The delusion of being in "receiving" energy

I'd like to talk about the delusion of being in receiving energy. 

"Receiving" is definitely a thing. It is the yin to the yang, the magnetic to the electro, the feminine to the masculine. I notice when I'm in a receiving state - people offer me coffees, meals, massages seemingly out of nowhere. I love it. 

The idea, though, of simply switching your mindset from doing to receiving is deceptive. Stopping the doing doesn’t automatically place you in receiving mode. It might let some of what you’ve put into motion finally land, but then there’s a cap. You still have to create new conditions—through doing—in order to open the next layer of receiving.

Yes, it’s a paradox. Do more to receive more. This sounds dangerously close to the hustle you’re trying to escape. It all depends on what you’re doing.

One of my most manifest students from the program I ran last year followed the teachings precisely and set herself up to receive ease and attention. Within the first month, she got on Groupon and started booking low-cost appointments—manicures, palm readings, pedicures—anything that held the energy of attention being placed on her. She found every way she could to give herself what she wanted.

This is where doing more to receive more diverges from how our culture usually frames it. There’s a lot of energy around doing more to prove you’re worthy. That’s the distortion. You’re already worthy. Your attention is just on the wrong kind of action.

So what happened next: she got on Fet Life and found people who gave her the exact kind of attention she wanted. Anything that felt off, not easeful, or beneath her standards—she moved on. Fast.

Within eight months, she was in her ideal relationship—feeling safer, more adored, more appreciated, and more loved than ever before.

True, the manicures weren’t the only work she did. But her ongoing refrain was, “How do I experience more ease?” And she made her choices from that place.

Today, while mopping the floor, I noticed the mindset shifts that have taken root inside me. It’s been happening for the last two years—rapid, continuous, undeniable. If you’ve read my other posts, you know mindset alone doesn’t cut it. Action is where the rubber meets the road.

I’ve been seeking to be in receiving mode—and to some extent, I have been—but I haven’t set up the external conditions to receive at the scale I want or in the ways I want. I’ve been living as if simply stopping what doesn’t suit me is the answer to my prayers. Now I see how wild and delusional that thought really is.

To give myself credit, I’ve been doing new things, learning new skills, unwinding old patterns, and consistently stepping into new paradigms. I’ve been taking action, but it’s been slow, with a lot of space in between. When I look at my internal progress, I’m not sure I would’ve changed the pace. Every step leads to the next. I can’t see what I can’t see until I see it. I do what I can when another part of me unlocks and makes it possible.

It’s like when a smoker quits and, for a while, judges every smoker they see. Each step forward, I look back and marvel at where I just was. Did I really believe that? Was that my way of thinking? It’s surreal to realize how I lived. And yet, there I was.

Receiving is not passive. It’s not just about believing you’re open—it’s about building a life that knows how to catch what you want.

Hustle is over-action—driven by numbers, metrics, and consumption, often without quality, presence, or clarity. I haven’t been in that.

I’ve been in something quieter. Under-action. I was waiting for results that belong to a version of me who acts in devotion, not just contemplation.

I was deferring. Expecting my mental readiness to be enough, without setting the stage for what I was ready for to actually appear.

The delusion of receiving isn’t that it doesn’t exist. It’s that we think we don’t have to participate in it. We think clarity and resonance will arrive fully formed, when in truth they are shaped by our actions. They meet us where we’ve placed ourselves.

So that’s where I am. Mopping the floor. Making room. Not waiting. Not hustling. Moving—because I’m done deferring my own unfolding.