There are four general stages a manifestation goes through on its way into your reality.
When you understand these stages, and learn how to put them to use for yourself, your manifestations can become much more effortless.
This is similar, though does not replace, my three-step Effortless Manifestation Process. Those are the steps to manifest anything, while these are the four stages that manifestation will undergo.
Throughout this post, I’ll be referring to the analogy of a seed. The process a seed undergoes to grow into a plant or tree, perfectly illustrates the manifestation process.
Note: This material is inspired from two different sources. First is a course I took last year called, Hypnosis and the Law of Attraction. Also, a few of these stages come from the book, Path of Least Resistance: Learning to Become the Creative Force in Your Own Life, by Robert Fritz. The book is okay, but honestly I think Joe Tabbanella, the teacher of the course linked above, explains it far better.
Stage 1. Choose
It’s pretty obvious, but first, you need to choose your manifestation.
What do you want to have happen?
Realize that you are the sole creator of your universe. You decide what goes. You are an artist painting the canvas of your life. You are the performer choosing what he will play. You are the farmer choosing what he would like to grow.
You have all this raw energy before you. Yes, currently it takes the shape of the experiences, people, and objects in your present moment awareness. But, that’s only because that’s what you’ve already created.
You are always creating, and you have infinite raw energy to do so.
So, what would you like to grow?
Would you like to grow $1,000? Would you like to grow a happy relationship? Would you like to grow a fun vacation?
Imagine in front of you, you have an infinite array of various seeds. Each seed holds within it the potential of what it will become.
Anything is possible. All you have to do is to choose the seed you want. It’s that effortless.
In fact, this whole process should be effortless. If it’s not, you’re trying way too hard.
Now, I say anything is possible, and it is. But, you’ll have an easier time of it in stage 2 if you choose a goal that is mostly believable to you. The best goal is one that is a bit of a stretch to your mind ,but still more or less believable.
That “stretch” and “more or less believable” is indicative of your resistance, which will be taken care of in stage 2. A little resistance is inevitable, but you don’t want to tackle a ton of it at once, or it could become overwhelming if you’re not careful.
So, choose a goal that you want, and that is believable, but yet a bit of a stretch.
The second condition of a goal is that you can point to evidence of it. In NLP, we call this the outcome specification. You want to specify exactly what your goal is.
- Wrong: “I want more money.”
- Right: “I want $1,000 more per month.”
The evidence should be something definitive that you can point to and say, “That’s it!” It should preferably be something you can sense with any of the five senses. For example:
- Money goal: You can see the balance on your bank statement.
- Relationship goal: You can see your partner with all the qualities you desire. You can hear their voice. You can perhaps even feel their hand in yours, or something more sensuous—this is your fantasy. 😉
- New house goal: You see the house with the qualities you choose. You hear the surroundings around the neighborhood.
The reason you need the evidence is because this will program your manifestational seed so it knows what it is supposed to grow into. Without a clear idea of what you want, you never quite know if you have arrived.
Plus, part of this process is comparing what is with what you want. That is how the subconscious mind knows where it is supposed to take you. If you don’t give a GPS clear directions, you won’t have any idea where you’ll end up.
The third thing to do is to create some short goal statement. I suggest that instead of saying “I want …,” saying instead something like, “I choose ….” “Want” implies lack, since you can’t want and have at the same time.
- Wrong: “I want $1,000 more per month.”
- Right: “I choose $1,000 more per month.”
Using a “choose” statement like this can help to be more on the side of having, instead of wanting.
Stage 2. Germination
Great! Now you have your seed. Next, it’s time to plant it.
This is the most sensitive part of the process. What most people do is plant the seed, then get frustrated it hasn’t sprouted yet, so they dig it back up to make sure it’s still there. Then they replant it, get frustrated again, and the whole process begins all over.
This part of the manifestational process won’t give you much if any evidence, besides your own emotional state. You have to make your improved feeling enough evidence for now, until that seed starts to grow.
So how do we plant the seed?
It’s pretty simple. It’s really what I discussed in Tuesday’s post: Are You a Creator or a Receiver of Reality? However, I’ll review the process here.
You plant the seed by bringing this manifestation to mind at least once per day. I always recommend to my spiritual coaching clients that they take at least one or two periods of 10-15 minutes each, and do the process I’m about to give you.
Bring the manifestation to mind. In particular, do Step 2 of my Effortless Manifestation Process. The vibrational essence of your manifestation is its seed in this analogy. That vibrational essence will grow fully formed into the goal you have chosen in stage 1 above.
But, this vibrational essence won’t be pure. It will be mixed up with a lot of other feelings. These other feelings are your resistance.
Planting the seed and allowing it to germinate, means effortlessly releasing this resistance, so that you can purify the feeling of your manifestation. To “purify” it means to make it a pure feeling, free of all other resistance.
There is literally nothing to do to make this happen. Just notice that with this feeling, there are resistant feelings. And notice how with these resistant feelings, you are trying to change them, suppress them, or make them leave.
Simply stop pushing against the resistant feelings. Use Step 1 of my process, by radically accepting everything that comes up. Fully allow all of it.
The issue that arises is that you know what is, right now, and you want it to be different. Namely, you want your goal, now, or sooner if possible.
But that is exactly the resistance that you must release, before you can have your goal.
Realize that everything you see in your life now is a direct reflection of the subconscious beliefs and attitudes you hold within.
See if you can get to the point of even thanking these outer manifestations for showing you where you haven’t yet let go. When you see them, they trigger that resistance within you, which means that you can release it.
And how do you release it? Simply by not fighting it. Let it be expressed within you. Just fully allow and accept it. Don’t even need it to leave right this moment.
With the tool of radical acceptance, all resistance will be nullified in time.
So, in this period of meditation every day, bring up your manifestation. You can use your goal statement to bring it to mind. Or, ask yourself, “What would it feel like if I had this manifestation?”
Gauge whether this feeling is pure, or whether it contains resistance.
Then, completely accept the resistance. No matter what thoughts or feelings arise, deliberately choose your goal.
- Conscious mind: “I choose $1,000 more per month.”
- Subconscious mind: “Yeah right. Good luck with that.”
- Conscious mind: “I accept that you feel like this, but I still choose $1,000 more per month.”
- Subconscious mind: “But how will you even get it?”
- Conscious mind: “I accept this resistance, but I still choose $1,000 more per month.”
It doesn’t have to be so wordy as this. This is just the only way I have to illustrate the process.
Essentially, no matter what the subconscious mind comes up with to argue with your goal, you completely accept it, and then deliberately come back to the feeling of your manifestation.
What’s going on here is that your subconscious mind is bringing up to the surface all the programs that contradict your goal. As it does so, you have a choice: fight the program, and so make it stronger, or accept and allow it, returning to your goal instead, and thereby let your subconscious mind know this goal is more important to you.
Every time you return to your goal, instead of fighting the program, that program becomes weaker.
And so, you’ll notice that every time some resistance bubbles up to the surface, and you effortlessly let it go, the feeling of your manifestation will become purer and purer, and you will feel it stronger and stronger within you. You’ll start to get the feeling of that manifestation growing and expanding within you.
The resistance won’t necessarily be thoughts. It could be a tight feeling in your stomach or chest. It could be an image. Whatever it is, just accept it and let it be okay.
This is how you plant the seed. As I said, you won’t get a ton of evidence at this time. But, this is the most critical part of the process.
If resistance arises outside of your meditation period, just do the same thing. Let it be, and return effortlessly to the feeling of your manifestation.
Stage 3. Assimilation
Now, your subconscious mind begins to realize that you’re serious about this goal.
This is when the seed bursts above the soil. It’s still not a huge tree, but it is starting to become visible.
You will start to see evidence at this point. This largely includes Step 3 of my process, where things get much more specific.
The evidence will start small. You’ll see little winks from the Universe, that are personal to you.
But, acknowledge and be grateful for this evidence. If you second-guess yourself and wonder whether it is really evidence, you’re just shooting yourself in the foot. Accept all signs, even if you’re not entirely sure.
Just because you’re in stage 3 doesn’t mean that you are totally resistance free. Keep doing your daily meditations. Keep releasing any resistance that arises.
It just means that your manifestation has picked up enough momentum that it has started to show up in outer reality.
At this point, you might start to get excited. This is when some people sabotage their manifestation. They know it’s on its way, and so they become worried about losing it. Whatever you feel is okay. You should neither fight it, nor cling on to it.
That means, if excitement comes, that’s great. But just let it go, with all the rest. Return again and again to a state of profound peace, free of negative or positive. Emotions come and go, but this Peace is your eternal nature. Make it all okay, but don’t need the emotions to validate your progress.
I let this very step sabotage my first coaching manifestation. I had just begun my coaching practice, and was getting a good number of clients.
I couldn’t believe it. I was thrilled! I was also scared that it would stop.
Instead of letting these emotions go, I hung on to them. And, within a month, the flow of clients totally dried up. It took me several months to let go enough to start receiving them again.
So, whatever happens, let it be okay. If you get evidence, it’s okay, and if you don’t get evidence, it’s okay.
As you acknowledge the evidence that does come, that evidence will increase. Be grateful for all of it. As you see this evidence, it’ll be easier and easier to focus on the feeling of your manifestation, since you’ll know beyond doubt that it’s just around the corner.
Also make negative manifestations be okay. If they trigger something in you, it just means you missed some resistance, and the Universe is letting you know. Allow it, accept it, and let it go.
By seeing your outer manifestations and evidence, you know whether you are moving away from or towards your manifestation. If you see some negative, it’s okay. You just had some momentum in the negative direction, which you are now releasing. Let it be a signpost for you, and nothing more.
Stage 4. Receive and Acknowledge
Finally, it happens! Your manifestation comes! You know it because the evidence of your goal that you chose in stage 1 has now come to pass. You have that sensory proof, and now the cycle is complete.
Except, a manifestation is never quite complete. That seed is always growing. Perhaps this manifestation will be the seed of a newer, bigger manifestation.
As with everything else, accept it all. Celebrate your manifestation, but don’t cling on to it. Clinging is the surest way of strangling your brand new manifestation.
If you’ve followed the instructions I gave in the other stages, then you should be fine. You’ve already formed sufficient rooting in that inner Peace. The manifestation is just an outer reflection of what you’ve already found within yourself.
Am I telling you not to be happy? Of course not! However, the goal in all of this is to find inner happiness, so immovable that no matter what happens, we can remain in that state.
When you’re there, you simply know that everything will work out, because the world is a reflection of your inner state. It becomes a normal part of everyday life.
But, do acknowledge and happily receive your manifestation. Don’t simply move on to the next one before you celebrate your success. This will give yourself and your subconscious mind confidence that you can do it again, and again, and again.
Acknowledge that you have arrived, and then choose your next vision.
How About You?
Now it’s your turn. Do you find these stages clear? Try it out and let me know what you think.
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This was a really helpful overview of what we can expect on the journey, as well as what to do when certain obstacles arise. Thank you for the clear explanation!
Thanks so much Lisa. I’m glad you found it helpful. 😀
This was a really helpful overview of what we can expect on the journey, as well as what to do when certain obstacles arise. Thank you for the clear explanation!
Thanks so much Lisa. I’m glad you found it helpful. 😀
I love how you explain this and make it so simple!
Also, I’d like to ask something. Usually what you and others mention regarding resistance is about believing whether something is possible or not. How about when the resistance is different? I mean, for example, so many times I have wanted to travel around the world and visit different countries, or do different things. And while there is resistance about whether it’s likely to happen or not, a much bigger resistance is in form of being disappointed and “feeling dead inside” because I see all these people much younger than me traveling with friends, when I haven’t travelled nor had friends for all my life. It feels like, “so what if I do manage to gain all that, I’ve already missed on so much, and nothing can compensate that”. Because of years of wanting and not getting it, many of my passions for life feel like have died and it feels like it’s too late. Do you think that this kind of resistance can be released like any other, just by allowing it? I’ve had anger releases and crying and would feel better short-term-wise but I still feel like an old man tired of life, who’d rather just rest in peace than bother with anything anymore. Can this deep exhaustion with life (which is mirrored on my tired and non-healthy body) and failing, somehow turn back into that beautiful excitement, passion and energy I used to know long ago?
Hi Z,
Thanks for your comment.
Resistance isn’t just believing whether it’s possible. It’s any kind of pushing against what is, or attachment / aversion to the goal.
You can basically define resistance as an attachment or an aversion to something.
So you have the attachment to your goal of traveling. You have an aversion to the thought of being older and missing out on so much. You even have an aversion to how you are feeling now, and an attachment to feeling the way you want to feel. All of these are resistance.
Most of my work with coaching is just unpacking all of the resistance. It’s not just, “I don’t believe it can happen.” As you can see with your own situation, there’s so much more than that.
Once all of the attachments and aversions are unpacked and released, then the goal is effortless, quite literally. It’s the resistance that rips us apart and makes us suffer.
But yes, all of it can be released with the method I mentioned in this post.
Thank you so much for your quick reply. 🙂 I’ll keep on going.
I love how you explain this and make it so simple!
Also, I’d like to ask something. Usually what you and others mention regarding resistance is about believing whether something is possible or not. How about when the resistance is different? I mean, for example, so many times I have wanted to travel around the world and visit different countries, or do different things. And while there is resistance about whether it’s likely to happen or not, a much bigger resistance is in form of being disappointed and “feeling dead inside” because I see all these people much younger than me traveling with friends, when I haven’t travelled nor had friends for all my life. It feels like, “so what if I do manage to gain all that, I’ve already missed on so much, and nothing can compensate that”. Because of years of wanting and not getting it, many of my passions for life feel like have died and it feels like it’s too late. Do you think that this kind of resistance can be released like any other, just by allowing it? I’ve had anger releases and crying and would feel better short-term-wise but I still feel like an old man tired of life, who’d rather just rest in peace than bother with anything anymore. Can this deep exhaustion with life (which is mirrored on my tired and non-healthy body) and failing, somehow turn back into that beautiful excitement, passion and energy I used to know long ago?
Hi Z,
Thanks for your comment.
Resistance isn’t just believing whether it’s possible. It’s any kind of pushing against what is, or attachment / aversion to the goal.
You can basically define resistance as an attachment or an aversion to something.
So you have the attachment to your goal of traveling. You have an aversion to the thought of being older and missing out on so much. You even have an aversion to how you are feeling now, and an attachment to feeling the way you want to feel. All of these are resistance.
Most of my work with coaching is just unpacking all of the resistance. It’s not just, “I don’t believe it can happen.” As you can see with your own situation, there’s so much more than that.
Once all of the attachments and aversions are unpacked and released, then the goal is effortless, quite literally. It’s the resistance that rips us apart and makes us suffer.
But yes, all of it can be released with the method I mentioned in this post.
Thank you so much for your quick reply. 🙂 I’ll keep on going.
Thank you so much for this detailed and beautifully explained article! Your work keeps me going everyday!!
Best wishes x
Thanks Ann! Your comments are much appreciated.
Thank you so much for this detailed and beautifully explained article! Your work keeps me going everyday!!
Best wishes x
Thanks Ann! Your comments are much appreciated.
Hey Brandon, I found your blog through Melody’s. I really enjoy your work as you make the process very simple for us. I’m curious on your take on this. What is your view point on uncovering beliefs and digging out old stuff to bring it to light? The reason I ask is because I am currently working on a neural re-programming program for chronic illness (and in actuality, the program is simply just the law of attraction in very similar steps to the ones you’ve laid out) and while mindfulness and visualization is a huge aspect of it, there is recommendation of uncovering beliefs through therapy or whatever means. So, I would love to get your views on this. Thanks so much!
Hey Derek,
Thanks for your comment. 🙂
There’s a disagreement in the LOA field on this topic. I’ll give you both sides, and which I agree with. Perhaps I’ll write a post on it soon, too.
On one side, you have those, such as Abraham-Hicks, who say that this is unnecessary, and actually dangerous. They say that if you look for resistance, you will get more and more resistance. They also tend to discount any importance of the subconscious mind.
The other side says that this is actually a good thing, because any repressed thoughts, emotions, and beliefs are actively creating in your reality. The subconscious is in fact a large part of your consciousness, and responsible for a large part of your behavior.
I am on the latter side.
Here’s the reason I hold this view:
You come into this world as a pure, infinite being. Over time, you pick up beliefs, you have experiences that you hang on to or resist because of your ego’s fears.
Everything that gets repressed into the subconscious is like adding another layer of grime onto a clear window. The more grime gets added, the less and less sunlight can shine through.
So, when you release resistance, including any old limiting beliefs, you’re just clearing away that grime, so your natural light can shine through.
You won’t create more resistance, as the first side claims, because you’re just releasing whatever’s already there. The only way you can create new resistance is by pushing away or clinging on to part of your reality. In other words, if you say “no” to any part of your reality, you are just repressing that into your subconscious, and in the end, creating more of it.
But, it’s very easy to release. It just takes meeting those feelings with acceptance and openness. Not trying to push away those feelings as they arise.
I hope that makes sense. 🙂
Yes, very helpful! Thank you!
Hey Brandon, I found your blog through Melody’s. I really enjoy your work as you make the process very simple for us. I’m curious on your take on this. What is your view point on uncovering beliefs and digging out old stuff to bring it to light? The reason I ask is because I am currently working on a neural re-programming program for chronic illness (and in actuality, the program is simply just the law of attraction in very similar steps to the ones you’ve laid out) and while mindfulness and visualization is a huge aspect of it, there is recommendation of uncovering beliefs through therapy or whatever means. So, I would love to get your views on this. Thanks so much!
Hey Derek,
Thanks for your comment. 🙂
There’s a disagreement in the LOA field on this topic. I’ll give you both sides, and which I agree with. Perhaps I’ll write a post on it soon, too.
On one side, you have those, such as Abraham-Hicks, who say that this is unnecessary, and actually dangerous. They say that if you look for resistance, you will get more and more resistance. They also tend to discount any importance of the subconscious mind.
The other side says that this is actually a good thing, because any repressed thoughts, emotions, and beliefs are actively creating in your reality. The subconscious is in fact a large part of your consciousness, and responsible for a large part of your behavior.
I am on the latter side.
Here’s the reason I hold this view:
You come into this world as a pure, infinite being. Over time, you pick up beliefs, you have experiences that you hang on to or resist because of your ego’s fears.
Everything that gets repressed into the subconscious is like adding another layer of grime onto a clear window. The more grime gets added, the less and less sunlight can shine through.
So, when you release resistance, including any old limiting beliefs, you’re just clearing away that grime, so your natural light can shine through.
You won’t create more resistance, as the first side claims, because you’re just releasing whatever’s already there. The only way you can create new resistance is by pushing away or clinging on to part of your reality. In other words, if you say “no” to any part of your reality, you are just repressing that into your subconscious, and in the end, creating more of it.
But, it’s very easy to release. It just takes meeting those feelings with acceptance and openness. Not trying to push away those feelings as they arise.
I hope that makes sense. 🙂
Yes, very helpful! Thank you!
Wonderful and very good clarity in the manifestation process.
Great work and appreciated.
Hi @venugopal,
Thank you for your comment. It is much appreciated. 🙂
Wonderful and very good clarity in the manifestation process.
Great work and appreciated.
Hi @venugopal,
Thank you for your comment. It is much appreciated. 🙂
I was pleasantly surprised reading this article. I expected to hear more new age garbage with no direction like I usually find, yet this was perfect in direction, clarity and understanding of the processes of the mind. Thank you for writing this and putting it out there in a realistic, compassionate and achievable way!
Thanks a lot @SB. I try to do exactly that. 🙂
I was pleasantly surprised reading this article. I expected to hear more new age garbage with no direction like I usually find, yet this was perfect in direction, clarity and understanding of the processes of the mind. Thank you for writing this and putting it out there in a realistic, compassionate and achievable way!
Thanks a lot @SB. I try to do exactly that. 🙂