You manifest for one. You co-create for many.
I started this year with all the best intentions.
I was manifesting left and right.
Great artwork. Artistic creations. A love interest. A gay best friend. Experiences I wanted to have. People I wanted to meet. Things I thought would add something beautiful to my life.
And the funny thing is—it worked.
I got the love interest.
I got the gay best friend.
I got things I had been asking for, and I learned from every single one of them.
But somewhere along the way, I realized I had misunderstood manifestation.
I think part of me believed that if I manifested something, it was supposed to arrive wrapped in a bow and immediately make my life better. As if manifestation meant: Ask for something good, receive something good, live happily ever after.
But what if getting what you asked for isn’t the ending?
What if it’s the lesson?
I manifested a wonderful person into my life. A beautiful person. And yet, I wasn’t completely ready for what I had asked for. Maybe they weren’t either. Eventually, it fizzled.
And that’s okay.
Because I got something much more valuable than the outcome I had imagined: I learned that I still have healing to do in the arena of love.
Apparently, the universe does not operate like Amazon Prime.
You don’t just place an order for “PARTNER” and receive one two days later with free shipping.
Sometimes what arrives shows you exactly why you aren’t ready for the thing you thought you wanted.
That realization changed manifestation for me.
I started thinking about co-creation instead.
Manifestation can be incredibly personal: I want this. I want that. Bring this into my life.
Co-creation feels different to me.
When I co-create, I am asking:
What can move through me that might serve more than just me?
What can I write?
What can I make?
What can I publish?
What can I bring into this world that might somehow fit into someone else’s life, too?
That feels safer to me. Bigger. More universal.
And don’t get me wrong—I still believe manifestation is powerful.
Sometimes it’s almost ridiculously simple.
I can think about wanting a certain sweater for a week or two, walk into Goodwill, and suddenly there it is—or something so close to what I’ve been imagining that I have to laugh.
I wasn’t sitting at home chanting, I am manifesting this sweater.
I was just thinking about it. Wanting it. Holding the idea of it.
And then—hello, Goodwill.
But I’ve also learned that just because I can call something toward me doesn’t necessarily mean I’m prepared to receive it.
That’s the part I wasn’t thinking about before.
If I’m going to ask for love, I want to be ready to love.
If I’m going to ask for partnership, I want to know myself well enough to participate in one.
If I’m going to ask for a mission, I need to be willing to actually do the work when the mission arrives.
And right now, that is where my attention belongs.
My creations need me.
My writing needs me.
My ideas need me.
I have things inside of me that I haven’t produced yet. I haven’t published them. I haven’t fully brought them into the physical world.
That needs to be my baby right now.
The relationship can come later.
Right now, I want to work on the reason I’m here.
I want to co-create things that aren’t only good for Brooks but might add something good to the whole.
Something someone can read and recognize themselves in.
Something that makes somebody laugh.
Something that makes somebody feel less alone.
Something that creates a little more love, positivity, compassion, curiosity, or connection in the world.
Maybe that is the difference I’m discovering.
Manifestation asks:
What do I want life to bring me?
Co-creation asks:
What can life and I bring into the world together?
And I like that question better right now.
Because none of us really knows exactly what we’re doing.
We’re all here doing this for the first time.
We’re learning while we’re living, and if we’re lucky, we’ll keep learning for as long as we’re here.
So here’s to learning.
Here’s to the 10/10 portal.
Here’s to becoming ready for the things we ask for.
And here’s to co-creating—not only what we desire for ourselves, but what we’d love to see exist in the universe.
Maybe the question isn’t always:
What can I manifest next?
Maybe sometimes it’s:
What are we ready to create together?
