Manifest that sh*t

Last year I wrote about vision boards and how I was creating one for 2021 and it felt odd, to say the least. If you asked my wife, she would certainly tell you that I am not the most optimistic person in the world. It's not that I'm a Debbie Downer, I just think I'm a realist, a logical thinker who usually assumes A leads to B and so on. I am also a bit of a control freak who has grown up to think that the only way to be safe in this world is to control as much of it as possible. Hurray for childhood trauma and our formed coping skills. (Don't worry, lots of therapy has helped.)

That's why setting up a vision board and discovering the idea of manifesting was beyond strange to me. It stretched me out of my comfort zone in the best way possible.

It all started with Gabby Bernstein and her Manifesting Challenge which runs online during January. One of my friends had recommended her book Super Attractor and it left me intrigued enough to sign up for this challenge. Again, I need you to keep in mind that I am a super type A, logical, 8 on the enneagram person who does not go around thinking that if I want something enough it will simply come my way through some magical attractive force. At least I wasn't at the time. Ironically, one of my all-time favorite books ever is The Alchemist by Paolo Coehlo. The book's main theme is the idea that the universe has your back and is always conspiring to help you follow your dream and purpose.

(A quick background pause. I grew up in the Catholic faith and then became a Christian who led the Youth Worship Band and went on Mission Trips. I 100% used to be a self-proclaimed Jesus Freak who wore her W.W.J.D bracelet with pride. My faith is still rooted in Christianity and I absolutely believe in a higher power. As the years have passed, my faith has evolved and I hope it continues to do so as I learn more. All this to say that I'm not devoid of spirituality and Hope in general. I just think I can do it better sometimes (that's sarcasm, but maybe not really))

So rewind to last year, after the manifesting challenge and into me cutting out pictures and phrases from magazines like when I was a teenager decorating my bedroom walls. It felt foolish. It felt far-fetched. But deep down, in that part of me that reads The Alchemist every year, it felt exciting and hopeful.

I focused on 8 major categories for my board: Mental/Emotional Health, Career, Financial, Travel, Family, Physical Health, Marriage, and what I like to refer to as Elephant Prayers (more on that another time.) Each category had anywhere from 3-6 statements about how my year would be. It took a long time to get them right because the whole idea behind manifesting is that you write these statements as if they are already true. The other thing that was challenging for me was this idea that I had to create the vision of the world I wanted to see, the one I really wanted to see, not just the one I expected.

One of the books Gabby Bernstein references during the challenge was A Course in Miracles by Helen Schucman. She references a quote that I now have hanging in my office, right by my vision board. It says "I am responsible for what I see. I choose the feelings I experience, and I decide upon the goal I would achieve. And everything that seems to happen to me I ask for, and receive as I have asked." Even after all these days reading it nearly every day it still impacts me deeply. It's really that last sentence about receiving that gets me. Because here's the thing that's so tricky about receiving. Sometimes the thing we receive isn't positive but it stems from us, our asking, and our actions or lack of responsibility for the rest of it. Depending on the type of person you are, receiving the negative may be easier for you than receiving the positive that comes your way. I am one of those people. Receiving the positive stuff that comes my way, the blessings, the good, the miracles, those make me wildly uncomfortable and I feel wildly unworthy of them every time. The practice of manifesting and surrendering and attracting has changed that in a pretty big way for me.

So I bet you're wondering what happened. At least if you've read this far you're a bit curious. Some of you are familiar because if you're reading this on LinkedIn I've been sharing a lot all year about it on this platform.

At the end of the year last year, I went up to my vision board and highlighted the phrases that actually came to fruition. Now, I will say that nothing I put up there was easy or seemingly in reach at the time. Beyond being logical I am fiercely competitive and bold, especially with myself. If I was going to test out manifesting, I was going to make it HARD.

17 of the things I put on my vision board happened, out of 35. And actually, the elephant prayers are huge things that are probably not attainable in 12 months (like paying off our house) so if I take those out, it's 17/30 which is 57%! I. WAS. SHOCKED.

I can truly say that I accomplished more last year than any year prior and it was a well-rounded, fully in tune with myself, healthy list of accomplishments. Something in every section got checked off and like I mentioned, they weren't small things.

The other thing that's really been impactful is how it's changed my thinking and re-wired my brain. Of course, effort and hustle get you pretty far and they have to date for me. But when you combine those two things with belief? Crazy shit can happen. You can earn the job of your dreams, travel to see your international family during a global pandemic, spend more time with your wife and daughter than ever before, feel more comfortable and confident in your skin, show up in publications and receive recognition for your efforts in your industry, spend more time doing the things you love, and lastly carry another child in a body that was so resistant for so long.

It's safe to say I am officially a manifesting convert. I'm already changing up the vision for this year and working on what's to come.

So my question is, what are you waiting for?