Not all that glitters is gold

Not all that glitters is gold

Step One: Identify the Actual Desired State

Not the object. The state.
Not β€œmore money.”
What state does money represent? Stability? Ease? Freedom from scrambling?

Not β€œa relationship.”
What state? Being seen? Shared regulation? Warmth?
If the desire cannot be held in your hands, that is fine. Most real desires are states of nervous-system experience.

Name the state in emotional and physiological language.

β€œI want to feel steady.”
β€œI want to feel connected.”
β€œI want to feel meaningfully engaged.”

That is the compass.

Step Two: Audit Your Current Baseline

How does your system actually feel most days? Not what you think.
What does your body do? Tight chest? Restless scanning? Low-grade static? Numb repetition?

We cannot shift what we refuse to measure honestly. This is not judgment. This is calibration.

Step Three: Identify the Repetition Loop

What behaviour recreates the old baseline?
Do you scroll? Overwork? Isolate? Rehearse old conversations? Delay decisions? Chase intensity?

Manifestation fails when we declare a new state but rehearse the old one daily. Repetition builds identity.

Step Four: Micro-Shift the Identity

Do not attempt a personality transplant. That releases the kraken.

Instead, ask: β€œWhat would the version of me who feels steady do for the next ten minutes?”

Ten minutes is survivable.
Maybe they:
-go outside.
-send one honest message.
-cook instead of skipping a meal.
-close the laptop at a reasonable hour.
-do what they promise to themselves and others.

Identity is built through repeated micro-actions, not grand declarations.

Step Five: Normalise the Unfamiliar

The new state will feel fake at first. Not because it is false. Because it is new.

Expect the wobble. Plan for it. When the old pull shows up, label it: β€œPattern memory.” Not β€œtruth.”

Stay anyway.

Step Six: Shift From Outcome to Orientation

This is where your particular temperament matters. If wealth, status, and influence do not light you up, then stop trying to use them as carrots.

Your nervous system is not motivated by glitter. You are motivated by coherence and connection.

So orient daily around:
β€œDid I act in alignment with connection today?”
β€œDid I protect my health?”
“Did I keep my word?”
β€œDid I move toward meaning instead of distraction?”

Outcomes follow orientation.

Always.

Note: You wake up ready for β€œdifferent.” But different is abstract. The brain cannot execute abstract concepts.

It needs direction.

If you do not consciously choose the state you are practising, your system will default to the familiar one. Not because you lack faith. Because your biology prefers rehearsal over risk.

You are not missing ambition. You are missing a clearly embodied target state.

And that state cannot be β€œsuccess.” It has to be something your body understands.

Steady.
Connected.
Alive.
Engaged.

Those are biologically translatable.
Money and influence are symbols. Your nervous system does not speak symbol. It speaks sensation.

This edition of the Codex is not about summoning treasure. It is about updating the internal climate.

When the internal climate shifts, the external world reorganises around it in surprisingly practical ways. Not magically. Mechanically.

You do not want power. You want resonance.

That is not superficial. That is advanced.

And ironically, when someone stops chasing shiny markers and starts orienting toward coherence, their life often becomes more successful by conventional standards anyway. Grounded people make clearer decisions. Clear decisions compound.

That is not mysticism. That is systems theory.

You are not lacking a piece. You are refining the target.

And that refinement is the work.

Different does not arrive because you want it (no matter how many affirmations you repeat).Β  Difference stabilises because you practice being someone who can live inside it.