Tea With TJ
Welcome to Tea with TJ! A Podcast on self-discovery where our love for tea, conversation, a deeper understanding of life, and self-improvement intersect. Life is messy and sometimes you just need a cup of tea!
Tea With TJ
Writing Down Desires: Enhancing the Manifestation Process
In this episode, TJ and and guest TJ Gibson discuss the power of manifestation and the importance of writing down your desires. They share personal stories of how they have manifested things in their lives and the role of gratitude in the manifestation process. They also discuss the balance between being specific in your manifestations and remaining open to different possibilities. TJ shares how he has manifested clients and his career as a stylist, while TJ emphasizes the importance of finding peace at home. They both express their fear of not fully realizing their purpose and the practice of gratitude through writing and speaking.
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Hey friends, it's TJ, and you're listening to Tea with TJ, where our love for tea, conversation and self-improvement intersect. So let's take a deeper dive into my cup and let's have a chat. Hey friends, it's TJ. Welcome back to another episode of Tea with TJ. And today I have another TJ on the show, tj Gibson. Welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2:Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm so happy to be here.
Speaker 1:So just quickly for our guests, can you tell me your story, sure?
Speaker 2:It's always so tough with that. So, first of all, it's really weird hearing my first and last name being said, like on an online creation, like a type of thing. It's so weird hearing my full name. But anyway, um, my name is TJ. Um, I am, um a very insane person. No, I um.
Speaker 2:So online, I go by bizarre hodgepodge, um, have gone by that for several years, um, and so I do a number of different things. One of them is being a personal, uh stylist. The other is, um, like working an actual, like nine to five job, um, in investment operations. That is the one thing that, well, that's the thing that pretty much pays the bills. But I also do content creation via Instagram and YouTube. I have a blog that I need to clear the cobwebs off of, to be frank, but it is still available, but it is still available, and so I currently live right outside of Nashville, tennessee, with the goal of moving into Tennessee like any day now, honestly, been here for five years at this point. I am originally from Mississippi, jackson to be exact. So that is my hometown, that's where I was born and raised, and, yeah, I think that pretty much sums me up in a nutshell.
Speaker 1:It's so weird. I think I mentioned this, we had you for a special episode last week and it's weird that we have been in such close proximity and have never met before. I know, uh, because I grew up in memphis, um, and I feel like so many people from jackson usually end up in memphis at some point, like whether it's like for the well, back when I back in my day, um, when I was there, like the the fair or the um the classic, or like you know, any of those type of big things that happen in Memphis, yeah, I feel like everybody kind of like descends upon Memphis from, like Little Rock and Jackson and, you know, everywhere else, yeah, so it's weird that I've never encountered you before.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, so yeah, from Jackson to Memphis I think it's like three or four hours, so it's not like a big road trip. So a lot of times, even when I was a kid like that was that was like an annual trip for like me and my family, we would go to Memphis for one of the games. I'm not into sports, I just remember being able to go on a road trip, stay in a hotel and insisting on an indoor pool. I was a spoiled child so I was like if we're going somewhere, I want to indoor pool. That's all I cared about. I never went to the game, my dad did. But yeah, Memphis was always like the go-to place. Even when I grew up, some friends and I would like travel to Memphis every now and again, just like get away out of Jackson.
Speaker 1:So yeah, gotcha, okay, well, I'm happy to connect with you now. Like this is it's just proof that the world is, you know, much smaller than we like to believe sometimes, very that. So when we were chatting about having you on for this full episode, I sent you a list of topics and we agreed we mutually agreed on one that spoke to you, writing it down, manifesting what you want, which I always think is a really cool concept for a topic, because I feel like we oftentimes very much don't understand or comprehend how important it is for us to manifest the things that we are actually after in our lives and, even more specifically, write them down Right and how that can actually lead to those things that we have been trying to bring towards us and gravitate towards in our lives, like bringing those things to fruition. So, just quickly, can you share with me like what actually like stood out in your mind about that topic, about choosing it?
Speaker 2:Well, because I'm currently doing that. Well, I'm always doing it, but I'm extremely intentional right now about writing down the things that I want, writing down the things that I want to manifest gratitude practice or gratitude exercise, which is a part of this book called the magic, which is a part of a larger collection from the secret. So, if anyone knows of the secret, the book, the secret, there's, I think, about four or five actually four or five books that are actually a part of, I guess, that collection. It starts with the secret, it goes into the power, which is another incredible book.
Speaker 2:From the power, you go into the magic, which is basically again a 28-day gratitude practice and, within the the, the way that you manifest things according to the magic, which I believe, um, the way that you manifest more things or the things that you want in your life is to start with gratitude, um, and to write a lot of things down that you are grateful for. So you go from the magic to the book called, I think it's the hero, or hero, which I have not gotten to yet, um. But that is why I chose this particular topic, or why this one really got me, is because I'm currently doing that right now, like I'm going through, I'm writing everything that I'm grateful for One, just to be grateful for them, but also to manifest more, and to manifest my next chapter in my life and the things that I want to be a part of that chapter.
Speaker 1:I love that there's. It's interesting because gratitude is one of those things that I feel like I am. The older I've gotten, the more, the more it's actually become a part of my life, like and not to say that I'm not grateful for things because I am, but I think as we get older and really start to think about life as a whole and like the direction that we want to go in and the goals that we're trying to accomplish, um, things that, at least for myself I can only speak for myself things that pop up that I see, that I acknowledge, um, I tend to I've started to have more gratitude about them, and I know that was probably very confusing, but I'm going to break it down. There are moments where I am going throughout my week Right, and it may be a shitty week Right. Every possible thing that could have gone wrong has gone wrong. Nothing is going right. The thing that I was trying to accomplish this week just didn't happen because of X, y and Z.
Speaker 1:But being able to sit Saturdays and Sundays are kind of like my recharge days, but being able to sit at the end of the week and reflect on all of the things that did or didn't go right or wrong, um kind of like, informs the gratitude that I end up having, which it's very hard to see when you're in the moment, but it's so much easier when you are able to like reflect on it. And usually on the weekends is when I can sit and I'm like oh, you know, that thing that really tripped me up this week, or that audition that I had that like I felt like was crap when I submitted it because I'm so hard on myself. I'm actually really grateful that I had the moment to even audition for that, because some people don't have that opportunity at all that you are able to, especially now in this, this phase that you're in right now. Do you find that?
Speaker 2:you have moments where you are able to kind of reflect with gratitude.
Speaker 2:Yes, um, especially going through again this, this 28 day practice, like it's real, it's reading me to filth, honestly, because I am truly understanding and finding that like I have been so ungrateful for things in my past or you know, and because it really it gets really granular, this practice, and it really makes you think about all the things you take for granted, yeah, and all the things that you may complain about, um, that actually you should be grateful for, um.
Speaker 2:And so it is often in, uh, retrospect that you think about like, oh, I complained about that thing, or I didn't even give a second thought to this thing, that I actually was actually really good for me, or actually I could have been really grateful for it, um, and so I think what is?
Speaker 2:I think, as we continue to practice gratitude and, as you said, get older and really become more intentional about um being grateful, I think the practice comes in in, in, in being grateful in the moment, or getting better at being grateful in the moment as opposed to in retrospect or as opposed to, you know, waiting until after the fact, and then you think about oh wait, actually. So that is what I endeavor to do is like this thing has happened maybe it wasn, maybe it was unexpected, or maybe it wasn't something that I wanted per se but in immediately in the moment, thinking, cool, everything is happening for my highest good. I understand this, I'm grateful for this and just keep it moving, because I think that that's how you, you maintain kind of a high vibration, maybe a high connection. I mean a connection to your, your higher self.
Speaker 1:That may begin a little too woo woo, a little bit too spiritual for some people but yeah, it's funny Cause I feel like I've again I'm, I'm, I'm working towards, I'm always working towards this better version of me, right, and I think we all are, ultimately. But you said something that um stuck out to me just now of really trying to be intentional and be grateful in the moment and not in retrospect. Yeah, and I find that just thinking about those specific moments in time for me, I find I'm able to do that more with the like simplistic moments of life. Yes, and I have always been a rain person. Like I love rain, right, the sound of it, the sound of a thunderstorm, it just I don't know musically or whatever it is, but like it just does something to me. And I usually, especially in New York City, because so many people are moving, you know, a million miles a minute and like trying to get from point A to point B, the city kind of stops a little when it like really rains because people don't want to be in it, right, and especially when it's been like gloomy for a few days and people have like seasonal depression and all that stuff, it can kind of like put a damper on the day.
Speaker 1:And it's funny because those, those are the moments that I find myself being grateful in the moment, because I'm like the we, we needed this rain, right, we needed this moment. Like most times, the humidity in the air is already thick and you can feel it just kind of waiting to happen and to pour out, and I find, when those happen, when those moments happen in the city, I find myself being like, oh, thank you, we actually we needed this. You know, like, we needed this cool down, or or you know we've gone through a drought for a few months, or a few weeks or whatever it is, and when that, then when that release finally happens, it's, you know, a collective sigh of relief, even if people are annoyed by it. Um, have you experienced any any size of relief in your life when it comes to this trajectory that you're on of, like trying to manifest the things that you want? Like have you been able to actually manifest something currently?
Speaker 2:everything I have, um, it's, it's. It's really hard to that's a hard question to answer, because it's literally everything I have um, I, I'm I'm overlooking my car right now, like I know, I manifested that um, um, I the, the, the place that I'm living in, this, this, this town home that I'm living in. I've manifested literally everything that I have, um, and I think the beauty of that is often or I guess I'll just speak for myself often I don't realize what I'm manifesting, um, or I don't realize, like, the, the, the next step that's about to occur, or the things that I'm really um, or where I really want to be. I never know, and we can never know right, we can never know, like, what is coming next, um, and so, yeah, like literally everything. Uh, my job, like I started I started a new job in January of this year, had no idea that it was coming, but it came exactly at the right time. So, like every single thing I have, I have manifested Um, so it's, it's. There's no one thing I can pinpoint, because it's literally everything.
Speaker 1:I love that. Yeah, I feel that that's something that I've like. Again, I'm still new ish to to this space, but in an effort to try to like continue to be a better version of myself, year to year, month to month, I find that there I agree with you in saying that, like I think there are some things that I unintentionally manifested that I wasn't thinking about, or, like you know, writing it down necessarily or speaking it constantly out into the universe. This apartment is one of those things. This, this is, I mean, this may be, you know, sharing too much, but this is a rent controlled apartment in New York City which is very hard to find. When we found this place, we were not aware that it was rent controlled. They didn't disclose that from the beginning. It wasn't until the lease renewal came that we found out that it was actually a rent controlled building and in New York City it is one of those things that people are like very much trying to find. Like trying to find an apartment that is affordable.
Speaker 1:That is, you know, Brooklyn for like five years and I had gone to Disney and worked for about a year and came back to New York and the pandemic happened and went back to that apartment and when we were at this crossroads with either staying in this place with an additional roommate or moving out and finding our own place, I very much was at a place in my life at that time where I was like I think I'm done with the roommate thing, like I really want a place of my own and I would prefer it to be in this neighborhood and I would prefer it to be something that, like I'm not moving, you know year to year or like in two years or whatever it is.
Speaker 1:Not thinking that, as I'm not moving, you know year to year or like in two years or whatever it is, yeah, not thinking that, as I'm thinking all of these things and saying these things out loud, that I'm actually manifesting this. This apartment that I have been in now for almost four years, yeah, um, so I do believe that, like there's so much power in speaking and writing and being intentional behind the things you want in life Is is there. Let me go back, because I know we've been talking about this, but I want to make sure that listeners and people watching have some sort of information of like how to actually do this. So can you just share with us when it comes to manifesting things, whether it be verbal or actually writing it down. What does that look like for you when you are trying to to be intentional about the things that you want to do for life?
Speaker 2:yeah. So I do believe, um, especially for me, um, especially for me, I do believe that my power, my, my like, my power of manifestation lies in writing. Um, because I have, and that's, whether you're literally writing or typing, like getting it down on something where you can actually see the words, I think, is so so much more powerful than simply thinking them or simply saying them, although speaking, though speaking, the words is powerful as well. But I have seen things on a number of occasions that I have written down, that have occurred, whether it's over time or whether it was the next day, like and some, and sometimes again, it's I'm not even trying to do it and then it happens. I'm like, oh, I wrote that down, I wrote that down. Or sometimes, as I'm writing it, I'm so focused with my intention that I know for a fact that it's going to happen. I'll give you an example.
Speaker 2:So this is a crazy example, but when I first moved to this city, I encountered a rather unpleasant man at this new gym that I joined. As a matter of fact, he was one of those Geminis I was telling you about last week, the one I almost got into a fight with. So it was such an unpleasant encounter and I had never had an encounter like that before. That night I wrote in my journal and I was so intently focused. I wrote in my journal I will never see that man again and I never saw that man again.
Speaker 2:And so it's, it's, it's almost like I, it's almost like I have to be careful about what I write, because I know that that is a wonderful way to manifest those things. So, yeah, I'm I'm grateful for the gift of writing, because I started writing when I was in middle school. Because I started writing when I was in middle school, I started writing poetry and that felt like such a. It just felt so right, it felt like such an amazing creative outlet, and so it's been something that has been my thing for the better part of my life, and so I really understand the power in writing.
Speaker 1:That's funny, because I do not consider myself a writer. People have been trying to convince me to write my own show and all of those things and I'm like, but that's just not my jam, y'all. Um, it's interesting listening to you, um, speak so, uh, consciously and intentional about writing everything down, because I although that's not a space that I inhabit that frequently because I do do it sometimes. I have my notes app and I'm like, we'll jot things down. Or if I'm, if I'm seriously meditating on something, or something sitting with me, I will write it down and say, okay, this is what I want. Or something sitting with me, I will write it down and say, okay, this is what I want, this is what I'm after. Um, this is how I envisioned my life in the next five years. Um, but I find myself speaking things a lot more um, and not even not even necessarily to someone else.
Speaker 1:There are moments in the shower where I'm saying where you know, where I'm saying I'm going to have a good day today, you know or I'm going to book this job, I'm going to have, I'm going to get an audition for this, and just I've gotten in the habit of just letting those things fall out in some of those things, if, if, not all of them have actually come to me. But I've also found and I've had this conversation with someone else, I've also found that in this idea of trying to manifest the things that you want, you have to be very, um, yes, intentional, but also receptive to those things and very specific in what you want.
Speaker 1:Right, like you can't just say I want a car because you could end up with, you know, a used what I'm not cars, but like you know what I mean you could, you could end up with something that was not what you actually wanted or desired. So, being very specific in what you, are I?
Speaker 2:I, I am of two minds about specificity when it comes to manifestation.
Speaker 2:Um, because I feel like I've, I've, I've done both and I feel like I get shot in the foot either way sometimes.
Speaker 2:So I I feel like, when I am extremely specific and I'm very much a all or nothing, black and white kind of person so if I am extremely specific about the thing I want and I don't get exactly that thing like, for instance, I'm trying to man, I am manifesting a brand new car right now and I want a specific model, I want specific features and this, this, this, this. If there's one thing missing out of that, I'm like see, I shouldn't have been specific because I knew how to do that. So then I go to the side of well, let me just be general, because I know what I want and I'm going to just trust the universe, and then you get to where you get something that well. So it's kind of like you're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't. Sometimes I understand people saying specificity and I do think I mean, I do think that that is like the best way to manifest. But yeah, sometimes I'm just like I didn't get 100% of it, I got 98%, but I'm still not happy. You know I get that.
Speaker 1:I get that.
Speaker 1:I also think there's a certain level of openness that has to exist, right, when you're trying to get these things to come towards you.
Speaker 1:Um, because if you were going out into the world and saying you want these things to come at you, but you're not open to any version of them, right, because I think, in, in listening to you just now, I think there's still a level of vulnerability and openness that exists, um, even in the non-specific, this non-specific thing that you're after, um, but you're still very open to, even if it wasn't that particular car, with all of those specific things, you still want a new car, right, like the desire, still wanting whatever that thing is.
Speaker 1:And I think that is usually the kind of um, slight nuance that people probably get hung up on to, where they're like, oh well, then nothing's happening, like nothing's coming to me and I'm like, no, but like if you, if you're, if you're actually open to it, like yes, you may say you want I don't know, a new boyfriend or a new girlfriend or whatever, right, that person may not be if you weren't as specific enough. They may not be all of those things, right, but they might exist in them, but it's going to take time for those things to come out right, like it takes a little bit of of of time and effort to then get that version that you're actually after, but they're still the right person for you, okay, you know. At least that's how I see it.
Speaker 2:I think and I think that's a great way to see it, I really do. I think that, yeah, that is something I got to work on myself. I got to work on myself with it because even my therapist has therapist has told me like that you can't be all or nothing, you can't be black and white. Like you know, there is a gray area and often it's a great, it's a great thing to exist in that gray area.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and I am a huge fan of possibilities. Like, I think, people who know me personally, I'm always thinking of a million possible ways that things can happen. I'm like you know, this person didn't make a decision based off of this one thing, like there are so many other factors involved in whatever decision that we make. Like you think about getting dressed in the morning. You know it is a matter of what is the weather like, how am I feeling today, what fits, what doesn't fit Right. All of these are the factors that contribute to you know, and even which I think is a great parlay into you as a stylist, what have you been able to manifest in that medium?
Speaker 2:Oh, I would say clients. I would say honestly, I would say becoming a stylist was something that I manifested, that I didn't even realize I was manifesting. I go on these wild life takes me on these wild journeys up with um, like my last big ex um, because earlier, early in our relationship, he he was, he was he needed to put together some clothes for something I can't remember, and I was over his house and he was talking about it and I was like, well, either he asked me for my help or I offered my help, and so we went upstairs to his closet and I just specifically remember being so in the zone and, because it was someone that I had this affection for, it was as if nothing else existed, it was as if I was so keenly focused and it just felt so right. And so I always returned to that moment and I think I know that that is the silver lining of our, of our relationship or our breakup or whatever, because I would not have gotten to the to, to the point of realizing just how passionate I am and just how much I love like helping people find their style or putting people into clothes, if it would not, if it weren't for, like that moment and a couple of other moments with him.
Speaker 2:Now, prior to knowing him, I had done like some personal shopping with like some high school friends like several years prior, because I was like I do really kind of like this, but I never really was serious about it. But then that came back up and I was like TJ, yeah, all of this because my brain often runs a mile a minute. I'm very cerebral, but when I am styling, nothing else is going on except I can see this, I can move, I, this looks good, let's put a shoe with it. That is how I know. So I feel like just me becoming a stylist was manifested in me meeting him and going through that whole thing, and that's why one of my life's mantras is everything happens for a reason. So and that's why I also say that I, we are constantly manifesting things, really without even knowing it, because we're always getting to the place that we our purpose in life, our calling in life, but we may just not even realize it.
Speaker 1:I agree, yeah, and I believe that there is a certain level of, um, uh, there's a certain level of, like, destiny that exists in each of our lives, that there are just paths that are inevitable. Right, there are paths that that will, paths that will cross, that are meant to happen, that influence your story and how your entire life is shaped. That's yeah, that's beautiful. I love that. I love that, like, even in this relationship that did not necessarily turn out the way you might have thought it would have, it was intentional and integral into your overall story and you finding this, this moment, out of your life. I love that. I love that, yeah, um, so we are at time damn, yeah, all right yeah I mean, but that's how these things go.
Speaker 1:You know they come and go so quickly. Everyone comes and goes so quickly here, but I want to say thank you, thank you, thank you for doing this, thank you. This has been even better than our conversation last week for sure, yes where can the folks find you Even?
Speaker 2:better than our conversation last week, for sure. Yes, where can the folks find you? You can find me pretty much anywhere at Bizarre Hodgepodge. That's B-Z-A-R-H-O-D-G-P-O-D-G. That's me on Instagram. On YouTube, I have a website, bizarrehodgepodgecom, and that will pretty much get you to any of my platforms.
Speaker 1:Perfect. And then, before we go, we like to do this thing called the Last Three here on Tea with TJ, three questions unrelated to the topic and you can answer how freely you would like. Okay. I suppose, when do you find the most peace?
Speaker 2:Where do I find the most peace? Where do I find the most peace? In my house, um. So I'm very introverted, um, I'm working on becoming an ambivert, but I'm naturally an introvert, so I find the most peace when I am like at home, um, sometimes in silence, but sometimes just like chilling out, watching something that doesn't require a lot of brain work on tv, just give my brain a break.
Speaker 1:But generally at home, I love that same, uh, what are you most afraid of?
Speaker 2:oh, um, what am I most afraid of so many things? I guess I'm most afraid of not fully realizing my purpose or not making the impact that I'm here to make. Um yeah, not doing the thing that I'm supposed to do while I am here.
Speaker 1:I love that. That's yeah, same, uh. And then final question Um, how do you practice gratitude?
Speaker 2:I write them down. I write things down, I sit down and I really think about all of the things that I have and how my lived experience is, and often looks, so very different than a lot of other people's. Um, this gratitude practice that I'm doing right now is truly making me see, um, how grateful I should have always been, and it's also also showing me a lot of privilege or privileges that I've had, that I've taken for granted, and so I am in the habit, or the practice, of really truly writing those things down. If I can't write them down in the moment, then I just think them, I speak them and just say you know, I am so thankful for X, y and Z, or I am so grateful for whatever it may be, and really just put it out there, just so the powers that be understand that I am not trying to take these things for granted. I love that.
Speaker 1:Well, with that, thank you so much again for doing this thank you for having me and with that, folks, I will see you next week and that's our show. Friends, thanks for joining us on tea with tj. Please rate, review and subscribe, and you can find us on Instagram at Tea with TJ Podcast. And, as always, stay kind, keep sipping and remember we're here, so you might as well do it.
