We each have a manifestation bubble (the “Bubble”) and all that we say, do, be, have—as little selves—is done within the confines of the Bubble. All our identities, how much we acquire, who we associate with—is determined by the boundaries and constraints of the Bubble.

What is the Bubble? There’s a scene in the movie, “Lucy,” in which there’s a hall fight. The bad guys are trying to attack Lucy. After she’s defeated all the other bad guys, the leader attempts to attack her and runs into an invisible wall that he cannot get beyond, no matter how hard he tries. Think of your Bubble as this, except it encloses you on all sides, top, and bottom. You are encased in this invisible Bubble that you can’t penetrate—that is, your little self/ego/mind can’t penetrate your Bubble. It is an invisible barrier to how much you can create in your life, to how big you can play in this 3D world.

The Bubble has nothing to do with degree of consciousness—although when you are awakened, you are no longer constrained by your Bubble. It is a constraint on the little self. There are people who have a very large Bubble in terms of their reach—think Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, Ted Cruz, etc.—but (IMHO) embody pure evil. There are also people who have smaller Bubbles, but who are still very kind, good people, but their goodness reaches only a limited few—their church community, for example. And then there are people such as Mohandas Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King, and Nelson Mandela who had/have a very large Bubble and very high consciousness. Their reach to do good was very broad.

Your Bubble has little to do with your degree of intelligence, although your openness to the world and your inquisitiveness into experiencing the much larger world around you can help to expand your Bubble.

Why does your Bubble limit you in what you say, do, be, have? It is because it is, at a very deep level, how you see yourself. It is mostly subconscious—we do not know it’s there and how it is limiting us. It is a form of programming of the little self that constrains our vision, imagination, and reach. And it constrains what we manifest in our lives: if our Bubble is small, we are going to create only small things in our lives, no matter how good we are.

Our Bubble is how we think of ourselves, consciously or subconsciously. It is all programming of the little self.

So, what determines the size of one’s Bubble? There are a number of factors. Here are the ones that come to mind:

• The size of your parent’s Bubbles or your ancestor’s Bubbles. If they thought of themselves as small, you most likely will have a small Bubble, too.
• If you grow up in a small town with parents of limited means and never saw much of the world beyond your small geographic area, you will likely see yourself very differently than if you grew up with wealthy parents, living in a big city, and traveling the world.
• Expectations placed on you by your parents, teachers, peers, coaches, and other influencers in your life such as the pastor of your church.
• Your interpretations of the successes and failures you have had—especially in your most formative years as you were growing up.
• All the judgments and criticisms the little self has of itself—and of others since these are really judgments and criticisms of itself, as well.
• The amount of blame you place on others and on circumstances for your situation in life.
• Others?

How do you enlarge or even fully eliminate your Bubble? Your Bubble is a set of beliefs about yourself. As you identify these beliefs and see that they are constructed by the little self (as are all beliefs), they will fall away. This is the work that so many of us undertake as part of our spiritual practices and growth. As you seek awakening and realization, you are softening the boundaries of your Bubble. The Bubble becomes penetrable and expandable to a greater and greater degree.

Where does one look for these beliefs, whether conscious and subconscious? Here are some suggestions of places to start:

• How did/do your parents see themselves? What vision, if any, did/do they have for their lives? For your life? How limiting is that vision? At several levels, it most likely influences your vision for yourself.
• What spoken expectations were placed on you as a child? “You’re going to be a doctor” or “You’ll never amount to anything.” Each has a marked effect on your Bubble.
• What unspoken expectations were placed on you as a child?
• What are your ancestral traditions and beliefs? If you came to this country in the early days as an Irish or Italian or Eastern European immigrant, you were subjected to tremendous prejudice and limitation, for example, that could have affected what you believed about yourself.
• Think of times when you thought or said to yourself, “I could never have/be/do that.” For example, was there a guy or gal who you wanted to date in high school, but you told yourself something like, “I’m not popular enough” or “I’m not a star athlete” or “She/he would never want to date me?” These are times that are keys to one or more limiting beliefs about yourself.
• Similarly, a job opportunity or promotion opportunity became available, but you thought, “They wouldn’t consider me for that job.” And then, of course, your mind came up with all the reasons that’s “true.” It’s all programming of the little self.
• Any time you projected a limited future of some sort for yourself. Again, it’s all programming of the little self!
• Any time you were rejected—how did you interpret what that rejection meant about you?
• What tribes do you belong to that place limitations on you? Essentially, all tribes place some or a lot of limitations on us.

Some of us don’t try to change the size of our Bubble at all—we just spend time complaining about our circumstances. But many of us do work to expand our Bubble. We put time, money, effort into getting advanced degrees, pursuing certifications, trying things we’ve never tried before, and may even have some fear of trying, but do it, nevertheless.

But all of this is pushing against the Bubble. In parallel to working to expand the Bubble, we can start to explore and eliminate all the beliefs that have determined the size and strength of our Bubble. Of course, none of this would be necessary once we’re fully awakened/realized, but for most of us, this is a continuing journey. And we have the opportunity right now as part of our spiritual journey to begin to take actions that will weaken/eliminate many of the beliefs that hold our Bubble in place and determine its “size”—that is, the degree of limitation it places on us to be, do, have.

The goal of this effort is to become aware of your beliefs and to see that they are merely programming—thereby erasing them. You may still not have the athletic prowess to become an Olympic champion, or the motivation and desire to be a world-renowned heart surgeon. But these are observations of a physical “limitation” or of a choice you’ve made, not of a limitation solely due to beliefs you hold. Beliefs cloud your ability to discern because they can trigger your emotions, thereby obscuring clarity.

We call them Manifestation Bubbles because everything we are, do, have, or exist in—all that we can create—are constrained by them.

So, “How big can I play?” As big as your Bubble will allow—at least until you become an awakened being, at which time it’s limitless!