This post is for you if you…

• want to know why manifesting isn’t working for you
• want law of attraction tips and a manifesting daily routine
• want to know how to manifest your dream life

The Purpose of My Post

Like a lot of you, I understand the basic premise of the Law of Attraction.  My outlook on life is “You Create Your Own Reality” and I know my kids are sick of hearing me say this.  But a few days ago, on a particularly emotional day for me, I started questioning whether I did truly understand how to manifest.  As often happens when we are lower than low, I did a mental evaluation of my life and where I was compared to where I wanted to be.  As I started down the road to self-pity, it dawned on me:  I was making this SO much harder than it had to be because I didn’t get it.  I didn’t know how to manifest my dream life.  

As I started analyzing what I knew and what I didn’t know, I realized the signs that I was sabotaging my efforts were there all along.  Instead of acknowledging them and doing something to correct my mistakes, I willfully pushed ahead, determined to make this work and falling into a heap of despair when it didn’t.  And that is when I decided to write this post, to get real and share my discoveries in the hopes that it will help you as you look to why your own manifesting isn’t working.        

What is Manifestation and the Law of Attraction?

Before we move on into why the Law of Attraction isn’t working for you, I want to first make sure we are all on the same page as to what it is.  

Simply put, the idea behind the Law of Attraction is that whatever you focus on, you will attract into your life.  With this in mind, you can then use this principle to manifest what you desire.  If you only invite negative thoughts and feelings into your daily routine, you will attract negative experiences into your path.  If you choose positive and good feeling thoughts, the Universe will give you what you ask for. 

It really is all about the vibration you are putting out there.  Negative and positive thoughts each have their own vibrational wavelength and science tells us that like attracts like.  This is how you create your experiences.  The difficulty is not in the attraction – you do that without even having to think about it.  Instead, the challenge most of us face is changing the habit of what is comfortable into something better for us.    

Related Reading:  How the Law of Attraction Changed My Life

The Power of Manifestation

If it is truly as simple as consciously and deliberately choosing your thoughts and feelings – which I absolutely believe it is – think about how unbelievably powerful this tool can be for you.  You literally can create exactly what you want, step by intentional step.   

Why Manifestation isn’t Working for You

Okay, you say, I get that but it still doesn’t work for me.  I used to think this too until I started thinking about all of the things I attracted into my life simply by thinking about them.  Let me give you a few examples of what I’m talking about:

• A few years ago, I headed into a part of town that held a lot of memories for me; some good and a lot not so good.  As I drove, I talked about one person in particular constantly, pointing out places we had been, things we did and experiences we had.  The overall feeling was not comfortable and so much negative energy filled the car simply by reminiscing that the other people in the car with me asked me to stop talking.  So, I did.  We finally got to where we were going, car conversation completely forgotten about, and were enjoying ourselves.  Next thing I knew, the very person I was talking about in the car walked through the door.  
• Driving to meet a friend downtown, I felt immense anxiety about finding a parking space.  I just knew I was going to have difficulty parking.  Sure enough, I drove around for 30 mins, in a panic and late to our lunch date because there was absolutely nowhere to park.
• I always said I didn’t want twins, didn’t want kids born at Christmas and no way was I ever going to drive a minivan.  I’ll let you guess what happened.  

My point in telling you my stories is that we are already creators of our personal reality.  We already understand exactly how to attract things into our life.  The problem lies in the type of experiences we invite in.  This is where the hard work comes in, recognizing our patterns and making a conscious decision to change them for the behavior.  We all want to live our dream life and have exactly what we desire.  This is absolutely possible for each of us but first we have to understand what is blocking this from happening.     

You Don’t Know How to Handle Your Fear

We all have lingering limiting beliefs from childhood and shadow selves we don’t want to acknowledge that hold us back.  The key to successful manifestation is not eradicating your fears but rather how you handle them.  If your limiting belief is around money yet you want to manifest abundance in your life, it is never going to happen.  You must identify what is holding you back and why.  Understanding your own stories, where they came from and then rewriting these fears into a new belief is essential if you want to achieve your dreams.    

Your Vibration is Not Matching What You Want

I touched on this a bit earlier so we know that negative thoughts attract negative experiences.  If you are in the habit of focusing on everything that goes wrong or could go wrong, that is all you will ever see.  Because negative thoughts have a low vibration, they can only ever attract other low vibration things.  So think about this:  you wake up every morning and wish you could go back to sleep because you are dreading getting out of bed and don’t want to go to work and don’t want to deal with your kids but are wishing for things to go well for once, I have news for you – it’s not going to happen.  

You Have Unacknowledged Resistance to What You are Asking For

One thing that sometimes flies under the radar, at least for me, is feeling resistance to something but ignoring it.  You know the kind I mean, a feeling of tightness in your chest or an uneasy feeling in the back of your brain.  In terms of the law of attraction, it shows up when you try to follow the steps to manifest what you want but aren’t totally aligned the way you need to be.  For instance, you might say you want to attract 100 new followers on your Pinterest account by next month but your body is sending you a message that something is wrong.  Maybe you don’t believe you can do that or maybe you truly deep down don’t need 100 new followers; whatever the reason for the resistance it is important to acknowledge it and figure out what exactly it is telling you.  

You Aren’t Clear on What You Really Want

You know you want an abundant life but you don’t know exactly what abundance means to you.  This is what I mean about having a lack of clarity of what you are trying to manifest.  The Universe wants you to be specific!  Don’t throw some generalization out there and expect it to manifest exactly the way you envisioned it.  You are without a doubt receiving exactly what you are asking for but unless you get detailed, you may miss it.  Clarity is essential as you practice manifesting with the law of attraction, if for nothing else so you know it’s working.    

Your Desire Only Benefits You

Do you know the why behind your desire?  If you want a new car, why do you want one?  If it is to look good as you drive to work, it might be more difficult to manifest (not saying it’s impossible, but it will definitely be harder).  However, if you desire a new car because it reduces your anxiety about getting to work on time so you can keep your job and provide for your family, now we are talking.  Manifestation is all about providing something positive – for yourself and for others.  If there is a definitive reason your desire will contribute to the greater good, the Universe will provide.

You Forgot to Ask for It

Okay, so this may seem a bit obvious but in my case it is a step I often forget about so I figured it was worth mentioning.  You may know what you desire but have you actually asked for it?  If you don’t, how does the Universe know what to send you?  

You Don’t Know How to Release Control 

You’ve asked for what you want, you’ve looked at your fears and you’ve dug into your resistance.  That’s amazing and you are certainly on the right path.  But if you keep obsessing over what you want, it really slows things down.  Like, a lot.  Holding on super tight to the outcome of your desire is a form of control, which is ultimately a fear.  When you find yourself with a tight grip on the result, it’s another message letting you know you have some more work to do before you can manifest your dream.    

You Aren’t Taking Aligned Action

Probably the biggest block on this list for most of us, aligned action is the most forgotten about.  You can do absolutely everything right in your manifestation process, but if you are not actively taking action that aligns with your goals, you are only going to go in circles.  One of the biggest myths of manifesting with the law of attraction is all you need to do is think positive, ask for what you want and wait until it shows up.  Nope.  Not the way it works, my friend.  You must take the steps that move you forward toward your dream.  And not just any steps, they have to be ones that make sense and get you closer to your goal.

You Don’t Believe it Can Really Happen

Total transparency here: this is my biggest hangup and the catalyst for this post.  I know what I want but I don’t really believe it will happen for me.  Usually it comes back to fears of inadequacy and not truly trusting I deserve the life of my dreams.  This is huge for me and why I do what I do (sharing my struggles and triumphs so that you know a life of passion is possible for you).  If you follow every manifestation step to a T but do not believe deep down that it will happen for you, you are sabotaging yourself.

You Aren’t Grateful

Gratitude is to manifestation as money is to quality of life: you need one to have a desirable other.  It is absolutely essential to find reasons to be grateful for what you already have in your life as it will bring you more stuff to make you happy.  You can’t buy into the “I’ll be happy when…” mentality and expect everything you want to happen.  You have to find what you are thankful for right now in this moment so the Universe will deliver more opportunities for you to feel the same.  

You Set Deadlines

If you are anything like me, it takes you forever to make up your mind but once you do, you want what you want yesterday.  My lack of patience is pretty spectacular and is a definite stumbling block when manifesting.  I have absolutely no problem putting in the hard self-development work but definitely struggle with letting go of my time frame for when I want results.  The Universe knows what it is doing and can see the big picture, something you can’t.  You are not going to receive what you want before you are ready, so you must find the ability to let go of your deadline and open yourself up to receive when it benefits you the most.  

You Aren’t Visualizing Success as if it Already Happened

Last but not least, once you know for certain what you want and have moved through all of the blocks above, it’s time to visualize the end result and what it feels like.  This is more than just doing a cursory 30 second review of what life might be like for you if you finally live your dream.  The visualization I am referring to is believing it already happened and paying attention to the happy vibes coursing through your body.  You have to trick your mind into thinking it has already happened.  This is how you shut down the negative self-doubt that may creep in.  

Your Manifesting with the Law of Attraction Action Plan

Now that we have uncovered why your manifestation isn’t working, let’s move on to an action plan to help you move forward.

• Identify your fears by working with your limiting beliefs and shadow self.  
• Start your day with a feel good routine to help you get into a positive mindset
• Don’t ignore your body.  When you feel something uncomfortable, pay attention to it.  Your emotions are your own personal guideposts. 
• Get super specific on what you want to manifest.  
• Know your intention for why you want what you want.  Is it beneficial to you as well as others?  Write down exactly how it will help.
• Ask for what you want.  Always add “this or something better”, that way you don’t limit yourself to only what your human mind can conceive.  For example:  “I desire $100 to pay off my debt.  Universe, I would like this or something better.”
• Don’t fixate on the outcome.  Trust that what you ask for will happen and let go of control.
• Keep a gratitude journal.  Write in it daily and look for reasons during the day to be grateful.
• Let go of your deadlines.  It’s okay to set a goal date but be flexible.  If something doesn’t happen when you want it to happen, know that it simply wasn’t the right time for you but don’t give up. 
• Spend time everyday visualizing as if you have already received your wish.  I like to do this at night before going to sleep.

I hope this helped you identify where you might be tripping yourself up in your manifestation practice and you take away specific action items to aid you.  Remember to be gentle with yourself as you practice.  I would love to hear how it is going for you and what you have learned, so please comment below.  We are all in this together and by sharing our struggles and achievements, you inspire others to do the same.  

Related Reading:  

• How to Overcome Limiting Beliefs and Manifest Your Dream
• 8 Ways to Identify Your Shadow and Why it’s Important
• 8 Guaranteed Results from Gratitude Journaling