“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you’ve imagined.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

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Do you ever have those moments when you’re just sitting in your life, and all of a sudden, you’re hit by this wave of, “Wow, I cannot believe this is my reality?”

I’ve been experiencing this quite a bit recently. Last week, while walking along the beach in Mallorca while on the phone with a kindred, talking about non-duality. And then again earlier today, while sitting in a café in Helsinki.

I was drinking espresso and reading a novel; it was about noon, and I felt no rush—no need to jump on a pile of tasks, but rather utter permission to sit in the bliss unfolding over the moment.

I looked out the window, savouring the chocolate and cinnamon top notes of the espresso and felt a whole body exhale run through me. I did this, I realized. I’ve been calling in this life for the past few years, and now here it is.

People often say that we just need to “get out of our own way” to lead our most vibrant, soul-rich lives. And, when you boil it down, that’s true. But there is, of course, so much to the process of getting out of your own way.

Which was what I, and many others, are missing when we feel like we’re wrestling with the Universe to acquire our MIA manifestations.

This process requires a blend of surrender, deliberate work to reprogram our neural pathways, and deep-seeded faith—in the Universe and ourselves.

When I wasn’t clear on this in the past, I lived in a state of frustration. I couldn’t figure out why, although I intellectually understood I was worthy of the future I desired, I could not seem to get out of my own way enough to see even a degree of change show up in my reality.

I was confused, fearful, and, yes, so frustrated.

Looking back, I notice that I was living out a pattern of mine. That is, I would go all in when it came to self-work, burn out, and then stop for a long stretch until I got frustrated enough to return to it.

I believe this is common in Western (especially North American) culture, as we tend to get off on extremes. Take exercise. I absolutely carried out this pattern when it came to working out in high school. I’d become inspired to try out running, or whatever regime I’d read about in the latest women’s magazine I’d picked up, go on and work out for a week or two, and then lose my inspiration and stop altogether. Cliché as it sounds, it took my finding the movement I truly adored at a soul level to remain committed, because “commitment” no longer felt like efforting, but rather deeply blissful.

Inner work was the same, and transformed, too, when I quit doing these heavy spurts of intense exercise and found my bliss-point instead.

What that tangibly looked like was dropping the prescriptive to-dos (meditate and journal x number of minutes per day) and trusting my intuition to weave inner work into my life, as needed. This takes more attunement to your body, your mind, your breath. But, after a short while, this becomes second nature and makes life a hell of a lot easier. Because what you’ll have done is transformed your way of being by creating a means of holding your own hand, so to speak, as you walk through this journey of life.

I will note that, in the past, I did this thing where I selectively listened to my intuition—promptly ignoring the calls to go deep and do the hard shadow work. And that was something I had to work on to change.

So, now, for example, if I notice I’m really stuck in a particular area—like I’m noticing a similar boundary being crossed by multiple people, then I listen up and dig into work on that topic.

How? By asking myself what I am meant to learn about myself from this repeated experience. By reflecting on what shadows I am not owning that are spilling over into my life. By considering any values I have that I am not caring for as I continue to live in this reality. By asking myself what I need to do to live in alignment with my values and clear out this stuck energy to move into my flow.

In essence, by taking a direct yet feminine approach to inner work, things began to shift for me. And they can for you, too.

Here are some ideas for how you can work this approach to manifestation into your life:

>> Upon waking, take three deep breaths.

When we do this, we give ourselves the opportunity to tune into our internal state before absorbing any distracting energy from the external world. We might choose here to enter into prayer or meditation. Or, we may simply ask ourselves, “How do I feel?” followed by “What would feel supportive to my being/soul in this moment?”

For those who struggle to hear the whisper of intuition, free form journalling may work well here as well, as it sort of massages the nervous system, loosening it, and freeing up access to our deeper well of internal wisdom.

>> Repeat this process throughout the day.

In the beginning, it may prove valuable to schedule in checkpoints with yourself until the process becomes more second nature, at which point you can take a more flowing, intuitive approach.

>> Set an intention at the start of your day that aligns with your higher purpose and/or any specific manifestations you are calling in.

You may choose to write this intention out on a piece of paper you can look at throughout the day as a reminder. Or, you may choose to assign this intention to a totem you can carry with you throughout your day as a reminder, like a piece of jewelry or a crystal.

>> Make an appointment with your higher self at the end of each day.

This could, for example, look like carving out time to slip into a deep visualization meditation, in which you draw up your higher self and check in with him/her to soak up any wisdom (s)he has to share with you as your day comes to a close.

Remember: these are just ideas to jog your creativity. You need to find what suits you and your soul’s journey. It’s impossible to prescribe a prescription to a non-prescriptive process.

And bear in mind, even when you are doing the work, things still take time. Don’t forget this.

In a world of instant gratification, we seem to expect that once we’ve shifted ourselves internally, our external worlds should follow suit at once. But the fact is that this is not always the case. After all, we live in a dense, material plane. I love how Jas The Moon Mother put it once:

“What you’re seeing right now is a result of all your past thinking. It takes time for reality to change.”

So, we must be patient.

How then do we know we’re “on track?” We know because of how we feel inside. Remember that exhale I mentioned earlier? That was a physical release that came from alignment on a cellular—no, a soul level. It sounds abstract. But this is the sort of feeling that you recognize when you embody it. Truly. It feels like peace, stillness, like the knowing that you are exactly where you are meant to be.

When you are in this place, you glow from deep within; your aura becomes bright, and though this sacred light may be invisible to the human eye, it is always felt by those in your energetic field, for it is palpable in the heart.

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