Do you like to manifest?

I've been getting through my pile of magazines, and ruminations about how we should all flex our creative spirit. Is it all mind over matter?

Finding running inspiration in lifestyle magazines

Some people talk about mantras and manifesting when it comes to sport. For instance, it’s well documented that when a run becomes difficult, Courtney Dauwalter repeats in her head: “You're fine. This is fine. Everything is fine. Keep moving.”

Just Do It might be a great one for anybody (it’s me) who finds themselves procrastinating for half an hour before putting their running shoes on, and then for another half an hour after they’re fully ready to run.

Anyway, I’ve been working through my three-dozen-strong pile of subscription magazines of late. I love GQ’s cover story profiles, and this one from January with Barry Keoghan had a wicked bit about the Irish actor’s use of manifesting.

Mantras and manifesting sometimes get a bad rap for being new-age hocus pocus that have no place in this modern world of science and hyper-masculinity, but I think logic can still be applied. You can call it Mind Over Matter, if you need a slogan, but maybe it’s just thinking a bit more deeply about the thing you’re doing. Sometimes that yields positive results.

Solving problems, for instance, might ‘just’ require some extra thought, to go over the various permutations until you stumble upon that Eureka moment.

Manifestation mantras can be used for achieving a success mindset, as well. You can literally convince yourself that you can do something. By thinking about it enough, and in different ways, you might find a way around that stumbling block with a creative solution.

Reminding (or convincing) yourself that you’re ok in the moment, can help you get to the next moment. We’ve all heard about taking things One Step At A Time, and maybe reminding oneself of that during difficult moments is all that’s required to build resilience.

Something to think about during your next run, perhaps.

Have you ever manifested your future? Have you seen any results? Do you have any mantras? How have you used them? Have they helped you?

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Last week on Running Sucks

Mantras and manifesting get the same bad rap as the mindfulness and meditation that I wrote about on Thursday. I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation with Mark White of Run Grateful, and I hope you do too.

Take a read and let me know your thoughts. I love to hear them.

What are you grateful for?

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What else have I been writing?

I wrote about the movie, The Wild Robot for Imagine5 - a magazine by a sustainability nonprofit that’s telling stories for a greener future. Give it a read.

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Last year on Running Sucks

The San Quentin Marathon was such a cool thing to dive into. Prisoners in one of the most famous maximum-security correctional facilities in the world train to run a marathon over 105 laps of the prison yard. If we’re talking about resilience of the mind this week, this is a fascinating look into that.

They Thought There Was Nowhere Left to Run

And once you’re done reading that, go and watch the documentary, 26.2 to Life. You won’t regret it. Truly a great film.

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Elsewhere on Substack

I’ve always enjoyed it when

Peter Bromka

writes something. Alas, it doesn’t happen frequently enough. He popped up this week, however, with another banger about creativity.

Peter’s primary message? Please start.

It’s a sentiment I’ve been carrying with me very firmly for the past few years. I link it quite easily with gratitude. Once I became happy enough with my process, the dreaded Writer’s Block disintegrated. I’ve been writing for almost 25 years, and my level of productivity is the most consistently high it’s ever been.

The creative process is such a beautiful one. I encourage everybody to make space in their life to create something. We don’t need more vampiric SEO farms, or AI creations filling gaps that certainly don’t need to be filled with such pointless #content. We need more independent creators. That’s where the zips of magic that brighten unsuspecting eyes live.

Once we’re done with our work week, and we’ve paid our bills, what do we do with our leftover money? I spend it on things I love doing. Mostly, that involves paying for someone else’s creative output. A film, a concert, a beautiful new armchair, perhaps.

Please start. It’s the only way our lives — both yours and all the people appreciating your work (and taking a seat in your home) — will be truly enriched.

Please Start

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Running Sucks Haiku of the Week

My son is off school.
I thought I’d get his illness,
But so far, so good.

It’s one of the perils of parenting. Children are biological warfare. I was sure that I would be struck down with whatever respiratory illness he brought home with him from school, but I’ve stayed healthy. If not this one, another sickness will surely get me soon enough. Until then!

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Housekeeping

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Thanks for reading
- Raz x