Just because you didn’t manifest it “out of the clear blue” without lifting a finger doesn’t mean you’re a failure as a deliberate creator!

Indeed, it just may be that taking action was your path of least resistance.

So don’t hang your head in shame.  It doesn’t make you a bad manifester.  I would actually say quite the opposite!  How you create it doesn’t really matter, does it?

So if you …

• go to the doctor to get better,
• or exercise to lose weight,
• or fill out dozens of applications to get a job,
• or meet your sweetie online rather than having him knock on your door on one magical evening

… lighten up about it.

There’s nothing wrong with “doing something” to make it happen when that action feels inspired and good.

Just wanted to clear that up because we talk a lot here about not doing anything to create effortless success.

Sometimes master manifesters work up a sweat! It’s all good.

What we don’t advocate is taking action without alignment.  But when action is what helps you get aligned, don’t judge, please.

The key is to honor your belief system and your desires mutually.  To the extent you believe in action or enjoy it or feel inspired to it – as my friend Michele Woodward would say, rock on with your bad self!

And as Abraham reminds us, part of the joy of being human is getting our fingers in the clay to mold our lovely lives.  Enjoy it!

We talked about the simple manifesting formula as:

Focus on what you want  +  Do what feels good  =  Successful Manifestation

In the “do what feels good” part of the formula, sometimes we’re stumped with:

• How do I know what inspired action is? 
• What if I don’t feel any inspiration at all? 
• What if I don’t believe just doing what “feels good” will work?
• What if my beliefs are contrary to what my inner guidance suggests?

With that, I’m officially opening this post up for discussion around doing what feels good and its role in successfully achieving our goals. 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, questions and experiences about the role of action and feeling good in the manifesting process!

For most of us, desire comes pretty easily and it’s our belief that could usually use some work.

Doubt is kryptonite to miracles and dreams come true.  Belief, on the other hand, doesn’t just grease the wheels, it requires things to happen!

Which is why clients know that believing is key to receiving, and thus often wonder how to best believe that what they want will happen?

Because it’s a common question, I thought this was a good topic for our consideration. 

Here are four of my favorite ways to amp up belief (and I’d love to hear yours next):

1. I’m a big fan of the Amp It Up exercise where you write down what you want on the top of a sheet of paper, then underneath that list the reasons why you want it, and then on the backside write the reasons why you believe you can have it. 

(In fact, I did the verbal version in the shower this morning on a newly identified desire of receiving Coaching Entrepreneur of the Year Award!)

That exercise puts a nice spotlight on both desire and belief, which makes it a powerful manifesting tool.

But there are other effective ways for amping up belief as well. 

2. One is to keep a running tally of successful creations – an accounting where you track things purposefully manifested.  Writing down past “wins” is a great way to start the list, then adding even “little” things like rock star parking and green lights in traffic and fabulous waiters (you all practice that one, too, right?) – all those things go on the list as well.

We know that wherever our focus goes, more of the same follows, so using this tally method to deliberately get our attention on successful manifestations is an empowering habit.  (Shoot, even thinking of others’ stories is uplifting, isn’t it?!)

3. One of the easiest ways to increase belief is to tap into a powerful reminder, like The Intention Experiment or Quantum Success or The Answer or Infinite Possibilities or I know for many The Secret works, and for others plugging into a like-minded community like this one helps.

Surrounding ourselves with reinforcing material about how the world really works helps to undo old teachings about the necessity of working hard or taking massive action to succeed.

4. Another method I ask clients to play with when they’re not feeling their manifesting muscle is “practice projects.”

A practice project is where you choose a unique thing or experience to manifest (something you don’t have any “charge” on), then just hold it in mind briefly once or twice a day for a couple of days in a row – and then simply keep an easy eye out for its appearance. 

(No figuring out “how” or worrying if it will or being attached to what/where/when.  Just nice simple holding pleasant thoughts of little things that would be pleasant to see unfold, and then let the Universe bring it to your feet.)

Once you do a couple of those in a row, you not only start to properly acknowledge your manifesting skills, but you also have a nice template of how you best get the job done.

In fact, last week I joined a client in a practice project of her choosing – $50 from out of the blue.  I added that my $50 would be a “pleasant surprise.”

We spent maybe 25 seconds each imagining a $50 surprise windfall before we wrapped up our call.

Three days later I wrote my client to admit that I hadn’t remembered to do our homework of holding it in mind over the following days.  But before I sent the note, I realized Universe had already delivered it!

It turns out the day after we initially chose our practice project of 50 pleasant surprise dollars, a check arrived from another client who had inadvertently paid $250 for our one time session, rather than my real rate of $200.  I wondered if she paid extra because we’d gone over time, or if there was a misunderstanding about the fee.  Regardless, I wrote to tell her I owed her $50.

Her email back cleared things up:

“HA! Are you having an issue accepting a tip? I see why the universe had me send you one!

  Love Ya!”

I’m not positive, but I think that’s the first time that ever happened.  (PS – thanks for the tip, my friend!)

Which is my proof how easy it is to miss the delivery on a practice project!  (Don’t let this happen to you.  lol)

My point being that there are lots of easy ways for us to amp up our belief, and when we do, magic happens.

Your turn: what are ways you’ve found effective for increasing your belief about having what you want?

But I don’t think that’s necessarily the case much of the time.

Because by the time our big thing is happening, we’re not usually bouncing off the walls with excitement.  We saw it coming, we got used to the idea, we came to feel the inevitability of it -  which is of course what vibrational alignment feels like.

“Of course.  I’ve been expecting you.”

So, if that’s how we feel right before it happens – that “of course” kind of expectation, it makes me wonder what would it take for us to feel that “of course”-ness about our current desire right now?  Because we know once we get there, we’re home free.

Abraham is quoted from their Caribbean cruise March of last year: “Whatever is manifesting in your experience is a perfect reflection of what you’re expecting.”  So our expectations are critical.

A fellow coach spoke with me as I was writing this post about how excited she’d be to have her group teleclass fill up.  I remember thinking I’d be excited about filling my first class too, but that’s not what it ended up feeling like. 

By the time it got there, it felt more like, “okay, that’s cool, makes sense … next up!”

When I moved into a beautiful home with a great guy, it didn’t feel like ‘YAY!!  All my romantic dreams have come true!”  It more felt like, “ahhhh.  This is it.  Nicely done.”  It felt very natural and had an “of course”-ness about it. 

(Isn’t it funny how our miracles don’t always feel so miraculous by the time they happen?)

All this leads me to ask how can we best leverage and implement the power of positive expectation?

With current manifestation projects, I ask myself if they have an “of course” feeling about it.  And the answer is … uh … well, not really.  Not yet.

What would it take to make it feel like an “of course” situation?  What would help me feel complete and confident knowing that it’s happening?

I suspect the answer to those questions provides us good material for our manifestations.  That’s where we may very well find some newly inspired action, or new aligned thoughts, or even more discernment about what’s standing in our vibrational way.

I invite you to ask yourself these questions: 

• What would it take to make your dream come true seem like an inevitable outcome? 
• What would you have to do different? 
• What would you have to feel different? 
• What would you have to believe different?

Would you need a new sense of confidence?  Some tweaking of a belief or two?  Or maybe there’s a bold action calling you.

I know this much: when we get to the place of feeling “Of course” about our desire coming to fruition, that’s where we’ll see big things happening!

As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts and opinions on this subject!  See you in the comments …

(There’s a belief worth turning around. But we’ll get to that later.) 

Rob’s story is interesting, and probably not uncommon. So I’ve challenged him to change it, and thinking some of us might be inspired to join him.

He told about driving a customer’s car down the highway (he does custom remodel work on priceless classics), noticed a big work truck ahead of him, and started thinking, “You know, the last thing I need is a rock chip. I should probably change … ” and BAM! Before he was even done thinking the thought to change lanes, the windshield took a hit, leaving a lovely chip.

When he gets to the shop, he thinks, “I should call Todd to arrange for that repair today. But what if Todd’s out? Thursday’s his day off. Today’s Tuesday. But what if he’s not in?” Sure enough, Todd’s out, even though it’s not his regular day off.

Rob asks if he had fleeting thoughts of a million dollars spilling through the streets, would it suddenly appear?

I suggested he try it sometime. After he laughed, I asked if he has as strong a belief in free money in the streets as he does rock chips and bad timing for repairs.

Admittedly, and he’s not alone in this, it’s sometimes easier to believe in bad things than it is in really good things.

The good news is he/we can change that. Belief is just a thought we’ve repeated enough to make it a strong one.  And we can change our thoughts. We humans are pretty cool that way.

So Rob’s going to try it. He’s going to practice thinking good thoughts and see how quickly they manifest. I ask him to report back.

Before he hangs up, he tells me how he’s really good at reading people, too. He can tell in advance what they’re going to do. He might think he’s psychic. I think he doesn’t yet realize the powerful effect his thoughts have on others.

For example, he says when his son comes over he knows it’s to ask for money, rather than lend a hand around the house. He can tell when the neighborhood homeless guy is going to drop by his shop asking for a loan. He’s got lots of examples of how he predicts people’s behavior.

Is he predicting? Or creating? (And what if they were the same?)

I suggest he practice his good thoughts on people, too. I told him people live up to and down to our expectations all day long, and suggest he practice holding new expectations.

I got a funny feeling his world is about to get brighter. : )