Your life is a complex tapestry of various stories, some wanted, and many unwanted. The most effective way to change this tapestry of stories is to practice non-attachment, in order to free yourself of the threads of your unwanted stories.
By altering this tapestry, you can directly alter the reality you live in your everyday life. You have control of the loom. But, you must stop taking these stories so personally. I’ll show you exactly how to practice non-attachment in this post.
Your Life Is Made of Stories
“Reality” is not as real as you might think. It is comprised of a series of interpretations, or of stories about what is, or what seems to be. These are commonly called limiting beliefs, though not all of them are necessarily limiting.
For example, you might think, “I’m not successful because I’m not making enough money.” The only fact in this statement is merely implied, and that is the amount of money you are indeed making. But the idea of not being successful, and of not making enough money, are both stories that you have put upon yourself.
You Might Not Even Realize Your Stories
You might not even realize the stories that you’re telling. When you’ve been telling these stories for so long, it can seem like fact.
When you start to realize that these stories are really just your own interpretations of reality, however, that is when real freedom begins. When you know that something is just a story, you have the power to change that story.
For example, the story above of “I’m not successful because I’m not making enough money” contains stories about what success means, and how much money is “enough” money. As long as you believe these stories, you will be entrapped by them. But as soon as you realize that you’ve added the meaning that these stories hold for you, you are instantly freed to change them.
An Example from My Own Life
Growing up, I was inculcated with the idea that the only way to success was to graduate from college, and then to get a well-paying job. Money was of the utmost importance, and the only way to get money was by having a college degree. My self-worth was defined by how well I did in school.
Well, imagine the resistance that was triggered when I decided I would drop out of college. I had had a long struggle with college, lasting a total of five years. Finally, I decided that the only sane way to go was to drop out.
But I was taught all my life that I had to graduate—that this was the only way to success. So, I dealt with guilt and fear for quite a while after making this decision. Trying to get up the courage to tell my mother was all the harder, since she was the one to teach me these things.
Of course, I did eventually tell her, and it went well. I dropped out, and couldn’t be happier.
But even after that, my in-laws often tried to get me to go back to college. Sometimes I wondered if I was a failure for not finishing.
It took me several years to make peace with that. Eventually, thanks to some methods such as The Work of Byron Katie, I discovered that these were just stories, and my belief in them was optional. I could change them, if I wanted to.
You’ve Built Up Your Stories Since Childhood
Your stories have been gradually building up since childhood. They come from the things your parents teach you, the events you observe around you, and in general your interactions with others.
With the money example above, you might have observed, or been told, that success is when you make $50,000 a year. Now, you constantly measure your attainment of that standard set at childhood, and judge yourself accordingly. If you are making less than that, then you’re not successful.
And of course, there’s the additional judgment that success is a good thing, and not having it yet is bad, or even wrong. Usually these stories expand out exponentially, adding judgment after judgment on top of one another.
How Stories Block Manifestation
The issue is that your stories keep you from manifesting your goals, or at least limit the ways that your goals can come to you. When you believe in your stories, you are defining what reality can or cannot do. And, reality will conform to your definitions.
If you know that you aren’t successful because you’re not making enough money, then you won’t be successful. You won’t reach that limit of “enough money”, or if you do, you’ll constantly be in fear of losing it. You will always define your level of success by that story, and so it will dictate what is possible in your reality. Success is not possible, or is very hard, because you are so fearful of not attaining it.
Stories Don’t Have to Block Manifestation
However, this is not required. Your stories don’t have to define your reality. It is possible that you can hold this story in your subconscious mind, and yet still manifest success.
Your subconscious mind doesn’t define you, or at least it doesn’t have to. The issue is that most people allow their subconscious mind to define them. They allow that story to be their prison, and though they hold the key, they will not use it to free themselves.
So why is your story limiting you then, assuming that it is? You are giving your story what it needs to be realized in your outer reality. Though you weave your own tapestry, you still continue to use the thread of that story, not realizing that you have a choice to create a new tapestry altogether, excluding that story’s thread. It is when you practice non-attachment, as I will discuss below, that you gain freedom from that story.
Are You Stuck in the Dream?
You can see this reality as a dream, or as a game. Most people are totally engrossed in the dream. They don’t realize that they are dreaming, and so the dream defines them. They really have no free will, or very little at least, to control the dream to play out how they want it to.
Being a creator is really all about becoming lucid in the dream. Have you ever had a lucid dream? You might be in the middle of the most awful nightmare, but suddenly, you realize that you’re dreaming, and the monster, or bad guy, or whatever it is that was scaring you, just seems so fake now. You gain control, and so the dream totally turns around.
[bctt tweet=”Being a creator is really all about becoming lucid in the dream.” nofollow=”yes”]
There’s a story in the Advaita tradition of a rope being mistaken as a snake. As long as you believe it is a snake, you are terrified of it. You might even convince a lot of other people that it’s a snake, and scare them, too. But the moment you see that it is really just a rope, you’ve lost your ability to fear it. It was just an illusion—a dream. You’ve mastered that dream.
The Key to Lucidity: You Must Practice Non-Attachment
When you practice non-attachment, you hold the key to your own freedom. Non-attachment allows you to stop believing in the story.
The thing that really holds you bound is believing in the story. As long as you believe in it, you are bound by it, just like how as long as you believed the rope was a snake, you were bound to be afraid of it.
But when you practice non-attachment, you are shown the truth of things. You realize the illusory nature of your fears. They become as unreal as the monsters in your nightmare. When you stop allowing them to scare you, and turn around to face them, they are no longer so real.
You Are Taking it Too Personally
It’s all about the ego. The ego wants to make everything about itself. So when you don’t make as much as you’d like to make, your ego says, “This means that I’m not successful.” It identifies with the story, and adds meaning to it.
When you identify with the story, you make it “your” story. You make it all about you. And if it is about you, then it must mean something, right? When I dropped out of college for example, it was “my” story that I was a failure for dropping out. Only when I stopped taking that experience personally—when I stopped making it about me—was I able to gain freedom from it.
But when you practice non-attachment, you separate yourself from the story. In Saturday’s podcast about how to overcome limiting beliefs, I read a quote from the Tao Te Ching. In essence, it says that it is emptiness, or stillness, that makes everything work together. When you are in stillness—in the zero state—you have non-attachment to your stories. You are freed of them.
How to Practice Non-Attachment
One of the most powerful questions you can ask yourself to practice non-attachment is, “Is that true?” This question comes from The Work of Byron Katie, particularly from her book, Loving What Is.
This question is so powerful because it delves right to the root of the issue: your story, at its core, is just a story. It has no truthfulness to it. This question invites you to meditate on whether the story you have believed so much is actually true or not.
Entering the zero state will also help you to naturally practice non-attachment, because when you are in that stillness, you cannot hang on to your stories. You get a degree of separation from them, and can see that you are adding your own meaning to life.
Finally, work on separating fact from meaning that you have added. Fact is something like, “I currently make $35,000 per year.” Meaning is, “I don’t make enough to be successful.” A good clarifying question might be something like, “Is this true for every person on the Earth?” Or, “According to whom is this true?” These are just restatements of the general “Is it true?” that I discussed above. Use what works best for you.
Then, Create Your Own Stories
After you’ve developed non-attachment to the stories that are holding you from your manifestation, feel free to create your own stories. Just as in the lucid dream, once you become lucid, you don’t just use it to see through the illusion of the dream. You then go and create an entirely new dream that is more aligned with what you want to experience.
You create stories by setting new goals for yourself. If in your reality your current story is that you are not successful, first free yourself from this story, then ask yourself how you can become successful.
Or, more concretely, ask yourself how much money you’d like to make. Don’t even involve the word “success” in it, unless it inspires you. But, “success” on its own is a word of judgment, naming some things as successful and other things as not successful.
If you look at your life and don’t like what you see, feel free to weave your tapestry with new and better stories. You have that power. But in order to do so, you must first free yourself of the old stories that have held you bound. You cannot define the new in terms of what you didn’t like about the old. It has to be an entirely new creation.
[bctt tweet=”You cannot define the new in terms of what you didn’t like about the old. It has to be an entirely new creation.” via=”no” nofollow=”yes”]
Set Concrete Goals, and Go After Them
Your goals should be concrete, because they are a lot more inspiring than vague, general goals. A goal of “be successful” is very general, and you might constantly move the goalpost of that goal further and further as you approach it, almost fearing to cross that line.
But a goal of “I choose to make $50,000 per year,” or “I choose to be in a healthy, long-term relationship”, or “I choose to get a job in the field I want, with the pay I want,” is far more inspiring, and you know for sure when you’ve arrived.
And the great thing is that as you approach these goals, it will trigger the stories that are holding you back. Then, you have the opportunity to practice non-attachment and free yourself of those stories, enabling you to pursue your goals all the more.
Creating Your Life How You Want It to Be
As you do this, you create your life how you want it to be. You have one foot in the dream, and one foot on the outside, holding the controls. You fully experience the dream, while yet realizing that you can change it at any moment.
This, to me, is complete freedom. You have detached from your old stories, and chosen deliberately what you wanted to create instead. You maintain the lucidity at all times to know when a story has arisen, and you know how to see through that story.
You might be more lucid at some times than others, but that is okay. This is a process. You will grow in your ability to maintain non-attachment to your stories as you develop. There’s no rush.
But what matters is that you have that freedom. You hold the keys, and you know how to use them to free yourself, and create what you want.
How About You?
Now it’s your turn. What stories are currently holding you back from your manifestations? Are you finding that non-attachment is allowing you to free yourself from those stories? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
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I listened to Support Calls 20 and 21 and I found them very helpful. I think I understand the zero state a more cleary now. Also, I especially liked how you mentioned that if one says “I want a million dollars”, then goes off and is happy thinking about puppies and kittens and bubbles that million dollars will not just magically come despite what Abraham followers would say.
I really liked this blog post as well. I liked the example about a snake really being a rope, and I liked the “is that true?” question to ask oneself. Really simple but really powerful. Abraham is constantly telling everyone to ignore what is and ignore what you don’t like, and ignore the problem and the more I think about it the more I think that that is terrible advice. If you have a little baby problem, sure, but otherwise I think ignoring and being in denial just causes it to grow bigger. I resonate much more with this blog post.
I look forward to Monday’s post on feeling good and why that may not always yield results. ????????
Hi, Natasha! 🙂 I really like Esther’s voice and Abraham’s sense of humor, but their teachings felt off to me when I was still listening to them. There was a guy on the “hot seat”, who said that his life is pretty good now, and then he started talking about how his life was horrible before. Abraham was like “no no no don’t go there”. This running away from a negative past, or negativity in general, and avoiding speaking about it felt way off to me. It’s like fear. What feels right to me is being able to mention sad and hard things from the past, while having no emotional reaction to any negative feelings arising. I’m really glad that you found Brandon’s blog, because in my opinion, he is the first LOA teacher for me so far, that has been able to explain well how everything works.
I’m really really glad I found Brandon’s blog too! I feel like the finding of his blog came at a perfect time for me.
Thanks so much, Natasha. I appreciate your comment.
I love The Work of Byron Katie. I credit it with saving my marriage. The first couple of years were incredibly rough, as I’ve discussed in previous calls.
It’s sort of a total converse of most LOA teachings. Katie believes in being totally honest about what is, and coming to accept it. I don’t go as far as she does, that we should always be happy with what is and never strive for more, but it’s a great tool for slicing through your stories.
I’m glad you enjoyed this post. 🙂
I don’t want to bash Abraham completely I still love them and they have greatly helped me and positively influenced me but I feel like almost 100% of Abraham’s advice is for current level goals. I wonder why that is?
Maybe because it’s just easier for this info to be channeled through Esther. Remember Esther is also a filter and her interpretation of all that comes through may not be the real thing. She is interpreting as best she could but may be missing a lot of what is intended. Bashar may be a bit more accurate but again is being channeled through a filter. Also, Esther once mentioned that she won’t be able to speak in tongues when asked about that specifically, while on the last spiritual freedom call it was stated that this is possible and the person it is coming through may not have any idea of the content or the language. I’ve always wondered about that.
Hi Natasha,
I agree that most info out there in the LOA community in general is about current level goals. I think the reason is very simple: most people who teach this stuff were already successful before teaching it. So, they already did the hard inner work of reprogramming their subconscious mind for success in many areas. Therefore they notice that if they just let go, things will always work out, because there’s already a belief to that extent. So, that’s what they teach: just let go and you’ll get everything you want.
It’s like most criticisms of The Secret. There’s a lot of info of just feeling good and everything will come. But others point out, each and every one of the people in The Secret had to work pretty hard to get to where they were at that point.
So I’d not necessarily say it’s malicious or anything. It’s just that most people aren’t so good at observing reality and seeing what works and what doesn’t.
I listened to Support Calls 20 and 21 and I found them very helpful. I think I understand the zero state a more cleary now. Also, I especially liked how you mentioned that if one says “I want a million dollars”, then goes off and is happy thinking about puppies and kittens and bubbles that million dollars will not just magically come despite what Abraham followers would say.
I really liked this blog post as well. I liked the example about a snake really being a rope, and I liked the “is that true?” question to ask oneself. Really simple but really powerful. Abraham is constantly telling everyone to ignore what is and ignore what you don’t like, and ignore the problem and the more I think about it the more I think that that is terrible advice. If you have a little baby problem, sure, but otherwise I think ignoring and being in denial just causes it to grow bigger. I resonate much more with this blog post.
I look forward to Monday’s post on feeling good and why that may not always yield results. ????????
Hi, Natasha! 🙂 I really like Esther’s voice and Abraham’s sense of humor, but their teachings felt off to me when I was still listening to them. There was a guy on the “hot seat”, who said that his life is pretty good now, and then he started talking about how his life was horrible before. Abraham was like “no no no don’t go there”. This running away from a negative past, or negativity in general, and avoiding speaking about it felt way off to me. It’s like fear. What feels right to me is being able to mention sad and hard things from the past, while having no emotional reaction to any negative feelings arising. I’m really glad that you found Brandon’s blog, because in my opinion, he is the first LOA teacher for me so far, that has been able to explain well how everything works.
I’m really really glad I found Brandon’s blog too! I feel like the finding of his blog came at a perfect time for me.
Thanks so much, Natasha. I appreciate your comment.
I love The Work of Byron Katie. I credit it with saving my marriage. The first couple of years were incredibly rough, as I’ve discussed in previous calls.
It’s sort of a total converse of most LOA teachings. Katie believes in being totally honest about what is, and coming to accept it. I don’t go as far as she does, that we should always be happy with what is and never strive for more, but it’s a great tool for slicing through your stories.
I’m glad you enjoyed this post. 🙂
I don’t want to bash Abraham completely I still love them and they have greatly helped me and positively influenced me but I feel like almost 100% of Abraham’s advice is for current level goals. I wonder why that is?
Maybe because it’s just easier for this info to be channeled through Esther. Remember Esther is also a filter and her interpretation of all that comes through may not be the real thing. She is interpreting as best she could but may be missing a lot of what is intended. Bashar may be a bit more accurate but again is being channeled through a filter. Also, Esther once mentioned that she won’t be able to speak in tongues when asked about that specifically, while on the last spiritual freedom call it was stated that this is possible and the person it is coming through may not have any idea of the content or the language. I’ve always wondered about that.
Hi Natasha,
I agree that most info out there in the LOA community in general is about current level goals. I think the reason is very simple: most people who teach this stuff were already successful before teaching it. So, they already did the hard inner work of reprogramming their subconscious mind for success in many areas. Therefore they notice that if they just let go, things will always work out, because there’s already a belief to that extent. So, that’s what they teach: just let go and you’ll get everything you want.
It’s like most criticisms of The Secret. There’s a lot of info of just feeling good and everything will come. But others point out, each and every one of the people in The Secret had to work pretty hard to get to where they were at that point.
So I’d not necessarily say it’s malicious or anything. It’s just that most people aren’t so good at observing reality and seeing what works and what doesn’t.
Brandon, how did you handle all those who came up to you and we’re freaked out because you dropped out of college? Like all those prying people? Or did that eventually die off and did not present in your reality once you made peace with it, accepted it and were fully okay with it?
Now, I stress that is is their own freaking out and their expressing to you if their feelings of insecurity and panic not yours. But I still don’t really get how we manifest these people. Like, mystics may come across such people, but these people may act differently toward the mystic, you know what I mean? I wonder how that works.
Well, this is a very appropriate topic since we are called things from childhood. You are labeled as stupid, lazy, beautiful, ugly, etc if you are outside certain ranges. Humans live to categorize even though the universe and environment are full of diversity. Scientists say humans categorize because it helps our brain and it helps ward out things that would be detrimental to us. This may be true to some degree, but I think it’s gone too far. Some base their entire life on what a teacher once said to them and instead of blaming the teacher’s crassness, they become that thing. This is so sad and dangerous.
Hi Kat,
Initially, it wasn’t that bad. My mother didn’t react at all, and I was insulated from the in-laws for about a year because after Christine graduated, we lived in Johnstown, PA with my mother for a while until we figured out what we wanted to do.
But eventually, yes they started to pester me. My father-in-law went so far as to say that he wanted to see me go back to college before he died. My mother-in-law would constantly make subtle hints, like talking about certain schools I could go back to, etc. It was pretty irritating.
But it triggered my own issues. Once I worked through those, it all stopped, just like the comments about getting a “real” job.
I’m definitely not perfect at it yet, but a lot better than I was. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that I make money doing something from home, and something I really enjoy. It’s been a process of acceptance and trust that the gods will support me on this path, which they have very much.
In my experience, people will stop pushing that button when it stops being a button. The “real” job comment is no longer a button, nor is going back to school. I know, and accept, that these are not on my path.
I sometimes see someone in my class, and they appear and/or behave in a way that I used to, when i was depressed. I mean, it’s not obvious from that specific appearance and behavior that the person might be depressed or worried about something. It only caught my eye with these people, because it reminded me of myself at such times. I don’t really know whether at those moments those people are really feeling the way I was feeling when depressed, so I’m still guessing here. Anyway, this had made me realize more, that when someone is depressed, they can cover it up pretty well, and others won’t really be able to pick it up, unless they’re a close friend, who is familiar with them and their usual appearance. That’s probably why people wouldn’t notice me when I was suffering.
So at those times, I’m thinking… what if they’re suffering right now, but I don’t know it, because I can’t feel their emotions. Certainly, most of the people aren’t empaths, so that’s normal. However at those times I wish that I could feel their emotions, and comfort someone if they are suffering. I know that they would still have to be match to my help. So my main question here is, is there a way for a non-empath like me to develop their ability to feel other people’s emotions? Would it be a good idea to develop such ability? Maybe you’re planning to talk about that in your psychic course? I mean, I don’t know yet if I would like to develop such ability, but first I’d like to ask you whether that’s possible, and whether that’s a good idea. I feel that if I could feel when someone was sad or suffering, that I would be more open to communication with them.
Another thing I’m wondering is about your opinion on tax in general. The leaders of my country have recently been making ridiculous taxing increases, because they’re incompetent to manage the country properly. Of course, I realize that it’s my choice to choose to not be bothered by that, because they can’t direct my life, unless I let them. Do you think that taxing in general might be dropped in the future? I know it allows the money influx for the things related to the country, like road repairs, renewals of buildings, etc. However I wonder if the taxing system is the most efficient way for this. Maybe it has been so far, but now that more people are “waking up”, maybe it will fall out of use? I’m curious. 🙂
Hi Z,
Great questions.
Yes, any ability can be developed, including being an empath. And I will absolutely be talking about this in the Developing Your Psychic Potential course, including other abilities as well.
As to taxation, I honestly don’t have a problem with it, as long as the government handles it wisely. We need money for roads, police, infrastructure, education, military, etc. Taxes have been around for thousands of years, and I cannot’ think of a better system.
Now the tax burden is another subject altogether. At least here in the US, there are tax brackets. The more money you make, the more taxes you have to pay. I think this is fair. I don’t think we should step all over the wealthy just because they have a lot of money, but they should definitely pay their fair share, and commonly used tax loopholes should be closed, unless it really benefits the economy.
I believe in the importance of small business especially, so that should be allowed to thrive.
Anyway just my opinions. 🙂
Thanks, I was curious and am glad to hear your opinion on this. Could you please also tell me if it would be a good idea for me to develop emphatic ability in the future? I don’t see myself as being a spiritual teacher or healer, so I wonder if for me personally developing that ability would be a bad idea. I would like to be able to be in crowded places without being overwhelmed by other people’s emotions or energy, but I would like to be able to connect with other people’s energy (emotions). I don’t know, maybe I’ll know the answer to this when the time is right.
Hi Z,
It is possible to be empathic and be able to control that ability. It’s just for many natural empaths, they find it difficult to control it, and need to learn how to do so. But there is definitely a balance.
I think it’s beneficial for anyone to develop at least some abilities, which will connect them to the unseen world around them. We are both spiritual as well as physical beings, so we should be aware of our spiritual/psychic senses, as well as our physical ones.
I see, thanks for giving me your opinion! 🙂
I hope you have a lot of fun in your psychic course! I am going to continue working on my current goals, and there’s still a lot of information to be processed and experimentally understood for me. Maybe in the future I’ll be inspired to develop some special ability, but right now experiencing zero state more and more is my main game. This post with the analogy of tapestry and story threads has inspired me even more.
Brandon, how did you handle all those who came up to you and we’re freaked out because you dropped out of college? Like all those prying people? Or did that eventually die off and did not present in your reality once you made peace with it, accepted it and were fully okay with it?
Now, I stress that is is their own freaking out and their expressing to you if their feelings of insecurity and panic not yours. But I still don’t really get how we manifest these people. Like, mystics may come across such people, but these people may act differently toward the mystic, you know what I mean? I wonder how that works.
Well, this is a very appropriate topic since we are called things from childhood. You are labeled as stupid, lazy, beautiful, ugly, etc if you are outside certain ranges. Humans live to categorize even though the universe and environment are full of diversity. Scientists say humans categorize because it helps our brain and it helps ward out things that would be detrimental to us. This may be true to some degree, but I think it’s gone too far. Some base their entire life on what a teacher once said to them and instead of blaming the teacher’s crassness, they become that thing. This is so sad and dangerous.
Hi Kat,
Initially, it wasn’t that bad. My mother didn’t react at all, and I was insulated from the in-laws for about a year because after Christine graduated, we lived in Johnstown, PA with my mother for a while until we figured out what we wanted to do.
But eventually, yes they started to pester me. My father-in-law went so far as to say that he wanted to see me go back to college before he died. My mother-in-law would constantly make subtle hints, like talking about certain schools I could go back to, etc. It was pretty irritating.
But it triggered my own issues. Once I worked through those, it all stopped, just like the comments about getting a “real” job.
I’m definitely not perfect at it yet, but a lot better than I was. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that I make money doing something from home, and something I really enjoy. It’s been a process of acceptance and trust that the gods will support me on this path, which they have very much.
In my experience, people will stop pushing that button when it stops being a button. The “real” job comment is no longer a button, nor is going back to school. I know, and accept, that these are not on my path.
I sometimes see someone in my class, and they appear and/or behave in a way that I used to, when i was depressed. I mean, it’s not obvious from that specific appearance and behavior that the person might be depressed or worried about something. It only caught my eye with these people, because it reminded me of myself at such times. I don’t really know whether at those moments those people are really feeling the way I was feeling when depressed, so I’m still guessing here. Anyway, this had made me realize more, that when someone is depressed, they can cover it up pretty well, and others won’t really be able to pick it up, unless they’re a close friend, who is familiar with them and their usual appearance. That’s probably why people wouldn’t notice me when I was suffering.
So at those times, I’m thinking… what if they’re suffering right now, but I don’t know it, because I can’t feel their emotions. Certainly, most of the people aren’t empaths, so that’s normal. However at those times I wish that I could feel their emotions, and comfort someone if they are suffering. I know that they would still have to be match to my help. So my main question here is, is there a way for a non-empath like me to develop their ability to feel other people’s emotions? Would it be a good idea to develop such ability? Maybe you’re planning to talk about that in your psychic course? I mean, I don’t know yet if I would like to develop such ability, but first I’d like to ask you whether that’s possible, and whether that’s a good idea. I feel that if I could feel when someone was sad or suffering, that I would be more open to communication with them.
Another thing I’m wondering is about your opinion on tax in general. The leaders of my country have recently been making ridiculous taxing increases, because they’re incompetent to manage the country properly. Of course, I realize that it’s my choice to choose to not be bothered by that, because they can’t direct my life, unless I let them. Do you think that taxing in general might be dropped in the future? I know it allows the money influx for the things related to the country, like road repairs, renewals of buildings, etc. However I wonder if the taxing system is the most efficient way for this. Maybe it has been so far, but now that more people are “waking up”, maybe it will fall out of use? I’m curious. 🙂
Hi Z,
Great questions.
Yes, any ability can be developed, including being an empath. And I will absolutely be talking about this in the Developing Your Psychic Potential course, including other abilities as well.
As to taxation, I honestly don’t have a problem with it, as long as the government handles it wisely. We need money for roads, police, infrastructure, education, military, etc. Taxes have been around for thousands of years, and I cannot’ think of a better system.
Now the tax burden is another subject altogether. At least here in the US, there are tax brackets. The more money you make, the more taxes you have to pay. I think this is fair. I don’t think we should step all over the wealthy just because they have a lot of money, but they should definitely pay their fair share, and commonly used tax loopholes should be closed, unless it really benefits the economy.
I believe in the importance of small business especially, so that should be allowed to thrive.
Anyway just my opinions. 🙂
Thanks, I was curious and am glad to hear your opinion on this. Could you please also tell me if it would be a good idea for me to develop emphatic ability in the future? I don’t see myself as being a spiritual teacher or healer, so I wonder if for me personally developing that ability would be a bad idea. I would like to be able to be in crowded places without being overwhelmed by other people’s emotions or energy, but I would like to be able to connect with other people’s energy (emotions). I don’t know, maybe I’ll know the answer to this when the time is right.
Hi Z,
It is possible to be empathic and be able to control that ability. It’s just for many natural empaths, they find it difficult to control it, and need to learn how to do so. But there is definitely a balance.
I think it’s beneficial for anyone to develop at least some abilities, which will connect them to the unseen world around them. We are both spiritual as well as physical beings, so we should be aware of our spiritual/psychic senses, as well as our physical ones.
I see, thanks for giving me your opinion! 🙂
I hope you have a lot of fun in your psychic course! I am going to continue working on my current goals, and there’s still a lot of information to be processed and experimentally understood for me. Maybe in the future I’ll be inspired to develop some special ability, but right now experiencing zero state more and more is my main game. This post with the analogy of tapestry and story threads has inspired me even more.
So well stated.
That’s the purpose of life as I see it. Waking up within the dream……and THEN creating. How much more fun is THAT then creating unconsciously from fear? 🙂 Non duality teachings only cover the first half of that, because most don’t understand that they are actually creating.
Thanks so much for posting this and vulnerably sharing your own experiences.
Thanks for your comments, Derek. 🙂
Haha, yeah, I see non-duality teachings as the first half, and law of attraction teachings as the second half. Unfortunately, very few people put those two halves together to get a truly powerful method of manifesting.
HI Derek, did the Gupta program do anything for you/?
Hey CJ, I started the program in the summer after having such a bad flare up of chronic fatigue the previous December. I was basically sick almost every day for 5 months……and I had a REALLY difficult time getting on board with Gupta, because of all of my questions about how it worked (especially from a higher perspective lol). Eventually started it. But, my symptoms started to get less and less and less and I started feeling a lot better throughout the fall. It was pretty remarkable. I wrote a blog piece for my friend’s ‘gut health’ website when I started doing Gupta detailing my incredible early experience. My first day of doing Gupta, my symptoms completely vanished for 3 days (very similar to what you see in the lightening process), but eventually came back again with the old resistant thought patterns.
What I’ve come to see is that everything we talk about here, granted I have my own differences with a few things here and there, are essentially the same foundation for all brain retraining healing programs. It’s pretty remarkable.
Good to hear, thanks for that. After the flare up, could you bring things back in line again?
Yes, of course. With Chronic Fatigue and chronic pain (fibromyalgia, although lot of different sources of chronic pain), they often will come and go depending on stress levels, diet, etc. Gupta calls the flare ups “dips”.
This really helped me to see how I’ve been living my life in this dream and believing everything to be true. Time to drop the story that’s been keeping me prisoner in my current reality. At least getting the process started – and that means dropping the judgments and labels with non-attachment. I would imagine at first that this involves a lot of self-monitoring of thoughts and feelings to break the habit of attachment.
Can you clarify non-duality, Brandon? Also, what you meant in last post to Derek about this state and LOA being two halves that are essential to be joined for successful manifestations?
Am very interested in Byron Katie. Will be looking into her process more seriously.
Hi Frann,
Thanks for your comments.
What do you mean by clarifying non-duality? It’s somewhat like asking to clarify string theory, or quantum mechanics. Non-duality is just… a pretty deep system, depending on how far you want to go with it.
What I meant about them being two halves is that non-dual teachers teach all about non-attachment to your thoughts and feelings. However, they tend to discourage desire.
LOA teachers, on the other hand, tend to encourage desire, but ignore the importance of not believing in your thoughts and feelings, which is by far the best way of releasing resistance.
When these two are put together, you have a complete system of manifesting that works.
Is non reaction the only tool you use to mitigate resistance? You said you don’t think it’s a good idea to try and release limiting beliefs? Is that always true? What if someone has a severe problem like an eating disorder, severe anxiety, severe OCD, a trauma in the past etc. Would you recommend the non attachment to your stories method over all others?
Hi Natasha,
Yes it is the only method I use.
If something is very severe, a method like The Work of Byron Katie can very successfully help you through it. As mentioned elsewhere, I’ve used this method to great success with even very severe issues.
I’ve also used the -reaction method itself for severe anxiety, though, and it works very well.
Otherwise, NLP is another good technique when things are really overwhelming. I used to use this one more, but now stick with the above two.
So well stated.
That’s the purpose of life as I see it. Waking up within the dream……and THEN creating. How much more fun is THAT then creating unconsciously from fear? 🙂 Non duality teachings only cover the first half of that, because most don’t understand that they are actually creating.
Thanks so much for posting this and vulnerably sharing your own experiences.
Thanks for your comments, Derek. 🙂
Haha, yeah, I see non-duality teachings as the first half, and law of attraction teachings as the second half. Unfortunately, very few people put those two halves together to get a truly powerful method of manifesting.
HI Derek, did the Gupta program do anything for you/?
Hey CJ, I started the program in the summer after having such a bad flare up of chronic fatigue the previous December. I was basically sick almost every day for 5 months……and I had a REALLY difficult time getting on board with Gupta, because of all of my questions about how it worked (especially from a higher perspective lol). Eventually started it. But, my symptoms started to get less and less and less and I started feeling a lot better throughout the fall. It was pretty remarkable. I wrote a blog piece for my friend’s ‘gut health’ website when I started doing Gupta detailing my incredible early experience. My first day of doing Gupta, my symptoms completely vanished for 3 days (very similar to what you see in the lightening process), but eventually came back again with the old resistant thought patterns.
What I’ve come to see is that everything we talk about here, granted I have my own differences with a few things here and there, are essentially the same foundation for all brain retraining healing programs. It’s pretty remarkable.
Good to hear, thanks for that. After the flare up, could you bring things back in line again?
Yes, of course. With Chronic Fatigue and chronic pain (fibromyalgia, although lot of different sources of chronic pain), they often will come and go depending on stress levels, diet, etc. Gupta calls the flare ups “dips”.
This really helped me to see how I’ve been living my life in this dream and believing everything to be true. Time to drop the story that’s been keeping me prisoner in my current reality. At least getting the process started – and that means dropping the judgments and labels with non-attachment. I would imagine at first that this involves a lot of self-monitoring of thoughts and feelings to break the habit of attachment.
Can you clarify non-duality, Brandon? Also, what you meant in last post to Derek about this state and LOA being two halves that are essential to be joined for successful manifestations?
Am very interested in Byron Katie. Will be looking into her process more seriously.
Hi Frann,
Thanks for your comments.
What do you mean by clarifying non-duality? It’s somewhat like asking to clarify string theory, or quantum mechanics. Non-duality is just… a pretty deep system, depending on how far you want to go with it.
What I meant about them being two halves is that non-dual teachers teach all about non-attachment to your thoughts and feelings. However, they tend to discourage desire.
LOA teachers, on the other hand, tend to encourage desire, but ignore the importance of not believing in your thoughts and feelings, which is by far the best way of releasing resistance.
When these two are put together, you have a complete system of manifesting that works.
Is non reaction the only tool you use to mitigate resistance? You said you don’t think it’s a good idea to try and release limiting beliefs? Is that always true? What if someone has a severe problem like an eating disorder, severe anxiety, severe OCD, a trauma in the past etc. Would you recommend the non attachment to your stories method over all others?
Hi Natasha,
Yes it is the only method I use.
If something is very severe, a method like The Work of Byron Katie can very successfully help you through it. As mentioned elsewhere, I’ve used this method to great success with even very severe issues.
I’ve also used the -reaction method itself for severe anxiety, though, and it works very well.
Otherwise, NLP is another good technique when things are really overwhelming. I used to use this one more, but now stick with the above two.
Thank you for another great post Brandon! I have a few questions about LOA that bugged me for quite some time, I hope that you could address them here or write future blog posts (if you haven’t already)?
1) How detailed do we need to get in our visualization? Would getting too detailed actually sabotage our manifestations? For example, let’s say I have my eyes set on a particular job and I envision myself getting that job. And let’s say that this job only appears to be my dream job but it’s actually not, would my visualization encourage the universe to give me this job which would lead to me NOT getting my actual dream job? Should we just stay general in our visualizations and leave it to the universe? But what if you come across something specific that you really resonate with?
2) If there are parallel universes, why can’t be manifest really specific stuff like a specific person or specific car? I have heard of stories of people manifesting specific random stuff like seeing a specific type of butterfly or something like that…but usually you can’t manifest a specific person because of other people’s free will. Is it because we have too much resistance to the car/person, or is it because we just simply can’t manifest specific things?
3) Kind of similar to 2), but how does LOA work in terms of respecting others free will? Can we manifest in another’s reality by practicing magic? Like when we send healing to someone, does that actually help them or are we just entering a parallel reality where they appear to become better? Similar to when we send negative energies to others, can it actually affect them if they themselves are already in a high vibration?
Thanks Brandon!
Thanks, Indigo.
1. Be as detailed as feels good for you to be. Usually you’ll start out in a more general place, just bringing up what I call the vibrational signature of your goal, which is the feeling essence of it, feeling like you already have it. You’ll bring that up in the zero state. Then as your resistance melts away, you’ll get more and more specific, which will trigger more and more resistance for you to work through.
2. I definitely think we can manifest specific things. I’ll address people in #3, but you can definitely manifest anything you want as far as objects, experiences, etc.
3. See my post, Can You Use the Law of Attraction to Manifest for Someone Else? Essentially, yes, if their will is weak, and/or if their energy is already partially in alignment with what you are creating. Witches/mages do it all the time, though it’s rather seen as black magic, depending on what the desire is.
Thanks Brandon!
Brandon, can you refresh my memory again. Trying to find your post on it. You recommend visualizing one or twice a day on your intention? Is this correct? And the rest of the time…..releasing resistance through mindfulness/meditation/getting into the zero state along with taking any action that is needed? This is what I am doing now. I also use affirmations, but mainly visualizations which are starting to become more and more clear for me. Thanks for the feedback.
Hi Derek,
Correct. I try to do it soon before bed, as the subconscious mind is most malleable at that time. You can do it one other time earlier in the day as well if you like.
Journaling is also a useful method that I’ve used to great success. 🙂
Thanks Brandon
Thank you for showing different angle Brandon. It makes so much sense. If our vibrations draw things towards us then we should only fill it with the wanted things and not the one we want to get over.
Sometimes I think the word’success’ has successfully managed to make some people feel miserable about themselves. Because most of the times it comes with your academic scores and the money you have. It’s hard to find somebody who will say you are successful because you are happy. I can relate your story about graduating. I did graduate with good marks but I felt horrible every single day of my college life. I used to get horrible dreams for many years after I graduated from college. I didn’t like what I was studying but my parents thought that’s the best thing for me. Yeh and it’s all about getting some degree and good paying jobs. Your happiness will not have much time to come and stay with you. But you are right making peace with it is the only way to get over it. I accepted that it had happened and it’s over. I can still do whatever I like.
Telling and creating different story concept will surely help. And I remember in one of our support call you mentioned to write preffered story whenever you can.
Hi Rhea,
Thanks so much. Yes all very true. And I’m sorry for the college experience you went through. I’m glad that I followed my heart in the end and didn’t finish, despite the fear-based thinking I was subjected to.
Thank you for another great post Brandon! I have a few questions about LOA that bugged me for quite some time, I hope that you could address them here or write future blog posts (if you haven’t already)?
1) How detailed do we need to get in our visualization? Would getting too detailed actually sabotage our manifestations? For example, let’s say I have my eyes set on a particular job and I envision myself getting that job. And let’s say that this job only appears to be my dream job but it’s actually not, would my visualization encourage the universe to give me this job which would lead to me NOT getting my actual dream job? Should we just stay general in our visualizations and leave it to the universe? But what if you come across something specific that you really resonate with?
2) If there are parallel universes, why can’t be manifest really specific stuff like a specific person or specific car? I have heard of stories of people manifesting specific random stuff like seeing a specific type of butterfly or something like that…but usually you can’t manifest a specific person because of other people’s free will. Is it because we have too much resistance to the car/person, or is it because we just simply can’t manifest specific things?
3) Kind of similar to 2), but how does LOA work in terms of respecting others free will? Can we manifest in another’s reality by practicing magic? Like when we send healing to someone, does that actually help them or are we just entering a parallel reality where they appear to become better? Similar to when we send negative energies to others, can it actually affect them if they themselves are already in a high vibration?
Thanks Brandon!
Thanks, Indigo.
1. Be as detailed as feels good for you to be. Usually you’ll start out in a more general place, just bringing up what I call the vibrational signature of your goal, which is the feeling essence of it, feeling like you already have it. You’ll bring that up in the zero state. Then as your resistance melts away, you’ll get more and more specific, which will trigger more and more resistance for you to work through.
2. I definitely think we can manifest specific things. I’ll address people in #3, but you can definitely manifest anything you want as far as objects, experiences, etc.
3. See my post, Can You Use the Law of Attraction to Manifest for Someone Else? Essentially, yes, if their will is weak, and/or if their energy is already partially in alignment with what you are creating. Witches/mages do it all the time, though it’s rather seen as black magic, depending on what the desire is.
Thanks Brandon!
Brandon, can you refresh my memory again. Trying to find your post on it. You recommend visualizing one or twice a day on your intention? Is this correct? And the rest of the time…..releasing resistance through mindfulness/meditation/getting into the zero state along with taking any action that is needed? This is what I am doing now. I also use affirmations, but mainly visualizations which are starting to become more and more clear for me. Thanks for the feedback.
Hi Derek,
Correct. I try to do it soon before bed, as the subconscious mind is most malleable at that time. You can do it one other time earlier in the day as well if you like.
Journaling is also a useful method that I’ve used to great success. 🙂
Thanks Brandon
Thank you for showing different angle Brandon. It makes so much sense. If our vibrations draw things towards us then we should only fill it with the wanted things and not the one we want to get over.
Sometimes I think the word’success’ has successfully managed to make some people feel miserable about themselves. Because most of the times it comes with your academic scores and the money you have. It’s hard to find somebody who will say you are successful because you are happy. I can relate your story about graduating. I did graduate with good marks but I felt horrible every single day of my college life. I used to get horrible dreams for many years after I graduated from college. I didn’t like what I was studying but my parents thought that’s the best thing for me. Yeh and it’s all about getting some degree and good paying jobs. Your happiness will not have much time to come and stay with you. But you are right making peace with it is the only way to get over it. I accepted that it had happened and it’s over. I can still do whatever I like.
Telling and creating different story concept will surely help. And I remember in one of our support call you mentioned to write preffered story whenever you can.
Hi Rhea,
Thanks so much. Yes all very true. And I’m sorry for the college experience you went through. I’m glad that I followed my heart in the end and didn’t finish, despite the fear-based thinking I was subjected to.
Hi Brandon,
I have another question…since we’re on the topic of detachment, I’m wondering if not feeling as attached to your desires (but not completely giving up on the desire) and thus releasing resistance is beneficial for manifestation or detrimental?
Lets say that my dream is to become a famous writer (or anything in the creative field), I’ve built quite a lot of momentum around it already and have had some ‘near dream come true’ manifestations, but haven’t quite reached the reality that I want. I become frustrated with it and just thinking about it makes me impatient and frustrated. So I decide to pursue graduate studies because having a backup plan makes me feel “safer” and I’m also able to cultivate better relationships with family because they won’t judge me or worry about me as much now that I have a safety net.
So I do all these things like applying for graduate schools, research, etc, while at the same time not giving up on my dream. Doing these things make me feel like I’ve ‘opened up energy’ and ‘released resistance’, however, does it sabotage my ultimate manifestation of becoming a famous writer because now I’m telling my subconscious mind that I’d like to focus on something else? Will the universe push back the timeline of my writing success to accommodate graduate studies thus delaying everything even further?
Hi Indigo,
There’s no universal rule on this. It has to be on a case-by-case basis.
In general, detachment from your desire is not at all a good thing. I tried for a long time to just get to the place of not caring about my goal, and it just kills all momentum. Energy responds to focus, and to the tension of choosing to achieve a goal but not having it yet. When you put that goal on the back burner, well, despite what most LOA teachers say, your subconscious will do the same in my experience.
But being a famous writer is a huge goal. If I were coaching you, I’d advise you to break that down into smaller goals. Get your first book out there and published, or even self-published. Get some good sales for that book, etc. I think right now your “famous writer” goal is just too far away, so it’s not generating a ton of momentum, or inspiration. If you thought about immediately starting on a book, and the process of publishing it, then you might have more momentum. Let me know if that’s the case.
The three qualities of a viable goal are: it needs to be inspiring, believable, and challenging. Keep that in mind while pursuing your goal.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get a graduate degree, if that’s what you feel like doing. But, be honest that you’re putting your primary goal on the back burner for now. If you have more inner work to do before you can align with that goal, then the Universe is probably not going to bring that dream into your reality out of the blue.
Thanks Brandon. The famous writer dream was just an example (although I do want to write in the future too) but my dream is actually to become a famous actress. I believe I have a lot of momentum around it already because I have been getting work and I have started to pursue this dream full time for 6 years now, and the birth of this desire came about 11 years ago. I have had some big opportunities that fell through last minute (like lead roles in big budget movies), I’m constantly put “on hold” for things (which means they are deciding between you and one or two other people) and it usually goes through to the other person. In 2016 I have gone through probably 10 or more of these “holds” that brought up so much resistance and ‘tired me out’.
So I’m not sure if graduate school at this point would release my resistance because I”m holding on too tightly, or it would delay my dreams even further because I’m instructing the universe that I want other things. A lot of LOA teachers do talk about having multiple desires and constantly ‘planting seeds’ so you are always ‘in the zone’ and not waiting for the seeds to sprout.
I’m just trying to not think about grad schools at the moment because I have already done the process of applying, but yeah I’m just curious…
With acting it’s also a bit different because different life experiences make you a better actor, so doing other things, focussing on other things are always related to acting somehow. Sometimes during an audition or interview they will ask you what you’ve been up to, how your life is outside of acting, what are your passions outside of acting and things like that…
But anyways I am rambling now..thanks for replying
Hi Indigo,
It sounds like you have some great momentum, but obviously with some resistance.
It sounds like to me, anyway, that it would be a way of escaping the resistance. If you are able to do it, my recommendation is always to stick with the dream path, especially if it is generating resistance. That resistance is a precursor to a big breakthrough, usually.
I’ve discussed before that this site, Co-Creation Coaching, was very hard at first. I had lots of resistance, and wanted to escape that resistance several times. However, I did stick with it, and it turned out very well. 🙂
In Monday’s post, I’ll talk about the temptation to drop our vision, or the focus on our vision, due to resistance, and why that’s not always a good thing.
The immediate focus on your vision will generate the momentum towards that goal. Of course it’ll trigger resistance as part of that path, but if you can hang on and work through it, you’ll see things happening very quickly.
I’m not saying the other option is bad. It’s just about consequences. What I see most of the time is that when people take some action to escape the resistance, and instead focus on something else for a while, it slows down the momentum of the original goal. That’s not always the case, depending on how far the subconscious mind has come in reprogramming and retraining itself, but that’s generally what happens.
You may want to check out my post, Persistence vs. Desperation: What Is the Difference?.
Hi Brandon,
The famous writer example was an example (although I do want to write too in the future), my own dream is to become a famous actress. And I do believe I already have lots of momentum around it because I’ve been actively pursuing acting for 6 years now and this desire birthed inside me 11 years ago. Ever since I was in high school I always just had an inner knowing that I’d become a successful actress one day, I’d practice my Oscar winning speech when I was just a teenager lol and those visualizations always came so naturally and easily to me (this was way before I even knew what LOA was).
I have also gotten pretty close on several occasions. I was considered for some big parts in movies but the offer went to someone else eventually (or the project got put on hold), last year in 2016 I have experienced about 10 or more of putting “on hold” (which means they were deciding between me and someone else and it always went to the other person). I had to deal with so much resistance regarding this, feelings of disappointment, not worthy enough, powerlessness, etc, and it wore me out completely. (late 2016 was when I started to get the idea of pursuing graduate school)
So I’m kind of at this critical point where, I don’t know if graduate school would delay my dreams or it would speed them up because focussing on it does free up energy. I feel like my energy is more open and less resistant when I think about the fact that I will always have a safety net.
But mostly I’m just curious about this question as it doesn’t really apply to me anymore because I am already done applying.
Lots of LOA teachers talk about planting seeds, and having multiple desires so you are not attached and “waiting” for previous seeds to germinate. I think this is beneficial for acting because a variety of life experiences do make you a better actor…it’s all connected. A lot of times in auditions or interviews they ask you questions like what have you been up to, what are your passions outside of acting and things like that…those directors/producers usually really admire people who also have passions outside of acting, makes them more well rounded.
Anyways I’m just curious if focussing on other things would be detrimental in this case. But I’m rambling now…lol thanks for reading.
Oops for some reason I thought my first comment didn’t get posted so I reposted
Hi Brandon,
I have another question…since we’re on the topic of detachment, I’m wondering if not feeling as attached to your desires (but not completely giving up on the desire) and thus releasing resistance is beneficial for manifestation or detrimental?
Lets say that my dream is to become a famous writer (or anything in the creative field), I’ve built quite a lot of momentum around it already and have had some ‘near dream come true’ manifestations, but haven’t quite reached the reality that I want. I become frustrated with it and just thinking about it makes me impatient and frustrated. So I decide to pursue graduate studies because having a backup plan makes me feel “safer” and I’m also able to cultivate better relationships with family because they won’t judge me or worry about me as much now that I have a safety net.
So I do all these things like applying for graduate schools, research, etc, while at the same time not giving up on my dream. Doing these things make me feel like I’ve ‘opened up energy’ and ‘released resistance’, however, does it sabotage my ultimate manifestation of becoming a famous writer because now I’m telling my subconscious mind that I’d like to focus on something else? Will the universe push back the timeline of my writing success to accommodate graduate studies thus delaying everything even further?
Hi Indigo,
There’s no universal rule on this. It has to be on a case-by-case basis.
In general, detachment from your desire is not at all a good thing. I tried for a long time to just get to the place of not caring about my goal, and it just kills all momentum. Energy responds to focus, and to the tension of choosing to achieve a goal but not having it yet. When you put that goal on the back burner, well, despite what most LOA teachers say, your subconscious will do the same in my experience.
But being a famous writer is a huge goal. If I were coaching you, I’d advise you to break that down into smaller goals. Get your first book out there and published, or even self-published. Get some good sales for that book, etc. I think right now your “famous writer” goal is just too far away, so it’s not generating a ton of momentum, or inspiration. If you thought about immediately starting on a book, and the process of publishing it, then you might have more momentum. Let me know if that’s the case.
The three qualities of a viable goal are: it needs to be inspiring, believable, and challenging. Keep that in mind while pursuing your goal.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get a graduate degree, if that’s what you feel like doing. But, be honest that you’re putting your primary goal on the back burner for now. If you have more inner work to do before you can align with that goal, then the Universe is probably not going to bring that dream into your reality out of the blue.
Thanks Brandon. The famous writer dream was just an example (although I do want to write in the future too) but my dream is actually to become a famous actress. I believe I have a lot of momentum around it already because I have been getting work and I have started to pursue this dream full time for 6 years now, and the birth of this desire came about 11 years ago. I have had some big opportunities that fell through last minute (like lead roles in big budget movies), I’m constantly put “on hold” for things (which means they are deciding between you and one or two other people) and it usually goes through to the other person. In 2016 I have gone through probably 10 or more of these “holds” that brought up so much resistance and ‘tired me out’.
So I’m not sure if graduate school at this point would release my resistance because I”m holding on too tightly, or it would delay my dreams even further because I’m instructing the universe that I want other things. A lot of LOA teachers do talk about having multiple desires and constantly ‘planting seeds’ so you are always ‘in the zone’ and not waiting for the seeds to sprout.
I’m just trying to not think about grad schools at the moment because I have already done the process of applying, but yeah I’m just curious…
With acting it’s also a bit different because different life experiences make you a better actor, so doing other things, focussing on other things are always related to acting somehow. Sometimes during an audition or interview they will ask you what you’ve been up to, how your life is outside of acting, what are your passions outside of acting and things like that…
But anyways I am rambling now..thanks for replying
Hi Indigo,
It sounds like you have some great momentum, but obviously with some resistance.
It sounds like to me, anyway, that it would be a way of escaping the resistance. If you are able to do it, my recommendation is always to stick with the dream path, especially if it is generating resistance. That resistance is a precursor to a big breakthrough, usually.
I’ve discussed before that this site, Co-Creation Coaching, was very hard at first. I had lots of resistance, and wanted to escape that resistance several times. However, I did stick with it, and it turned out very well. 🙂
In Monday’s post, I’ll talk about the temptation to drop our vision, or the focus on our vision, due to resistance, and why that’s not always a good thing.
The immediate focus on your vision will generate the momentum towards that goal. Of course it’ll trigger resistance as part of that path, but if you can hang on and work through it, you’ll see things happening very quickly.
I’m not saying the other option is bad. It’s just about consequences. What I see most of the time is that when people take some action to escape the resistance, and instead focus on something else for a while, it slows down the momentum of the original goal. That’s not always the case, depending on how far the subconscious mind has come in reprogramming and retraining itself, but that’s generally what happens.
You may want to check out my post, Persistence vs. Desperation: What Is the Difference?.
Hi Brandon,
The famous writer example was an example (although I do want to write too in the future), my own dream is to become a famous actress. And I do believe I already have lots of momentum around it because I’ve been actively pursuing acting for 6 years now and this desire birthed inside me 11 years ago. Ever since I was in high school I always just had an inner knowing that I’d become a successful actress one day, I’d practice my Oscar winning speech when I was just a teenager lol and those visualizations always came so naturally and easily to me (this was way before I even knew what LOA was).
I have also gotten pretty close on several occasions. I was considered for some big parts in movies but the offer went to someone else eventually (or the project got put on hold), last year in 2016 I have experienced about 10 or more of putting “on hold” (which means they were deciding between me and someone else and it always went to the other person). I had to deal with so much resistance regarding this, feelings of disappointment, not worthy enough, powerlessness, etc, and it wore me out completely. (late 2016 was when I started to get the idea of pursuing graduate school)
So I’m kind of at this critical point where, I don’t know if graduate school would delay my dreams or it would speed them up because focussing on it does free up energy. I feel like my energy is more open and less resistant when I think about the fact that I will always have a safety net.
But mostly I’m just curious about this question as it doesn’t really apply to me anymore because I am already done applying.
Lots of LOA teachers talk about planting seeds, and having multiple desires so you are not attached and “waiting” for previous seeds to germinate. I think this is beneficial for acting because a variety of life experiences do make you a better actor…it’s all connected. A lot of times in auditions or interviews they ask you questions like what have you been up to, what are your passions outside of acting and things like that…those directors/producers usually really admire people who also have passions outside of acting, makes them more well rounded.
Anyways I’m just curious if focussing on other things would be detrimental in this case. But I’m rambling now…lol thanks for reading.
Oops for some reason I thought my first comment didn’t get posted so I reposted
I’ve been adding more goals to my night intending, and before I knew it, I found that I have 9 goals. Half of them are long-term goals, and the rest are short-term goals. I intend (choose) them every night before sleeping. Have I gone overboard? Am I trying to change my subconscious too much at once? Is intending so many goals right away kind of the same as being weak and skinny, and going to the gym and putting on an insane amount of weights? I personally don’t feel it as a burden (at least not yet), but I’d really like to hear what you have to say, Brandon. I also wonder how many goals you choose every night. You said you’d take a break from financial goals for a while, but are you still actively choosing your other goals?
Also, I’d just like a confirmation: if I “miss” on the resistance arising, it will keep getting bigger and bigger, as long as I actively choose my goals each day, right?
Hi Z,
Nine sounds like a ton. Are you giving each one the focus it requires and really allowing that creative tension to develop?
Right now I have a few short-term goals, but nothing that requires too much effort. I’m mostly focusing on current level goals right now.
And yes, if you miss the resistance, it will definitely come back up. 🙂
When you say focus, you mean outside the intending session? I thought that I shouldn’t focus on my goals outside the intending session, unless something reminds me of them during the day.
What’s also coming up now is an impression that things aren’t moving, and wondering if I’m doing it right. lol
I mean during the intending session, but are you really giving each the energy it requires?
I’m not surprised things aren’t moving. You’re dispersing your energy way too much. I recommend only having 2 or 3 top goals at a time, maximum.
Hmm interesting. So the bigger number of goals actually disperses energy? I didn’t know that it works that way. For each goal, I do feel the feeling of having it, and use my will to choose to have it.
I don’t know what to cut out. One of the goals is having a peaceful, warm apartment. This one has a lot of noise problems and it’s not so warm. I wouldn’t intend this goal, but it’s a big problem. I do my best to approach it from the creative orientation of creating peace, warmth, security and enjoyment in my living environment. If I dropped this goal, I don’t know for how long I could put up with the problems anymore. This goal is tricky. However it’s probably a beneficial goal, since it’s bringing up stuff like boundary setting issues, powerlessness, etc.
Sorry for asking, but are you sure that having 9 goals at the same time can’t work well? I need to make sure of this. :/
Hi Z,
The thing is that goals are living things. Think of them almost like children. Having one or two children, you can give them all of your focus. Having nine children, like all at once…well you can only imagine. 😛
So what I mean is that goals require something of you. It’s a relationship. You focus on them once or twice a day, and they bring up your resistance. Throughout the day, they are carving the quickest, easiest path to that goal. Just like how your apartment goal has brought up boundary issues. That’s a perfect example.
Trying to work on nine of them at once, you’re either going to be slammed with resistance, or you’re not going to make progress, because you’re really not focusing on them in the way you need to be.
Remember in the 10 keys course how I said that you have to love your goals into existence? That’s very true.
You just expanded my understanding of this. And I just remembered something. There are certain events that bring up my resistance, that pertain to more than 1 goal of mine. So at such time of resistance, focusing on both of my goals (2 or more creative tensions at the same time) disperses my energy, right? I have a feeling that this is related to what you said. An example is, a certain event happens that challenges both my vision of having friends, and my vision of successfully passing exams. At such time, it would be best to hold the vision of just one of those goals, right? Although both of these goals are very important. I can’t tell how many dreams I’ve had where my colleagues (friends) pass exams and move forward together, while I keep failing them and are left alone behind. These 2 things (college and friends) got so intertwined for me.
However I think that I understood what you mean. Thank you. 🙂 You’re a great teacher.
Hi Z,
Yes, you have it! 😀 Each of our goals takes nurturing and love. We can’t just spread ourselves so thin and hope they’ll all work themselves out.
And I’m glad my explanation was able to help. 🙂
Okay, so I’m going through the list of my goals now, and will cut them down to 3 goals (or so I plan). Should I avoid long term goals for now? This is troubling me now.
An example of 2 goals with similarities is this:
One goal is of living in apartment that satisfies me. This goal has brought up things like fear and boundary setting.
The other goal is of fearlessly being able to express myself, communicate with people, and enjoy friendships.
The former seems like a more of a short term goal, so maybe it’s more beneficial? However the second goal feels more powerful to me, even though I don’t know if I will be able to tell when exactly I reach it. These 2 goals feel similar, so I feel that I should cut one of them out, and keep the other. The first goal was inspired by the problems with my apartment (even though I’m oriented towards the creation). The second goal was inspired by a big desire, so maybe this is the one to keep? I’m confused as of what to do.
Hi Z,
I’d have a mix of easier, short-term goals, and harder, long-term goals. You want goals that feel inspiring to you of course. You’ve said that you don’t want to drop the goal of a peaceful apartment because otherwise you don’t know how you’d continue. So, that sounds like a goal you need to keep going with, in my opinion.
But it’s really your choice in the end.
This is incredible. Now my right speaker is not working. Another sound-related issue. Oh god…
And that is why I say not to have too many big goals at once. 🙂 They’ll all hit you at the same time and it’s sort of overwhelming.
Remember from the 10 keys, give it non-reaction. Make it not a big deal.
Thanks, Brandon. I’ve managed to cut my goals down to 3. While doing so, I’ve realized even more what you meant about dispersing my energy. It does make sense.
Also, I’ve decided to drop the apartment goal in favor of the other one, after all. I’m really sorry if it seems like I fooled you around. It wasn’t until I asked myself which of the goals I could let go of more easily, that I realized that dropping the open communication and friends one would be heartbreaking. Surely, I’d like a nice apartment, but if I have to choose, I have to choose this one. Maybe as I stop intending the apartment goal, the issues with apartment will start decreasing. Well, except the boundary issues one, that is common with the other goal, that I kept.
By the way, you wrote that right now you’re only focusing on a few short-term goals. So that means that you aren’t focusing on long term goals such as French, and playing the piano? Did you drop them only for this month, or am I missing something?
Hi Z,
That sounds great!
Well it’s not quite correct I dropped all long-term goals. I’m just putting them on the back burner for a few weeks, to give my energy a rest.
Piano I put down a little while ago, because I just didn’t have room for it energetically. I want to pick it back up sometime, but it’s a demanding hobby.
French I’ve been picking up again, but I’m just doing it very easily, very gradually, without any major push to develop quickly. After a few weeks, I will likely push it a bit harder.
Obviously I have a long-lasting goal for this site to be successful. but many subconscious structures have already been developed in that area, so I can let it go easy for a short while, too, and money will still flow in.
I do have kind of a big change that’s just around the corner I feel, in regards to coaching. I’m not ready to go into super specifics, but essentially it is to focus my energy more on courses and readings, and less on one-on-one coaching. I don’t understand this change fully quite yet, but it’s where I’m feeling led. I think it is perhaps that with courses, I can help a lot more people, at once, at less cost. It just makes sense all around.
But again, no big pushes for the time being. I’m letting the energy stabilize and see what’s what after the fact.
I’ve been adding more goals to my night intending, and before I knew it, I found that I have 9 goals. Half of them are long-term goals, and the rest are short-term goals. I intend (choose) them every night before sleeping. Have I gone overboard? Am I trying to change my subconscious too much at once? Is intending so many goals right away kind of the same as being weak and skinny, and going to the gym and putting on an insane amount of weights? I personally don’t feel it as a burden (at least not yet), but I’d really like to hear what you have to say, Brandon. I also wonder how many goals you choose every night. You said you’d take a break from financial goals for a while, but are you still actively choosing your other goals?
Also, I’d just like a confirmation: if I “miss” on the resistance arising, it will keep getting bigger and bigger, as long as I actively choose my goals each day, right?
Hi Z,
Nine sounds like a ton. Are you giving each one the focus it requires and really allowing that creative tension to develop?
Right now I have a few short-term goals, but nothing that requires too much effort. I’m mostly focusing on current level goals right now.
And yes, if you miss the resistance, it will definitely come back up. 🙂
When you say focus, you mean outside the intending session? I thought that I shouldn’t focus on my goals outside the intending session, unless something reminds me of them during the day.
What’s also coming up now is an impression that things aren’t moving, and wondering if I’m doing it right. lol
I mean during the intending session, but are you really giving each the energy it requires?
I’m not surprised things aren’t moving. You’re dispersing your energy way too much. I recommend only having 2 or 3 top goals at a time, maximum.
Hmm interesting. So the bigger number of goals actually disperses energy? I didn’t know that it works that way. For each goal, I do feel the feeling of having it, and use my will to choose to have it.
I don’t know what to cut out. One of the goals is having a peaceful, warm apartment. This one has a lot of noise problems and it’s not so warm. I wouldn’t intend this goal, but it’s a big problem. I do my best to approach it from the creative orientation of creating peace, warmth, security and enjoyment in my living environment. If I dropped this goal, I don’t know for how long I could put up with the problems anymore. This goal is tricky. However it’s probably a beneficial goal, since it’s bringing up stuff like boundary setting issues, powerlessness, etc.
Sorry for asking, but are you sure that having 9 goals at the same time can’t work well? I need to make sure of this. :/
Hi Z,
The thing is that goals are living things. Think of them almost like children. Having one or two children, you can give them all of your focus. Having nine children, like all at once…well you can only imagine. 😛
So what I mean is that goals require something of you. It’s a relationship. You focus on them once or twice a day, and they bring up your resistance. Throughout the day, they are carving the quickest, easiest path to that goal. Just like how your apartment goal has brought up boundary issues. That’s a perfect example.
Trying to work on nine of them at once, you’re either going to be slammed with resistance, or you’re not going to make progress, because you’re really not focusing on them in the way you need to be.
Remember in the 10 keys course how I said that you have to love your goals into existence? That’s very true.
You just expanded my understanding of this. And I just remembered something. There are certain events that bring up my resistance, that pertain to more than 1 goal of mine. So at such time of resistance, focusing on both of my goals (2 or more creative tensions at the same time) disperses my energy, right? I have a feeling that this is related to what you said. An example is, a certain event happens that challenges both my vision of having friends, and my vision of successfully passing exams. At such time, it would be best to hold the vision of just one of those goals, right? Although both of these goals are very important. I can’t tell how many dreams I’ve had where my colleagues (friends) pass exams and move forward together, while I keep failing them and are left alone behind. These 2 things (college and friends) got so intertwined for me.
However I think that I understood what you mean. Thank you. 🙂 You’re a great teacher.
Hi Z,
Yes, you have it! 😀 Each of our goals takes nurturing and love. We can’t just spread ourselves so thin and hope they’ll all work themselves out.
And I’m glad my explanation was able to help. 🙂
Okay, so I’m going through the list of my goals now, and will cut them down to 3 goals (or so I plan). Should I avoid long term goals for now? This is troubling me now.
An example of 2 goals with similarities is this:
One goal is of living in apartment that satisfies me. This goal has brought up things like fear and boundary setting.
The other goal is of fearlessly being able to express myself, communicate with people, and enjoy friendships.
The former seems like a more of a short term goal, so maybe it’s more beneficial? However the second goal feels more powerful to me, even though I don’t know if I will be able to tell when exactly I reach it. These 2 goals feel similar, so I feel that I should cut one of them out, and keep the other. The first goal was inspired by the problems with my apartment (even though I’m oriented towards the creation). The second goal was inspired by a big desire, so maybe this is the one to keep? I’m confused as of what to do.
Hi Z,
I’d have a mix of easier, short-term goals, and harder, long-term goals. You want goals that feel inspiring to you of course. You’ve said that you don’t want to drop the goal of a peaceful apartment because otherwise you don’t know how you’d continue. So, that sounds like a goal you need to keep going with, in my opinion.
But it’s really your choice in the end.
This is incredible. Now my right speaker is not working. Another sound-related issue. Oh god…
And that is why I say not to have too many big goals at once. 🙂 They’ll all hit you at the same time and it’s sort of overwhelming.
Remember from the 10 keys, give it non-reaction. Make it not a big deal.
Thanks, Brandon. I’ve managed to cut my goals down to 3. While doing so, I’ve realized even more what you meant about dispersing my energy. It does make sense.
Also, I’ve decided to drop the apartment goal in favor of the other one, after all. I’m really sorry if it seems like I fooled you around. It wasn’t until I asked myself which of the goals I could let go of more easily, that I realized that dropping the open communication and friends one would be heartbreaking. Surely, I’d like a nice apartment, but if I have to choose, I have to choose this one. Maybe as I stop intending the apartment goal, the issues with apartment will start decreasing. Well, except the boundary issues one, that is common with the other goal, that I kept.
By the way, you wrote that right now you’re only focusing on a few short-term goals. So that means that you aren’t focusing on long term goals such as French, and playing the piano? Did you drop them only for this month, or am I missing something?
Hi Z,
That sounds great!
Well it’s not quite correct I dropped all long-term goals. I’m just putting them on the back burner for a few weeks, to give my energy a rest.
Piano I put down a little while ago, because I just didn’t have room for it energetically. I want to pick it back up sometime, but it’s a demanding hobby.
French I’ve been picking up again, but I’m just doing it very easily, very gradually, without any major push to develop quickly. After a few weeks, I will likely push it a bit harder.
Obviously I have a long-lasting goal for this site to be successful. but many subconscious structures have already been developed in that area, so I can let it go easy for a short while, too, and money will still flow in.
I do have kind of a big change that’s just around the corner I feel, in regards to coaching. I’m not ready to go into super specifics, but essentially it is to focus my energy more on courses and readings, and less on one-on-one coaching. I don’t understand this change fully quite yet, but it’s where I’m feeling led. I think it is perhaps that with courses, I can help a lot more people, at once, at less cost. It just makes sense all around.
But again, no big pushes for the time being. I’m letting the energy stabilize and see what’s what after the fact.
I’ve just re-listened to the 10keys, and that stuff is really awesome “basics”. It feels like more than just basics, but it’s really helpful and to the point. My apartment goal didn’t really satisfy the first two keys.
I just love it when someone can explain something so big and so important concisely like this. There are definitely some keys pointing out to what I can improve. Seriously, google results on search for “law of attraction” should point to this course. 🙂
Haha, I’m working on that, having Google find the course more easily. 🙂 Though I already get a lot of search traffic, so that’s awesome. 😀
Do you mind if I use part of what you said as a testimonial? It’s wonderful feedback. Nothing personal will be included.
Sure, I don’t mind. 🙂
Brandon, question for you. Since this great topic you brought up. Kindly give your opinion on this. For me, most of my emotions almost always stem from a thought. Of course, a thought in and of itself, has no meaning, unless there is a belief around it. Having this discussing with a friend today who believes that Feelings are primordial to thoughts. Granted, I see them interconnected in a sense, I can safely say that all of my suffering in my life while based in an emotional response has always stemmed from a thought pertaining to a situation which I have interpreted many many times over and over again in the form of habits of thinking into the emotional response.
What is your take on which comes first?
Thanks! And where is the podcast from yesterday? I’d like to listen to it this week.
oh, I see the podcast now is a new blog post awesome!
Glad you found it. 🙂
Hi Derek,
You can find the podcast on the front page of the blog. But it is here: darkascent.org/ccyl011
If you mean where can you subscribe, you can find it on iTunes here: CCYL on iTunes
Now to your question:
In The Art of Reality Creation, I talk about the various stages of energy as it comes from most subtle to most dense. In my experience, a manifestation, which could include a negative manifestation, starts with a very subtle focus, which you might not even notice. It could not properly be called a thought.
Then it gets translated into emotional energy, and then into thought energy.
Usually I believe the emotions magnetize the thoughts, not the other way around.
But I’m not saying it can’t happen the other way. Byron Katie believes that suffering is always the result of an untrue thought. However, I’ve noticed in myself that I’ve often felt depressed or melancholic, and could not trace it to a particular thought. The feeling was just there, for no particular reason.
Have you noticed when you are feeling a certain emotion, it is very hard to have certain thoughts? When you are happy, it’s very hard to have sad, angry, or fearful thoughts. When you’re sad, it’s very hard to have happy thoughts. The emotion has to come, then the thoughts will follow.
Thanks so much for the reply. Yes, I have had those experiences you speak of where you can’t access a more positive thought when I am feeling depressed or powerless. Yet, I have found that mindfulness and “not believing my thoughts” is so powerful because to me, it’s always the narrative of the story which invigorates or energizes I should say…..the emotion. Of course, I have felt immense peace many times without having a thought, but that’s also the zero state you talk of. There is peace and stillness there, because there is a lack of narrative.
That aside, I’m curious on your own experience with mindfulness then and on ‘changing the story’. Because the whole premise on telling a diffferent a story…..is “not believing your thoughts” and realizing you have the power to choose a different story and different beliefs.I see beliefs as just habits of thinking with emotional charge associated. Why have you found this process helpful along with mindfulness (since I know you used to reference it in your older posts), if it’s not the thought itself which energizes the emotion? For me, taking the attention out of the thought and realizing “I am not my thoughts” has been the most liberating aspect for me initially when I had my first spiritual awakening.
Would love your thoughts on that (no pun intended lol)
Thanks for your feedback and will read the transcript on the call tonight.
Hi Derek,
Mindfulness works on both a thought as well as an emotional level. You’ll learn more about that in the podcast, when I talk about “starving the manifestation” towards the end.
Emotions and thoughts are just energy, just at different vibrational speeds.
So, for energy users, you can actually “feel” the energy far before it even becomes an emotion. I don’t want to give away all 7 stages of energy here, as it is covered well in The Art of Reality Creation. However, I’ll discuss the first three stages: energy, emotion, and thought.
As I said, energy users can feel the nature of their (or someone else’s) energy. I just had the students of my psychic course do this yesterday, and everyone was able to under the right circumstances. It is very subtle, though.
After energy is in its raw state, it becomes a discernible emotion. These are those emotions-without-a-thought experiences I’ve talked about. The discomfort is higher than when the energy was raw, because it is closer to the physical world.
Then if that energy is not released, it becomes thoughts that are magnetized by that emotion.
Thoughts feel a lot worse than emotion on its own. Imagine general sadness, and then imagine being sad about something specific. Or, anger is a good example, too. You might be angry at life in general, but anger at a specific person, or even at God in particular, is much more potent than just the emotion of anger. Anger with thoughts behind it is much more specific, and therefore the energy has progressed much further down the chain of manifestation.
Mindfulness helps you to shift into the zero state, and away from the unwanted manifestation. When mindfulness helps you to free yourself from a particular thought, it feels like relief, because energy at the emotional stage is a lot less intense than energy at the thought stage.
But then you also have to dissociate from the emotional stage, in order to completely enter the zero state.
Mindfulness is just being aware of thoughts or emotions as energy, without getting caught up in the specificity of them. It’s easier to be mindful of emotions, because they don’t have a story behind them. They just have identification. Thoughts have identification plus story.
So with my process, you first enter the zero state by releasing yourself from the thought stage, then the emotion stage, and even the blocked energy stage, by entering into complete stillness. Then you bring up the vibrational signature of the goal, which is just another way of saying the emotion of having it. And that emotion will draw more thoughts like it, and so pretty soon you have a positive manifestation of your goal in the thought stage.
Hope that makes sense. Like I said, that’s 3 stages of 7 total that energy will travel through. But they are also the most vital stages, as beyond that point, energy has a lot more momentum behind it and it’s harder to turn it around.
Thanks for the response Brandon and sharing the details from the class.
What I have found is that even with an emotion like anger, it cannot exist or arise without something obviously triggering it. I’ve never just gotten angry or sad for no reason at all. I can say, well maybe it’s not always a specific thought in and of itself that triggers it. However….there is always a focus of attention on something that will bring it on, and perhaps….that something….be it a person, an object, an anything, had some previous meaning to me which will cause the emotion to manifest.
Today, for example, I was outside in the freezing cold waiting for a ride to pick me up. And the cold weather brought up some strange feelings and memories all at once that left me with a ‘not so fun’ feeling emotion. Yet, it was not a thought straight out that caused it, like you said. However, what I noticed was that the cold weather and breathing out the CO2 with the wind blowing brought up some sort of memory for me from my past, that caused a very quick and temporary moment of sadness, but there was obviously a previous meaning to that cold weather that triggered the emotion.
Hi Derek,
Yes I think you are right there. It is that “focus of attention” that begins any manifestation progression. I wouldn’t call that focus a thought, but just a movement of focus.
Also, in NLP we’d call what you experienced an anchor. Generally it’s some experience that will trigger a negative or positive feeling within you, because your subconscious mind has that association.
Yes! The Subconscious mind’s association. I can look at my juicer in my kitchen, and have no emotional response, but at the same time look at a picture of my deceased grandparents and get sad. It’s the meaning I had applied to my grandparents (which previously involved thoughts and feelings) which has triggered the sadness. But, meanings in the past, were through thoughts. Or even a phobia. If I have a fear of spiders and I see a spider, I immediately react just on seeing them because of my brain’s interpretation of what a spider ‘means’, but that interpretation/meaning is through a belief. Even visualization…..you’re using the mind and thought to find a memory or a future scenario ultimately manifests feeling/emotion in the body.
Anyway, thanks for the convo Brandon!
Hi Derek,
I get the temptation to try to pin all of this down. The layers are not clear and distinct. It’s just like how if someone cuts you off in traffic, you might have a negative reaction. Does that mean that physical experiences always are the root of emotions? No, of course not. They are just tied together, and can begin a new sequence of energy manifestation.
But in general, the progression starts with raw energy, heads into emotion, then thought.
Absolutely agree that the physical experiences are definitely not the root, but they will absolutely trigger off an emotion, but not at all because they are the culprit.
I mean, if you’re driving in a car, the anger does not come about until the experience of another driver cutting you off and, yet, in the same situation, you can choose to see the situation in a completely different light by picturing the driver as a nice person who is in a rush to get to work or the hospital (doing this time and time again) and just changing the story, bang….no anger. It’s all about previous meanings or subconscious interpretations we apply to anything in my experience.
I might have had seen a movie about a spider when I was younger and then interpreted through my subconscious or survival mechanism that all spiders are dangerous or gross as a form of trauma, which creates a phobia of sorts and now every time I see one, there’s that same image the brain or subconscious automatically recognizes and interprets in its own filtered way of anxiety. The limbic system will have a ball with this stuff!
Ultimately, it matters not, but definitely fun to discuss and explore.
Yeah I get what you mean. It’s very involved, and like I said not distinct or well-defined at all.
As I said, I’ve definitely had emotions that did not have a root in meaning or stories. They were just emotional energy coming through. If I held on to them, they’d start attracting thoughts, but they can also just exist on their own.
The anchors and associations in our subconscious I see as sort of shortcuts to particular states, like if you were to click on an icon on your desktop to open a particular file. The icon doesn’t cause the file, it just is a shortcut to it. Similarly, these experiences, to me, don’t create the emotional energy, but it is a shortcut to that vibrational state. Just my view 🙂
I’ve just re-listened to the 10keys, and that stuff is really awesome “basics”. It feels like more than just basics, but it’s really helpful and to the point. My apartment goal didn’t really satisfy the first two keys.
I just love it when someone can explain something so big and so important concisely like this. There are definitely some keys pointing out to what I can improve. Seriously, google results on search for “law of attraction” should point to this course. 🙂
Haha, I’m working on that, having Google find the course more easily. 🙂 Though I already get a lot of search traffic, so that’s awesome. 😀
Do you mind if I use part of what you said as a testimonial? It’s wonderful feedback. Nothing personal will be included.
Sure, I don’t mind. 🙂
Brandon, question for you. Since this great topic you brought up. Kindly give your opinion on this. For me, most of my emotions almost always stem from a thought. Of course, a thought in and of itself, has no meaning, unless there is a belief around it. Having this discussing with a friend today who believes that Feelings are primordial to thoughts. Granted, I see them interconnected in a sense, I can safely say that all of my suffering in my life while based in an emotional response has always stemmed from a thought pertaining to a situation which I have interpreted many many times over and over again in the form of habits of thinking into the emotional response.
What is your take on which comes first?
Thanks! And where is the podcast from yesterday? I’d like to listen to it this week.
oh, I see the podcast now is a new blog post awesome!
Glad you found it. 🙂
Hi Derek,
You can find the podcast on the front page of the blog. But it is here: darkascent.org/ccyl011
If you mean where can you subscribe, you can find it on iTunes here: CCYL on iTunes
Now to your question:
In The Art of Reality Creation, I talk about the various stages of energy as it comes from most subtle to most dense. In my experience, a manifestation, which could include a negative manifestation, starts with a very subtle focus, which you might not even notice. It could not properly be called a thought.
Then it gets translated into emotional energy, and then into thought energy.
Usually I believe the emotions magnetize the thoughts, not the other way around.
But I’m not saying it can’t happen the other way. Byron Katie believes that suffering is always the result of an untrue thought. However, I’ve noticed in myself that I’ve often felt depressed or melancholic, and could not trace it to a particular thought. The feeling was just there, for no particular reason.
Have you noticed when you are feeling a certain emotion, it is very hard to have certain thoughts? When you are happy, it’s very hard to have sad, angry, or fearful thoughts. When you’re sad, it’s very hard to have happy thoughts. The emotion has to come, then the thoughts will follow.
Thanks so much for the reply. Yes, I have had those experiences you speak of where you can’t access a more positive thought when I am feeling depressed or powerless. Yet, I have found that mindfulness and “not believing my thoughts” is so powerful because to me, it’s always the narrative of the story which invigorates or energizes I should say…..the emotion. Of course, I have felt immense peace many times without having a thought, but that’s also the zero state you talk of. There is peace and stillness there, because there is a lack of narrative.
That aside, I’m curious on your own experience with mindfulness then and on ‘changing the story’. Because the whole premise on telling a diffferent a story…..is “not believing your thoughts” and realizing you have the power to choose a different story and different beliefs.I see beliefs as just habits of thinking with emotional charge associated. Why have you found this process helpful along with mindfulness (since I know you used to reference it in your older posts), if it’s not the thought itself which energizes the emotion? For me, taking the attention out of the thought and realizing “I am not my thoughts” has been the most liberating aspect for me initially when I had my first spiritual awakening.
Would love your thoughts on that (no pun intended lol)
Thanks for your feedback and will read the transcript on the call tonight.
Hi Derek,
Mindfulness works on both a thought as well as an emotional level. You’ll learn more about that in the podcast, when I talk about “starving the manifestation” towards the end.
Emotions and thoughts are just energy, just at different vibrational speeds.
So, for energy users, you can actually “feel” the energy far before it even becomes an emotion. I don’t want to give away all 7 stages of energy here, as it is covered well in The Art of Reality Creation. However, I’ll discuss the first three stages: energy, emotion, and thought.
As I said, energy users can feel the nature of their (or someone else’s) energy. I just had the students of my psychic course do this yesterday, and everyone was able to under the right circumstances. It is very subtle, though.
After energy is in its raw state, it becomes a discernible emotion. These are those emotions-without-a-thought experiences I’ve talked about. The discomfort is higher than when the energy was raw, because it is closer to the physical world.
Then if that energy is not released, it becomes thoughts that are magnetized by that emotion.
Thoughts feel a lot worse than emotion on its own. Imagine general sadness, and then imagine being sad about something specific. Or, anger is a good example, too. You might be angry at life in general, but anger at a specific person, or even at God in particular, is much more potent than just the emotion of anger. Anger with thoughts behind it is much more specific, and therefore the energy has progressed much further down the chain of manifestation.
Mindfulness helps you to shift into the zero state, and away from the unwanted manifestation. When mindfulness helps you to free yourself from a particular thought, it feels like relief, because energy at the emotional stage is a lot less intense than energy at the thought stage.
But then you also have to dissociate from the emotional stage, in order to completely enter the zero state.
Mindfulness is just being aware of thoughts or emotions as energy, without getting caught up in the specificity of them. It’s easier to be mindful of emotions, because they don’t have a story behind them. They just have identification. Thoughts have identification plus story.
So with my process, you first enter the zero state by releasing yourself from the thought stage, then the emotion stage, and even the blocked energy stage, by entering into complete stillness. Then you bring up the vibrational signature of the goal, which is just another way of saying the emotion of having it. And that emotion will draw more thoughts like it, and so pretty soon you have a positive manifestation of your goal in the thought stage.
Hope that makes sense. Like I said, that’s 3 stages of 7 total that energy will travel through. But they are also the most vital stages, as beyond that point, energy has a lot more momentum behind it and it’s harder to turn it around.
Thanks for the response Brandon and sharing the details from the class.
What I have found is that even with an emotion like anger, it cannot exist or arise without something obviously triggering it. I’ve never just gotten angry or sad for no reason at all. I can say, well maybe it’s not always a specific thought in and of itself that triggers it. However….there is always a focus of attention on something that will bring it on, and perhaps….that something….be it a person, an object, an anything, had some previous meaning to me which will cause the emotion to manifest.
Today, for example, I was outside in the freezing cold waiting for a ride to pick me up. And the cold weather brought up some strange feelings and memories all at once that left me with a ‘not so fun’ feeling emotion. Yet, it was not a thought straight out that caused it, like you said. However, what I noticed was that the cold weather and breathing out the CO2 with the wind blowing brought up some sort of memory for me from my past, that caused a very quick and temporary moment of sadness, but there was obviously a previous meaning to that cold weather that triggered the emotion.
Hi Derek,
Yes I think you are right there. It is that “focus of attention” that begins any manifestation progression. I wouldn’t call that focus a thought, but just a movement of focus.
Also, in NLP we’d call what you experienced an anchor. Generally it’s some experience that will trigger a negative or positive feeling within you, because your subconscious mind has that association.
Yes! The Subconscious mind’s association. I can look at my juicer in my kitchen, and have no emotional response, but at the same time look at a picture of my deceased grandparents and get sad. It’s the meaning I had applied to my grandparents (which previously involved thoughts and feelings) which has triggered the sadness. But, meanings in the past, were through thoughts. Or even a phobia. If I have a fear of spiders and I see a spider, I immediately react just on seeing them because of my brain’s interpretation of what a spider ‘means’, but that interpretation/meaning is through a belief. Even visualization…..you’re using the mind and thought to find a memory or a future scenario ultimately manifests feeling/emotion in the body.
Anyway, thanks for the convo Brandon!
Hi Derek,
I get the temptation to try to pin all of this down. The layers are not clear and distinct. It’s just like how if someone cuts you off in traffic, you might have a negative reaction. Does that mean that physical experiences always are the root of emotions? No, of course not. They are just tied together, and can begin a new sequence of energy manifestation.
But in general, the progression starts with raw energy, heads into emotion, then thought.
Absolutely agree that the physical experiences are definitely not the root, but they will absolutely trigger off an emotion, but not at all because they are the culprit.
I mean, if you’re driving in a car, the anger does not come about until the experience of another driver cutting you off and, yet, in the same situation, you can choose to see the situation in a completely different light by picturing the driver as a nice person who is in a rush to get to work or the hospital (doing this time and time again) and just changing the story, bang….no anger. It’s all about previous meanings or subconscious interpretations we apply to anything in my experience.
I might have had seen a movie about a spider when I was younger and then interpreted through my subconscious or survival mechanism that all spiders are dangerous or gross as a form of trauma, which creates a phobia of sorts and now every time I see one, there’s that same image the brain or subconscious automatically recognizes and interprets in its own filtered way of anxiety. The limbic system will have a ball with this stuff!
Ultimately, it matters not, but definitely fun to discuss and explore.
Yeah I get what you mean. It’s very involved, and like I said not distinct or well-defined at all.
As I said, I’ve definitely had emotions that did not have a root in meaning or stories. They were just emotional energy coming through. If I held on to them, they’d start attracting thoughts, but they can also just exist on their own.
The anchors and associations in our subconscious I see as sort of shortcuts to particular states, like if you were to click on an icon on your desktop to open a particular file. The icon doesn’t cause the file, it just is a shortcut to it. Similarly, these experiences, to me, don’t create the emotional energy, but it is a shortcut to that vibrational state. Just my view 🙂
Btw, for the last 3 or so days I’ve got inflamed throat, a mild flu, chills, and now even the common cold. I know my body needs nurturing now. However I’m wondering if I should use structural tension and focusing on being healthy? Or should I just let it run its course, without deliberately choosing to be healthy?
Hi Z,
In my experience, when the body is sick like that, it’s telling you it wants a rest. Personally I’d very lightly focus on the feeling of health, without trying to force anything.
Okay, thank you for your advice!
Btw, for the last 3 or so days I’ve got inflamed throat, a mild flu, chills, and now even the common cold. I know my body needs nurturing now. However I’m wondering if I should use structural tension and focusing on being healthy? Or should I just let it run its course, without deliberately choosing to be healthy?
Hi Z,
In my experience, when the body is sick like that, it’s telling you it wants a rest. Personally I’d very lightly focus on the feeling of health, without trying to force anything.
Okay, thank you for your advice!
I don’t know if I should ask this here, or in the form for podcast. So, please let me know, and in the meantime I’m posting this here now.
How would you interpret “motivation vs discipline” in the terms of LOA? I’ve just watched a video (has nothing to do with LOA and the related stuff), where a guy mentioned that motivation is temporary, it’s a feeling we get, that fades away. The only way to really get change is to commit oneself to discipline, to make something a habit. I guess that making something a habit has to do with letting the subconscious create new structures for what we want to have as a habit. However, does discipline mean pushing against the natural flow of the Universe through us, and forcing something into existence?
My own example is that due to a lot of resistance, I lost my passion for my hobbies, such as drawing, and learning foreign languages. Since then I’ve released a lot of resistance that has to do with those hobbies, but I’m not getting re-inspired. I don’t get motivated. At times I’ve wondered if I should just start disciplining myself with a hobby and do it every day. That doesn’t feel good to me. Or should I apply the focusing on that goal in the zero state? Would that re-motivate me?
Hi Z,
I think it’s a mix. When I was playing the piano a lot, there were many days when I didn’t exactly want to practice. But, I did, anyway. And in the end, I was glad I did.
Even with this blog, some days there are times I don’t want to write a blog post. Or, I don’t want to have to try to optimize my post for the search engines, and I’d rather just write impromptu. But, I know that these actions support my long-term goals, so I do them, and I’m glad I do.
I think discipline is not the same thing as running into resistance. It’s more about making your goal non-negotiable, as I’ve talked about before. It’s choosing your goal, and so all the actions along that path become clear. Not all of them will feel great, but collectively, they will help you to get to your goal in the end.
So first, decide if this is something you want. Secondly, set up the creative tension. Thirdly, perform the actions that come up which are clearly on the path to your goal. Choose your goal every day.
Thanks for the reply. I know you’re talking from your experience, but I’ll admit that I was hoping for a different answer. I mean, if not all actions towards a specific goal will feel good, that means that I have to force myself at times, too. However, isn’t that a struggle then? Shouldn’t the actions towards our goal feel good, if the goal itself feels good? I thought that only the inner work would feel bad a lot of times, because of the tension, but that all inspired actions would feel good. I’m not trying to complain, it’s just that I’ve just realized that I had a wrong understanding about this.
By the way, if the explanation to this is covered in the Art of Reality Creation, then please don’t write it here. If that’s the case, then I’ll find out when I get the money for the course. 🙂
Hi Z,
Speaking as a business owner, we have to wear many hats. Realistically, even though I’m not a big fan of marketing, I either had to learn marketing, or hire a marketer. I’ve gotten a lot better at marketing since I started, out of necessity. Now it’s not as bad. But if I wanted a successful business, it wasn’t just going to show up. I had to develop my courses, put them out there, grow a mailing list, etc.
Some people say you can just sit by and the law of attraction will bring you everything you want. I think that can happen in some circumstances, especially once you’ve developed some useful subconscious structures, but generally speaking, when you’re working with a next level goal, it’s going to feel like a climb.
Now you shouldn’t take action if you’re not really aligned with that goal. Some people try to take action to correct their inner state, and that’s not going to work. But action should develop naturally out of the inner state, and so it’ll be obvious what you need to do. But, I regularly work long days on Co-Creation Coaching, because that’s what it takes. I enjoy 95% of it. The rest, I try to simplify or automate, which I’ve done a lot of. But there’s always a bit that’s just not the most enjoyable, but still perfectly necessary.
It doesn’t feel like pain though when you know it is a means to your goal. It’s hard to describe.
I guess I’ll have to experience it, but you gave me an important understanding of this. I had a misconception about this, and would kind of expect that if you are aligning with your business, that the marketing should get taken care of itself (the Universe inspiring people to find your website, rather than you actively marketing). Thank you!
Hi Z,
That happens a lot, too, but I have to meet the Universe half way. Most people find me either through Google, or through Reddit. Google because I’ve done plenty of search engine optimization, and Reddit because I started posting my blog posts over there to get more traffic.
I don’t know if I should ask this here, or in the form for podcast. So, please let me know, and in the meantime I’m posting this here now.
How would you interpret “motivation vs discipline” in the terms of LOA? I’ve just watched a video (has nothing to do with LOA and the related stuff), where a guy mentioned that motivation is temporary, it’s a feeling we get, that fades away. The only way to really get change is to commit oneself to discipline, to make something a habit. I guess that making something a habit has to do with letting the subconscious create new structures for what we want to have as a habit. However, does discipline mean pushing against the natural flow of the Universe through us, and forcing something into existence?
My own example is that due to a lot of resistance, I lost my passion for my hobbies, such as drawing, and learning foreign languages. Since then I’ve released a lot of resistance that has to do with those hobbies, but I’m not getting re-inspired. I don’t get motivated. At times I’ve wondered if I should just start disciplining myself with a hobby and do it every day. That doesn’t feel good to me. Or should I apply the focusing on that goal in the zero state? Would that re-motivate me?
Hi Z,
I think it’s a mix. When I was playing the piano a lot, there were many days when I didn’t exactly want to practice. But, I did, anyway. And in the end, I was glad I did.
Even with this blog, some days there are times I don’t want to write a blog post. Or, I don’t want to have to try to optimize my post for the search engines, and I’d rather just write impromptu. But, I know that these actions support my long-term goals, so I do them, and I’m glad I do.
I think discipline is not the same thing as running into resistance. It’s more about making your goal non-negotiable, as I’ve talked about before. It’s choosing your goal, and so all the actions along that path become clear. Not all of them will feel great, but collectively, they will help you to get to your goal in the end.
So first, decide if this is something you want. Secondly, set up the creative tension. Thirdly, perform the actions that come up which are clearly on the path to your goal. Choose your goal every day.
Thanks for the reply. I know you’re talking from your experience, but I’ll admit that I was hoping for a different answer. I mean, if not all actions towards a specific goal will feel good, that means that I have to force myself at times, too. However, isn’t that a struggle then? Shouldn’t the actions towards our goal feel good, if the goal itself feels good? I thought that only the inner work would feel bad a lot of times, because of the tension, but that all inspired actions would feel good. I’m not trying to complain, it’s just that I’ve just realized that I had a wrong understanding about this.
By the way, if the explanation to this is covered in the Art of Reality Creation, then please don’t write it here. If that’s the case, then I’ll find out when I get the money for the course. 🙂
Hi Z,
Speaking as a business owner, we have to wear many hats. Realistically, even though I’m not a big fan of marketing, I either had to learn marketing, or hire a marketer. I’ve gotten a lot better at marketing since I started, out of necessity. Now it’s not as bad. But if I wanted a successful business, it wasn’t just going to show up. I had to develop my courses, put them out there, grow a mailing list, etc.
Some people say you can just sit by and the law of attraction will bring you everything you want. I think that can happen in some circumstances, especially once you’ve developed some useful subconscious structures, but generally speaking, when you’re working with a next level goal, it’s going to feel like a climb.
Now you shouldn’t take action if you’re not really aligned with that goal. Some people try to take action to correct their inner state, and that’s not going to work. But action should develop naturally out of the inner state, and so it’ll be obvious what you need to do. But, I regularly work long days on Co-Creation Coaching, because that’s what it takes. I enjoy 95% of it. The rest, I try to simplify or automate, which I’ve done a lot of. But there’s always a bit that’s just not the most enjoyable, but still perfectly necessary.
It doesn’t feel like pain though when you know it is a means to your goal. It’s hard to describe.
I guess I’ll have to experience it, but you gave me an important understanding of this. I had a misconception about this, and would kind of expect that if you are aligning with your business, that the marketing should get taken care of itself (the Universe inspiring people to find your website, rather than you actively marketing). Thank you!
Hi Z,
That happens a lot, too, but I have to meet the Universe half way. Most people find me either through Google, or through Reddit. Google because I’ve done plenty of search engine optimization, and Reddit because I started posting my blog posts over there to get more traffic.