Alicia Dattner

How to Actually Manifest Your Dream, Part 7 of 7

In our last post, we looked at the final logistical checklist as well as made sure self-sabotage didn't get the best of us. 

If you've created something like an art exhibition, you can skip to the end of this post.  If, however, your work is a performance, you've got one last step before celebration...  The performance!  This is your pep-talk! 

This is your night! It's the evening you've been working toward for your whole life in fact.  All the preparation you've done from learning your ABC's in kindergarten to eating lots of vegetables to sitting with the creative part of your spirit and letting what's there come out has prepared you for this evening.  I say this to let you know that everything you have done up to now has allowed you to have everything you need to give yourself fully to the artwork. 

You have been put on this planet to manifest this creative work, and no other being can contribute what you are about to offer.  It is a precious gift.  The value and validation of the work will not come in the praise or criticism of the audience, but in the fullness of your expression.  The more vulnerable, honest, and authentic you are as you offer your gift, regardless of how you think other people will like it, the better a gift it is.  Others may recognize it or not, but you will know in the depths of your heart that you have mingled your life with the divine for having given this treasure.

The final part of manifestation really is to receive your heart's thanks, and the appreciation of others for what you've manifested.  Let your gift be an inspiration and a celebration that you have won your game!  Party, dance, sing, laugh, and rejoice!  Really let yourself know how great this is!  Your full celebration of this success will complete the loop and allow you to rest and prepare for your next creative feat.  Congratulations!  I look forward to accompanying you on your next adventure.

"The thing about performance, even if it's only an illusion, is that it is a celebration of the fact that we do contain within ourselves infinite possibilities."

-Sydney Smith

Comedy at Morgan Hill

I did a set tonight in Morgan Hill, California.  Far far away from, well, anything it seems.  I'm very uninterested in political material, partly because I never feel as informed as I'd like to be to back up my arguments, partly because it's annoying to talk about something that I care about and find out who the Republicans are in the audience.  Then I wonder what they're thinking of me, and if they're thinking as poorly of my opinions as I am of theirs, and in general it's just unpleasant.  So I did some of my new material about my trip to India and meditating, and it went incredibly well in a room mostly full of Christian Republicans.  They had fun, I had fun.  They heckled, I heckled back.  People always apologize to me after shows where they heckle me.  Like somehow we're old buddies.  Ok.  Be my buddy.  Fine.  But so I was surprised that my material, which is designed for a room full of new agey spiritual types actually went over with the straight crowd.  Good to be doing standup again.

Thank God Obama Won (so I can get back to worrying about myself)

You caught me with my morals down.  I'm another relieved armchair liberal.  Yes, I'm going to keep buying organic produce, turning off the faucet when my boyfriend leaves it on for no reason, and only recycling paper bags by putting bottles and paper in them to transfer them to the recycling bin.  And I'm breathing a sigh of relief that maybe the next four years won't be as terrifying as the last eight have been.  Did you read the salon.com article about how the Gen-X'ers are sorry for hating on the Boomers?  It was great.  And, yes, I do feel a swell of hope--hope that Barack will lead us, unite us, bring understanding and dialogue within the country as well as around the world. I have hope that the crumbling of financial institutions lead to the kind of dissillusionment that real truth and real care for the land and people we need.  I have hope that the rise in oil prices will finally spark the development of alternative energy sources--that someday soon, they won't be "alternative" sources--that solar and wind power will be the plain-old, everyday way we power up (kind of like when alternative music became mainstream and everybody in tenth grade, even the jocks, were listening to the cure and pearl jam and dying their hair black and this turned high school upside down.)  I want to turn high school upside down.

How to Actually Manifest Your Dream, Part 6 of 7

In the last post, we used different hats to have your inner creator, appreciator, and editor work with you.  Today, it's time to look at the logistics of your project.  Is it an album?  A one-person-show?  We'll take a break from the "inner work" to look at a checklist of possible things you might to do help the world receive your gift more fully. 

Take note that as you come close to fruition, you will be likely to find ways to self-sabotage all the great work you've done so far.  Keep in touch with your daily action partner, and keep posted somewhere the purpose why you're doing this to help stay powerful in the face of obstacles.

The creative part:

• Is your work "on track?" Have you been spending the right balance of time creating/editing/planning?
• Have you gotten feedback from people who gave constructive information about your piece without criticism?

The event:

• Have you sent emails?  Put out a press release?  Sent the info to lists and groups and social networks?
• Have you created images or video to let people see a preview so they can get exciting about the event?
• Have you been letting everyone you know and meet how excited you are and how they can participate?
• Have you asked people to support you by helping at the event?
• Have you checked on the venue?  Have you checked on the people putting together any external part of your project?
• Do you have to pay for services?  Let people know about your preferences?  Have someone host or introduce you?  Will other people perform/exhibit/etc at the event?

This is the time to cull all of the work you've done into what feels like a "finished piece".  It's likely that it won't "feel" finished.  Don't worry.  As my friend Brian says, "Better done than good."  You'll always have time to improve upon it or make something even better with all that you've learned from this experience. 

Before you present your material to the public, make sure that you've presented it to a good friend who can give you feedback with enough time to re-vamp anything that needs clarification.

In the final post on actually manifesting your dream, we'll get to the best part: celebration!

"Action that is inspired from aligned thought is joyful action. Action that is offered from a place of contradicted thought is hard work that is not satisfying and does not yield good results. When you really feel like jumping into action, that is a clear sign that your vibration is pure and you are not offering contradicting thoughts to your own desire. When you are having a hard time making yourself do something, or when the action you offer does not produce the results you are seeking, it is always because you are offering thoughts in opposition to your desire."

-Esther Hicks

How to Actually Manifest Your Dream, Part 5 of 7

In the last post, you were in the "creation" phase.  Creation is always happening, but it can get blocked, so we did a lot of exercises to make a safe container for the creative part of you to unfold.  As you move into the next phase, keep taking time to be intentionally and spontaneously in creation--free of criticism. 

And now, very gently and clearly, we're going to begin the process of editing.  Many people consider editing to be the most important part of art because this is where we begin to turn toward the idea of our work being received.  Many people consider art incomplete until it is in fact received--that seeing, hearing, or experiencing the work is its last phase of creation, "closing the loop."  I agree with this, but I also feel that for some art works, the maker can also be the best audience.  If we don't please ourselves in our art, we're not doing anyone else any favors!

So here's an exercise to transition yourself temporarily from creator to editor, feeler to thinker: 

Get three actual hats.  Really do this...  Maybe your "creator" hat is big and silly, your "appreciator" hat is beautiful and flowery, and your "editor" hat is like a newspaper editor's? 

Have your "creator" hat on while you're brainstorming, writing, drawing, singing...  After your allotted creating time, take off your creator hat, and put on your "appreciator" hat.  As the appreciator, you will talk to the creator for a few minutes and let her (or him) know how thankful you are to her for being so open and uncensored.  Tell her how it felt (fun? silly? exhilarating?) to be with her, and how happy you are that she has come to play with you.  Tell her that the next step you are going to take is to gather, organize, and edit what she has delivered so you can deliver this gift to the world!  Ask her if she has any requests of how you shape the material.  Ask if she will stay as an observer of the process to help keep the integrity of the work.  When you are done, take your appreciator hat off and put on your editor hat. 

If your creator lives mostly in your second chakra (the pelvis), your appreciator lives mostly in your heart chakra.  Your editor lives in your throat and "third eye" chakras.  Sitting with your back straight so all of your chakras are aligned, begin to look at your work with a warm, clear head.  Look at it as if it's not in fact your work at all, but the work of your best friend.  Begin to sort, clarify, and solidify what's there, seeing the best in it, and looking for places to chip away the extraneous pieces.  Do more cutting than adding.  Finish off your session with a quick flip of the appreciator hat and remind yourself how much great work you've just done and what your purpose in doing this is!

"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift."

-Albert Einstein

How to Actually Manifest Your Dream, Part 4 of 7

In the last post, we discussed having a daily action partner and dealing with the inner critic.  At this point, you're ready to let your creativity soar!  If you're still finding it a challenge to let go, try this exercise, and then return to Part 4.

This is it!  Find your magic creative place, plunk yourself there, and get into it!  You might find you work best at night or during the day, standing or sitting, at home alone or surrounded by lots of people.  If you're writing, instrumental music can help put you in the mood.  A study found that people exercise 25% longer when they listen to music.  I would bet the same principle works for creative work. 

This is the time for you to create and create and create.  Your inner critic is not needed here.  Everything you need to create is in you now.  

"Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it/ Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."

-Goethe