Shakti Gawain: Getting Clear

The first book I ever read on manifesting and visualization was Shakti Gawain’s Creative Visualization. It’s still my favorite book on the topic, and one of the most influential books I’ve ever read.

I’ve read the book again and again many different times, and the overall feeling that I come away with is that a preference in approach regarding how detailed a visualization or a specific desire should be is not given. There is definitely a warning not to force anything and not to be too attached to the outcome.  If anything, my impression is that the more detailed and specific you are, the better.

I did find one statement while I was flipping through it again where Shakti says that once she has a very clear, strong intention to create a particular thing, it manifests almost immediately (often within hours or days of getting clear about it) with very little effort involved. She goes on to say this is the case after a great deal of time and energy processing before the clarity needed to be worked through is achieved.

I imagine she is talking about experiencing mental loops related to inner conflict here.  After reading this it occurs to me that difficulties I have had with specific and detailed visualizations may have actually been due more to not being clear enough! Maybe I had overly focused on the details and did not include the more general end result!

Mike Dooley’s Matrix

I did recently come across a really interesting perspective in Mike Dooley’s book Manifesting Change: It Couldn’t Be Easier.  I had been aware from my own personal experiences that there are two ways to manifest: one with a more general end result in mind, and one with a detailed more specific one, but had never considered what he proposes.

He came up with a Matrix for manifesting (what makes it a matrix is that it is a rectangle of columns and rows that describe end results that can be manifested).

I can’t reproduce it here, since it’s copywritten, but basically it consists of six columns that move from left to right covering all possible end results for manifesting. The far left starts with the very general end result of manifesting happiness and the end results get more specific as you move to the right with concepts like understanding and gratitude, more specific concepts like livelihood and abundance, specifics like possessions and career, more specifics like projects and events, and more specifics like a specific person or employer.

Mike goes on to explain that it makes sense to be attached to end results on the left of the matrix (such as happiness), but it is not a good idea to become attached to end results on the right side of the matrix (such as needing something from a specific person).

He says this is because when you focus on general end results there are more possibilities that can effortlessly manifest for you, while focusing on more detailed and specific end results leaves more of the onus you. And beyond that, attaching to specifics means that your end results are dependent on the illusions of time, space, matter, or other people.

The flow of the Matrix moves from left to right, from a general picture to a more specific one–kind of like the way a painting forms with an outline that gets slowly filled in with more details by the artist.

Furthermore, he also says that the Universe can only manifest for you from where you start on the Matrix.  So if you are looking to manifest a job at a specific company, you are looking for something more specific than happiness and are to the right of happiness on the Matrix.  So if you do manifest the end result of the specific job at the specific company, that doesn’t necessarily mean you will be happy there.

Rose Cole: Manifesting the Feminine Way

Rose Cole discussed the issue of detailed versus general manifesting in her book High Priestess Training, where she explained that manifesting the feminine way is more about having a general idea of the feeling desired from the end result and allowing yourself to receive it.  Rose also describes manifesting the masculine way, which is more about having a very detailed end result in mind and going out and making it happen yourself.  She says that both are useful and both have a place. Imagine how amazing it would be to be really good at using both techniques!

In order to be more fully integrated and to have both techniques at your disposal, Rose recommends figuring out which one you tend to use more and excel at, and then practice using the other.

It seems to me that manifesting the feminine way is more in line with what Mike Dooley describes as manifesting a general end result, while manifesting the masculine way corresponds to what he describes as a more detailed, specific result.

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So in the end, maybe it’s just a matter of being even more specific if you’re looking to manifest a specific end result on the right side of the matrix, by including the more general end results such as happiness and abundance without being attached to the details!

If you missed the first post in this series, check out: How Detailed Does Your Visualization Need to Be? Part I

Also, be sure to check out the next post in this series: How Detailed Does Your Visualization Need to Be? Part III: Proof That Visualization Works!

Would you like to find out the best way you (and only you) can create a targeted plan to manifest your dream?

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