Law of Attraction: Manifesting Lessons from My Jungle Adventure

When you start studying something like the law of attraction, you naturally start paying more attention to what manifests in your life. This is kind of necessary if you want to be more deliberate in creating your experience.

Though you don’t want to go crazy analyzing every single manifestation…but that’s not really the point of this post so I’ll leave it at that. But wanted to just throw that in there.

Anyway, as many of you know, Ryan and I accepted a housesitting job in the jungles of Costa Rica. Lots of challenging aspects that we were up for, such as no electricity or internet. But it turns out that the owner left out a lot of information that had we known, we wouldn’t have taken it.

In the name of being open,and the fact that we felt strongly that being somewhere like here would be beneficial on a number of fronts, we decided to stay.

But about five weeks in, it became clear it wasn’t working out, and we left the next week.

This experience was such an interesting manifestation for us that had many layers, and this is the kind of experience that is worth further analysis for sure. Lots learned and like any other post, I hope my insights will be of use to you in your own manifesting journey.

Did My I Misread my Intuitive Nudge?

Normally, I would never consider going somewhere like this, but the posting came on the heels of a several discussions Ryan and I had about pulling back, just ‘being,’ working more on our personal growth and all that jazz.

While there was some fear and anxiety about going there, ultimately, the decision to go felt right and inspired without a doubt. There was also a sense that the guy we were dealing with was a bit ‘off’…won’t go into all the details there but let’s just say it didn’t totally shock me that he held back information and that he did certain things.

Normally when we feel that way, there is the expectation that all will turn out well. Because it didn’t work out, and because we encountered a person who was problematic in a few different ways, did I misread that nudge? Did something go wrong?

No, not all. It can never really go wrong. I was right in going there…it was beneficial in lots of ways. I meditated a lot more and released a bunch of crap. It was great to not be on the internet all the time, and I have carried that back with me.

Lots of different manifestations came in for both of us that really drove home the point that it is all about what we are ‘being’ and not what we are ‘doing,’ that action carries less importance in ‘making’ things happen for us.

I realized I am a lot tougher mentally and physically than I thought. I got more comfortable with doing nothing, and dealing with ‘boredom.’

But all the other ‘stuff’ that happened as well was beneficial too, even if I didn’t particularly like it. Like any other experience in life, it showed up because somehow it was a match for us, and had something to show us.

And even if none of the ‘good’ stuff transpired, it still wouldn’t have been wrong. It is easy for us to think along those lines because of those lovely things we have called ‘expectations.’

One of the lessons in particular from this experience is realizing many manifestations can be ‘multi-purpose.’ They can show us lots of different things, expose lots of different beliefs, and areas we may be struggling with,etc…

They can bring with them stuff we like and don’t like at the same time.

So, no, my intuition didn’t steer me wrong. I didn’t misinterpret anything. It was all perfect, as it always is.

I know that is one of those things that can elicit eye rolls, and frustration because we want everything to be just so, and go exactly as we want it. We want to skip all the crap, and just be happy and shiny every second, never being touched by even the slightest inconveniences.

But that usually isn’t how it works, but things can still be great. Got off on a bit of tangent there so let me steer back to this whole intuition thing.

I guess the bottom line is no matter what happens, you can’t have ever really made the ‘wrong’ decision. Be open to what will happen as a result of following your intuition—which basically boils down to doing our best to manage our expectations, and our mind’s machinations regarding what it thinks should happen, what it wants to happen and what everything has to look like all the time.

The Line Between Beneficial Discomfort and Suffering Unnecessarily in the Name of ‘Growth’

There is no doubt that adverse situations, discomfort and what not can foster growth. Some of the most amazing people in this world got where they are today after overcoming the most tragic and challenging of circumstances.

Stepping outside of our comfort zone is almost always necessary to get what we want because that is where all the good stuff is.

Many of us look back to the hard situations in our life, the times we suffered so, and see how it contributed to us positively. Again, it certainly can.

But unfortunately, that has led to a belief that suffering is an absolutely necessary part of growth, that we should always ‘stick it out,’ that we should maybe even seek it out, in the name of growth and spiritual ‘advancement.’

The environment I was in certainly wasn’t one of comfort, and it certainly wasn’t one I was used to. I was challenged from day one. I didn’t love the freezing showers. I didn’t love using an outhouse, I didn’t love the crazy jungle trek to get in and out of town.

But for those first four weeks, I wasn’t suffering in any way. I was taking it all in stride. It really wasn’t bothering me. I was up for the challenge.

But then things started to change, and rather quickly, things turned a bit sour for us. I wasn’t feeling the love anymore. I wasn’t feeling any benefit, I just felt like I was in a situation I didn’t like, and at that point, staying would have been an exercise in ‘suffering.’

Sure, had we stayed the full nine weeks, would I have gleaned some benefit from challenging myself so much? Would my misery have opened up some energies that needed to be dealt with? I am sure of it. But, it would have been silly to do so. The suffering doesn’t have to be part of the equation.

This can be a really hard thing for us to truly understand and apply in our lives. We are very conditioned to think that suffering is somehow good, that doing things the hard way will somehow reap greater rewards or make us more worthy of getting the things we want.

Again, we will likely do things that will bring us some discomfort; we will encounter situations that may be hard for us in one way or another, and we will be the wiser for it in one way or another.

But we always have to be on the lookout for when we are crossing into the territory of suffering needlessly. When we find ourselves there, we have to be willing to walk away. We have to work on fostering the belief that we can experience growth in an easier, gentler way.

While this path can certainly be challenging, and we will end up dealing with all sorts of crap, this idea that it is always this hard, serious undertaking does us all a great disservice. It creates this idea that happiness is something that must be ‘earned’ and is some hard-won prize.

We have to be willing to recognize our own limits and boundaries. Ultimately we know when something may be uncomfortable in a good way and in a bad way, with the latter not really serving any positive purpose.

If you are hoping to meet new people and be a bit more social, it could be a good idea for you to endure the discomfort of going to a party where you don’t know anyone else. But if you don’t drink and hate loud, crowded spaces, passing on the offer to go to a club is the smart thing to do because you know yourself well enough to know that is just not your scene.

Breaking Commitment, Conflict and Not Being ‘Liked’

Even though I think Ryan and I were well within our ‘rights’ to break our housesitting commitment, it still brought up issues of guilt, upsetting people, conflict, not being liked,etc..

Turns out emotions don’t respond well to logical reasoning…who knew?

I’ll be the first person to admit that I don’t enjoy conflict. I tend not to have too much of it in my life, and for the most part, it’s because I am a pretty easygoing person, and I don’t get angry easily, well except with Ryan but that’s totally allowed, and I have license to just take my crap out on him, don’t I sweets?

I’m fairly secure in my beliefs, and don’t feel the need to debate people; I’m not easily offended and for the most part really don’t care how other people live their lives so I don’t feel the need to point out things I don’t agree with or whatever.

I tend not to attract people into my life that I don’t like, and I can get along with pretty much anyone.

So, this situation was not something with which I was familiar. I wasn’t used to being angry with someone in this fashion; I wasn’t used to feeling like someone did me ‘wrong.’ I wasn’t used to standing up for myself, not because I was accustomed to being a doormat, but because I really hadn’t encountered many situations where I felt I needed to.

And as someone who is used to things sailing pretty smoothly with my fellow humans, this manifestation gave me a chance to deal with a situation in which this wasn’t the case.

I am sure this guy getting a message from us while he was enjoying his travels in another part of the Costa Rica that we wanted to leave, did not make him happy. He tried to convince us to stay but we held our ground. Well Ryan held his ground because he was the one who ended up having the main conversation with him. Obviously telling us we agreed to stay didn’t hold much water when we were lured here under ‘false pretenses.’

I was really proud of him, and I have no doubt that since I sidestepped what would be the most ‘uncomfortable’ part of the situation, that I will manifest something where I’ll have to do the dirty work myself 😉

Now, a bit about the commitment thing. Now, given the situation, it was totally understandable why we didn’t honor ours—we were misled. Breaking commitments in this kind of situation is much easier…the person on the other end didn’t provide all the information that would have been necessary to make an informed decision.

But even then it was not comfortable for me…see above re: emotions and logic not mixing too well.

Now, what about if we had known everything we needed to know about going there, but still found it was too challenging and wanted to leave?

Things can get a bit hairier there, and this is where the conventional line of thinking and the line of thinking of a deliberate creator can diverge quite sharply because we are moving into a territory where issues of keeping our word, selfishness, putting the needs of others above ours,etc… pop up.

If you made some sort of promise or commitment that is now causing you hardship in some way, that is not benefitting you, that may be damaging you, what is a guy or gal to do? Is it wrong if you back out?

This issue isn’t exactly black and white, and there can be a bit of nuance depending on the situation, and I can’t account for every contingency here, but essentially, I would say the answer is ‘no.’

Sure, we may have given our word for something, but if it isn’t working out, the idea that we must continue despite the fact the situation isn’t working for us seems kind of silly.

Whatever the breaking of the commitment brings up for the other people involved is the perfect manifestation for them—you are really not doing ‘wrong’ by them. I know that may be something we have to chew on for awhile.

Depending on the type of commitment, the other party is probably better off if you leave because they would be better served with someone who actually wants to do whatever it is you were doing.

Now, most people wouldn’t entertain this line of reasoning, and there is a good chance you may be viewed unfavorably—that is just something we need to get used to.

Most of us entangle ourselves in all sorts of things we don’t want to do out of a false sense of obligation, not wanting to seem ‘selfish,’ not wanting to upset people or hurt their feelings, not wanting to express our true feelings,etc…and we all know where that leads.

Honoring our energy is not always comfortable…but we can’t ever go wrong when we do so.

So that’s that…hope you enjoyed the post.

Your Turn…

What did you think? Anything resonate with you in particular? Looking forward to your comments as always.