Mad Black Dad
Manifesting-Ish
Like many of us, I feel like I have the most profound thoughts in the shower. You can't tell me I'm not a philosopher while I'm cleansing myself of the dirt and stress from the day. I am trying to buy into manifesting. It seems like everybody is into it, especially as many people have drifted away from church in its traditional sense, but to my understanding, it is no different than talking to God through prayer or at least extremely similar. I'm not here to argue points, but I'd like to talk about my journey so far.

2020 was a thing, but going into 2021 I wanted more for myself, Dom, and my marriage. I told myself that I would make real changes and adjustments for 21’ & beyond, with that I’ve been trying to define what season my life has been in for the first half of 2021. The vibes and the moods seemingly change monthly, but one thing that has been consistent (mostly) is this act of writing out everything I want to do and checking it regularly. Not a novel idea by any means, but effective for me.
I decided to write out some of the things I wanted to do for the day, month, year, and ongoing actions in categories. I told myself I'll follow up on them twice a month. Early on I saw almost no progress, but as the months passed, I started to see my list get shorter, so I would add more things. My most productive days would be when I started by reading my goals out loud. I would see pages of notes, completed and/or updated goals and new goals. On the other hand, there would be days or weeks where I'd go without looking at it and I would see all progress cease. Sometimes, I would feel like my life was stuck in the mud, but going back to my goals would be the push I needed. The more I found myself engaging my list directly or indirectly, the more I found myself making headway.
Recently, a few things have been falling into place, in a way that I could not justly explain. During one of my philosophical shower sessions (don’t judge me, you have them too), I realized that this is the product of “doing the work”. If you honestly manifest or give it to God or speak it to the Universe and then you put your head down and do your part. Shit happens! And I’m talking good shit, but I’m not naive, I am fully aware that bad shit could also happen. Sometimes, I think it’s a lesson to test your mettle or to help you shift your focus in respect to what you’ve asked for.
Let me be completely honest with yall, my main struggle in this whole journey has been discipline. I’m confident I could manifest more or be more productive if I was more disciplined. I’m notorious for picking up a project or having a dope idea, only to put it down or forget about it. I know all too well how that has limited my growth potential, im talking financial, relationships, and creatively. Don’t worry, I'm working on it. I can deal with God and the Universe handing me challenges as a catalyst for growth, but there is no reason for me to stifle myself.

All in all, I am learning that if I go after what I want, whether it's big or small, and I'm making progress by leaps and bounds or baby steps, it will come together in some fashion. It may be the way I planned or it may be a blessing I didn't expect. In my experience, it's that last part that is always missing when I listen to talks about goal setting, and manifesting. It most likely will not come in the way you planned it, but if I you it honestly and keep pushing, it will come. In regards to “giving it to God”, there isn't enough emphasis on doing the work and most of it is on God working in mysterious ways and not coming when you want but always on time. The reality is that it is a beautiful marriage of God & the Universe working on one end, us doing the (dirty) work on our end. What are your thoughts?