Blending the right and left brains to manifest goals and desires.
by Rose Claire
Photo courtesy of IStock
Earlier in 2022, I wrote an article on the spiritual piece of manifesting. In that article, I noted that the biggest obstacle to manifesting what you want is lack of belief. That’s true. Lack of belief, self-doubt, feelings that you don’t deserve something and a shortage of faith all act as barriers to creating the life you want.
In retrospect, however, I probably should have made that article Part 1 of a series on manifesting. It covered all the spiritual aspects of manifesting using Tarot quite well with examples, tips and tools. Yet, there’s one piece that it didn’t fully address, and I’ve decided to share that now—the earthly aspect of manifesting.
I’m a medium. And a psychic. So, it’s easy to assume that all things spiritual just naturally work for me, including manifesting. But the truth is, they don’t. Sometimes, spirituality alone is only part of the picture—a critical part—but a part that needs some human-earth reality plugged in so it works in our world.
In other words, there may be some human practicalities that have to be worked with when manifesting. That may mean I may need to pull my intuitive, creative, connected right brain out of the billowy clouds and plop its gray matter ass on the ground with my left brain to really achieve what I want.
Sometimes, spirituality alone is only part of the picture—a critical part—but a part that needs some human-earth reality plugged in so it works in our world.
I can see some of you are scratching your heads and saying, “But, Rose Claire, my problem is getting out of my left brain, so I can connect psychically in my right brain.” To which I say, “That is PART of your problem.” The other part is knowing how to blend the realities of the left brain with the intuitive and creative messages of your right brain, so you move forward instead of staying stuck in the visualization (or pure “wanting”).
Interconnectivity
Think of it this way. We’ve all seen the models of DNA, those beautiful twisting ladders of life’s codes. Each side of the DNA strand holds vital information about you that is connected by the “steps” of the ladder. In other words, both sides of the DNA ladder (double helix for any science folks reading this) are needed, along with the connecting steps, to form you—or anybody.
Manifesting works the same way. We need our right brains to dream, create and point us in the direction we’re meant to go. Our right brain is essential for fueling our awareness of what we want, focusing our attention and intention to it and opening our belief system--all of which are essential to the process. But we also need our left brains to help us chart a realistic course in that direction based on earthly realities. Both sides of the brain play an important role here that I term the magical and the mechanical, and both sides need to be activated and connected when manifesting.
It’s like the joke of the man who was granted one wish from God and asked to win the lottery. When the man passed away and landed in heaven, he complained to God that he never won the lottery despite God’s promise. To which God replied, “Yes, I was ready to bestow a lottery win upon you, but you never bought a ticket!” Ahhh, the magical and the mechanical. Without the left-brain plan of action, the man couldn’t move beyond just wishing to win the lottery.
A plan for the left-brain side of manifesting
Let’s say you are manifesting your dream of becoming a published author. You see yourself clearly holding a flash drive with your completed novel and handing it over to your new agent. You envision yourself signing a book contract and going to events to autograph books for fans. You see your book on the New York Times Bestsellers List. In fact, you not only see these images while meditating, you feel them, experience them emotionally at the core of who you are. They feel real to you. That’s good!
Many spiritual folks with say that’s all you need to do. And, for some, it may work. Yet, for others, when their book barely has any pages after months of spiritual manifesting, they may become dejected, lose faith in the spiritual process and just give up. Was the problem really their spiritual commitment? Or, were they behaving like the man who wanted to win the lottery but forgot to buy a ticket?
It’s time to blend in those nitty-gritty, earthly elements to your manifesting approach.
A good plan for anything involves a well-thought-out process including each step you need to take. It also includes time to assess the process and the ability to look deeply in the mirror and understand the motives for what you want as well as the resistance you have to actually getting it. (More on that later.) It’s best to create this plan along with your plan for how and when you’re doing your right-brain (spiritual) manifesting. Remember: They work together like the sides of the DNA ladder.
It’s time to blend in those nitty-gritty, earthly elements to your manifesting approach.
The how of the plan
Having a goal to do something, such as writing a book, is fabulous, but it requires a lot of mechanical work—the manuscript doesn’t magically write itself. There’s writing and proofing, writing and editing and editing some more. Much of the book may come to the writer through creative inspiration (right brain), but the left brain is vital to completing the book.
In one of my lives as a teacher, I used SMART goals with my students. SMART goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. I found SMART goals yielded positive results when coupled with my spiritual work.
Using our book-writing example, here’s an approach to using SMART goals.
The Goal: “Write a 300-page historical novel about a WWII pilot in one year by writing one page at least five days a week for one hour per day.”
Let’s take a look how that goal stacks up against the elements of a SMART goal.
Specific: Yes, it specifies exactly what is going to be written and how it’s going to be done (novel, WWII pilot, one year, writing five days a week, etc.).
Measurable: Yes, progress is easily measured by counting pages and tracking writing days on an electronic of hard-copy calendar.
Achievable: Probably. You need to know how long it takes you to write one page and be able to consistently dedicate that amount of time five days a week. If it’s taking you two full hours to write a page, and you really can only dedicate one hour daily, you need to adjust your goal.
Relevant: What’s the big picture of your book? What need is it filling? For example, if you’re interested in becoming a full-time writer, then writing this book is totally relevant. Likewise, if you’re an expert in a field and want to publish a book on an area of interest, then this goal is relevant to your big picture.
Time-Bound: The goal gives a definitive time for which it is to be completed (one year). This helps with accountability and measuring success.
The SMART goal created for the writer works well and can be adjusted if needed. Now it’s time to put together a document with each step in the left-brain process.
You have some of the key pieces listed in your SMART goal (specific) that you can use to build a more detailed and strategic plan as well as add contingencies. For example, what hour each day will you write? What happens if you miss a day? Do you need to add time for editing, and will that time be part of your writing time or additional time?
Educators often use a system called backward design for learning to ensure that all students in the class can access the material. It starts with the end-goal and works backward to fill in all the steps to the very beginning. In the example of our writer, backward design might look like this using backward design:
--Publish Book
--Sign contract to publish
--Get attorney to review contract
--Get agent if publishing through houses/start pitching book
--Decide if self-publishing or working through publishing houses
--Make editor’s recommended changes
--Have an editor professionally edit book
--Proof book and make changes
--Rewrite book with initial edits --Edit book
--Complete manuscript
--Send off completed chapter (while still writing book) to online and print pubs for ---- publication --Keep writing
--Update outline
--Edit chapter
--Complete chapter
--Work one hour, five days a week writing
--Create outline of book
--Research book
--Find writing location in or out of home
The why of it
Kurtis Pykes, a prolific writer on Medium, discusses creating systems to move your goals forward in his article “Don’t Just Set Goals. Build Systems.” Pykes uses a systematic approach to achieving goals that bares similarity in parts to SMART goals with some additional or expanded elements. One key element is what he calls the Five Whys. These why questions are related to the “relevant” criterion of a SMART goal and basically help you understand your motives for wanting to manifest or achieve your goal.
This step is essential for clarity and recognizing the blocks in your manifesting process. Word of warning: You may discover the reasons you’re trying to manifest something aren’t for the reasons you think.
Here’s how the process might work for our would-be author.
I want to write a book. Why do you want to write a book?
Because it’s important for me to take one of my ideas and move it through to completion. Why is it important for your idea to be completed in the form of a book?
Because I have been told I don’t stick with projects after I start them, and I’ll have proof that I can. Why don’t you stick with projects after you start them?
Because I have so many other obligations that I have to take care of each day? Why do you have so many daily obligations?
Because I don’t have enough help, and I’m embarrassed to ask for help. Why are you embarrassed to ask for help?
Because I don’t feel deserving of help.
There you go.
Our would-be author isn’t asking for the help they need in order to have the time to do something that’s important to them because they don’t think they deserve it.
Now, obviously, this “why” questioning could go even deeper and uncover even more information, but in just five questions, the writer has determined that it’s essential for them to work on understanding their self-value and finding time for self-care and activities that are important for them. Otherwise, they will likely counteract all the positive manifesting energy and block their own efforts.
Putting it Altogether
As the saying goes, we are spiritual beings having a human experience, so manifesting works best when we embrace both aspects of who we are. The sooner we apply the spiritual and earthly approaches to our manifesting process, the easier it becomes to know and get what we really want.
Working as an evidential medium and psychic, I know the power of the right brain and its creativity. I am also a firm believer that right and left brains work together for our benefit. If you'd like to hear what 2023 has in store for you, contact me for a reading that gives you spiritual/intuitive information coupled with down-to-earth practicalities.
You may reach Rose Claire at 727-201-3423 or roseclaire170@gmail.com.