The Stories We Tell Ourselves
“You write the script for your life with the stories you tell yourself.” - T Jamaica Pogue, 2o26
A pattern I’ve noticed - either when speaking with people about the positive changes I have made in my life, or encouraging them to go for their goals - I tend to get some version of this response: “See, you can do that - it’s not easy for me to do that” or “I can’t do that. You’re different. You can do that.”
If these are the stories you tell yourself, then this will be the storyline you will live out. If you keep repeating these beliefs like a mantra, eventually they will take root and influence if and how you grow.
This is why positive affirmations are suggested as a way to rewire your brain. Even if you don’t believe these things at first, the more you say them the more your brain will register them as beliefs - which we know for most people their beliefs are inextricable from their identity - and you will start to manifest the life you desire.
Manifestation is not a passive endeavor, nor is it mystical. It follows a fairly simple and reliably replicable process: clear intention, aligned action, and patience.
Clear intention doesn’t simply mean stating what you want. It requires shadow work, deep introspection and reintegration of your inner child. It requires you to know yourself which allows you to connect with your soul’s authentic voice. From that place you can get clear about what it is you want to do that is also aligned with your true identity - stripped of the conditioning and externally placed expectations of who you are supposed to be. Instead, you know who you are and you are now building a life from the foundation built on your inner voice and not the societal voice that works overtime to drown your inner voice out with chaos, fear, and doubt.
Once you are clear on your intention you can begin to take actions that will align you with the life that you envision for yourself. You will not be able to jump from the starting line to the end result, but little by little you can make small and consistent changes in your life that help you to practice the vibration or experience of what it will feel like once you have manifested the life of your dreams. For example: if you dream of being a fashion designer with high profile clients but you don’t have the money and resources to start a fashion line and produce on a large scale. However, you do have a sewing machine, some notions and a bunch of clothes that are gathering dust. You could start working on deconstructing some of your old clothes and repurposing the material. Through that process you can start to hone your skills and become clear on your aesthetic and branding. You can wear your own designs and post them on social media in the meantime. By taking actions that align with the life you envision in the way that you have control over, you are training your subconscious to feel safe in this energy. Being a fashion designer is no longer just something you dream of and instead it is what you are.
Aligned action and clear intentions tend to feed each other, like an ouroboros. Taking actions that align with your intentions often opens you up to deeper levels of clarity about your purpose therefore influencing your course of action therefore starting the loop again and again. Infinite inspiration glitch unlocked.
The third - and often most bypassed part - is patience. Most people don’t like knowing that most things are out of their control, so we do things to rush to the desired result that often end up setting us back further. When you are clear about what you want and why while also taking action in ways that are aligned with what you currently have, you remove the focus on this idealized version of you that exists in the future and your focus shifts to being a steward of the time and resources you have presently. You will notice that eventually it will feel like things are moving more quickly when in reality by shifting your focus to the now, you end up merging your future self with your current self. You are no longer waiting for these things to happen…you are living them day by day.
