Manifesting Intentions Without Resistance (Blog)

[Savage]

Use this thread to discuss the following entry from Steve Pavlina's blog:

Manifesting Intentions Without Resistance

[dECLAN]

My external reputation is out of my control because it exists purely in other people’s minds...

Steve does this comment not go against the belief that reality exists entirely in ones own mind and that everything we perceive as outside is a projection of ones own internal reality?

[Colm OReilly]

Hey bix,

Good points. I had a similiar experience with Matt Thornton. When he first became widely known, he had some really brilliant ways of explaining functional martial arts training. But over time his fan base grew so people would listen to whatever he had to say because of who he was, not because of what he had to say carried any weight.

Personally, I disagree with a lot of Matt says, and I get the impression you're feeling the same thing about Steve.

But, to look at it from another way. You could just be in a different place entirely and not be able to comprehend where Steve's at, just as Steve won't be able to comprehend where you're at. Levi Straus (the anthropologist, not the jeans!) said that either something is part of your culture and you understand it or it isn't. I can't think of any specific cultural examples but there are plenty. Actually, suicide bombers are one. In certain Islamic cultures (as far as i'm aware) this is a great way to die. In ours, not so much.

So where Steve's at is different from you, and you guys can't find a common ground. It's not that Steve is higher than you, just somewhere different. You're Spain, he's Morocco.

I've come across some situations in my life recently where I can't get people to see my point of view. I have to accept that they are operating out of a different paradigm entirely that won't reconcile with mine. If they want to see it, I'll help them. Otherwise, I'll just love and support them.

For me I really enjoyed this article as I was thinking about fears recently, and I know they hold me back. Now I've a system to evaluate my fears and get things more easily.

I'd a similar post on my blog about confidence if anyone is interested in reading it. Hopefully it's not as flowery as Steve's. Basically I had a fear that my confidence wasn't doing the people in my life any good. As a result, I was denying myself confidence.

Colm

[lazyFelix]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

Could it be that the mere intention is all it takes to get the ball rolling

back in 1999 my inner voice started a sentence by "what if the only thing needed for a miracle to happen is to believe that it is possible,.. " after that sentence i could not sleep for 7 nights straight.

strange things started to happen, first i started to feel a resonance in the area of my heart to every thought i was holding in my mind
2 feelings, one that was depressing, a feeling that comes when U loose a friend or relative - a feeling of no hope, and one from the other side of the scale, a feeling of unlimited extasy and happiness

u can imagine the dialogue, a ton of revelations

later i experienced things like predicting what will happen in a TV show i never saw, or telepathy

the moral of the story is that i had my Xmas dinner in a psychiatric clinic and
i don't blame my parents because i might look someting like this

now-days i know that i overheated my processor and the restart that followed was because i didn't make the turn from reasoning to unconditional love - that's the exit U have to take if you're willing to stay on the highway to enlightenment

felix

[demk]

weirdest thing just happened.

I read the article, wrote a few things in my journal about it then went to download some music with positive lyrics. I typed "free" into the computer and I download a random tune called Im Free (spelt IM not I'm).

The lyrics are "Heaven helps the man who fights his fear"...

WHOAAA...

Thats freaky. The tune is really cheesy btw (its by kenny loggins) but that was like the most clear message I have ever recieved that I am on the right path with this.

It makes sense that you move naturally towards your desires without inner resistance. Its strange how stupid you fears seem too. totally irrational. I think your subconscious is a logical machine like a computer and just runs the program it has been set no matter how defunct it is. Fear isnt always the best word. Old programming created in fear is better.

[Reyv]

Doh! That makes perfect sense. I've been afraid that too much money will strain some of my relationships. Many thanks. Funny how this article comes just as I was going through Ask and it is Given and journaling about becoming more in vibrational compliance with my intentions.

As a sidenote, you might want to start off your subjective reality articles with a link to the basics. The objective realists among us seem to get their panties all in a bunch about it. I should probably mention I used to do that too before I went subjective myself.

[Andrew Brunelle]

It think the whole thing is that Steve has become more spiritual in nature and realizes that he's not just his body, not just his job, but is speaking through his higher self or something. So the messages he brings may not be relatable to you right now, as you aren't at the same place.

I, as a matter of fact, liked the article, but did not like the examples he put into it. I know how hard it is to come up with examples of certain things. But I liked how he explained that we have to get the unconscious, or subconscious fears out of our minds or accept them as an inevitability, so we can move past them. Just accept that this will happen and view it in a good, positive light. I still enjoy most of Steve's writing and if I didn't, I wouldn't read anymore. If you find his articles useless, then don't read them anymore. It's all in the eye of the beholder. I do find a contradiction in the whole "people judging me is only in their own mind," when he's the one that says anything that happens in in your consciousness, so I'm not sure about that...but it was a good article nonetheless.

[ImOpen]

demk: "Heaven helps the man who fights his fear"
But there is no heaven in Steve's model. And he spoke about "letting go of", not fighting.
You are just fabricating something. When you are looking for clues, you find clues.

I think Bix makes a valid point. Pavlina's language is becoming increasingly abstract and that's usually a bad sign. Think about Occam's razor. Shave away those complexities, and there's a greater chance that you are actually describing the truth as it is.

Basically, I think that what we are begining to see is Steve Pavlina's philosophy of life disintegrating a little. And that's probably for the better. He has begun to scrape on the surface of the huge topic of philosophy and when he begins to see how much more there is to life than minimizing your sleep, increasing your web traffic etc. he then uses a sort of "bridge" (this is were the abstract language comes into play) to go from the old "cheap like philosophy" to something really meaningful.

So basically what I think we are witnessing is the beginning of something new. What will be interesting to see is how he will react when he understands that there is 1) not so much money and 2) not so many definite answers in the field of philosophy (which he seems to be turning to) than there is in pop psychology.

The fact that he is making money in an avalanchic style and that it is "almost silly" how easy it is, has probably more to do with the fact that he is writing during the golden era of blogging, than with his intentions. Being a bit more humble would be suitable.

One thing I think is interesting, and something I really hope he will begin to write more about - is his children, friends and his wife. During the last two years he has hardly mentioned them in his blog. I don't even understand how that is possible. Most parents describe being parents as full time jobs. Does Steve spend every day with them without writing about it or is he one of them fathers spending "quality time" with their children - an hour or two? Children/Friends/Wife should be one of your greatest sources of knowledge and yet I've never seen a comment like "something I learned from my friend" or similiar.

So, to summarize. The abstract language is due to the fact that Pavlina is not exactly sure what he is talking about. He is testing, searching, asking and that is also why we see errors like the one the first poster in this thread pointed out. The three most probable outcomes in the future are probably:

1) That Steve will turn to philosophy and find out that he is really just a child in this field and has to start all over again. Would be very interesting to see, I guess he could contribute a lot.

This alternative will also mean a lot less web site traffic, people don't like to think...

2) Write on the topic of pop psychology. Problem is that Pavlina doesn't have as much to say like he used to do. Maybe it could work if he integrated something new and fresh into the blend - parenting for example.

3) Continue mixing "cheap like philosophy" with pop psychology. The worst alternative because it will not help anyone.

Enjoy!

[Reyv]

Originally Posted by bix

I have been a long reader of this site. The articles on this site used to be interesting and useful. Today, they are neither interesting nor useful. They are content-less. What I am asking is: am I the only one feeling this way?

I don't intend to turn into a valiant defender of Steve's work, just point out what I perceive as the current problem you're experiencing:

Steve now speaks a different language, and that different language is subjectivese, the language of subjective reality. It used to be gibberish to me as well, until I took the time to understand what it was about. I found it so fascinating, and so empowering, that I relocated myself from Objectivia to Subjectivia, and I am now a most happy inhabitant.

It's quite obvious to me how articles written in subjectivese are incomprehensible to someone who only speaks objectivese, because that was my case as well. I really struggled with the notion of subjective reality for a while before I finally accepted it.

So to answer your question, Steve's posts aren't losing quality. They're just being written in a different language. You can choose to learn that language (start with his first Subjective Reality articles), or you can choose to limit yourself to his previous articles which have been written in plain objectivese.

People evolve and improve on their belief systems. I'd argue that's what happened to Steve's writing.

[ImOpen]

Reyv: About the "different language"-thing. I've read Pavlina's posts from the beginning and I'm sure an intelligent person could "get into" this paradigm in fifteen minutes or so.

And don't comment on this, I won't be able to answer because it will get us Off topic.

[Reyv]

And another thing.

Steve does this comment not go against the belief that reality exists entirely in ones own mind and that everything we perceive as outside is a projection of ones own internal reality?

You're confusing apples with oranges here. Steve's comment was made from a point of view centered on the ego, while you're comparing it with the notion of being centered on Source.

You have a basic misunderstanding of subjective reality right there. Steve never said that everything is created and exists within our physical mind. Everything exists and is created within a much higher-level container that is awareness. I personally refer to that one single awareness as Source, and I see all of us as part of it.

In practice, I find myself more than free to alternate between being centered in the ego, and being centered on Source. It may appear that I contradict myself at times, but I am in fact speaking from different vantage points. One is ego-centered, and one is awareness-centered.

[mikeschu]

For me, this is a timely article. I've been reading about Intention-Manifestation on the forums recently and thinking about how to start the process. Perhaps I subconsciously manifested it a couple of nights ago....

I do see that Steve is leaning more towards abstract posts (e.g. intention-manifestation) instead of his earlier, objective, "how-to" articles (e.g., being an early riser). I don't think it's good or bad; rather, it just is. I think he's starting to hit his "sweet spot" in terms of his consciousness because he now has full belief in subjective reality as he did with objective reality when he started his blog.

What I'd like to know from Steve is what experiences actually led him to accept subjective reality over objective reality. I'm sure there is a post about it but if I recall correctly it wasn't highly detailed. Once I find it and re-read it I should have a better understanding of the switch.

[michael.shearer]

Originally Posted by bix

Not to mention that many things in the article are a complete joke. Imagine you are getting a million dollars. Can you imagine having a fear "that your life will become too complicated trying to manage the money"? Can you imagine having a fear "that managing the money will be stressful"? How different these two fears are, really? Does the article really have to spell both of them separately? Or is it because Steve has run out of useful things to say?

They are different. Something being complicated does not necessitate stress and vice versa. I could be stressed that I got lost going to work today (having moved this weekend), but that doesn't mean getting to work is complicated. I could have a complicated report to write that may consume my entire day, but that doesn't mean I'm stressed about it if I enjoy doing the work.

If Steve isn't helping you right now, try someone or something new. It appears that, since you are making these comments, that Steve has been very valuable to you in the past and now that you've changed he isn't meeting your expectations. Instead of condemning his changes (decrease in quality in your eyes), why not be a little grateful for what he has given you.

[Colm OReilly]

bix,

tbh I don't a decrease in the quality of posts, but then again I've only been looking at his site in the last month or so, so most of my reading has been the best of.

What I do find interestin gis on this forum you find people who disagree with Steve seem to be really p!ssed off at him. I'm wondering if they're angry because they feel we're worshipping Steve and swallowing everything he says whole or because they don't get it. I'm not saying I get everything btw. I find it really helpful that there's people arguing counter points to Steve. I love to get another viewpoint.

Thanks all,
Colm

[demk]

Originally Posted by ImOpen

demk: "Heaven helps the man who fights his fear"
But there is no heaven in Steve's model. And he spoke about "letting go of", not fighting.
You are just fabricating something. When you are looking for clues, you find clues.

By heaven I mean the universe/Source/God/whatever you call it.

I wasnt "looking for clues". I sometimes feel as if external reality is a mirror to my internal state of mind. With finding that tune its as if the universe is giving me reassurance that I am on the right track. Theres no way I can prove it to you. Theres no way I can prove I'm not insane. This stuff works for me like nothing else has. It would be insane to not use the best/most effective model of reality you have found.

[ImOpen]

By heaven I mean the universe/Source/God/whatever you call it.

Aha!
.....

[Frans]

I started a new thread in the Intention-Manifestion forum that covers the fears Steve talks about in his blog:
http://www.stevepavlina.com/forums/i...into-trap.html

[Bruce Achterberg]

Originally Posted by bix

Is it me or are Steve's articles becoming less and less useful every day? This site used to be interesting and inspirational and now it is turning into a bland abstract drivel which is hard to comprehend. [...]

I have been a long reader of this site. The articles on this site used to be interesting and useful. Today, they are neither interesting nor useful. They are content-less. What I am asking is: am I the only one feeling this way?

When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.
- A proverb

There was a time when I too found some of Steve's articles to be a little much. They seemed very different from some of his other articles – articles that really resonated with me and gave me good ideas, useful solutions, and uplifting and inspirational advice.

For example, when I first read about the concept of intention manifestation in the article Take the Red Pill - the concept that "your thoughts create reality" - it scared the hell out of me. The mere notion that I was able to influence my experience of reality with my thoughts alone brought a scary amount of responsibility crashing down upon me, and at first, I honestly couldn't take it.

I realised the implications of what it would mean if such a concept was even remotely accurate, but I was not ready to face up to such a thing - I was simply not ready, and I resisted it. So I ignored it and went on - at least, as best I could - as if I had never read the article. I didn't allow any thoughts related to intention manifestation into my conscious mind, and left it for my subconscious to deal with.

But after a while, as the dust settled so to speak, I felt a nagging sensation in my mind, imploring me to explore the concept further. I could no longer ignore it, and when I accepted this, along with the implications that came along with it, my fear faded. In it’s place was curiosity. I asked myself:

"What if it is real? What if our thoughts really can influence reality? What if all along everything in our lives has been our own doing? What will that mean?”

And that's when I decided that while the concept may sound crazy to many people, and while I could barely understand the concept, what happens if for my whole life I had been ignoring a fundamental aspect of reality - interpreting it incorrectly based on assumptions that I never really took the time to question. I decided to explore the concept further. I could not live life knowing that there could be untapped potential just waiting to be claimed, and I resigned myself to finding out for myself. I would listen to the experiences of others and use them as guidance, but I would ultimately decide for myself.

So, what does this have to do with anything?

Well, suffice to say that since I decided to explore the concept of “your thoughts create reality”, I’ve been on a somewhat interesting roller coaster ride. But what I have learned from all of it has little to do with intention manifestation, and everything to do with the importance of knowing where you currently stand, and what lessons are applicable to you - being able to recognise where your next steps lie.

From what you have said, it seems you are in a similar position to what I was once in. You are looking at something beyond your current capacity, and you discount it. You resist it. It doesn't look helpful at all. But all this really means is that you are currently not ready for that particular challenge. It is outside of your scope and essentially useless to you. And if you believe this to be the case, I recommend you treat it this way. Ignore the article. Ignore any articles like it – they are no use to you... at least, for now. Question what it is you feel you currently need to work on. What do you feel needs improvement in your life? What is nagging for your attention? Find the answer to those questions – look hard. Eventually you’ll be able to recognise what is important to you, and what is not. It’s not so much that other information is rubbish – it’s just not what you need right now.

If any of this resonates with you, I suggest you take some time to look at your current situation and identify for yourself what you feel is important to you, and focus your attention on it. When you do this, if you are indeed in a similar position to what I was in, the figurative ball will start rolling again. Don't worry if Steve's new blog posts aren't as useful his older ones. Focus on what is useful to you, and use it to improve your life. Eventually I think you'll find, just as I did, that it wasn't Steve who was the "problem" after all. Really, the "problem" was with you. The challenges that Steve is facing are completely different to those you are facing, and there's no point in resisting such a thing, it's merely something to be accepted.

...of course, I could be wrong. Maybe the current issues you have in your development have nothing to do with what I discuss in this post. Either way, it matters not. If you find that to be the case, all that this post should prove to you is that this is the wrong place to be looking for a solution. Keep looking. Once you've exhausted all of the wrong answers, the only one remaining will be the one that works.

_____________________________

Anyway, thanks for that article, Steve - it came in a very timely manner and was strangely, but unsurprisingly, just what I needed. Funny that.

I will say though, it looks like you still have some more work to do in terms of becoming a vibrational match for your intentions. Based upon the response so far in this thread, just like what you spoke about in Podcast #16: The True Nature of Reality, there's still some part of you that thinks you're crazy.

[ImOpen]

Hehe, I browsed through some old articles by Pavlina. And one of them started with:

If you drink a lot of water during your workday like I do, you probably find yourself getting up from your desk several times during the day to get more water.

Talk about going from concrete to abstract!

@Bix: I think Bruce is implying that in order to criticize the intention-manifstation model you should first live it. Try the paradigm, just buy it for the moment, look at the results and then discuss it. This is really how all religious and (some) philosophical groups want you to do and that's both a curse and a blessing.

Personally I've done this and I think "subjective reality" has some merit but I also reckon that Pavlina is really just describing a philosophy close to "Buddhism Light". A lot of things are missing. At least that's what it looks like to me.

[Michelle]

Thanks for the article. It makes perfect sense to me.

The question of relieving "resistance" in relationship to IM has been on my mind for some time now.

[ImOpen]

That may be a valid idea, maybe Pavlina really does all this just for the money. But people would argue, that his ideas are still beneficial and therefore it doesn't matter how the true reality looks like. Sort of like the behavorist's black box...

What do you have to say about this? You have to admit that this is how most theories work. You make them up, look if they can explain what is happening and if they do we keep them. They may be wrong, but at least they are serving as the basis for hypothesizing, predicting outcomes etc. Like Freud's psycho dynamic theory, or Einstein's theory etc. The int-man model may be correct or not but people argue that it's a good model of our world, and using it we can predict events, cause events happening etc.

[Erki]

Wow, so many posts ridiculing someone's (whoever's, not necessarily Steve's) thoughts and ponderings. Not really what I expected from people on this board.

[ImOpen]

Originally Posted by Erki

Wow, so many posts ridiculing someone's (whoever's, not necessarily Steve's) thoughts and ponderings. Not really what I expected from people on this board.

Bix & Co uses argumentation,I fail to see the problem.

[Erki]

Originally Posted by ImOpen

Bix & Co uses argumentation,I fail to see the problem.

Originally Posted by Bix

As long as his fridge is full of his plant food, he might be regarding himself as a visionary and pulling deep thoughts out of his finger, but should he lose a way of making money by "enlightening" people, he would quickly go through a "paradigm shift" and become more practical.

Someone's diet is not really related to this topic. Also, why use expressions like "pulling deep thought from his finger"? Wasn't it you whined about "hard language"?

No comments about IM's practicality but how much is there to talk about time management anyway?

I haven't read the article, I'll make sure I read it soon.

[ImOpen]

"Wasn't it you whined about "hard language"?"
Actually, no. It was other people whining about it.

I agree that that was Off topic, and I agree that his language is too harsh.
I also think he should read about the int- man model if he hasn't already. But I still think different opinions are interesting no matter what side of the spectrum they come from.

And once again. I'm not pro harsh language. Just want to make that clear. I'm just defending the right to argument, not to be rude.

[pey]

So what if he does do it "just for money"?
I really don't care as long as his articles help me. And I must say that for me this article came at exactly the right time.
Don't continue reading if you're a logically reasoning and argumenting objective realist, you'll probably just have a good laugh, which is fine by me...

Today I tried Steve's advice on an important intention that I just can't seem to get fully completed and indeed discovered a "fear" (I feared to have to sell my house as a consequence) that was easily removed by just accepting it and by thinking about alternatives to selling.
After removing the fear I felt like a waterfall of energy clearing the path to my goal. Now I'm sure it will manifest, also because I already had some amazing experience with IM since I started using it a few months ago.

[ImOpen]

@Bix: Can't you please respond to my question and pey's "So what if he does do it 'just for money'? I really don't care as long as his articles help me."

[babuji]

I personally liked the article and thought that it would be worth my while to try the approach mentioned by Steve..

For those of you that are ready to jump off the Steve Bandwagon.. I'd question why you'd want to do that? What I appreciate about Steve is that he takes a scientific approach to Personal Development.. Any idea or methodology that he writes about, has generally been tested by Steve himself. It's not as if he's feeding you a bunch of stuff that he's never attempted personally...

Secondly, it was mentioned that Steve's been using very abstract terminology and throwing around new-agey words left and right.. but if you've been following his blog for at least the past few months, you can see that he's been using these words since then.. I think he's focused on catering to his loyal fan base as opposed to trying to gain new ones who may be confused by the terminology. I know for myself, none of this stuff would resonate with me if I had not been following Steve's stuff for the past year..

Lastly, I agree with what was mentioned earlier that Steve is communicating more on a spiritual level as opposed to a level where he's writing about "How to become an early riser" or "How to increase your productivity"..

Find out what frequency your mind and spirit is tuned into.. Just like AM/FM radio cannot pick up Satellite radio, in the same manner, if we're only used to picking up a certain frequency or material from Steve.. try increasing your consciousness and you'll notice that what he's saying will resonate more with you..

[ChrisLee589]

Yea, I actually liked this post, too. If you're into intention-manifestation and basically, if you've read Ask and it is Given, it's really interesting. Just because he is getting more spiritual doesn't mean it's not interesting.

[wolfgang]

OK, so what did Steve say anyway in that blog? That fear gets in your way of going after your goals? And he used the popular terminology of the IM/LoA buzz words. I guess he could have been on a Bible reading binge and it would come out sounding like scripture. I doubt the first posters where having trouble "resonating" or understanding what he wrote. It sounded more like some sort of disapointment or mismatch in expectations about what Steve writes. Or the over use of those terms, using the frame of IM/LoA that seems to be everywhere. Maybe, to the first posters, it sounded like something they already figured out - not that they aren't able to "vibrate" with the material. In those terms they were in sync enough to read it and post a reaction which is more than a lot of people. I might say, maybe those posters could find some goal they have and see if there's fear that could be accepted and if the total package of the goal is understood by them - maybe they could get some value of this when applied.

I thought Steve's blog had this main idea, which at least gave me something to think about, even if not too new an idea:

"The difference between a fear and a consequence is acceptance. A fear is an outcome you resist. A consequence is an outcome you accept."

So the idea to just accept fear as a consequence sounds enpowering, if you can make that shift. But fear comes in many forms too. Some of them can go away just by identifying them as unreal or just mild worries. Then there's the real fear that is meant to protect you. If there's real fear running for a goal then maybe that goal isn't good for you. It seems like there's always an out for this IM stuff - oh, it didn't work because you didn't know your subconscious was running against it.

So I want to leave my gf and I fear all the sadness she will have (probably for me too) so I haven't done much about this goal because of those fears. Now, if I tell myself, well too bad that's what will be part of the picture to break up and find acceptance of those fears, will I be able to break up? Or how do I actually accept the fear of sadness, of hurting someone I kind of loved (and still do at some level)? It will be that way - it's not like, oh, I can hire a taxman like Steve's example. Oh, and there's more fear of being single and dating. Actually that fear is just worry. So the total package of breaking up is something I could do well to look at and I didn't have that idea before reading Steve's blog. Well, it's not like it was a new idea but reading the blog put a framework up for me to work with. I hadn't thought about this issue in my life in this way or as clearly.