The truth about manifesting your future.

First, no, I don’t believe in magic.

I know there is no magic. Conservation of energy always holds; nobody actually levitates, and David Copperfield did NOT make the Statue of Liberty disappear.

As much as I may try to manifest something out of nothing, believing with all my might that something is true or will be true will never make it true. It doesn’t matter how hard I squeeze my eyes and fists.

And yet, I’ve recently discovered how “manifesting” is a powerful factor in reinvention, just not in the magical sense.

My discovery starts with fear. Specifically, my fear and my therapist, who called me out on it, and a torturous Mel Robbins story that reveals precisely how to manifest away fear.

The fear part starts with the challenge you’ve probably heard a million times: if you could do anything and money were no object, what would you do? This time, it was my therapist posing it.

And… I don’t know.

Netflix?

If money were limitless, I’d figure out how to spend it. But I’m not clear how any of that earns me a living.

I mean, I do enjoy writing, speaking, creating videos, and I could speak motivationally, teach, or work on sustainable development in Tahoe. But, come on, that all seems pretty far-fetched. Does a world already super-saturated with content really need more? What would I even talk about? What could I bring to a sustainability program?

She had me.

Because the belief that it can’t be is fear. It’s the fear of the unknown. The idea of giving up everything for something so _undefined_ is terrifying. Today, sitting here, I don’t know of one single profitable writing opportunity. I have no idea what my motivational speech could be. Sure, this Substack, or Masters of Influence, could become the next Joe Rogan Experience, but I’m not holding my breath.

But maybe I don’t see the opportunities because I haven’t been manifesting them.

Which brings me to Mel Robbins. I listened to her “Reinvent Your Life,” which, oddly enough, is about reinventing your life. In it, she discusses manifesting. As soon as the words escaped the speakers, I rolled my eyes and prepared to clarify to the unhearing airwaves that there is no magic (see paragraph 1). But then she explained it, and I had to admit she had a point.

She explained that manifesting isn’t magic.

It’s awareness.

She made the point that if you go around your day-to-day life looking for heart shapes, you’ll find them. You didn’t notice them yesterday, but suddenly you walk around and there are hearts all over.

You manifest hearts.

Try it tomorrow. Look for hearts. You’ll find some. But it isn’t because there are more heart shapes today than there were yesterday. It’s because you are paying attention. You _look_ for them and become aware of them.

You can do this with any shape: diamonds, curlicues, paisley designs, whatever. They’re out there. There is a whole world of shapes that you’ve never imagined, they’re all there waiting for you to notice them, to manifest them in your life. They are all there, right now, today, waiting to be discovered; we just aren’t paying attention.

It’s the same thing with opportunities. They are out there, but I have to manifest them by noticing them. I don’t know how to make money writing and creating content because I haven’t been paying attention. There are opportunities, though, probably lots of opportunities; they are probably everywhere.

I’m still not banking on a million-dollar Substack, and I still don’t see clear opportunities. But I’m looking, even taking that first step off the ledge so I can manifest the opportunities as I fall. I don’t know where this will all end up, but I am beginning to make out the path.

What are you manifesting?

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Manifesting isn't magic, it's better