Mindfulness & Manifestation — A Practical Guide
Below is my complete write‑up of the techniques I have learned and the guidance I offer. If it resonates, book a free 30‑minute call.
Foundation
In life, you must first take care of yourself because you are useless to anyone else if you are not well. Your foundation is sleep, diet, and exercise, so if you are struggling, prioritise those things above all else.
Authenticity
Humans evolved to survive in tribes where some could sleep while others watched for predators. Rejection from the tribe meant a certain death, so we developed an intense fear of exile from the tribe. To avoid rejection by a group, you may hide parts of yourself that the group doesn’t consider acceptable and fake other characteristics the group requires. This is why groups of teenagers have identical clothes, hairstyles, music tastes, opinions, and turns of phrase; they are signalling ‘I belong’.
Unveiling your true self, shedding the mask of conformity, is a liberating act. It may seem daunting, but the freedom that comes from being honest with yourself and others, and finding groups where you can truly belong, is unparalleled.
Awakening
Everything you experience and do happens in this moment; life is an unfolding sequence of moments. Ultimately, the present moment is the only time where sensation and action can occur and, hence, your only source of power. However, most people rarely or never focus on what is right now. Instead, their attention is continuously focused on what they think about what happened in the past and what they think about what might happen in the future.
Thinking is the process of using memories of the past to predict the future, and it is potent when used as a tool that can be picked up and put down at will. However, most people cannot stop thinking for even a moment; they are constantly lost in thought. Learning how to stop thinking is the most powerful skill you can learn. But how can you learn to stop thinking at will? Could you think to yourself, “Stop thinking?” Well, you could try, but that act is thinking itself. So, just as being told, “Don’t imagine a yellow elephant,” makes that impossible, thinking, “Don’t think,” makes that impossible.
The only way to stop thinking is to focus your full attention on sensations in your body because your consciousness cannot do this and think simultaneously. Notice the weight of your feet on the floor. Notice the weight of your body on the chair. Notice the temperature of the air on your skin. Notice the sounds in the room you are in. Notice the feeling inside your hands. Notice the feeling inside your feet. Notice the feeling of your breath flowing through your nose or mouth. While intensely focused on these sensations, your mind stops thinking.
At first, your mind will be a cacophony of thoughts. You may only manage to direct your attention to sensation for a fraction of a second before it drifts back to thoughts. In those brief moments, a more profound, still, quiet presence within you is the observer. Every spiritual tradition has a name for this presence; Christianity calls it God, Buddhism calls it Buddha, and Taoism calls it The Tao. Once you momentarily glimpse the presence within you, an unstoppable awakening process begins. You can access that presence more quickly and for extended periods as you awaken. You do not need to try to awaken; awakening will take care of itself. As you awaken, you can choose when to think and when just to be. When you choose just to be, it is as if the veil of thought has been removed before your eyes, and you become aware of many previously invisible things. Once, on a bicycle ride with my eldest children, we stopped at a gate on a country lane. I asked my children what they could hear to distract them from thinking. We became aware of a dog barking in the distance as we listened intently. In a genuine sense, that dog did not exist for us until we stopped thinking and started just being.
By being more present, you will become aware of countless opportunities you would have previously been unable to notice, just as we only heard the dog by becoming present.
Manifestation
Once you awaken, you gain the power to create any situation you can imagine. This statement may sound esoteric, but I mean it in a literal sense; you can manifest any life situation you can imagine. First, take some time to envision your desired situation. Where are you? Who are you with? What can you see? What can you hear? What can you feel? What can you smell? What can you taste? What emotions are within you? Your vision may be just a point in time or unfolding over a few hours or days. Next, record this in some way. You may write this down, paint or draw the scene, record it in another way, or hold it as a memory. The universe already has many paths to your desired future; you need only walk one.
Your best guide on that journey is to stay connected with your presence, trust your intuition and remember your vision. By connecting with presence, you will sense all the opportunities and obstacles in your immediate surroundings. By trusting your intuition, the next best step will be apparent and not hidden by thought. Periodically reminding yourself of your desired future will keep you oriented in the right direction. Imagine a leaf floating down a stream. It moves with the current, navigating around obstacles and sometimes getting caught in small whirlpools. But it doesn’t resist or try to control the flow of the water. It simply goes with the flow, adapting to the changing conditions. This is a metaphor for how you can navigate life. By staying present, trusting your intuition, and being flexible, you can flow with the circumstances and reach your desired future with ease.
As you follow your path, you may feel pulled out of presence and intuition and back into thinking. Your thinking mind will be drawn to the certainty of having a plan because that provides the illusion of control. But because you have imperfect information, you cannot predict the future, and new opportunities and obstacles will emerge, and your plan will not survive reality. Furthermore, following a plan narrows your attention and focus, so you can no longer sense the many opportunities ahead. So just remain present, and intuition will draw you step by step, unplanned but inevitably, towards your desired future.
Ready to explore this together? I offer free 30‑minute voice or video consultations. Email to book.
This guide is educational and not a substitute for therapy or medical advice.