“Dreams are illustrations from the book your soul is writing about you”
– Marsha Norman
Manifestation is the idea that your thoughts and energy create your reality. Holding your worth and believing in your value are essential ingredients. With intention, you can do anything, be anything and go anywhere that you choose. The first step is getting in touch with yourself and becoming clear of your desires to be able to put them out like an order to the universe. It is important to live in the present moment to create your reality and attract your desires. Everything you need is within you, right now. Ensure that what you wish to manifest is expressed in present tense and not future tense. Use words such as “I have” or “I am” instead of “I want” or “I will”. Otherwise your desires may not actualise for you in the present moment as your subconscious expects them to be in the future, always just out of reach.
JOURNALLING EXERCISE
- Write down what you wish to manifest. Write about it in present tense (if you write about it as “I want” or “I need” then you are indicating to the universe that you are staying in the energy of wanting or needing. You need to step into the energy of “I am” or “I have”)
Sending an “order” out to the universe is often where people leave it and may become frustrated when they do not attract what they desire. But if you are not attracting what you desire, then this is an indication that you need to do deeper work. This could be in the form of unblocking shadows, rewiring the subconscious mind or stepping into your powerful worth. Some things you will manifest so easily because you don’t have any blocks around them with respect to your worth. But wherever you are struggling in your life, your subconscious has been programmed not to support what you are going after.
We are born as whole beings that are so authentically ourselves. During the first seven years of life, your subconscious mind is programmed through observing others, animals, society. It is essentially a “mega download” of life. Your interpretation is unique to you and stays with you for life. Bruce Lipton states that 95% of the results in our life come from that programming of the subconscious. Your subconscious mind is one million times more powerful than your conscious mind. It is true that your life is your own creation, but it may be subconsciously created. Are you replaying the same unhelpful thought patterns or acting out the same self-sabotaging habits? Do you have deep-rooted subconscious fears or limiting beliefs that are preventing you from creating a life that is aligned with your desires? An example is the fear that you are not worthy of love because a parent left you. No matter how much you say that you want a relationship, you may be subconsciously pushing it away because you are afraid to let your walls down and be vulnerable in case they leave you like a father.
JOURNALLING EXERCISE
- What limiting beliefs or subconscious blocks might be inhibiting your desire? Think back to childhood and why they might have come about.
The layers of conditioning continue throughout our lives and can cause us to build up an onion layer of pain, shame, facades and ego. There may be things about yourself that you have disassociated from. You may have rejected this in order to be loved. An example is wanting to choose a creative career, but your parents told you a creative path won’t make you any money and so you chose a well-paid but ultimately unfulfilling career for you as an individual. Another example is that people have told you that you are dumb and so you don’t believe you are smart enough to achieve what you want. Or maybe people think you are too loud, too quiet or too nice?
JOURNALLING EXERCISE
- Write down things people may have said to you (whether directly, indirectly or through their actions) that may have caused you to reject aspects of your self or believe that you can’t go after what you want?
People telling you their opinions or judgments may make you feel that you need to change to fit in or to be validated. However, being your authentic self is the basis for your personal power. There is only one of you in the world. There will become a point when you stop caring about what other people think (because they are essentially just judging themselves as we are holding up a mirror to one another). Finding the core that is your true authentic self causes you to be so in your worth that you powerfully attract what you want on an energetic level. Energetics are real for everything in existence is vibrating energy. Being authentic also ensures that what you are seeking is coming from a place of love and not to fill a void with a distraction. Think of a successful CEO who may have manifested what they want and is perceived as successful by society’s standards. Yet they may not be able to enjoy the present moment, they may struggle to give love and time to a partner, and they may be deeply unhappy. No amount of “success” is going to fill that void. That is why I believe authenticity and peeling back the onion layer of the ego is so important for true happiness. We are all one, connected to source energy. We can give each other love and light, but we ultimately need to be able to give it to ourselves and be grateful for what we already have. This is the only way to fill ourselves up and any void we may feel inside of us.
JOURNALLING EXERCISE
- Write some targeted affirmations about yourself. These will help you to overcome your subconscious blocks with respect to your previous manifestations (for example, if you don’t feel worthy of attracting what you desire, you might like to affirm “I am so worthy of attracting everything I desire and more”. Affirming this on the daily helps to re-wire neural pathways and make you magnetic for what you desire)
Once you step into your worth and authentic power, the universe may send you tests that get closer and closer to what you want. But something might not be quite right. This could be a partner who seems to tick all the boxes but doesn’t want to commit. Will you hold your worth and refrain from settling for less than you deserve to attract what you do? Or will you cave out of fear or even resort back to that toxic ex, that unfulfilling job or that self-sabotaging habit? Say no to the things that no longer serve you and stay strong on this! This helps to forge new neural pathways in your brain (in the subconscious mind) that value your self worth and override fear-based thought patterns. As you do so, which is incredibly challenging I know, watch the amazing things you attract as a result of passing those tests! This is why it is ok to have high standards for yourself. Don’t let people convince you to lower these. By setting these standards, you are essentially setting your worth.
The period of tests and waiting applies too if there is a period of drought after you have asked for what you want, done all the work and nothing seems to be coming through. Lacey Phillips, a manifestation advisor, coined this period a magic dark. A magic dark denotes a period of time in which a transformational process is occurring. It is the space between the wave receding with the tide and coming back as a beautiful force of nature. If you feel you are stuck in the magic dark, which may feel like a rut, you might like to seek expanders. Expanders are people who have manifested what you want with success. They serve to expand your belief that what you want is possible for you too as your subconscious mind is re-wired to believe in the possibility of that pathway.
JOURNALLING EXERCISE
- Write down a list of expanders with respect to the manifestations you wish to call in (this could be career, relationships, home, health, etc.)
When seeking expanders, it is important not to fall victim to comparison. To help you avoid this trap, try and tune into an abundance mindset. The universe is abundant and there is more than enough to go around for everyone to be successful in their own unique ways with their individual gifts. Think about what comes so naturally to you and what others seek you out for. Don’t aspire to be someone else, but identify what you love about what they’re doing, who they are and what they stand for to inspire your own purpose. We need to focus on celebrating each others’ success’ and their role in expanding our own potential. If looking up to these expanders is causing you to feel inadequate, jealous or resentful, then I encourage you to take a break from social media and your spiralling thought loops. Sometimes it is so much easier to see all the good in other people, yet our own thoughts can be ugly, self-depreciating and judgmental. But no-one should be put on a pedestal because at the core of it all, we are all the same. I encourage you to focus on coming home to yourself, connecting with those around you and celebrating the little moments in life. Because all we ever have is the present moment. Ask your loves ones what they love about you if you are struggling. Don’t forget to share what you love about them too. We need to focus more on lifting each other up than comparing and tearing each other down. Let’s help to change the outdated narrative of comparison and competition.
Creating a visualisation of what you desire to manifest is powerful and helps your subconscious mind to believe in the possibilities and subsequently take inspired action towards your dreams. You can create a visualisation in your mind, write them in a journal or bring them to life through a vision board. It starts with an idea and a clear image, but it’s your inspired actions that will make your visualisations occur. A vision board hanging up on your wall can serve as a daily reminder to take action steps towards those dreams.
Another important element of manifestation is intuition. Trust the little pings you receive – those weird little downloads that tell you to go do something. They are little signs on your roadmap. Likewise, the negativity or stagnant energy you may experience is a roadmap to what you want and what you don’t want! So embrace it and learn from it. Our growth is not linear. Once we break through one challenge, it is not just smooth sailing for the rest of our life. The universe is constantly presenting us with obstacles and therefore opportunities to grow and evolve. Sometimes we lose ourselves; but in the words of Hannah Montana, “We can always find our way back home.” Our intuition is key to doing so.
It is important to be present and express gratitude for that which you do have. A grateful heart will attract more to be grateful for as opposed to one that is resentful, desperate or impatient. Take a deep breath in. As you breathe out, surrender the need for control and trust in the divine timing of the universe. As you do so, watch as your relaxed energy rapidly attracts your desires.
JOURNALLING EXERCISE
- Write at least five things that you are grateful for.
MANIFESTATION 101: A GUIDE
- VISUALISE – Try and visualise what it is that you want and the associated feelings that come along with having that (you might like to create a vision board)
- PRESENT – Write down what you wish to manifest. Write about it in present tense (if you write about it as “I want” or “I need” then you are indicating to the universe that you are staying in the energy of wanting or needing. You need to step into the energy of “I am” or “I have”)
- BLOCKS – Think about what limiting beliefs or subconscious blocks might be inhibiting your desires. Think back to childhood and why they might have come about. Write these down.
- AFFIRMATIONS – Write some targeted affirmations about yourself. These will help you to overcome your subconscious blocks with respect to your previous manifestations (for example, if you don’t feel worthy of attracting what you desire, you might like to affirm “I am so worthy of attracting everything I desire and more”. Affirming this on the daily helps to re-wire neural pathways and make you magnetic for what you desire)
- EXPANDERS – Write down a list of expanders who have successfully manifested what you wish to call in (this could be in the areas of career, relationships, home, health, etc.)
- ACTION STEPS – Write a list of action steps that you could take even a small step towards your dream
- GRATITUDE – Don’t forget to practice gratitude for what you already have and for what you manifest. Gratitude is a magnetic energy that will only attract more for you to be grateful for!