The Power of Manifestation

A little backstory – I write lyrics but I don’t play any instruments and I don’t sing. I heard about a contest 99.5 WYCD was having where you show up to Hockey Town showing your love and support for the radio station and the chance to win front row tickets/backstage passes to the Taylor Swift Concert at Ford Field. My vision was winning backstage passes, meeting Taylor Swift, giving her my lyrics and getting recognized as an amazing song writer. While I did not get the chance to showcase my writing, I did win front row.

Even before I knew what the word manifestation meant, I always had this gut feeling of wanting something and just knowing it was mine. Sometimes I would have to set mini goals to reach the end goal and other times I would hyper fixate on the end result, so much so that I would “zone out.” It’s like my brain and body knew what to do without me being consciously aware of it. The concert was an instance of hyper fixation. I just knew I was going to win; there was no doubt in my mind. I had no idea what I was going to do to show my support for the radio station – I had never even been to Hockey Town. But I just focused on that gut feeling and the end result.

It was a Friday in 2011 and I was driving to my job as a server at Pennas of Sterling. I’m listening to 99.5 WYCD and I hear something about this contest to win tickets for Taylor Swift’s concert at Ford Field on Saturday, the next day. I was scheduled to work Saturday, so I asked coworkers to cover my shift, telling them I was going to win tickets to the Taylor Swift concert. They just laughed at me and called me crazy. I got the shift covered and as I drove home that night, I thought about different things I could do to show my love and support for 99.5 WYCD.

I called a buddy of mine from high school (shout out to Jake Acton) and he came over to my house around midnight. He shaved a giant heart into my chest and T-Swift in my back (see above image). I called a few friends and asked if they wanted to go to the concert with me. My friend Alex Ross agreed but I’m pretty sure even she doubted I would win.

So I picked her up early the following morning around 9 am and we drove to Detroit. Again, I had never been to Hockey Town and never met anyone from the radio station, so I wasn’t sure where specifically to go or who to talk to. All around us, people were wearing costumes, creative T-Shirts, or holding up awesome posters. And here I was wearing jeans, a red t shirt and a blue button down.

I pulled a radio person aside and told her I wanted to enter the contest. She looked me up and down curiously and asked how I planned to show my love and support for the radio station. I lifted up my shirt and she busted out laughing. She grabbed me by the arm and took me over to the tent and I proudly lifted up my shirt so they could see Jake’s beautiful artwork. They gave me front row tickets right away. During the concert, they displayed my pic on the jumbotron, and at one point I was tempted to lift up my shirt to try and get Taylor’s attention, but thought better of it when I realized that Alex and I were surrounded by young teenage girls.

Today, as a clinical therapist, I share this story with the majority of my clients. It typically gets a good laugh but the real reason in sharing the story is to help clients realize the power of manifestation and focus. I was so focused on the end goal that I didn’t have to consciously think about the steps I had to take to win. I didn’t listen to people doubting me. I just focused on that gut feeling and the end result. I believe that when we enter this state of high energy, we shut everything else out, but the end goal and we trust the process and the universe.

I also believe that this is a skill we all possess – many of us are just unaware. Awareness is the key. Once we are aware, we can channel that energy and recreate it. But the awareness goes even deeper than that. We have to be aware of what we are focusing on. Without realizing it, many of us focus more on the negatives. This is an innate response as part of survival. In order to survive, our ancestors had to plan and prepare for the worst possible outcome. Today, humans still have that instinct – the only thing that has changed is the stressor. Nine times out of ten, the things we stress about typically will not result in death. Our perception becomes skewed based on our emotions.

With practice, we can rewire our brain to interrupt the pattern of thinking negatively. While stress management, self-care and emotional awareness are undoubtedly important, we also have to challenge ourselves to think about the positives. This could include journalizing, catching ourselves thinking thoughts or using phrases like “all” or “never”, and practicing affirmations or metaphors. The metaphor I always refer to is driving a car at night. If someone has their high beams on and you focus on the high beams, you’ll drive the car into oncoming traffic. Focus on the right-hand side of the road and you keep the car between the yellow and white lines.

Sometimes having something tangible to focus on can help. For example, in 1988 before Jim Carrey was well-known, he would look up at the stars and practice his affirmations. Then one day he wrote himself a check for $10 million. In the memo line wrote “for services rendered.” He post-dated it for Thanksgiving 1995, folded it up and stuck it in his wallet. He carried it with him every day until 1994 when Dumb & Dumber wrote him a check for $10 million.

There are countless other metaphors and examples to illustrate the importance of focus. And there are numerous books that look at the science behind manifestation. My favorite is You Are the Placebo by Dr. Joe Dispenza. I recommend it to all my clients. Dispenza was in a terrible accident that nearly killed him; during the biking portion of a triathlon he was hit by an SUV doing 55 mph. Doctors said he needed surgery because any sort of pressure could kill him. He said no. And after 10 weeks (again without surgery) he was seeing clients as chiropractor. 12 weeks later he was training for another triathlon. He went on to get his PHD and has written numerous books. I still get chills whenever I tell clients his story and recommend his book.

I could go on and on about the power of manifestation and focus. I could share more personal examples from my life or people that I personally know. But it’s all subjective. The best way for you to manifest the life you want or the things you desire is to recognize the times in the past you’ve done so successfully. Think about the times when you really wanted something and didn’t overthink it; you just knew it was going to happen. It could be anything – passing a test, getting a job or promotion, making the game winning shot, getting married, buying a house – the list is endless. Again, awareness is the key.

My hope in writing this is to empower each and every person I come across, whether it be in person or through my writing. We are all capable of greatness. If you have any questions or general comments, please do not hesitate to contact me. My email is [email protected]