Realistic steps for manifesting your dreams

Determine what your dreams are

The first step is actually knowing what your dreams are.

Write down a list of dreams — what you’d like to accomplish, to own, to feel, to do, etc. Try to come up with at least five, no more than twenty. An ideal range is somewhere around ten to fifteen.

You want to have multiple dreams because focusing too hard on one dream can cause you to become overly attached to it — causing obsession and a need for control that subconsciously pushes your dream away from you.

But you don’t want too many dreams, because then you energy becomes too scattered and shallow, and you lose the ability to focus.

If you don’t even know where to start when it comes to your dreams, then simply write down whatever comes to mind with no limit. You can always go back and edit / delete.

The most important aspect is to be specific and have some type of time frame in mind.

Do not simply say “I wish to be happy” — rather, figure out what specifically would make you happy.

Common dreams/manifestations:

• Money — the most common thing people wish for is more money. In this case, be very specific such as X amount in my bank account by this date; set up goals about how you spend and save; come up with ways to obtain it; consider your career choice or side jobs. Manifesting money comes with ethical and spiritual dilemmas. My recommendation is to be conscious of how you recieve (this can lead to unintentionally stealing from or scamming others.)
• Love — the other most common manifestation is love. It’s best to keep the focus on yourself instead of a specific person. When you attempt to manifest marrying X, then you are also attempting to manifest X marrying you, which could go against their free-will. Rather, focus on self-love (confidence, self-respect, self-care, etc) and the right person will be manifested. If you focus too hard on being married then you may end up marrying the wrong person, or focus too hard on being with someone who looks a certain way, then you end up being with the wrong person. So start with self love. If there is someone in your life you want to manifest something with then first try to get their consent somehow and see if it’s something they also want.
• Career — finding your dream job can bring deep fulfillment because we spend at least a third of most our days working.
• Home / environment — manifesting where you want to live or what home you want.
• Social — many people are interested in making new people or being friends with a certain type of person.
• Skills — a new skill, or becoming an expert in something
• Feelings — wanting to feel a certain way like more energized, more confident, more vulnerable, etc.
• Health — improving your health, changing your diet, strength and fitness, resolving a chronic issue.
• And anything else your heart desires…

Analyze your dreams

It’s time to really think about your dreams, now that you know what they are.

First, figure out how badly you want this dream. Be sure it’s what you want, not what others want for you.

Next, think about how realistic your dream is. How likely are you to accomplish this by the end of the year, or five years from now? If it seems too overwhelming, you can refine your goal to at least being able to get it started in X amount of months.

Finally, with this information, you can categorize and order your dreams.

• Priority — an equal balance of realistically achieving (or making significant progress) within a year + brings you deep fulfillment.
• Secondary — very likely to achieve, if you put in enough focus, but may not bring as much fulfillment.
• Long-term — unlikely to achieve in the short-term + brings you deep fulfillment.

I recommend around 3-5 dreams per category, at least 1 or 2.

You want to spend most of your energy on your priorities.

Your secondary dreams are there to keep your faith strong. They will exemplify why “detachment” is so important for manifestation.

Your long-term dreams may bring frustration, but they will teach you to value progress over achievement. Don’t forget about them just because you can’t see it happening for a while, because working towards them helps keep your passion strong.

Action plan

Start taking physical steps towards your dreams. You can’t expect them to fall into your lap. The right mindset will attract your dreams towards you, and make them much easier to reach, but you still have to make moves.

Dreams can be overwhelming, so it helps to start small. You don’t have to plan every single step at once; start from the beginning. Remember that baby steps are better than no steps.

Secondary dreams should be the easiest steps to come up with, so start with that.

Next, think about your priority dreams. Your first step may be something as simple as doing some research, or asking a friend for advice. But don’t stop there. Plan out your next few steps and continue to challenge yourself. Remember to put most thought into these dreams.

And then don’t forget about your long-term dreams. Make a rough outline for steps you need to take in order to get there. Start with very tiny steps.

After you make your plans, be sure to follow through on them.

**Remember: do not let yourself become overly fixated on how you are supposed to reach your dream. Your action plan is changeable and not concrete.**

Revision

When you feel you’ve hit a roadblock, take a step back.

It may be time to revise your action plan, or re-phrase your dream completely.

To prevent frustration, continue focusing on how much progress you made so far, rather than how far you still have to go. Every victory is a victory, no matter how small.

Secondary dreams come in handy when you’re feeling frustrated in achieving your primary dreams. Keep track of when you have achieved your dreams or made significant progress. With your secondary being more likely to come true, you can lean on those achievements to bring you faith towards your primary and long-term.

Previous dreams are dreams you once had that eventually came true, even before you became aware of the process of manifestation. It could’ve been graduating high school, or . Think of how many things you take for granted today, that you used to consider “just a dream” yesterday.

The point is that when frustration sets in, do not give in. Just breathe through it. Make a change — either your mindset, your actions, or both.

Release your fears

Your fears are your greatest blockages in manifesting. And there’s a thin line between hopes and fears.

While alone, in silence and meditation, be honest to yourself about your fears.

You can think it, speak it out loud (to Spirit, to your pet(s), to an inanimate object, to the trees), or write it down (and then crumble, shred, or burn afterwards.)

Ask yourself — what are my fears about achieving this dream? You’d be surprised how much our dreams scare us. A lot of it has to do with what other people will think, but it could be anything.

“If this dream comes true, I fear that…”

• People will judge me.
• I will let someone, or many people, down.
• I will crack under the pressure.
• It won’t be as fulfilling as I thought it would be.
• I will become a different person.
• My whole life will change completely.
• I still won’t feel like I’m good enough.
• I won’t meet someone’s expectations.
• I will lose it as soon as I achieve it.
• I will still fail, somehow.
• I will be upset about how much I underestimated myself my whole life.
• I will become angry with the people who never believed in me.
• I will become angry with myself, for never believing in myself.
• I will realize how many dreams I lost because I simply did not have enough faith.
• And so on…

Changes: your dream may bring many changes, and change is very scary, even “good” changes.

A change in your relationships: your interaction with others may change. Some people may become threatened or jealous or judgmental. Or you may recieve an uncomfortable amount of attention.

Disappointing others: when your dreams come true, it affects your relationship with others. You may disappoint a lot of people because 1) they are jealous and want to see you fail or 2) they have their own ideas about how you are supposed to live your life, they think they know what’s best for you or 3) it causes physical or emotional distance between you two.

Failure: when you gain something, you can possibly lose it.

Conditioning: society and media conditions you to fear your dreams, as if achievement will make you a bad person, or that you don’t deserve it.

Shattered perception: it’s scary to understand how much we hold ourselves back, simply because we don’t believe in ourselves. Fulfilling your dreams can shatter your lifelong perception of the limited person you thought you always were.

Manifestation exercises

This is where your creativity comes in.

Manifestation exercises provide that boost you need in following your dreams and achieving your desires. They cannot stand alone: you must first be clear about what your dreams are, you still need to take action, and you still need to self-analyze and work through your blockages. But the exercises keep you focused and give you that magic you need to reach your desires much faster.

There are countless “exercises” or crafts, games, techniques, whatever you want to call it! It’s up to you to determine which one brings most excitement and faith.

If you are spiritual, then it may help to use prayer or deities. If you are witchy, then it will help to use magical tools. Or you can use crafting, or anything else. Use whatever works with your personal belief system. Do not use a technique that you don’t believe in.

Examples…

• Vision board
• Affirmations — thought, spoken, or written
• Manifestation box, scrapbook, or journal
• Visualization
• Guided meditation
• Lucid dreaming
• Spells
• Wish jar
• Hypnotherapy
• Drawing/painting/art
• Reading and research
• Praying
• Daydream
• Talking to friends about it (in a positive way)
• Crystals or good luck charm — wear, use, decor, etc.
• Believing you already have achieved it

Work with the moon

You can use the moon’s magic to help you stay on progress with manifesting your dreams. Of course most dreams take more than ~30 days to reach, but you want to aim for progress over achievement.

• New moon: determine your dreams
  • If you have already established them, then revisit them, write them down again and revamp your passion.
• Waxing crescent (1st quarter): analyze your dreams
  • Revisiting: Maybe a long-term dream has become a priority, or a priority dream has become secondary.
• Waxing half moon (2nd quarter): action plan
  • Revisiting: Check in with your action plan, possibly revise.
• Full moon: taking action
  • Revisiting: Keep on taking steps forward.
• Waning half moon (3rd quarter): refine, track progress
  • Revisiting: Figure out how much progress you made, see what internal/external changes you can make to keep going.
• Waning crescent (4th quarter): release your fears
  • Revisiting: Fighting your fears is a constant battle, so always make the time to confront them.

Manifestation exercises can (and should) be done at any time. Some people choose the new moon or full moon.