Several years ago, I participated in a spiritual retreat where we did a lot of work on overcoming limiting beliefs, clarifying what we want, and setting the foundations to manifest our desires. 

Every day was a combination of basking in unconditional love and engaging in peak experiences (like firewalking, walking on broken glass, etc) that are designed to overcome fear and limiting beliefs. It was a powerful retreat to say the least, and it taught me some valuable lessons.

First: I was able to clarify my intentions, refine my affirmations, and have an aha" moment. In making a vision board, I started to see where so many people go wrong with manifesting. 

For starters, they focus on all the objects, money, and material items they want. Although inspiring, this approach is often not the most effective. Those who go deeper and focus on the kinds of experiences they want often find more success. Still, that will leave them limited and often not quite reaching the life of their dreams.

Those who focus on the kind of person they want to be will find manifesting surprisingly easy. That's because they can apply their best qualities towards anything they want to manifest. Yet even this comes shy of our greatest manifesting potential.

To manifest as easily and quickly as possible, it's essential to focus on your connection with the Divine. Just as it is said we are all waves in an ocean, similarly, the Divine wants to manifest through us. Therefore, when we set our ego aside and ask deeply what our hearts want, we come to see that what we want and what the Divine wants are one in the same.

The thing is, all of the above are helpful and effective. They work at different levels of our experience and in different ways with out conscious, unconscious, and spirit. 

To get to the second thing I learned, which specifically is about manifesting, let's return to my vision board...

When I looked closely at which categories my desires fell into, almost all of them were in these two areas:
 - Experiences I want to have
 - Cconnection with the Divine
 
 It was very interesting that there were no specific objects. No money, cars, or exotic vacation houses in tropical locations. Unlike my previous visioning processes and affirmations, I also wasn't interested in the kind of person I wanted to be. I had already developed many of the qualities I yearned to embody. 
 
What was interesting though, is how I created my visioning drawing. I wrote several statements of what I desired for myself, and next to each one I drew a symbol to represent it. For example:

    "Continual deepening of love with my soulmate." (a heart)
    "Expanding family harmony." (a circle)
    "Support my son to live consciously and with great love." (another heart)

After I was mid-way through my visioning process, I started connecting a few things together. Literally, I drew lines connecting the above three items. This is because it dawned on me that none of my desires stand alone. These desires were connected to one another.

Since this is a visual process, I used lines to connect them to ensure I honored, clarified, and solidified my conscious awareness of this interconnectedness. Then as I expanded my vision board, I realized that it wasn't just a few things that were interconnected. They ALL were.

That's when I 'went a little crazy' and started drawing lines that connected every symbol on my vision board with every other symbol on my vision board. At its heart, I realized that manifesting and the law of attraction is really about integration. 

This really helped me think about manifesting in a new way. I'm not referring to the process of manifesting, but rather, the big picture. What I noticed is that all of the experiences I wanted to have all were interconnected with every other experience in my vision, and yet my "connection with the Divine" intentions were not!

Taking a step back to look, I noticed that I had drawn a large circle encompassing all of my "experiences." Outside of that circle I wrote several statements that expressed my vision for connection with the Divine. That's when the lightbulb went off and it dawned on me:

All the experiences I want are integrated and interconnected, and the binding force is my connection with the Divine. That's the glue that keeps it all together.

It's one thing to know this intellectually. As I wrote it out earlier, you probably thought to yourself "That makes sense" or "I already knew that. Tell me something I don't know." The thing is, when manifesting is mental then it's still rather superfician. 

Going to the emotions, as we know is a deeper experience. Yet even that comes up shy. Our true manifesting potential shines when we integrate our heart, mind, and spirit, and allow them to manifest in harmony together. 

Here's the kicker though...

Everything I've just shared is about my experience. It's about the binding that I want for my specific set of experiences. What is true for me might not be true for you. You are unique. Your desires are unique. And therefore, you may need a different "glue" to manifest your desires into reality. 

Therefore, next time you're defining what you want, writing down a manifesting list, or creating a vision board, remember to take a step back and look at the big picture view. Ask yourself what the glue is that makes your unique combination of desires possible. 

Is it spirit? Is it needing to develop inner qualities such as courage or willpower? Perhaps you have a new skill to learn that's necessary to bring together all of your intentions and desires? Or maybe you just need to study with a teacher who has walked your path and can guide you through it?

Be present with what is before you. Also understand that over time, just as your desires will change, so will the glue that binds them to you. Therefore, every time you go through a manifesting process such as a ritual (I love firewalking) or creating a vision board, allow yourself some quiet contemplation to explore two simple questions:

    How are all of your desires interconnected and interrelated?
     
    What is the glue that binds your specific desires together?

I think you'll discover that when you can answer those questions with clarity, you'll manifest faster, easier, and more effectively than ever before.
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