The Paradox of Manifesting What You Desire

By Greg Martin

Through the power of belief and affirmation people have recovered from diseases, solved scientific problems, even acquired material items they found attractive and just wanted to have. How seductive, the ability to produce results with affirmations and faith. How alluring this is to people who worship agendas and bottom-lines. Just think happy thoughts and it happens magically. So they try it with the hope of producing certain results. The results don't come. That's because they want the results. When people want something it means they doubt they can have it. Because they believe it's possible not to get the thing they want, they don't. So the way to manifest the things you want are to not want them.

Huh?

It's a paradox. Well, not exactly a paradox but a nack, a state of mind. A very difficult one to achieve, a very subtle one, because you can't fool yourself and because society has conditioned us to be workaholics. Goals do have relevance, yes. You must work to get a paycheck to buy food. Yet the more you focus on goals the harder they are to obtain. It's called The Law of Reverse Effort. The harder you try, the more the process becomes a tedious chore to be endured. It's certainly possible to plug away at something you hate, or something you loved until the drudgery of product-oriented thinking made you hate it, and accomplish your goals. But mentally, emotionally and physically it becomes an uphill battle. Your motivation becomes negative motivation. "I have to get this done or I'll get fired" or "I have to study or I'll fail the course."

So you can't just try to develop the ability to enjoy the process of creation with the sneaky intention tucked away in the back of your mind of producing results. That's like trying to become financially independent by becoming a millionaire. Millionaires are not financially independent. Take away their millions and see how independent they are. Money does not make you independent of money. Results do not make you independent of results.

The quickest way to bring about results is to love the process and not care about results. That doesn't mean you don't have goals. That means you no longer think of them as goals but as choices. If you are absolutely certain beyond the shadow of a doubt that you will achieve a certain result, it is no longer a goal. It is a choice. When the cashier at a donut shop asks what you want in your coffee, is choosing two cream and one sugar more difficult than saying one cream and no sugar? They are choices. You don't put effort into them. The outcome is not in doubt. There is no emotional investment in the outcome. It is a choice. That doesn't mean you don't look forward to particular results. Why else would you choose them? You look forward to your coffee. That doesn't mean you snatch it and gulp it down. It is yours to consume at your leisure.

Would God give us a desire to create, yet not give us the ability to do so? Would He allow our ability to publish a book for the world to read, or write a song for the world to dance to, be determined by arbitrary circumstances like having the right connections, being in the right place or having the right credentials? We are made in the image of God with the powers of creation at our disposal. We exist because God believes we do. Our external circumstances exist because we BELIEVE they do. That is the key word. Believe, don't desire.

The mind has to be rewired. This is a slow process requiring patience and practice. Do you see the bottom of the lake, or the reflection of the sky off the water? Which way does your perspective shift?

• Is your mind screaming at the clock to move faster while you sit at your work-place, or do you happily contemplate the weekend?
• Are you in a hurry to get somewhere, or are you enjoying the walk?
• Are you waiting for the commercials to end, or enjoying the blissful laziness of couch-potatoism?
• Do you feel guilty for not finishing the meal you paid for, or did you enjoy your fill and not worry about what was left over?

It's the little things. Every one of them is a chance to rewire. It is a chance to exercise a muscle you never knew you had. The stronger it gets, the larger leaps of faith you can make because results will matter less and less. The results you choose will come more easily until you stop calling them results and realize them for what they are. Choices. Creations. Reaching this point could take time (depending on how much time you believe it will take, mind you). To avoid discouragement along the way it will be helpful too consider it a process rather than a goal. Here's an interesting way to enjoy this process.

At every point in your life in which you obtain a new kind of freedom, or experience something new and wonderful it's a thrill. It's a rush. I remember becoming free from the religion I grew up in. I finally developed the courage to question the doctrine I'd been taught all my life. Even questioning it was blasphemy! I grew up in a world where everything was pre-planned by a God who would destroy me in Armageddon if I didn't obey Him. His rules and commandments filled the entire scope of my life. Showing interest in something besides God was a distraction at best, and frowned upon.

When I moved out on my own I stopped going to church. Staying away from the influence of my religion allowed me to shed my sense of guilt for questioning it's doctrine. Before having done this there was nothing new under the sun. Everything of relevance in the whole universe existed firmly between the covers of the Bible. Life was about commandments to be solemnly followed.

Expanding my perspective was a rush. Adopting new ideas on spirituality, studying psychic phenomena and various other "New Age" topics brought in a whole world I never knew existed. Suddenly it was possible to be clairvoyant, astral travel, telepathically communicate with each other. Who knew what kind of strange new ways of seeing the world existed out there? There was a whole universe outside the laws of Newtonian physics and biblical scripture.

In like manner, think of this process as an expansion of your perspective. Think about what a thrill it is to know what nobody else knows and think like nobody else thinks. You walk up the street at your own leisurely pace while people rush past you in a hurry to get to work. Or in a hurry to get to the grocery store so they can get their shopping done and over with. But YOU are enjoying the present. It is all you need. People drive up and down the street in a desperate hurry to get things done. Meanwhile you are a world unto yourself in the chaos of humanity. You have stepped outside the loop and look at it from without, smiling and shaking your head at the people chasing their tails. You feel the silent pride of not being intimidated or racked by any kind of anxiety. You are a rock.

In this way you can love the process of learning to love the process. This removes your attachment to the result of being able to manifest into your reality the external circumstances you choose. Which will allow you to do just that.