BY DR. ATHENA STAIK, PH.D.

April 10, 2023  

Thoughts are energy. Positively or negatively charged energy. And emotion is energy in motion, or e-motion. Who is in command of the energy of your inner life in key moments of decision making, you or your subconscious?

What you focus on expands in size in your mind, and thus your life. 

Your choice on where you focus attention on matters. Consciously or by default you are always creating yourself and life. 

Your focus literally directs your subconscious mind to pay attention, and to take the words you tell yourself  -- not unlike a genie -- as commands that direct it to do what it "thinks" you want.

If you wonder why a worrisome habit lingers, or why you seem to attract certain people or situations, look to your thoughts. Notice the emotions they create in and around you. Upsetting emotions, in particular, teach and invite you to take the reins of these creative powers, to thoughtfully respond and choose. 

To do so however, you must first cultivate a conscious awareness of the words you think and say.

Emotions are action signals, indicators of where you are in relation to where you want to be. At any given time, your energy vibration resonates with what you are attracting in life. 

By consciously shifting your thoughts away from what you lack, for example, to what you want and aspire to create instead, you literally alter and shift the energy of your body away from negative, low-frequency emotions to positive high-frequency ones. 

Positive thoughts and feelings align you to your authentic self within, an ever present reservoir of powerful capacities within you. How important is this? The more blissful your feelings, the more aligned with who you really are.

Painful emotions are also essential, as guides to befriend in the process. They invite you to see who you are not, or to take necessary action to remove an obstacle in the way.

Take care that your focus on what you want is relatively balanced; that is, to not get overfocused on outcomes, checking the results, and so on. This is counterproductive. A worrisome focus on goals may explain why what you ask for is not realized. 

The key to manifesting your dreams and aspirations lies in taking steps to sharpen your focus, and ignite the enthusiasm, confidence and momentum you need to remain optimally energized when life challenges or obstacles appear in the way. 

The realization of who you aspire to become or what you aspire to manifest in your life entails at least the following three steps.

1. Ask clearly for what you want.

In this step, you clarify what you want. The more detail you describe in writing down your goals and aspirations, the better. 

Words create pictures in your mind. Pictures ignite emotions. Emotions shape behaviors. What you are doing here is using the power of your imagination to consciously become the vibrational match for what you yearn to create or bring into your life. 

This step sets the direction, giving you a laser beam focus on what you want, to replace the subconscious "by default" or "hit or miss" mode. 

The principle of life that operates here is “Ask and you will receive it.” 

Set an intention to focus on being aware of thoughts and articulating words that ignite enthusiasm for what you want to realize, for example, high energy emotions that inspire you to action or to feel gratitude. Look for reasons to believe in yourself and capabilities, and regularly give thanks to others and life itself. 

Your brain is wired to energize the emotions you need, and the accompanying behaviors, to create more of the thoughts, emotions and behaviors needed to keep you moving in the direction of your focus. 

When you become a vibrational match for what you want, your actions and behavior patterns will align more and more with your thoughts, emotions, imagination. 

Determine where you are at present in relation to where you want to be, and make a distinction between what you think you want, what you really want, and what you really, really want. You will be surprised at the power this gives you to more precisely tell your genie friend what you want!

At the same time, you also need to identify what you do not want. 

This is easier; typically, it's what most learn from childhood to continually think about. In fact, the main obstacles to happiness and fulfillment of dreams are habits of focusing on lack, fault-finding, harsh judgments, negative forecasts, and the like. 

A focus on faults and lack also creates energies of resistance inside you; and others if you approach them with this energy. This explains why there is often so much tension in our closest relationships.

Nevertheless, it's neither possible nor useful to eliminate "don't want" thoughts altogether! 

Knowing what you do not want is useful to you. It illuminates what you really want, for example. 

(A good rule of thumb here is to keep 80 to 90% of your focus on what you want; and the remainder on what you do not.)  

Transform your "don't wants" into wants with this exercise. First, brainstorm and jot down a list of what you do not want. Note the upsetting emotion(s) each activates inside. Then, next to each statement, write down what this means you want or really want instead. 

Once you clarify what you want, spend a few moments each day, tuning into visualizing one of your dreams and aspirations. Pause for mini-retreats, close your eyes and take a few deep breaths, to consciously see and feel the good feelings and sensations inside. Imagine you have attained your result. Engage all your senses, sight, touch, hearing, smell and taste if possible, in visualizing your dream and goals. 

2. Align your beliefs to serve your aspirations and highest good.

The second step is to identify what you believe about the possibilities for you to realize and achieve what you want. Ensure your beliefs are aligned and serve your highest aspirations. 

You cannot attract your highest aspirations if your thoughts and feelings are focused on lack. Or if you do not believe you are capable of realizing what you wish to accomplish.

Beliefs can either free you to new possibilities, or set emotional limits. They either raise or lower your emotional resonance, and thus can limit or engage your inner powers of imagination and possibility thinking, and so on. Naturally, you want beliefs that energize and ignite your momentum, and more. 

The life principle that operates here is that “What you believe is what you achieve.”

This step ensures your inner vibrational energy is aligned with what you really want, and allows you to exercise your power, as captain, to command of your thoughts. Remember that words produce images that, in turn, accordingly ignite emotions and actions. It's up to you to consciously choose thoughts and beliefs that will link pleasurable sensations to what you really, really want. When you do, you are making a choice to resonate with feeling states that say, “Yes!" to making changes.  

You want your beliefs to empower you to feel confident in your ability to realize your goals, and shape the direction of your life. (Otherwise, your subconscious mind, which does no original thinking of its own, will make by default choices that can you keep stuck in old habits.)

You have the power inside to choose to energize the thinking-feeling states that vibrationally match what you want. Coach yourself into vibrational alignment with what you want. 

3. Let your actions be purpose-driven.

The third step is to identify the reasons you want what you want. 

This step energizes you with a sense of purpose, igniting the momentum to sustain your enthusiasm from start to finish. You also need this momentum to face inevitable obstacles on the way.  When you connect to your purpose and the values that inspire you to move toward realizing your dreams, there's a vibrational match.  

The principle here is "I am wired to feel, to express, to be what I most yearn for and aspire." 

The intensity of the purpose of your desires may determine the speed with which you achieve what you want. 

Your joy and happiness are essential ingredients. They are not goals. They are "the way" to travel on your journey in life. Protect them. Your ability to feel joy, at will, regardless circumstances you don't like, is also your best guarantee that you will continue to experience joy after you achieve your goal. 

Set an intention to look for reasons to feel good about your life, even the challenges that grow you. Smile often, practice gratitude and giving thanks.

Keep in mind however that this intensity will be tested occasionally by challenges or obstacles along the way. To remain a vibrational match for what you aspire to create, especially at times when you face a setback, you must also allow the process to build your resilience, increase rather than decrease your momentum, to the point where you develop a champtions mindset! A champion views failure or challenges as opportunities to grow ever stronger, more courageous, determined to succeed. 

In sum, the power to ignite and manifest your dreams is inside you, waiting for you to access. Take the steps to become more deliberate in what you want to create for yourself and life, to believe in yourself and your limitless potentional, the purpose that underlies your every action, and you will be amazed by the inner capacities you have to ignite and manifest your dreams. 

Last but not least, remember to pause on occasion to reflectively assess your progress, and ensure what you want, believe and value are aligned toward to same goal. 

A focused vision of your highest aspirations engages and transforms you to become an ever better version of yourself.

Live in the integrity of who and what you most aspire to be and create. Believe in yourself and enjoy the journey to your goals.