Chop Wood, Carry Water

Ever feel like you’re sprinting toward your dream life while your body quietly begs you to slow down? We dig into the quiet power of “chop wood, carry water” and show how ordinary actions can become the most reliable engine for extraordinary growth. Instead of pushing harder, we walk through a grounded approach to manifesting that starts with taking honest inventory of what you already have—home, breath, relationships, energy for creative work—and letting your nervous system register safety and sufficiency before you reach for more.

Together we unpack why future-chasing often tightens the body and narrows your choices, and how a simple present-tense practice turns gratitude into momentum. We revisit goals and intentions with clean energy, then try on the next level from a place of fullness rather than lack. You’ll hear a step-by-step rhythm you can reuse any week of the year: go inward, remember, root, then expand. From the Zen teaching “before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water; after enlightenment, chop wood, carry water,” we draw a living method: do the inner work, then return to the dishes, the emails, and the body that will carry your vision into form.

If you’ve been craving growth that doesn’t burn you out, this conversation offers language, structure, and a practice you can start today. We close with reflection prompts you can repeat before and after any milestone—what do I have, what have I already manifested, what can I celebrate, what am I grateful for—so your progress stays connected to presence. Subscribe, share with a friend who’s manifesting big changes, and leave a review to tell us one thing on your “I have now” list.

Transcript

Welcome And Energy Club

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello and welcome back to the Spiritual Shit Show. My name is Julie Wynne, and on Monday nights I host Energy Club. Energy Club is where we gather online. We blend life coaching tools, energy tools, energy work, channeled messages, as we all carve out an hour once a week to remember who we are, to commit to our heart, our soul, our life's desires, purpose. And then also to celebrate the wins with one another. If you have been looking for a community to join, please consider joining us online on Monday nights for Energy Club. On Tuesdays, I sit and I do the work for myself. All of the information that came in on Energy Club, I commit for myself to be there right in the trenches with everybody. And today I'm being reminded of Chopwood Carry Water. Because it's the gentle return. It's grounding, it's remembering, it's recalibrating. Now, the phrase chop wood carry water comes from Zen Buddhism, and it originates from a teaching that says, before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. The meaning is life is not bypassed. Life is not escaped. Life is not transcended. We don't want to continue to spend all of our energy into this future version of ourself, working so hard for our manifestations to come to fruition. We don't want to wake up and think about future, future, future, future. Chop wood, carry water. Do the manifestation work and then come back to the now. Come back to what is being lived now. The dishes still need washing, the emails still need answering, the body still needs tending. And when we are in manifestation mode, which I know so many of us are, and I am strongly encouraging you to revisit the goals, the intentions, the things that really got you excited about what you wanted to feel, call into your life, experience, explore, learn, do, create for 2026. Yes, revisit it. Write out the desires, visualize the next level, practice what it feels like to expand. What does the fullest expression of you feel like, look like? And the reminder that manifestations that come from lack, that I don't have it already, I don't have enough, I need more to feel okay. Once this happens, then I will feel that energy has a different frequency. So today is a gentle interruption. Before you expand, chop wood, carry water, come back to now. So let's put this into a practice. So we're staying in the lane of manifesting and we're pulling back. Chop wood, carry water, stay in the moment. I want you to think about in your life right now, what do I have? Write all of the things that are in your life now. I have a home that holds me. I have an incredible family. I have beautiful friends that I can lean on. I am excited about continuing to work out and I love this new class that I just started. I love that I am reading these books. I have breath. I have wisdom. I have food in my refrigerator. I have a job that I get to go to. Whatever it is for you, write it out. In my life right now, I am grateful for the way my life looks right now, is okay. I have now. It's a little different than a gratitude list because you're taking inventory. In my life now, today, I have. I have a car that works. I have a home. I have excitement around creative projects I want to create. I have a beautiful family. This is embodiment. This is acknowledging what you have already manifested. Look at your life. At some point, I am reminding you, the life that you have now, there is a version of you that has prayed for this. At some point, you desired this home, this relationship, this dream job, this chapter that you're in right now. Chop wood, carry water. You are already standing inside answered prayers. So why does this matter when we are working on manifesting? When we manifest from scarcity, the nervous system is tight, it's contracted, it's reaching. And when we manifest from sufficiency, from fullness, from wow, look at my life actually, look at who I am, look at who I've become, look at who I am becoming, and you get to see the blessings that you already have. I already have so much. That's expansion energy. Here's the rhythm. Go inward. Remember. Root. Then expand. And when we go inward, remember. Root into it. Feel it. That energy then erupts naturally. This creative energy has no choice but to bloom. I want you to remember that manifesting and expansion work isn't forced. It's organic. But we have to sit in the seat of now first. So here's your gentle reminder. Yes, we are here to grow. Yes, we are here to evolve. Yes, we are here to create. But we do not want to abandon the present moment. Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. Before manifestations. What do I have? What have I already manifested? What can I celebrate? What am I grateful for? After manifestation? What do I have? What have I manifested? What can I celebrate? What are my blessings? What do I have to be grateful for? Keep revisiting the list. Add to it. And let it expand organically. Never skip the grounding portion. This is your reminder. Come home to you now. Take inventory. Feel the fullness and the beauty and the gratitude for your life today. And then from that rooted place, create. Thank you for being here. All my love.