Manifesting: A (de-colonised) Update

Hey dear friends, 

A while ago now (all the way back in mid-2022) I wrote a series of blog posts about 'manifestation' and calling in a life that you create by design. If you go back through the archives of this blog you'll find them. I feel that in many ways I've lived my whole like this - I've always been good at visioning what it is I want to bring into form and then doing (the often hard) work of making it happen. 

When I wrote about manifestation in my book 'Mindful Living' back in 2019 I did so with the caveat that's always felt very important to me to 'be careful what you ask for'. I've never felt that manifestation should be used for a new car or a diamond ring. It's about calling in our potential. Living in alignment with our sacred duty / purpose (dharma) and petitioning God to help us step into the work we were put here to do. That's ultimately what manifestation has always been about for me. 

However with all that said, and all those disclaimers expressed there was still a little niggle around this work that I could feel in my heart. Something didn't feel quite right. I'm a great fan of the teaching 'when we know better we can do better' meaning that our spiritual growth is never done - we're always learning and evolving, and sometimes going full circle on the journey too. 

I didn't want to not talk about manifestation because I know it's one of my super-powers and I wanted to share that with you. But I knew I wasn't quite seeing the whole picture. Perhaps you could feel it too when you read my previous words on this subject. 

The piece that was missing in my manifestation work until now I'm feeling into right now is around colonialism and privilege.

A great teacher to me in this area has been Kelly Diels. Kelly talks about the 'female lifestyle empowerment brand' and why it's a problem. She basically calls out the white-washing of businesses that sell a dream to women that are putting themselves in a box that's based on lies, smoke and mirrors. One of the most important pieces of work I've done in my own business (with Kelly's support) is to dismantle the promises I make and the language I use in my work and make sure it's true and aligned with my own deepest values. Part of this is acknowledging that I have so much personal privilege and that makes 'manifesting' much easier than it does for women from minority groups. 

When white, cis-gendered, middle-class, able bodied, pretty women say 'you can create the life you want' they are most often speaking from a place of privilege and ignorance. It's easy for us to make our lives a masterpiece from a place of already being immensely fortunate. We can advocate for ourselves, we are educated and dare I say it often entitled. 'I manifested it' can disguise greed and blinkers and is often embedded in self-aggrandising. 

As an extension of this new insight I've also had to flip manifestation on it's head and say that if I'm able to 'call in' what I want then does that mean if bad things happen it's somehow also on me (or even my fault). This is where manifestation practices and the teachings of karma start to intersect and things get very complex. We as humans will never understand fully our karmic pathways. There is individual karma and collective karma to unravel. There are timelines that loop around in one life time and others that take many lifetimes to resolve. It really is complicated. So rather than waste time on unpicking the complexity of karma let's just accept that we're all on different places in the journey and we're all accountable for our actions and the impact of them. 

Jess Jackson @softpathhealing on Instagram says it like this, 

'telling someone who is maginalised and oppressed that they are manifesting their marginalisation and oppression is violent.'

So what's the solution? Where do we go from here? 

It's not that I need to give up on having dreams and visions for my life. Or feel bad for my privilege. But acknowledging it is important and doing something with it is even more so. 

This is where the work of CONTRIBUTION comes in. As well as being committed to manifesting my dreams in 2024 I'm also committing to: 

• Supporting other women in business with a leg-up where I can. Making helpful introductions. Sharing my knowledge. Supporting us all to rise. 
• Using my platform and influence to raise money that is donated to thoughtful charities that make a direct difference to reducing suffering. 
• Using my platform and influence for education and knowledge-sharing (I believe along with direct action social media can be a form of activism). 
• Working towards peace in my own home. Striving to be a good mother, a skilful homemaker and a good example to my children and in my home. Peace in the world begins with peace at home. 
• Educating myself more and more deeply particularly in understanding de-colonisation and where racism and privilege blindness shows up in my life. 

As well as all the above it's okay for me to persue my own goals and dreams and visions. But the truth is I have more than enough. I'm wealthy in many different ways beyond measure. And at this stage of my life 'manifestation' has to be about more than just me and more than just my privileged bubble. 

Katie Rose x