I am a writer, but just a few days ago was the first time that I have ever written down my yearly goals. There is power in written manifestations. Words on a page bring something to life. An idea, a dream or a feeling were only thoughts in your mind, until they existed on the page. As I wrote down my goals for the year, I was struck at how excited I felt. By writing down my goals, they felt more real, more likely to manifest in the coming year.
Manifestation is defined as an event, action, or object that clearly shows or embodies something.
Your goals for the year are a manifestation of you. Every dream, desire and vision is you in the making. It is January, so now is a great time to get started, but whenever you are reading this, your time is your choosing. I’ve got a few thoughts on manifesting the life you want for the coming year.
Manifestation tip 1: write it down
Marie Forleo’s video to achieve more with less stress breaks the process into two sections: Purge and Prune. In the purge stage you work on manifestation by – just like I did – writing down your goals. Marie calls this ‘purging’ because you are emptying your mind and heart of all the desires and goals you have. The next step is to prune: take your page full of ideas and identify what is most important to you. Not what you think you’re ‘supposed’ to get done, but what means the most for your life plan. Marie organizes your life planner into three categories: self, relationships and business/career.
Manifestation tip 2: focus on how you want to feel
Next up I watched another Marie Forleo video, an interview with Danielle LaPorte on her book The Desire Map: A Guide to Creating Goals with Soul. The foundation of Danielle’s manifestation practice is based on feeling good. She outlines how to identify what makes you feel good, then suggests writing it down. Above all, the key is to focus on what will make you feel good, not what you think others want you to feel. How to be successful in life looks different for each person. Once you have identified how you want to feel, then you can recognize patterns in those feelings and uncover your core set of goals for the year. Start with how you want to feel, even if you don’t feel that way now, and then figure out what you need to do to manifest those feelings.
Manifestation takes a lot of work. Manifesting your goals takes three things.
Don’t hold back
From my own experience, video watching and conversations with friends I realize that manifestation begins by not holding back. Remove your filter and your fear. [I like to put on my ‘feel the fear’ bandana for those moments] One of my goals this year is to take my writing seriously: professionally and personally. Every time I sit down to write something I’m terrified of starting because, what if it’s awful? But I know that I have to ignore my fear of failure and put words on the page. Because if I don’t, then I’ll never be a writer. To plant the seeds of manifestation, you’ve got to put your goals on the page. Even if you don’t ever look at that list again, it will help you begin to live the life you love.
Strive don’t push
This is another gem from the Marie and Danielle interview. I wanted to include it because it hit me so hard with truth. Manifestation does take work, but that doesn’t mean you force yourself or the progress of your goals. Striving is working everyday to manifest your dreams while being patient with the process of progress. Pushing, which I am too good at sometimes, means reacting to your progress with impatience. Manifestation is like a flower blooming: you tend and water each day, but there is nothing you can do to make the flower grow faster, bigger or more beautiful.
Declare
I am still reeling from how intensely I felt while writing down my goals on paper. Writing is manifesting my dreams: what were merely thoughts are now words on a page. That list is sitting on my desk where I can see it every day. The seeds of manifestation are planted well when you confidently declare your goals. Write, sing, affirm out loud, whatever will bring the life you want into existence. Do it. Or as we say around here, Giddy Up and get to your manifestation for 2020.
be brave
be authentic
manifest
-Elise