Manifrustration
I’m proposing a new word for the English language:
Manifrustration (man·i·frus·tra·tion ; pronunciation: \ˌma-nə-frəs-ˈtrā-shən\) Noun.
1) The unhappiness associated with not getting what you want after attempting to influence the universe with your thoughts
2) The displeasure that occurs when the manifestation “master” says you haven’t gotten what you want because there’s something wrong with you
2a) The added confusion when this alleged imperfection is some unprovable or vague theory, such as: the level of your intention or “vibration”; unconscious “resistance”; or the type and/or number of certain thoughts that spontaneously arise in your mind
3) The depression that follows the times when, if you do somehow manage to get what you want, you find that you’re not actually any happier
4) The sadness arising when, after not getting what you want through the use of a particular manifestation technique, you go into debt to take another manifestation course that promises better results… but only delivers one or more of the 3 states listed above
I realize that in addition to being a new word, this could be a medical/psychological condition listed in the DSM-IV. Of course the problem with making Manifrustration a condition is that it would lead to all manner of useless treatments which would further compound the problem.
January 14th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Great post. Manifestly great.
January 14th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Manifrustration is a great new word that might annoy feminists.
MAN-ifrustration. See?
Hmmm, “manifrustration” could carry another meaning, one that describes the plight of feminists.
Speaking of feminists, I recently saw a fun video that pokes fun at feminism - but it’s really more of a spoof on the New Age. In case you haven’t seen it, here is a link to “Feminist Bookstore”, featuring Fred Armisen of SNL and Carrie Brownstein of the band Sleater-Kinney:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcOUsPTcvFI
Bonzai!
January 18th, 2008 at 11:21 am
Perfect description! Love it.
January 20th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Funny and accurate. I’m glad I have an official name for this condition now. I was using “Goofy”. This new name “manifrustration” is perfect for the reasons Jeanne listed too. That bookstore skit was way funny. Thanks.
February 24th, 2008 at 10:25 am
For some reason a word association game starts working in my head when I hear this. I hear words like ‘manwhore’ and ‘manboobs’.
dammit Steve!
February 24th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Susan,
I think there are treatments for your condition
April 9th, 2008 at 7:45 am
I want to thank you for coining this term. I have personally suffered from this affliction! I tried the LOA when I was single, and affirmed and meditated on meeting a great guy for hours one day - and guess what? I met one that night, five years ago, whom I am still with. This led me to believe in manifestation, but every single time I’ve tried it since, it has resulted in manifrustration. I have lately been researching critiques of the LOA because of my manifrustration. My faith in this law is finally broken - and I am much happier to be free of it. It caused more frustration than abundance, I must say. Thank you for giving my affliction a diagnoses.
April 9th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Hi Lyn,
While I’m not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV, I’m glad to have helped cure you of this malady
BTW, you hit the nail on the head: the RARE times where it SEEMS to work is what gives us the notion that it is, in fact, a reproducible event… because our brains are wired to:
a) Give extra weight to rare events
b) Try to reproduce causes that lead to effects we desire
c) Misunderstand what the actual causes are, giving extra importance to rare events!
And, you’ve described my experience as well — I’m MUCH happier since I stopped trying to control the universe so that it would give me things I *thought* would make me happy (oh, we’re also wired to try to predict what would make us happy in the future, and to forget how bad we are at this endeavor).