reality into alignment with inner reality, and you will have realized your vision.
But, this can only happen if you do this one thing: get comfortable with tension.
I know that seems odd. But, think about the mechanics of the process I just described.
Without that tension, there simply won’t be the energy to pull you forward to your goal.
Again, tension doesn’t mean anxiety or stress. What it does mean is that you will notice that you don’t have what you want, yet.
It means that as you go about your day, you will run into experiences that aren’t in alignment with your vision.
That’s to be expected. Your inner reality is out of sync with outer reality, and it takes time to catch up. That’s the tension I’m talking about.
The best reaction is to look at the discrepancy between your vision and outer reality, and say, “Oh, look, it’s not in alignment with my vision. That’s okay: I’m still going to hold to my vision.”
However, many people don’t like that tension. So, they will find creative ways of reducing or eliminating it.
The most obvious way is by dropping their vision. They think it’s too hard, so they give in and return to the status quo.
But, there is another common method: by lying to oneself about current reality. Some people will sugar coat current reality, making it seem better than it really is.
They will refuse to look at circumstances as they are right now, and instead choose to deceive themselves.
To traditional LOA thinking, this makes sense: not looking at “what is” will help you to feel better, and if you feel better, then you’ll attract things that feel better, right?
Not quite. If you deceive yourself about current reality, then how can there possibly be creative tension? If you don’t notice what is, and that what is is not in alignment with your vision, then you totally circumvent the tension required to bring you to your inner vision.
Not to mention, the more you deceive yourself, the harder it will be to ignore current reality. Eventually something will happen that is just impossible to ignore, and you’ll have to pay attention.
At that point, you’ll wonder, “Why did this bad thing happen? I’ve been feeling better and only focusing on what I want.” Sounds like a common complaint, doesn’t it?
But, it happened because you were totally ignoring outer reality, and so you were really just going with the momentum of what was already being created, according to your subconscious patterns.
You must be honest with yourself about three things:
- What it is you want,
- What it is you have right now, and
- The discrepancy between the two
Only by all three elements being present can you generate the creative tension required to bring you quickly to the manifestation of what you want.
The great thing is that when you are okay with tension, negative manifestations, sometimes called “contrast”, no longer pose any threat to you.
A negative manifestation only means more tension can be created, because the discrepancy has gotten a bit larger. But, creators are comfortable with discrepancy. The larger the discrepancy, the stronger the tension, and so the more force that is present to bring you to your goal. The less the discrepancy, the weaker the tension, and the stronger the momentum that is actively moving you towards what you want.
Imagine a bow and arrow. It won’t go anywhere without tension. The farther back you pull the string, the more tension there is, and the farther the arrow will fly once you release it. Once the string is released, momentum takes over as tension decreases.
So when a negative manifestation arises, it’s just pulling back that bow string a bit more, ensuring that once the string is released, the arrow will fly even faster towards its target.
In that way, whether the discrepancy is small or large, it is okay, so long as you are being honest with yourself about where you are, and where you want to be. Eventually, that tension must be resolved, and just like the arrow, you will find yourself flying quickly towards your goal.
Make Your Goal Non-Negotiable
Want to ratchet up that tension one more notch?
The element I saw present in each situation was that my goal became non-negotiable. That is, I firmly resolved to achieve my goal, and I would not take “no” for an answer.
This seems totally at odds with the common approach of being detached from your goal, but it has worked for me every time.
This is in alignment with what Robert Fritz says. He says that you have to choose your goal. Hoping or wishing for it isn’t good enough. You have to firmly and resolutely choose the vision that you want to create, and then do everything necessary to create that vision.
It is scary to make a goal non-negotiable, I know. There’s always the chance of failure, and so you might find it hard to ignore that “what if”.
But, I find that allowing your goal to exist as anything but a deliberate decision simply doesn’t hold the creative tension required to bring you there.
If it’s just something you’d maybe like to do one day, without the backing of your will, then you’ll be more likely to drop it the moment things get a bit difficult.
If you’re going to create something, choose it whole-heartedly. Make it non-negotiable. Give it the full backing of your deliberate will.
This can be done simply by saying something like, “I choose …” and insert your goal.
As you say it, really feel the strength of those words. Feel the power of your choice.
To choose means that you are taking control. You are not allowing life to dictate what is possible. It is important to choose a goal that is meaningful to you, whether or not it seems possible.
To choose means that you are putting energy into this goal, and plan to bring it to completion.
Deliberately choosing your goal tells the Universe that you are serious. It tells your subconscious mind that this goal is meaningful to you.
Also, it sets up creative tension, because you have decided to create something that does not yet exist. Only through your willingness and determination to hold to this vision can you bring this creation into existence.
To choose is the ultimate creative act.
Now, that doesn’t mean that you’re stuck with your choice. If you truly discover that you actually don’t want this goal as much as you thought you did, you are of course permitted to revoke your choice.
But, that’s another reason why it’s useful to make a deliberate choice. It clarifies your intensions, and helps you to know 100% whether you really want to create this thing or not. Only a true heart-based desire can be fully chosen and brought to fruition.
How About You?
Now it’s your turn. Have you successfully worked with the tension between where you are and what you want to create? Are you able to fully choose to make your goal non-negotiable? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
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Brandon, have you studied NLP? If you have, I’d like to ask a question about a specific “secret” technique.
Thanks CJ
Yes, I am a certified NLP practitioner.
Hi Brandon. It’s called the Lightning Process, and I was wondering if you knew what it’s about.
Hi CJ,
The Lightning Process is not an NLP technique. It seems like a process developed by a specific person to help with healing. But it seems to have nothing to do with NLP.
ok thanks. The course seems very padded, and I just wanted to know what the core technique was.
Depending on what you’re wanting to use it for, there might be NLP techniques that would work well.
Robert Fritz used to teach law of attraction, meditation, affirmations, and retraining the subconsios minds. He said that it was after clients were not creating lasting success that he abandoned the techniques listed above and began making the discoveries that lead to him estsblishing structural tension, structural tension, and the mechanics of the creative process that he currently teaches and writes about
Hey @Matthew__Allen,
Yeah I think I recall him saying something like that. But the two processes work together so well, and I see his discoveries as extensions of the law of attraction, not some replacement of it.
I’ve definitely created lasting change in my own life using the law of attraction, so it is possible. 🙂
Well releasing is a never ending project – the anxieties keep coming back and back and back. I need a single, powerful way to re-program specific anxieties in a way that’s going to stick. I can’t spend my life working on my mind _ i have to try and live some sort of life.
As you know there’s a million patterns around. Tried one which I thought was good, but then not so sure now. Was hoping the lighting thing might work.
Hi CJ,
Instead of focusing on releasing resistance, why don’t you focus on creating something you want? When you focus on releasing resistance, you tend to create more resistance to release. It just becomes a never-ending cycle of releasing.
So, what do you want to create?
I need to be free of physical pain for one thing. The pain is caused by negative thoughts, so re-programming is important. I can’t even access desire for things I want beyond that.
How about reframing this a bit, to focus on the wanted, not the unwanted? E.g., you want health, not just to be free of pain. There is a difference.
Don’t make it about getting away from pain. Make it about moving towards health.
And no, it doesn’t require reprogramming, at least not in the way you’re thinking of. It doesn’t need to be a long, drawn-out process. I’ve never found that to be useful. Once you set up the structural tension toward your desire, you’ll naturally move towards it. It really can’t be any other way.
Thanks Brandon. I’ll do what I can today to create that tension, via the feeling of health, comfort, peace.
Yeah, Robert Fritz avknowledges that when one establishes structural tension, unexplainable coincidences and events can start to happen that can appear as though the universe is giving you a helping hand. So in some sense he does acknowledge that some elements of law of attraction play a role in the creative process. Did you look at that link i sent you of Fritz’s original teachings?
CJ, I am very familiar with the LP from Phil Parker and am doing a process which is very similar (The Gupta Programme) and I know many people who have done the LP. If you would like to email me, I can give you details about it. Let me know.
Thanks Derek. I don’t want to put my email address here, so if you wouldn’t mind, could you send some info to this temp email address (not your name or any personal details), and then I can find you from there?
raxo@stromox.com
Hi CJ, Brandon is giving you great advice btw.
As for the email, you want me to email you details of the Gupta program? Is that it? Or I can just give you my own email address right here and you can email me. I don’t mind sharing it publicly here if it’s easier. I will use the email address for my blog site. Up to you.
Yes, what is your website email please? I’ll contact you there. I recognize Brandon’s comments are spot on, but sometimes I like a little trick to just get me started in the right direction with momentum and I’m hoping LP might provide that.
CJ, my email address is eyesofsource81@gmail.com.
I am very glad that you wrote about tension in this post. It is an ultimately important understanding that takes us from powerlessness into empowerment.
I have just realized an extreme importance of this from another aspect. Last night I opened up wikipedia to check up on something. And then I noticed that the news section on the front page was entirely filled with negative news of death, kills, explosions, etc. It enraged me so much. There are so many good things happening in the world, but they insistently shove negative news at us. I was furious.
It took me several minutes until I was able to calm down and remind myself that nobody and nothing can make me feel a certain way, unless I allow it. I realized that I still resonate a lot with powerlessness, like many people. Although, I am releasing it, so that’s good. I realized the extreme importance of training myself to view people as empowered creators, even though the current reality is showing me a lot of powerlessness in the societies around the world.
It also sometimes hurts me to see most people around me constantly looking at their smartphones like zombies. Seeing that powerlessness hurts. But again, I am the one to choose what I focus on. I can see them as powerless beings wasting their lives and suffering. Or I can see them as beautiful, powerful beings, who are, together with me, doing great on their path towards their freedom and joy. Accepting the current reality of them being focused negatively, and releasing my emotions on that is challenging for me, but vital. Seeing the discrepancy between that current powerlessness and the coming beautiful world of empowered, free people sharing love, and choosing to focus on the wonderfulness we are all moving towards, is what I need to train myself to do.
Sometimes I see myself as inferior to others, sometimes I see others inferior to me. It’s a constant, alternating dance of realization of equality and releasing of inferiority and powerlessness on each side.
Seeing the world as I’d want it to see, focusing on the evidence that supports that, and letting go of everything else (and there’s a lot of that), is quite challenging sometimes, but I’ll do my best.
Also, I love that you use the analogy of an artist a lot. It is beautiful representation of how things work.
Hi Z,
Wonderful points. I agree that so many people are powerless. But, more and more people are waking up to their true nature as creators. It just takes time. 🙂
As they say, focus on what you want to create, not on what you want to avoid. That is so important. Yes there’s powerlessness, but everyone is on their journey, and many more people are realizing who they are.
Thanks. I like the metaphor as well. We are creators, and the best representation of that we have is art. 🙂
Brandon, I’m a bad “student” of yours. lol
Today’s day was very hard. At one point things that kept making me angry were coming into my reality one after another, and I kept allowing the emotions, and reminding myself that those emotions are not me, that it’s just stuck energy flowing out through me. However it kept pushing me and pushing me and pushing me, until I kind of exploded. It was too painful for me not to explode. I don’t know if those manifestations were related to the goals I’m currently intending, or it was just the usual thing. However I keep wondering why allowing of such energy can hurt so much like today. Is it that the flow simply started to increase because I was successfully releasing it, and the momentum of releasing was getting to the point where it was just so damn hard?
Is that what you describe as resistance ripping someone apart? I’m also worried that I’ll keep experiencing such awful strong emotions for the rest of my life, and I really don’t want that.
Hey Z,
I’m sorry to hear that you’re having trouble.
I think you’ll be interested in Thursday’s post. It’s about your goals transforming you.
I say that because I suspect your resistance is as a result of the process of aligning with your goal. As you work on aligning, all the stuff that’s not a match is going to come up to the surface to be released.
Trust in the process. Hold the vision of your goal. Let it transform you. Release all the stuff that comes up to the surface. It’s just a temporary discomfort.
I’ll admit that right before I exploded, the discomfort felt as if someone was ripping my skin with a knife, or something along those lines. A lot of powerlessness. Very unpleasant sensation. At that point it felt that I could either start crying or start raging. It was also very scary.
But, I’ll do my best to keep on. Thank you always for your support.
That’s okay. Don’t judge yourself. Just keep allowing whatever comes up, to come up. 🙂
Z, where do you live?
I’m from Croatia 😛
It’s a country located east from Italy. There is Adriatic sea between the 2 countries.
ah ok. I’m from Australia. Just wondering if you were nearby.
oh cool! For some reason I thought you were from the US, like many people here.
Great post. Especially the last sentence. It needs to be heart-felt.
This is timely since over the weekend I was told that people can’t find jobs in my industry so they go to another, lesser industry. Also, this came from my sister and she also realized several other things I told her in the past, making me more insightful. I am not tooting my own horn here; this was an indication to me that something is going right and I should not despair. Besides, I already have two back ups, so I’m covered. However, my industry is crazy and fluctuates.
What I decided to do is enjoy learning all I could for the fun of it, as that is all I can do now and visualize the best life possible, as I don’t like where I am now. I mean,it is better than a few months ago, but it’s not the ideal situation I want to be in. It is not the life of my dreams. I’m still building that and it seems I always will be. I’m not blaming myself for what I did or didn’t do in the past because the fact is that I learned so much on that journey, there is no room for regrets. I only regret because I don’t like where I am now. As much as it sucks, I am grateful for several things I do have and it eases the pain a bit. I learned to be easy about things.
Hi Kat,
You don’t like where you are, and that is okay. The best thing to do is to use that to create tension, in order to catapult you towards the life you want to live. Instead of regretting where you are, simply see the discrepancy between this, and what you want to create, then hold to your vision.
It’s a fine balance, but extremely important. 🙂
Brandon, have you studied NLP? If you have, I’d like to ask a question about a specific “secret” technique.
Thanks CJ
Yes, I am a certified NLP practitioner.
Hi Brandon. It’s called the Lightning Process, and I was wondering if you knew what it’s about.
Hi CJ,
The Lightning Process is not an NLP technique. It seems like a process developed by a specific person to help with healing. But it seems to have nothing to do with NLP.
ok thanks. The course seems very padded, and I just wanted to know what the core technique was.
Depending on what you’re wanting to use it for, there might be NLP techniques that would work well.
Robert Fritz used to teach law of attraction, meditation, affirmations, and retraining the subconsios minds. He said that it was after clients were not creating lasting success that he abandoned the techniques listed above and began making the discoveries that lead to him estsblishing structural tension, structural tension, and the mechanics of the creative process that he currently teaches and writes about
Hey @Matthew__Allen,
Yeah I think I recall him saying something like that. But the two processes work together so well, and I see his discoveries as extensions of the law of attraction, not some replacement of it.
I’ve definitely created lasting change in my own life using the law of attraction, so it is possible. 🙂
Well releasing is a never ending project – the anxieties keep coming back and back and back. I need a single, powerful way to re-program specific anxieties in a way that’s going to stick. I can’t spend my life working on my mind _ i have to try and live some sort of life.
As you know there’s a million patterns around. Tried one which I thought was good, but then not so sure now. Was hoping the lighting thing might work.
Hi CJ,
Instead of focusing on releasing resistance, why don’t you focus on creating something you want? When you focus on releasing resistance, you tend to create more resistance to release. It just becomes a never-ending cycle of releasing.
So, what do you want to create?
I need to be free of physical pain for one thing. The pain is caused by negative thoughts, so re-programming is important. I can’t even access desire for things I want beyond that.
How about reframing this a bit, to focus on the wanted, not the unwanted? E.g., you want health, not just to be free of pain. There is a difference.
Don’t make it about getting away from pain. Make it about moving towards health.
And no, it doesn’t require reprogramming, at least not in the way you’re thinking of. It doesn’t need to be a long, drawn-out process. I’ve never found that to be useful. Once you set up the structural tension toward your desire, you’ll naturally move towards it. It really can’t be any other way.
Thanks Brandon. I’ll do what I can today to create that tension, via the feeling of health, comfort, peace.
Yeah, Robert Fritz avknowledges that when one establishes structural tension, unexplainable coincidences and events can start to happen that can appear as though the universe is giving you a helping hand. So in some sense he does acknowledge that some elements of law of attraction play a role in the creative process. Did you look at that link i sent you of Fritz’s original teachings?
CJ, I am very familiar with the LP from Phil Parker and am doing a process which is very similar (The Gupta Programme) and I know many people who have done the LP. If you would like to email me, I can give you details about it. Let me know.
Thanks Derek. I don’t want to put my email address here, so if you wouldn’t mind, could you send some info to this temp email address (not your name or any personal details), and then I can find you from there?
raxo@stromox.com
Hi CJ, Brandon is giving you great advice btw.
As for the email, you want me to email you details of the Gupta program? Is that it? Or I can just give you my own email address right here and you can email me. I don’t mind sharing it publicly here if it’s easier. I will use the email address for my blog site. Up to you.
Yes, what is your website email please? I’ll contact you there. I recognize Brandon’s comments are spot on, but sometimes I like a little trick to just get me started in the right direction with momentum and I’m hoping LP might provide that.
CJ, my email address is eyesofsource81@gmail.com.
I am very glad that you wrote about tension in this post. It is an ultimately important understanding that takes us from powerlessness into empowerment.
I have just realized an extreme importance of this from another aspect. Last night I opened up wikipedia to check up on something. And then I noticed that the news section on the front page was entirely filled with negative news of death, kills, explosions, etc. It enraged me so much. There are so many good things happening in the world, but they insistently shove negative news at us. I was furious.
It took me several minutes until I was able to calm down and remind myself that nobody and nothing can make me feel a certain way, unless I allow it. I realized that I still resonate a lot with powerlessness, like many people. Although, I am releasing it, so that’s good. I realized the extreme importance of training myself to view people as empowered creators, even though the current reality is showing me a lot of powerlessness in the societies around the world.
It also sometimes hurts me to see most people around me constantly looking at their smartphones like zombies. Seeing that powerlessness hurts. But again, I am the one to choose what I focus on. I can see them as powerless beings wasting their lives and suffering. Or I can see them as beautiful, powerful beings, who are, together with me, doing great on their path towards their freedom and joy. Accepting the current reality of them being focused negatively, and releasing my emotions on that is challenging for me, but vital. Seeing the discrepancy between that current powerlessness and the coming beautiful world of empowered, free people sharing love, and choosing to focus on the wonderfulness we are all moving towards, is what I need to train myself to do.
Sometimes I see myself as inferior to others, sometimes I see others inferior to me. It’s a constant, alternating dance of realization of equality and releasing of inferiority and powerlessness on each side.
Seeing the world as I’d want it to see, focusing on the evidence that supports that, and letting go of everything else (and there’s a lot of that), is quite challenging sometimes, but I’ll do my best.
Also, I love that you use the analogy of an artist a lot. It is beautiful representation of how things work.
Hi Z,
Wonderful points. I agree that so many people are powerless. But, more and more people are waking up to their true nature as creators. It just takes time. 🙂
As they say, focus on what you want to create, not on what you want to avoid. That is so important. Yes there’s powerlessness, but everyone is on their journey, and many more people are realizing who they are.
Thanks. I like the metaphor as well. We are creators, and the best representation of that we have is art. 🙂
Brandon, I’m a bad “student” of yours. lol
Today’s day was very hard. At one point things that kept making me angry were coming into my reality one after another, and I kept allowing the emotions, and reminding myself that those emotions are not me, that it’s just stuck energy flowing out through me. However it kept pushing me and pushing me and pushing me, until I kind of exploded. It was too painful for me not to explode. I don’t know if those manifestations were related to the goals I’m currently intending, or it was just the usual thing. However I keep wondering why allowing of such energy can hurt so much like today. Is it that the flow simply started to increase because I was successfully releasing it, and the momentum of releasing was getting to the point where it was just so damn hard?
Is that what you describe as resistance ripping someone apart? I’m also worried that I’ll keep experiencing such awful strong emotions for the rest of my life, and I really don’t want that.
Hey Z,
I’m sorry to hear that you’re having trouble.
I think you’ll be interested in Thursday’s post. It’s about your goals transforming you.
I say that because I suspect your resistance is as a result of the process of aligning with your goal. As you work on aligning, all the stuff that’s not a match is going to come up to the surface to be released.
Trust in the process. Hold the vision of your goal. Let it transform you. Release all the stuff that comes up to the surface. It’s just a temporary discomfort.
I’ll admit that right before I exploded, the discomfort felt as if someone was ripping my skin with a knife, or something along those lines. A lot of powerlessness. Very unpleasant sensation. At that point it felt that I could either start crying or start raging. It was also very scary.
But, I’ll do my best to keep on. Thank you always for your support.
That’s okay. Don’t judge yourself. Just keep allowing whatever comes up, to come up. 🙂
Z, where do you live?
I’m from Croatia 😛
It’s a country located east from Italy. There is Adriatic sea between the 2 countries.
ah ok. I’m from Australia. Just wondering if you were nearby.
oh cool! For some reason I thought you were from the US, like many people here.
Brandon, could you elaborate a little more about how to make a goal “non-negotiable”? I tend to recognize the possibilities of failure–I suppose it’s the rational mind wanting its two cents to be put in–so it never seems inevitable to me that I will attain my goal. I’m having trouble understanding how to emotionally approach the idea of my goal when I know that it’s possible it might not happen. When you think of a goal as non-negotiable, do you mean that you deny the possibility that it might not happen? Or do you mean something more like a relationship non-negotiable, where you say, “X is non-negotiable for me; if you don’t do X, I’m leaving you” ?
Hi Lisa,
The second wouldn’t really be possible, because you can’t “leave” the Universe. 🙂 It’s not a bargaining chip or anything like that.
It is simply realizing your power as a creator. If you are the creator of your reality, then why consider the possibility of failure?
This ties in with the confidence I’ve been talking about lately. If you see the goal as something that might or might not happen, well, that’s just not strong enough to create the structural tension I need.
Imagine these two scenarios:
You’re writing a book. You say to yourself, “I choose to write a book. It is non-negotiable.” The power of that decision carries you through the entire process to the end.
Or you could say, “I’m going to try to write a book. I’m not sure if it’ll work out or not.”
Are you going to have motivation to start? Are you going to have the persistence to see it through?
I know you’ll say this is something you have control over, while a manifestational goal is not.
But you do. Your decision has great power behind it.
“I choose to make more money.” That has the power of your choice behind it.
“I intend to make more money.” Great, but are you deliberately and fully choosing that? Are you willing to live with and nurture this idea until it manifests?
As I said, only a true heart-based desire can be brought to fruition.
If you can’t fully choose your goal, then ask yourself whether it is something you really want.
If you don’t have confidence in your goal, or your ability to achieve it, that’s something else to work on. See what resistance pops up and let that go. It may be too big of a goal at the moment, too.
Does that make sense?
The rational mind has no part in all of this. Of course you can conceive of the possibility of failure. But why would you? You can conceive of the Sun not rising tomorrow, too, but why would you? You can conceive of all sorts of things, but why go there?
Could you link this back to action? I know several people who have felt their goals were non-negotiable and inevitable, and then got into serious financial trouble when the goals were not realized. Because they felt so sure that money was coming, they bought things they shouldn’t have, and then the money didn’t come and they had some serious financial backlash. They really felt sure, but then something happened and the goal didn’t manifest. I don’t know if they fooled themselves or what, but they got into a lot of trouble feeling definite that their goal was coming. I’m concerned that if I have this kind of psychological feeling of certainty, I will take actions that are perhaps unwise, since apparently people can fool themselves about how sure they are that their goals will be realized. If you take the approach that the goal will definitely manifest, then how do you approach action related to that goal, especially if the goal has a deadline?
Hi Lisa,
I think sometimes people can hype themselves up into thinking they believe something, when really it’s just a cover for their disbelief and doubt. Unfortunately you can never know what someone really felt, from the outside.
What I know is that every time I made my goal non-negotiable, and even when I did act on it, it always worked out. In the past, I’ve even increased the pressure on myself in order to move things along faster. I don’t recommend that for everyone, especially if you’re not entirely sure it’ll work.
Action should only happen when you feel fully aligned. If you’re pretending, it’s not real. You can’t fool the Universe.
In The Art of Reality Creation, action is the 5th stage of a manifestation. That is, it’s way down the chain as far as the progression is concerned. There’s a lot that has to come before action is ready to be taken. I can’t remember if you took that class, but it might help to clarify where everything fits in.
But, it sounds like you’re coming at this from a problem-oriented perspective, rather than creation-oriented. That is, you’re focusing on trying to avoid some outcome, rather than just trying to create what you want. In the latter, it’s a lot easier to get into a place of confidence about your goal.
Does resistance trump this kind of thing? I’ve had moments in my life where I really, truly, sincerely believed a manifestation would occur (not money-related, but something else), with all the certainty I am capable of feeling, and it didn’t happen. (You could argue, “Well, maybe there was a hidden pocket of disbelief that you couldn’t sense, or maybe you thought you totally believed it but you were wrong,” but if that was true in this case, it’s pretty much hopeless to ever be sure you really believe something! If the certainty I felt then didn’t count as genuine, I don’t know what would.) But I did have a lot of resistance at the time. So maybe the resistance can trump a non-negotiable standpoint? Or maybe the conscious mind taking a non-negotiable standpoint, however strong, doesn’t really ensure that the subconscious is on board? What do you think?
This experience was so powerful that it pretty much ruined all the “Believe it, and it will happen” LOA stuff that some practitioners claim. I believed it with a sincerity that couldn’t have felt stronger, and it didn’t happen. I think you and certain other LOA practitioners are careful to say there’s more to it than just believing very strongly.
Lisa,
I want to separate “believing it” from making it non-negotiable. They are very similar, but not necessarily the same.
I didn’t always believe 100% it would happen. But I was going to stick with it to the end. That’s why “choosing” is a good word for this. You are putting your will behind it. You are deciding that this is what you are doing. Most often it’ll line up with belief, but not necessarily each and every time.
It might not happen every time. I’m not saying this is a guarantee. But, well, for me it has happened almost every time.
Resistance does not prevent it, unless you allow that resistance to get in the way. So let me ask, what did you do with that resistance as it arose? Did you compromise your vision? Did you sugar coat current reality? Did you focus more on the resistance than on your vision?
That is very important. Of course, a lot of resistance will often come up when you put your full will behind a goal. But, as I said recently with the monthly goals, there is goign to be a very good reason that your goal didn’t come about. Do you care to share more details?
I want to clarify, I see at least 5 general things that need to be in place to manifest something. I’ll share more about this later on, but here they are in short:
See if one of the above points maybe wasn’t totally on board for you in the failed manifestation. Being non-negotiable is only one of the important elements. I find that if all 5 aren’t present, it’s probably not going to happen.
I think the part that was missing for me was #5, focusing on having it rather than avoiding not having it. The other parts were in line. Thank you for your reply with the 5 things; that’s very helpful.
Yeah, the thing about structural tension is that it doesn’t really work long-term if you are not focused on creating what you want. If you’re in the problem orientation, which means that you are trying to avoid a problem, or just reacting to circumstances, then you get into a sort of pendulum structure, where you go towards your goal, then away from your goal. This sounds like what happened to you.
Great post. Especially the last sentence. It needs to be heart-felt.
This is timely since over the weekend I was told that people can’t find jobs in my industry so they go to another, lesser industry. Also, this came from my sister and she also realized several other things I told her in the past, making me more insightful. I am not tooting my own horn here; this was an indication to me that something is going right and I should not despair. Besides, I already have two back ups, so I’m covered. However, my industry is crazy and fluctuates.
What I decided to do is enjoy learning all I could for the fun of it, as that is all I can do now and visualize the best life possible, as I don’t like where I am now. I mean,it is better than a few months ago, but it’s not the ideal situation I want to be in. It is not the life of my dreams. I’m still building that and it seems I always will be. I’m not blaming myself for what I did or didn’t do in the past because the fact is that I learned so much on that journey, there is no room for regrets. I only regret because I don’t like where I am now. As much as it sucks, I am grateful for several things I do have and it eases the pain a bit. I learned to be easy about things.
Hi Kat,
You don’t like where you are, and that is okay. The best thing to do is to use that to create tension, in order to catapult you towards the life you want to live. Instead of regretting where you are, simply see the discrepancy between this, and what you want to create, then hold to your vision.
It’s a fine balance, but extremely important. 🙂
Hi Brandon,
Thank you so much for this – I love how clearly you write about the LoA. But I have a question on this one…
I’m a bit confused about how this fits in with Abraham Hicks’ advice to bring yourself into alignment with the feeling place of the thing you want to manifest/allow into your life – in other words not to focus on what is present in your external reality if it displeases you, but instead to focus elsewhere on something in your life which does make you feel good – or alternatively to find a way to make peace with where you are. How does this fit in with your notion of tension?
And I’m also wondering how their advice to have a lightness of touch fits in with this too – their “wouldn’t it be nice if ….” process for example.
Any help gratefully received!
Hi Jellicle74,
Thanks so much for your comment.
I’ll tell you what I’ve told many others before: don’t try to line this up with Abraham’s teachings. I agree with them on some points, but I also disagree with them on many, many points.
Lining up with the feeling place of your goal is great. That’s the vibrational signature I talked about. That’s holding your vision.
But it’s not so good to ignore external reality. That kills the tension. I’ve done this before for weeks or months and nothing has changed. I’ve heard from many others who have had the same experience. It sounds like great advice, but in my experience, it doesn’t generally work.
The “wouldn’t it be nice if” is also a useful method for lining up with your goal. I recommend doing something like that once or twice per day when you do your manifestation techniques. Eventually I do recommend getting more specific with your focus, but it’s a great place to start. That is what will help you to hold to your vision within, and set up the structural tension to bring you to your goal.
You just can’t deceive yourself about current reality. That is essential.
Hope this makes sense.
Wonderful post Brandon. I can relate and understand the type of tension you explained in this post. For me it means making commitment to myself. It means I only know I am going to have it even if I don’t know yet how. It’s not being over confident about things but just maintaining your focus on what you have aimed and having faith that it’s coming. You have explained it so well. I loved the example of bow and arrow. It’s so true. And making goal non negotiable does create that tension. What’s most enjoyable is happiness you get once you get there. And of course relief you feel. It makes you feel so powerful and boosts your confidence. Thank you for this great insight and explaining it with key points. And thank you for sharing your experience. That says a lot.
Thanks so much, Rhea! I appreciate that.
You’re right about the feeling of relief once you reach your goal. It’s awesome! 😀 Then you are back working on another creation. 🙂 It’s fun.
Brandon, could you elaborate a little more about how to make a goal “non-negotiable”? I tend to recognize the possibilities of failure–I suppose it’s the rational mind wanting its two cents to be put in–so it never seems inevitable to me that I will attain my goal. I’m having trouble understanding how to emotionally approach the idea of my goal when I know that it’s possible it might not happen. When you think of a goal as non-negotiable, do you mean that you deny the possibility that it might not happen? Or do you mean something more like a relationship non-negotiable, where you say, “X is non-negotiable for me; if you don’t do X, I’m leaving you” ?
Hi Lisa,
The second wouldn’t really be possible, because you can’t “leave” the Universe. 🙂 It’s not a bargaining chip or anything like that.
It is simply realizing your power as a creator. If you are the creator of your reality, then why consider the possibility of failure?
This ties in with the confidence I’ve been talking about lately. If you see the goal as something that might or might not happen, well, that’s just not strong enough to create the structural tension I need.
Imagine these two scenarios:
You’re writing a book. You say to yourself, “I choose to write a book. It is non-negotiable.” The power of that decision carries you through the entire process to the end.
Or you could say, “I’m going to try to write a book. I’m not sure if it’ll work out or not.”
Are you going to have motivation to start? Are you going to have the persistence to see it through?
I know you’ll say this is something you have control over, while a manifestational goal is not.
But you do. Your decision has great power behind it.
“I choose to make more money.” That has the power of your choice behind it.
“I intend to make more money.” Great, but are you deliberately and fully choosing that? Are you willing to live with and nurture this idea until it manifests?
As I said, only a true heart-based desire can be brought to fruition.
If you can’t fully choose your goal, then ask yourself whether it is something you really want.
If you don’t have confidence in your goal, or your ability to achieve it, that’s something else to work on. See what resistance pops up and let that go. It may be too big of a goal at the moment, too.
Does that make sense?
The rational mind has no part in all of this. Of course you can conceive of the possibility of failure. But why would you? You can conceive of the Sun not rising tomorrow, too, but why would you? You can conceive of all sorts of things, but why go there?
Could you link this back to action? I know several people who have felt their goals were non-negotiable and inevitable, and then got into serious financial trouble when the goals were not realized. Because they felt so sure that money was coming, they bought things they shouldn’t have, and then the money didn’t come and they had some serious financial backlash. They really felt sure, but then something happened and the goal didn’t manifest. I don’t know if they fooled themselves or what, but they got into a lot of trouble feeling definite that their goal was coming. I’m concerned that if I have this kind of psychological feeling of certainty, I will take actions that are perhaps unwise, since apparently people can fool themselves about how sure they are that their goals will be realized. If you take the approach that the goal will definitely manifest, then how do you approach action related to that goal, especially if the goal has a deadline?
Hi Lisa,
I think sometimes people can hype themselves up into thinking they believe something, when really it’s just a cover for their disbelief and doubt. Unfortunately you can never know what someone really felt, from the outside.
What I know is that every time I made my goal non-negotiable, and even when I did act on it, it always worked out. In the past, I’ve even increased the pressure on myself in order to move things along faster. I don’t recommend that for everyone, especially if you’re not entirely sure it’ll work.
Action should only happen when you feel fully aligned. If you’re pretending, it’s not real. You can’t fool the Universe.
In The Art of Reality Creation, action is the 5th stage of a manifestation. That is, it’s way down the chain as far as the progression is concerned. There’s a lot that has to come before action is ready to be taken. I can’t remember if you took that class, but it might help to clarify where everything fits in.
But, it sounds like you’re coming at this from a problem-oriented perspective, rather than creation-oriented. That is, you’re focusing on trying to avoid some outcome, rather than just trying to create what you want. In the latter, it’s a lot easier to get into a place of confidence about your goal.
Does resistance trump this kind of thing? I’ve had moments in my life where I really, truly, sincerely believed a manifestation would occur (not money-related, but something else), with all the certainty I am capable of feeling, and it didn’t happen. (You could argue, “Well, maybe there was a hidden pocket of disbelief that you couldn’t sense, or maybe you thought you totally believed it but you were wrong,” but if that was true in this case, it’s pretty much hopeless to ever be sure you really believe something! If the certainty I felt then didn’t count as genuine, I don’t know what would.) But I did have a lot of resistance at the time. So maybe the resistance can trump a non-negotiable standpoint? Or maybe the conscious mind taking a non-negotiable standpoint, however strong, doesn’t really ensure that the subconscious is on board? What do you think?
This experience was so powerful that it pretty much ruined all the “Believe it, and it will happen” LOA stuff that some practitioners claim. I believed it with a sincerity that couldn’t have felt stronger, and it didn’t happen. I think you and certain other LOA practitioners are careful to say there’s more to it than just believing very strongly.
Lisa,
I want to separate “believing it” from making it non-negotiable. They are very similar, but not necessarily the same.
I didn’t always believe 100% it would happen. But I was going to stick with it to the end. That’s why “choosing” is a good word for this. You are putting your will behind it. You are deciding that this is what you are doing. Most often it’ll line up with belief, but not necessarily each and every time.
It might not happen every time. I’m not saying this is a guarantee. But, well, for me it has happened almost every time.
Resistance does not prevent it, unless you allow that resistance to get in the way. So let me ask, what did you do with that resistance as it arose? Did you compromise your vision? Did you sugar coat current reality? Did you focus more on the resistance than on your vision?
That is very important. Of course, a lot of resistance will often come up when you put your full will behind a goal. But, as I said recently with the monthly goals, there is goign to be a very good reason that your goal didn’t come about. Do you care to share more details?
I want to clarify, I see at least 5 general things that need to be in place to manifest something. I’ll share more about this later on, but here they are in short:
See if one of the above points maybe wasn’t totally on board for you in the failed manifestation. Being non-negotiable is only one of the important elements. I find that if all 5 aren’t present, it’s probably not going to happen.
I think the part that was missing for me was #5, focusing on having it rather than avoiding not having it. The other parts were in line. Thank you for your reply with the 5 things; that’s very helpful.
Yeah, the thing about structural tension is that it doesn’t really work long-term if you are not focused on creating what you want. If you’re in the problem orientation, which means that you are trying to avoid a problem, or just reacting to circumstances, then you get into a sort of pendulum structure, where you go towards your goal, then away from your goal. This sounds like what happened to you.
Hey Brandon, I’m going to give my own interpretation of what I THINK you’re saying and share my own experiences with this. Thanks for your article as always.
A number of things come to mind. I am trying to manifest healing in my own body, and there is no question that it is ‘non negotiable’ to me, but often when I hold this perspective that it HAS to happen, it leads me to feel incredible stress because healing has been approached by me for so long from a ‘problem oriented’ perspective. But, then when I reach a point of unconditional connection to my ‘home’ either in meditation or intense moments of clarity, it’s almost as if…..whether the actual manifestation happens or not is irrelevant at that point. All that I truly wanted was this peace that I have been longing for, for so long. It was actually CONNECTION with myself that I was really looking for. And it’s the excitement and joy of the manifestation process, knowing that my life and who I truly am doesn’t really depend upon it that actually makes the manifestation process FUN. I can’t seem to reconcile the two perspectives….making the goal as though it ‘has to happen’ and simply being happy regardless.
That aside, there’s two things here at play for me:
1) Is my own desire to heal my body of a chronic disease actually……my true desire? I feel there is a deeper aspect to my desire to actually be connected home to my true nature and my own disease was a manifestation of me not being…..me for so many years. That aside…..
2) In the manifestation process, what’s become clear to me is that EASE and JOY are the feelings that I get when I am feeling so empowered to KNOW that I am going to accomplish this goal. Also, that well being was always my nature already and whatever it is I am trying to manifest (in this case healing) is not actually something at a future point that I don’t have yet, but something that I just need to continue to release resistance on to allow it to manifest naturally in my body. So, the TENSION that I feel that you speak of is when those triggers come up (which I speak about below) and when those thoughts come up of “I don’t have it yet” which are always based in fear, worry, doubt and anxiety. But, when I see those thoughts are just survival thoughts based in the subconscious from old patterns, I realize how do those thoughts feel to me? Of course they don’t feel good because the thoughts that are actually aligned with my nature “empowerment, joy, excitement, EASE and peace” are the ones that represent who and what I truly am. Of COURSE I can manifest healing. The idea that I cannot is based in a thought based in worry. And all thoughts of doubt and worry are based in old survival patterns just looking out to protect me. I don’t have to fight them, but I don’t have to believe them (as Tara Brach says). Is that the similar tension you are speaking of?
And it will naturally flow to me of course when I:
A) let go through mindfulness and meditation each day
B) focus on the feeling representation of my goal in visualization
C) Focus on things in my life that bring me joy
Lately there has been a ton of emotional triggers coming up for me based in co-dependency patterns with people, noise sensitivity and fears around not being able to sleep. As I continue to work through the manifestation process, this stuff is continually coming up more and more, and I have questioned how to integrate this stuff emotionally while still trying to focus on my goal of healing.
Sorry for the long post. But, I feel I’m so close to grasping this entire process, but I still have questions which hold me back.
Hi Derek,
Really great questions. I’m happy to clarify.
First of all, I know how it is. My wife has congenital glaucoma, and she’s always wanted to be healed from it. It involves a lot of pain, so she gets very frustrated sometimes.
I think you have primarily been in the problem orientation. When you are in the problem orientation, once you enter the zero state, it feels like that “I don’t really care if I get this.”
But, a true desire in the creative orientation, will not simply go away in the zero state. It’ll in fact become purer.
To translate this to another area of life, imagine someone who wants more money, but their main problem-oriented focus is not being poor.
In the zero state, they’ll feel, “Oh, I have what I want already.”
But, if they focus on abundance, and creating true abundance in their life, that desire won’t just go away in the zero state. It’ll keep pulling them forward.
The thing you must do now is to switch from the problem orientation to the creative orientation. You want to create health, not just avoid disease. Think about how great it’ll be to have health in your body.
The tension you mention is resistance, not tension. They are not the same thing. To illustrate tension, imagine this: think about yourself having the healthy body you want. Really feel it.
Now, look at where you are now. Just the physical facts of things, not your thoughts about them.
That discrepancy, that is the tension. That is a good thing. It pulls you forward on your path.
The resistance is the subconscious mind’s attempt to pull you back into alignment with outer reality. You have to hold to your vision of health and release anything that comes up in the process.
Does this make sense? I hope I answered all your questions.
It does makes sense a lot. So, the way I see tension is sort of that ‘excitement’ in a sense to know that you don’t have it yet, but it’s going to come soon. I HAVE had that feeling in the past with other things, but never with this goal of healing my body. My body has had chronic health conditions for about 10 years now and I’m 35 years old. So, I know I can heal. It’s a stress related disorder.
But, that aside, you’re right that I have been approaching it from the problem oriented perspective and I have been trying to find a way to approach this from the creative aspect which I have had glimpses of, but can’t readily stay there. Here is where I think my confusion arises. I keep having this thought (perhaps just a belief) that there is a deeper desire I should be focusing on instead of healing. And I think that’s a HUGE part of this resistance which is coming up for me too…..that is, the thoughts that say, there is something deeper that you truly want and then I fear that I am not really ‘doing the right thing’ in my life to get to where I need to be, if that makes any sense.
I’d love your thoughts on that if possible.
Thanks again
And in addition, the notion of tension sounds very similar to Abe’s notion of ‘momentum’. They say that we build up momentum when we ‘put things in our vortex’ or ‘vibrational escrow’ and when we feel negative emotion, it’s because we are not up to speed with our escrow. I wonder if tension is a similar process.
Hi Derek,
No, momentum is not the same thing. Momentum is when you are progressing towards your goal, as the discrepancy is getting smaller.
They don’t really have a good parallel for this concept, since they recommend not looking at current reality if you can help it.
Hi Derek,
It generally isn’t too hard to figure out what you want. Just ask yourself, if you could have it right now, what is it you’d create?
You can’t really do this “wrong”. Just figure out what it is you want, then move towards that. 🙂
Thanks Brandon…..THIS is the one question that I need to figure out ha. I totally agree with you and have NEVER vibed with Abe’s view of ignoring reality. Their loyal tribe members on the abe hicks forum if you’ve ever been there, will often beat that horse to death. But, I take it that you have to make peace with ‘what is’ and ‘where you are’ otherwise, you’re just fighting against it and creating more resistance.
Oh yes, I’ve been on that forum, lol. I still visit on occasion, but not very often anymore.
Yes, you have to make peace with where you are. Otherwise you’ll be coming at it from the problem orientation. When you are in the creative orientation, there’s not much problem with making peace. That doesn’t mean lying to yourself that you want what’s right in front of you, if you don’t, but simply not pushing against it, or needing it to be different right this second.
Brandon, I’m curious about one last question. When you are in that creative orientation position, are you simply at a point of such peace in your life that you don’t “need” anything anymore to make you happy (notice that I used the word need), but now know that you can create ANYTHING in your life that brings you joy, but not out of “need”, but because it’s just a natural desire?
Hi Derek,
Well, I don’t want you to think you have to be in some state of perfection. You’re allowed to have problems. You’re allowed to want things.
The difference is how you approach them. You have to have faith everything will work out, and that will enable you to jump over to the creative orientation, where instead of trying to focus on “fixing” your life, you focus on creating what you want to create.
I’ve experienced the Universe supporting me so many times now, that it is a lot easier to not worry about it, and just focus on creating what I want to create. That’s not to say I am never anxious, or never worried, but I know how to enter a place of faith and trust, and instead focus on what I want to create.
This isn’t some rarified state that only a few can reach. It’s really just about trust that everything will work out once you stop pushing against things so much.
Trust….yes! That’s the key. Thanks Brandon and I will let you know about coaching.
And thank you again for your incredibly clear explanations. If I could afford a coaching session with you, I would have done it already ha.
I’m always happy to help. 🙂 And if you ever feel like you could benefit from coaching, I can work on a sliding scale. It’s really important to me that I can help as many people as possible, and I understand that not everyone can afford my regular prices. Just let me know if that’s the case. 🙂
Hi Brandon,
Thank you so much for this – I love how clearly you write about the LoA. But I have a question on this one…
I’m a bit confused about how this fits in with Abraham Hicks’ advice to bring yourself into alignment with the feeling place of the thing you want to manifest/allow into your life – in other words not to focus on what is present in your external reality if it displeases you, but instead to focus elsewhere on something in your life which does make you feel good – or alternatively to find a way to make peace with where you are. How does this fit in with your notion of tension?
And I’m also wondering how their advice to have a lightness of touch fits in with this too – their “wouldn’t it be nice if ….” process for example.
Any help gratefully received!
Hi Jellicle74,
Thanks so much for your comment.
I’ll tell you what I’ve told many others before: don’t try to line this up with Abraham’s teachings. I agree with them on some points, but I also disagree with them on many, many points.
Lining up with the feeling place of your goal is great. That’s the vibrational signature I talked about. That’s holding your vision.
But it’s not so good to ignore external reality. That kills the tension. I’ve done this before for weeks or months and nothing has changed. I’ve heard from many others who have had the same experience. It sounds like great advice, but in my experience, it doesn’t generally work.
The “wouldn’t it be nice if” is also a useful method for lining up with your goal. I recommend doing something like that once or twice per day when you do your manifestation techniques. Eventually I do recommend getting more specific with your focus, but it’s a great place to start. That is what will help you to hold to your vision within, and set up the structural tension to bring you to your goal.
You just can’t deceive yourself about current reality. That is essential.
Hope this makes sense.
Wonderful post Brandon. I can relate and understand the type of tension you explained in this post. For me it means making commitment to myself. It means I only know I am going to have it even if I don’t know yet how. It’s not being over confident about things but just maintaining your focus on what you have aimed and having faith that it’s coming. You have explained it so well. I loved the example of bow and arrow. It’s so true. And making goal non negotiable does create that tension. What’s most enjoyable is happiness you get once you get there. And of course relief you feel. It makes you feel so powerful and boosts your confidence. Thank you for this great insight and explaining it with key points. And thank you for sharing your experience. That says a lot.
Thanks so much, Rhea! I appreciate that.
You’re right about the feeling of relief once you reach your goal. It’s awesome! 😀 Then you are back working on another creation. 🙂 It’s fun.
Hey Brandon, I’m going to give my own interpretation of what I THINK you’re saying and share my own experiences with this. Thanks for your article as always.
A number of things come to mind. I am trying to manifest healing in my own body, and there is no question that it is ‘non negotiable’ to me, but often when I hold this perspective that it HAS to happen, it leads me to feel incredible stress because healing has been approached by me for so long from a ‘problem oriented’ perspective. But, then when I reach a point of unconditional connection to my ‘home’ either in meditation or intense moments of clarity, it’s almost as if…..whether the actual manifestation happens or not is irrelevant at that point. All that I truly wanted was this peace that I have been longing for, for so long. It was actually CONNECTION with myself that I was really looking for. And it’s the excitement and joy of the manifestation process, knowing that my life and who I truly am doesn’t really depend upon it that actually makes the manifestation process FUN. I can’t seem to reconcile the two perspectives….making the goal as though it ‘has to happen’ and simply being happy regardless.
That aside, there’s two things here at play for me:
1) Is my own desire to heal my body of a chronic disease actually……my true desire? I feel there is a deeper aspect to my desire to actually be connected home to my true nature and my own disease was a manifestation of me not being…..me for so many years. That aside…..
2) In the manifestation process, what’s become clear to me is that EASE and JOY are the feelings that I get when I am feeling so empowered to KNOW that I am going to accomplish this goal. Also, that well being was always my nature already and whatever it is I am trying to manifest (in this case healing) is not actually something at a future point that I don’t have yet, but something that I just need to continue to release resistance on to allow it to manifest naturally in my body. So, the TENSION that I feel that you speak of is when those triggers come up (which I speak about below) and when those thoughts come up of “I don’t have it yet” which are always based in fear, worry, doubt and anxiety. But, when I see those thoughts are just survival thoughts based in the subconscious from old patterns, I realize how do those thoughts feel to me? Of course they don’t feel good because the thoughts that are actually aligned with my nature “empowerment, joy, excitement, EASE and peace” are the ones that represent who and what I truly am. Of COURSE I can manifest healing. The idea that I cannot is based in a thought based in worry. And all thoughts of doubt and worry are based in old survival patterns just looking out to protect me. I don’t have to fight them, but I don’t have to believe them (as Tara Brach says). Is that the similar tension you are speaking of?
And it will naturally flow to me of course when I:
A) let go through mindfulness and meditation each day
B) focus on the feeling representation of my goal in visualization
C) Focus on things in my life that bring me joy
Lately there has been a ton of emotional triggers coming up for me based in co-dependency patterns with people, noise sensitivity and fears around not being able to sleep. As I continue to work through the manifestation process, this stuff is continually coming up more and more, and I have questioned how to integrate this stuff emotionally while still trying to focus on my goal of healing.
Sorry for the long post. But, I feel I’m so close to grasping this entire process, but I still have questions which hold me back.
Hi Derek,
Really great questions. I’m happy to clarify.
First of all, I know how it is. My wife has congenital glaucoma, and she’s always wanted to be healed from it. It involves a lot of pain, so she gets very frustrated sometimes.
I think you have primarily been in the problem orientation. When you are in the problem orientation, once you enter the zero state, it feels like that “I don’t really care if I get this.”
But, a true desire in the creative orientation, will not simply go away in the zero state. It’ll in fact become purer.
To translate this to another area of life, imagine someone who wants more money, but their main problem-oriented focus is not being poor.
In the zero state, they’ll feel, “Oh, I have what I want already.”
But, if they focus on abundance, and creating true abundance in their life, that desire won’t just go away in the zero state. It’ll keep pulling them forward.
The thing you must do now is to switch from the problem orientation to the creative orientation. You want to create health, not just avoid disease. Think about how great it’ll be to have health in your body.
The tension you mention is resistance, not tension. They are not the same thing. To illustrate tension, imagine this: think about yourself having the healthy body you want. Really feel it.
Now, look at where you are now. Just the physical facts of things, not your thoughts about them.
That discrepancy, that is the tension. That is a good thing. It pulls you forward on your path.
The resistance is the subconscious mind’s attempt to pull you back into alignment with outer reality. You have to hold to your vision of health and release anything that comes up in the process.
Does this make sense? I hope I answered all your questions.
It does makes sense a lot. So, the way I see tension is sort of that ‘excitement’ in a sense to know that you don’t have it yet, but it’s going to come soon. I HAVE had that feeling in the past with other things, but never with this goal of healing my body. My body has had chronic health conditions for about 10 years now and I’m 35 years old. So, I know I can heal. It’s a stress related disorder.
But, that aside, you’re right that I have been approaching it from the problem oriented perspective and I have been trying to find a way to approach this from the creative aspect which I have had glimpses of, but can’t readily stay there. Here is where I think my confusion arises. I keep having this thought (perhaps just a belief) that there is a deeper desire I should be focusing on instead of healing. And I think that’s a HUGE part of this resistance which is coming up for me too…..that is, the thoughts that say, there is something deeper that you truly want and then I fear that I am not really ‘doing the right thing’ in my life to get to where I need to be, if that makes any sense.
I’d love your thoughts on that if possible.
Thanks again
And in addition, the notion of tension sounds very similar to Abe’s notion of ‘momentum’. They say that we build up momentum when we ‘put things in our vortex’ or ‘vibrational escrow’ and when we feel negative emotion, it’s because we are not up to speed with our escrow. I wonder if tension is a similar process.
Hi Derek,
No, momentum is not the same thing. Momentum is when you are progressing towards your goal, as the discrepancy is getting smaller.
They don’t really have a good parallel for this concept, since they recommend not looking at current reality if you can help it.
Hi Derek,
It generally isn’t too hard to figure out what you want. Just ask yourself, if you could have it right now, what is it you’d create?
You can’t really do this “wrong”. Just figure out what it is you want, then move towards that. 🙂
Thanks Brandon…..THIS is the one question that I need to figure out ha. I totally agree with you and have NEVER vibed with Abe’s view of ignoring reality. Their loyal tribe members on the abe hicks forum if you’ve ever been there, will often beat that horse to death. But, I take it that you have to make peace with ‘what is’ and ‘where you are’ otherwise, you’re just fighting against it and creating more resistance.
Oh yes, I’ve been on that forum, lol. I still visit on occasion, but not very often anymore.
Yes, you have to make peace with where you are. Otherwise you’ll be coming at it from the problem orientation. When you are in the creative orientation, there’s not much problem with making peace. That doesn’t mean lying to yourself that you want what’s right in front of you, if you don’t, but simply not pushing against it, or needing it to be different right this second.
Brandon, I’m curious about one last question. When you are in that creative orientation position, are you simply at a point of such peace in your life that you don’t “need” anything anymore to make you happy (notice that I used the word need), but now know that you can create ANYTHING in your life that brings you joy, but not out of “need”, but because it’s just a natural desire?
Hi Derek,
Well, I don’t want you to think you have to be in some state of perfection. You’re allowed to have problems. You’re allowed to want things.
The difference is how you approach them. You have to have faith everything will work out, and that will enable you to jump over to the creative orientation, where instead of trying to focus on “fixing” your life, you focus on creating what you want to create.
I’ve experienced the Universe supporting me so many times now, that it is a lot easier to not worry about it, and just focus on creating what I want to create. That’s not to say I am never anxious, or never worried, but I know how to enter a place of faith and trust, and instead focus on what I want to create.
This isn’t some rarified state that only a few can reach. It’s really just about trust that everything will work out once you stop pushing against things so much.
Trust….yes! That’s the key. Thanks Brandon and I will let you know about coaching.
And thank you again for your incredibly clear explanations. If I could afford a coaching session with you, I would have done it already ha.
I’m always happy to help. 🙂 And if you ever feel like you could benefit from coaching, I can work on a sliding scale. It’s really important to me that I can help as many people as possible, and I understand that not everyone can afford my regular prices. Just let me know if that’s the case. 🙂
I’d like to share a technique I made up myself.
Decide to let go 100% for 5 seconds only. Since the body-mind is afraid of letting go, just decide 5 seconds only (or 1 or 2 sec). Then maybe extend to longer periods as the body-mind gets used to it.
This can be enhanced by visualizing jumping out of a plane without a parachute. There’s no possibility that any struggle will make the slightest difference to anything. There might be tension at the start, but then as you accelerate to the ground, you just release.
That sounds like a great technique, CJ!
Although, I’d think jumping out with a parachute would be infinitely more relaxing than speeding towards the ground. 🙂
Thank-you 🙂
I’d been recalling instances of manifestation which had been near immediate in my life. They all had deep release as a common theme. They’d all happened at times where I was like “no…. I can’t struggle any more” and decided to completely stop any/all mental effort
That’s very true. Release is a very important part of the process.
Do you think that the focus on your goal, however, brought you into a place of greater alignment with it via your resistance? Once you were able to drop the resistance, the goal was there. But, it took a period of transformation in order to reach that place.
That’s been my experience, anyway.
I could only recall 5 instances and in each it started with resistance that was causing discomfort, mostly related to money, but also relationships. The very moment I dropped the resistance deeply and completely, either something happened (something I wanted), or a very deep knowing that something specific that I wanted would happen.
The wanted thing just appeared in my mind after the release. I didn’t “do” that part as such. But I guess desires are known to TU anyway, as you’ve said before. The knowing is very certain, unlike intellectual knowing for example.
I’d like to share a technique I made up myself.
Decide to let go 100% for 5 seconds only. Since the body-mind is afraid of letting go, just decide 5 seconds only (or 1 or 2 sec). Then maybe extend to longer periods as the body-mind gets used to it.
This can be enhanced by visualizing jumping out of a plane without a parachute. There’s no possibility that any struggle will make the slightest difference to anything. There might be tension at the start, but then as you accelerate to the ground, you just release.
That sounds like a great technique, CJ!
Although, I’d think jumping out with a parachute would be infinitely more relaxing than speeding towards the ground. 🙂
Thank-you 🙂
I’d been recalling instances of manifestation which had been near immediate in my life. They all had deep release as a common theme. They’d all happened at times where I was like “no…. I can’t struggle any more” and decided to completely stop any/all mental effort
That’s very true. Release is a very important part of the process.
Do you think that the focus on your goal, however, brought you into a place of greater alignment with it via your resistance? Once you were able to drop the resistance, the goal was there. But, it took a period of transformation in order to reach that place.
That’s been my experience, anyway.
I could only recall 5 instances and in each it started with resistance that was causing discomfort, mostly related to money, but also relationships. The very moment I dropped the resistance deeply and completely, either something happened (something I wanted), or a very deep knowing that something specific that I wanted would happen.
The wanted thing just appeared in my mind after the release. I didn’t “do” that part as such. But I guess desires are known to TU anyway, as you’ve said before. The knowing is very certain, unlike intellectual knowing for example.
I think I finally realize practically speaking what resistance is and how the whole thing works. The other night I started intending me being open and confident around people, and I really got into the feeling of it. For the next 2 days, a series of events happened where people kept pushing my boundaries, things were pissing me off (which has to do with powerlessness), and it got to a point where I was very anxious around people. I felt that intense fear and anxiety.
Another example, when I started intending awesome health, energy, strength, etc., during the next few days I suddenly got a lot of pain in my abdomen. I didn’t eat something that would cause the pain, so it was obvious what must have happened.
So, basically… The more energy and specificity I put into my intending (choosing), the more my subconscious will flow the energy of resistance to try to nullify the tension, and bring me back into alignment with the current outer reality, right? That means, if there’s a goal with a lot of resistance, and I start intending with strong emotions and make the goal specific enough, then events will manifest in my reality that will oppose that so hard, even to a point where they might just crush me big time. That’s it, right?
A big goal can be achieved fast, but then my reality will bring me strong manifestations that directly oppose the goal, manifestations which might be too much for me. If I do manage to allow everything that pops up, no matter how strong and painful, and be a witness, then I’ll be able to release a lot of resistance then and there, and I’ll advance quite much towards my goal.
Admittedly, during such manifestations of resistance, it can be quite hard to accept that things are actually going well, and that that is my chance to advance. The realness of emotions caused by a great flow of resistance energy is incredible.
Did I get this right?
Yes, exactly right, Z.
But, it doesn’t always have to manifest outwardly. there’s a progression to these manifestations. In my class, I describe 7 stages of the manifestation, and outward manifestations begin at the 5th and 6th stage.
It will start as an emotion. But if you ignore that emotion, it’ll get bigger and bigger and bigger. Or, if you already have a lot of intrenched beliefs that you tend to hang on to. So, resistance will definitely arise, and you got the reason correct. But it doesn’t always have to be an outward manifestation, if you catch it early.
I know what you’re doing z because I do it all the time.
You’re moving from controlling fear to allowing it, rather than being free of it. If you allow it, it manifests immediately as the thing you fear.
Hmm, I don’t agree with that. What else are you to do with fear besides to allow it? That is the only way to neutralize that energy and allow it to leave.
I’ve found the only way to be free of it (for me) is to use extreme willpower and force it out. If I allow, it rears up like crazy and takes over and all my fears start coming true very quickly like z is describing.
I know it sounds like control, but it’s not because I completely obliterate it, so there’s nothing left to control.
Control magnifies, and when you release the control the feared thing is so intense that TU just responds immediately. So control begets more control. I find I have to go from control to obliteration and decimation of the fear, because allowing is like letting a bull loose in a china shop. It can be extremely frightening to watch TU just pile stuff on you mercilessly.
Hi CJ,
This just isn’t my experience. Also, I highly doubt you are permanently “obliterating” the fear. It might go for a while, but allowing is the only way to permanently release energy like that.
You may have a different idea of allowing, however, which is causing it to manifest more in your reality. How exactly do you allow?
will answer tomorrow – exhasuted now sorry.
Not sure what’s happening. But control is a suppression, so the fearful energy doesn’t get out into TU to have an effect. By relaxing and allowing a bit, BANG out it comes and it manifests quickly because of its high energy (magnified through suppression).
When I said obliteration, I think maybe I meant a 100% release at once. At least that’s what I try to do. A gradual allowing of the energy may amount to me half suppressing and half allowing. So dangerous. It’s like standing on top of an enormous vert ramp and half committing to dropping in. You’ll get smashed to pieces.
Hi CJ,
You cannot control something from not going out into the Universe. That’s not how it works. If it is in your energy field, it is manifesting for you. You just might not always be aware of it.
But, I agree you should not half suppress it and half release it, if possible.
I thought that’s what muscle tension achieved. Emotional control.
??
Do you mean structural tension? No. It achieves setting up a force that brings you to your goal. But allowing is still the best way of letting go of unwanted emotions. Specifically, allowing them while going deeper into your goal. It’s not jjust pure releasing. Tuesday’s support call described this well, if you’ve not listened yet.
Muscle tension in the body. It controls emotions and prevents them from getting out and manifesting.
Not sure where that idea comes from, but the opposite is true in my experience. Muscle tension is a result of tense emotions, and so will manifest more quickly. You cannot “stop” something by manifesting, except by not having an emotional reaction to it.
Actually, muscle tension is your attempt to keep that energy suppressed, but it will only make it manifest even more.
When you feel like you’re dying it’s impossible. Bloody impossible.
I get it. I’ve had severe anxiety. Still get it sometimes. You do your best, though.
Thank you for the reply. I’m also wondering if smoking, drinking (too much) alcohol, overeating, etc. actually postpone our release of resistance, because they give us temporary relief and make us unable to feel the resistant energy, or do they help? My first impression is that they postpone (delay) our advancement, although they can help someone gain the courage to do something they’re afraid to do, or to handle tough times better.
I’m not going to say either way, as it depends on the person. But yes any activity that would be used to run away from their issues is not going to be helpful. You’ll be interested in last night’s support call, which discusses that a bit.
So, basically, in response to that last comment from Z, what we’re saying here is that the safety mechanism or survival mechanism (what some call the ego, just play along with me for now) is afraid of change and therefore, will try to hold back that ‘intention’ or ‘desire’ and keep trying to hold on to the already present ‘outer reality’, which turns up as……resistance. It’s an internal fight to control and hold on and hold and hold on, out of a fear of the uncertainty that the desire we actually hold will bring into our life.
So, without resistance, everything would just basically manifest instantaneously (which is what the non physical is like) and it would be no fun to manifest things here without the resistance factor. And resistance will often show up as that safety mechanism because of all of the beliefs we’ve had over time. It’s all of the experiences in our life that we’ve taken on as beliefs, that have kept us hindered from who we truly were out of essentialy…..safety. After all, it’s ‘scary’ to explore that new potential desire and that would require actually…….LETTING GO of control.
So, in that case, in all of the spiritual teachings who teach us to be with our emotions, I would take a gander that the only way through the resistance is to lovingly embrace it (allow it)….radical acceptance and love. Unconditional surrender to it, while continuing our focus on what we want.
-Derek
Yes, 100% accurate on all points, Derek.
It is out of fear that the subconscious does this, but it’s also simply out of habit. You do what is familiar, because it’s comfortable. The subconscious mind’s job is to perpetuate activities or ways of thinking you repeat often. It is a great help to you.
So I don’t like to see it so much as “controlling the ego”, as much as “training the subconscious mind”. The former sounds too forceful to me, like the ego is a disobedient child, while the latter recognizes the essential role the subconscious mind plays.
But yes, the best approach is to focus on what you want, despite any resistance that arises, and simply not to pay that resistance any attention, by fully allowing it and letting it go.
yes, absolutely! Totally agree. The part that I am still struggling with (and close to grasping something huge) is desire. I think there is something quite profound with desire. I think it’s almost like…..desire is why we are here. And unmet desires perhaps lead to a lot of our early conditioning?
Hi Derek,
You might want to listen to last night’s support call as well. I talk about the nature of creation a while into the call.
I agree it is why we are here. It is fun. But many people aren’t trying to create, as much as they are trying to avoid what they don’t want in life.
Awesome, will listen to it tonight. Thanks Brandon.
I think I finally realize practically speaking what resistance is and how the whole thing works. The other night I started intending me being open and confident around people, and I really got into the feeling of it. For the next 2 days, a series of events happened where people kept pushing my boundaries, things were pissing me off (which has to do with powerlessness), and it got to a point where I was very anxious around people. I felt that intense fear and anxiety.
Another example, when I started intending awesome health, energy, strength, etc., during the next few days I suddenly got a lot of pain in my abdomen. I didn’t eat something that would cause the pain, so it was obvious what must have happened.
So, basically… The more energy and specificity I put into my intending (choosing), the more my subconscious will flow the energy of resistance to try to nullify the tension, and bring me back into alignment with the current outer reality, right? That means, if there’s a goal with a lot of resistance, and I start intending with strong emotions and make the goal specific enough, then events will manifest in my reality that will oppose that so hard, even to a point where they might just crush me big time. That’s it, right?
A big goal can be achieved fast, but then my reality will bring me strong manifestations that directly oppose the goal, manifestations which might be too much for me. If I do manage to allow everything that pops up, no matter how strong and painful, and be a witness, then I’ll be able to release a lot of resistance then and there, and I’ll advance quite much towards my goal.
Admittedly, during such manifestations of resistance, it can be quite hard to accept that things are actually going well, and that that is my chance to advance. The realness of emotions caused by a great flow of resistance energy is incredible.
Did I get this right?
Yes, exactly right, Z.
But, it doesn’t always have to manifest outwardly. there’s a progression to these manifestations. In my class, I describe 7 stages of the manifestation, and outward manifestations begin at the 5th and 6th stage.
It will start as an emotion. But if you ignore that emotion, it’ll get bigger and bigger and bigger. Or, if you already have a lot of intrenched beliefs that you tend to hang on to. So, resistance will definitely arise, and you got the reason correct. But it doesn’t always have to be an outward manifestation, if you catch it early.
I know what you’re doing z because I do it all the time.
You’re moving from controlling fear to allowing it, rather than being free of it. If you allow it, it manifests immediately as the thing you fear.
Hmm, I don’t agree with that. What else are you to do with fear besides to allow it? That is the only way to neutralize that energy and allow it to leave.
I’ve found the only way to be free of it (for me) is to use extreme willpower and force it out. If I allow, it rears up like crazy and takes over and all my fears start coming true very quickly like z is describing.
I know it sounds like control, but it’s not because I completely obliterate it, so there’s nothing left to control.
Control magnifies, and when you release the control the feared thing is so intense that TU just responds immediately. So control begets more control. I find I have to go from control to obliteration and decimation of the fear, because allowing is like letting a bull loose in a china shop. It can be extremely frightening to watch TU just pile stuff on you mercilessly.
Hi CJ,
This just isn’t my experience. Also, I highly doubt you are permanently “obliterating” the fear. It might go for a while, but allowing is the only way to permanently release energy like that.
You may have a different idea of allowing, however, which is causing it to manifest more in your reality. How exactly do you allow?
will answer tomorrow – exhasuted now sorry.
Not sure what’s happening. But control is a suppression, so the fearful energy doesn’t get out into TU to have an effect. By relaxing and allowing a bit, BANG out it comes and it manifests quickly because of its high energy (magnified through suppression).
When I said obliteration, I think maybe I meant a 100% release at once. At least that’s what I try to do. A gradual allowing of the energy may amount to me half suppressing and half allowing. So dangerous. It’s like standing on top of an enormous vert ramp and half committing to dropping in. You’ll get smashed to pieces.
Hi CJ,
You cannot control something from not going out into the Universe. That’s not how it works. If it is in your energy field, it is manifesting for you. You just might not always be aware of it.
But, I agree you should not half suppress it and half release it, if possible.
I thought that’s what muscle tension achieved. Emotional control.
??
Do you mean structural tension? No. It achieves setting up a force that brings you to your goal. But allowing is still the best way of letting go of unwanted emotions. Specifically, allowing them while going deeper into your goal. It’s not jjust pure releasing. Tuesday’s support call described this well, if you’ve not listened yet.
Muscle tension in the body. It controls emotions and prevents them from getting out and manifesting.
Not sure where that idea comes from, but the opposite is true in my experience. Muscle tension is a result of tense emotions, and so will manifest more quickly. You cannot “stop” something by manifesting, except by not having an emotional reaction to it.
Actually, muscle tension is your attempt to keep that energy suppressed, but it will only make it manifest even more.
When you feel like you’re dying it’s impossible. Bloody impossible.
I get it. I’ve had severe anxiety. Still get it sometimes. You do your best, though.
Thank you for the reply. I’m also wondering if smoking, drinking (too much) alcohol, overeating, etc. actually postpone our release of resistance, because they give us temporary relief and make us unable to feel the resistant energy, or do they help? My first impression is that they postpone (delay) our advancement, although they can help someone gain the courage to do something they’re afraid to do, or to handle tough times better.
I’m not going to say either way, as it depends on the person. But yes any activity that would be used to run away from their issues is not going to be helpful. You’ll be interested in last night’s support call, which discusses that a bit.
So, basically, in response to that last comment from Z, what we’re saying here is that the safety mechanism or survival mechanism (what some call the ego, just play along with me for now) is afraid of change and therefore, will try to hold back that ‘intention’ or ‘desire’ and keep trying to hold on to the already present ‘outer reality’, which turns up as……resistance. It’s an internal fight to control and hold on and hold and hold on, out of a fear of the uncertainty that the desire we actually hold will bring into our life.
So, without resistance, everything would just basically manifest instantaneously (which is what the non physical is like) and it would be no fun to manifest things here without the resistance factor. And resistance will often show up as that safety mechanism because of all of the beliefs we’ve had over time. It’s all of the experiences in our life that we’ve taken on as beliefs, that have kept us hindered from who we truly were out of essentialy…..safety. After all, it’s ‘scary’ to explore that new potential desire and that would require actually…….LETTING GO of control.
So, in that case, in all of the spiritual teachings who teach us to be with our emotions, I would take a gander that the only way through the resistance is to lovingly embrace it (allow it)….radical acceptance and love. Unconditional surrender to it, while continuing our focus on what we want.
-Derek
Yes, 100% accurate on all points, Derek.
It is out of fear that the subconscious does this, but it’s also simply out of habit. You do what is familiar, because it’s comfortable. The subconscious mind’s job is to perpetuate activities or ways of thinking you repeat often. It is a great help to you.
So I don’t like to see it so much as “controlling the ego”, as much as “training the subconscious mind”. The former sounds too forceful to me, like the ego is a disobedient child, while the latter recognizes the essential role the subconscious mind plays.
But yes, the best approach is to focus on what you want, despite any resistance that arises, and simply not to pay that resistance any attention, by fully allowing it and letting it go.
yes, absolutely! Totally agree. The part that I am still struggling with (and close to grasping something huge) is desire. I think there is something quite profound with desire. I think it’s almost like…..desire is why we are here. And unmet desires perhaps lead to a lot of our early conditioning?
Hi Derek,
You might want to listen to last night’s support call as well. I talk about the nature of creation a while into the call.
I agree it is why we are here. It is fun. But many people aren’t trying to create, as much as they are trying to avoid what they don’t want in life.
Awesome, will listen to it tonight. Thanks Brandon.
Brandon,
I asked this before but we didn’t resolve it. If I use this thread for example. Last time I logged in there were about 54 posts. Now I log back in and there’s 68 and I have no idea which are the new ones and where to find them in the thread without looking at the time stamps. Can you make it so that on the right side of the page there’s a “recent posts” section with the most recent 20 posts on any threads listed for clicking? Otherwise, with replies and replies to replies it gets confusing.
Hi CJ,
I’m sorry, I unfortunately do not have that functionality. I have a recent comments block I can enable, but that’s for all across the site, so I’m not so sure that’d be helpful, and plus that’d only show the last 5 comments.
This is pretty standard WordPress functionality, though. It’s the same on every WordPress blog I’ve been on.
ok, no problem. The format of WordPress is fine apart from that difficulty in navigation.
Can I ask you something unrelated – about psychedelic drugs, either full dose or microdosing, which has become very popular. Do they affect the aura in a permanent way?
Hi CJ,
I have not done extensive study on it, but I do not believe they affect the aura permanently. They may have short term effects, but nothing long lasting.
Thanks. I’ve read conflicting reports. Microdosing LSD looks like it could be a safe and powerful way to assist in spiritual growth. (I’ve not tried, nor am I recommending it, just saying there’s a lot of buzz around it).
Brandon,
I asked this before but we didn’t resolve it. If I use this thread for example. Last time I logged in there were about 54 posts. Now I log back in and there’s 68 and I have no idea which are the new ones and where to find them in the thread without looking at the time stamps. Can you make it so that on the right side of the page there’s a “recent posts” section with the most recent 20 posts on any threads listed for clicking? Otherwise, with replies and replies to replies it gets confusing.
Hi CJ,
I’m sorry, I unfortunately do not have that functionality. I have a recent comments block I can enable, but that’s for all across the site, so I’m not so sure that’d be helpful, and plus that’d only show the last 5 comments.
This is pretty standard WordPress functionality, though. It’s the same on every WordPress blog I’ve been on.
ok, no problem. The format of WordPress is fine apart from that difficulty in navigation.
Can I ask you something unrelated – about psychedelic drugs, either full dose or microdosing, which has become very popular. Do they affect the aura in a permanent way?
Hi CJ,
I have not done extensive study on it, but I do not believe they affect the aura permanently. They may have short term effects, but nothing long lasting.
Thanks. I’ve read conflicting reports. Microdosing LSD looks like it could be a safe and powerful way to assist in spiritual growth. (I’ve not tried, nor am I recommending it, just saying there’s a lot of buzz around it).
C J, I’ve found that focusing on and meditating on the pain helps it go away. The idea is to focus on being health. Not trying to live like you are healthy; with the pain, that’s tough to do, but just focus your energy on moving towards a healthy body. Don’t think of yourself as sick. Affirmations such as, “I’m getting better.” “I am improving.” “I am moving towards being pain free.” I also meditate and chant the name of Jesus; pick your spiritual figure. Or just chant, “Pain Pain Go away.” I’ve been through severe pain and injuries before, especially tendinitis s. I’m just giving you some different ways of thinking about it.
When you release resistance, it’s important to get the sense of how your goal feels just for those seconds or minutes after the resistance has been lessened. More positive thoughts, images, and good feelings should arise. Then, if you are able, try to ride the goal until it’s conclusion during your meditation, or as close as you can get before resistance or stray thoughts derail you. Don’t force it beyond your ability to endure the pain. Go farther and farther each time. Once again, don’t force it. That’s one method I use.
However, the other method is creating tention which is referred to some times as an iron wire. It is strong, yet flexible. So, the wan it works is that you are allowing and releasing your resistance while holding your vision and building energy and momentum to reach your goal. I do that when I’m properly aligned. It’s an internal feel. I achieve it by slowing way down and asking myself while in the 0 state, what I really want out of a situation.
Muscle tention done through deep breathing and proper technique helps with the release of emotions. Muscle tention done rigidly will keep them in; you don’t usually want to do that. You want your body like a car tire.
C J, I’ve found that focusing on and meditating on the pain helps it go away. The idea is to focus on being health. Not trying to live like you are healthy; with the pain, that’s tough to do, but just focus your energy on moving towards a healthy body. Don’t think of yourself as sick. Affirmations such as, “I’m getting better.” “I am improving.” “I am moving towards being pain free.” I also meditate and chant the name of Jesus; pick your spiritual figure. Or just chant, “Pain Pain Go away.” I’ve been through severe pain and injuries before, especially tendinitis s. I’m just giving you some different ways of thinking about it.
When you release resistance, it’s important to get the sense of how your goal feels just for those seconds or minutes after the resistance has been lessened. More positive thoughts, images, and good feelings should arise. Then, if you are able, try to ride the goal until it’s conclusion during your meditation, or as close as you can get before resistance or stray thoughts derail you. Don’t force it beyond your ability to endure the pain. Go farther and farther each time. Once again, don’t force it. That’s one method I use.
However, the other method is creating tention which is referred to some times as an iron wire. It is strong, yet flexible. So, the wan it works is that you are allowing and releasing your resistance while holding your vision and building energy and momentum to reach your goal. I do that when I’m properly aligned. It’s an internal feel. I achieve it by slowing way down and asking myself while in the 0 state, what I really want out of a situation.
Muscle tention done through deep breathing and proper technique helps with the release of emotions. Muscle tention done rigidly will keep them in; you don’t usually want to do that. You want your body like a car tire.