Embodiment · “Being Precedes Having”
Choosing Your State First
To deliberately generate the desired feeling-state and self-concept NOW — independent of whether circumstances yet justify it — on the premise that your dominant state, not your situation, is what selects and ‘creates’ the reality you go on to experience.
State first, in 5 lines: Decide the state of the one who already has it, and generate that feeling now, before circumstances justify it. Point attention and your daily talk at what you appreciate, not what you dislike. Notice and release the counter-beliefs that pull the state back down. Use “the soft touch” — less forcing, more being and allowing. Re-choose the state through the day until it becomes your baseline.
What it is
Frederick Dodson’s foundational move in reality creation: decide and generate your inner state on purpose, first, rather than waiting for circumstances to hand you a state.
His premise is that your dominant state — the feeling and self-concept you live in most of the time — is the operative cause of your experienced reality, so the leverage point is the state itself, not the situation.
As his site puts it, “Where your attention flows to on a regular basis, determines what you experience as reality.” The practice is therefore to cultivate the emotional state associated with your goal before it manifests physically — embodying the reality you’re creating rather than chasing it. Where most manifestation methods start with a picture of the outcome, Dodson starts with the state: get into the feeling/identity now, and let attention and behaviour follow from there.
It belongs in embodiment state because the engine is a generated felt-state held as a daily baseline, not a visualised scene.
The Method
Faithfully synthesised from Dodson’s Reality Creation Techniques / Parallel Universes of Self:
- Set the intention. Get clear on what you want to create or experience — the result, but more importantly the state of the one who has it.
- Generate the desired feeling now. Deliberately cultivate the emotional state that belongs to the goal before there is outer evidence for it. You are not pretending the circumstance is here; you are choosing the state that, for Dodson, comes first. Don’t chase the outcome — be its feeling.
- Point attention at what you appreciate. “Focus daily discussion and writing on what you enjoy and appreciate, rather than what you dislike.” Dodson treats this as redirecting energy: appreciation of small things generalises (“appreciation of small things attracts positive experiences universally”), while resistance to small things generalises into resistance to everything.
- Clear the counter-intentions. Notice the subconscious beliefs that oppose the chosen state (“I can’t really feel good until X”). Dodson points to a small set of root “counter-intentions” that pull the state back down; the work is to recognise and release them so the chosen state can hold.
- Use “The Soft Touch.” Do less forcing, planning, and grinding; do more “being, experiencing, allowing.” The state is meant to be held lightly, not manufactured by strain — effort and over-trying are themselves a low, resistant state.
- Make the chosen state your baseline. Re-choose it through the day whenever you notice you’ve slipped back into the default reactive state. The aim is to shift your dominant state over time, since (per Dodson) it is the dominant state, not the occasional good mood, that “creates.” (Sourcing note: “Where your attention flows to… determines what you experience as reality,” “The Soft Touch,” and “being, experiencing, allowing” are Dodson’s, attributed. The numbered protocol is a faithful synthesis of his teaching, not a reproduction of his text.)
Source & Lineage
Frederick Dodson is a contemporary reality-creation author and coach. This state-first method runs across his work (realitycreation.org; Reality Creation Techniques) and underlies the parallel-self and levels-of-energy practices.
Its lineage recombines Neville Goddard’s “feeling is the secret,” Seth’s “you create your reality,” Bashar’s state/excitement emphasis, and Abraham-Hicks’ “reach for a better-feeling state,” restated as: choose the state first and let reality follow.
Common refinements
Forcing the state. Straining to feel good is itself resistance and defeats “the soft touch.” Reach for the next better-feeling state, not an instant leap to bliss.
- Faking it as denial. Choosing a state is not pretending real problems away; hold the state and meet life.
- Chasing instead of being. Trying to get the feeling from the outcome inverts the method — generate the state independent of circumstances.
- Ignoring counter-intentions. If the good state won’t hold, look for the opposing belief underneath rather than pushing harder.
- One good morning. It works by shifting the dominant state over time; re-choose it daily.