Manifestation is such a hot topic. You see the term used in magazines, in interviews with celebrities, on social media, and with all the hype that’s been built up around it, it can be hard to tell what it even means.
The definition of manifestation is, “a sign of something existing or happening”. The way I define manifesting is bringing something from your imagination to the physical world.
So how do you start to manifest your dreams? There are so many methods and theories, so many thought leaders giving their opinions on the matter. In this post, I’ll tell you what has worked for me and will try to demystify something that seems so supernatural.
Get Clear on Your Goals
So many people have an abstract idea of what they want. A lot of these longings come in the form of fleeting emotions, catching yourself thinking or saying “I want that ”, or even feeling jealous of another person’s accomplishments or overall lifestyle.
Our emotions can be wonderful indicators of the direction that you want your life to head in. I like to think of them as a superpower of sorts. Whenever you feel an emotion around a particular desire it’s great to sit with yourself and try to figure out what that feeling is trying to tell you.
Are you super pissed because your BFF said she wants to stay in and watch movies with her beloved instead of going out with you on a Friday night? Sure, maybe your feelings are hurt because you feel like she’s choosing them over you, because HOW DARE SHE?! But if you dig a little deeper maybe you’re actually upset that you don’t have the option to stay in with someone you love.
Maybe it’s not even that deep for you. Perhaps you want to treat your mom for her birthday but you simply do not have the funds in the bank to do so. That understandably makes you sad, and at the same time is a great opportunity to gain clarity on the fact that you need to start making more money so that you can pour into those that you love freely.
Once you see what areas of life you have a lot of emotions around it’s time to set some clear goals.
A not-so-great example of a goal would be “I want to make more money”. Okay, so why do you want that, and how much more money do you want or need to be making? A better example of the same goal would be, “I want to make at least $5,000 a month, so that I can have the freedom to live in a way that is fulfilling for me.” See the difference? By getting clear on your “why” you can breathe life into your goals and motivate you to actually work towards achieving them.
Write it Down
There’s something about writing goals down that makes them feel more real. This makes sense, considering when you’re writing you’re literally taking concepts from your brain and putting them on paper. Hello, manifestation?
So many successful people attribute a large part of their success to writing down their goals, and beyond that, actually picking up the habit of journaling.
“Keeping a journal will absolutely change your life, in ways you’ve never imagined.” That’s a quote from Oprah, who is by far one of the best examples of manifesting the life of your dreams.
When you start to journal about the ways you want your life to change it allows you to gain mental clarity and self-awareness. These are two attributes that are essential to creating the life of your dreams.
It’s also scientifically proven that you are 42% more likely to achieve your goals when you write them down. A psychology professor named Dr. Gail Matthews conducted a series of studies on goal setting and that was her main takeaway.
When you write things down it helps to encode them into your hippocampus, the area of your brain dedicated to memory storage. Another billionaire, Richard Branson is quoted to have said, “if you don’t write your ideas down they could leave your head before you leave the room.”
Ask for Help
You know how the saying goes, “closed mouths don’t get fed”. So when you’re actively looking to bring about the life of your dreams it’s a great idea to ask for support.
You might be wondering who you’d ask for help from? Great question and the answer varies. If you’re religious, it’s a great thing to pray about and ask your higher power for support. If you’re spiritual, ask the universe for assistance in aligning with your highest possible reality. If you don’t believe in anyone or anything but yourself, that’s okay too! Have a talk with yourself and tell yourself all of the ways you can support yourself in this new beginning.
This goes for people in your life as well. If you’re looking to lose weight let your family know what you’re up to so that they don’t tempt you with fattening foods. Tell your friends about what it is that you’re looking to achieve and tell them how they can help you reach your goals.
If you feel like you can’t ask for help or feel like those around you “won’t get it” maybe thats a sign that your relationships are no longer supporting your growth and it’s time to start hanging with people who want better for you, but that’s a topic for another post at another time.
Do the Work
I think a lot of the backlash to manifestation is that those who don’t get it think that when you’re manifesting better for yourself you don’t have to do anything and your dreams will just fall out of the sky.
That’s dead wrong.
The reality of it is that manifestation requires you to do the work. For example, if you want to be in a loving relationship are you putting yourself out there? Are you on the apps, or at the very least are you going to venues where you may bump into the cutie of your dreams? If not I hate to break it to you but no one is going to come knocking on your door asking you out on a date. Doing the work looks like actively seeking connection and being okay with being perceived.
Or maybe you want to lose 30 pounds by the next Holiday Season. Well, that’s a great goal, but if you’re still over eating and the only working out you do is by getting your reps in flipping through the channels on tv then you’ve got another thing coming! Doing the work here would look like regulating your eating and making sure you’re moving your body in a way that feels challenging yet sustainable for you.
So no matter what your goal is, there are actionable steps you have to take to achieve them. Manifesting your dream life isn’t a race, it’s a journey so make sure you’re gentle with yourself as you move towards actualizing it.
Release Expectations
This might be one of the hardest steps in manifestation. Releasing expectations around something that you want can be so hard, but it’s necessary.
You know how when you start to make pasta and you’re waiting on the water to boil, that wait can be so hard. You’re hungry and you want your food now. When you stand there looking at the water it can seem like so much time is going by, you can get frustrated and irritated and you may just throw the pasta in the water before it’s reached it’s boiling point. Alternatively, if you decided to make use of that time by continuing to prepare your meal the time could fly by, and before you know it the water is boiling. Yay!
Manifestation is very similar. If you’re sitting around waiting on your dream life to start then you might feel like you’re waiting FOREVER. Everything comes in due time, so by releasing your expectations you’re actually gifting yourself a certain level of freedom.
Releasing expectations is really a mental practice. It looks like catching yourself feeling irritated that your manifestations are not coming to pass within the timelines that you set for yourself and, reminding yourself that if you continue to work towards your dreams that they are bound to come to pass. You can do so by having a conversation with yourself or by journaling about your feelings. Whatever works for you, you do you boo.
Practice Gratitude
There’s a difference between just saying, “I’m so grateful” and actually living in gratitude. Quite honestly, when the life you’re currently experiencing doesn’t look anything like the life you desire it can be difficult to conjure up the feelings of gratitude.
This is where journaling comes back in. Keeping a gratitude journal can help to shift your minds focus from everything that you don’t have that you want, back to the present moment and can help you to focus on everything that you currently do have,
Simply put, it can help you shift from a lack mentality to an abundant one.
Having an abundant mindset is something you must cultivate to bring about your dream life. It’s common for someone to work towards a goal, achieve said goal, and still feel empty inside. When this happens it’s because not enough space has been made to see where you started and how far you’ve come. This happens because you’re always wanting more more more, to the point that you become insatiable.
So how do you start to practice gratitude? Like I’ve already said a great place to start is by keeping a gratitude journal. In the morning (or whenever you have time) try to write 5 things down that you’re genuinely grateful for. And I’m not talking about the typical “I’m grateful that I woke up this morning,” dig deep, be vulnerable with yourself.
For me, I’m grateful that I have access to clean water and nutritionally dense food because many people in our world do not. I’m so grateful for my friends because while I don’t have many friends the ones that I do have value me as a person, not for what I can do for them but they truly love me for who I am and that’s a blessing.
So what are you grateful for?
Check Yo Self Before You Wreck Yo Self
Finally, you’ve got to be real with yourself and hold yourself accountable to achieve your dream life.
Is the reason why you don’t have any money truly because the job market sucks, or is it due to the fact that you’re constantly walking to Target to “get a coffee” but leave after spending $150 on a couple of shorts, a house plant, and some masks in the name of “self-care”.
Real self-care means making sure you’re well in all the ways. How is your mindset? Are you falling victim to self-limiting beliefs? Are you working so hard that you’re dangerously close to burning out before you’ve even got started?
There are so many ways how you can self sabotage yourself while you’re working towards your dream life. A great tool that you can use on your journey is going to therapy.
Traditionally therapy has gotten a bad rep, but now more and more people are opening up to how wonderful it can be for their mental health and how it can be really beneficial when manifesting your dream life.
Therapy can help to shift your mindset, it can help you overcome self-limiting beliefs and most importantly helps you understand yourself even deeper. When you find a therapist that you feel safe with they can help you to check yourself when you don’t even realize that you need checking in the first place!
If therapy isn’t feeling feasible for you at this time, journaling is another way to observe yourself and how you process emotions and information. So go ahead and start there.
The law of attraction is real, so to bring about your dream life you need to be working towards embodying the dream version of yourself. You have to put out positive thoughts and beliefs, which will be reflected in your actions. But, it’s almost impossible to put out good when you’re feeling icky on the inside to address that so that you can move on and move up in the direction of your dreams.
Final Thoughts
You’re always manifesting your future. In each moment, each thought you choose to give weight to is actively shaping your future. It can be done consciously and unconsciously so why not take control and bring about outcomes that you actually want to experience?
To manifest your dream life there are steps that you have to take and moves that you need to make. I hope by reading this article you have a better idea of how you can make it happen and what tools you need to employ so that you can start living the life that you desire.
