Manifesting vs. Problem Solving

Most people are taught manifesting is a bit like an athlete preparing for competition. They use their mind to envision exactly what needs to happen, what the end result should be, and what their life will be like after it's happened. They engage their will power to keep those thoughts present and avoid any thoughts to the contrary as well as wrangling their emotions away from doubt and into positive affirmations and assent. All of which swings the odds of success in their favor. It's not a guarantee but it removes all the barriers which are within the control of the individual whether athlete or manifestor. Conscious effort and actions try to narrow down external negative factors and smooth the way for success. Then it's a matter of showing up and doing what needs to be done when it needs to be done. If things don't work out, then it's back to the drawing board. In corporate terms there's a need to do a postmortem to see what went wrong and what can be done differently the next time to get the right result. Wash - Rinse - Repeat.

Manifesting is an expansive, unfolding, “becoming more or better” process which may or may not include removing things which no longer serve us including habits, personal narratives, actual items and/or property, and even relationships. However, it is primarily a “both/and” process of building on what you already are or have. It’s a means by which we can explore and grow into more aspects of ourselves, our lives, and the world.

To get manifestation moving forward it can help to frame the process this way: "I will allow this to have space within my being and my life." Or brains can then problem solve not only our understanding and perspective on the process, but what we need to do and be in order to support our success.

Our brains are both miraculous authors of imagination and creativity and also negativity generators which are the bane of our existence. They see all the creative possibilities and dream new realities into being while telling us how we'll never attain them or pretty much anything at all. This is not the fault of our brain but how we are taught to interact with ourselves. The negative self-talk is actually meant to be a tool for problem solving, so about ingenuity rather than abuse. And our creative side is meant to support our becoming, not write checks we can't ever cash.

With manifesting it's helpful to keep this in mind (pun intended) so you can balance each side and help them work in harmony. When you breathe in the world, you should be looking for opportunities and disallowing assumptions. Give your brain as much real information and input as possible. The more data you have to work with the better your outcome. Also, welcome and allow real, not assumed, limitations. These are like signs on the freeway telling you what is ahead, what you can, what you can't, and how to navigate your journey. So, while using your brain, don't be too much in your head. Be in the real. 

Breath out the possibilities your creative mind is coming up with, while disallowing assumptions and negative self-talk. There's a difference between knowing your own limitations and creating them through self-sabotage.

And always start where you are. You don't have to understand everything, see every ramification, or understand every "what if" in order to create a clear question or request. The best thing you can do is start where you are. In other words, don't worry about what you don't know, but do acknowledge they are there, then start with the things you do. For example: you may not know how to manifest a new job in the career field you want, but you know you are willing to do what it takes. So start by asking what you need to know first, or what you need to prepare in order to start the process of manifesting the job. This gives your guides permission to open up boxes and baskets full of information, opportunities, and gifts which can get you started in the best way possible. Or if you're looking to make your life about your passion, don't start by trying to monetize it or figure out how to monetize it, but instead ask to be shown how you can invite it into your life. Passions are like relationships: time consuming and life altering. We have to be in them first before we can explain them to others adequately or see them providing blessings out into the world.

One of the most important things to do in any manifestation process is co-create. In any search for answers, any journey, any process of manifestation, we are entering into relationship with not only the Akashics but the rest of the Universe outside of us. All acts of creation are acts of co-creation between ourselves and what is not us. We don't do things alone and while things might impact us, we are still responsible for how we respond to them. We are not creating our reality, but co-creating it. So when formulating requests or questions of your guides, angels, divinities or the universe in general, we need to include our part in the process. Instead of asking to have something done for us, ask for help in getting something done. Instead of asking to be shown how we can do it ourselves, ask how it can best be done and allow this to include help from external sources. When asking a question about a situation, don't accept all responsibility for what occurred, but don't foist it all on others either.

Problem solving is a subset of manifesting and works almost in reverse.  Rather than exploring what could be next or acting on a desire, we become aware of something which isn’t right or is even causing difficulties and choose to act in order to correct it.  The parameters of what is needed are therefore defined by the problem we’ve identified.  For example: manifesting a desire to paint a picture expands us in a variety of ways from exploring paints, paint surfaces, and techniques for painting. Problem solving how to get access to those items narrows the focus down to logistics: time, money, access.

This logistical nature of problem solving is what people think of as figuring things out.  This is an interesting phrase as it originally referred to math where figuring things was using numbers and measures to come to an answer (a figure) or summation.  And as in math, the logistics of problem solving require we know what we already have to work with, then solve for “X” i.e. the things we don’t have or don’t know we need or don’t know anything about at all other than that the space for them exists.

This leads to our logical mind doing what it does best: collecting the facts, analyzing them in order to “get our heads around the issue”, then determining what options there are to use these things in solving the problem. Which is successful 99% of the time.  Can’t find your car keys? Either backtrack to determine where you left them (I threw mine away once as a consequence of being way, way, way too tired to be doing basically anything), find them and make a meme about where you found them because “Oh, my goodness people are weird and wacky”, or use the spare set and figure it all out later.  They’ll show up eventually, right?

Unfortunately, when applied to bigger issues, this can be, ironically, problematic.  When attempting to solve something more impactful, such as how to afford a replacement car for the one which keeps breaking down while at the same time keeping the current one in good repair, the problem can either seem insoluble or the solution can become worse than the problem. Problem solving looks at things logistically and logically, utilizing what already exists as a means to create a solution.  Which means outside the box or creating thinking, if utilized at all, will be very narrowly focused on the problem itself. 

It’s not that big picture “aha!” moments can’t come from this process, they can.  But it’s rare.  Our logical brain isn’t interested in unknowns, “What if’s,” or creative solutions with no guarantee of a good or complete outcome.  Instead it’s interested in this discrete problem in the now and will work to resolve it with what is currently or foreseeably on hand.

This is in part why people can find themselves stuck at various points in their life like when they empty nest, are thrust into a career change, a significant relationship ends, or they rise to a level in their work/career where they are in a leadership position. These are the moments when life is no longer about solving for problems, but manifesting the path ahead from a seemingly blank slate.  All options are available so what do you choose?

For many people manifesting is a process of responding to “should’s”. This can be feeling in flow in your career, being shown each new project, step, stage or opportunity as the current one is completed.  Or it can be making survival level choices to get out of here and deal with the consequences each stage of the way until arriving finally at something resembling a good and healthy life.  Or it can be taking care of everyone’s needs personally and professionally until the family is raised, the relationship is satisfactory, home has become safe space and the finances are secure.

In these and many more trajectories, the manifesting is about solving for problems so the person becomes highly skilled at responding to situations, problems, and pain, both in others and themselves.  This becomes a liability, however, when there are no further problems to solve or the next phase of things is about manifesting more broadly, unfolding to possibilities and navigating through them with curiosity, and a sense of adventure.

Manifesting in the Problem Solving mode is often experienced like someone learning to drive a stick shift for the first time. Hit the gas, then jerk to a stop. Discover a problem, resolve it, now what?... Manifesting more broadly, on the other hand, is more art than logistics, more Fibonacci Sequence than number line, more choose your own adventure while riding a motorized unicycle and much more.

One of the ways you can determine which one of these you are currently using is to check whether the terms “should” or “Best and Highest Good” are coming to mind when you’re in manifesting mode.

Should’s, in this context, are either about the expectations and needs of others and/or the situation being imposed on you, or they are your mind in problem solving mode trying to figure out the requirements for a successful solution. For example: if you’re going to make a cake you should have a bowl, something to mix ingredients with and probably some means of measuring both wet and dry ingredients. Also an implement of some kind which can create the heated environment which will bake the mixture into cake. There are tons of cookbooks, videos, articles, and “experts” who can and will tell you which kinds you should use which may or may not make sense in the situation, but will definitely give your brain an equation to follow and a way to measure success.

Best and Highest Good is on the one hand asking for support in knowing what the best solution to the situation is, because we feel we can’t know or can’t risk being wrong. On the other hand it is asking an external being of some kind to be responsible for our efforts achieving the best solution in the situation whether that is for us or for another.

With Manifesting more broadly, like art, there isn’t any best, there are just options. All roads lead to Rome, as it were. There’s no best way to create something which represents what you want to express; there is only this moment where you either are or aren’t expressing in some form. There’s no best way to quit your job, become a digital nomad and live the van life, or move to Germany and start your antique business, or take the last deep breath before notifying everyone you’re joining Doctors Without Borders. There’s no best way to choose yourself and what is best for you when it no longer includes your partner or goes against the advice of people who love you or means doing the financially risky thing. There’s no best way to take the first step towards whatever you’re wanting to have or be in this world.

And there’s no guarantees. Part of what makes Problem Solving so effective and so desirable is it strives for success, minimizes risk, and attempts to prevent missteps, delays, and especially outright failures. Iteration, practice, participation, experience, and attempts are not valued in this mode other than after the fact as data for improving the process. However, this precludes our being able to see and participate in the unexpected, to allow ourselves to “just see where this goes” with any comfort, or to change course when all of our planning proves to have been based on mis- or missing information.

On the other hand, Manifesting sees all of these experiences as welcome and a means of achieving the goal, but doesn’t necessarily work within a clear set of steps to move us from here to there. It allows the fact we don’t know what we don’t know to be a positive and a space where magic can flow in. If we are a lotus, then Manifesting is like us opening our thousands of petals. It requires us to lean into a life which is eerily similar to the Hokey Pokey, where you put your right foot in, then you take it out. You put your right foot in, and you shake it all about. You do the Hokey Pokey, and you turn yourself around… Manifesting things rather than Problem Solving them means we aren’t creating our reality, but co-creating it in a world which is creating itself all around us. Interconnecting with the Akashics and All That Is can allow this process to be fulfilling and encouraging rather than a series of lessons or challenges to overcome.

So I encourage you to use Problem Solving to solve problems, pain, or difficult issues in your life. But I also encourage you to see your life as something other than a problem to solve. You are an amazing piece of divinity and deserve to unfold yourself as such, in all your unique suchness. Just be careful on that motorized unicycle….