Ready to give up the world of manifesting? Read my top 7 tips to manifesting success that might just change your mind

I'm sitting here at my table, surrounded by boxes that still need to be unpacked, watching the fire crackle (that I just got going again – Boo Ya!!) and looking out at the view from my new home.

The short version of this story is that I had a strong feeling that I needed a house. My husband and I had been living with my family and while things were going great, the time had come for us to go and seek our own space. So I declared out loud to the Universe what I really wanted, and a few weeks later here we are in our new home.

Sounds super easy and glamorous doesn't it?

You ask for what you want and BAM! You get it. You see similar stories all over social media. "I asked for this and a few days/weeks later, it showed up!!". I don't know about you, but sometimes seeing that makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong, or that I’ll never be as good at manifesting as some other people are.

Sound familiar?

You are following all the formulas etc. etc. and you want your dream life, but it's just not showing up!!! So you find yourself wondering “How do people do it??!!” or “Is it even real?”

Well first off let me say that there is nothing wrong with you or your manifesting abilities.

You are a powerful creator and manifestation really does work. Sometimes it happens quickly, but often it’s a journey.

So to give you an insight behind the scenes of these manifesting stories, let’s revisit mine.

Because sure, I could easily sit here and tell you the sexy short version. I could put it all over social media, make it look glossy and easy.

However, that’s not really my style. I’m here to share the truth, and the truth is pretty amazing. You can manifest the things you want, but it takes faith and dedication.

And although I don't have a ‘one size fits all’ step by step guidebook, I can share the things that have helped me succeed so they can help you too.

1. Get in the Zone and Visualise

Something I’ve been doing since the start of the year is journaling a page a day. You may have heard of this technique and people do it differently. I put on some tunes (either a mediation or a song that I'm loving that gets me fired up), and I freely write a page or two about what I want to manifest.

I write it as though it has already happened, I write it with gratitude and how it makes me feel. For example:

"I love living in my new light-filled home. It feels so relaxing to walk through the door and it has so much room! I am so grateful."

Top tip: The trick here is to see in detail what it is you’re manifesting. What does it look like? What are you doing? Who are you talking to? Let your imagination run wild and allow yourself to daydream.

When I was feeling a bit low at work or having one of ‘those’ days, I’d allow myself to stop and dream about when I’d be in my new home or career.

I'd write it down at the start of the day or before I went to bed. I had a vision board in my room as well. I even bought a couple of things for our ‘make-believe’ new house. I'm not suggesting you need to go out and spend any money, but I was walking around like I already had the house of my desires, and the only thing I was waiting for was the date for moving in.

2. Feel it

Writing down what you want to manifest is great. But what is really powerful is FEELING it.

What does it feel like to be standing in your dream house or going to a job you love? What does it feel like to have achieved the thing your heart is desperately longing for?

Top tip: Really lean into those emotions and experience it as though it has actually happened.

 

I would do this through meditating for a few minutes after writing in my journal, and just let the emotions run through me.

Why feel into it? Because we attract what we put out. By feeling the emotions we want to feel when we get what we desire, we raise our vibration and attract more specific and positive things towards us.

It kind of tricks the body and brain into thinking you already have it. This then means you naturally start to make more aligned decisions and you become more aware of opportunities that you might not have noticed before.

3. Make space

We often get so caught up in what we need, we forget about what we don’t. This means many of any of us are carrying around things that do not serve us. These things could be limiting beliefs, old habits, draining routines or physical things that clutter up our life, space and mind.

Top tip: You need to make room to let new things flow into your life.

This means looking at all the potential blocks (both physical and emotional), and seeking ways you can release them. This is both a practice in the practical and the spiritual.

What blocks are holding you back? What beliefs do you need to release? What support do you need in place in order to bring your dream to life?

4. Be Open and Surrender

In her book The Universe has Your Back, Gabrielle Bernstein talks about being open to ‘creative possibilities’. Just because you think something has to be a certain way, it doesn't mean that it will actually work for you. The Universe is much more creative than we are, and sometimes we are so focused on things being a certain way, that we miss amazing opportunities that will give us what we want, just in a different package.

Sometimes, other things need to happen first in order for you to get your desired outcome.

When we were looking for a house, my husband and I kept our options pretty open. We looked at properties that were for sale and for rent. We looked in different areas. We still had a criteria, but we opened up the search.

Top tip: Loosen up the control and let the Universe lead the way. Listen to your intuition, follow the bread crumbs and be open about how you receive the things that you really want.

Denise Duffield Thomas talks about having anchors. These are things that remind you of your goal and help to raise your vibration during the day. It might be a password you type in a lot, a screensaver on your phone or a background image on your computer. Anything that represents your goal and anchors you strongly within in it.

5. Trust in what’s to come

So after a couple of weeks of my manifestation we found a wonderful house in an area we hadn’t yet considered. It had a few things that we really wanted and we applied pretty much on the spot.

I remembered that the Universe will deliver things in many different packages…

So I visualised us living there and kept my vibes high, and it really seemed like everything was lining up beautifully.

But we didn't get the house.

I actually cried. I had been so sure that this house was the answer to my wishes. I couldn’t help but feel confused and just a little cheated, wondering “How was it possible to fail right now when I had done everything right so far?”

Of course deep down I knew that something better was on its way, but I was still so disappointed. I was so sure that this house was the one for us, even though I knew there were things that weren’t exactly perfect.

So what did I do?

I didn’t give up or lose my faith, I went back to my manifestations. I had to remind myself that the Universe had a plan and that something would show up.

6. Surrender some more

Gabrielle Bernstein often says “When you think you have surrendered, surrender some more.”

I finally understood this sentiment after this first ‘glitch’ in my journey. I realised that I was still trying to control the outcome. I wanted things to look a certain way.

So I surrendered again.

I started solely focussing on what I really needed. Not on what I ‘should’ want or ‘might’ need in the future. What I really wanted was to step up in my business, to create a beautiful working environment where I could host my clients and events.

Which meant… space.

So with this in mind I passionately declared out loud to the ears of the Universe: 

"I need a house. Thank you for helping me find a house that truly serves my needs."

I then immediately went on realestate.com to find my perfect house.

No houses available. Did I really believe there would be?

But later that day after talking with my Husband about our need to get more space, low and behold we went online and found a house to rent. In our budget. Better than the other one.

I’m not going to lie, it wasn’t like I was immediately blown away. It wasn't the dream house I had been thinking about. It was smaller than I thought and not as shiny as I had pictured. But, it did check a lot of the boxes so we went ahead and applied.

And… here I am right now. Sitting in this my brand new space feeling pretty great.

Yes I had my doubts. But I realised I was just trying to control the outcome yet again. I was thinking that this house had to be the perfect dream home, instead of seeing it as a great opportunity for my business and my family.

So I surrendered. Whenever I would feel my ego starting to speak up with its doubts, I would repeat (in my head) "I surrender, I surrender, I surrender".

I gave up the situation to the Universe and trusted it had by back.

And of course, we got the house and we moved in a week later.

7. Do the Work

Sorry to break it to you, but we can’t just make vision boards, journal, feel into our goals and then sit on the couch expecting all of our desires to just show up. We can’t expect that everything will be a smooth, fairy-tale ride.

When we are manifesting we are co-creating with the Universe, which means…?

We need to do our share of the work! We need to rinse and repeat .It means doing the inner work. We need to work on what is blocking us or what is holding us back. Have faith and do everything over and over again until we get the outcome.

Top tip: remember this might not be the vision you originally had in mind, but the outcome from the Universe that leads you to your needed growth.

Denise Duffield Thomas talks about how it took her 6 years to manifest her dream home. So while my house may not have the sweeping veranda or spacious open plan living areas, or the wonderful white post and rail horse paddocks, it is a step towards that house. An opportunity to show up and commit to my desires and dreams, helping me to manifest more wonderful things into my life.

All in divine timing.

Manifesting requires you to focus, feel, be open, trust and surrender.

And it should be fun as well!

I wanted to share this story with you to show that you can do it, and understand that sometimes things show up differently to what we’d planned.

My final top tip? If you do the work and meet the Universe half way, you won't be disappointed.

 

And remember, just because it hasn't shown up yet, or in a particular time frame (hint – this is you controlling), it doesn't mean that it or something better isn’t right around the corner.

Big love and happy manifesting.