The Art of Manifestation

When we focus our minds on something, we begin to attract things into our experience that feel like the topic of our focus.  This is a basic function of the web of life and our place in it.  We are constantly creating our experiences through our attention to things and events that surround us, whether we are aware of this ability or not.  We can use this function to consciously create the kinds of experiences that we would prefer.  We can do this by being aware of where we allow our attention to focus in our daily moments.  We can also do this by using our imagination.  The more real an experience seems to us in our mind's eye***, the easier and quicker it will appear in our physical experience.  

This is not new information.   Many current spiritual teachers and scientists alike are teaching the power of visualization and focus of mind.   Professional athletes are doing it in nearly every sport.  There is no difference between mind affecting athletic ability and mind affecting any matter.  The bottom line is that whatever we focus our awareness on, we expand the experience of that in our lives.  

Don't believe it?  Well, why not give it a try?  A simple exercise might be to simply think about the color red for a few minutes before you go to sleep each night for a week.  Then notice throughout each following day the colors that show up in your environment.  Do you think you are seeing red simply because you are looking for it now?  Well, isn't that funny.  The fact that you are looking for red may have just as much to do with your finding it as your thinking about red before you go to sleep. 

Okay, try something a little more unusual in your setting.  How about feathers.  Or oranges.  Then maybe cupcakes.   

The images that surround us in our environment can have a profound effect on us.  The emotional interpretation we have of an image causes us to have a certain association with that topic.  As we focus on this image on a daily basis, even in passing, we are repeatedly focusing our minds on that association with that topic.  We will then begin to attract experiences into our lives that are relative to this image and our associations and emotional interpretations of it.  

As an image maker, I utilize this function to its fullest advantage.   In the process of creating an image about an experience that I want to have, I am focusing my mind in a single point of time and space.  I am engaged with my complete awareness on that particular topic.  When I am finished, I also have a tangible product that can also be used as a focal point for my mind.  I can look at this image before I do visualization, which helps me correct my mind's picture of what I am wanting. 

If my desired experience is something out of my normal range of experience, then an easy way to subtly shift my focus, expectations, and beliefs about that topic is to prominently place an image of the desired outcome in my daily environment.  Of course, you do not have to create your own image upon which you want to focus.  You can cut images from magazines or take photographs or buy paintings, prints, sculpture, etc. that represent what you are wanting in your life. 

You can also  watch movies and television shows that depict what you are wanting to experience.  Creating your own image gives you access to it at any time and allows you to customize it specifically.  It does not have to be photo-realism to be effective.  Rather, a doodle or abstract symbol that represents to you your goal or desire works just as well.   It is the focusing of your mind that is the key. The creating of the image will allow you to focus on what you are wanting during the process of creating it as well as later using the product.   It also allows you to customize the image very specifically, and maybe even clarify exactly what you are wanting.  Try it with something simple, and use it for everything you can think of.  You'll be amazed at the results. 

***Not everyone is as visually oriented as I am.  Many people do better making an experience real to them through activity or sound, etc.  The point is to make it as real in your imaginary experience as possible, however that may work for you.