The One Sentence That Fixed My Broken Chair (& Rewired My Reality)
Neville Goddard was right: “An assumption, though false, if persisted in, will harden into fact.” Here’s how we proved it in a movie theater.
Photo by Dan Meyers on Unsplash
It was supposed to be a perfect, cozy afternoon.
We were at a fancy theater, the kind with big, electric recliners and seat warmers. It was Sophia’s birthday treat. She kicked back her chair, turned on the heat, and sighed with contentment.
I pressed the button on my chair. Nothing.
I tried again. Still nothing. No recline, no warmth.
The old me would have felt a flash of frustration. Of course my chair is broken. Typical. This always happens to me. That narrative was ready to roll, an automatic script written by a lifetime of conditioning.
But the new me — the one who has been immersed in Neville Goddard’s teachings and the power of assumption — paused.
This wasn’t just a broken chair. It was a test. And it was about to become one of the clearest, most mundane-yet-magical proofs of a life-changing principle we’ve ever experienced.
The Secret Ingredient Your Manifestation is Missing
In his book The Power of Awareness (affiliate link to book), Neville Goddard delivers a line so potent it can feel like a secret code for the universe:
“An assumption, though false, if persisted in, will harden into fact.”
Let’s look at that in detail, starting with the dictionary: an assumption is something you accept as true without proof. Most of us are constantly assuming based on the “proof” our senses provide — the broken chair, the empty bank account, the silent phone. We are, as Neville teaches, merely reflecting our current, often unexamined, assumptions.
The radical work is to assume the wish fulfilled without any external evidence.
But here’s the part we often gloss over: it’s not about the wish. It’s about the feeling of the wish fulfilled.
Meaning: feeling as if we already have what we want; not to be confused with “fake it until you make it” or other forms of “day-dreaming”.
This is where most of us get stuck. We visualize the new car, we affirm the perfect partner, but we’re still feeling the anxiety of not having it. We’re putting lipstick on the mirror and wondering why our own face doesn’t change.
The 3D world is the mirror. We are the source. To change the reflection, we must change the source first.
As Michael Jackson sang:
I’m starting with the man in the mirror
I’m asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make a change
How I Applied This to a Cold, Upright Chair
So, back in the theater. The “proof” was clear: a broken chair.
My desire was also clear: a wonderfully relaxing and connected afternoon with my wife.
The old story would have been to fixate on the broken mechanism, letting it sour the entire experience. The new story? I chose to accept my desire as already fulfilled.
I didn’t try to “believe” the chair was fixed. That would have felt like a lie. Instead, I focused on the feeling of my wish fulfilled.
What does a “wonderful, relaxing afternoon” feel like?
It feels like peace. It feels like joy. It feels like ease and lightness.
So, I let go. I leaned back as best I could, propped my feet up on our bag, and turned my attention to the love-of-my-life company I was with and the movie we were about to see. I consciously dwelled in the feelings of peace and joy. I accepted that, regardless of the chair’s mechanics, my afternoon was already perfect. I persisted in that feeling-state.
Sophia, radiating the same energy, didn’t try to “fix” me or the situation. She was in her own state of fulfillment.
I had completely let go of the how. The “how” was the universe’s department. My department was to stay in the feeling.
The Word That Bridged the Realities
A little while later, toward the end of the previews and just before the movie started, I got up to use the restroom. When I returned, Sophia, without a second thought, intuitively said:
“Try it again. It is working now.”
She hadn’t touched the controls. She hadn’t flagged down a manager. She simply spoke from that place of aligned intuition, from the state of the wish fulfilled.
The old me would have scoffed. “I already tried, it’s broken.” But the new me, the one bathing in the feeling of a perfect afternoon, was open. I was in a state of allowing.
I smiled. “Okay, I’ll try.”
I pressed the button. The chair whirred to life, reclining smoothly. I pressed the heat button. A comforting warmth spread through the seat.
To my utmost, gleeful sense of wonder, the 3D reality had caught up. The assumption — the feeling of a perfect, relaxed afternoon — had hardened into fact.
A Practical Takeaway: The Feeling-First Framework
This isn’t about magic movie theater chairs (although the movie we saw was all about magic). It’s about the fundamental blueprint of creation.
Identify the Core Feeling: What do you really want? Strip away the object or situation. If you want a new car, is it for the feeling of freedom? Security? Success? If you want a partner, is it for the feeling of connection? Love? Belonging? Start with the feeling. For us, it’s a deep sense of ease and peace. What is it for you?
Assume the Feeling Now: The moment a contradictory “3D fact” arises (a broken chair, a rejected pitch, a negative bank statement), pause. Don’t argue with the fact, don’t deny it either. Instead, drop into your body and summon the feeling of your wish fulfilled. Breathe into it. For just 10 seconds, let the feeling of peace, or joy, or abundance be more real than the external circumstance. This is the “work.”
Let Go of the “How”: Your job is to be the person who is already experiencing that feeling. The universe’s job is to arrange the details. Trust that intuitive nudges — like Sophia’s words — will arrive at the perfect time, guiding your actions.
Mind Your Inner (and Outer) Speech: Your internal monologue must support your new feeling-state. Then, when you speak, let it come from that aligned place. Your words are the first vibrations of your new reality. Make them count.
The world will tell you to change your circumstances to change your feelings. We’re here to suggest the opposite, more powerful path: Change your feeling to change your circumstances.
Don’t get me wrong — sometimes a broken chair is just a broken chair, and you should call a technician. But the feeling of frustration and powerlessness? That’s the real glitch in the system. And the repair for that doesn’t require a tool belt; it requires a conscious return to the feeling of the wish fulfilled.
The ultimate fix wasn’t for the chair’s wiring, but for my state of being.
If this concept resonated with you and you’d like to go deeper with a community of like-minded people, you are welcome to join our free Skool community, Shift Your Identity (SYI). We continue these conversations there every day.