Manifestation: How to Get Ready to Receive

Many of us have a deep-sitting feeling that we don’t really deserve a better life. Often, these feelings come from low self-esteem acquired somewhere along the way, in our childhood or through dysfunctional relationships... and they present stumbling blocks for our manifestation.

There’s a good exercise that lets you find out the truth of this statement and at the same time “silence your inner nag.” 

Let’s say your dream is to publish a book. 

• Step 1: Write down a simple affirmation that sums up what you want to do; keep it in present tense. Like: “I am now a published author, and my book is on the bestseller list.”
• Now listen to your inner nag, which, I promise you, will immediately pipe up.
• Inner Nag: “You gotta be kidding me. You, writing a book? You don’t have an MFA, you don’t know what the heck you’re doing.”
• So what you do now is take some paper or a notebook and write down your affirmation, over and over. After every repetition, listen for the inner nag and wrote down what it says too. 
• Just note what it says without getting all emotional about it. Try to view the inner nag’s responses with some detachment and just write down its replies.

Such a list could look like this:

***
I am now a published author, and my book is on the bestseller list.

Don’t you remember your 3rd-grade English teacher who said you’d never learn grammar?

I am now a published author, and my book is on the bestseller list.

And then she wrote a big, fat F all across your English test so the whole class could see it. 

I am now a published author, and my book is on the bestseller list.

You tried before to submit stuff and got rejected.

I am now a published author, and my book is on the bestseller list.

This is never going to work.

I am now a published author, and my book is on the bestseller list.

Ha! Your name and a bestseller list will never occupy the same space.

I am now a published author, and my book is on the bestseller list.

***
Keep going until the inner nag runs out of steam. It usually takes about 15–20 minutes of nonstop writing until that happens.

In the end, you’re left only with your affirmation. Repeat it a few more times, and repeat it again the next day. I recommend 21 days of repetitions.

​Also, visualize yourself at a crowded book signing or author reading, or visualize seeing a bestseller list with your name on it.