Two uncomfortably powerful questions that most popular manifestation guides completely ignore.
The most transformative things in life are often the toughest to define.
Nowhere is this more true than the subject of manifestation journaling.
Google those words and the first definition that pops up is “a written practice that helps you identify and achieve your goals.”
Technically that’s true, but it’s true in the same way that chocolate can be called “a solid block of roasted and ground cacao seeds, rich in antioxidants.”
That’s all correct, yet the second you sink your teeth into a tantalizing bar of chocolate, you experience so much more.
The rich flavor notes, the surging pleasure, the brightened mood…
And it’s actually these intangible qualities that embody the true essence of chocolate.
In the same way, if you were to think of manifestation journaling as picking up a pen and scribbling down some desires, you would technically be “doing it.” But you would miss the true power of the practice.
Most popular advice out there about writing to manifest falls into this trap. As a result, you can end up writing for the sake of writing. Your manifestation journaling ends up flowing from a place of superficiality, rather than from the depths of your being (where the key to ultimate manifestation lies).
Today –– before you begin actually journaling –– here are two questions worth your sincere reflection…
And that will help you harness the power of manifestation by writing to make your dreams come true!
#1: How honest can you be about what you want?
The single most important deciding factor in how successful we’re able to manifest isn’t:
- The way we journal about it
- How intensely we visualize it
- The number of positive affirmations we say
- Or how much gratitude we speak into existence
All of these are important tools in the manifestation process, but the true x-factor that nothing else can make up for is: how much we genuinely want what we’re manifesting.
Is what you want to manifest a burning desire? Or is it just something that would be nice to have?
Don’t be deceived by how simple this question seems! All of us have been so conditioned to think in terms of what we should want (or what seems practical, possible, respectable, etc.) that we can become blind to what we actually want.
When we were in school, our days were about pleasing our teachers. In college, our professors. At work, our employers. At home, our spouses or our kids.
When you step back and assess the last thirty or forty years of your life, you might be surprised at how little time you’ve spent tuning in to what YOU want!
For most people, our desire-detection muscles are out of practice. When we decide to start a practice like manifestation journaling, we’re like someone who hasn’t exercised since high school gym class trying to climb Mount Everest this weekend.
Consider this: The things that you say or write down when asked “what do you want” are almost certainly NOT what you want most.
They are top of the head answers. Would-be-nice-if’s.
And if the focus and foundation of your manifest journaling is something you only halfheartedly desire…
Then even if you have the most positive mindset and use all of the perfect techniques––it won’t work.
You might write down, for example, “I want a million dollars.” Followed by elaborate visualizations of what you would do with the money, affirmations about how it’s already yours in the present tense, musings on the Law of Attraction, and so forth.
But if you paid attention to how you felt when writing this all down, you might notice that your heart isn’t actually in it. You may feel like you are going through the motions with your manifestation practice. And that’s because you are!
Now let’s be clear: it’s absolutely possible to manifest a million dollars. And there’s nothing wrong with wanting to. You aren’t breaking any spiritual laws by wanting wealth.
For many of us, though, these impressive-sounding, but often-vague goals leave our deeper dreams untouched and unexplored.
Oftentimes, these generic answers are the mind’s way of brushing off the whole question of what we want most. After all, the question has high stakes! By offering up a decoy, the mind “throws us off the trail”, and stops us from peeling back all of the layers to uncover our actual burning desire.
Why? Because the mind has a love / hate relationship with change.
It enjoys fantasizing about change––taking mental vacations, so to speak. But the mind doesn’t actually want any permanent change to occur.
I call this tendency “the pull to the familiar” and it is perhaps the strongest barrier to achieving your goals.
This one tendency of the mind explains why it is so difficult to be completely honest with ourselves––because once we sincerely acknowledge wanting something, that very act shines the light of awareness on everything that stands in the way of receiving it.
From the mind’s point of view, we are playing with fire here. If we become too aware of our limiting beliefs, we might question them, and start shaking things up!
Rather than risk this, it’s easier to blurt out something we kind of, sort of want. A desire that won’t prompt us to examine or change our lives very much. One that, subconsciously, we know we’ll soon abandon.
So, before you start a manifestation journal or write your first entry, the critical first step is reaching a place of internal honesty.
Not an honesty born of obligation to others. Not “telling the truth” because it’s proper and expected. But an intimate and vulnerable honesty with yourself about what your dream life really is.
The desires that burn within us, shrouded by insecurity, buried in neglect, crying out for recognition, pursuit, and fulfillment––these are the desires with profound manifesting power.
I can’t tell you what your burning desires are. That’s for you to explore. And there’s no how-to method for being honest with yourself.
What I can give you are some fairly reliable indications of what it feels like when you have dug deep enough.
You know you’ve found a burning desire when the thought of it makes you tremble and shake. When it feels “too big” and you aren’t sure you could ever make it happen on your own. It might bring a tear to your eyes. Or fill you with indescribable joy that you just can’t stop thinking about.
This place of raw self-honesty is the nonnegotiable starting point for any successful manifesting journey.
Manifestation journaling- or any other manifesting practice- simply won’t work without it.
#2: Are you secretly okay with not receiving what you want?
Once you uncover a genuine burning desire, something very interesting happens.
If you have enough awareness, you realize that the fact you do not have that burning desire already is no coincidence.
Your current state of not having it is the state that YOU subconsciously manifested.
Watch out! If you aren’t careful, your mind will turn this fact into something to feel guilty about, or to “get to work on changing” right away.
This can seriously derail your positive energy and personal growth! When I say that YOU manifested your current state, I do not mean that it was a moral failing on your part. Or an error that you need to roll up your sleeves and set right.
Instead, what I am saying is that if you desire something, and yet you don’t have it, part of you actually desires not having it even more. It’s secretly okay with you to have not achieved this goal. And exploring the reasons why can lead you to a successful manifestation.
For example: let’s say that your burning desire is to put yourself out there in the world and express ideas that could benefit humanity.
This desire may be completely authentic––but what if, beneath it, there’s a crippling fear of exposure and judgement?
The ultimate truth about manifestation is that the greatest desire always wins.
If this fear you have about being judged by others is stronger than the desire for self-expression, the fear of judgement will win.
The question is: Is whatever you fear more than you crave the achievement of your long term goals, what are you truly afraid of? What is the fear within the fear? The soft and hidden core?
Most of us never explore these self-conflicts because we live in a society that values action over insight.
Experts tell us to just act: take action right away, no matter how we feel, because action creates results.
What gets missed in this way of thinking is the fact that results aren’t born out of action alone. They begin with our thoughts and beliefs. Insight and awareness are the ultimate form of action.
By shining the light of understanding on the reasons you’re secretly okay with NOT manifesting what you want, those obstacles start to fall away.
Yes, there are journaling manifesting prompts to help you cut to the core of these barriers. There are techniques to assist with this.
Still––techniques are a distant second to awareness. Before you make a gratitude list, get into goal setting mode, or start actively “doing” anything…
The biggest lift you can give to your chances of successful manifestation is to reflect on the two questions in this article.
When you feel that you have reached a place of true honesty, and have explored why you’re internally conflicted about what you want to manifest, that’s when it’s time to start journaling!
Want to go further with manifestation journaling? Our new Building The Vision of Your Dreams Meditation is a great (and free) way to cut to the core of your desires and crystallize your dream vision!
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