Optimism is Always the Best Strategy
The Alchemy of Manifestation: Turning Beliefs Into Reality
Be optimistic, you only stand to gain. You are as good as you believe you are, your beliefs will shape what you do and, ultimately, who you become. Pay attention to your thoughts, they are the First Movers of your journey through this path called ‘life’. You are not a helpless bystander, you have control. You are the main character of your story.
Life begins when you realize that you are not just who you are, you are also who you can become. You are a being who is also becoming. Life begins when you truly realize that you are free to act and become who you want to be.
Belief → Will → Action → Habit → Character → Destiny
Manifestation sounds like some metaphysical woo-woo — after all, if it was really that easy to just wish for what you want, why do most of us live in a state of perpetual wanting? We always have a wish list of things we want or lifestyles we want to develop. We want to be rich, we want that specific person to fall in love with us, we want that dream job, etc.
I encourage you, dear reader, to check your empiricism at the door and temporarily suspend your views, and just feel as if you were a child learning something new for the first time:
Intentions affect perception and behavior, which affect results. Beliefs are the building blocks of achievement.
For example, if you direct your focus on spotting red cars, you’re likely to spot more red cars even though the actual average number of red cars you see everyday is probably not that different (thank you, @thedulab). Similarly, if your intention is already placed on what you want, the belief that you will get what you want will subconsciously draw you closer to that goal in reality.
“Don’t walk into a place like you wanna buy it, walk in like you own it.”
― Matthew McConaughey
If you train your way of thinking and forge your intentions towards what you think matters in a partner/job/etc., you're much more likely to notice and recognize it when you see it.
Call it priming, psychological conditioning, or placebo — at the end of the day, we’re all just pattern-seeking beings trying to make meaning out of disorder and entropy. Beliefs weave out what we deem as significant and meaningful in the world. We are pattern-detecting by nature, believing is the first step in picking out what is important among everything else that can be important.
Manifestation is optimism in motion.
Positive ideas alone are scalars, but believing in them turns them into vectors.
For the scientifically minded readers begging for a working definition of optimism, I describe it as the hope and confidence that something will turn out successful. I see it as a form of anti-Murphy’s Law — I believe that optimism works in a sense that if good things can happen, they will, but one must choose to believe in it.
Optimism is the psychological alchemy of turning beliefs into reality.
In order to get what you want, you have to believe that you 1) deserve it and 2) are capable of achieving it. The world is changed by people who believe they can, because intentions generate the power for making change. Re:
Belief → Will → Action → Habit → Character → Destiny
The truth is, life is pretty hard. In the face of challenges and inescapable pains it’s hard to tangibly grasp the mantra of “staying positive” — sometimes we don’t see how the glass is half-full, we just want to throw the glass across the room and watch it smash against the wall. We might feel pathetic at times, “why do I even deserve the best? Why SHOULD the world care? Why SHOULD reality favor me?”
To remain optimistic — that is, hopeful — is to recognize that you will never escape the threat of adversity but you have the right to contend with it. It’s the courage to believe, truly believe, that despite hardship, you’re meant to live a life full of passion, purpose, and miracles. That the universe did not bring you this far to abandon you, that you are not inferior to anyone. That you are fully capable of twisting the fabric of reality at your will.
Manifestation is the embodiment of the relentless reach for transcendence. It’s not waiting for signs, rather it’s putting your optimism to work and seeing how you are a playing character in the world — if you put something out there, something comes back to you. It’s recognizing that you have a duty to build your calling and that life doesn’t happen TO you, but FOR you.
Doing begets Being.
Do what you truly want to do with full-hearted intention and belief, before you know it you’ll be exactly who you want to be. Everything you’ve ever wanted is coming your way, the future is ready to please those who believe they can change it. The real question is, are you ready to receive it?
Ending quote:
“What seizes your imagination will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you do with your evenings, how you spend your weekend, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.”
— Fr. Pedro Arrupe
enjoyed listening to this, thank you.
The accuracy of this part “sometimes we don’t see how the glass is half-full, we just want to throw the glass across the room and watch it smash against the wall” 😭😭