the art of manifesting. getting real

What makes me groan when I hear the terms Manifesting and Law of Attraction

I’m no fan of The Secret, and I never use the term The Law of Attraction. Even talk about manifesting is enough to make me groan. And yet, I’ve seen their principles at work in my life, time and time again. This post is about those times I surprisingly, almost accidentally manifested what I truly wanted, and the process I learned that you can use, too. What makes me groan is that that those ideas came from something powerful and true: an extension of the understanding that who we are impacts what we receive, that how we show up in the world impacts the world we live in, and what we choose to invest our energy in creates the life we have. The Law of Attraction and Manifestation all reference the truth of all of that–but they get used in ways that convince us that thinking about the car we really want will cause us to receive it. That we can dream up whatever our mind desires and by using those practices we’ll get all of it.

What I love about the ways things have been manifesting in my life

The actual secret to having this happen is one I stumbled on, was taught more about, and then began to practice not because I wanted to get what I wanted–but because I wanted to stop living from any place other than peace. The actual secret is to choose love over fear. To stop taking action from a place of grasping and needing. To begin to navigate our choices and next-steps based on what feels peaceful. We hear this so much–to choose love over fear. And yet for most of us it feels like a quantum leap. A giant chasm that we need to navigate our way over, to get from the edge of fear to the edge of love. Listen, I spent most of the first 25 years of my life steeped in anxiety; I get fear. The bridge that gets us from fear to love is peace. It’s releasing the striving to be positive, allowing ourselves to stop repeating affirmation after affirmation, and letting go of trying to see the bright side all of the time. In the striving and the trying and the repeating, we take ourselves out of the place where all of this happens naturally. In a place of peace, we know that things are as they should be–any other kind of take on things simply doesn’t enter into our mind. In peace, we don’t need to convince ourselves we are wonderful, powerful, and good enough–we simply are. It’s from this place that love emerges. Because in peace we become the truth of who we are. We go beyond fear. And it’s from this place that we exist in the flow of life. Things we wished for arrived. Things we dreamed of actualize. And we begin to understand that life will affirm for us that living in peace, instead of being worried all the time, will pan out better. When we choose to relinquish our worries and choose peace, good things happen. At least, that’s been my experience. I’ve been on a mission to practice the power of peace in every area of my life since earlier this spring when I kept getting the message to sit down with a pen and paper and write. What came out was basically a manifesto of peace; teaching after teaching showing me how time and again peace is the way to go. Surrender the worry. Choose not to invest any energy in it. Let yourself go.

Here’s what I’ve been doing

1. From a place of great peace–meaning I know I’ll be ok, content, and happy whether I get it or not–I create a detailed list of what feels like the perfect actualization of what’s in alignment with my soul. For me, I know I’m creating something that’s soul-based instead of ego-based by the way I feel when I think of it. Ego-based desires leave me feeling angsty, grasping and borderline desperate. “I need this to happen now! I need this!” I start to imagine that it won’t happen and that makes me feel even worse. Soul-based desires leave me feeling open, loving, and like I wanna wrap the whole world up in a great big hug. If something I’m thinking I want doesn’t incite that feeling in me, and instead incites that yucky graspy feeling, I don’t do anything about it. I let it go. 2. I go on and do the next thing that makes me happy. I follow my heart. I bring my mind along with me, so I take heart-centered actions that forward my dreams in a way that’s energy-savvy, time-saving, and helps me to make money. In other words, I focus on other things that light me up, in way that also enables me to keep doing what I love. Often, these things will inevitably, serendipitously, lead me towards what my soul desires. 3. I listen to my body. When something comes along that seems like it will help me create and receive what my soul is craving, I don’t listen to my head. I listen to my body. It goes like this: 1. I envision doing the thing or saying ‘yes’ to what’s come up. 2. If I get the graspy, desperate kind of feeling, I say ‘no.’ If I get the open, huggy, peaceful feeling, I say ‘yes.’ Even if the verbal part of my brain tells me all kinds of things like: “You don’t know enough about this to say ‘yes”.” “How do you think you’re going to make this work?” “What if something goes wrong?” I just thank my little inner lizard (lizard brain) for caring, and keep right on choosing peace.

Here’s what I’ve received

The first two on this list came before I began to practice this in the big way that I am right now–they showed up in the writing that poured through as examples of why I could trust this way of living. 1. My dream man. Married him, too. He’s everything and more. 2. My dream apartment. I’ll see you at the pool! That wasn’t on my soul-desire list, but it came with the package. I’ll take it. 3. A $700 credit on our phone bill. Totally unexpected, and apparently totally apropos.

But…

I don’t always manage this. Sometimes fear still runs the show. On those days, I surrender to it. I don’t take big steps, I don’t reach out, I just rest in the routine of my regular work and play. Tomorrow is a new day, and I’ve got the rest of my life to practice. Click to tweet: @lindsey_lewis: The bridge that gets us from fear to love is peace. #powerofpeace http://wp.me/p2JiS5-14c

TODAY

Join me in moving towards peace. Experiment with what happens when you take action only from a place of peace. I’d love to hear what comes your way in the comments below or email me at lindsey@imlindseylewis.com xL