“Manifestation” is a topic that keeps coming up a lot in my world lately – on my podcasts, in my workshops, on my Facebook feed. Manifestation has a lot to do with trust, and for that reason, I understand where there is a lot of skepticism regarding it. Simply put, manifestation is the idea that through trust, positive thinking, and meditating, you can turn your dreams into reality.
I know, I know – but stay with me.
Almost one year ago, on July 14, 2016, I made a promise to myself. I wrote it in my journal to solidify it, and I told a few people to hold me accountable. Almost one year ago, this is what I wrote:
“My declaration: On this day, two days after my 32nd birthday, I promise this to myself. If I am still single, living at mom’s, feeling stuck, and experiencing “Long Island cabin fever” in one year, I will take a leap of faith and move out of state to see if I can truly create the life I want. I am a strong and independent woman and I absolutely should not/will not settle for less than the life of my dreams. It is my hope that I will always feel as inspired as I do in this moment.”
You guys, I don’t want much more out of life than the person next to me. All I want is love, laughter, friends, family, sunshine, fun, and a career I’m passionate about. What sets me apart is my conscious desire for all of this – meaning, I think few people realize what they truly want out of life and instead settle for the status quo. What also sets me apart is my willingness to stop at nothing until I get there. After I wrote these intentions, I lived and breathed them. I meditated on them, I prayed on them. I filled four hours and half a notebook one day, journaling about them.
Throughout nutrition school and the courses I’ve taken since, there’s always a module on mindset shifts. I teach it myself, when I’m coaching. I’ve always thought I had a positive mindset – and I did – but something was different this time I wrote it down. Suddenly something inside of me shifted, and I learned how to see miracles that are right in front of me. The kind that happen every day. The kind that make you realize that all things happen for a reason.
Exactly thirteen days after I wrote that “declaration”, I fell in love. You read that right. I met the man who is everything I ever wanted and so much more, the stuff that wildest dreams are made of. If one single thing happened differently in my life, I may never have met him. Even if I had, it might not have been at the exact right time for both of us. How could I not trust in divine timing after that?
Later in 2016, I hit the job hunting trail hard – the beginning of a series of falls on my face. Something told me though, that if I wasn’t getting these jobs, it was because the universe had something better in store for me. Sure enough, an opportunity came along in early 2017 that I probably wouldn’t have been able to take if I had gotten any one of those other jobs.
Sometimes you have to trust that the universe knows what’s best for you. Things might not work out EXACTLY the way you wanted, but it knows better. What are you shout-from-the-rooftops grateful for right now, that wouldn’t have happened if something else turned out differently? Leave your stories in the comments below.