Go General, Not Specific With Your Desires
Do you have problems manifesting your dreams? Is the law of attraction not working for you? Do you feel emotional pushback when affirming? Try being more general with your intentions.
Change the mind to change your life
I can only ever write about my personal experiences and ideas, hoping they may resonate with someone out there. I mean to open your eyes and introduce you to different ideas, not to tell you what to do or how to do things.
What works for me might not work for you, and vice versa. You make the rules for yourself and I have no idea what you’ve written in that code of yours.
Remember - you make the rules of what works and doesn’t work for you.
With that out of the way, I wanted to talk about being general in your intentions, affirmations, desired manifestations, and goal-setting. We’re talking about changing your mind, your thoughts, ideas, feelings, and beliefs in order to create change in your perceived reality.
Some call it praying, while others call it manifesting according to the Law of Attraction or the Law of Assumption. I like hacking the simulation. It doesn’t matter. Either way, the mind is the running operating system for everything in this world - your body, other people, and what happens to you. And since that is what I believe to be the ultimate truth, this world cannot be what we perceive it as - a material separated reality where we exist solely in this bodily form.
If you believe you have to change and make things happen in some material reality that is separate from your mind, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Why? Because the two ideas contradict each other.
If we live in a material reality separate from ourselves, then nothing we think or hold in our minds can have any direct power over it. Since you make the rules, you’ve effectively trapped yourself.
If you struggle with the idea that the universe is not this material thing you perceive with your five senses, start with these articles and play around with the ideas presented therein.
So, you’re not happy with something in your life and want to change it?
Join the club. You’ve also realized that your mind somehow influences what happens to you. Great. How, then, do you go about making the necessary changes to your mind (beliefs, ideas, thoughts, emotions) in order to see the change reflected in your perceived outer world?
You read different books and listen to other people’s experiences regarding the mechanism at work. You try out various methods and see what works or doesn’t work for you. So far, so good.
You begin with your personal flavor of self-brainwashing, perhaps with affirmations, journaling, or visualization. You feel all optimistic, and it feels good for a while, but then you hit a wall—a wall set there by your own freaking mind.
That wall is usually composed of things like:
Your limiting beliefs about how the world is, how things work, what you deserve, what is possible, what other people think and want, who you are and what you are capable of, etc.
The chasm between your perceived reality (your life), therefore what you are seeing and experiencing, and the thing you’re trying to program into your mind, which differs greatly. For example, being single, sick, or poor and trying to brute-force your mind into accepting ideas, beliefs, and images of the opposite being true when they clearly aren’t right now.
A test of your conviction. Most mental work creates changes in your life. Those changes often come at the tail end of destruction, pain, and sorrow, but most importantly - things often seem to be going worse, not better. When you affirm, “I’m healthy,” but your doctor brings you some bad news, you believe the outer world, not your inner self-talk. All your inner work is now undone.
An emotional high, followed by a devastating low. Unfortunately, changing your mind is not a straightforward process or linear in any way. The mind will fight you on every step, and if signs of change aren’t visible soon, the aftermath of trying to fight your perceived reality can be harsh. The higher the high, the lower the low that follows.
When you are specific, you are focused on your problem - on the lack!
“I am rich, I am healthy, I am the best football player in the world, I am in a happy relationship, I have the best job...” all point you where? That’s right - to the thing that most bothers you. The thing you lack and are emotionally attached to. You can’t say “pink elephant” without thinking of a pink elephant sort of affair.
It makes rational sense to focus on the thing you want to change, but it can be counterproductive as you are still fueling the issue at hand with your attention. If you are able to disregard and detach from the issue entirely, then there’s no problem, but who the hell can do that when faced with such emotionally charged issues?
Here’s a little secret
The people who have what you lack don’t focus all of their attention, desires, and thoughts on that particular thing. A person with a Porche takes it for granted. So does a healthy person and one in a happy relationship. They spend minimal time thinking about the thing you desire because they effortlessly live it.
Study the difference, and you will see what you are doing wrong (mentally).
Remember—when you focus on your problem specifically (“I don’t have any money,” for example), even if you use terms affirming it’s solved (“I have a lot of money. I’m rich, I have a million dollars” ), you are fueling it with your attention. Your focus is locked in on the painful issue (money in our example). The best way to be free of an issue is to purge your mind of it.
I’m obviously not talking about solvable and actionable problems but larger issues you can’t seem to solve yourself.
In an ideal scenario, you decide what you want, affirm, decree, or visualize it, and then believe that you already have it. It has to become natural for you as if you’ve had it for years.
Easier said than done, I’m afraid. Making peace with the idea that you might never get what you want, allowing yourself to practically forget it, will also help move you closer to it.
When you are specific with your manifestation, you will monitor your progress
It’s rather self-explanatory, isn’t it? If you focus on getting healthy but are sick and dying, you’re fighting a painful reality. When you focus on making more money but have no immediate results, you will begin to doubt and perhaps even feel resentful toward the idea of manifesting your desires. They’re clearly not working, is what your eyes are telling you.
Suppose you’ve got this specific thing, accomplishment, event, number, or person in mind. You want it exactly as you want it. If you don’t see the change as you begin your manifestation process, you will feel disheartened and disappointed.
Furthermore, the odds are overwhelming that this thing, event, number, or person is not the right one for you. Perhaps someone or something much better awaits, and you’re blind to it. I have found that forcing your ideas on the world is a double-edged sword. Yes, you will probably get what you choose, but it might end up being a giant disappointment.
Be careful what you wish for, I suppose.
When you are specific, you want to help the process and speed it up
You’ll get into action. Call people, hunt for their attention, apply to more jobs, read more about your disease, and work harder to achieve the desired effect, which all sounds good, but it isn’t. What? I’m sorry, but if you could have done it yourself with your actions, you would have already done it.
When you deliberately change your mind to see changes reflected in your life and your perceived reality, you must let go of control. You’re not the one doing it - it’s done for you.
I know this is difficult to accept, and I have struggled with it for decades. Yet, when I let go and trust it will be done, it always gets done perfectly. When I try to make it happen myself (forcing it), either nothing happens, I hate what I’ve manifested, or I make some stupid choices along the way, eventually losing it again.
To let go means to relinquish wanting to direct, plan, control, have things your way, and make it happen yourself. It’s not an easy thing at all. You have to truly surrender, and that usually involves being emotionally and mentally willing to let go of your desire and the idea that you must get what you want. As long as you are attached, you’re not getting anywhere. Detach, let it go, forget about it completely, and it or they will come to you.
Things, people, and events only come when we don’t need them anymore
When we are perfectly happy and content with how things are, we get what we wanted in the first place. Until we are stuck on needing something or someone, it will forever remain out of our reach.
When you are happy being single, lovers will line up to date you. When you are desperate and miserable, you’ll remain lonely and alone, and no one will touch you. “OMG, I so desperately want a lover because I’m lonely” doesn’t bring one to you; it just reinforces your loneliness and desperation, giving you more of that same dreadful feeling.
The same translates to every other aspect of your life. As long as you want or need something, you can’t have it. When you stop caring and forget about it, you can have it all.
It's ironic, counterintuitive, and perhaps unfair, but that’s just how it works in my experience. I have fought this truth for the longest time, yet have never seen it proven otherwise.
When you need something, all you’re manifesting is more “need” for that something. More of the same (emotions and situations). As within, so without - literally, like a mirror.
Again, if you can completely convince yourself that you already have what you desire without experiencing mental and emotional pushback from your mind, you’re in the clear. Most of us can only achieve that “convincing state of already possessing the desire” for a very limited time and in semi-compromised states (meditation and a drowsy state akin to sleep).
That is why it is required that you visualize only when the mind is susceptible to any idea you’re trying to convince it of. With visualization, you cannot be general, only very specific, so the conscious mind must rest and give way to new ideas.
In short, if you feel no resistance to an idea you’re trying to introduce to your subconscious mind, being specific is probably fine. Also, when you’re absolutely certain of what you want and feel no doubt for confusion.
If, however, you feel your mind fighting you on this particular issue and you notice that you just can’t make any significant and permanent headway, you might want to refocus more broadly. This is also a good idea if you don’t really know what’s the best thing for you or what you really want.
Go general in your mind work and let go of details
Behind every goal or desire you have is an emotional state you believe that the desired thing will bring you. A few random ideas on this topic: Money - power. Relationship - love. Health - strength. Popularity - being enough. Passive income - freedom. Expensive car - self-worth. A house - safety.
I like to skip the desires themselves and focus on the emotions I expect them to deliver. Instead of “I am rich and have a lot of money,” you can go for “I am powerful.” Instead of “I am in a loving relationship,” you can go for “I am love” or “I feel loved.”
Better yet, use a mental idea that incorporates everything all at once and reaffirms itself in every aspect of your life, relationships, and situation, like: “Everything always works out for me,” “I always get what I want,” “All is well in my life,” “I am whole, perfect, strong, powerful, loving, harmonious, and happy,” “Everything in my life is always perfect.”
I would often just list all the feelings I want to experience more, regardless of how they came to be: “I feel loved. I feel accepted. I feel safe. I feel whole. It feels like ease. I am free. I am strong and powerful. I love, and I am loved. I feel connected. I feel complete. I am at peace. It feels perfect. I feel wonderful. I am happy and satisfied. I feel so grateful. I am enough. I am whole. I am complete. I feel content. I feel glad. I feel joyful. It feels like home. It feels like happiness.” You get the picture.
Some people have taken an even more minimalistic approach and stuck to one simple mantra that completely detaches from specifics but covers every aspect of their lives anyway: “Isn’t it wonderful,” “Thank you,” “I love you,” I am love,” I accept,” or “It’s done!” The core of that idea and emotion is then translated into everything, returning surprising results. It’s simple, but it requires persistence, discipline, and willingness to saturate your mind with the idea you have chosen in all situations.
After doing these exercises, you’ll feel great, and you will be able to experience all those emotions without needing anything external to change. In a sense, the thing you believe you need to make you feel this good has become obsolete.
Yes, it would be nice, but you can feel happy, content, loved, harmonious, strong… at will. You feel a sense of peace, tranquility, excitement, love, and joy right here, right now. You don’t need the things you thought you needed to feel good.
Happiness is composed of your thoughts and emotions, not outside circumstances!
Read these two posts for more on what happiness actually depends on:
When you find a way to feel good most of the time, happy and content with yourself and your life as it is, it will inevitably begin improving drastically all on its own. New people will seek you out, opportunities will be unveiled, and ideas will come pouring down.
You cannot feel powerful and be poor.
You can’t feel happy and loved and remain alone for long.
You can’t feel safe if you don’t have a roof over your head.
You can’t feel strong if you are all sickly.
You can’t feel content and happy if you’re struggling in any way.
Those emotions and general ideas of well-being and happiness include all the solutions to your problems without directly targeting them. Simulation hacked!
Bonus - freedom from the mind
There is another great benefit we haven’t touched on when focusing on general ideas and repeatedly filling your mind with them. You don’t have time to think opposing or negative thoughts when affirming day and night. Your mind will be locked into a lullaby of your favorite mantra, and when you stop actively repeating your affirmation, the mind will take over and do it for you.
After a while, the mind will be still, and that is the perfect state for it to be in. You will feel great without its tortures and open to fresh ideas and guidance.
As you don’t plan specifics, focus on desires or problems, or attempt to control your life, you’re leaving life and mind to do their thing, you will allow new ideas and opportunities to visit upon you. Things you never thought of, people you never noticed, and unforeseen doors may be opened despite never imagining they would.
You have now removed most of the walls preventing you from changing your mind, beliefs, and emotional state, which is then automatically reflected in your life just by disregarding specifics detached from your desires. As a bonus, you feel phenomenal. I don’t know about you, but I’d call that a win-win.
Try and see what happens
Saturate your mind with delusional ideas of perfection, well-being, and love, and feel good just because you like to feel good - not because you’re trying to extort something from the universe! Detach, let go, and surrender to the flow of life, riding the high of generalized perfection.
You can always return to the way you lived your life until this moment. What have you got to lose by focusing on feeling happy and perfect all the time, believing that all is well and will be well, no matter what, and completely disregarding specifics? I can’t think of anything. Can you?
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