How to manifest something into your life
Manifesting. It's been the hot topic for a while, with many of us embracing it to embark on a journey of self-improvement and self-love. But, what exactly is manifesting and how can you manifest something into your life?
Here, manifesting experts Roxie Nafousi, author of Manifest (that orange book you've seen all over your Instagram feed) and Giselle La Pompe-Moore, author of Take It In, share everything you need to know about how to manifest anything you want or desire. Yes, really, anything...
What is manifesting?
Manifesting is a practice that allows you to bring what you desire most into your life through thoughts, visualisation, attraction, belief and action.
It's a practice that’s often met with raised eyebrows, and Roxie is all too familiar with the misunderstandings. "I've had people ask me, 'How do you do manifesting?' but it's not something you do, it's something you are – it's a way of living," Roxie explains.
Roxie discovered manifesting at a pivotal point in her life. "I had basically been at rock bottom for a long time in my 20s, suffering from really severe depression and addiction," she recalls. It was then that a friend introduced her to manifesting and she began a journey of cultivating self-worth and self-love.
"I used manifesting to really build and change my whole life in every way," Roxie tells us. "What I want people to understand is that manifesting is actually a self-development practice, it's something that enables you to be the very best version of yourself."
Similarly, Giselle found manifesting changed her life and how she sees the world. Growing up in the Catholic church she believed she had to wait for things to happen to her. "I didn’t realise that I could be really intentional about the things that I wanted to create in my life," she adds.
Manifesting doesn't just involve thinking about your dreams and waiting for them to happen. Action plays a key role in the process.
How does manifesting work?
While some styles of manifesting, for example the Law of Attraction, suggest thought alone is enough to achieve your dreams, this new age of manifestation sees things slightly differently. The idea that your frequency and vibration attracts good things still plays a role, but it’s much more than that, with action at the forefront.
And, there really is a science to it. Dr Carol Dweck’s studies into growth mindset show us that believing you can do something makes it more likely you will succeed in doing it, when combined with active work to reach that goal.
It's also about creating a feeling of having accomplished your goal or received what you desire most. As Dr Tara Swart explains in her book, The Source, the brain struggles to tell the difference between a real event and an imagined one. For example, visualising a stressful situation in the mind, creates a physiological change in the body to the imagined stress. Therefore, visualising a goal you want to achieve or a feeling you desire, puts your mind and your body in a place where it's already happening. Other research suggests it's also important to visualise the steps towards your goal for ultimate success.
Can I manifest anything?
"You can literally manifest anything you want," explains Roxie. "I always say, the only limit is the limit of your mind." Whether you’re dreaming of a new home, the great love of your life or a sense of contentment, you can manifest it.
"What’s really important to understand, is that you don’t just wish for it or visualise it… You still have to put the effort in and apply yourself," Roxie adds. "You have to instil that self-belief, cultivate self-love, embrace gratitude, and empower yourself to make it happen."
Why is manifesting not working for me?
If you find the thing you want to manifest most in life is just not working out, it's time to take a step back and see what's really blocking your vision.
"Usually, the reason people aren't able to manifest something into their lives, is because they still have fear and doubt surrounding it,” Roxie explains. "They are essentially the two blocks to manifesting. They include our insecurities, our feelings of unworthiness, our doubt and our inability to call in whatever we want," she adds.
"We manifest from our self-worth and our subconscious beliefs about what we deserve," Roxie explains. "That means when we have these doubts within ourselves, these insecurities in the way, we’re never actually able to reach those dreams."
Giselle agrees that the key to manifesting is looking inward to our experience. "It’s about the personal experiences, the belief system, the doubts and fears you may be carrying that are not allowing you to see what you can make possible." For example, this could be down to growing up in a financially insecure household that makes financial security feel impossible because of subconscious self-limiting beliefs. Recognising these beliefs and overcoming them is key.
It's also important to look at the outer world, and how this could be impacting us. "The outer stuff is the world we live in today, and the result it has on all of us," Giselle says. She adds that examples of this include racism, poverty, trauma, and even just being a woman in today's society.
What is unintentional manifesting?
Manifesting comes in many forms, and self-development coaches worldwide teach different methods of manifesting. One of those being unintentional manifesting. Giselle wrote her book in the hope of showing this different approach to the practice. She's worked to make the practice accessible, down to earth and practical because "if spirituality isn’t for all of us, it’s for none of us".
"We’re taught the only way to manifest is having clarity, and that’s one part of it. But, how can you really know what you want unless you know who you are first?"
Giselle's unintentional manifesting focuses on doing the inner work first. "If you spend some time looking at the stuff you’re carrying, working on your confidence, being emotionally articulate, working on your intuition, that changes the world that you live in. It might be the same world that you’re seeing, but your version of it and the way you see and respond to it changes.
"To me, the richest form of manifesting is just changing and showing up to the world differently to how you lived before. Then, the world feels like one of possibility for the first time. And once you live in the world in that way, you can add intention to that," she adds.
How to manifest something
Everyone's manifesting journey will look different, but in her book Manifest, Roxie outlines seven key steps to the process.
Manifesting tips: Get clear on your vision
Not sure what you physically want to manifest into your life? Don't worry, you can focus on a feeling rather than a physical thing. Roxie advises thinking about who you want to become and how that person will feel, the habits they have in their life and what they do every day. Meditation is a great tool for delving deeper into this. A vision board can also help you understand your goals and encourage you to work towards them.
Manifesting tips: Remove fear and doubt
It's a key part of the process for a reason, without self-love and self-worth, you won't be able to manifest anything. "We all deserve to be happy and have a life that makes us feel fulfilled and satisfied," Roxie tells us. Understanding where your fears and doubts lie, and overcoming this will remove any subconscious blockage in the process and help you get clear on your vision.
Manifesting tips: Align your behaviour
After all, despite what some may think, action is key to the manifesting process. You have to align your behaviour to help you meet your goals, instil confidence and empower yourself. Manifesting is not a passive process. "There’s no substitute for hard work," Roxie tells us.
Manifesting tips: Overcome the tests of the universe
As in life, you will face challenges on your manifesting journey. Roxie outlines in her book, these tests can come in the form of obstacles, people or challenges. To overcome these tests you'll have to continue to value your self-worth and practice self-love.
Manifesting tips: Embrace gratitude
"I call this the manifesting sweet spot," Roxie tells us. "It’s knowing where you want to go whilst being fully immersed in gratitude for what you already have.
"By embracing gratitude and making it into a regular practice, we train our minds to focus on the good and to change our mindset. It’s one of the best things we can do for our wellbeing," Roxie adds, "Dr Joe Dispenza found practising gratitude three times a day, four days consecutively, strengthened people’s immune systems by 50%. That means gratitude doesn't just affect how we feel, but it's affecting the way that our cells behave. So, it really is powerful and backed by science."
Manifesting tips: Turn envy into inspiration
"Comparison can actually hinder our journey to where we want to go... Envy is normal, we all experience it, and we don’t need to judge ourselves for it," Roxie explains, "But, how can we turn that envy into something positive that will move us forward?" Roxie asks.
"Women supporting women is so high vibe, the more that you can celebrate the people around you, rather than act from a place of envy and pull them down, the nicer the world will be and the more powerful you’ll manifest," Roxie adds.
Manifesting tips: Trust in the universe
Once you've worked your way through Roxie's manifesting steps, all that's left to do is trust the universe will bring you what you need when the time is right. This also helps us tap into the high vibe of the universe, through trust and gratitude. "If we can sit ourselves at this high vibrational frequency, we attract more abundance to us."
"We don’t have anything to lose if we’re working on ourselves internally and taking action in the world at the same time. Having a little sprinkle of faith can’t hurt," Giselle adds.
Manifest: 7 Steps to Living Your Best Life by Roxie Nafousi is out now. Take it In: Do the inner work. Create your best damn life by Giselle La Pompe-Moore is out now.
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