The Aisle Seat Part 2

Well, I tried the aisle seat experiment. I sat with my eyes closed, counted from 100 to 1, pictured a movie screen in my mind and visualized an empty aisle seat.

When we queued up to board the plane, we were the last four people to board. I knew the selections were sparse, so when I saw a middle seat in the second row, I took it. Melissa got a middle seat in the emergency row and both boys got window seats.

So, the result was the one I mentioned yesterday and now I'm left with the question: Does manifesting reality not work or did it just not work in this situation?

I grew up in a Pentecostal church, which practices varying shades of "word of faith." In essence, you can claim something, pray about it and receive it. I'm pretty sure this is nonsense as it's commonly presented, but I do think there's a certain kind of truth to it.

First, do I think my thoughts can bend reality and retroactively cause someone to not pick an aisle seat? Probably not (though Melissa told me I only went to the second row, so I technically didn't fully embrace the experiment). That kind of manifesting I can't get behind.

But then there's another kind of manifesting. I said yesterday that no matter what happened, I'm going to be content. When I look at what happened, I got to sit in the second row, which meant I got to exit the plane quickly. Melissa got the extra leg room of the emergency row and both boys didn't have to be scrunched between two strangers. So, all in all, things worked out well.

See what I did there? While I didn't have a causal effect on the external world, by choosing to look for the positive I have a causal effect on my internal world, which indirectly affects the external world. Because of how I choose to look at the situation, my mood is one of positivity. I'm taking this positivity and translating it into written words. You are now reading these words and experiencing thoughts and feeling from them. So, while I didn't manifest an aisle seat, by choosing positivity, I am manifesting positivity in the internal world, which echoes into the external world.

If we really want to change the world for the better, it seems best to change the inner world first and let it ripple out.

Comments

  1. UnknownJuly 17, 2024 at 9:11 AM

    I agree with this slant on manifesting. The "fake it 'til you make it" version, if you will. That you can alter your future through your actions and attitudes, but only to an extent. You can't manifest picking the proper lotto numbers, but you can manifest (a higher probability of) wealth through your own positivity, discipline, initiative, study...

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