I have a confession to make.

I’m kind of a woo-woo in disguise. And quite honestly, I have trouble believing it.

You know, when something walks like a duck, looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck.

I get that. Because that’s scientific. I can see the duck, watch him walk, hear him quack. I see it with my own eyes, and will call it a duck anytime.

But there’s something about woo-woo that still gets me.

A woo-woo is someone who readily believes in things like supernatural, paranormal, or other emotionally-based beliefs. It comes from thoughts around New Age culture, espousing theories like energy work, crystal magic, floral essence, spiritual journeys, and yoga retreats.

I’m not the traditional woo-woo. In fact, I’ve purposely pushed it aside, and declared I’m DEFINITELY NOT a woo-woo.

Because you know the type. You can see it in the way they act, the words they use, the clothes they wear, the journeys they journey on. You can just “see” a woo-woo. You feel it from the moment you meet.

And that’s not me. Nope. No way.

The Secret message of The Secret

I’m an idea person. A person who jumps in with both feet (both legs and arms too.) Why go small when you can go BIG! It’s in my nature; it’s who I am.

Right after my husband and I married, he started playing around with photography. He did a few weddings with a friend, and began taking pictures of everything. After losing three jobs in three years to corporate downsizing, we said, “what the hell” and he dove in and became a full time entrepreneur, opening up a commercial photography business.

I worked – we needed a paycheck every other Friday, health insurance, and a 401k. But I helped out at night, and on weekends.

And I fell in love with entrepreneurship. I loved everything about it. And I wanted to see just how far we could go.

I joined everything, read everything, listened to everything. I was a small-business-owner junkie, and I simply couldn’t get enough of business and marketing philosophies.

At some point, I learned about the law of attraction and manifesting. The Secret came out, and I kid you not, I bought into it, hook, line, and sinker.

Of course, The Secret has had its ups and downs. It’s woo-woo to the highest degree!

I wasn’t a woo-woo. Watching and falling in love with it didn’t make me a woo-woo. I fell hard for the concept that I am responsible for the quality of my life. Mindset is everything.

I made my first vision board. I picked out my favorite crystals. I bought self-help books by the dozens.

And with every step I took, “magical” things started to happen.

I choose to believe this is manifesting.

How many times do you tell yourself something will happen … and it happens?

I want to quit my job … and it happens!

I want to have a child … and it happens!

I want a new car … and it happens!

Is it magic? Is it manifesting? It reminds me of a famous quote:

Watch your thoughts, they become your words.
Watch your words, they become your actions.
Watch your actions, they become your habits.
Watch your habits, they become your character.
Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.

Manifesting works both ways.

Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right.”

Whatever we think is where we put our actions. We see it. We talk about it. We read about it. We make it so.

Of course, there are things outside of your control. I can’t control the economy. Politics. What my neighbor is doing. Or what might happen in the future.

But I can control my reaction to it. I can utilize whatever is happening outside of me, to make it possible on the inside.

We live in a world where anything is possible. You can see evidence of that every single day. Someone, somewhere, is imagining something way beyond anything we’ve known before. And they will make it so.

That’s how we’ve invented cars, electricity, and traveling to the moon.

We put language to it, use education, and find a way to grow our ideas.

As humans, especially women, we have this way of internalizing the negative.

• “I can’t do that.”
• “I’m not capable.”
• “I’m too …”

You might say it out loud, but it’s what’s deep inside that matters most.

A lot of people use the concept of woo-woo in a dismissive tone – your woo-woo beliefs are ridiculous, nonsense, irrational and utter nonsense.

Is it that woo-woo doesn’t exist? It’s just magic?

Or because they still need work on the inside?

Manifesting isn’t woo-woo magic

In fact, it’s a foundational part of how our brains work.

We have a Reticular Activating System (RAS) at the base of the brain that helps filter information before it heads into the processing center. If you truly took in everything, fully experiencing it all the time, it would be a tad bit overwhelming.

So RAS kicks in and filters out what we need most. It helps keep us out of danger, as well as select the good things in life.

That’s part of our training over the years. We learn to distinguish the good from the bad. And we filter based on what we individually determine to be our good and our bad.

It automatically kicks in and flings you into action if you touch a hot burner on the stove. But staying away from a “bad” relationship – that’s something we create rules for based on our own experiences.

Let’s go back to the quote:

Watch your thoughts, they become your words.
Watch your words, they become your actions.
Watch your actions, they become your habits.
Watch your habits, they become your character.
Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.

That is the key to manifesting.

Manifesting isn’t about not doing the work. It isn’t about dreaming something up and wishing it to be so.

It involves focused behavior and action to make it so.

You have a thought – I want to make a million dollars.

You put language to it. You verbalize your dreams. You find the words to express your desires.

As you start to communicate it, you come up with a plan. You build a business. You learn how to invest. You buy your first house. You take forward action to move closer to your desires.

And as you take action every day, you start seeing yourself in a different light. And so do the people around you.

You build a new network of people who want to be in your circle of influence. And it pushes you to new heights – things you could never have dreamed up before.

With a lot of action, you eventually hit your goal.

Because back in the very beginning, you had a thought that you couldn’t let go.

See, most people leave their thoughts deep in the recesses of their minds. They don’t turn it into words because they’re afraid.

It’s the very first step you’ll have to take.

The only question is: Will you?