Who am I and how do I turn my aspirations into reality? I am a Woman. Mother. Daughter. Sister. Aunt. Cousin. Significant Other. I could go on and on with a slew of adjectives that describe who I am as a person. However, who I am because of my genetics, the family I was born into, or my heritage, for example, could never dictate how my aspirations transform into reality. What makes my aspirations real are manifestation, motivation, and movement. Like a butterfly, I view my life as one of complete and ongoing metamorphosis where the outcomes of each stage transform from their existence in my mind as dreams and aspirations to become publicly visible and tangible.
Each dream and aspiration represent the eggs in each metamorphosed stage of my life. The question I ask myself is, “What do I need to do to get the eggs in my life to metamorphosize?” One of the many life lessons I have learned in the last three years of my life that allows me to not only answer this question but also to initiate every single occurrence of metamorphosis is simple: manifestation. To me, manifestation transcends beyond the boundaries of my internal mind. The dream, the idea, the aspiration transitions from my internal environment—where only I can see it, think of it, and dream of it—to that space in my external environment where everyone, including me, can experience its tangible transformation.
And then there’s motivation. The reason for doing what I do. The willingness to begin and continue doing something or working toward a goal. Paired with every outcome I manifest in my life is motivation. Although I have a larger purpose in life—a larger “why”—each moment and each day of my life includes a mini or micro “why.” The motivation that gets me from A to B is like the caterpillar stage in metamorphosis. The caterpillar eats and eats, eats some more, then eats again! It never stops until it has finished growing! My motivation to accomplish what I manifest keeps me going and going, going some more, then going again until I achieve the outcome I am working toward. I never stop nor do I see stopping as an option because where achieving a dream is concerned, stopping is not an alternative for me.
So, there’s the manifestation, there’s the motivation, and then there’s the movement. In life, I can manifest and motivate as much as I want, but if I never take any action to make my dreams reality, I will remain suspended in a bubble. The key to popping the bubble is the same as what occurs in the pupa stage of metamorphosis where the caterpillar transforms into a chrysalis. The pupa stage may take weeks, months, or even years, but the movement never stops inside that chrysalis! Although we may not be able to see the changes that are occurring inside the silk cocoon, changes are happening, and transformation is occurring. Like the caterpillar, the transition process never stops until that beautiful butterfly emerges and becomes visible to the human eye. Likewise, in my life, I am constantly making changes to transform a dream—what others can’t see—into reality—the beautiful butterfly or product of my manifestation, motivation, and movement that people can see, touch, or otherwise experience. Currently, my medium for transforming my dreams into realities is a vision board. The snapshot that follows shows just a few of my manifestations: I have several on my board! 😊
One of my manifestations that I want to bring to your attention, though, is ECB Creations. Since manifesting and placing ECB Creations on my vision board 17 days ago, I completed my first vending event within 15 days, and today, 17 days later, I just signed up for my second vending event, which will occur on Saturday, February 12th, 2022! (Stay tuned for more information on the upcoming vending event, which will be posted on the Events and Activities and News and Updates pages of www.ecbubb.com).
I will end this post by saying that this process of manifestation, motivation, and movement works for me because I designed it to work for me, my unique characteristics, and my life as I know it. You must find what works for you and when you find it, run with it, and never look back. Keep focused on your present, celebrate your wins, and learn from any setbacks. Once you find your medium, Manifest, Motivate, and Move!
Brief Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) Application (for those interested in ABA and anyone else who wants to read about it)
Self-management is one of the more advanced concepts of ABA. Cooper et al. (2020) defined self-management as “the personal application of behavior change tactics that produces a desired improvement in behavior” (p. 683) and listed Achieving Personal Goals as one of its many applications. One of the suggestions they provided for effective self-management is simple: Go public. This is exactly what I’m doing in this blog, what I’ve done by posting information about ECB Creations on my website, and attending vending events. I’m going public! Two possible consequences of me going public about ECB Creations are (1) accessing positive feedback from members of the public when the goal is achieved or (2), accessing negative feedback from members of the public when the goal is not achieved. Going public about ECB Creations, one of my personal goals, motivates me to arrange my environment to escape potential negative public feedback (negative reinforcement) associated with failure while accessing those contingencies (manifestation, motivation, and movement) that make it more likely than not that I will achieve my goal and receive positive public feedback (positive reinforcement). Talk about accountability! It keeps me going!
Quote of the Blog
I leave you with this quote, one of the many that resonate with me.
Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
Viktor E. Frankl
Dream and Do!
On this the 17th day of January 2022, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I encourage you to take some time to listen to and or read Martin Luther King Jr’s, I Have a Dream speech, which he delivered during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. May it remind you of how he manifested his dream; how he motivated himself to take action to make his dream reality; how he moved not only himself, but the public too, toward the outcomes of his dream; and how the combination of his manifestation, motivation, and movement transformed his dream into reality. We must keep moving forward!
Reference
Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2020). Applied Behavior Analysis (3rd ed.). Pearson.