Ep. 12 - Manifesting

Manifesting isn't magic, even if that's what it feels like. My opinion? It's only three steps. Steps I know you can take.

Transcript

This is It’s Only in Trying — a weekly podcast about the beautiful messiness of becoming.

Manifestation isn’t magic.

It does seem like that when you actually start getting what you want. Manifestation is just making real the dreams that you have. Bringing the desires in your head into reality.
After listening to more manifestation stuff than I care to admit, which I have loved this past year, it hit me that it’s really just three things. Activate your RAS, be more intentional with your time and money, and forget logic.

Alright, let me elaborate:

1. Activate your RAS. 
First let me start with a short explanation of what the RAS is. The RAS is our reticular activating system. The internet is all a-buzz about it right now, but it’s kind of like a spaghetti strainer - It catches only the stuff we’ve told it to look for. If we were to actually take in all of the information that is going on around us at all times, we would be on sensory overload at every moment of every day. Your RAS is the reason that you say, “Oof! I could really use a coffee,” and then all of a sudden a coffee shop appears around the corner. Essentially, when you tell your brain to start looking for something new, a new toggle turns on. But instead of just filtering stuff out, we need to figure out how to get our RAS to filter new things in! 

Ok, cool, so how do we activate this RAS of ours and start filtering stuff in? By giving your brain a few minutes each day to breathe. This can be done in a lot of ways - walking, working out, a long hot shower, journaling, or maybe meditation. You pick. This is your quiet time with your brain. 

Once you’ve chosen what you and your brain will do for some quiet time together, notice what thoughts come up. Notice where your thoughts lead and what keeps repeating itself.

Then - document. 

The documentation part is key - and it’s why I went straight for journaling as my quiet time with my brain. Write out the thoughts that keep circulating. It doesn’t matter what they are. Just start writing, and eventually a picture will start to come together. Patterns will start emerging. Now that lingering anxiety that has plunked itself down in the back of your mind that you just can’t quite tell why it’s there… It suddenly has a face.
Now you've activated your RAS to look for something new - to look for that thing that was previously unnamed. Your conscious and your unconscious are starting to talk to each other. 

2. Be more intentional with your time and money.
Number two is being more intentional with your time and your money. Now, admittedly, this is the piece I have been missing. 2025 was a year of activating the RAS for me. I turned it on, told it what I wanted, and it sent a whole bunch of opportunities my way. The problem? I wasn’t ready for them. 

I told myself, my RAS, that I wanted to become a public speaker. I thought it through, I wrote it down, I listened to a bunch of podcasts about how to improve my public speaking skills. And then, like magic, I started noticing more opportunities to practice the skills of becoming a public speaker - and I blew it. An industry conference that I attend every year made a call out for speakers for the annual education conference, and I didn’t volunteer. Several of those podcasts or YouTube seminars I listened to sent out a list of active locations seeking speakers for TedX talks - and I saved it on my desktop and took no further steps. A friend, who had no idea that I was interested in becoming a public speaker, sent me information about a conference targeted at female, corporate attorneys, which is what I am, that had a call out for speaker submissions… And I put the email in a folder and never even gave myself a shot.

All of the opportunities for the thing that I said I wanted were coming to me in overwhelming waves. But because I wasn’t intentional with my spare time, all of those opportunities, slipped right through my fingers.

It is not enough to say that you want a thing. After you realize what you want, you must then be intentional with your time and money, so you can grab those opportunities when they start rolling in.

So how do we now become intentional? Here’s my suggestion. Look at the end goal that you have now decided is what you want. Work backwards. If I were a public speaker, what things, resources, or actions will I have taken to get myself there? 

Ok, well a public speaker will know what they want to say, look professional, and feel confident. Great. How do I know what I want to say? Maybe I start writing out my feelings on a topic I am passionate about, read and rewrite until a comprehensive outline starts to form. Then, I can gather a group of friends or colleagues and practice. Find the holes and start really refining. 

How can I look more professional? Maybe I start noticing what other confident speakers are wearing, I think about what I like or don’t like about those styles, pick a day to go try on a few outfits, save some money, and buy a really nice outfit that makes me feel powerful.

How can I feel more confident? Maybe I start wearing that fancy outfit once a month, practice the speech in a mirror or with colleagues again, and volunteer to speak at a low steaks event or small group.

Work backwards and then be intentional by spending your time and money on the steps that you have decided are needed to achieve the thing. This should work for anything. I want to be a gardener. Ok, what kind of things does a gardener do every day? What do they need? I want to lose weight? Ok, what do I think a fit person does every day? What do they eat? What are their habits?

Break the steps down into super small pieces. Give yourself small achievable wins. Our nervous systems are not built for complete overhauls over night. All you need is 1 tiny step in the right direction each day. And, side note, DO NOT let yourself get stuck in the research phase. Whatever your research uncovers, turn it into small actions for yourself, and give yourself a deadline to achieve it. If the deadline passes and you didn’t take the step? That means your nervous system is still rejecting the new identity you want to embody. Don’t beat yourself up. Just go back to the drawing board and figure out how to cut that step down even smaller. Once you’ve accomplished the small step, pick the next, and then repeat.

This is, without a doubt, the piece that I missed in 2025, but am correcting in 2026. Being intentional with my time and money, and taking the small steps.

3. Ignore your logic.
Alright, now you’ve told your RAS what to look for, you’ve set intentions for yourself to start preparing for the goal, and then your logic (what some call the ego), starts to beat you up.

“Who am I to think that anyone will listen to anything I have to say?” or “Who am I to think I could be a gardener - Tammy’s tomatoes are more delicious than anything I could ever produce.” 

Listening to your logic is will what keep that dream on the shelf. We can’t stop digging when we are so close to gold. Failure is never the regret. Having never tried, is.
So tell that little butt munch ego - “Thank you so much, logic, for protecting me until now. I appreciate what you’ve done for me, but I’ve a goal to achieve.” And then do it. Hit submit on the application to speak at a conference that you normally attend. Hit purchase on that spade that you just can’t tear your eyes away from. Anything to get yourself going.

That’s it. That is it. 

Activate your RAS through journaling, meditation, long walks - anything to get you thinking about what it is you actually desire, and then write it down.
Then, be intentional with your time and money. Focus on what it is that you need to do, how you need to spend your money, where you need to spend your time to get the thing you want

Once you get there, ignore logic and fear. Other people have done it before you, so why not you?

Always remember - You got this!