There has been a lot of conversation about manifesting for the past century or more. Books like Samuel Smiles’ Self-Help, Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People, Norman Vincent Peale’s The Power of Positive Thinking, and of course most recently, The Secret, are well known among self-help publishers. Best sellers all of them, these books were not the first in the self-help genre but probably the first to demonstrate the importance of this niche in publishing.
Self-Help Publishing
Whether for riches or relationships, the self-help genre has grown into one of the largest niches in publishing today. Indeed, it’s come a long way since silent film actor, Douglas Fairbanks, penned his self-help book Laugh and Live, published in 1917. Today a person can find a self-help book for almost any and everything. That said, common to all is the power of the mind.
Change your thinking and you can manifest almost anything. If only it worked that way. Over the years I have talked to hundreds of people who regularly indulge in the latest self-help this and that. In many ways, most of them remind me of a long-ago study whereby participants in motivational seminars were questioned following their attendance. The study revealed that where nearly 90% of those in attendance would positively rate the seminar as something that would change their lives, a follow-up survey revealed that by and large none put the material to any practical use.
So, what’s lacking. Is there something that goes missed by the presenters or those in attendance?
Magic?
I have long observed a technique common to most purveyors of self-help. I could call this technique magic, but what it really is can be said this way, “Tell them what they want to hear!” No one wants to hear: You must work at it.
Work for many has become a bad word. I have personally been rebuked when I suggested such a thing. “I don’t want to work—they told me I could just visualize it,” are the words I’ve heard many times. Thus, vision boards, affirmations pasted on everything from the bathroom mirror to the refrigerator, pictures of the desired home or car or whatever clipped from magazines, etc., are the tools deemed sufficient to manifest their miracle.
J. Paul Meyer was a great one to address the idea of crystalizing your thinking. Shakti Gwain was probably the best at promoting the idea of visualization. For me, Mitchell Resnik was my teacher of the principle behind energizing your action. Mitchel was a national sales manager when I met him, and albeit not a bone of his body promoted self-help per se’, he strongly believed and taught that no amount of positive thinking could work without an action plan—a solidly conceived and practiced action plan!
Energizing
I have learned over the years just how right Mitchell was. Visualizing your goal is great! Crystalizing your thinking—adding such clarity to your visualization that it is real in your mind is perfect. Energizing both with a planned action however is essential.
If you’ve ever undertaken some goal, ambition, or attempted to change something aspect of your personality, and failed, I believe it is because you have omitted one of the three essentials: visualize, crystalize, energize!
Those are my thoughts, I always welcome yours.
Thanks for the read,
Eldon
Eldon Taylor, PhD
Provocative Enlightenment Radio
NY Time Bestselling Author of Choices and Illusion