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Why You Need A Personal Manifesto

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Everything has a value, not least someone’s time on the planet. How can you put a value on something that is finite and cannot be reclaimed? It’s a difficult task to say the least – because there are no real benchmarks apart from the ones we impose on ourself.

Value is largely based on belief, your own personal belief. This belief is not fixed, it is always evolving along with your experience in this game of life. Those that are living their dream and earn a living from doing what they love often say they cannot believe they get paid for what they do.

Others who feel stuck in jobs they hate are trading their time for a distant vision of some future fulfilment, or more often than not, the avoidance of some sort of future loss. Commonly, the mortgage or rent is at the root of this fear. If the rent is not paid then a vital human need is taken away:  shelter. If a wage is not earned then more is at risk: food, warmth and shelter.

The route to happiness is not just the accumulation of funds for the  protection of your basic human needs; not even the accumulation of funds for some sort of future dream, be it happiness or of your definition of future success. No, the key to winning at the game of life is how you experience your journey through time in the here and now – this very moment.

There is no future except as a thought. The future doesn’t exist in the here and now. There is no past either except as a thought. The past and future exists only in the mind for either reference or entertainment.

Think about this if you are stuck in an office in a job you hate, or if in the morning you have to drive a truck load of widgets – for which you have no idea what function – to somewhere you don’t even care about. Why are you really doing it and what is it really costing you?

My Manifesto? Today I am a living being of nature.  There are no rules to this game of life but to live simply;  free from the effects of coercion, blackmail and control. To live with gratitude and appreciation, in a state of freedom and abundance. To seek out good feelings and to leave every experience, situation, encounter and passing moment in a better state by having travelled through it.

Notice, this is different from goal setting. Goal setting sets up a future expectation. It can drive you forward but it can leave you experiencing dissatisfaction along the way. You want a million dollars? That means you don’t have it now and you currently experience lack. A goal is a destination which necessitates creation of a route toward it.

My manifesto contains no goal. It is not bound by circumstances. This manifesto is not a route to a destination but a method of travelling. If I want to create a goal I can, but it is separate from my manifesto for good reason.

Create your own personal manifesto without any goals and start living by it. If you hate your job, first find out why. Does your job fit with your manifesto? See if you can find a good reason to stay other than for the money. It might be to gather skills necessary for starting a business doing something you like later on.

If you do this right, your manifesto will bring you the feelings that you think achieving a goal can provide. But the difference is that these feelings can be sustained from moment to moment.

Goal hopping is like chasing mirages. You get the good feelings but six months after that new car, house, wife or husband the feelings have evaporated and you’re probably on your way to a new goal under the burden of a new feeling of lack.

With a well thought out manifesto your feelings are detached from your circumstances. You create and achieve goals for reasons other than for the good feelings because those good feelings already exist within you.

Steps for creating your own personal manifesto:

  1. Daydream, brainstorm and take plenty of notes with pen and paper. [Important because pen has a different relationship with your brain than keyboard.] Write, write, write.
  2. Look at what others have written, things will pop out that feel so obvious that that they escape your consciousness.
  3. List the values and beliefs that are important to you. Keep it bold and positive. For instance, if you have something like “I hate injustice and unfairness” change it to “I’m a champion of justice and equality.” My manifesto has a questionable line about control and coercion but it feels important to me so I left it in, but it could well be changed tomorrow. Also, look out for futurisms like “I want to.., I will.., I am going to…” and replace them with “I am.., I do.., I…”
  4. Edit it and keep goals separate and out of your manifesto. This is a method of travelling, not a map. Keep it simple. Edit, edit, edit.
  5. Carry it with you or keep it somewhere you will see it regularly.
  6. Live it boldly and rigorously.
  7. Re-write it regularly – even if nothing needs changing. It’s a living document and can nourish you each time of writing.
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