Be careful what you wish... er... manifest for... you might just get it.

[SmartAlx]

Can we compare intention-manifestation to a genie in a bottle where you have to be uber specific about what you want? How many sci-fi stories/movies/TV shows have you heard of where a guy gets 3 wishes and ends up screwing everything up because he didn't word his wishes right? Could I-M be the same thing? What if you aren't careful in your thought process in the intention? We all talk about accidentally manifesting fear and competition and what not. It's a VERY common thread here. Well if all of that is true, it seems to me that you have to really practice to get I-M right. It seems to take some sort of real mental strength to get your manifestations right. And that implies that you can get your manifestations wrong. And in face you are probably most likely to get it wrong. If you get your manifestation wrong, then what kind of damage can you do???

[StacyT]

So true! My husband hates his job. He kept unconsciously repeating to himself "I can't do this anymore".

Two weeks ago he was struck with vertigo really badly, and he's been out of work since then. He can't work right now because he can hardly even stand up. I think this is a clear demonstration of the power of the mind and "be careful what you wish for".

[Aleksander Krstic]

You just accept the damage, get up and keep moving.

Well if that relieves you of your worries let me tell you I believe in something twice as powerful as IM and I'm not in the least afraid of it.

[MmeIntentional]

Be careful what you wish for!
Yes it's true

It happened to me too. I just have to move on and think carefully. I find this a bit hard I just need to stop myself and replace it with positive thoughts etc.

[Willworker]

It seems to take some sort of real mental strength to get your manifestations right. And that implies that you can get your manifestations wrong.

Yes and no. It does take strength, but insofar as special technique, that's up to a person.

If you ask me, it all ultimately comes down to a deep and definite need to love yourself. If you do not fundamentally love yourself, you'll find yourself sabotaging a lot of your efforts. For example, you try to manifest a BMW car, but deep down inside, you don't think that you've earned it or deserved it. In fact, you might feel guilty for 'doing this' to get a BMW car.

And that's when you get it 'wrong.' Since you send ambiguous messages to the universe, it'll try to fulfill on some level but not on others(the universe loves you! It doesn't want you to feel more guilty for getting something you don't think you deserve.) You'll possibly manifest an image of a BMW on your television, for example - giving you your manifestation.

Primarily, then, focus on yourself. Whether the universe is subjective or objective, or even if LOA is all poppycock, you must love yourself to have true power. Love yourself. Be confident. Its like an old persuasive technique of language - say you are selling something and want people to come inside your stall.

You can say to passerbys,

1) "Come inside! Lady, I have a dress exactly of your size! This is what you want! Come on, check it out, you have nothing to lose!"

Or you can say...

2)"....I'm sorry that my stall is so small....I don't know if I have anything you want, but...would you please take a look? I'm so sorry for taking your time. Really. All my competitors have better stalls. But I really wish you could give me a little money. Even a little would be fine."

Which one is more effective in making a sale, you think? Which salesperson is likely to make the bigger sale?

And its like that with the universe, I feel. Send a clear strong message to the universe what you want is good for you, why good for the universe and how its worth its effort, and it'll be a lot more enthusiastic about getting your manifestation out!

[Holistic Star]

I suppose it's how you take the unintentional results.

The whole 3 wishes only, promotes scarcity thinking. In the stories people feel regret that they have used up all their wishes and will never get another go. When really, the thought process should be - "Right I need to be clearer. What do I really mean and want?"

IM doesn't turn itself off just because you've created what you don't want. it's working all the time. It's a great opportunity to start afresh and be more precise. Even if you balls up your first 3333 wishes, you immediately get as many as you want right now to play with.

[Angela]

The further out of rapport your conscious and unconscious mind, the more likely that you'll get an intention "wrong." I use that word the way you mean it, like the result does not match up with your conscious intent, but I don't really think any results are "wrong."

So, if you're consciously desiring, say, a gorgeous mate, but your unconscious commitments are aligned with beliefs in your own worthlessness, it's possible that you'll end up marrying a gorgeous person who has complementary self-beliefs, and will help you feel very worthless.

So you've fulfilled your conscious desire, but your heart's desire goes unfulfilled. It is a little bit O. Henry.

The solution is, whether you believe in the law of attraction or not, to get your conscious mind, unconscious mind, nose and toes all headed in the same direction.

[Dreamline]

I don't think the average human is evolutionarily ready or even all that capable of manifesting specific items yet. I think we are probably capable of manifesting circumstances that can lead to us getting specific things into our lives. If we do manage to manifest things, I think it's like random fits and starts of IM brilliance that are more there to show you what is possible if you sustain a certain state.

So you can practice being really specific but I don't think it's going to amount to much unless you are extraordinarily close to God-like being, most of the time and really evolved.

That being said, I have also manifested negative and bad things by taking the skill lightly. Interestingly, it happened the same year I was able to manifest some very positive outcomes and circumstances. It was almost like, without words, the universal source was saying: "Ok, you seem to have some skill. This is the good that you can potentially do, and this is the bad that you can potentially do. Now that you know this, how do you feel about this power?" My answer was "Whoa. I'd better quit toying with this and learn A LOT more about what I am doing, first."

So I have been.

One other thing this lesson could be trying to teach you is not only be careful WHAT you wish for...but be careful WHY you wish for things. In other words, examine your motivations. They may be fugging you up bigtime.

Jennifer

[Acting Like Godot]

This is based on my personal experience. The key is your emotional state, at the time you do your manifesting.

If you manifest while feeling peaceful and loving and all that, then the intention comes true, in a positive manner that works out well for all concerned.

If you manifest while feeling tense or edgy or irritated, the intention can still come true, but often in a somewhat "twisted" way, with some negative consequences that you didn't quite expect.

(Following this logic, it's easy to deduce that if you manifest while feeling angry etc, then some really bad results will occur. But here I cannot speak from personal experience, since I do not do my formal mind sessions in such negative states).

-------------------

In my personal lifestyle, I take good care of my emotions, because I see that my emotions are significant .... they will constantly colour my creations, which means that they will affect my reality.

I take good care of my emotions, principally in the following ways:

(1) I run and swim regularly (these are, for me, effective ways to burn off stress and anxiety and to get myself feeling relaxed and calm)

(2) I go for regular massages (tension, anxiety, stress etc tend to present themselves in funny little muscular knots in my body, so I leave it to the masseuse will take of those, for me)

(3) I often take the time to breathe deeply, mindfully and slowly.

[viking4525]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

This is based on my personal experience. The key is your emotional state, at the time you do your manifesting.

If you manifest while feeling peaceful and loving and all that, then the intention comes true, in a positive manner that works out well for all concerned.

If you manifest while feeling tense or edgy or irritated, the intention can still come true, but often in a somewhat "twisted" way, with some negative consequences that you didn't quite expect.

(Following this logic, it's easy to deduce that if you manifest while feeling angry etc, then some really bad results will occur. But here I cannot speak from personal experience, since I do not do my formal mind sessions in such negative states).

-------------------

In my personal lifestyle, I take good care of my emotions, because I see that my emotions are significant .... they will constantly colour my creations, which means that they will affect my reality.

I take good care of my emotions, principally in the following ways:

(1) I run and swim regularly (these are, for me, effective ways to burn off stress and anxiety and to get myself feeling relaxed and calm)

(2) I go for regular massages (tension, anxiety, stress etc tend to present themselves in funny little muscular knots in my body, so I leave it to the masseuse will take of those, for me)

(3) I often take the time to breathe deeply, mindfully and slowly.

I agree with Acting Like Godot (well I do different "specifics" but the same results) ... however I would strongly suggest that while in these "states" that you also look at any emotional "baggage" that is still kicking around deep in the sub conscious. Most people just "cover" the baggage but then our "pain bodies" and "egoic/limiting selves" will have already identified with the baggage and they WILL effect your manifestations at some level.

Once you face your "fears" you will realise that there was never any real "fear" to begin with.

I learnt this the hard way with a perfect manifestation of the health of someone I loved unconditionally many years ago, only to find that I "wished" I had never manifested it .... so yes be careful what you manifest, it ALWAYS comes true .... but as mentioned above manifest without twists, but congruently and for the best of all concerned (for THEIR path/growth).

[Dreamline]

I manifested my very negative things from private fantasizing. I was not in a bad mood, not feeling anger and the universe still gave me what I fantasized about. The details were so alarmingly true to the letter that there is no doubt that is where the manifestations came from.

So when your mind is working, when you are visualizing, even if you are casually daydreaming, the universe is listening and working hard to give you what you seem to want. Remember: the Source of all doesn't judge "good" or "bad" outcomes. It just gives you what you spend time thinking about.

My good manifestations that year were proof that state matters. That emotion can ramp up your manifestations and the speed with which they happen. But my negative manifestations were proof that emotion does not have to play a part if you are persistent enough. And that the Source of all can't tell the difference between active visualizing and relaxed daydreaming.

So be pretty dern careful what you "wish" for.

Jennifer

[Dreamline]

Originally Posted by viking

I learnt this the hard way with a perfect manifestation of the health of someone I loved unconditionally many years ago, only to find that I "wished" I had never manifested it .... so yes be careful what you manifest, it ALWAYS comes true .... but as mentioned above manifest without twists, but congruently and for the best of all concerned (for THEIR path/growth).

It's playing with fire when you actively try to manifest for another. It's explicitly forbidden if you believe the LOA gurus. I try to manifest for others in context of myself being the recipient. Like I wish I could help my brother-in-law get a job because my sister is miserable. So rather than actively try to manifest for them, I manifest a "global" goal that I have a loving, happy, healthy family who is prosperous to the degree where I no longer have to worry about them.

So it's more about me. It's global enough to not be interfering.

Jennifer

[viking4525]

Originally Posted by Dreamline

I manifested my very negative things from private fantasizing. I was not in a bad mood, not feeling anger and the universe still gave me what I fantasized about. The details were so alarmingly true to the letter that there is no doubt that is where the manifestations came from.

So when your mind is working, when you are visualizing, even if you are casually daydreaming, the universe is listening and working hard to give you what you seem to want. Remember: the Source of all doesn't judge "good" or "bad" outcomes. It just gives you what you spend time thinking about.

My good manifestations that year were proof that state matters. That emotion can ramp up your manifestations and the speed with which they happen. But my negative manifestations were proof that emotion does not have to play a part if you are persistent enough. And that the Source of all can't tell the difference between active visualizing and relaxed daydreaming.

So be pretty dern careful what you "wish" for.

Jennifer

I will disagree on some of what Dreamline has written.

Visualisation is an important step in helping internal alignment, but its also what you emenate out. Mainfestations happen when you are completely aligned with thought, word and deed. I agree the Universe doesn't judge, but its the "package" that you give off that directs it. The "power house" inside of us is the sub conscious, its the power "without direction" and its the conscious mind that gives this direction. Thats what I like about a phrase from the Hicks ... "conscious creation". We all create, but mostly "unconsciously".

Dreamline - even though you were not angry, in a bad mood, you were completely internally aligned that you had very powerful emotions "at some level" that when connected to your visualisations brought about the manifestations. You could have felt wonderful, happy, joyous about your visualisations, you needn't have felt aggressive or negative, BUT its the strong emotions that are part of the package.

Visualiation on its own will never be enough.

[Angela]

I like that idea of "global" goals, Jennifer. I think when you generate a way of being -- when you manifest a quality or condition -- you are generating it not only for yourself but for the world. Not everyone may choose to tap into what you're generating, and that's fine. Simply being a Generator makes you an agent of expansion -- a resource for others.

[viking4525]

Originally Posted by Dreamline

It's playing with fire when you actively try to manifest for another. It's explicitly forbidden if you believe the LOA gurus. I try to manifest for others in context of myself being the recipient. Like I wish I could help my brother-in-law get a job because my sister is miserable. So rather than actively try to manifest for them, I manifest a "global" goal that I have a loving, happy, healthy family who is prosperous to the degree where I no longer have to worry about them.

So it's more about me. It's global enough to not be interfering.

Jennifer

Just to give context/background, I was a child and had no concept of The Process in this. The situation was that my mother was dying of cancer and my father and I were called into the hospice later that night to stay for the final hours .... I prayed continually throughout the day when I got that news, even I remember strongly now all these years on that I prayed soooo hard to let her live.

When morning came I slowly went to her room not knowing what to expect and I saw her smiling at me and was knitting. It was the biggest shocker I had to date.

I was made to regret that day ... even though I got exactly what I wanted, my thought, word and deed was aligned with my absolute fear of losing someone I unconditionally loved .... I saw the physical pain and turmoil she went through for the remaining 6-8 months, to the point I prayed for her to die.

So yes be VERY CAREFUL what you wish for ... wishes come true. BUT you need to work out, do you REALLY WANT them? Hence part 3 of the 7 parts of this Process ... the Law of Polarity.

[aabbcc]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

This is based on my personal experience. The key is your emotional state, at the time you do your manifesting.

If you manifest while feeling peaceful and loving and all that, then the intention comes true, in a positive manner that works out well for all concerned.

If you manifest while feeling tense or edgy or irritated, the intention can still come true, but often in a somewhat "twisted" way, with some negative consequences that you didn't quite expect.

I have found this to be true as well.

I have also noticed that when I attempt to manifest something while in a negative frame of mind, my intuition will pop up and say - Do you really want to do this right now? In the past, I didn't always pay attention. Sometimes I simply ignored it and plowed on, usually to be sorry later.

Thankfully, I am a quick learner!

[ssandra]

Originally Posted by Dreamline

My good manifestations that year were proof that state matters. That emotion can ramp up your manifestations and the speed with which they happen. But my negative manifestations were proof that emotion does not have to play a part if you are persistent enough. And that the Source of all can't tell the difference between active visualizing and relaxed daydreaming.

So be pretty dern careful what you "wish" for.

Jennifer

I have a question about this...

The only 2 times that I have actually manifested something was when I asked the universe/God for something and I felt this emotion going through me.

I fantasize all the time, usually about the house I someday want to build (in great detail) of about what I would do with all the money when we win the lottery (in just as much detail, including what I would give to my parents, how I would help small businesses, how I would make sure that my money would help other people by creating great housing for little money, which business I would start that would make more people read etc etc).

Yet.. I still have to see any evidence of those 2 while the first 2 came through almost right away (those were with emotion).

Is this just something that happened to you? Or do you think that your brain was in some sort of state like meditation where this happened?

[Willworker]

Originally Posted by viking4525

Dreamline - even though you were not angry, in a bad mood, you were completely internally aligned that you had very powerful emotions "at some level" that when connected to your visualisations brought about the manifestations. You could have felt wonderful, happy, joyous about your visualisations, you needn't have felt aggressive or negative, BUT its the strong emotions that are part of the package.

I'll amend one more thing. I don't think that emotion plays a role in creating the manifestation, persay, but emotion is a symptom of a successful connection. So its a sign that you achieved that connection. It doesn't need to be prolonged. A single brief burst of emotion, combined with momentary certainty and overall lack of attachment, and one has done well in making a idle daydream manifest - even more so than something actively concentrated on, since the conscious mind introduces doubt.

[MidasGirl]

Every I-M teacher I know will caution that you need to affirm, ".........for the highest good of all". This does not mean negative things won't manifest, but sometimes what we label "bad' or "negative" has to happen in order to make way for your intention. For example how many people do we hear of who intend say, more money, and then the next month they get fired from their job? Well, if they trust in the process and continue to affirm their highest good, they find that was just making way for something that would lead to their highest intention. But most people panic and wonder what they did wrong.

So if you intend ".....for the highest good of all" then you are covered. What I'm learning now is to let go and trust that my ass is covered by the universe. Do we have any choice but to trust the universal flow anyway? Aligning our intentions with God's intentions for us seems to me futile to resist. Otherwise we wouldn't have so many unhappy people who seem to have it all.

[SmartAlx]

Originally Posted by Willworker

If you ask me, it all ultimately comes down to a deep and definite need to love yourself. If you do not fundamentally love yourself, you'll find yourself sabotaging a lot of your efforts...

...Primarily, then, focus on yourself. Whether the universe is subjective or objective, or even if LOA is all poppycock, you must love yourself to have true power. Love yourself.

It just all sounds so... self - ish. What about everyone else?

Originally Posted by Dreamline

It's playing with fire when you actively try to manifest for another. It's explicitly forbidden if you believe the LOA gurus.

WOW! Really???? MAN this whole new age thing is so blatantly selfish and non-cooperative! I can NOT understand how you can feel good about a belief system that openly requires you to be selfish.

Originally Posted by Holistic Star

IM doesn't turn itself off just because you've created what you don't want. it's working all the time.

How do you know?

Originally Posted by Dreamline

So when your mind is working, when you are visualizing, even if you are casually daydreaming, the universe is listening and working hard to give you what you seem to want. Remember: the Source of all doesn't judge "good" or "bad" outcomes. It just gives you what you spend time thinking about.

Again, how do you know? Aren't all of the ideas about IM just theories?

[Dreamline]

Originally Posted by viking4525

I will disagree on some of what Dreamline has written.

Visualisation is an important step in helping internal alignment, but its also what you emenate out. Mainfestations happen when you are completely aligned with thought, word and deed. I agree the Universe doesn't judge, but its the "package" that you give off that directs it. The "power house" inside of us is the sub conscious, its the power "without direction" and its the conscious mind that gives this direction. Thats what I like about a phrase from the Hicks ... "conscious creation". We all create, but mostly "unconsciously".

Dreamline - even though you were not angry, in a bad mood, you were completely internally aligned that you had very powerful emotions "at some level" that when connected to your visualisations brought about the manifestations. You could have felt wonderful, happy, joyous about your visualisations, you needn't have felt aggressive or negative, BUT its the strong emotions that are part of the package.

Visualiation on its own will never be enough.

Hee hee. I hope I never get so "expert" that I try to tell people that I know better than them what they were thinking and feeling.

Maybe I'm a singularity. Maybe a manifesting enigma. But I know what I was thinking, feeling and doing a little better than you, I would think. Maybe some PD/LOA/IM rules were meant to be broken by some people. Maybe everyone is allowed to be a little bit different. But I appreciate you sticking to the dogma we are handed by the LOA gurus so resolutely.

I have been manifesting consciously since 2006 and some of my most bizarre and interesting manifestations, with cirumstances that could ONLY be IM, not coincidence, were from off-handed or minor league visualizations. No attachement, no emotion. No particular deep desire.

My most profoud manifestations that were good, positive and desired were with the full monty of emotional effort attached.

I think it can easily work both ways. Because we are told from the LOA dogma gurus that "we are manifesting all the time, just randomly and unconsciously" and that if we want to change that around to being conscious manifestations, we have to do A, B and C....well that makes sense to me but the fact remains that we are manifesting all the time, randomly and unconsciously! It's never shut off even if I am not aware of it, actively desiring it nor feeling any particular emotion towards it. So maybe some of us have better power at those random manifestations. Maybe the closer you get toward that grain of God-power the more significant your random musings become in the scheme of things. Maybe the closer you get, the more care you have to take WHEN you decide to randomly muse.

That year was my initiation year for IM. It's very clear to me that I have a significant ability at this. It's very clear to me that those two examples-- the one extremely good and the one extremely bad--happening in the same timeframe as my initiation year, were simply a lesson: "This is what this power is capable of. Do you really want to go down this path? If you agree, there is no turning back...."

And there hasn't been.

Jennifer

[Angela]

Originally Posted by SmartAlx

It just all sounds so... self - ish. What about everyone else?
WOW! Really???? MAN this whole new age thing is so blatantly selfish and non-cooperative! I can NOT understand how you can feel good about a belief system that openly requires you to be selfish.

You are apparently reading a non-cooperative (and maybe uncompassionate, entirely-self-serving, unconcerned about others) "selfishness" into what people are saying here, SmartAlx -- and your brain is generalizing it out to "this whole new age thing."

There are people, sure, who approach any of the things we've discussed here with intentions like the ones you're hearing. But the "belief system" -- or at least most of the ways I've heard of people using intention manifestation -- is extremely holistic. People who are interested in it, including the people you've responded to here -- are interested in the health and vitality of Consciousness -- the whole, all of us, in this together.

One important way to contribute to the health of the whole, for example, is to take responsibility for generating love for the self (the individual avatar.) It's like putting your own oxygen mask on first, thus giving yourself the power to thrive and be masterful in being a resource for others. If you are a resource for others but not a resource for yourself, you're not going to be a very long-lasting or effective resource for anyone. It would actually be selfish NOT to take care of yourself, and to generate for yourself what you'd like to see present in the world (like love, for instance.)

As for manifesting for others -- a big part of the human game is making our own choices. Manifesting is choosing. If you're manifesting something for a particular person, you are choosing that thing for that person, and that would be pretty selfish, wouldn't it, to take it upon yourself to make choices FOR another? If you choose something for yourself, on the other hand, and I join you in manifesting it for you, that's not interventionist or selfish in my book -- and I don't think that would be "forbidden" by any of the teachers that I've heard about. I think it's important to grant people space of freedom to make their own choices, even if we don't like those choices, because choosing is how we express ourself and find our way of expansion in this human game.

And of course, you, as the "other," may choose to make a positive difference in the life of that person whose choice you don't much care for. That's not the same as manifesting (or choosing) something for that person. Do you see the difference?

"This whole new age thing" is too big a scope to address fully in one post, but in most cases, a holistic, win/win intention exists in just about everyone I've ever encountered who is interested in new age pursuits. Of course there are exceptions who fit more in with your idea of selfishness, but in my experience, it's desire for a healthy whole that motivates and inspires these people -- especially, I'd say, the people who post here!

[Willworker]

Originally Posted by SmartAlx

It just all sounds so... self - ish. What about everyone else?

One, you can't love anyone else if you don't love yourself, or at least not well. This is a well-known fact. How can you be generous with lots of money if you don't have lots of money yourself? If you sleep 16 hours a day and are awake only 8 hours, then you won't be able to give 10 hours of your day to work. Neither can you be generous with love if you're stingy with love for yourself. This doesn't have anything to do with LOA.

You seriously think that you can offer emotional support on any substantial level when you're unstable yourself? No. Same reason why I established myself materially before I pursued a long-term relationship. Unless I was able to provide well for myself, I couldn't provide well for the high-maintenance girl I wanted.

Furthermore, there is no separation of the self from the other in subjective reality. I'm sure you've read this a couple of times by now. So if you love yourself, that will include in some way, everyone else.

PS: Its not just a theory if we actually use it daily, no? For me, its an actual principle of utility.

[Daffy Duck]

Note: A "guess" is not the same thing as a theory.

Theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Originally Posted by SmartAlx

How do you know?

We really don't know much of anything. I don't know if gravity will still work tomorrow. I think it will, but I don't really know for sure. And to be honest, I don't really know all of the details about how gravity works.

Likewise, if I do a bunch of LOA techniques and they work for me, I don't really know if they will continue to work. And to be honest, I don't really know all of the details about how LOA works. Maybe everyone here is wrong! But if we see it does work for us on a daily basis, I see no harm in continuing to assume it will work, just like gravity.

There's nothing wrong with manifesting things for others. Just recently I manifested a cold drink for my girlfriend. She liked it.

[SmartAlx]

Originally Posted by Willworker

One, you can't love anyone else if you don't love yourself, or at least not well.

PFT. This is so not true.

This is a well-known fact.

No, it's not. It's a convenient excuse people use because they don't want to put any energy into helping other people.

How can you be generous with lots of money if you don't have lots of money yourself?

How can you help someone to build a house if you don't have a house yourself? Doy, you can. You don't need a house to build one. You don't need a million dollars to help someone make money. No, you can't give someone something you don't have, but that doesn't mean that you don't have anything to give. You can always give your time and energy. It's all a matter of priority. If you prioritize other people ahead of yourself, then you will be helpful to them, even if your life is a mess.

Last fall we in Houston were hit by an enormous Hurricane, Ike. If there was any time that people could be selfish, that was the time. But after the Hurricane left people devastated the love between neighbors opened up! People's homes were a total wreck and did they fix their own houses first? Nope. They helped their neighbors first. And then their neighbors returned the favor and the result was that neighbors helping neighbors enabled everyone to get back to their normal lives much much quicker. Independence creates stagnation. Cooperation increases productivity.

Luckily, the fact is that inside everyone knows that we should put other people first and we do in fact do it to a certain extent, as witnessed by the neighborliness after Ike. But philosophizing about morality of doing the opposite does discourage it and reduces the frequency at which we do help one another.

If you sleep 16 hours a day and are awake only 8 hours, then you won't be able to give 10 hours of your day to work. Neither can you be generous with love if you're stingy with love for yourself. This doesn't have anything to do with LOA.

Again. All of this is an excuse to be selfish.

Every person I know of who says you have to take care of yourself first, for some reason, they are always working on themselves and they never have time to help other people. You see, it would take a thousand lifetimes to get your own self straight. Since you will never accomplish the goal, then saying that you have to get there is just going to keep you from ever helping other people. It's better to just accept that you'll never get to where you (think you) need to be and just start doing for other people ASAP. The sooner you start helping (loving, giving to, living for, etc.) other people, the sooner you will start seeing fruit develop in your relationships.

If everyone lived for everyone else then you would realistically have hundreds of people you could count on. But if you live for yourself you can only count on one.

You seriously think that you can offer emotional support on any substantial level when you're unstable yourself?

YES! Now of course you are pushing the point a bit when you use a word like unstable. That's not fair. No one is completely stable.

I'm sure you know some exceptionally happy people. People who always have a smile on their face. People who are always cheerful. People who are extremely charismatic. People who are very much loved by everyone they meet. I know quite a few. They are all unique in their own way but one common character trait amongst every one of them is that they put other people first, and they have been doing that their whole lives. It's not like they perfected themselves in their 20s and then decided that they were able to help their fellow man after they accomplished their personal goals. No! They STARTED their lives by helping their fellow man, and they got an incredible return on their investment. People love them because they loved first.

People who look after themselves are despised. Well, they are accepted today because almost everyone is selfish today. But people who put themselves last are LOVED!

[Daffy Duck]

This is so simple...

The best way to watch out for myself is to care about everyone.

Indeed, the best way to watch out for myself and be selfish is to care about everyone.

The more love I have for myself, the more love I have for others.

The more love I have for others, the more love I have for myself.

It's my observation that people who work on personal development and follow LOA are often the least "selfish" of people, as in, they usually do NOT only care about themselves.

So the idea that LOA promotes selfishness has been disproven.

Indeed, when I see people who neglect themselves, I notice they usually neglect others too. When I see people who love themselves and their life, they usually love others as well.

If you meet someone who says they are "helping themselves" and they don't care about others, then you met a liar, or someone who is simply mistaken. They are not helping themselves.

I've never met anyone who was able to give any kind of real love without having some bit of real love for themselves. Indeed, the people who do not have love for themselves are usually so consumed in their own drama that they can't possibly make time for others.

SmartAlx has mentioned a very basic principle of success. To become successful, help others become successful. In other words, create something of value. This is something Steve mentioned many years ago on his blog. Very simple. The best way to be selfish, to watch out for number one, is to not be "selfish."

I see some of you saying the same thing with different words. Angela made this observation as well (see the first paragraph of her last post). And here I am, saying more of the same thing, with different words. So funny. It's like one guy saying, "2 +3 = 5!" And the other guy goes, "Pft! No! 3 +2 = 5!" Oh yeah well 5 + 0 = 5 so there!

[Willworker]

I think you're missing the forest for the trees.

Yes, you can build a house without a house - but you still need to have the resources for it. Its a transformation of say, lumber and metal fittings plus intangibles of time and skill to create a house. You are, I presume, not creating a house from thin air.

I live in Houston, and I know of what went on. However, once again, people with resources gave out what they could, including the Home Depot at one point. Because they had something, they could give something.

You can't give love if you don't have it yourself, even if you want to. The Home Depot could give excellent lumber, because they had excellent lumber. If someone only had wormy planks and wood, he could try giving it to build a house, but its going to be a shoddy little house at best.

Even the people who you think 'put others first' most likely have a very high value of themselves. Do you think that they would let others abuse them? Hurt them? Take advantage of them? No. They love others, they provide for others, but they also esteem themselves.

Its really not that complicated and the same concept has been seen throughout history and literature - you can only help others once you know that you are on a stable foundation.

Consider sales. Its known in marketing that the best salespeople sell products that they genuinely believe in, thus imparting that belief upon their customers. Even professional charlatans and liars must 'delude themselves' at the moment of their pitch, so that they, for a moment, believe in the truth of what they are advocating. This is also why confidence is considered as so important when asking someone out.

If you do not believe in yourself, it is significantly more difficult to make anyone believe in you. If you do not love yourself unconditionally, you really can't offer unconditional love without some severe cognitive dissonance. If you only have wormy wood and rusted nails, and refuse to upgrade, then you're going to be building a lot of teetering houses.

And that is, I feel, an effective analogy to the original post. With low self-esteem, a caged mind in ego, self-hate, negative beliefs or whatnot, our subconscious is riddled with flaws and disappointments - so we constantly manifest our world of flaws and disappointments. So the best way to improve life is just to clear up our subconscious, improve our building material, and the rest will improve too.

Is it /that/ bad to ask people to value themselves a bit more and have fuller self-esteems?

[Dreamline]

I love this analogy:

Originally Posted by Angela

One important way to contribute to the health of the whole, for example, is to take responsibility for generating love for the self (the individual avatar.) It's like putting your own oxygen mask on first, thus giving yourself the power to thrive and be masterful in being a resource for others.

There are those, and you know who you are, that have chosen to use IM/LOA for personal gain only. Material. Stuff. Trappings. But no ever helped another by striving to be the poorest person on the planet. Money and trappings are a separate issue. Now, that being said, if that person ALSO chooses to be selfish in their deeds, values and ideals, it still doesn't matter if they are rich or poor. The are selfish.

But we are all beginners--mere infants and toddlers--at this notion of being able to actively manifest using IM/LOA. So there are literally eons of a learning curve at work here. What are children if not completely self-absorbed, totally self-centered and wrapped up in only what pleases them? The fact that there are SOME of us beginner/novice kids who are actually thinking about the non-self-centered aspects of this IM thing is what surprises me. Many, many of us, in fact. That tells me that the timing of this ressurection of IM/LOA info is perfect, on track and for a purpose. It just happens to corresponds with the release of Kabbalistic wisdom which is strong in the areas of IM/LOA and the changeover from the Age of Pisces to the Age of Aquarius and the coming of the end of the Mayan Age.

I see the big picture...and it's lovely.

Jennifer

[themaster]

Originally Posted by SmartAlx

Can we compare intention-manifestation to a genie in a bottle where you have to be uber specific about what you want? How many sci-fi stories/movies/TV shows have you heard of where a guy gets 3 wishes and ends up screwing everything up because he didn't word his wishes right? Could I-M be the same thing? What if you aren't careful in your thought process in the intention? We all talk about accidentally manifesting fear and competition and what not. It's a VERY common thread here. Well if all of that is true, it seems to me that you have to really practice to get I-M right. It seems to take some sort of real mental strength to get your manifestations right. And that implies that you can get your manifestations wrong. And in face you are probably most likely to get it wrong. If you get your manifestation wrong, then what kind of damage can you do???

How about IRAQ for starters

All of our sci-fi tales are morality tales.. yes in the tales there is morality and the person who gets the 3 wish's always screws it up in usually a bad way.. what's your point.. we screw up LOA all the time..

[joelr]

Originally Posted by Dreamline

Hee hee. I hope I never get so "expert" that I try to tell people that I know better than them what they were thinking and feeling.

Maybe I'm a singularity. Maybe a manifesting enigma. But I know what I was thinking, feeling and doing a little better than you, I would think. Maybe some PD/LOA/IM rules were meant to be broken by some people. Maybe everyone is allowed to be a little bit different. But I appreciate you sticking to the dogma we are handed by the LOA gurus so resolutely.

I have been manifesting consciously since 2006 and some of my most bizarre and interesting manifestations, with cirumstances that could ONLY be IM, not coincidence, were from off-handed or minor league visualizations. No attachement, no emotion. No particular deep desire.

My most profoud manifestations that were good, positive and desired were with the full monty of emotional effort attached.

I think it can easily work both ways. Because we are told from the LOA dogma gurus that "we are manifesting all the time, just randomly and unconsciously" and that if we want to change that around to being conscious manifestations, we have to do A, B and C....well that makes sense to me but the fact remains that we are manifesting all the time, randomly and unconsciously! It's never shut off even if I am not aware of it, actively desiring it nor feeling any particular emotion towards it. So maybe some of us have better power at those random manifestations. Maybe the closer you get toward that grain of God-power the more significant your random musings become in the scheme of things. Maybe the closer you get, the more care you have to take WHEN you decide to randomly muse.

Good for you, I think it's also important to not get too dogmatic about LOA.
Rules and guidelines are helpful but experience is also a great teacher. The important thing here is that you had a manifestation. I think I see more emphasis on theory than actual results sometimes? Maybe that makes sense because deliberate manifestations don't happen everyday.
But if you say you had a undoubted clear-cut negative manifestation I would think people would be like "tell me exactly what you did!!" instead of telling you why it's not possible...?


The "7 laws thing is kinda worn out. Some modern metaphysics teachers (Chopra, Hicks, Silva, Vitale etc...) have spread some concepts out to make exactly seven likely because of the "Seven Laws of Noah" from Judaism. Some of these teachings are 7 completely different laws.
I understand the marketing behind it but am skeptical when a supposed channeled entity uses the tactic.