Manifest the Life You Want

Positive mindset, law of attraction, manifestation—for some people this sounds like a bad infomercial, but if you put the work in, these things can change your worldview and lead you to the life you want.

What does this have to do with improving your executive function skills? Changing how you view life is a long and difficult process. It’s easy to feel defeated when things don’t go smoothly. You have to learn to shift your mindset in order to increase your chances of success.

One of the benefits of keeping a positive mindset is that you tend to be more open to possibilities. Today, I’m going to lean hard into that. You may have heard the term manifesting or you might have read about the law of attraction. For some people, their skepticism keeps them from buying into manifestation. I’m not here to tell you it will work for you.

I’m not going to try to tell you that if you write “I want a million dollars” 50 times someone will hand you a check. (I’m not saying it won’t happen, either.)

The law of attraction and manifesting work first and foremost because you truly believe that your dream life is possible. It starts with having faith in yourself, so yeah, it comes back to positive thinking. You might not be in a place for that to work. And that’s okay. Tuck these ideas away until you are in a place to spend some time working on them.

Positive Thinking

I’ve talked before about keeping a positive mindset to achieve the goals you set for yourself. Positive thinking causes you to influence yourself to make things happen. Positivity lends itself to confidence and if you are confident, you’re more likely to be successful.

Positive thinking changes the way you view a possibly negative situation. It opens your mind to the possibility of getting more done, completing tasks easier, and having the confidence to make things happen.

How do you shift your negative thoughts into positive ones? You need to dig into yourself and give them a spin. For example, if a colleague gets a promotion you wanted, instead of being negative and talking bad about that person, think about how you can do something different.

First, you should be truly happy for them. That’s hard, especially when we’re disappointed. Then, instead of thinking about how life isn’t fair or how they didn’t deserve the promotion, consider the upside or what you can change.

One upside might be that you won’t have additional responsibilities at work. That’s something that often adds stress. Not having extra stress in your life is a good thing. If you have a hard time seeing the silver lining, consider what you will do to be successful in the future. What will you do to ensure the next promotion is yours?

If your kid is spiraling in negative thoughts, you can teach them how to step back and change their thinking. When your child gets frustrated, it’s normal for them to think, “I give up! I suck at this and I’ll never get it.” Your response needs to be along the lines of reminding them of a time that they struggled before and were successful. Talk about the value of learning from their mistakes. It’s a tough lesson to learn, but if they can see the possibilities, having a positive mindset will get easier.

Affirmations

One way to increase your positive thinking is to do daily positive affirmations. There are many ways to do this. Some people choose one affirmation and write it in a journal. Others have a series of affirmations that they say to themselves. Still others look in the mirror every morning and repeat the affirmation to themselves.

The idea of using affirmations is that you are teaching yourself to believe in yourself. When your brain hears the same thing repeatedly, it will start to accept the statement as fact. Create a list of affirmations—things you want to be true in your life. Then, decide the best way to present the affirmation to yourself.

Maybe visualizing during morning or evening meditation will work for you. You can imagine your life as you want it to be.

You might feel silly at first, but the more you do it, the more it becomes real and you’ll start to believe it. Affirmations will be part of your daily routine. In addition, they are useful when you’re faced with challenging or stressful situations.

Law of Attraction

Law of attraction is similar to the power of positive thinking. However, law of attraction, or manifestation, takes it one step further. You visualize your life as if it is already what you want. You visualize your life as your dream realized.

Instead of thinking, “I wish I was rich,” you see yourself as someone who is wealthy. What does your life look like? What do you do with your time and money? Picture it.

Does manifesting work? It depends. Some people will say that it works on the same principles as positive thinking. If you have confidence in yourself and work toward what you want, you will achieve it.

Others will tell you that there are magnetic forces all around us and if you think positive thoughts, you will attract good things to yourself. Negative thoughts will repel those things you want most. Many people are far more skeptical about this theory though. It is very woo-woo, so if you don’t buy into it, it definitely won’t work.

Visualizing your dream life as if it is already here triggers your brain to accept it as a real possibility. It’s no longer a dream. When your brain accepts it, you’re more likely to actively work toward making it happen.

In that way, it’s a cycle. But it won’t work unless you do all the parts. You can’t just imagine yourself as a millionaire and do nothing to get you there. In that case, you’re not really leaving the dream phase. If you’re living below the poverty line, barely able to hold a regular job, your brain will look at the fantasy of being rich, but it will not be seen as a reality. You have to work toward reaching that goal.

So then you might ask, “If I have to work toward it anyway, what does law of attraction or manifestation have to do with it?”

It goes back to your belief in yourself. Put the positive energy out into the world and it will come back to you. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “Misery loves company.” So do success and positivity.

To get started, there are some exercises to help you manifest your dream life.

3 Manifestation exercises

1. Creative visualization

As mentioned above, manifestation or law of attraction is about seeing your dream as a reality. Most people begin this process by using daily meditation. Meditation has a host of benefits for your well-being, but in this instance, starting your day with visualization meditation brings your focus to your dreams and desires. You picture not only your long-term goal but what you are going to do today to help get you there.

This kind of visualization also takes it a little further by incorporating how you feel as you picture yourself achieving those goals and desires. Emotions act as triggers to make your brain accept this image as reality.

2. Gratitude for the win

Being grateful is an excellent way to put good thoughts and vibes into the universe. It helps increase your positivity, as well as offers many other benefits. When you are grateful for the things you do have, more good things come to you.

If you feel happy, you will manifest more happiness. It’s like the old saying, “What comes around goes around.”

3. Write it down

When you create the thoughts to express your dreams and desires, you should write them down. Having them in black and white will help you consciously control your thoughts, enabling you to get rid of negativity.

You can do this through journaling or an affirmation notebook or even just a list on your phone or in your bag. Being in control of your thoughts on a daily and even moment-to-moment basis will allow you to harness the power of manifestation and the law of attraction.

Even if you are skeptical, working toward having a more positive mindset can’t hurt. It’s important to recognize that you might be holding yourself back. And remember, it’s always a process. Nothing happens overnight. Allow yourself to learn and grow at your own pace.