MANIFESTIVAL

WE COME TO THIS PLACE…FOR MAGIC.

Manifesting is an elusive-ass concept. The whole thing sounds insane, if we’re being honest; especially upon reading internet definitions of this ~spiritual phenomenon.~

“Call it in. Whatever it is that you want in your life. You will receive it.” – the gist of explanations I’ve read about the process of manifesting. TF is this new-age witchcraft? Sounds kind of cuckoo caca insahno, no?!

In theory, yes. It sounds delusional. But in practice, it’s kind of magic – and in my experience, it works.

Getting extremely candid here, I was wary of sharing this post at the risk of sounding too entitled – but my desire to share, inspire others to tap into their truest selves, and unlock abundance in their life supersedes any fear of how I’ll be perceived. I never want to gatekeep tools that I use to increase the quality of my life.

It’s admittedly been a journey for me to reap the benefits of this mysterious practice, but I think I’ve finally found what works for me.

MY JOURNEY

I was introduced to the woo-woo world of manifestation by way of The Secret in the early 2000’s. My mom bought the DVD, which later became a book by Rhonda Byrne, and I watched it alongside her. The movie goes into detail about how your thoughts become things. It breaks down the “science” of the Law of Attraction, which basically reiterates my aforementioned definition: the energy of our thoughts attracts experiences of the same energy.

I’m 11 and my mind is blown. Oprah sang The Secret’s praises. The Today Show was talking about it. This DVD just told me that I could shape my whole entire life through the power of positive thinking, and my only mediums of news at the time (Oprah, The Today Show, my mom) verified it. Obsessed!

Suddenly, I’m Pollyanna and creating vision boards every second I get. I’m visualizing everything I want as though I already have it (pretty sure I just wanted a Blackberry and a boyfriend at this point in my life). I reframe every negative thought I have into a positive one. I get obsessive compulsive about it. If a negative thought entered my brain, I’d try replacing it with a positive thought and repeat it to myself 10 times minimum to cancel out the negativity.

Did my relentless optimism materialize into everything I ever wanted in middle school? No (weird!). Nevertheless, I persisted.

I attempted to carry on this way into high school. Obviously, the older I got, the more difficult it was to stay toxically positive 100% of the time. I was changing and the world around me was, too; new hormones arrived and teenage traaauuumaaa inevitably came up.

It was during this time that I started questioning the idea that “we ARE our thoughts.” I grew afraid of this concept, because as time went on, I couldn’t wrangle my thoughts as easily as I could before. In fact, unwarranted, negative thoughts grew increasingly popular in my brain. They became constant, actually. Enter: intrusive thoughts (a blog post for another day). I remember being 16 and thinking that if I am my thoughts, then I am fucked up.

My thoughts scared me, and I started to go to therapy to figure out if I was, in fact, fucked up. Much like The Secret had a few years before, therapy changed me. But this time, I wasn’t ignoring the inevitable negativity that comes with life. I honored my feelings and took an honest look at my experiences and their impact. It was hard and was a major change of pace from my formerly forced positivity. Ultimately, it felt good to make some sense of my world. Oddly enough, this was when I started seeing the magic of manifesting.

Facing my demons was an unlock for me. Even though I lessened the self-imposed pressure to be perfectly positive all the time, I still believed I could be a magnet for good things. Being honest with myself and taking notice of my resilience put me in touch with my self-worth. All the while, I did keep up with some of The Secret’s suggestions – I visualized, acted in alignment with my goals, and believed in myself and the power of the universe. The more I lived in my truth, the “luckier” I got.

And so, I manifested. Lots of beautiful things and experiences – from moving to Colorado for part of college, to making a bunch of new friends after high school (most of whom are still my best friends), to traveling to new places, to landing incredible jobs. My more recent spiritual downloads include meeting the love of my life and moving into a beautiful home together. The combo of continued therapy and my Secret-rooted rituals has helped me garner more positivity in my life, time and time again.

MY RECIPE

My foundation for manifestation is rooted in a medley of self-improvement media and my personal experiences. The experiential component is obviously unique to me, but there are tools that I’d encourage anyone and everyone to explore. For example, The Secret’s movie, albeit corny as hell, breaks down the Law of Attraction in a super digestible way. Gabby Bernstein and Lacey Phillips are awesome coaches in this field; they have podcasts and books you can explore. You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay is a life-changing book that dives into similar self-healing and empowering concepts.

Overarchingly, your manifestation recipe is what you make of it – it should be tweaked person-to-person. This shit is so personal and malleable, I’d even go as far as to call it an art form. Make it fun and make it yours.

If you need some inspo in developing your process, the extremelyyyy simplified breakdown of my manifest practice is as follows:

Intention. I get clear on what I want. Crystal clear. I write my intention down and get super specific with it. I share it with people who I love and trust. I make a declaration to the universe.

An easy example: finding my current apartment. I wrote out and verbalized what I wanted in my next home (ad nauseum, tbh). I declared every amenity I wanted - in-unit washer / dryer, two full bathrooms, a bomb-ass bath tub, etc. I got as specific as I could about the few neighborhoods that I wanted to live in, as well as being walking distance to a poppin’ area, but far enough removed from the noise.

Visualizing + scripting. Cue the delusion. This is my favorite part - I probably stay in this stage of manifesting too long. I make vision boards on Pinterest including images that perpetuate whatever it is that I want to bring to life. I make playlists with songs that evoke the emotion that I want to feel once the experience is manifested. I journal as though I already have achieved my goal (a.k.a. scripting). I surrender to being deluded and it is so fucking fun.

We’ll keep using my apartment hunt as an example: I visualized what it would feel like to have my new place SO hard. I wrote in my diary like I was already living in my new space (i.e. I would write about how AT HOME I felt). I would close my eyes in the shower and imagine I was showering in my new bathroom. I made a Pinterest board for décor.

I listened to a lot of old songs during this time – songs my parents would play in the living room of my childhood house, a place that truly felt like home. Loggins and Messina, Crowded House, Queen, Alanis Morisette were all on loop, eliciting that familiar, homey feeling that I longed for. A call back to pre-teen me discovering The Secret feels appropriate: I was persistent as hell in my visualization.

Act with intention. I’d much rather daydream about what I want all day, but this part is crucial. A lot of the time I really need to pep myself up to follow through with executive function, so I make a conscious effort to fall in love with the process. While I feel there is something cosmic at play when manifesting, acting in alignment with whatever it is that I’m seeking is crucial. I try to think about how I’ve acted in the past, the course of action that has previously kept me from abundance, and I attempt to change course. I remind myself that I need to move differently if I want to receive differently. I make the calls and do the things, even if I’m scared to.

Apartment example, continued: It’s easy for me to get stuck in an internet hole and believe that Google has all the answers. After not finding anything particularly amazing on listing websites and to avoid discouragement, my partner and I mixed it up. We’d walk in our neighborhoods of interest and call the phone numbers listed on “For Rent” signs. We eventually connected with a realtor who showed us a bunch of listings that we didn’t see posted online. The perfect apartment didn’t just fall into our lap; we had to work to find it.

Gratitude. The easiest way to make sense of this step in the process is to bring the Law of Attraction into the mix. When I appreciate what I already have, I am energetically lining myself up with the universe to attract more positivity. If I come from a place of lack, I will no doubt experience more of that lack. I’ve done that, and I still find myself dwelling in a scarcity mindset from time to time. When I return to gratitude, I return to a place of celebration, a headspace where I am ready to receive more.

Throughout the apartment hunt, I made a conscious effort to try and embrace my then-apartment situation. I would write down simple points of gratitude, i.e. I’m grateful I have a roof over my head. Simple statements that amplified my appreciation for what I already had in my life.

Letting it go. I relax, I let go, my life is in perfect flow. – an affirmation I’ve seen in multiple inspirational graphics on Instagram, but holy moly does that encapsulate this part of the process perfectly. When I know that I’ve set my intention and put the work in, I try to relinquish control and give myself a break from obsessing over it. As I touched on earlier, THIS IS HARD FOR ME. It’s not to say that I stop thinking about my goal all together - because I actually have OCD and can’t help myself - but I make a conscious effort to try not to hold it so tightly.

I attempt to get out of my head and into my body through exercise, mindfulness meditation, spending time with friends – I’ll seriously do anything to divert my attention. This part of my process is pivotal because I find when I hover over a goal too much, I suffocate it. I don’t leave room for magic to enter and bring my manifestation to fruition. Beating the goal to death can do exactly that: it can kill the dream.

Bringing it back to the Law of Attraction - being one-track minded lowers my frequency. Again, I know I’ve done my part of the work; I need to let the Universe do the rest. Can you tell by how repetitive I’m being in relaying this point that I need to remind myself of this step often? 😊

STATING THE OBVIOUS

You may be shocked to know that I am not a spiritual guru * please sense the sarcasm here *; my method is obviously imperfect and very much a work in progress. I’m still in therapy trying to figure things out and step into my most authentic essence.

Another caveat - I don’t get everything my ego thinks I want. I think the Universe intercepts some indulgent desires of mine and instead gives me what I need in that moment. Which maybe explains why I have yet to manifest $1,000,000.

This whole manifestation thing is multidimensional and mysterious, and it is certainly not lost on me that privilege helps some people get things and opportunities that they want with more ease. The world is far from fair, but I want to encourage everyone to try to step into their power, break generational trauma and strive for everything they want. Everyone can manifest.

If you’ve ever manifested anything big or small and want to share your process – please DM me! Happy to answer any questions about my experience with this phenomenon or to just gab about it with you. May we all get familiar with our full range of power and unleash it unapologetically. <3

X 😊 X 😊

~Melli