What manifestation really means, and how to do it
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Over the weekend I sat sipping coffee in the garden of a lovely café. The space was small, and the tables close together. I was engrossed in my book, and the conversations around me had faded to background noise. But when I heard the ‘M’ word coming from the table next to me, my ears pricked up.
‘Yeah, but it’s not a real thing is it, manifestation. You can’t just focus on something and then have it. It’s just something people want to believe.’
‘Manifestation is a real thing,’ came the reply with a hurt look. ‘Focusing on what you want does work.’
I looked up at the woman trying to convince her friend of manifestation, and smiled in a show of solidarity. I’ve been her – I’ve had those conversations.
Holding a worldview that isn’t mainstream, and sometimes derided, can leave you feeling defensive.
But I haven’t felt that way for a long while. Now, if the topic of manifestation comes up in conversation, I confidently own it, without a need for validation from anyone else.
Manifestation is a real thing. Focusing on what you want does work. But manifestation can be more nuanced than it first seems — we’ll explore this in a bit.
So, what does manifestation really mean? It means we continuously create our lives through our vibration. Where we’re vibrating depends on how we feel. When we feel good, we vibrate at a high rate. When we don’t feel so good, we vibrate at a lower rate.
We can either manifest our lives by default, or we can do it deliberately and with intent.
Feelings are the driving force behind manifestation
When most people think of manifestation, they think of things – a car, a home, money, a relationship. And manifestation is all of these wonderful, tangible things.
But it’s also a moment of connection with a family member, or a heart drawn in the foam of our barista-made coffee.
Our manifestations include the not so pleasant things as well, like an argument with our spouse, or a run-in with a grumpy waiter.
And how we feel is also a manifestation.
When I first came across manifestation and the Law of Attraction about 30 years ago, it resonated deeply. I started to put the principles into practice and began feeling happier.
I’d started to make a daily appreciation list and became attuned to the things around me that brought me joy. Coming from a place of feeling low and disempowered, this wasn’t just a quick win, but a big win.
Those feelings of happiness and joy were the first things I deliberately manifested. And from that good feeling place, the objects and things, like a new job I wanted, showed up in my life.
How we feel is the driving force behind what we manifest. And our feelings are shaped through our thoughts and beliefs. They’re shaped through the stories we tell ourselves about who we are and what we can or cannot do.
When we align how we feel with the life we want to live, it gives our desires a pathway to materialise, or manifest, in our physical world.
Attraction and reflection
Manifestation is a process of attraction and reflection. It’s a feedback loop.
How we feel, our internal state, is how we attract, or call in, our desires. It’s this feeling, this vibration, the Universe responds to by sending us the things, people, experiences and situations that match our internal state.
For example, if you want an improved relationship with your partner, you have to embody that improved feeling first.
Let’s say you feel they aren’t showing you compassion or respect. What to do? Turn your focus inwards and ask yourself where are you not showing compassion and respect?
It could be you’re not showing it to others, but more often it’s that you’re not showing it to yourself.
Perhaps you’re not respecting and honouring yourself by saying ‘yes’ when asked to do something you don’t want to do. Or maybe you berate yourself for not spending enough time with family, rather than showing yourself compassion.
Changing how we treat ourselves changes how we feel, which changes what we see reflected back.
To get a different life to the one you have, you have to change how you feel.
If there are things we feel obligated to do but don’t want to, we can shift our perspective to one that feels more empowered. We could also find ways to make peace with what we have to do.
And if there are things we want to do that we don’t feel we have time for, we can think about how to create that time.
Everything reflected back to us is information. But our first step is always to change how we feel, give ourselves some relief, and take it from there.
Four steps to manifesting anything
So how do we manifest what we want?
1. Identify what you want
Let’s take the example of getting a new job.
Being specific
You can write down the specifics of what you want from your new job, and this will help you get clear on what you’d like your new role to be. You could think about:
what you enjoy doing in your current job
what you’d like to do more of
the salary you want
the hours you want to work
the qualities of the people you want to work with
Being more general
Tuning into the ‘essence’ of what you want is especially helpful if you’re not yet clear on the details. We also don’t want to be rigidly attached to the form of what we want.
When we’re not attached to the specifics, like a salary amount or job title, we create space for the Universe to surprise us with something even better than we can imagine and ask for.
The essence of something is the quality it will bring you.
So, you could have a salary in mind, but the essence of what you want is to feel abundant.
You might want a managerial title, but the essence of what you want is to feel empowered and autonomous.
Take a moment to write down the essence of what you want. What qualities, like calmness, joy, aliveness or peace, will having this desire bring you?
2. Embody the feeling of having your desire
Embodying means feeling the feeling of having what you want.
Picture yourself waking up, getting ready, and stepping into your ideal workday, and feel how good it feels.
Feel how nice it is to have great conversations with your co-workers. See yourself opening your payslip and feeling the abundance. See yourself taking decisions as you work and how empowered you feel.
To embody the feeling you can:
use your imagination and visualise having it
‘sense’ how it feels to have it
journal about having it
paint a picture of it
write a poem about it
even dance your way into the feeling of it
Find whatever way works for you to create the feeling within you.
This feeling of having it is the vibration you’ll send out into the Universe. It’s what the Universe responds to and reflects back.
Even before, in this example, you get the job you’re after, you’ll see the results of your new vibration. Perhaps some extra cash will show up or you get an offer to lead a project that excites you.
3. Go about your day in joy
This is, for some, the trickiest part of manifesting.
When we really want something, and we want it quickly, we can grip hold of it too tightly. This muddies our vibration with a frequency of: ‘I don’t have what I want’. This slows down our manifestations.
I know it can be hard to stop noticing what we don’t yet have.
One way of doing this is to distract ourselves. What brings you joy? Go and do those things. Read a book, get out in nature, see friends and family, start a project. Keep checking in: ‘What would feel good right now?’ Then, if you can, go do it.
It not only shifts your focus from what’s missing, but it raises your vibration and aligns you with your desire.
4. Take powerful, aligned action
One of the most fun parts of manifesting is taking aligned action.
In the first three steps you built a solid foundation. From this foundation you can take action that feels smooth and easy, not forced or arduous. Things line up – you meet the right people at the right time and in the right place.
Don’t overthink what action to take.
If an opportunity or idea comes to you, turn your focus inwards and imagine going ahead with it.
See yourself implementing the idea or going for that opportunity. And if it feels good, do it. If it feels off, pause. And if you’re unsure, do it anyway because you’ll get valuable feedback and information you can use to think about your next step.
Your energy needs to flow, so take action and see where it leads.
If you start down a path and realise it’s not for you, you’re not stuck because you can always course correct.
What to do when doubt and resistance arise
The more you practice conscious manifestation, the more attuned you become to the subtle feelings that can rise to the surface.
For example, you want to manifest more money, so you close your eyes to embody the feeling and imagine having extra cash. It feels joyful, but you notice there’s also a feeling of anxiety mixed in there.
This is your body giving you valuable information. It’s saying: ‘Hey, something here needs some love and attention’.
Turn your focus inwards and look at that feeling of anxiety. Ask it what it has to tell you.
Perhaps there’s a part of you that believes money is evil. Take the time to soothe and ‘clean up’ this uncomfortable frequency. Ways to do that could be to:
make a list of all the reasons why money is a force for good in the world
think of all the things you can treat your friends and family to
think of charities you’d like to donate to
Or perhaps you realise your inner critic is telling you you’re not capable of manifesting more money.
This is a common doubt often pointing to our feelings of worthiness. If self-doubt or unworthiness is at the root, you could:
make a list of all the things, however ‘small’, that you’ve already manifested
remind yourself that you’re a divine spark of source, and just by existing you’re worthy of everything you want
remind yourself that the Universe doesn’t reward or punish, it simply responds to your vibration, and that’s all you need to work on
To clean up any lingering resistance around your desires, you could also ask yourself the following questions:
what uncomfortable feelings come up when I imagine having what I want?
what limiting belief or thoughts could these feelings be pointing to?
what new belief feels more empowering?
how can I anchor this new belief within me (tip: repetition – soothe yourself often and keep practising thoughts that nourish your desires)
When doubt or resistance shows up, it’s not a sign you’re doing something wrong. It’s simply a part of you asking for clarity and compassion.
Living deliberately – becoming a conscious creator
Most of us create our lives on auto-pilot. We keep doing what we’ve always done, even though we want something different.
What’s one thing you’d love to manifest? Take five minutes today to imagine having it and infuse every cell in your body with the feeling of having it.
With some time and practice, you can become someone who consciously and deliberately manifests the life you truly want to live. Put some time aside to focus on what you want, to feel how good it feels, and watch as your new reality forms around you.
