We’re flying through some
Let’s turn this turbulence into a nonstop flight to Future You.
Hello + welcome aboard Flight 333, nonstop service to Planet Delulu!
Planet Delulu is where we go to stop asking our current lives for permission to manifest our next chapter. You’re allowed to get spectacularly carried away with who you could become here, then do something audacious about it. “Who do you think you are?” is an excellent question; we encourage elaborate answers.
You’re in good company. I appointed myself “the Brené Brown of manifestation” while I was still a corporate copywriter dreaming of a different existence. Nine months after that declaration, I was an author signed with Penguin Random House, the same publishing house that publishes her. My debut, PERMISSION GRANTED: How to Rewrite Your Reality and Manifest the Life You Want, comes out in April 2027. And the copywriting career? Ejected from the aircraft.
Use my raw, hyperbolic, almost aggravatingly delusional example as permission to admit the unedited, full-sized version of what you want to manifest and, more importantly, to believe it will happen.
According to reports from Earth’s algorithm, everyone else’s manifestations are arriving ahead of schedule and with considerably less bullshit. Someone’s showing off their new marble kitchen island, an influencer is having her dream wedding in Lake Como, and the online business that started after yours is already booming. Some guy’s mastered his biceps/leg-day schedule and gotten more jacked in six months. Some woman’s gone from boss babe to slow mornings and a soft life, all while you’ve been hustling for your manifestations and hitting an existential wall by 2 p.m.
Whatever brought you here, you’ve gone from excited about Future You to embarrassed about who you thought you could become, one crashout away from hitting EMERGENCY EXIT on this whole manifestation thing.
Come sit down. Have some pretzels. I’m Courtney, your existential flight attendant, and I’ve saved you a seat.
First, a quick briefing on how we fly around here:
In order to become Future You and manifest successfully, you have to start feeling differently before your circumstances change.
To do this, you need two ingredients: imagination + self-permission.
Give yourself the childlike, no-holds-barred freedom to feel from the life you want like you’re already the person living it.
This level of embodiment will feel reckless and illegal to your Matrix-trained mind, so expect immediate internal resistance and pushback. As soon as you start feeling abundant and deciding it’s all working out, Current You is going to feel obligated to disclose your current circumstances: This is NOT actually where I’m at financially. Actually, I’m not sure if I believe it’s gonna work out. I’m still figuring things out. This isn’t actually doing anything.
Sorry, WHO are you briefing? You’re in your OWN imagination. You’re the captain now.
For the next few minutes, nobody needs to agree with you or even know. Treat your imagination as your protected paradise, your personal Hollywood writers’ room. Dream up the scene you actually want. In here, you’re a winner and people are thrilled for you. There’s an excessive stack of Tempur-Pedic mattresses underneath the entire production to catch you when you stumble. Let yourself normalize what it feels like to know you’re supported that thoroughly, even if you have to try it on like a fictional role.
Too many of us inadvertently delay our manifestations by reserving feeling good for the version of ourselves who has a present-tense “handle” on life. That person gets encouragement and the right to take audacious action, or just sit on the roof sipping a beer, doing a crossword puzzle, trusting it’s all working out in the background. The person having a difficult afternoon gets interrogated about how they ended up here again, then bullied right back into shame.
Having flown through plenty of that turbulence myself, I have concerns about this service model.
Imagine the pilot announcing, “Hey, there are a few bumps ahead, so we’ve decided you don’t deserve the vacation. We’re whipping the plane around now.”
On this flight, you can be rattled in your seat and still be on your way to something wonderful. Isn’t that everything? Hashtag obsessed. It’s why I keep leaving Earth.
We’re going to practice responding to the weather without handing it your boarding pass and asking it to choose the destination.
WEATHER is what you’re feeling and flying through right now.
CLIMATE is your “I AM,” the assumptions you keep returning to about yourself and what’s possible for you. It’s your identity, what you unconsciously defend as “me.”
The trouble starts when “I’m disappointed” or “I’m in a funk” or “I’m feeling fear” or “I’m having major doubt” becomes “I’m someone life never works out for” or a sign that you’re failing at manifestation.
I wanted this, and it didn’t happen morphs into Of course it didn’t. Look who’s asking. Or you wake up to a blasphemous text, spend the morning stewing or scrolling, then come to and snap at yourself, See, you’ll never be able to change your mindset. Look, you couldn’t even make it twenty minutes.
Now you’re hurting over what happened and what you’ve decided it says about you, and making your next decision from there.
This is when the warning lights start blinking: you’ve begun treating today’s weather like the climate of your entire life.
Start from I AM the operant power. You’re the one choosing the assumptions you rehearse and the meaning you carry into the next scene.
Think of your internal world as the code you’re giving reality to work with, and your current circumstances as the delayed echo of previously sustained code. Give yourself permission to embody the person it’s worked out for before the scenery catches up.
Use your imagination to get acquainted with that version of yourself, then let them influence how you meet the afternoon.
Anytime you catch yourself back in the old role, ask:
For once, let your imagination finish a good thought about you.
From right where you stand, with everything that has and hasn’t worked out, with every good and bad thing in your life right now, imagine yourself on the other side of your manifestation. How are you talking to yourself now? What does it feel like to be you inside that life? What feels normal now?
What are you letting yourself feel in that scene that you’ve been withholding today?
Take some time to feel into it, scripting different scenes and seeing what feels right. Put your desires on the silver platter. Write the scene where you get to have them.
All you have to do to submit it for streaming is show up to set.
Future You is the version of you living the life you want. This version has your manifestations and finds them normal. Get acquainted with their inner world and practice responding from that place.
Say you want to manifest your dream job. Teleport into the future. You’ve got it. You’re there, with the office, coworkers, and title, the whole scripted shebang.
What feeling has its arrival now “permitted” you? What’s “acceptable” for you to believe about yourself now that didn’t seem okay before? What’s “allowed” for you now that this circumstance has come to fruition in the physical realm?
For someone manifesting a soft life and an Etsy shop, maybe the permission is to slow down. They get to spend the day making things they’re proud to sell, without treating every order like a corporate emergency. They’re allowed to rest, think, dream, start at 11 and take lunch at 2, then dive into their new crochet project. They manifested a different way to work; now they get to enjoy the difference.
Someone else imagines that same shop and feels important and empowered. Finally, they’re the one with the vision instead of reporting to someone else. They feel bold and brave and sexy and fucking badass for taking their creativity seriously. Or maybe they feel abundant. Or free.
The shop is doing a different emotional job for each person. What would yours let you feel?
The specific feelings you’re seeking tell you how to play the role. Come back to them whenever you catch yourself slipping into the old story. Let the person you’re imagining influence your ordinary decisions. Bring the Method Acting magic into the mundane. This is where the alchemy occurs.
Believing in something you can’t prove yet can feel a little risky at first, so you’ll be rehearsing while the role still feels unfamiliar. Don’t wait until you feel completely “authentic” or “ready” to begin embodying a new identity. It’s normal for it to feel unnatural at first. You’re carving new neural pathways, and consistency is how you ensure they hold.
“Assume you are what you want to be,” Neville Goddard said. “Walk in that assumption and it will harden into fact.”
Manifestation is about meta-awareness: becoming conscious of your consciousness, and directing it to your will.
It’s fun to feel good. It’s addicting to have faith. And faith, on your planet, is a renewable resource. Fantastic news, because the Matrix is very committed to giving you reasons to misplace it. Religious practice makes room for regular refills: weekly church services, Islam’s five daily prayers, Bible studies, temple visits, etc. I build those into my own practice, too, through affirmations, prayer, visualization, self-talk, supportive content, and resources like this one.
Manifestation is a long game, so you’ll want plenty of fuel for the bumpy stretches. We’ll stock your cart together in Cabin Service.
Once you start manifesting, expect to become way more sensitive to everything that appears to be going right or wrong. You’re going to have the compulsion to interpret everything through “whether it’s working.” Is it a sign or omen? In the Matrix, you’re taught to rely on external circumstances to understand yourself, so a rocky week can quickly turn into a verdict on your future. Not to mention now you’re anxious about what the anxiety means.
You came to manifestation to make your life enjoyable, and now you’ve given yourself another performance review.
When I say “stay in character,” that includes the scenes where you’re scared it isn’t working. It’s always working. This is where Future You needs to take the wheel.
Say you’re practicing I AM magnetic and leave a conversation feeling awkward. You can feel the urge to interpret the cringe as proof that your I AM was wrong. Maybe the truth is… you’re awkward? Maybe that’s who you really are.
Don’t take the bait. Take a decisive left and ask how the magnetic version of you would respond. Meister Eckhart says it best: “Do exactly what you would do if you felt most secure.”
If your “I AM” is magnetic, you’re magnetic, full stop, period. Circumstances eventually take the shape of the identity you keep returning to, even when one specific evening is doing a terrible job of illustrating the point.
Whatever you decide becomes part of your internal code. Nothing becomes a problem until you decide it means something about your worth.
This return feels magical, almost too easy, but it’s available as soon as you notice you want it. The second you prefer to feel something different, or you’re surrendering to a disempowering meaning or self-interpretation, edit the script accordingly.
Actively perceive what Future You would perceive.
Assign the moment a meaning that helps you keep moving toward your Promised Land.
As you go about your day playing Future You, feed yourself the self-talk, feelings, actions, and expectations you’d have if you trusted your manifestation was inevitable. Bring the role into what you wear, what you consume, what you give your attention to, and what you decide. Keep refilling your cup throughout the day.
Say your chosen role is I AM a lucky person or I AM a magnet for miracles or I AM inevitable.
How would you approach today if that was true? Would you live from different expectations? Would you put more effort into your work? Have better posture? Project your voice? Text that person first? Let yourself joke around with your coworkers instead of keeping your anal sphincter clenched? Ignore your mother-in-law’s snarky comment?
You play the game through these micro-choices.
Most importantly, let yourself ENJOY THE PROCESS. Following fun is productive and magnetizing, because playfulness broadcasts nervous system safety and baseline abundance. Be whimsical. Rest when your body needs it. Decide you’re on the right path and exactly on time. Buy the croissant.
If you’re manifesting being a beloved musician, have fun with the Method Acting! Imagine your song playing in the cars passing you as you walk down the street. A driver does a double take. Is that…? Cosplay the version of yourself who’s living at the top of Maslow’s hierarchy and feels deeply fulfilled.
Whatever you do with your consciousness, make sure you’re using it to make yourself feel better. That includes never deciding against yourself or telling yourself you’re at the end of the story. When I saw a Pinterest post that said, “How are you gonna be a loser in your own mind?” my manifestation game was never the same.
You’re rehearsing the life you want. Let yourself enjoy being in it. The enjoyment practice is part of the nervous-system training. Whenever you catch the familiar objection (Careful. We don’t have anything to show for this embodiment and belief yet), actively let yourself stay with the pleasure.
When in doubt, remember what Neville said: “The acceptance of the end wills the means.”
So, what’s your “I AM”? What would you love to put after those two words and really see come true?
Name what happened + what you’re feeling.
Reopen the future you’ve started deciding against.
Help yourself to the feeling you’ve been saving for later.
Let Future You make your next decision.
You can answer the prompts in your head, in your Notes, or on paper. Pick the situation that brought you here and take it through all four switches.
We have very limited overhead space for your entire life history on this leg of the flight. The extended existential unpacking happens in my essays over on Planet Delulu, my Substack, where I have considerably more room to get carried away and provide first-class service.
Start with the moment the weather changed.
Let’s say you’re manifesting a new job and get an email notification: We’re so grateful you applied, but we’re not moving forward. We wish you the best. Now you’re embarrassed about the thank-you note you sent after the interview and the hopeful update you gave your friend. You really thought it went well.
Before you start deciding what this says about your future, let’s read the current conditions. What actually happened, and what are you feeling about it? Put them on separate lines. We’ll get to the meaning in the next switch.
A completed card might read:
I didn’t get the job I interviewed for. I’m so fucking disappointed, and I feel embarrassed and angry that I let myself get so excited.
No specific trigger? I woke up feeling off totally counts. Some days you’re discouraged before you’ve even checked your phone. In that case, just write down the feeling.
Read your answer back without adding what you SHOULD be feeling if only you were manifesting “correctly.” We have enough information to begin.
↑ Back to itineraryOnce you notice you’re in an undesired state, become aware of what that emotion has persuaded you to believe, and decide whether that conclusion belongs to your desired identity. Remember from your orientation briefing: whatever you decide becomes part of your internal code, so choose a reading that leaves your desired manifestation open.
Look at the situation or feeling you named. What’s the conclusion that keeps arriving with it?
I should’ve known better. I knew this wasn’t working. I’m not doing this right. This was never going to happen. People like me don’t get things like that. I’m going to be stuck here forever. This manifestation shit doesn’t work for me. I’m going to have to settle for a shitty job. I’m going to keep getting rejected. I’m so behind. I lost my chance. That was my one shot.
And what has that conclusion persuaded you to stop allowing yourself to stop doing, feeling, believing, trusting, or embodying?
Maybe you’re now withholding faith in the process and refusing to zoom out, insisting that this data is the end-all-be-all of everything you thought you could manifest. Maybe you’re no longer permitted to trust that everything really is working out in your favor and that there’s something even better on the way.
Maybe you’re no longer allowed to feel successful or inevitable or magnetic or confident or safe or worthy or simply just know it’s going to unfold perfectly and unexpectedly. Maybe you’re not allowed to trust your success is inevitable or that you always get what you want or better. Maybe you’re not allowed to believe in manifestation, or God, or Allah, or Neville, or your subconscious mind, or quantum physics, without external proof.
One “no” or insecure feeling has caused you to reconsider your “I AM” and the whole life you were planning on manifesting.
Now let’s switch the vantage point: How would you read this scene (or feeling) if you expected good things for yourself? If you KNEW your manifestations were inevitable?
Let’s give Future You a say in what comes next. They’re already inside you. By asking these questions, you’re actively bringing them online.
Using our job scenario:
Old forecast: I was delusional for thinking I could get paid well to do something I love. I’m not going to be able to become Future Me. I’m going to have to take lower pay or stay in the same field.
Chosen forecast: I always get what I want or better. My success is inevitable. I’m being redirected toward my perfect match. It’s not over till it’s over, and it’s not over. I’m so excited for what’s coming.
If you’re struggling to hear Future You, pretend you’re the main character and the audience is watching the movie of your life, rooting for you. What would they be screaming at the screen?
Leave! Stay! Keep going! Wait! Apply again! This is the breakdown before the breakthrough! You have no idea what’s waiting for you! This is part of your prologue! The harder the climb, the more extraordinary the payoff! Pivot! Change directions! This isn’t actually your dream, you’re just doing it for external validation! They’ve got the satellite view, just like Future You.
I did this when my book proposal was rejected by editor after editor. I could’ve reasonably read those passes as, Damn, maybe my voice isn’t there yet. They’d know. Maybe I’m not cut out for this. Instead, I kept coming back to what I really wanted and suspected deep down: Those editors weren’t the right fit. My editor is going to see lightning in a bottle.
Before the results arrive, you may spend a little time in the dark (since this is a long-haul flight, we dim the lights for our passengers). This is normal, and perfect practice for you to increase your ability to prioritize your internal knowing over external appearances. Faith is a prerequisite in this practice. As Hebrews 11:1 puts it: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Every manifestation is a miracle, born in these dark liminal spaces where you can’t see with your physical sight. In the Void, you see with your mind’s eye. Make sure you’re scripting the story you want.
You’ve been saving a particular feeling for the arrival announcement, but there’s no need to withhold. This is a full-service flight, baby!
Choose the feeling that belongs to your desire.
Picture a normal moment after the good news. Once your manifestation comes through, it’s going to be followed almost immediately by regular life. For our job seeker, you got the role you wanted, at your desired pay. You’re making coffee before work. What’s different about how it feels to be you now?
How does it feel to know your contribution is wanted and your efforts are respected? What feels sanctioned to embody? What do you get to start doing and what can you stop doing now that you’re this person?
Stay in the scene and take your time exploring all the layers. What are you allowing yourself to believe about your identity? What are you letting yourself feel in that scene that you’ve been withholding today?
Once you’ve identified the feeling you’ve been reserving for future fulfillment, rehearse actually experiencing it in the present. Use your imagination. Give yourself permission to feel from that scene right here, right now. Don’t worry if you need reinforcements; we’re about to choose something that helps you return to it.
Whenever turbulence hits, our existential flight attendants bring out the cart to ensure you’re fueled for the rest of the flight. We can offer the pretzels, snacks, and beverages, but it’s up to you to choose what appeals, ask for what you want, and help yourself to more of what you need.
Nobody holds alignment permanently. When you become aware that you’re marinating in fear and doubt, practice returning to trusting and knowing all is well and that you’re right on schedule. Alignment is the speed of return to Future You.
The goal is to get back to trusting the flight plan. Picture the pilot as the divine intelligence you believe in, with access to coordinates you can’t see from your seat. You chose Future You as the destination, and a reroute is part of getting you there. These skies are friendly. You’re allowed to enjoy the view.
Okay, now keep your arms and legs out of the aisle. Your existential flight attendant is coming through!
Today, I’m giving myself permission to feel while is still unfolding.
I’m helping myself to , and I’ll top off my faith fuel whenever I need it.
When you’re choosing from the menu, make sure to opt for something that actually sounds appealing, enjoyable, and regulating rather than choosing what seems to be the most “hardcore spiritual.” You don’t get extra credit for white-knuckling your way through a 2-hour meditation with ADHD; that suffering-as-transformation paradigm is pure Matrix. On Planet Delulu, we prefer the easy, pleasurable route, which, coincidentally, is also the fast pass.
But don’t tell the earthlings. They have to learn the hard way.
↑ Back to itineraryChoose the “I AM” you want to live from. Make it something you’re authentically interested in becoming. When you say it, it should resonate with you on a deeper level and speak to a genuine desire.
Bring that identity into the situation or feeling you arrived with.
Be specific.
Would you chase a few more no’s to get closer to the yes? You only need one yes to change the genre of your life. Would you ask for what you really want? Let yourself enjoy the plans you were about to cancel? Stay excited about what’s coming? See that no as a redirection? See this liminal period as training? Continue showing up?
Or would you just stop making this moment or feeling mean something? You can also just remember your “I AM,” accept it, and let yourself feel it, and boom, you’re back in alignment, just like if your birthday was yesterday and you accidentally said the wrong age today. As soon as you remembered: “Oh, wait, I’m actually 26!” No biggie!
For our job seeker:
I AM a successful salesperson.
I’m continuing to apply to the companies I bookmarked before this rejection made me terrified that I was wrong about myself. I’m networking and showing up to interviews feeling my capability, charisma, competence, and confidence.
I’ll listen to Kendrick’s “euphoria” and imagine how good it’s going to feel to know the jobs that said no were Drake. Then I’ll listen to Neville Goddard’s The Power of Imagination while making dinner to remind myself to persist in faith and embodiment. I’ll watch that creator who made the transition too, if I want to talk myself out of applying to more and I need proof it’s possible.
As a successful salesperson, you’re already successful. That makes these rejections part of the prologue. If it’s not this, it’s something even better. Know that, keep Method Acting, and stop raining on your own parade so you can get out of the way and let reality work its magic.
Either way, give Future You a juicy life you’d enjoy inhabiting in the present, because how the journey feels is how the destination feels.
Don’t forget to leave yourself a way back so you don’t panic and draw a blank when the seatbelt light comes on:
I’ll remind myself and reach for .
Use the sentence or support you chose above. You’ve already stocked the cart.
Future You gets to participate in the day you thought you’d ruined, and now the rest of the day has a different writer.
What happened, and what am I feeling?
What have I made it mean? How would I read this if I expected good things for myself?
What feeling have I been saving for later? What will help me experience some of it now?
What’s my “I AM,” and what does that person do next?
You can be rattled in your seat and still be on your way to something extraordinary.
Screenshot this. Return trips are complimentary!
You’ve now heard me explain manifestation through an airline, recommend Mulan for spiritual reinforcement, and compare prospective employers to Drake. I’d hate for the algorithm to decide whether we ever speak again.
Planet Delulu is my Substack, where I write the longer stories behind this work and share what I’m practicing in my own life. We have considerably more room for the desires you’re embarrassed to admit you have, and plenty of fuel for your journey.
I didn’t tell you upfront, but the return flight to your old limits has been canceled.
Subscribe free for my manifestation essays + practical reframes, plus updates on Permission Granted: my complete manual for becoming Future You and making the life you keep imagining your new normal.
I’d love to have you around for the next chapter.
BECOME A FREQUENT FLYER →With love + the good pretzels,
Court 🍒