Think about the areas in your life that you would like to make improvements. What is preventing you from making progress in these areas? Do you feel stuck? or blocked? Maybe you have one area that you’d like to focus on or you could be in the midst of a healing crisis and have many changes you’d like to make. No matter how big or small, I’m going to walk you through the process of using intention coupled with the Law of Attraction to manifest your dreams.
Imagine what it would be like if you were living as your highest and greatest self where everything fell into place, synchronicity led you from one move to the next, all the while experiencing the kind of deep, heartfelt joy that come from being the person that you were always meant to be! This way of life is not some far-fetched woo-woo spiritual talk. We are going to learn some tools and methods to unblock ourselves so that we can make all of those dreams a reality. There are physical, concrete ways of manifesting dreams that really do work.
The first thing to understand is that all of the difficulty, negativity, disease, heartache, conflict, stress, etc. is the universe telling you to wake up and realize that we are so much more than flesh and bones. We are spiritual beings having a physical experience. And while that sounds nice in an esoteric application, learning how to harness the power of intention is precisely how we as spiritual beings can improve the quality of our physical existence. That is to say that all of this spiritual ideology sounds so unattainable to you know because you have not yet realized how to ground that wisdom on our physical plane. Waking up to this truth now completely reframes your past life experiences. It will shed new understanding and acceptance. From this new point of view, your intentions will become much clearer and resolve the difficulties you face.
Living with intention requires that you to think and see differently. From your current state of mind/point of view, it’s just not working. If it was, you wouldn’t be here learning about how to change your life. Keeping an open mind and remaining willing to do all of these exercises is crucial if you want to the full experience of manifesting with intention.
The other important thing to remember is that you should not over simplify the process. It is not always easy to manifest your dreams. Perhaps you have discredited the power of intention by saying that if it was really so easy why aren’t more people doing it and why aren’t more people succeeding with it. I won’t get into the cultural normative dialogue that stifles the process, but will just say that we each have our own path to walk. You are responsible to live your life as you so desire. Instead of focusing on the lacks and shortcomings of others, you can chose to change your life. You have the power to manifest your dreams. You are a beautiful divine light. You can be and do all that you want to be. And all of this is true, regardless of what anyone else says, thinks, or does. This is about you: your dreams, your intentions, your ability to manifest.
Now, let’s get to work! Setting an intention is a way to consciously choose what you wish to create. It creates a framework that shapes your experience. It is very important to do more than think an intention; it should be spoken and written as well. Energetically, thought forms are at a much higher vibration than the physical realm. So the same as we are talking about pulling the high spiritual vibration into our physical world, we should also carry our thoughts and feelings into the physical world by writing and speaking them. It grounds the vibration and sends it forth in the physical world allowing manifestation on every level of our existence.
It’s not enough to just say it once and be done with it. Intentions are like seeds that require some work on our part to allow them to fully manifest. The best way to start is by a practice of mindfulness. Remember your intention perhaps with an affirmation or totem, and then recognize when you have thoughts and feelings that are incongruent with your intention. Then, practice reversing those limiting beliefs and habits. It does take practice.
Let’s talk a little bit about affirmations, first. Our beliefs are just learned thought patterns that we have developed since childhood, many of these work well for us, but others may now be working against us, they are dysfunctional and may be sabotaging us from achieving what we believe we want. Every affirmation we think or say is a reflection of our inner truth or beliefs. Affirmations are positive confirmations of our intentions.
Our subconscious uses the behaviour patterns we have learned to automatically respond and react to many everyday events in our life. This is essential to our survival because we need to be able to respond quickly to events around us which would be impossible if we had to re-examine every aspect of things every time something simple happens. Our learned responses and thought patterns enable us to automatically respond to circumstances quickly and easily. Problems arise however, if at an early stage some of the foundation beliefs on which many of the others are built were formed from a skewed perspective, maybe the strategy was appropriate for a perceived difficult circumstance, however often such beliefs are totally inappropriate for succeeding in the real world as adults.
You can use positive affirmations, which are usually short positive statements targeted at a specific subconscious set of beliefs, to challenge and undermine negative beliefs and to replace them with positive self-nurturing beliefs. It is a kind of “brainwashing” only you get to choose which negative beliefs to wash away. The way these statements are constructed is extremely important. Later I will show you how to construct you own affirmations. It is important to remember of course that everything we say and think is a positive affirmation, using positive affirmation statements forces us to keep focussed on our inner goals and reminds us to think consciously about our words and thoughts and to modify them to reflect our positive affirmation.
Because affirmations actually reprogram your thought patterns, they change the way you think and feel about things, and because you have replaced dysfunctional beliefs with your own new positive beliefs, positive change comes easily and naturally. This will start to reflect in your external life, you will start to experience seismic changes for the better in many aspects of your life.
How to write a positive affirmation:
I am [insert attribute, desired outcome, or here].
It’s that easy. I’m sure you’ve read very eloquent and poetic affirmations, which are nice. But, I want to stress how much more impactful speaking from your own heart and your own innermost desires in your own natural language. Surely, your own being will resonate best hearing from itself! Also, you want the phrasing to be active and positive. That means that it should be written in the present tense (not a future, conditional time) and without the use of not, non, un, no or other negations.
Let’s talk about totems, which can be used with or replacing an affirmation. A shamanic method of working with intention and affirmation is a totem. I already briefly talked about how writing and speaking grounds our intentions and quite literally plucks it out of the spiritual realm and places it in a 3D reality. Totems are another way to ground our intentions with a physical representation of any intention.
I like to work with crystals or stones, sometimes with a corresponding energetic vibration or even a pebble. It can be a small carving, a thimble, or family heirloom knick-knack. It could be a lego figure, a candle, or anything really. You can really be creative here and use your intuition in selecting a totem to work with. You will know when you have the right totem for your intention because it will feel right to you. If you are a perfectionist, just know that having a simple stone from the beach or piece of quartz will work just fine. You do not need to expend a lot of time and energy into the process of selection.
After selecting a totem, you want to initialize it. A totem is a sacred object, so you always want to handle it with care and be respectful of it. You can rub it between your hands or blow on it while saying and thinking your intention. You can write your intention on a piece of paper and wrap it around your totem under a full moon, on an altar, or other significant place to you. During shamanic healing, I gift my clients with a totem that is initialized during the healing ceremony. There are many ways to initialize a totem. Again you may be as creative as you desire, but don’t belabor the process.
A totem, once initialized, carries the energetic imprint of the intention. It can be carried in a pocket, placed somewhere you will see it, or meditate with it. Like any sacred object, totems gain power and meaning from the amount you work with it and use it. Quite literally, a totem is a touchstone for your intention. I find that having something to hold onto and look at strengthens intentions. Every time you see, touch, think about the stone you are reminded of the intention. Think about if it is sitting on your desk. How much would you glance at it and remind you of your intention. If it’s in your pocket, how often would it bump or press up against your leg and remind you?
You’re feeling good now about your intentions and using these methods to harness your own spiritual creative power. But, we are imperfect beings and can have an array of setbacks. Mindfulness is a key component to this whole process. You want to become aware of your intentions manifesting, or when they are not. If they are not manifesting as you believe you desired, then you need to do some introspective work. You are going to realize that you are saying and doing things that don’t align with your intention. If it is behavioral, you may need professional help. And that’s okay. Becoming aware and accepting the reality of the situation is a huge first step.
If it is a thought process, you may still need professional help. I had gone to a counselor for a few years, and something that I worked a lot on was my self-defeating though patterns. We used this process to help me unravel the negative thoughts that I didn’t even know I had!
Go here to see The Work of Byron Katie. There are several free worksheets that will walk you through the process. When you identify any negative thought you want to work with, you will systematically unravel the thought and disempower it. All of these trouble-makers are fabricated and with increased awareness you will see that you do have power over your thoughts and can choice to think the thoughts that will manifest your intentions.
OH NO! Even after all that work, you may still not be getting what you want. Life is a big crash course on learning. It’s okay to need help, and even more okay to ask for help. Life coaches, counselors and other professionals dedicate their careers to helping people with this work. If your DIY approach isn’t doing it for you, then research and find someone to help you.
Here are some common mistakes when working on intention:
1. You set your intentions from a place of lack.
Have you ever set an intention for $1,000,000, a new sports car, or a killer vacation to some exotic place?
It’s really important to investigate why you want your intentions to manifest. When you begin to truthfully investigate your intentions, quite often you will find that the intentions are coming from a place of lack.
Try asking yourself:
Why do I want to manifest millions? Do you want more money so you can be more attractive to potential partners or make someone have more respect for you?
Why do I want that new job? Do you want a new job to impress your parents or get more power and prestige?
Why do I want to manifest perfect health for my partner in the hospital? Are you trying to manifest a complete recovery for your partner in the hospital because you’re scared to be alone, or because you believe that you are lost without your partner?
All of those intentions are wonderful, but if you answered yes to any of the above questions, your intentions are being set from a place of:
“I’m not enough the way I am. I am not whole and need something outside of me to be enough. I am in lack without these things.”
Like attracts like. If underneath your intentions you believe you are in lack without something or someone in your life, the law of attraction will send you more evidence to confirm your belief about your lack.
2. You’re stuck in old patterns.
When trying to use the law of attraction, most people want to focus all their effort on asking, doing visualizations, and convincing themselves that they believe they already have set their intention.
Setting intentions, doing visualizations and believing, are all important steps toward manifestation. However, they are only half of the equation. The other half of the equation has to do with your learned truth about yourself.
As a child and adult, you learn things about yourself and about life that keep you stuck in patterns of lack.
For an example, maybe someone told you growing up that you weren’t good enough or some event happened that made you feel unworthy of receiving love, attention or approval. We all have our skeletons in the closet that continue to haunt us and influence our behaviors until we find a way to heal from them.
The first part of the equation to manifesting abundance is about healing and interrupting the patterns that keep parts of you stuck in believing that you aren’t good enough, aren’t capable of manifesting, or aren’t worthy of receiving abundance.
When thoughts and old beliefs go un-investigated, they form patterns in your life that attract more and more evidence that the old beliefs about yourself are true.
Like attracts like. If you have an old pattern or belief about yourself that is based in lack, you have to heal that pattern first, or you will continue to unconsciously attract more lack and block your conscious manifestations for abundance.
3. You’re attached to a certain outcome.
This one is one of the biggest blocks to abundance.
Imagine someone has a crush on you. They like you and really want to take you out on a date. They ask you out every day, leave you flowers, call you, text you, and try to convince you to give them what they want: a date!
When that person is so attached to the outcome of you going out on a date with them, how does that make you feel? It most likely makes you feel repelled by them instead of attracted.
That’s exactly what happens when you are attached to the idea of your intention coming true. It actually pushes your intention farther away and attracts the opposite of your intention.
How?
Well, you attract the opposite of your intention because your attachment to the result typically means that a part of you feels incomplete. This part of you believes it needs your intention to be fulfilled in order to feel complete. Since you feel incomplete and like attracts like, you will attract more incompleteness — aka: no date!
The universe is vastly infinite with possibilities. While you do need to be specific so that you get what you want, there is such a thing as being too specific that you limit and block your potential. The overall focus should be on manifesting what you want and letting spirit and the law of attraction handle how it is delivered to you.
You are well on your way to manifesting those dreams, but there is one more point to consider. Our emotions all resonate at different vibrations, the highest of which is love. In the spectrum of love, gratitude is the highest vibration. In your mindfulness practice you will begin to see your manifestations of your intentions. When you recognize them, write down and express your gratitude. Appreciating and loving your progress sends a very clear message to spirit that will be return via the Law of Attraction with more of the same. Gratitude is an excellent method of accelerating the process of manifestation.
I recommend the following books if you would like more information about the ideas I present here.
Making Habits, Breaking Habits by Jeremy Dean
The Power of Intention by Dr. Wayne Dyer
You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay
The Law of Attraction: The Basics of the Teachings of Abraham® by ESTHER AND JERRY HICKS
Affirmations for Health
Every Cell in my body vibrates with energy and health
Loving myself heals my life. I nourish my mind, body and soul
My body heals quickly and easily
Affirmations for Abundance
I prosper wherever I turn and I know that I deserve prosperity of all kinds
The more grateful I am, the more reasons I find to be grateful
I pay my bills with love as I know abundance flows freely through me.
Affirmations for Love
I know that I deserve Love and accept it now
I give out Love and it is returned to me multiplied
I rejoice in the Love I encounter everyday
Affirmations for Romance
I have a wonderful partner and we are both happy and at peace
I release any desperation and allow love to find me
I attract only healthy relationships
Affirmations for Weight Loss
I am the perfect weight for me
I choose to make positive healthy choices for myself
I choose to exercise regularly
Affirmations for Self Esteem
When I believe in myself, so do others
I express my needs and feelings
I am my own unique self – special, creative and wonderful
Affirmations for Peace and Harmony
All my relationships are loving and harmonious
I am at peace
I trust in the process of life
Affirmations for Joy and Happiness
Life is a joy filled with delightful surprises
My life is a joy filled with love, fun and friendship all I need do is stop all criticism, forgive, relax and be open.
I choose love, joy and freedom, open my heart and allow wonderful things to flow into my life.