How to be a Manifesting Maven

We are always manifesting. Each thought we have creates an energy flow within and around our physical being. This energy attracts its likeness. So if you’re thinking, “I suck,” then your energy kinda, well, sucks–and you attract sucky experiences.

The opposite experience occurs when you think high-level thoughts like, “I rock!” When you think and feel, “I rock,” you exude an energy of confidence and in turn attract great experiences into your life. Each thought you have informs your energy, and your energy manifests into your experiences. Your thoughts and energy create your reality.

Manifesting Mishaps
Manifestation has become a buzzword lately. Though it’s totally awesome that the Law of Attraction is now trendy, it also can be a bit misleading for folks who are unwilling to do the heavy lifting. If you truly want to use your energetic power to manifest greatness, you must clear all that blocks you from believing in your greatness.

“A Course in Miracles” teaches that on some level, you’ve asked for everything that happens in your life. Your intentions create your reality. There’s no need to beat yourself up: simply recognizing how your low-level thoughts negatively affect your life is the first powerful step toward changing your experiences. Begin your manifesting process by getting honest about how your low-level thoughts, energy and feelings of disbelief block you from receiving what you desire. Once you get clear about the blocks, you can begin to clean them up to clear space for positive manifestations to occur.

Many people, when trying to manifest, focus too much on the outside form rather than the internal condition. From A Course in Miracles’ perspective, what’s important is our internal experience: whether we choose to experience love or fear. When we commit to our internal experience of love, we begin to attract more love. Many people approach manifestation from a place of “How can I get something to feel better?” Instead, the focus should be: “How can I feel better and therefore be an energetic match for attracting more greatness into my life?” The emphasis must be placed on healing the internal condition, not getting a hot new car or boyfriend.

The Five Principles for Manifesting Your Desires
Below are my five key principles for genuine manifesting. When practicing these steps, make sure to stay committed to the goal of feeling good first and attracting stuff second. Continue to remind yourself that when you feel good you energetically attract goodness into your life. When your primary function is to be happy, then whatever comes to you is irrelevant. Happiness is your true manifestation.

Principle One: Clear Space
Before you begin the manifestation process you must take the necessary time to release all your disbelief in your power to be happy. One of the best ways to clear the blocks of disbelief is to pray for release. Begin a daily prayer practice of asking the Universe to set you free from all the limiting beliefs that block you from believing in your greatness. Stay open for signs from the Universe and show up for the assignments that are brought to you. Universal assignments come in many forms. Maybe you’re guided to the relationship that brings up all your shit so that you have to finally heal your fear. Or maybe you lose your job so that you can learn the lessons of self-reliance and strengthen your self-love. Trust that these assignments, however tough at times, are incredible opportunities for you to clean your energy and clear space to call in what you desire.

Your job in this step is to pray for guidance to clear all that blocks you from believing in your greatness. Then allow the Universe to help guide you to whatever assignments you need to aid in the healing process. Show up for the assignments and trust that the more you clean your thoughts and energy, the more positive experiences you will attract into your life.

Principle Two: Get Clear
Clarity is king when it comes to manifesting your desires. You must have clear intentions for what you want to call in–otherwise you can manifest a lot of what you don’t want. Focus on what you desire and then make a list of all that goes along with it. If you’re getting clear about the job you want, make a list of all the things about the job that make you happy: the office, the people, the salary, etc. Be unapologetic about what you want. This list helps you clarify your intentions and access a vibrant mental picture of what you desire.

The most important part of this step is to clarify how you want to feel. When you get clear on how you want to feel, you can begin to access that feeling. That feeling is what makes the manifestation come into form. You can write a thousand lists and make a million vision boards, but if you don’t clearly feel what you want to experience, it will never truly manifest into form.

Principle Three: Think It, Feel It, Believe It!
Now let’s put these steps together. Take your clear intention and spend time every day sitting in the feeling of what it is that you desire. You might access the feeling through meditation and visioning exercises. Or call on the feeling when you’re in nature or doing a form of exercise you love. Let the thought inform the feeling and let the feeling take over your energy. The more you feel the feeling of what you desire, the more you believe it is on the way. From a metaphysical perspective, if you believe it then it is already here. So make time for contemplating, thinking, feeling and believing.

Principle Four: Chill!
The next step is crucial to the manifestation process. In order to truly manifest your desires into form, you gotta chill out! A Course in Miracles teaches: “Those who are certain of the outcome can afford to wait and wait without anxiety.” Take this message with you and allow your faithfulness to guide you into the belief that what you desire is on the way. Also trust that the Universe has a much better plan than you do. Though you are clear about what you want, you cannot control the timing or the form in which it comes. Stay calm, relax and trust that the Universe has your back!

Principle Five: Know the Universe Has Your Back
When you’re in the know you’re deliberate about what you want. When you’re in the know you no longer vibrate energy of fear or disbelief. You just know. As your disbelief wilts away, wanting is replaced by knowing. Getting into the know happens naturally. When you diligently practice steps one through four, you will clean house, get clear and feel happier. This process is healing and powerful, and it leads to a deep inner knowing that you are right where you need to be. Accepting your greatness in this moment, right now, is what manifests more greatness. Being in the know helps you accept that you already are living in your desired manifestation. When you feel it, you live it–regardless of what is happening on the outside. In time, the Universe catches up with your energy and your desires come into form. This process of allowing the manifestation to follow your internal faith is the true process of co-creation.

Stay Committed to Happiness
Stay committed to this five-step process and trust that you’re exactly where you need to be. Is your main desire to feel good? Trust you will be given everything you need to create that feeling. Know that feeling good is the true manifestation–and everything else is the icing on the already delicious cake!

Do you want to deepen your understanding of the manifestation process? Join Gabrielle Bernstein on April 27 in NYC and Livestream video for my awesome Manifest Your Desires lecture. Get the details: http://gabbyb.tv/manifest-your-desires-lecture

Photo credit: Walt Jabsco

The Source of Wealth: Upgrade Your Mindset to Upgrade Your Wealth

In a seminar several years ago, I heard the speaker read a quote: ‘The world moves out of the way for him/her who knows where they are going.” I’m unsure of the author, but several years later, I still remember the quote and how it moved me to tears.

Imagine the world moving out of the way for an idea or goal that you have. Imagine being able to achieve the perceived impossible. Imagine the unlimited possibilities if your mind, heart and skills are aligned in one goal.

What could you achieve? What would you make possible that seemed impossible?

A person that has a wealthy mindset brings their dreams into reality, always gets what they want, never judges or criticizes others and understands the underlying truth of life: that our purpose is to fulfil the highest expression of our true self as human beings here on planet earth. A person with a wealthy mindset does not believe in lack because they understand the laws of the universe. They understand that everything and everyone is energy, and that if they align themselves – mind, body and soul – in the pursuit of joy, they will receive it in abundance.

The media has a hold on society, very often conveying bad news, talking about fear, destruction, famine, recessions, war and illness.

If you are tuned into these frequencies, remembering that everything is energy, your mind, body and soul will be out of alignment with your pursuit of joy and with your goal of fulfilling the highest expression of your true self.

You will always be able to easily spot a person with a wealthy mindset because, whenever they enter a room, it is as if a light has been turned on. When they speak, you feel the words touch you and move you to think. They add to the lives of the people around them and you will notice that the people that they associate with are of the same wealthy mindset.

The question you may be asking is right now is, “Well, how can I tap into this source of wealth? How can I have a wealthy mind set?”

The answer is inside you; as woo-woo as it sounds, you hold the keys to your exciting future. Somewhere inside of you, maybe hidden behind years of frustration, lay the answers.

However, here are some practical steps to tap into the inner source of wealth:

1. Stop watching the news. The law of attraction says that what you focus on, you get. You may say that you just want to be kept informed of worldwide events, but my question would be: Why do you want to fill your mind with fear, destruction, famine, recessions, war and illness?

2. Get a piece of paper and divide it into two columns. On the left, write down any activities or habits that you are going to stop doing that make you unhappy. On the right-hand side, write a list of activities and habits that you are going to start doing. I can’t take all the credit for this, as Danielle Laporte wrote a blog about creating a stop-and-start list.

3. Go to the bookstore, get a nice plan journal (A4 size) and start adding things you want. Cut out pictures from magazines, print out pictures from the Internet and when you are out and about, take pictures on your phone, print them and add them to your book. This is something I have been practicing for years and let me tell you, it works! If you don’t want to use a book, you can stick pictures on your wall also; just make sure it’s in your daily view.

4. Part of a wealthy mindset is being thankful. Every day before you leave your bed and every night before you fall asleep, list everything that you are thankful for. Be truly thankful from the heart.

5. Run away from misery. If you ever are talking to a friend or a family member on the phone and they start complaining, politely end the call. Remember that everything and everyone is energy; as you are hearing negativity, you start to focus on and then experience negativity. Think of it like this: If you have a naked candle in the middle of a windy street, within seconds it will blow out. But if you put a case over the candle, it will stay alight. Don’t let anyone take your light.

6. Before you do anything, check in with yourself. Whenever you are offered anything, also ask the internal question: “Does this make me feel good?” Nine times out of 10, you will get a clear no or yes answer. Don’t say “yes” when you want to say “no.”

I hope you enjoyed this post and please ask me any questions in the comment box.

Love

Sophie

Sophie Gold is the creator of Wealthy Women Inc. that helps women look great, feel amazing, have joyful and fulfilling relationships and become rich. Sophie has recently put together a retreat in Costa Rica called Reinventing and Redefining You that helps you to start living your life your way and start charging what you are worth. Sophie blogs regularly at SophieGold.com you can follow Sophie on twitter.

The Power of Journaling TOGETHER!

I write in my journal a lot: thoughts, dreams I’ve had, goals, feelings I’m having, memories I want to preserve, positive thoughts I want to hold onto, things I’m grateful for, etc. Quite a few people I know do this.

I hear much less about the idea of journaling with someone. This can really have tremendous power. I recently had a disagreement with someone, and we started running a pattern that we have had for awhile. You can probably think of dynamics you’ve had with people in which you pretty much know once it starts, you have an idea of the things the other person will say and do because you’ve been there before. It’s a pattern we have been trying to break with new approaches.

Well, after having one of these disagreements and working through it, I was inspired to grab a blank journal I had just discovered and journal about the disagreement together. We focused just on the positives so as not to get drawn back into the issue again. We talked about how we felt at each stage of this disagreement and identified what we did or said along the way that helped us get to the resolution rather than driving us in separate directions. We identified key moments in the process where a different decision or action would have led us to a different outcome. We took turns writing and kept going until we had covered the whole event, and then we congratulated ourselves for doing such a good job getting through it.

Here are some nuggets we discovered when we journaled together:

-At the start, we both acknowledged to each other that something was brewing between us.
-He withdrew and wrote down his thoughts first rather than just unleashing them with the strong emotions he was feeling at the time.
-I consciously remained upbeat rather than getting upset.
-We recognized we were both hungry and took a break to get the food we needed to put us in a better place physically.
-We realized we were tired and agreed to put this into a neutral place so we could sleep.
-He tried to keep his distance – as is his typical pattern – and I put my hand on his heart and got closer – the exact opposite of what we might typically do.
-When we started talking again, we kept coming back to the current issue rather than bringing up other issues.
-To elevate the conversation to a higher place, we paused in the middle and offered three things that we appreciate about the other – something that is challenging to do in the middle of an argument.
-We asked each other, “What are the facts, and what story are you possibly making up in your head about this?”
-He offered to make me tea … a kind gesture in the middle of our process.
-We got to the resolution and then identified the moment at which the “big bang” happened, in which we both “got” each others’ point of view and opened our hearts up wide in compassion for each other.

What a great way to turn a negative into a true positive growth experience! We ended up not only resolving the issue, but also having more positive feelings of appreciation and understanding for the other. We are more confident we’ll be able to easily break this pattern in the future because we know what we did to break it this time.

Example Questions to Ask When You Journal Together

-Can you agree to focus only on the positives for now?
-What happened, from beginning to end? When did this really start?
-How were you feeling? What were you thinking?
-What was your physical state of being? Were you hungry or tired?
-What were key statements or actions throughout the process that helped break a pattern and/or bring positive energy to the interaction?
-Were there key questions asked or statements made to turn things in a direction toward a positive resolution?
-What is this issue tied to at a deeper level?
-When did you know you got to the resolution?

Other Possibilities for Journaling Together

I could see this type of journaling really working well in a couple’s relationship, between family members, with a family overall or even in the workplace. There are potentially a lot of different flavors of this – journaling memories of a trip together on the way home as a way to remember it (you’ll be surprised what two people travelling together identify as their highlights), journaling gratitudes for a day or week or an event, journaling the elements in how a team worked together or how people focused on solutions that allowed the group to get to a positive outcome.

So grab that blank journal, another person or people and an open mind, and see what more you can discover by journaling together!

Sherrie Austin is the author of the “365 Days of Gratitude” journal and sends out a daily gratitude email from her website. She’s a vegetarian athlete/triathlete who enjoys raising money for cancer charities, such as The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team In Training, from her home in Portland, Oregon.

Photo Credit: basykes

Using Joy and Creativity to Cope in Today’s World

I am someone who longs for world peace. Perhaps you are, too. But every single day our world spends more than $4 billion on war. The last hundred years have been by far the bloodiest in human history.

I support human rights and human dignity. I want every child to grow up healthy and strong. No doubt you do, too. But today, like every day, 20,000 children will die of hunger and poverty. Even in the world’s wealthiest country, the U.S., nearly 25 percent of children live below the poverty line.

I believe in upholding the brotherhood and sisterhood of all people. I believe in the inherent worth of every human being. But we live in a time of grotesque inequalities. There are shoe companies who pay famous athletes $20 million to endorse their shoes, while paying their workers only 20 cents an hour to make them. The CEOs of some companies make more money in an hour than many of the company’s employees make in a year.

Many of the world’s spiritual traditions teach that inner peace is found when you love the world as it is, rather than faulting it for not living up to your expectations. But our addictions are not only damaging our spirits, they are also causing irreparable harm to the biosphere and to humanity’s future.

I believe in holding a positive attitude toward life. But the rate at which forests are disappearing, coral reefs are deteriorating, the arctic ice cap is melting, and species are going extinct is undermining the capacity of the earth to support human life.

I draw strength from my kinship with animals. Some of my best friends have had four legs. Perhaps you, too, have had a relationship with an animal that has enriched you as a human being. But today, almost all of our meat and dairy products come from animals raised under conditions of horrific cruelty.

There are so many kinds of pain and loss in our times. There is illness and financial stress, there is growing unemployment and homelessness, there are oil spills and terrorists. It can seem that our little flickering candles of faith are no match for the hurricane winds of destruction and despair the world can so relentlessly blow our way. There are things happening in our world today that must make the angels weep.

Here’s what I believe. If you are going to face the suffering and destruction of life, and if you want to find a way to be effective and positive in response, you must also be open to the life affirming powers of creativity and joy.

It can sometimes seem that we are on a planetary death march, and yet we are also living in an age of miracles. Some are so common we often take them for granted. There is the miracle of color and the miracle of music. There is the miracle of tears and the miracle of laughter. There is the miracle of breathing and the miracle of sunsets. There is the miracle of people continuing to strive for a happier world even in the face of devastation and grief.

At this very moment, people are learning new ways to communicate, to understand each other, and to resolve conflicts. Right now, people are learning to read, while others are writing poetry, and others are dancing and singing. With every breath you take, relationships are growing, new health-giving practices are being discovered, ancient feuds are being overcome, and people are finding ways to restore their connections to the living earth. At this moment, as in every moment, ever growing numbers of people are working for a better world for themselves and for all children, now and yet to come.

We are not done. Our despair is not meant to destroy us but to awaken new life in us. Our wounds can give us depth, empathy and understanding. Our hardships can be places where we meet others and grow.

Yes, there is ugliness, which is why it matters when we bring beauty. Yes, there is great suffering, so let us live with great compassion.

This is what I have to say at this time in history. There are forces at work in the human psyche that are destructive and unconscious. And yet there is also something in us that is wondrous, that touches the infinite and belongs to the sacred.

Let us stand for this. Our dreams and prayers are rooted in something greater than the forces of death. Our grief and fury at the world’s brutalities are part of our awakening. There is something mysterious taking place in this world that is part of our healing.

With all its delusions and broken dreams, our world today is still a place where our hearts can meet and grow wings. There is horror and agony here, yes, and it is at times overwhelming. But there are also countless opportunities for the illumination of beauty and the awakening of love.

We are not done. There are sources of joy here, and we are here to protect them and cherish them.

We are not done. We can still make our lives into works of art. We can still create thriving, just and sustainable ways of life.

Bitter winds are howling. Let them howl. We can shelter each other and put our little flames together. Maybe we will yet find that the pain we feared would destroy us rather brings us back to what gives us life.

We are here to live, not merely survive. We are here to fully express and celebrate the gifts we each have to give to the world, and to receive the gifts that others have to give to us, as well.

Let us touch with love the inevitable suffering in our lives, and in the lives of those we meet. Let us tend with tender mercy that which is dying in us and in our world. And let us welcome the new life dawning in each of our souls.

We who are alive, with breath in our bodies and love in our hearts, have so very much to be thankful for. In all that takes place over the course of our lives, may we never lose track of our capacity for joy. And may we never forget the power of the choices we make.

Photo Credit: Tony the Misfit

The Top 10 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Was 30

A Baby Boomer’s Letter to Millennials and Gen Xers

Fifty isn’t what it used to be. For my generation, it’s like a brand new decade. Because we are living longer, healthier lives, I may reach 100. I’ve lived a great life so far and have even bigger plans for its second half. However, I lived too many years chained to The Man. I thought the American Dream meant consumption, and I bought it – hook, line, and sinker.

I am writing to tell you what helped me wake up to reality. What I know for sure is that external “things” do not make a meaningful or inspired life. I want to share what I’ve learned to help you experience more freedom and joy, and inspire you to help my generation save our living planet.

My Top 10:

1. Your body is your guidance system. Tuning into your body gives you rapid feedback. Your body communicates through emotions and energy. Move toward what gives you a spark, and move away from what leaves you feeling exhausted, and your body will lead you to your best life.

2. Thoughts are the cause of all suffering. If you stay in a job that deadens you, it’s a thought that keeps you there. If you find yourself stuck, it’s because of a story. Any thought that keeps you from being happy is a lie! If you want to feel freedom, question your thoughts. Change your thoughts, and you can transform your life.

3. Your inner lizard is pumping out lack and attack fears. Let’s talk about how our brains are wired. All animal brains include reptilian cores. Martha Beck calls it our inner lizard. Its purpose is to pump out survival fears all day long. When we listen to it, we become anxious and fearful and this blocks our creativity and problem solving abilities. The solution? Become the watcher of your thoughts and notice those lack and attack thoughts. You don’t have to listen to your inner lizard.

4. Screw the rules! Like the bumper sticker says, “Question Authority.” Question all thoughts, beliefs, social and cultural conditioning, and dogma. Screw these rules! If you are living by someone else’s rules, then you aren’t following your own destiny. Learn this now, or you will wake up at midlife feeling trapped.

5. The world of work is changing. Internet guru Seth Godin says it well – today, the good jobs go to linchpins. He says, “Linchpins leverage something internal, not external, to create a position of power and value.” Your own creativity and passion are your best work assets.

6. You and only you are responsible for your own happiness. Get this into your head right now. If you don’t learn this now, you will learn it when you are my age. You will wake up and realize that you’ve lived someone else’s life. It’s up to you to edit out what doesn’t give you fire, meaning, or happiness.

7. Dream your next big adventure. Envisioning what you want has real power. By setting intentions daily and managing your thoughts, you will reach your goals. This is called deliberate creation, and it is the only way to create the life you desire.

8. Be willing to suck at it! If you want to learn something new and get good at it, you have to be willing to suck at it. The key is to “be willing” and put your ego on the shelf while you are learning. So don’t let fear stop you from learning something new. Just be willing to suck as you learn it.

9. The material world will not bring you true happiness. My generation was taught to think that happiness and success come from consumption. Materialism doesn’t bring you happiness. The media keeps feeding our need to buy more (appealing to our inner lizard of lack) and then we end up in our 50s or 60s with too much stuff and chained to The Man. We ask ourselves, “Is this all there is?” I am not saying that having abundance is a bad thing. What I am saying is that it is not the answer to happiness. Try hearing your soul’s answer to these questions:

-Who or what inspired me today?

-Where did I experience a sense of comfort, peace, and balance?

-What (not who) made me happy today?

10. The world needs our help. Paul Hawkins noted that your generation “…will have to figure out how to be a human being on earth at a time when every living system is declining, and the rate of decline is accelerating.” We need your energy, passion, and commitment to help us save our living planet. We raised you to believe that you could accomplish your dreams. How can you harness your power and passion to save our planet?

The answer is to become aware. Eckhart Tolle says that humans have lost touch with the stillness inside and our connection to nature. We have forgotten what animals and plants still know – how to be. In stillness we can find what we need to save the planet.

That’s what I wish I’d known before I was 30. I hope you can use these 10 things to start living better now. The world needs you.

This manifesto is dedicated to Max Barr.

Sherold Barr helps others reimagine and reinvent their lives and careers to be more meaningful, joyful, and fulfilling. She is a master certified coach with “best-known life coach in America” Martha Beck, and a facilitator in The Institute of The Work of Byron Katie. For more information on Sherold visit Sheroldbarr.com.

Photo Credit: Zyada