The 4 Stages of Manifestation: Which Are You In?

I remember reading the book The Secret for the first time, and was introduced to the concept of the law of attraction. The way I looked at things quickly changed and although I didn’t directly implement the techniques for some time…a seed was planted in my mind.

For many this introduction to manifestation leaves a lot to interpretation, and it can feel as if the process itself doesn’t work. However the law of attraction is a lot deeper than what you may read in one article or book.

The law of attraction is essentially the journey we take from inside out in order to shift the environment around us. It involves more than surface level thought, but a continual dive into our deep-seeded blocks and limiting beliefs. It’s a journey rather than a step by step process.

One of the biggest problems people have with manifestation is knowing if it is working! You have probably asked yourself: How long do I hold an intention for? How do I stay uplifted throughout? How do I know it’s working? How long will it take?

Stages of manifestation you should know

In this post I want to go over the four main stages of manifestation I’ve identified (although this may vary for you) and how to know your manifestation is on its way. So let’s get into it.

1. The Initial Excitement

The first stage is the initial excitement you feel when you place an order with the Universe. It engulfs your thoughts for the hours, days and weeks that follow. You are consumed by dreams of how your life will be once you have achieved your goal or the excitement you’ll feel when you’ve manifested something you wanted.

When you go to bed at night you are thinking of what you want to manifest, you are visualizing it in your mind and simmering in the emotions you would feel when you receive it. When you wake up in the morning you begin looking for signs that your manifestation is on its way.

This stage includes:

• Writing your manifestation down
• Visualizing
• Talking about it with others
• Making hypothetical plans

This first stage is when we are charging our intention with energy. We are thinking about it, making notes about it and doing research surrounding it. This is also the stage where we will feel most motivated…however this doesn’t last forever.

2. Obstacles Appear

The next stage are the obstacles that come in both physical and mental form. You may begin to lose the enthusiasm you felt at first, may start to doubt your vision, or think that you aren’t worthy. Your emotions can be all over the place: fear, anxiety, doubt and uncertainty.

On a physical level you will find all sorts of challenges popping up seemingly out of nowhere! Roadblocks appear where there weren’t any before, plans change at the last minute and things don’t seem to be going as you expected.

This phase is absolutely crucial because it acts as your trial run. When we hold a vision and charge it with our focus we are asking the Universe to aid us in a transformation that occurs from the inside out.

That means our current life has to turn upside down. We are asking for the Universe to match the outside with what we feel internally and by placing obstacles in our path the Universe tests us. It asks us if we can handle the changes we will have to make when our manifestation materializes, or if we will revert back to old ways.

This is part of what I call the transition phase of manifestation.

3. You Feel A Weird Sense Of Peace

If you can stay centered as everything seems to be falling apart, you will be there to witness it all come together.

This is when you enter the peace stage of the manifestation process. You have faced the emotional blocks and physical obstacles, grown from them and can enter a new environment that matches this.

When you have managed to pass the initial enthusiasm and face the challenges presented to you, you become aligned with your goal. Alignment is when you can move with the flow of the Universe rather than against it, when what you feel internally is an accurate representation of what you want to see externally. Congruence.

4. Things Subtly Fall Into Place

Then comes the final stage of manifestation; casually walking through doors you once only saw in your mind. This phase can be so subtle that you don’t notice it happening. As you have been working through the obstacles the Universe has presented in order to bring you up another level, this becomes your norm.

You have been gradually working on yourself, shifting habits, changing your thought patterns and slowly but surely becoming the type of person that would have the life you want to lead. Through this transformation your external begins to match your internal.

One day you wake up and take a step back, noticing all of the progress you have made. Here comes the final stage: gratitude!

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3 steps to manifest what you desire

If you find yourself stuck at any of these stages then chances are you missed a step in the manifestation process. Generally speaking, the more relaxed and centered you can remain during this process the better.

Set an intention

The first step is to set an intention. We do this all the time unconsciously, with our words, thoughts and the emotions we bring the most awareness to. Telling the Universe what we want through our actions.

First, get your ultimate goal in mind. Do you want to change careers? Live in a new location? Attract a loving partner? Or uplift an existing area in your life? Then take a step back, think of your very next step forward towards that goal.

Write this down on a piece of paper.

Visualize

You can set intentions for receiving something a specific way, but leave a little room open to be surprised – to relinquish some control.

With your intention on the piece of paper in front of you, spend some time visualizing how achieving this goal would feel.

Spend a few minutes simmering in all of the emotions. For example, if your intention is to become an architecture, think of the strongest emotion you’d experience. Would be it joy, fulfilment, freedom?

Think about how that emotion would feel in the body, and just allow yourself to have a good time. Visualize a specific scenario relating to that dream job.

Let go

The next step is to let go. This is easier said than done!

Letting go just means putting your intention in the hands of something bigger. To let go of expectations and ideas of how your manifestation will come about.

Once you feel you’ve exhausted all of your energy building up this vision, start to let go. Resume your usual routines and schedules, holding those uplifted emotions in mind.

Letting go is far from a passive process. Although you want to let go of the specifics, the subconscious mind starts getting to work on the intention you set.

You’ll see those obstacles show up in your physical reality, be confronted with your blockages and limits, and have to change how you are approaching things.

Allow this manifestation process to bring up everything that is necessary for growth towards your chosen goal. Allow it to move you intuitively.

Shadow & Manifestation

One last concept I want to introduce here is the shadow self. The shadow is a concept introduced by Carl Jung, which describes the ‘hidden’ or ‘negative’ side of our pysche.

This shadow contains all of our negative or limiting habits, beliefs and patterns, as well as the strengths we haven’t fully embraced.

When we are unconscious of our shadow (our limiting patterns) it makes it difficult to move forward – we are always repeating the past.

When manifesting we want to hold awarness of our past and old patterns, so that we can consciously attract something new.

During the transition phase of manifesting we can experience a lot of repeating patterns. We can an intention and end up manifesting the opposite.

For example, setting the intention to attract a loving partner, only to meet someone who is emotional unavailable. Bashar refers to this as the ‘echo’.

Sometimes we have to face old patterns ones last time before we can really push forward in the right way. When you encounter these echos it can feel like you are doing something wrong, however this often foreshadows a breakthrough.

Approach these echos or shadow scenarios with detachment and refocus on the intention you set and the new way you want to express your energy.

How long does it take to manifest something?

It’s helpful to know the different stages in this process but you might be wondering how long it will take to see results.

There is no definitive timeline for manifestation, as we are talking about something energetic rather than entirely physical. However you can tell your manifestation is coming along when you start to see these phases play out.

The exact timing depends on what you want to manifest and your level of belief. If you want to manifest a mansion but have only ever lived in a studio apartment, it could take years to see that exact result.

However if you if are already in a successful career, but want to switch to one that is better aligned, you could see results in months if not days or week, simply because it’s easier to make that jump in your mind.

That is why it’s so important to identify your current position, being completely honest with yourself, and focus your attention on the very next step. Then build from there, one smallish step at a time.

If you’re really struggling with manifestation, focus on building your faith level. What is something you can manifest that wouldn’t feel like a big deal?

Try manifesting a new item for your home (something you might find or be gifted), or to receive five dollars from an unexpected source.

Once you see success with things that you don’t value as highly, it’s much easier to get the ball rolling in more important areas.

If you don’t see any progress for weeks or months, and it starts to create tension, adjust your intention a little (bring it in). You don’t want all of the momentum you’ve built to go to waste, so make sure you consciously redirect it.

Manifestation Is An Inside Job

When we focus on manifesting purely material things we miss out on this inner transformation. To me, manifestation is all about levelling up as a person so that the Universe may shift our environment to reflect that.

This means that what we experience initially may not seem like a ‘good’ thing, in fact we are simply being presented with all the lessons that will allow us to reach a new stage in our life.

Manifestation is about working on the internal so that the external has no choice but to shift accordingly. Focus on filling yourself with abundance and watch as you begin to see abundance all around you.

Think of the type of life you want to lead, and shift the thoughts and patterns that stop you becoming the type of person who would live that life.