Manifestation and Motorcycles

Manifestation schmanifestation. The law of attraction, abundance mentality, the power of vulnerability, getting in touch with your inner child, doing ‘the work,’ sitting with it, getting out of your own way, be the change…You’ve seen these phrases. New-agey pop culture is riddled with such self-help clichés.
 
“Codswallop!” I say! I owned my own welding shop, I ride a motorcycle, I do CrossFit, I practice handstands. I am made of sturdier stuff. I’m not going to send my intentions out into the Universe, I’m going to work! Hard work is what makes things happen. This is absolutely true. Ask your grandparents, ask anybody. But too much nose-to-the-grindstone work leaves little room for invention and possibility. In other words, all work and no play makes Jane a dull girl.
 
I speak from personal experience. Having become dull from uninspired, hard work, I got grumpy. My grumpiness lead to surfing motorcycle images online. Riding brings me joy and while Vermont is currently six inches deep in ice and snow, I can still find joy in seeing others ride, which inspires thoughts about my own future riding. I came upon a Facebook post about a women’s motorcycle tour in Vermont put on by MotoVermont (a terrific organization that helped me outfit my cross-country motorcycle trip two years ago). Each night before going to bed, I’d look at the women’s tour images and have the greatest dreams.
 
After three nights of such dreams, I messaged MotoVermont about the great dreams. MotoVermont messaged me right back: “Jane, you’re great! You’d love this trip. Think about signing up.” I thought about it and wrote back that he should consider adding a yoga component to the Women’s Tour. (I teach yoga when I'm not writing or riding.) MotoVermont messaged right back again: “Call me!”
 
Now it looks like I might be be organizing the yoga program for the Women’s Tour. The thought of it excited me so much that I could not stop dancing around my office. My dance was interrupted by work offers. Writing work. My ‘real’ job. In my delight, work came pouring in. I wrote a bio for a major social media influencer who is often featured in Forbes and HuffPo. I wrote two cover letters for a guy who was delighted by my writing. (Here is his actual response: “I love it!!  I read the draft this morning with a fresh cup of coffee, and my inner-self was jumping up and down and saying "Holy shit!  That's Me!!! That's MEEEEEEEEEEE!!"  Thank you so much again.”) I wrote a resume and LinkedIn profile for a woman who is leaving a job after a quarter century…Things just keep getting better.
 
Coincidence? I think not. It seems that Willie Nelson was right: “Once you start replacing negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results.” Hell, I even bought a book by Brené Brown.
 
Certainly, my background, education, privileges, and hard work have all contributed to my ability to manifest more and more enjoyable work (and motorcycling), but there’s more to it now. My attitude is different. Better.
 
Gandhi is often misquoted as saying “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Really what he said was: “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do.” While it does not fit as well onto a coffee mug or T-shirt, it does get closer to the pragmatic truth of our modern manifestation mania.
 
Things do change when we change ourselves. The world’s attitude towards us changes, certainly, as we change our nature, we see things from different perspectives. Some call it manifestation, others pragmatism; others call it awareness or becoming attuned. In other words, when I look for beauty, I find beauty. When I look for pain, I find that, too.
 
Part of this is due to the neuroplasticity of the brain. The human brain is a creature of habit, it takes the easiest, most familiar path. By practicing seeing things in new ways or by practicing thinking new thoughts, we start to create new neural pathways in the brain. Over time, practiced positive thoughts trick the brain into a kind of familiarity with the new perception, and the brain actually changes. It becomes easier to behave in that new way. As Gandhi said, there is no need to wait to see what others will do.
 
Call it manifestation, good karma, growth mindset, wishful thinking, flow state, higher vibration, agency, or whatever you like. Thinking good thoughts beats the alternative. And who doesn’t want the divine mystery supreme of manifesting motorcycles?!
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Author C. Jane Taylor specializes in stories (LinkedIn Profile Development, Professional Biographies, Cover Letters, etc.) and motorcycles. She presents her clients in such a way that their stories shimmer and compel readers to act. ​