Understanding Manifesting (Part I)

If you haven’t been made aware of manifestation and the power of the human mind to create the world around you then you’ve been living under a rock that, consequently, you manifested. I was awakened to this idea a few years ago – about two or three now – and my experience in wrestling with this concept has had the most profound impact on my life but not in ways that I originally thought. I want to preface this summary by saying that through careful exploration of my past I began to realize the truth in the concept that every success I had, began with an idea, a strong magnetic attraction to an idea that I could and would accomplish a particular goal. I was not aware of how powerful ‘seeing’ a goal as accomplished could be. Becoming totally aware of the process and working with it consistently has created an interesting result, but not all ‘peachy’ as some ‘guru’s’ would have you believe.
Starting with the positive, my first foray into positive visualization began back around December of 2005. At that time I had accomplished what would be considered, by all objective measures, a lot. I completed two Master’s degrees – one in fine arts from Columbia University (a goal I had as a 12 year old) and another in imaging science from RIT. My paintings have been selected in several competitive juried shows up and down the east coast but despite all this – I felt completely and miserably ‘stuck.’ Why? To be exact I imagined that after I finished all of those other intermediate goals I would then be a professional artist earning my living solely by making art – and lots of it – large pieces in museums and being part of collections around the world. As the years dragged on from completing my MFA and working as a color scientist, then pulling myself through a mind crushing Master of Science at RIT, raising a family, I continued to feel – and this is a crucial point – like an abject failure, and more so as each year passed on. I know that is the height of ingratitude – but I think regardless of what someone is accomplishing – if it does not match the ‘dream’ of what ‘success’ is, they can live a life of ‘quiet despair.’ OK – I know I said this would be positive but I wanted to lay the groundwork – I stumbled upon Napoleon Hill and the Power of Positive Thinking. I studied it voraciously and was unpleasantly made aware that I was the obstacle – I was what stood between me and this ‘vision.’ Nothing else – not my financial situation, not my parents, not the government or Wall Street or crippling student loans – just me and my relationship to my ‘vision.’ So back to the timeline – in December of 2005 I committed fully to this power of manifestation – focusing solely on the ‘goal’ – by October of 2006 I was delivering to NYC a bronze memorial sculpture honoring firefighters who died in the September 11 attacks. The Holland Tunnel was shut down to bring this piece in. I always have to pause when I think about that – I will never forget making the turn into the Holland Tunnel – looking back at the toll booths and realizing there was a police officer in every single bay holding back the traffic – thousands of cars – to make way for a sculpture (my first bronze ever) I had made. The story was on the front page of several large newspapers on the east coast and on all the local news stations. I thought, oh my, there is something to this positive thinking. So, what did I do? What would you do? I imagined more. I got even more serious about this thing and I began a journey of writing my goals, visualizing them, saying them out loud – I was like a crazy man totally committed to a process of ‘imagining’ things into existence. Well in all honesty, my impression was that the proverbial door closed again. Why? [To be continued…]