If you have spent any time working with the law of attraction then you’ll know that letting go is one of the final key steps.
First you set an intention for what you want, then you prepare yourself emotionally for receiving it, and then you let go of your expectations.
However the phrase letting go leaves a lot up to interpretation, and it’s difficult to know what exactly you’re supposed to be doing.
Are you allowed to think about the manifestation at all? Do you let go of the desire itself, or the expectations of how it will arrive?
As someone who works with the law of attraction and considers themselves a logical-minded sort of person, this stumped me too. In this post I want to go over the three key shifts I’ve found helpful in the process of letting go.
Shift your mindset
A mindset shift is crucial to making the law of attraction work for you. When manifesting it is common to approach it as if we are chasing what we want.
This can be subtle and so difficult to catch. We might not be physically chasing anything, but we play out this contradicting inner dialogue where we are thinking of having something one moment, and then of our lack the next.
Think of communicating your desires with the Universe like texting, the clearer you are the better your respond will be.
Manifesting is not about attracting something towards you, but aligning yourself with a specific energy. When manifesting you are not trying to out-think yourself, but come to a space within where what you want is naturally magnetized into your reality.
We are often taught that manifesting is all about thoughts, when in fact it is more about emotional resonance. Thoughts act as one cog in the wheel, but aren’t the whole picture. Instead you want to align your emotions, thoughts and actions as one.
Align your expectations
It will be difficult to let go during manifestation if your expectations are too far from the beliefs you already hold about who you are and what you can have. If you are just starting with manifestation, or aren’t getting consistent results yet, you probably need to shift your expectations a bit.
Ask yourself:
- What do I want and WHY do I want it?
- How closely does this desire align with my current life?
- What habits/beliefs/actions would need to be shifted?
- Am I willing to do that work?
Many believe that by using the law of attraction they are going to manifest all of their desires within 24 hours, but this rarely lines up with reality. Start to see that manifestation is all about gradual shifts and changes.
Start with manifesting one thing at a time, going a little out of your comfort zone but not so far that it seems unrealistic. In this way, you are able to slowly build up momentum. This way you can arrive at larger goals much quicker than if you had set your sights on them right out of the gate.
If what you want doesn’t manifest itself within a certain time period, take this as a prompt that more needs to be shifted within. This isn’t a case of going backward, but building upon the work you’ve already done up to that point energetically. Even when there is a lack of physical progress or results, we have been building up energy during that time which we can tune into and continue to mould.
Release the idea of a linear timeline wherein what you want will arrive. Instead, focus on maintaining the type of energy that will bring forth what you want, and taking the necessary steps to get there.
Create a ritual
The way I release the chasing mentality is to consciously exert all of my energy towards the thing I want. I will write my intention on a small piece of paper and set it aside. Then I will light a candle and meditate on the intention for a few minutes.
Once my mind is calm I will reaffirm the intention in my mind, I feel the emotions that would come with having what I want, create a strong visual in my mind of the finished result and then think of the avenues through which it might arrive.
Once I have exhausted my energy through this process I will blow out the candle. Then I fold up the piece of paper with my intention on it and put it somewhere safe but out of sight. Once I have gone through all these steps I go on with my day.
Having a ritual like this where there is a defined finish point such as blowing out a candle, or closing the page in a journal is crucial. This is a physical way of signalling to your conscious mind ‘my work is done‘.
The key here is to create a ritual that resonates with you – there are no hard rules here. Sometimes I will keep my piece of paper, and other times I will burn it (depending on whether I want to bring something into my life or release it).
Go easy on yourself
The last but most important tip is to go easy on yourself. When manifesting it’s easy to feel dejected for not holding the perfect vision, or falling into negative thought spirals – but this is completely normal!
I always say that thoughts aren’t the whole picture; it’s how we work with our thoughts and the emotional responses we have to them that matters. One negative thought is not going to destroy all of your work, and one positive thought is not going to manifest a whole new reality.
Instead, it’s about coming to a space of acceptance within yourself and allowing your emotions to guide you.
When you are feeling doubt, look at what might be blocking you. When you are feeling fear, see what limiting beliefs need to be released. When you are feeling pessimistic, examine if your expectations are reasonable.
A shift from over-analyzing your thoughts and emotions to being accommodating of them, changes everything. You build the right vibration one brick at a time, not all at once, so keep that in mind.