To be clear, I do not think anyone has had malicious intent — I think that the vast majority of coaches have good hearts and genuinely believe that they’re leading people in the right direction. However, intent does not always equal impact. I see a movement building that has needed a course correction for a very long time.

After 5 years of earnestly practicing these teachings, I can tell you that they never led me to any lasting results in love, money or life purpose. At the same time, as I mentioned above, I have always known that there was something happening that couldn’t be explained by logical cause-and-effect reasoning alone. I saw it play out in wild synchronicities, in things that were too complex and perfectly timed to be purely coincidental, and that set me on a journey of discovery that took another 3 years. After months of contemplation and observation, I came across an inconvenient truth — the classical way of understanding how the world works isn’t correct or complete, but neither are the dominant teachings put forth by the manifestation community.

The core issue is that people confuse correlation with causation — some people say affirmations, visualize or enter a “higher state” and immediately see results. They attribute their success to the techniques themselves. But if the techniques were truly a gateway to fulfillment of desire, then wouldn’t everyone who performs them see the same success? Furthermore, how do some people who have never performed a single technique “manifest” their dream lives with such grace and ease? If these teachings as they currently stand truly led to our liberation, then why does it feel like the same grind that we grew up in, only this time, the grind is inside our minds?

We put in the work, visualizing, affirming, policing our thoughts, thinking our manifestation is right around the corner — until we burn out, disillusioned and growing even more bitter than when we started, all while watching a select minority see the success that seems so elusive to us. The truth is that dominant manifestation culture is a mirror of the exact dynamic that we are all desperate to transcend — transactional, impersonal “hustle culture,” and a hierarchy where the few at the top benefit at the expense of many.

In the midst of that paradigm collapsing for me, I uncovered what was truly happening and how to align with it for my benefit. I will tell you that it’s not something that requires a course to understand, but it does sometimes require courage to follow. It can require tenacity and strength to unlearn all of the misguided teachings and philosophies that kept you from being in it. Once untethered, it truly is effortless and completely natural, as it was always meant to be. It’s like — after years of being sold course after course on how to manifest the sun rising — simply dropping all of that and turning to face east.

I am not a manifestation coach, nor do I have any interest in becoming one. As a fellow human on this journey, I do feel a sense of responsibility to set things right so that people do not have to suffer the way that I did, following teachings that led nowhere. I have not yet decided how I am going to share what I have learned — it might be through a book, an online resource or something else. If you are interested in staying updated, you may sign up here to receive a notification when the time is right.

Much love to all of you.

Note: Although a few of my previous articles reference the term “manifesting,” I have decided to leave them up. That’s because the essence of these articles still rings true to me. They encourage listening to and following your intuition, rather than trying to rigidly control reality with thoughts & techniques. The former leads to peace and ease, while the latter tends to elicit frustration and obsession.

Please remember that if it worsens your mental health, it isn’t it. No teachings should ever require you to betray yourself or suffer excessively. There is a lot of information out there, most of it unregulated. Please take care in what you decide to accept as true. Your gut feeling always knows best.

If you’ve had a challenging and emotional journey with manifestation, this article is for you. There are a few things that I would like you to remember whenever your life circumstances feel difficult and uncertain.

I want you to remember that manifestation is not a matter of doing — that is the true meaning of, “It’s already done.” It means that the moment you have a desire, things have already been set into motion on your behalf. You do not need to perform mental gymnastics or force yourself into an unnatural state. The unfolding begins immediately without any action required on your part other than acting on what you are naturally called to do.

That being said, it does not mean that your manifestation is necessarily coming soon. I wish I would have understood and made peace with this much earlier in my journey. Sometimes, things just take a while to unfold. There may be a lesson or two that you need to learn in order to be prepared to receive (and keep!) your manifestation. There might be several outside components that need to come together in order to create the conditions for your desired outcome. This could take months — in some instances, years. Not seeing your desire made manifest right now does not mean that you’ve done something wrong or that you need to put in more work to have it.

One thing to note is that making peace with something does not mean denying your emotions about it. It is safe to feel your feelings — all of them. This is also part of the unfolding and a necessary step to allow your nervous system to process, release and integrate emotional energy. Do not allow any manifestation teacher to convince you otherwise. Disrupting this natural and healthy response to adverse and unwanted circumstances does not bring your desires to you sooner. It amounts to self-abandonment. It severs the connection you have to the deepest and most authentic voice in your heart. This voice is precisely what will lead to your desires, regardless of your situation, as long as you remain in touch with it.

Many of you reading this have gone through traumatic experiences that have left a deep impact on you. I want you to remember that one of the hallmark effects of trauma is disconnection. When your life has been filled with difficulty, instability and uncertainty, your natural inclination might be to dissociate and disconnect — from your emotions, your body and your desires.

Do a self assessment right now — on a scale of 1–10, how aware are you of the state of your body right now? Can you close your eyes, take a few deep breaths and do a scan starting at your feet to the tip of your head? What is calling for your attention? How long have these areas been left unattended?

Do the same self assessment for your emotions. Where are you holding things in and not expressing them? What is asking for your compassion and love right now? Where can you soften? Can you listen to the messages that these feelings have for you without turning away?

There’s a good chance that if you have had a difficult journey manifesting something dear to your heart, that you are also deeply disconnected from the desire itself. You have likely heard the phrase as above, so below. In order to have outer union with your desire, you first must have inner union with it. However, if you have been disappointed, abandoned, deprived or betrayed in your past, there is a tendency to disconnect from the felt sense of your desires and connect to the trauma surrounding them instead.

What does connection to the trauma surrounding your desires feel like? It feels heavy, frustrating, lonely and stagnant. It feels like being stuck in anger, fear, heartbreak or overwhelm that loops day after day but never resolves. Every moment may feel like a struggle. When you think of your desire, your heart sinks because it elicits a strong feeling of something missing, inaccessible or lost. If you are denying your emotions per the paragraph above, you may not even realize you’ve been in this state for quite some time because you’ve been trying to affirm over it or attempt any number of other techniques to cover it up.

“Affirmations are like screaming that you’re okay in order to overcome the whisper that you’re not.” — Pema Chödrön

Where does your mind and heart go when you stop the “trying” and “doing” to get your desire? If it goes to any of the above, understand that you are disconnected and that’s an exquisitely painful and challenging place to be. Do not try to change or cover up these feelings, especially for the sake of manifesting something. First and foremost, have empathy for yourself for all that you’ve gone through and continue to experience. It’s not easy to be a human in this world. Give your self credit for having the courage to attempt the unknown, even if it has brought you to some difficult places. Send as much love as you can muster to all of the parts of you that are hurting right now.

Whenever you are ready, see if you might be able to spend some time connecting to your desire. Just for a little while, try your best to temporarily set aside all of the grievances, the doubts, the fears, the anger. Tell yourself that you can pick them up again if you would like after the exercise. (Knowing this will help you loosen your grip on them whenever letting go feels difficult.)

Now that you have a blank slate, imagine what it would feel like right now if your desire were here with you in the physical realm. Let yourself become curious and playful with it. Instead of waiting for your desire to be fulfilled, allow yourself to enjoy the emotions associated with having it now. Maybe your belly will breathe a deep sigh. Maybe you will feel lighter or relieved. Maybe the hint of a smile will form or a giggle will sneak out. Maybe your fingertips will tingle or you will feel butterflies in your chest.

If you are having trouble emotionally connecting to your desire — this is completely normal if you have been chronically in a difficult state — then find a memory that will allow you to connect to the types of feelings and sensations listed above. Maybe it’s your wedding day or the moment you held your newborn nephew for the first time. Maybe it’s an evening spent belly laughing with good friends around a campfire. Feel deeply into that memory until you get goosebumps on your arms or tingling in your chest from how elated you feel.

Once you capture that feeling, go back to your desire. Try to imagine experiencing your desire now while holding onto that same feeling that you elicited from the other memory. Hold both for as long as you can and try to experience your desire in as much detail through the five senses as your imagination will allow.

You’re going to find that your capacity to stay connected to your desire will increase over time. Spend as much time as you can there, but never force it if your body is needing to process dense emotions from your nervous system instead.

Practice this daily and you will slowly release your connection to the traumas surrounding your desire; you will become one with the desire itself instead. You will be experiencing the emotions that your desire would give you consistently, even weeks or months before it arrives. You will also be sitting with and releasing any difficult feelings that arise in the process. That will bring a much greater sense of peace and relief, which will in turn allow you to finally relax into the state of the wish fulfilled. And one day, whether soon or a bit later, your desire will come.

States of consciousness are one of the most — if not the most — fundamental concepts in manifesting. They are also one of the most misunderstood aspects of the process. Because many manifestation teachings jump straight into techniques without explaining them in the context of states, there is often little information on how techniques actually work (and why they sometimes don’t.)

This can lead to a lot of wasted hours spent affirming and visualizing with little outward movement, which can lead to frustration and burnout. Manifestation has often been painted in a transactional light — putting in x effort results in y, but that’s simply not how it works. If you have been there, you aren’t alone. I spent most of my earlier years on this journey with hot-and-cold or no results in the areas that mattered most to me. I know of many others who have similar stories.

So, why do techniques sometimes work and sometimes don’t? In order answer this question, it’s necessary to move beyond the techniques themselves to an understanding of what we are actually trying to accomplish by doing them in the first place.

Let’s begin first by having a look at what an identity is. An identity is not the same thing as an emotion or a feeling. Our emotional landscapes shift constantly throughout the day, like clouds passing through the sky. They are ephemeral and relatively superficial in the sense that any new information can quickly cause a shift in them.

Identities are much more fundamental than that. They are habitual ways of seeing the world and one’s relationship to it. They are not as easily changed as emotions are. That’s because they are usually built out of thoughts, emotions, beliefs and experiences accumulated over time.

Your identities persist through your emotions. There is a misconception in the manifestation community that feeling good will lead you to desired identity outcomes and vice versa. However, that simply isn’t true. If that were true, all wealthy people would be happy and all people suffering hardship would be steeped in sadness. We all know that this is not the case.

That being said, if your identity is on shaky ground and someone gives you negative feedback, it may cause your identity to shift. For example, if a woman is insecure about her appearance and someone makes a rude comment about it, she may internalize their words, resulting in a lower self esteem and shifted identity. By contrast, someone who feels confident about her beauty may simply laugh and move on.

The difference between these two people was the degree to which they believed in and trusted their desired identity. One was susceptible to external circumstances and the other one wasn’t. One continued along a path that would support them, while the other was knocked off balance. One took her guidance from the outside, while the other focused on her inner knowing. This is how state of consciousness and identity interact.

But what is a state of consciousness, exactly, and how do you change it?

Many teachings support the idea that there are unlimited states that you can occupy at this very moment. And in order to change your state, you go through a process of changing your thoughts, reciting affirmations and visualizing your desired outcome to match whichever specific state you would like to embody. In this sense, they equate “states” with what I defined earlier as “identities.” This way of looking at things has helped a lot of people and if you are one of them, I encourage you to keep doing what you are doing. (The point is to find something that works for you.)

However, if you are finding that the techniques you have learned are not giving you the results you have hoped for, then consider this way of looking at things:

There are not endless states of consciousness, there are only two: the state of love & trust and the state of fear & doubt. Sure, there are endless identities — rich, poor, beautiful, unattractive, confident, lonely, loved — but the state of consciousness is the way you perceive yourself in relationship to these identities. This relates not only to your current relationship (am I this right now?) but also your future relationship to it (what’s the likelihood that I could be / will continue to be this in the future?)

I believe that you remain in an undesired condition, not because you have the lion’s share of work ahead of you in terms of shifting self-concept, affirming against your current circumstances and feeling your new identity real. Rather, it’s because you do not actually believe that it’s reasonably possible to shift your current circumstances anytime soon. In other words, you are currently in a state of fear / doubt / insecurity about the condition you would like to change. You feel stuck in it.

Receiving your manifestation is not something that you need to earn by “doing the work,” reciting weeks (or months or years) worth of daily affirmations, having perfect thoughts and never feeling a negative emotion. In fact, it seems that the harder you work for a manifestation, the more likely it is to elude you.

That’s because these things work to change the specific identity, but not necessarily the state. However, it’s the state change that brings about the change of identity, not the other way around! Let’s be crystal clear: the only reason manifestation techniques work is because they lead you on a journey from fear & doubt to love & trust. That is the only journey you need to take and you do not need techniques to do it.

So instead of thinking of how you’re going to “feel it real” as a self-employed artist when you are a corporate attorney, for example, try asking yourself this:

What would it take for me to be in a state of love with life as it is right now? (Independent of me getting something or not getting it.) What would it take for me to be in a state of trusting that good things are constantly on their way to me? And that those things can come to me easily, without me needing to constantly work for them or perfect my behavior in order to “earn” them?

What would it take for me to know that it is already done? That the moment I had my desire, everything was already set into motion, without me needing to do anything else? And that all I need to do is follow the impulses of my intuition and heart leading me down a breadcrumb trail to the fulfillment of my desire?

Would it be helpful to me to notice my everyday desires and consciously watch them come to pass so that I trust that this is how life really works?

What would it take for my fear and doubt to finally surrender themselves to a deep knowingness that doesn’t shift from moment to moment like emotions do?

These are not rhetorical questions. Ask them to yourself and dig deep to find authentic answers. Gimmicks won’t cut it here.

Will reciting another affirmation really make me trust more and fear less? Or would I be better off filling my day with the things I love, that make me feel strong, powerful and confident?

Is it more important to do another visualization or surround myself with people who uplift me and make me feel loved?

Remember, you don’t need to make yourself believe you’re already in your dream relationship (when you’re single) to manifest a partner. You just need to trust that simply because you had the desire, that automatically means they are on their way. If you cannot find a way to trust that right now due to your past experiences, then ask to receive thoughts and experiences that will lead you to that level of trust. And trust that that’s on its way.

You never need to force anything. Yes, you can manifest having trust that your desires are done, if trust is what you are lacking at this moment. You can always ask for help to be sent, whether it’s a resource or a mindset.

In the meantime, the most important thing to do is loosen your grip on your desires, be as relaxed as you can, and let them come to you in a natural way. Focus on shifting into a state of love any way that you can; it does not need to relate to your specific manifestation.

Remember, love and trust are states, not emotions. So you don’t need to worry about feeling sad sometimes. You can still feel sad and trust that good things are coming. You are allowed to have your human experience and still expect to receive your desires.

What has helped me more than anything is to find a way to fill my life with joy and meaning in the present moment. It’s important to crowd the fears and doubts out so that they do not have a chance to flourish. If you are sitting at home alone, waiting for your life to start, fear and doubt can quickly overcome you. If you make your days as fulfilling as you can with the resources you have right now, it will naturally put you into an ever-greater state of love.

When you are more consistently in that state of love, many of your manifestations will come to pass. That will put you into an ever-greater state of trust that your manifestations can and will show up for you.

Then one day, you will wake up and naturally find yourself in a state of love & trust regarding that manifestation that has eluded you for so long, not because you force-fed yourself techniques, but because you have been consistently living in a way that supports your love and trust for life itself.

I have been a student of Neville Goddard and the manifestation community for almost 4 years now. I have manifested**(see update in the footnote below for my new understanding) many lovely things in my life — my dream home in a beautiful coastal beach town, a large community of loving, supporting people, overcoming a severe multi-symptom chronic illness to being in the best shape of my life and yes, a million dollars — twice — in contracts for my company.

THE FALL FROM GRACE

Like many of you, I came across Neville’s teachings because of an SP situation. After a large fight with my significant other, he cancelled his flight to my home town the day before Christmas and never spoke to me again. I was completely and utterly devastated. I tried for two full years to manifest him back. My only “results” were on the one year anniversary of the day we met, which was 9 months after the incident. In the middle of nowhere on a desert trail in a state that neither of us was from, I ran into him going the opposite direction. Our encounter wasn’t pleasant and I never saw him again, but it was too unlikely to be “just a coincidence.”

I knew that there was something at work beyond what my rational mind could see, but I could never seem to manifest what I truly wanted, which was a stable, committed relationship with my SP. Over those two years, I received many signs and synchronicities — angel numbers in wild combinations, friends randomly mentioning my SP’s name, invitations from other friends to visit the town that my SP happened to live in, tarot cards affirming that my desire was on its way, etc. But in the end, these were only breadcrumbs that ultimately lead nowhere.

I eventually gave up and let this SP go. Several months later, I fell in love with another man. Unlike the first SP, this man was also wildly in love with me. Long story short, things were going really well for us until a third party (my SP’s ex) came back into the picture. They ended up getting back together and I was in a similar position as SP #1 — months of no contact and very few “results” other than endless signs.

I tried every technique and not-technique in the book. I did my nightly SATs feeling it real just before falling asleep. I did a few affirmations that felt good to me. I worked on my self concept. I chose a handful of teachers and regularly followed their content, earnestly trying to implement what was being taught. I even tried surrendering all of it and focusing on other areas of my life for a few months, to no avail. With the other areas of my life falling perfectly into place and every other manifestation “working”, it felt frustrating that this continued to be a sticking point.

THE APPARENT TURNING POINT

Like SP #1, I did have an encounter with SP #2 that could not be explained away by coincidence and chance. About 8 months after I started consciously manifesting him and 4 months after zero contact, I happened to have a business trip in my SP’s town. The night before my flight was due to depart, my SP contacted me completely out of the blue. We had a really deep and lovely conversation. I told him that I happened to be flying to his home town the next morning and he was equally as shocked, in his words, like he had been “summoned through the universe.”

When I shared the location of my AirBnB, he was speechless. Unbeknownst to me, the AirBnB was booked a mere two blocks from his house. I did not know where he lived specifically and it was the only AirBnB that was available that weekend within my price range. It seemed that my manifestation was finally starting to take off and all of my efforts were being rewarded.

We chatted the whole time I was en route in the airport, on busses and trains, until I finally got to the guesthouse. We tentatively made plans to see each other the following morning. I didn’t realize it then, but that was going to be the last time I really spoke to him. As quickly and dramatically as things rose, they pivoted into a complete free-fall. I never heard back from him about our tentative date and later found out that he was still with his ex, the third party. We went back to no contact.

I couldn’t unsee and “unknow” the synchronicities and behind-the-scenes orchestration that dramatically brought us together and then took us back apart that month. For the next year, convinced that it’s actually possible to manifest an SP, I tried to manifest him back, giving it my absolute best shot based on my evolving state and understanding of the Law. I am damn proud of what I did and how far I came. I improved my self concept ten-fold and really went through a deep inner transformation during that time. I forgave both of us for what had happened.

However, the outer world continued to reflect his total absence back to me. I did not see him or hear of him anywhere for a whole year. And yet, the event that had brought me so much pain and frustration also proved to me that the Law works, for people too. I couldn’t give up. I didn’t want to. I intended that the universe show me what I needed to do or shift inwardly that I wasn’t yet understanding, so that I could finally have the secure and stable relationship that I wanted with my SP.

THE ACTUAL TURNING POINT

This morning, as I was at the grocery store, something dawned on me. I was reminded of all of the other SPs that I had manifested back after having fallen out or had third parties before I even knew what the Law was. It was NEVER EVER when I was thinking or focusing on them. In fact, every time I have ever tried to focus on the other person at all, whether through SATS, visualization, other techniques and manifestation coaching, I have always gotten no meaningful results. Nada. This is because techniques are inherently gimmicky and transactional, so it makes sense that I would receive breadcrumbs as a result of that input.

No matter how much you try to “feel it real” and “act as if” you are already in a relationship with your SP, your subconscious always on some level knows it’s a farce. That’s because we are not currently creatures of the 4D/5D, we are currently beings of the 3D, where things unfold over time and are excluded from view and therefore uncertain. I understand that techniques may work for some people and this is not meant to throw shade in anyone’s direction. This is simply my own opinion and personal experience. It’s easier for me to work with the 3D than against it.

I asked myself this question — if I had my SP, would I be trying every night to feel it real? If I had my SP, would I be on chatting on online manifestation forums, watching YouTube videos and following accounts that help you manifest your SP? The answer was a resounding “no.” I realized that all of the above was ALSO ultimately a road to nowhere. By incorporating those techniques into my daily life, I was just manifesting more of “being in the process of manifesting my SP.” Who was I really being?

The places we have always gone to seek the answers may be the very reason why 85% of the people that attempt to manifest an SP never do. (Statistic shared by Kriston Jackson, who did an online survey with her followers.) Could it be that we are creating the problem by where we are looking for solutions? It’s definitely food for thought.

So what has worked for me in the past when manifesting an SP or anything else significant in my life? They always came at times when I was frustrated by WHO I WAS BEING. I always had a moment of waking up and saying, “No more. I’m done with this.” And then stepping out as a new person myself, regardless of what others were or were not doing.

1. It happened the day I quit social media because I was sick of finding human connection by staring at the device. It was a “No more. I’m done with this” moment. I was done with being the girl who was sitting alone with her head buried in her phone all day, wishing she had more friends. I deleted the apps and within the next two months, I made 6 good friends and found a new community without trying at all. They just appeared into my life. Now, I no longer have time to check a newsfeed because my social schedule is completely packed. I am the girl who has a huge community and lots of friends. I decided who I was and THEN they showed up. I stopped doing the things that a girl with a great social life wouldn’t do. I dis-identified from it, no techniques required.
2. It happened the day I finally decided to get into shape and lose my pandemic weight. I woke up one morning and tried on a pair of pants that used to be my favorite, that I had been avoiding because I was scared that they wouldn’t fit. I couldn’t even get the first button fastened. It was a “No more. I’m done with this” moment. I was done with being the woman who wears baggy clothes because she is lethargic and ashamed of her body. I joined a gym and a local dance group. I got moving. I built confidence. I lost the weight in 2 months, no visualization or techniques required. I am the person who is strong, fit and can tackle anything. The weight conformed to my new proclaimed identity.
3. It happened the day I decided that I wasn’t going to be a “pick-me” girl at work. I was always giving clients discounts for working with me and feeling extremely grateful when anyone would chose me, even if they were toxic, because I always felt inferior to the other contractors in my industry. I would constantly under-sell myself and take on more work than I could handle. I woke up one day, exhausted and had a “No more, I’m done with this” moment. I was no longer going to be the woman who struggled for money and sold herself short for bad clients to make ends meet. I was going to be the “It Girl” that everyone wanted to hire and command a higher day rate than my peers. I immediately fired my only client at the time because they were not a good fit and not paying me enough. That year was my highest grossing year of all time. The clients poured in. I did not live in the end of having them — rather, I simply decided who I WANTED TO BE. The It Girl.

I realized that focusing on the SP inherently involves waiting and checking the 3D for validation, as the intended shift is in the behavior of another person. In all of the situations above, I did not focus on who others were, but who I wanted to be. The others were simply reflecting it all back to me. Changing myself was something I could do in an instant without waiting for someone to show up or seeking confirmation in the outer world.

And guess what? Today is also a “No more. I’m done with this” moment. I woke up this morning sick and tired of being the girl who is chronically working on manifesting her SP, who has to spend energy — both physical and emotional — to get the relationship with the one she loves. I was done being the girl who chronically consumed manifestation content to get her SP.

No, this girl is the one who barely comes across manifestation content anymore and doesn’t need techniques because her SP has come back organically into her life and is fully committed to her in a loving and stable relationship. I am stepping beyond the manifestation world, and in doing so, leaving behind an identity that feels so familiar. It’s bittersweet. I am stepping into the one I have been reaching towards for so long.

I am going to get on with my life as this new person, knowing that this is the only way major shifts have ever happened in my life with others, and that this next shift is inevitable. **Update: He came back four weeks later.**

“There is a goal, but no way. What we call the way is hesitation.”

-Franz Kafka

“There is no one to change but self.”

-Neville Goddard

3/26/25 Update: I published this article over 2 years ago and had no idea that it would gain so much traction. I wrote it because I was frustrated and disillusioned. I had been doing everything right and seeing no results for the time, money and efforts I had invested in conscious manifestation, in getting my life back. Since then, my understanding as to what is really going on has increased significantly both in terms of what “manifesting” actually is and also the general state of the manifestation community. I saw clearly that many of the teachings are actually holding people in place — apart from the life they’re meant to live. Much of the time, the only people who are getting wealthy and seeing success are the ones selling these misguided teachings to the people who need them the most.

To be clear, I do not think anyone has had malicious intent — I think that the vast majority of coaches have good hearts and genuinely believe that they’re leading people in the right direction. However, intent does not always equal impact. I see a movement building that has needed a course correction for a very long time.

After 5 years of earnestly practicing these teachings, I can tell you that they never led me to any lasting results in love, money or life purpose. At the same time, as I mentioned above, I have always known that there was something happening that couldn’t be explained by logical cause-and-effect reasoning alone. I saw it play out in wild synchronicities, in things that were too complex and perfectly timed to be purely coincidental, and that set me on a journey of discovery that took another 3 years. After months of contemplation and observation, I came across an inconvenient truth — the classical way of understanding how the world works isn’t correct or complete, but neither are the dominant teachings put forth by the manifestation community.

The core issue is that people confuse correlation with causation — some people say affirmations, visualize or enter a “higher state” and immediately see results. They attribute their success to the techniques themselves. But if the techniques were truly a gateway to fulfillment of desire, then wouldn’t everyone who performs them see the same success? Furthermore, how do some people who have never performed a single technique “manifest” their dream lives with such grace and ease? If these teachings as they currently stand truly led to our liberation, then why does it feel like the same grind that we grew up in, only this time, the grind is inside our minds?

We put in the work, visualizing, affirming, policing our thoughts, thinking our manifestation is right around the corner — until we burn out, disillusioned and growing even more bitter than when we started, all while watching a select minority see the success that seems so elusive to us. The truth is that dominant manifestation culture is a mirror of the exact dynamic that we are all desperate to transcend — transactional, impersonal “hustle culture,” and a hierarchy where the few at the top benefit at the expense of many.

In the midst of that paradigm collapsing for me, I uncovered what was truly happening and how to align with it for my benefit. I will tell you that it’s not something that requires a course to understand, but it does sometimes require courage to follow. It can require tenacity and strength to unlearn all of the misguided teachings and philosophies that kept you from being in it. Once untethered, it truly is effortless and completely natural, as it was always meant to be. It’s like — after years of being sold course after course on how to manifest the sun rising — simply dropping all of that and turning to face east.

Manifestation is not a technique to master. It is a natural order that has been forgotten.

I am not a manifestation coach, nor do I have any interest in becoming one. As a fellow human on this journey, I do feel a sense of responsibility to set things right so that people do not have to suffer the way that I did, following teachings that led nowhere. I have not yet decided how I am going to share what I have learned — it might be through a book, an online resource or something else. If you are interested in staying updated, you may sign up here to receive a notification when the time is right.

Much love to all of you.

Note: Although a few of my previous articles reference the term “manifesting,” I have decided to leave them up. That’s because the essence of these articles still rings true to me. They encourage listening to and following your intuition, rather than trying to rigidly control reality with thoughts & techniques. The former leads to peace and ease, while the latter tends to elicit frustration and obsession.

Please remember that if it worsens your mental health, it isn’t it. No teachings should ever require you to betray yourself or suffer excessively. There is a lot of information out there, most of it unregulated. Please take care in what you decide to accept as true. Your gut feeling always knows best.