Manifesting is a bunch of bulls*it

One day! Within ONE DAY of arriving to Asheville NC I manifested this beautiful new reiki office! Go me!

Does that sound a little pretentious? I agree!

let's dive in. I was sitting on the couch with a friend I met when living in Sedona AZ who also recently moved here (everybody's doing it! ;) ) and we were drinking tea and catching up on all the new and exciting and sometimes scary changes going on in our lives lately. I was using the word manifest in our conversation and she was using a different phrase, one that landed a little better in my system. One that felt a little more accurate and humbling. Co-creating with the Universe.

Of course! That's the gold. That's it. A sigh of relief…co creating!

That word manifest has some baggage to it.

It has culturally taken a detour from it's original spiritual simplicity. It once was about aligning your actions, intentions, and mindset with the life you hope to create. It was about putting yourself on the Universe's path, not making the Universe your b*tch.

Now, it has turned into a social media buzzword that is more about branding than it is becoming.

The word manifesting can bring guilt, comparison, delusion, gimmick. "If your life isn't working out, you're just not manifesting correctly (idiot!)" or "How to manifest your soulmate in 3 easy steps!" "Look! I manifested another 6 figure month, and you can too, by Friday. DM me for my secrets."

It seems egocentric to me. It can minimize the enormous role of chance, privilege, community, timing, and other people's contributions. It can also feel insensitive and harmful to others when we imply that those experiencing hardship somehow "manifested" their suffering.

All you have to do is breathe and your manifestations will come true! If you're breathing right, of course.

Sure, we could reclaim the word again. Like we did with the words slut, witch, queer. I love that. But, I'd personally rather let it go sit in the corner for a while while I glorify a phrase that feels worthy and implies so much more.

Co creating with the Universe puts an image in my head. One of me on my knees in prayer and surrender- telling the Universe about my deepest heartfelt desires for my personal and professional life and then surrendering the whole damn thing and saying “Thy will be done”. And then getting up and taking action to create the life I want. And then trusting that if a door closes, it was not meant for me. But in the meantime I’m gonna explore some doors on my own and take a walk with the Universe and present them and see which door the prize is behind. Like we’re on the Price is Right, baby. Maybe instead of the Price is Right, the path is right. That’s cute, I like that. 

Co Creating with the Universe encourages participation rather than passivity. You’re still showing up and taking action, but you’re leaving room for surprise.  What if an outcome is not what you imagined, but better?! What if the timing is not what I imagined, but better?! Hindsight will make it all make sense. But when we are in it as I like to say, it’s easy to throw little pity parties or victim bullsh*t parties when life isn’t going easy or how we want. 

It also reduces perfectionism or the temptation to use the label "failure" when something doesn’t work out. It also fosters gratitude. When you see yourself collaborating with something larger than yourself - doesn’t really matter the name- you could substitute God or nature or interconnectedness, success can feel like something to appreciate rather than to claim. 

To me, the phrase co creating with the Universe feels grounding and real and exciting and fun. It reminds me I am never alone and that there are forces out there, energies behind the scenes that are always rooting for me and trying to guide me and have my best interest in mind. Pronoia it’s called. That’s a topic for another day! Ultimately, we’re not here to control life, we’re here to be in relationship with it. Mutual devotion: us and life, a love story.

Both performing reiki and receiving reiki is very much co- creating with the Universe! I say it all the time to a client before the session starts:  I am just sending the reiki and observing where it goes and what it’s doing, and reporting back to you.  I’m not personally manipulating or controlling the energy in any way. I can feel intuitively guided and directed by it but I never try to force or make something happen for someone. It’s not just each of us co creating with reiki, you and I are co creating with each other! It really is one of the most beautiful things on the planet to have 2 basic strangers trusting each other and trusting the Universe… in a world (and ego) that glorifies separation and mistrust. To be open minded and say yes to healing and spiritual possibilities, and even miracles! If you’ve had a session with me and are reading this right now I just want to say thank you for co creating with me! What a pleasure :)