The Real Art of Manifesting
What is manifesting, really?
At its core, manifesting is the act of attracting what you want through mysterious and unseen means. It's not just wishful thinking or vision boards plastered with Pinterest dreams. It’s a co-creative dance with the Universe. A surrender into the unknown. A quiet but potent declaration of “I trust.”
William James, often called the father of American psychology, once said, “People by and large become what they think of themselves.”
And then he left the stage.
That one sentence is the essence of manifestation:
Your thoughts shape your reality. Your beliefs influence your timeline. You are not fully in control—but you are not powerless either.
🌀 The Paradox of Wanting
Here’s where it gets tricky: the more you chase something, the more it eludes you. This is known as The Backwards Law—a concept that shows up across spiritual traditions and somatic wisdom. When you want something too much, you create resistance around it. You stay in the energy of lack, which repels the very thing you're trying to call in.
Wanting energy and receiving energy are not the same.
To manifest well, you have to ask for what you want, and then release the grip. You have to stop trying to earn it. You have to learn to be in the frequency of having, even before anything has changed.
🌊 The Medicine of Meditation
Manifestation isn’t about forcing. It’s about becoming.
And to become, you must dissolve.
Meditation is not just sitting still or turning off your brain—it’s the act of becoming no one, nowhere, for just a moment. A place where problems disappear because you do. It’s floating instead of swimming. Listening instead of striving. Trusting instead of planning.
If you struggle with anxiety or intrusive thoughts, start by anchoring in your senses. Feel the ground. Breathe into your belly. Listen to birds, brown noise, or the soft hum of the earth. In this place, in this moment, I am safe. That phrase alone can rewire your nervous system and bring you back to the now.
✨ Receiving as an Act of Courage
Manifesting requires less doing and more being.
Being who you truly are naturally leads to aligned action. And aligned action opens you to prosperity that cannot be premeditated. In other words, having becomes a side effect of authenticity.
When you try to micromanage the outcome, you block infinite possibilities. But when you surrender the “how” and focus on the “why,” the Universe can work its strange and sacred magic.
Sometimes, you don’t need to know what the solution is. You just need to tell the Universe what the problem is—and then allow it to surprise you.
🕯️ Tools That Help
Journaling = talking to the Universe
Meditation = listening
Visualization = rehearsal for your future timeline
Gratitude = fuel for manifestation
Affirmations = fine-tuned declarations of trust
Rest = radical rebellion in a world of over-efforting
If traditional affirmations feel like a lie (“I have my dream home” when you very much don’t), soften them:
“I intend to have my own home.”
The body doesn’t lie—choose language that feels true now.
🔮 Flooding the Well
One of my favorite manifestation hacks is what I call flooding the well.
Imagine your desires as a deep water source. If the main channel runs dry, it becomes disconnected from the little side pockets of abundance. The way to refill that well? Embody the energy of your future desires now.
Want to live by the ocean? Go to the beach for a weekend.
Want to feel financially free? Do something simple and spacious that feels luxurious.
Want love? Be loving to yourself. Be around people who make you feel chosen.
Flood the well. Remind your body what it feels like to be fulfilled.
Not as a performance—but as a sacred remembering.
🔁 Want It, Ask For It, Let It Go
Here's your manifesting homework:
Ask for what you want—but ask in the affirmative.
“I want a peaceful home, or something better.”
“I want fulfilling work that serves the world.”Then ask yourself: How would this serve a higher purpose?
Take your ego out of it. Let your desires be prayers.Next: Do something you've been postponing.
Something nourishing. Something bold. Something fun.
Manifesting flows faster when you're fully alive.Finally, make an anti-gratitude list.
List the things that frustrate you—and then name how they’re serving you.
“I'm grateful for my annoying landlord because I have a roof over my head.”
Because when you learn to bless what is, the path to what’s next opens.
You are not too late.
You are not too much.
You’re not asking for the impossible.
The Universe loves courage. And when you take the first step—especially the one that feels irrational, brave, or slightly terrifying—life will respond.
It always does.
