Big Magic & Manifestation: Tap into Your Creative Power to Break Through Fear

Bre Brown
Jul 23
9 min read

Hello my beautiful souls!

Welcome back to the Modern Manifestation blog. Feel free to listen in to today's topic in the podcast.

Last week, we touched on how creativity can help break through the terror barrier—but that was just the beginning. Today, we’re diving deeper into the kind of magic creativity can truly bring into our lives.

Creativity isn’t just a helpful tool, it’s one of the most powerful tools we have when it comes to manifestation. So today, I’m dedicating an entire episode to it, drawing inspiration from a book I mentioned in the last episode: Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert.

Liz already wrote an entire book on the subject (and did it beautifully), so instead of reinventing the wheel, I want to share some of my favorite insights from Big Magic and how they connect to creating the life you actually want.

Big Magic is about unlocking the courage to live creatively, despite fear. Gilbert breaks down creativity into six key elements: Courage, Enchantment, Permission, Persistence, Trust, and Divinity. Through personal stories and honest wisdom, she encourages us to follow curiosity over perfection, to take action without waiting for permission, and to recognize that ideas are living things looking for collaborators.

The book is a gentle yet powerful call to stop waiting for fear to disappear—and to start creating anyway.

The Vulnerability of Creativity

One of the most powerful stories that Liz shares in Big Magic is about a man who spent years serving as a Navy SEAL. We’re talking about someone who had walked through some of the most intense, high-pressure situations imaginable. Later in life, he took a job as a mall security guard and eventually met Liz.

Now, here’s why this story has stuck with me: this man—the embodiment of discipline, bravery, and grit—confided in her that what he really wanted was to write a novel.

Let that sink in for a moment. A Navy SEAL, trained for combat, able to withstand torture, willing to jump out of helicopters, and risk his life on a daily basis…was terrified to admit that he had a dream to write fiction. This former SEAL wanted to write, but never thought he could.

And that’s the heart of Big Magic—to be creative is to be vulnerable. It requires a kind of bravery that even a Navy SEAL found intimidating. Because creativity asks us to reveal who we really are. It’s not an external persona, it’s an internal exposure. And that’s why it’s so powerful. And that’s why Brene Brown asks us to have courage, to be vulnerable.

His story reminds us that creativity isn’t reserved for artists, influencers, or people who “look” creative on the outside. It lives in all of us.

Even the toughest among us aren’t immune to the fear that comes with expressing ourselves.

It’s a reminder that no matter how courageous we are in other parts of our lives, creativity will always ask us to be a little braver, a little more open, and a little more honest.

If you’ve ever told yourself, “I’m not creative” or “That’s not for people like me,”—this is your proof that you are, and it is.

Liz’s book, Big Magic, is pretty much a guide to living on the other side of the terror barrier. It’s a beautiful exploration of what it means to lead a creative life—not just in the arts, but in the way we live, love, build, and become.

When we follow our creative spark, we start to free ourselves. We become more intentional, grounded, and in alignment with Source. From this place, we begin to welcome new possibilities into our awareness; to manifest a new reality based on a new set of circumstances.

Liz defines a creative life as “a life that is driven more strongly by curiosity than by fear.” So, let’s lean into our curiosity DESPITE the fear and find out what’s on the other side. Let’s stay open to new ideas, be curious about what they’re telling us, and be bold enough to pursue them.

Ideas Are Alive and They’re Looking for You

Why do I love this book so much? It’s unique. It makes you think long and hard about the ideas you’ve put off. It is only of the only books I’ve found on creativity that talks about ideas as if they’re alive—like they’re floating creatures circling the universe, looking for someone who’s ready to receive them, and manifest them into reality.

This book is a call to action in many ways because she personifies inspiration. Think of an idea like a potential partner—they flirt with you, ask for your time, show up for you. But if you never show interest, eventually they move on. Inspiration is loyal to action, not potential. So when an idea visits you, treat it like a sacred invitation—because if you don’t say yes, it will find someone else. So focus on the really big idea when it comes because, if you don’t, you might miss it.

Tune in when a great idea fires you up; otherwise, the idea will find someone else to manifest it into our physical reality. While this sounds like a quirky idea, experience has told me how true it is. I can’t count on two hands how many times I’ve had a great idea, never took action, and someone else eventually created it. Many ideas I simply wasn’t passionate about, but there were several that had me kicking myself!

You’re given the opportunity to birth the idea, but the idea won’t stick around and die on the vine if you choose not to. So, if nothing else, Big Magic can help us take action because these brilliant ideas have a deadline, and you need to decide if it’s an opportunity worth missing.

And, you may not be the first or the only person the idea visits, so act quickly. When a great idea finds you and you don’t act, it doesn’t disappear. It finds someone else. The idea wants to exist, and it’s looking for a collaborator. You may not be the only person it visits—but you might be the one best equipped to birth it now.

Creative Energy and the Phenomenon of Simultaneous Invention

This book resonated with me so much because I believe that ideas are a kind of creative energy; an energy that wants to manifest, to exist, to co-create.

There is a phenomenon that makes me event more certain of this creative energy. It is called simultaneous invention or multiple discovery—the idea that the same innovation, insight, or idea can emerge independently in different places at the same time, even when the individuals or groups involved have had no contact with each other. Or, if Liz Gilbert were to describe it, when ideas want to come to fruition so badly, they court multiple people at once in a race to exist.

This concept—that ideas are alive—might sound out there. But history offers some pretty compelling evidence:

Calculus: Developed independently by Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. Newton developed his form of calculus, "The Method of Fluxions and Infinite Series," in the mid-1660s. Leibniz began working on his version of calculus around 1673 and published his first paper employing it in 1684. Newton, despite being the “first” to use calculus that we know of, didn't publish his work until 3 years later. Same idea, almost the same time, two different individuals who did not discuss the idea together.

Theory of evolution by natural selection: Formulated independently by both Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace. It is said that Alfred published his findings first, which prompted Darwin to do the same when he realized that someone else was pursuing the same kind of study and didn’t want to get left behind. In the end, Darwin’s, “On the Origins of Species” was more successful.

The telephone: The telephone had two independent inventors. Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray both filed patents for devices that transmitted speech electrically on the same day: February 14, 1876. Alexander caught wind that Elisha had a very similar idea, and wanting to get credit for his invention, submitted his patent earlier than he intended. Bell gets all of the credit today… even though Gray filed hours before.

Stone Age: I remember learning about the Oldowan tools while studying archeology in school. There were several times in human history where groups of homo sapien sapiens independently came across the same information, in different parts of the world, around the same time in history—the discovery of fire, carving tools for utility, and even the beginning of agricultural revolution. There was no possible way these communities could have been in contact during this time in history, but the groups separated by oceans, had the same ideas.

These moments suggest something bigger is at play. Maybe Liz is right. Maybe ideas really do float in the ether—looking for collaborators who are ready to receive them—even halfway across the world.

Your Creative Spark Might Be the Next Big Thing

So what does this mean for you? If ideas really do look for willing collaborators, the spark you’re feeling might be something the world deeply needs—and you’re being asked to bring it to life. Tune in. That inspiration really might be the next telephone, calculus, or Amazon.

If you want to co-create your reality with the universe—then follow these nudges and don’t delay. Lean into that sudden spark of a new project, a business idea, a move, a book, a financial trade. That’s your magic trying to create for you.

When you say “yes” to an idea, allow the fear to come and go, but don’t let it stop you. As you embrace your innovative side, your fear response will get quieter.

Fear almost always follows creativity because creativity demands change. Create anyway. Activate your prefrontal cortex so it can inhibit the expression of that fear.

When you’re faced with a new possibility, and you get really excited, don’t let the terror keep you frozen.

Courage comes, not the absence of fear, but the decision to keep going in the presence of it. It is a vulnerable thing to acknowledge fear and proceed anyway. Be brave.

As Gabby Bernstein always says, “You can do hard things”.

Every time you act in alignment with your inner magic, you rewrite the story your subconscious is clinging to. You teach your body that it’s safe to grow. You teach your brain that it’s safe to change.

You show your creativity—your inner muse—that you’re a willing collaborator.

And from that place, you can collaborate to create the life you want.

There is no version of creating the life you want that does not involve discomfort. And, the more you avoid it, the more you push away the things you want. Discomfort is the compass. If you’re waiting to feel 100% ready before you launch the business, write the book, end the relationship, or move to another city—you’ll be waiting forever.

One of my favorite quotes from Big Magic is where Liz says, “Argue for your limitations and you get to keep them”.

This Is Your Big Magic Moment

You don’t need permission to begin. You don’t need to be perfect. You don’t even need to be fearless. You just need to be willing.

So let me ask you:

What’s the idea that’s been tapping you on the shoulder?

What’s the nudge that won’t go away?

What’s the thing you keep telling yourself you’re not ready for?

Maybe it’s a business. Maybe it’s a podcast. Maybe it’s just being honest about what you really want.

That’s your Big Magic moment. And yes, it will probably scare you. That’s just the price of admission. Every time you choose creativity over fear, you show your brain and your nervous system that it’s safe to grow—and that you're ready to co-create your life with the universe.

You prove to yourself that you can create even in the presence of fear.

And from that place—you become a true collaborator in your own life.

Consider whether or not you’re asking for expansion in your life, but you’re resisting the very discomfort that the expansion requires.

This is the work. To show up. To trust the nudge. To create.

You were born for big magic, my friend. Don’t let fear convince you otherwise. Be bold.

Be your own creative muse. Be more curious than you are afraid.

Thank you for hanging out with me today. I will catch you in the next post!

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