“Manifestation” is trendy nowadays.

You see influencers teaching how to “manifest your dream life”, “manifest your soulmate”, or “manifest more money”.

You hear about strategies like :

• Make vision boards
• Repeat positive affirmations
• Visualize where you want to be in 5 years

All of these can be very helpful in clarifying your goals.

But here’s a trap a lot of people fall into:

They visualize the future and say the affirmations, yet they never change their behaviors.

If the Universe grants you whatever you want, don’t you think most people would be living their dream lives right now?

Miracles don’t happen in the absence of action.

Ancient Chinese wisdom has already revealed the truth behind manifestation.

It can be found in this popular expression which originated from a folktale: 守株待兔 (shǒu zhū dài tù).

• 守 (shǒu) = to wait by somewhere
• 株 (zhū) = tree stump
• 待 (dài) = to wait for or to anticipate
• 兔 (tù) = rabbit

Fun fact, Chinese language often distills a long story down to its essence in a four-charactered expression called 成语 (chéng yǔ).

Now, let me tell you the story of the farmer who waited for rabbits by a tree stump.

This is a cautionary tale.

Once upon a time, there was a farmer who worked hard in his fields.

One day, while plowing the land, he saw a rabbit running across the field.

Suddenly, the rabbit crashed into a tree stump.

Apparently, it was startled by a few hunters and frantically tried to escape.

Its neck was broken and it died instantly.

The farmer couldn’t believe his luck ! Now he had fresh rabbit meat for the next few days without effort.

That night, he started imagining a different life :

“Farm work is so difficult. What if I just wait for more rabbits to run into the tree stump? Then I don’t have to work any more.”

The next day, instead of plowing his field, he went to sit down beside the tree stump.

He was convinced that another rabbit would come along and meet the same fate.

And there he stayed, day after day, eyes fixed on the tree stump, waiting for rabbits.

His fields went untilled and crops stopped growing.

The farmer sank deep into poverty while fellow villagers scorned his foolishness for expecting luck to repeat itself.

Some people treat manifestation like wishful thinking.

People hear the message that they need to work smarter, not harder.

And they mistakenly believe that hard work is not necessary at all.

But there is danger in speaking affirmations without doing the work.

Let’s say you repeat the mantra : “I am confident and capable.”

And you avoid taking actions that actually require courage and leap of faith.

Your body and mind notice the gap between who you say you are and what your behaviors prove to be true.

This creates cognitive dissonance.

Instead of strengthening your confidence, empty affirmations slowly erode your self-trust.

Because clearly, you are not who you say you are.

Instant gratification is a trap.

The current cultural landscape normalizes instant gratification.

AI tools answer your questions, do your homework, and create your website in a matter of seconds.

Prior to AI, we were already seeking instant validation from social media.

Then, there are the influencers teaching you to “go viral in 14 days” and “get rich doing nothing”.

Many people are getting the message that a lifestyle of passivity is acceptable.

But passive people cannot hold miracles.

I have witnessed how people sabotage the opportunities of their dreams.

When a miracle appears, someone who lives a life of passivity often does one of two things :

• They ignore the blessing, because they don’t recognize its value or.
• They run away from it, because they know it will require them to change.

So they don’t change.

They continue life as usual, feeling numb and dissatisfied, yet having no courage to steer their lives differently.

Change is foundational to manifestation.

So what if you want to manifest your dream life?

I believe the first question you need to ask is this:

What are you ready to change?

Because waiting passively without devoting yourself to the process of change is equivalent to waiting by the tree stump for free rabbits.

In next week’s article, I will share with you some steps that make manifestation possible.

At least, they worked for me. 😉

Of course, you can also get a sneak peak by watching the story of my journey in this video.

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Until next time.

Love,

Crystal