Manifesting: Tools for Conscious Creation

Recently I’ve been considering this whole ‘art of manifesting’ thing. Specifically, why it seems to work so well sometimes and other times, well, not so much. I realize there are other factors at play, such as divine timing, and the free will of others involved. But I was just feeling like I needed some clarity, a very brief refresher course on manifesting. So I sat down with pen in hand and asked my guides on the ‘other side’ to weigh in. Nothing too in depth, just some bare bones reminders on how this works. As we move into a new year, full of hope, full of promise, I thought what better time to get really clear on how to create the life we want as we look ahead into 2014. This is what my guides (always appreciated, thank you dudes!) had to say:

“Manifesting” is a term that has become widely used and widely misunderstood. People tend to feel discouraged when they attempt to manifest things in their lives and to no avail. The notion of manifesting then quickly becomes discarded and is replaced with a belief that one has no control over the circumstances of their life—that things randomly and haphazardly happen “to” them. So here is the key: manifesting is all about staying in the flow of energy. What this means is that when focused upon a desired outcome, what does the attainment of that outcome feel like? When you think or talk about what it is you want, do you get excited? Does it fill you with hope and joy? These are the energies that begin to spark creation. Resonating with this energy is crucial. If thinking about the outcome of your desire leaves you feeling unsure, confused, unsatisfied, or feeling “lukewarm” about it, you are likely to draw to yourself a situation that is just that—unsatisfying and “lukewarm” on the joy scale. So this is step one: how do you feel about the attainment of your goal? Next in the process is staying with that energy. Feeling excited about your intended goal, trusting that it will come to you and you will be given exactly what you need to reach it, and then letting go. These are the three basic steps: align with the energy, trust, let go. It’s a fairly simple recipe but what often happens is other things get thrown in the mix—doubt, fear, and worry. Almost always these counterproductive energies creep in and derail the process.

            Aligning your thoughts, emotions, beliefs, and actions with what you want and then letting go is the key to a productive and fruitful creation process. Trying to force things into being or stressing about outcomes is counterproductive to your creative process.

            The final piece of this is the art of receiving. Often what you desire shows up in unexpected ways that differ from what you thought it would look like. Be open to receiving the gifts that come your way. For example, if you are hoping to find a romantic partner, you may overlook the one that shows up if this person doesn’t fit the physical description you were hoping for—despite the fact that this is the one who would give you exactly what you were looking for in a terms of the relationship you wanted and the love you want to feel. So don’t be so quick to judge what is brought into your life. It may be exactly what you were looking for in different packaging than you anticipated. When you wish to draw something into your life, try to avoid boxing it in, in terms of how it will show up and what it will look like when it odes. Be aware of the end result you are after. When you believe the end result you are seeking can only show up in certain ways you are apt to miss the gift entirely. Be open and receptive to what comes into your life.

So after reading this and sitting with it for a day or two, I began to see that it really is quite simple. I think a common tendency is to get too caught up in the nitty-gritty of it, instead of simply stating our intentions and letting it go. More specifically, I believe a common error in this process is to focus more heavily on the appearance of what want (what we think it should “look like” or how we think it should come to us) rather than focusing on the bottom line: what it is we are really after. For example, (and sticking with the guides scenario of romantic relationships) if true love is what one is seeking, it’s important to manifest from a space of what they want to feel and experience in the relationship. But rather than focusing on this end result we are truly after (in this case being in a partnership that makes you feel happy and fulfilled), we tend to go into control freak mode and focus on exactly what that person must look like, act like, believe in, sound like, and so on. It’s a little like being unable to see the forest for the trees. If we pull back and state our truest of intentions (which in this scenario is to experience a joyful, loving, fulfilling relationship with one who resonates with us at the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual levels) and then let go and and allow that experience to find us, instead of putting all kinds of parameters on it (like she/he must be a certain height, have a certain hair color, eye color, and so on...) we really open up the channels of creation to receive exactly what we are hoping for, which often comes at us in completely unexpected ways. 

If there’s one thing I’ve learned for sure, it’s that the Universe works in mysterious ways. Never has anything I wanted shown up in the way I expected it to. In fact, it is almost always better than I ever expected. If we get too caught up in the expectations of how or when something will show up, or the “packaging” it must come in, we might actually miss it when it does.  

So these are my thoughts as we move into a new year, and I think about what I want to create in my own life. Wishing you a beautiful new year and a fun-filled journey towards the next! 

In Love,

~heather