October has just begun, which means the Love Yourself Foundation has a new monthly theme: manifestation. You have probably seen this term used a lot on social media in phrases such as, “Manifest your dreams! Manifest your true love! Manifest your success!”, and other things of that nature. But what exactly are these phrases asking you to do?
These manifestation phrases are based on a philosophy called the Law of Attraction. This law states that the type of energy that you put out into the world is the type of energy you will receive in return. Essentially, your energy acts as a boomerang. Your energy is thrown out into the world, and no matter how far it goes or how long it takes, it will always come back to you.
Now that we understand that all of our energy eventually comes back to us, how does the Law of Attraction tie into manifestation? Manifestation is defined as actively using your thoughts, energy, and mindset to bring your desires into reality.
Now, in manifestation, not only does that boomerang come back to us, we throw that boomerang out with the clear intention of “catching something.” Our energy is not simply being emitted into the world; but it is being emitted intentionally. We hope that once we throw out our “boomerang,” it will come back with exactly what we were aiming for.
What Are We Aiming For?
When it comes to manifestation, we are aiming to develop our “wants” into reality. What we want in reality depends on what is most important to us at that particular moment. Some people might want opportunities, love, or friendship, while others could want more tangible things such as money or VIP concert tickets. What you want is entirely up to you.
Your goals, aspirations, hopes, and dreams can all be manifested (as long as they are within the realm of reality). While you may not be able to manifest unicorns dancing along a rainbow, you can definitely manifest the dream car you have wanted your entire life.
That is the appeal of manifestation: you can manifest anything you want, even the biggest of goals. A lot of people want something that they consider a big goal, which is usually a goal that takes a lot of resources to obtain. These goals tend to feel really overwhelming when you think about everything you need to get to that end goal. Then, the overwhelmingness mixed with the anxiety of making sure nothing goes wrong on your way to your goal incapacitates you.
This incapacitation arrests your body, mind, and soul, leaving you feeling drained or burned out. All that energy that you had committed to your goal is now suddenly depleted. You are left as a shell of yourself, wallowing in self-imposed sadness.
This phenomenon is not rare. In fact, it’s quite common. The idea of not knowing how to get somewhere that you want and wrestling with the idea of an unknown future is very stress-inducing.
Manifestation takes away the most stressful factors of trying to reach big goals. The idea is that when you manifest a goal, your mindset shifts to the reality in which you have achieved that goal. You are putting out into the world what you want with the mindset that once it comes back, your desired goal manifests itself.
There is no stress in being scared that you will not reach your goals in manifestation because you know that they will come to you. It will manifest in front of you.
Now, this is where manifestation becomes a bit daunting for people who are unfamiliar with how it works. There is a lot of individual work that has to be done in manifestation. However, once you truly understand how to manifest, it will seem easily achievable.
How Do You Manifest?
Step One: Set Your Intention
The first step to manifesting is figuring out what you want to manifest. What do you want to achieve? What are you aiming for? What do you want the universe to return to you?
During this step, it is important to be as specific as possible. You want to make sure that you are getting exactly what you want from the universe. You have to make sure that the universe knows that as well.
For example, let’s say I wanted to manifest a new car. It would be important to know what model, make, color, and other things about the car that I want. Therefore, I would want to manifest a red 2023 Honda Accord that has good mileage and can get me where I need to go.
It is important to be detail-oriented in this case. Do not be afraid to ask for big things! You deserve to have what you want.
Step Two: Visualize Your Goal
After you have your goal in mind, the next step is to visualize it. What does the end result of your goal look like? How do you feel about it? How does it differ from what you have now?
When you visualize your goal, you are putting yourself in your dream situation. You are feeling how it feels to have it. You are experiencing what you want to manifest without physically having it.
For me, I would visualize driving in my bright red Honda from my home to Target. I am listening to my Spotify playlist, feeling the joy and independence that comes from driving. It differs from what I have now because I currently have no car that I can drive.
Remember that feeling that you get when you are visualizing your goal? It will be important for our next step.
Step Three: Speak with Positive Affirmations
For this step, it is time to take that feeling of accomplishing your goal and put it out into the world.
When you speak with positive affirmations, this is your way of throwing out your energy into the world. While you manifest, you have to think positively about your goal. You have to clear your mind of the negative thoughts associated with it. You are to think only with a positive mindset.
The thing about manifestation is that you have to believe that your goal that you visualized and felt will come to fruition. You have to trust the process. You have to trust that it will come to you. You have to trust that you have already achieved this goal.
What do I mean by trusting that you have already achieved this goal? I mean exactly that. You have to trust that you already have what you want. Remember that feeling I told you to hold onto? This is where it comes into play.
When you are manifesting your goal, you have to speak about it like it has already happened.
For example:
Instead of saying, “I want a new red 2023 Honda Accord.”
I would say, “I am so happy that I got my new red 2023 Honda Accord!”
See the difference? You are speaking into the world that you already have this positive outcome; therefore, the outcome will naturally return to you.
Step Four: Express Your Gratitude
Now that you have put out into the world what you want, you have to express your gratitude for it happening. You would obviously be thankful once you accomplished your goal, so expressing your gratitude for it happening should be a piece of cake.
Expressing your gratitude for something happening to you reinforces your positive mindset when it comes to manifesting your goal.
Usually, when I manifest, I say, “Thank you, Universe.” However, you can simply say you are grateful for accomplishing your goal. All you have to do in this step is hone in on your gratefulness.
Step Five: Let Go
The final step of manifesting is probably the hardest step for anyone. To ensure that your manifestation happens, you have to learn the art of letting go.
Letting go does not mean that you should never bring the goal up anymore or keep it a secret. In terms of manifestation, "let go” means to release the worry and anxiety built around the idea of your goal not happening. You have already put out into the world that you know it will happen, so there is no point in stressing about it further!
There are many more ways to manifest what you want in your life than the process I detailed here, and other people will gravitate towards those other methods more, and that is okay!
Manifestation melts away the stress, anxiety, and worry that comes with having big goals. It turns the insurmountable mountain of fear into a small hill to simply get over. That is the beauty of manifestation.
So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and manifest away!
About the Author
Kahleia is in her junior year at UNLV, and currently majoring in History! She hopes to go into Public History post-graduation to help make history understandable and digestible for the general public. At school, she is part of the Dean’s Student Advisory Council (DSAC) for the College of Liberal Arts (COLA) which is a student-led organization that works to act as the voice for COLA undergraduate students. Also, for the last 5 years, she has been working at the Discovery Children’s Museum in a variety of positions, especially in their Birthdays department. She has had a passion for writing since she was in elementary school, and she was involved in journalism in elementary school and high school where she was the Editor-in-Chief!