Photo by Baylee Gramling on Unsplash
Manifesting is something I always loved the sound of but didn’t fully understand for a while. The first time I heard about manifesting was when my mom made me read “The Secret” during the craze in the early 2000s. Ever since then I understood the theory of being able to call things into your life, but I mostly associated it with a fancy word for seeing a lot of feathers through the “law of attraction.”
Of course, I wasn’t ready then. Manifesting is meant for those whose intentions are clear, and hearts are open to receiving. And for most of my life, I was all planning and action and no spontaneity and free will. I absolutely toyed with hope and vulnerability, but only if there was a clear strategy behind it.
As I started to become more spiritual in my late 20s, I got more and more curious about manifesting again. Manifesting was a mindset that eluded me, but I also saw it happening right in front of me all the time. Once I started opening up to my own magic, I quickly learned why my practical mindset of the past was what kept me from attracting the things I was seeking. So, what is manifesting your desires exactly?
Manifesting is intentionally creating or attracting what you want in your life. You can manifest anything from a feather to a house to a new job. It’s a power available to everyone, and you just have to learn how to use it.
Two things I often see people manifesting are love and money (which happen to be two things I very much wanted to manifest in my life as well). So, with my residual practically, I set out to learn how to elevate my vibration to attract more abundance into my life. I set out to hack manifestation, and I hope what I found will help you bridge dream to destination.
What Are The Keys To Manifesting
If you think about it, you’ve already manifested everything you have in your life without meaning to. Of course, that comes with some things you likely didn’t intend to manifest. The good news, according to Kristen Fletcher, creator of Resolute Life, Co., “Once you understand that your thoughts and internal experience create your outer world, you can begin to deliberately create the life you want.”
The reason that may be hard to grasp is that manifesting sometimes comes off a little woo-woo, and “it’s not enough to create a vision board and just wait around for blessings,” as Dani Turcotte, intuitive money mindset coach, stated. According to Turcotte, “You MUST have clear intent and create a full-body experience of emotions to manifest what you want (and you MUST take actions that are in alignment with that desire).
In my search to apply a semblance of logic to the mindset, I especially loved Danetha Doe’s perspective. As the creator of Money & Mimosas, Danetha laid it out in a way that resonated with me. She said, “At the core of manifestation, is the belief that you have the ability to set a goal and achieve it. A goal is a wish combined with a deadline. After you set the goal, then you create a plan to get there.” From there, I was sold and ready to explore how to bring in all that yummy abundance.
How to Manifest Money
“If you want total abundance, take your wealthiest friend to lunch. Tap into their energy. Because when we see others have done it, then it builds our belief that we can too. We also need to ALIGN with it. We can achieve that by aligning our thoughts, words, and actions.” - Steffani LeFevour, bestselling author, happiness coach, manifestation expert
“Money loves clarity. The more clear you are about your goals and dreams, the faster the money will flow to you. The challenge is being clear about what you want. One practice on gaining money clarity is to take 20-minutes to do a journal entry about your dream day. What are you doing, who are you with, what you are eating, what are you surrounded by, how do you feel throughout the day? The more you can visualize your dream life becoming a reality, the more clear you will be about what you want and don't want.” - Danetha Doe, creator of Money & Mimosas
“To attract money, you need to live richly. That does not mean buying anything. It means using money as a tool to serve your purpose. For example, if your goal is to go to medical school to learn how to heal people because you know in your heart that you are a healer, and you are clear on exactly what you need to make that happen, you can manifest that money. It's always a surprise where it comes from, and you have to work for it, but it'll be just enough to get you where you need to be.” - Morgan Balavage, wellness coach
“We need to clean up our relationship about money. In order to do that, first ask yourself these questions: When I think about money in general, how do I feel? When I think about my ability to attract money, how do I feel? When I think about my ability to have and keep money, how do I feel? If money were a living energy (which it is), what vibration am I giving out that I will receive back in my life? (fear, doubt, worry, excitement, joy, etc.)” - Christy Whitman, two-time New York Times bestselling author
Try this exercise from Whitman:
“Take out money and put it in front of you. Notice what you think about it. Do you have thoughts that whatever the amount is, it is not enough? That is a clue that you are coming from lack and limitation. Do you look at it and feel grateful for what that money allows you to do in your life? That comes from abundance. Only you can determine your feelings about money. Only you know the thought processes you have about money. Money is just money. We are the ones who give our meaning to it. If you change the meaning, you change the relationship.”
How to Manifest Love
A fun and easy way we can tap into this vibration is through music. Pick a song that makes you feel in love. Listen to it EVERY DAMN DAY. Get into that FEELING place. Feel it. Attract it in. - Steffani LeFevour, bestselling author, happiness coach, manifestation expert
“If you can't receive the love, then the person capable of giving it will not find you attractive. Solution: Practice receiving love in the world so you will be ready to receive the love a partner will bring you.” - Kelle Sparta, transformational shaman
Try Fung Shui! “Decluttering clears the stagnant energy for something or someone new to come into your life and home. I tell my clients to place a love vision board or two red candles in the back far right corner of the room when your back is facing the door front door. This is the love area of the home and some clients had trash in this area!” - Jay Diamond, international intimacy coach
“To attract love, you need to live in love. Love has a feeling associated with it, but it really is more of an action (the feeling of love is the result of the action of loving). Choose things that make you feel loved. Choose the foods that give you the energy to move the body the way you want. Move your body a lot—that's how you love your body. Spend your time aligning yourself with your purpose and love will easily follow.” - Morgan Balavage, wellness coach
“To manifest romantic love, it's important to BE the person that you want to attract. To manifest the love you seek, write a letter to your future partner that describes the way they make you feel. Hold it up to your heart and take a few deep breaths. When you feel the person you desire, and hold yourself to the same standards, you're able to work with the Universe to bring them forward.” - Dallisa Hocking, fifth generation psychic medium + CEO of Spirit & Spark
How to Attract Abundance
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, I suggest you use these simple steps from Kristen Fletcher, creator of Resolute Life, Co., to start attracting more abundance into your life.
Decide what you really want. Get specific about the kind of love and money you want.
Tap into the emotion. Focus on the emotion you would experience if you had those things, such as feeling joy, ease, or freedom.
Visualize and feel it. Set time aside each day to tap into the emotion of having the love and money you want. As you feel it through your system you become a magnet to the situations and people that match your emotions.
Patience. Let it all unfold and know it is all coming to you! A pitfall for people new to deliberate manifestation is focusing on how you don’t have the thing you want yet. If you focus on that, you guessed it—you are magnetizing a reality where you don’t have it.
Does Manifesting Work?
Does manifesting work? Of course, it does. Although, things may not always manifest in the way you were expecting them to. I heard the perfect analogy recently on the “Elevate the Globe” podcast with Marissa Lace. Lace had told a story about someone ragging on manifesting and they had quipped about whether they could manifest flying. So tuned into the energy of the universe and her confidence, Lace quipped back that the plane had been invented for that very reason. It was such a simple and every-day example that helped shift how I see manifesting in general.
Want to start manifesting but still a little skeptical? I get it (so was I after all). Try this simple two-day test (psst: it worked for me)!