Imagination · “Feel It Real”
The Five-Minute Point of Power Exercise
For five concentrated minutes, hold attention only on what you want (never on the lack), feel your abilities focused in the present, then drop it completely and make one physical gesture in line with the desire.
Five-minute point of power: For five minutes (no more), feel that your power is now and put all your attention on what you want — visualize or affirm it, never the lack. Then forget it; don’t check. Before the day ends, make one small physical act in line with the desire (e.g. behave once as though already well/able). Repeat daily, lightly, confidently.
What it is
The concrete drill that puts Seth’s “point of power is in the present” principle to work. Where the bare principle is a recognition, this is a timed, repeatable exercise: a short, deliberate, present-tense concentration on the desired condition — emotionally felt, not analyzed — followed immediately by letting go and by one small physical action that matches the desire.
Seth designed it to be brief on purpose, so that you do not slide into comparing what you want with what you currently lack, which (he warns) breeds discouragement and reinforces the unwanted state.
The Method
From The Nature of Personal Reality, ch. 15 (faithfully described; short quotes only):
- Set five minutes, no more. “A correctly utilized five-minute period of time can be of great benefit.” Brevity is part of the method — long sessions invite the contrast-with-lack trap.
- Concentrate that the power is now. “In this period concentrate upon the fact that the point of power is now. Feel and dwell upon the certainty that your emotional, spiritual and psychic abilities are focused through the flesh.”
- Direct all attention to the desire only. “For five minutes only direct all of your attention toward what you want. Use visualization or verbal thought — whatever comes most naturally to you; but for that period do not concentrate upon any lacks, just upon your desire.” Use full intensity: “Use all of your energy and attention.”
- Then drop it — and don’t check. “Then forget about it. Do not check to see how well it is working.” The releasing is as important as the focusing.
- Make one physical gesture. “Make one physical gesture or act that is in line with your belief or desire.” In health terms, Seth says this “involves conducting yourself once a day as though you were not sick in whatever way given you” — one modest action consistent with the wanted reality.
- Repeat lightly. Return to it daily “but easily, without pressure, confident that you’re doing well.” (Sourcing note: attributed quotation and paraphrase from ch. 15; not a reproduction.)
Source & Lineage
From the practical core of the Seth material, channeled by Jane Roberts (1929-1984). The five-minute exercise is Seth’s operational pairing of inner concentration with an outer act — anticipating later mind-power formulas (visualize, feel it real, then take inspired action) found in the Law of Attraction literature, but with Seth’s distinctive insistence on brevity, on excluding all attention to lack, and on a same-day physical gesture.
The Traditions' versions
The pattern — briefly and vividly dwell in the wanted state, release it, then act — is widespread; Seth’s signature is the strict five-minute cap, the ban on dwelling on lack, and the mandatory physical gesture: - Ask, believe, receive (Rhonda Byrne) — focus the desire and expect it.
- Emotionalized rehearsal (John Assaraf) — vivid, feeling-charged mental practice of the goal.
- Visualize, then footwork (Mike Dooley) — imagine the end, then take physical steps.
- Creative visualization (Gawain) — picturing the desired outcome with feeling.
Common refinements
Dwelling on the lack. The moment you contrast “what I want” with “what I have,” you reinforce the lack. Keep the five minutes purely on the desire.
- Skipping the physical gesture. The same-day act is not optional; it is what converts focus into momentum.
- Checking for results. “Do not check to see how well it is working” — surveillance reinstalls doubt.
- Going long or straining. More than five tense minutes is counterproductive; keep it brief, light, and confident.
- Using “act as if well” against medical sense. One modest action consistent with health is the point — not abandoning treatment or pushing past real limits.