I’m experimenting with my heart.

It’s called life and we all do it.

But the last, what, more than 10 years, I’ve been going about it through the art of manifestation. Yes that is the practice of holding a vision of what you want your reality to consist of–what it looks and feels like. Basically, you hold the strongest intention possible and create those feelings so strongly, believe in them so much and then let go and allow it to appear before your very eyes.

New age thinking has us sold. We can have anything we want, so long as we put our mind to it and manifest it.

This is all lies people. It doesn’t work like that.

Hear me out… through my example.

So it’s no secret, I want love, just like you.

I want a lover, I want a partner, I want to have children, a family, a love of my life. And I don’t just want it to be mediocre. I want it to be stellar. My mind has vivid imagery of what this looks like and what this even feels like. The whole sensory experience. I’ve envisioned it. I’ve felt it.

But I don’t have it.

I’ve attempted to manifest it.

But it’s still not my reality.

So some might argue I am just in the process of still manifesting what I really want. They say it takes time. Others may say I am doing it wrong, that I am not open, which is why it hasn’t shown up yet. Still others may view this as you’ll never have that ability to create whatever you want, so stop trying.

I am, or was, on the manifesting boat. I believe I had the ability to create the future that I wanted, and that sadly I just needed to be more patient.

But now I see things differently.

Manifesting & the Ego Mind

Now I see how my attempts to manifest, are just another trap of my mind, trying to resist what is.

And THIS is what is keeping me stuck.

When I manifest, it doesn’t matter how much I “let go and stay open”, the underlying fact is that I resist what is and I cling to the intentions and visions in my mind. I try to control and manipulate my reality, but this only restricts the flow and movement of energy.

See anytime that you are resisting or clinging, you are putting energy and effort into trying to control your experience. You are restricting the movement of energy because you are trying to force it in one direction or one outcome, the picture you have in your head (aka, your vision to manifest).

And this isn’t how creating reality really works, this is your mind trying to control and will your reality into what you, the ego wants.

So now, to me, manifesting is only a fancy term that means “how I’m trying to control my life”.

And now that I understand this, I’m no longer manifesting my vision of love.

Luckily, There’s a Better Way 

The new way I stumbled upon, was inspired by the brilliant teachings of Michael Singer as he revealed in the Untethered Soul.

After reading his book and contemplating my experience, I realized a better use of my time is

1. to stop distracting myself from reality
2. to stop trying to control the outcome of reality (by manifesting)
3. and instead, to open my heart and surrender to what is

To Open Your Heart and Surrender

When you deny or resist any experience, you put up a reflective energy shield and close off your heart to that flow of energy.

This is how you get stuck in patterns of problems that rule your life (because the energy is not processed, so it doesn’t flow).

Even if the energy of your experience is perceived negative, it doesn’t matter, it needs to be processed and flow through you (not reflected or denied).

It may be uncomfortable, difficult, or even painful to be with, but then you move through it and it is a beautiful thing.

You feel the transformation. You can see the gift. The energy is then free to flow, to move, to change and also to alter your reality into new experiences, new situations and new challenges.

Manifesting is Closing Your Heart, Do this Instead

So rather than manifesting, you need to free your mind and open your heart.

You need to welcome the day, your interactions, your experiences, your positive feelings and negative feelings all inclusive. You need to open and let the energies flow through you.

Manifesting is attempting to control energy with the mind. But the mind can’t create. It is Spirit that creates. As Spirit flows through us, it mixes with earthly energies, and as a result our reality is created.

So it is the path of Spirit (the Divine, Source, God, or whatever you want to call it), where we ultimately go. It is through the path of Spirit where our reality is created and will unfold.

The Path of Spirit

Haven’t you already experienced this? Wouldn’t you agree that this is how life experiences arise?

For example, in a challenging time, life gives us lemons (i.e. sourness and difficulty in life). We might want organic oranges, but we get lemons. These lemons are the lessons that we learn from.

No we didn’t consciously choose them, but they showed up in our life and we had to deal with it, whether the mind liked it or not, whether the mind agreed or not. This is Spirit directing our experience.

Or for example, have you ever felt a call to something deeper? This is also spirit flowing through you. And it has 100% say over anything the mind thinks or wants. If the call of Spirit is truly felt, it overrules the logic of the mind.

By the order of the universe, the path of spirit prevails over the wants and desires of the mind.

To Move Forward

So to move forward, in any challenge, you drop the mind. You drop the vision of what the mind wants. Willing the mind is not your path, your path is the path of Spirit–to come into deeper connection with Spirit, and to be aligned with your higher purpose, in service for the greater good of all beings and the Earth.

Your path is to surrender and open the heart, to not resist the perceived negative, but to be with it and let it move through you, in order to transform it and YOU.

You must let go of trying to control and instead be in the flow, in communion, with the higher order of flow through the spirit realm.

Remember, manifesting is holding energy in a vision, it is in resistance to what is. You can more easily move forward, by accepting what is with an open heart.

And finally, how is this new philosophy working for me?

Well, within the first day of living with a more open heart, I felt barriers to my heart break wide open. I immediately felt more love in my life.

But it isn’t easy. After more time, I am still learning how to consciously watch the opening and closing of my heart. I am learning how to get better at feeling my heart and how to stay aware of it when it closes.

At the same time, I’m also learning how to consciously open my heart and how to surrender fully through my experience.

All in all, as I continue with this experiment of my heart, I do feel more joyful, lightweight and free. I feel less stress with my relationship desires, and much more contentment with focusing not on the stories and wishes of my mind, but by how I can be in alignment with what is.

And as for how relationships are specifically unfolding under this new way of living? Well I will report back soon on how that goes. Keep in touch for that & for more inspiration on how to live with an Open heart.