The way we understand manifestation in the West is that if we really want something, we can visualise it and through a power of our thought and intention materialise it. Matter is energy. If you want something strongly enough and keep thinking about it, as long as your desire aligns with your path, you will receive it.

We apply this approach to life goals. We create a visual of a life we want. We work hard towards achieving it. We hustle, we sacrifice, we sometimes compromise on our values. We get it (or not).

This is not how it is seen in Buddhism. Buddhists accept that they don’t know what life (fate) has in store. If we don’t know what’s ahead, how can we manifest it? So, instead, we surrender, we stop fighting the Universe, we trust, we slow down, we still our anxious minds until we can see or hear what our path is.

Instead of manifesting what we want, we accept what we get. Instead of goal-setting, we surrender. Instead of visualising, we believe. Reverse manifesting?

I’ve practiced this way in the last couple of years. This is what the process looked like for me.

1. You slow down. You quieten the mind, practice non-doing, drop everything that is not yours — identities, goals, to-do lists, desires. This may involve inner work, facing your attachments, positive disintegration, unemployment, poverty, and dark night of the soul.
2. The quieter you get, the louder your soul voice gets. You start hearing it. It is different from your mind voice — loud chatter, mostly negative, communicating in thoughts. The soul voice is more like a gentle whisper, a hunch, a sudden guttural realisation. Its message fills you like a warm feeling.
3. Your soul voice tells you amazing, profound things. It helps discover and understand yourself. It teaches you self-love and faith. The more you listen to your soul, the more you start to practice soul-led decision making (“doing the right thing”). Light, love, joy, service become your guiding principles. Would I do this if I loved myself enough? Is it good for me but also others? Will this allow me to bring more light in the world?
4. As you practice soul-led decision making, you see your life unfold in the way that feels right. You start worrying less and trusting that you’d make the right decisions. As you trust more, you open up and trust the Universe more. This trust is like a candle flame and the more you practice trusting, believing, having faith, the more it lights your path. You start “seeing” (or rather intuiting) the next step, what the “right” thing to do is at any moment.

This is also manifesting, but done differently. You become your path, the unfolding of your life, the process itself. Your mind and ego do not worry about knowing the future, trying to predict or fight it. The soul is in the driver seat. “You get done” (Ram Dass). “When you arrive at non-action, nothing will be left undone” (Tao te-ching).

You manifest by standing back, stilling your mind, seeing and desiring what comes and letting your life play out the way it was always meant to.

Happy new year!