What do you want to manifest in your life?

Manifesting your dreams takes courage and persistence.

Stating what you want to manifest in your life can be a scary question to answer especially if you’ve suffered a setback or the fallout of a major event.

During the Great Recession my yoga instructor asked the class to close our eyes and imagine our future life. When I closed my eyes, it was just dark. In fact, it was pitch black. To make matters worse, she had tarot cards and asked each of us to take turns choosing two cards. Both of mine essentially represented doom and gloom. It was truly reflective of how my life felt and the validation didn’t make it feel better. I pulled myself out of that dark place.

Resilience is not an innate gift but rather learned strategies to overcome setbacks. A vision for your life doesn’t strike like a lightening bolt. It takes time to generate ideas, test them out and piece together the ones that help you form a vision worthy of your pursuit. I’ve distilled the most important strategies to help you through the process.

Five tips to manifest the courage to pursue the life of your dreams:

1/ Identify your values

Take time and whittle the values list down to two guiding principle for your life. It’s a process in itself but a worthy one. Identifying your values will give you the framework to quickly assess opportunities as they present and keep you focused on those that are important to you.

2/ Keep a journal for your ideas

As ideas surface, write them down. As you read, capture the words and references that catch your attention. As you learn, jot down the most important parts of the lesson or put those learnings into action. Take time to brainstorm. 

Periodically review your journal. You’ll notice that the words and ideas start to connect with the action that you’re taking to move your life forward.

3/ Start your day with gratitude

Write down the top three things that you’re grateful for and your goals for the day. If you’re not mindful for all the good things in your life, it’s easy for the dark things to consume your thoughts.

Nothing good comes from thoughts of doom and gloom. Write your goals for the day to keep focused on the steps that you can take now. Checking off the list will give you a little high. Progress feels good.

4/ Move your body

Maintaining a fitness routine will prevent you from slipping into a really dark place and help get your creative juices flowing. Make it a priority and make it something that you look forward to doing. If you walk, treat yourself to a coffee, window shop or change up your routes. 

If you like mat work, chose practices and workouts that make you feel good but that don’t tax your mind or body. Leave something in your tank rather than depleting your resources.

5/ Don’t give up

When I wanted to move to San Francisco, I called every week about the same job and essentially left the same voicemail for months. No response. I eventually gave up and signed a new lease in a new neighborhood with the elements that I desired. It was a good compromise.

As soon as I started packing my apartment, I got the call back. Within a month, I moved to San Francisco. Since then, I trust that the things that I really want will eventually happen. 

All of the steps you take eventually get you to the life you want if you don’t give up. Things worthy of your dreams take time and effort to achieve. If you’ve come up short or gotten knocked down, remember… you haven’t failed until you give up. Get up and keep going.