Pre-Manifestation: Alpha and Beta Reflections
Alpha reflection
Usually within 24-72 hours of putting out a new intention, I experience the alpha reflection. I receive validation that the intention has taken hold. Normally this takes the form of a very noticeable synchronicity. Sometimes the synchronicity is part of manifesting the results; other times it just seems to be an acknowledgement that the intention was received. Many Million Dollar Experiment participants report alpha reflections within the first couple days of joining, like finding some extra money on the ground.
Last week I put out the intention to double my monthly income. A couple days later, an article I wrote last year got an unexpected link from a major media outlet, which sent me tons of new traffic. In one day I received almost $300 indonations, not to mention a significant boost in ad revenue (more than double my daily average). This temporary boost was congruent with my original intention, and it’s a good example of an alpha reflection. The intention didn’t actually manifest yet — it’s simply the universe’s way of saying, “Thanks, got it!”
Interestingly, I’ve noticed that the more I trust and expect my intentions to manifest, the weaker the alpha reflections are (in terms of their magnitude). I think this is partly because I’ve grown so accustomed to working with intention-manifestation that I don’t need to be beaten over the head with validation anymore. I’m just able to trust it. I still see the alpha reflections, but they aren’t normally as jolting. I don’t recall putting out an intention this year and not seeing a clear alpha reflection within a week, so I’m pretty sure it’s always there when the intention is properly formed. Recently I’ve put out over a dozen new intentions, and I enjoyed seeing all the creative winks from the universe to acknowledge their receipt.
Calm before the storm
The alpha reflection dies down pretty quickly, and then there’s a lull that can last anywhere from several days to several weeks. This period used to frustrate me because I thought my intentions had totally fizzled, and I know it frustrates many Million Dollar Experiment participants too — lots of people give up during this time. Big mistake! This is just the calm before the storm. It’s also the period where it’s most crucial to continue holding the intention and to carefully avoid putting out conflicting intentions. If I start harboring thoughts like, “Why isn’t this working?” or “I wonder if this will work,” I kill the intention. I must know it will work. Sometimes I kill intentions on purpose during this time when I realize I don’t really want them or if I think of something better to intend. It took me years of practice to develop the mental discipline to control my thoughts well enough to stay focused on what I want and not allow myself the luxury of contemplating what I don’t want. I’m nowhere near perfect, but I’m finally halfway decent at this now, and it makes a significant difference.
Beta reflection
As I continue to hold the intention and faithfully expect its manifestation, I eventually experience the beta reflection. Typically this begins more than a week after the intention is first formed. Whereas the alpha reflection is just an acknowledgement that the intention has been received, the beta reflection is the substantial beginning of the real manifestation.
The beta reflection is much longer, stronger, and slower than the alpha reflection. Imagine a thunderstorm. If the alpha reflection is a lightning flash, the beta reflection is the rolling thunder that arrives much later. Both originated with the same event, but they reach you at different times.
The beta reflection generally arrives in three forms: ideas, opportunities, and resources.
First, I experience a noticeable surge in ideas related to my original intention. These ideas may come in the form of spontaneous inspiration, or they may arrive through other people. For example, I might get a new optimization idea that takes only 20 minutes to implement and instantly boosts my income. Sometimes a good idea is all I need to manifest what I want, so I can carry it to completion on my own. But if the intention is big enough, then ideas and direct action won’t be enough by themselves.
The beta reflection also brings new opportunities. Often these seem to come out of nowhere. Someone I don’t even know may bring me a juicy opportunity related to my intention, even though I haven’t told anyone about it yet.
Lastly, the beta reflection brings new resources, which may include information, people, money, etc. Whatever is required to manifest the intention eventually comes into my life. Often I’ll experience three or more random people recommending the same book to me on the same day, and that book will just happen to contain exactly the answers I need to manifest my intention.
It’s still important to continue holding the intention during the beta reflection, but it’s not as difficult as during the pre-beta lull because now you have some genuine momentum. It doesn’t require as much faith to see that the intention is starting to manifest — even the logical mind is able to see it coming together. The main thing is to keep your logical mind from screwing it up by trying to control the process too much.
Depending on the complexity of the intention, the beta reflection can last for months or years. In fact, I believe our overall results in life can be interpreted as the long-term summation of our beta reflections from a lifetime of intentions. Whatever you imagine with enough energy will eventually manifest. If your thoughts are clear and focused, you’ll manifest your desires relatively quickly and easily. If your thoughts are jumbled and chaotic, you’ll manifest a seemingly random and haphazard life for yourself.
- Steve Pavlina http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2006/06/how-intentions-manifest/
“The student must remember also, not to despise the “day of small things.” Invariably, before a demonstration, come “signs of land.” Before Columbus reached America, he saw birds and twigs which showed him land was near. So it is with a demonstration; but often the student mistakes it for the demonstration itself, and is disappointed. For example: A woman had “spoken the word” for a set of dishes. Not long afterwards a friend gave her a dish which was old and cracked. She came to me and said, “Well, I asked for a set of dishes, and all I got was a cracked plate.” I replied, “The plate was only signs of land. It shows your dishes are coming — look upon it as birds and seaweed,” and not long afterwards the dishes came.”
- The Game of Life (Florence Scovel Shinn)
“If you’ve got negative emotion and you’re not aware of it so you don’t do anything to find relief from it, then something that matches it will come. It will get bigger. So the negative emotion moves to a manifestation, or the negative emotion moves to a physical sensation which then moves to an uncomfortable physical sensation that then could even move to a disease. In other words, it always gets bigger unless you do something to change it. If we were standing in your physical shoes, isn’t this nice that I had such a light and fluffy, an unimportant reflection that is pointing out to me something that I didn’t even know was going on.
Actually it’s nice when something manifests and you can deal with it rather than having it bubbling around in your vibration, peculating beneath the surface. Wouldn’t you rather get it out in the open where you can deal with it? You don’t appreciate people who have underlying messages. You don’t like people who pretend one thing and say another. You like straight talkers. You like people that are expressing what their true heart is. And so the universe is giving you that back. You’re just getting what you always like. “I want a pure reflection of what’s going on” and you’re getting it, and we think it is a wonderful thing. And we don’t feel anything vulnerable about you.”
- Abraham Hicks (YouTube Video: Abraham Hicks segment about theft and why it happens (tribute to Leif #3))
