How to manifest the essence of your desires

How to manifest the essence of your desires is not always so simple.

A good friend of mine sent me a message the other day. She had been walking the streets of Vienna late in the evening, thirsty. Her bottle of water was empty, and there were no stores open anymore. So she thought she will start asking for a water fountain where she could refill her bottle. As she walked the quiet streets, she was imagining seeing a water fountain. As luck (or the Universe) would have it, she soon entered a small square, and in the center of the square was a water fountain! YES, it worked, she thought, pleased with herself. But as she got closer, she noticed a sign on the fountain – Out of Order.

I had to laugh when she texted me her story. I just love the sense of humor and directness of the Universe. After all, my friend received just what she asked for.

So how can we avoid this amusing trap of receiving what we ask for? By learning to ask for the right things, and more specifically, the essence of things.

How to manifest by asking for the right things

When manifesting fun things from the Universe, it is important that we focus on the essence of what we want. Often we just get lazy and ask for more money (or plane tickets), thinking this will somehow solve all of our problems. But in order to be able to tell the Universe what it is that we really want, we need to speak a language it understands.

The trick to an abundant life is learning to recognize the things that would fulfill your deepest needs, and things that would serve as tools to help you grow. Money or a new car rarely will fulfill a deep need, so what ever you want, dig a level deeper. What would those things give to you?

For instance, I’m currently in the fun and playful process of manifesting bicycles for me and my husband. This is something I can imagine myself having, I think positively about it, and I intend to have it (all necessary for us to actually receive what we ask for). But what is the essence of my desire here? Just a bicycle doesn’t really fill my deepest desires in life.

What I actually want are the feelings and experiences I imagine to have with these bikes. I wish for experiencing sunny summer days together with my little family, wind in my hair, seeing the expression on my sons face as he discovers the world with us. I wish for freedom, connectedness and love. This is what the bicycles mean to me, this is for me their essence.

The essence of what you want

Everything we want has an essence like this, buried deep within the layers of our lives. What do we really want? We want a life full of joy, love and laughter. We want to feel a connection to others, to creatively express ourselves, enjoy meaningful activities and feel secure in our existence. If we are not clear about the essence of what we want, we may end up getting exactly what we asked for, only to realize that it didn’t really fulfill us like we hoped for.

If you are stuck in an unfulfilling relationship, do not ask for a new man / woman to enter your life, because most likely you will just receive the same qualities but in a new package. Instead, ask for the things you really want – respect, hugs and kisses in the morning, someone to go running with you, someone excited about the same things you are.

Are you ready to receive?

After we have started to manifest our desires, and sent out magnetic thoughts and feelings, it’s time for us to to open up and be ready to receive what we wished for. When we focus on the essence of things, the very thing that we want can take what ever shape or form the Universe sees fit. And does it really matter? No, not really. Maybe I will not get the two city bikes with baby seats on the front, maybe I will get something even better which will allow me to enjoy sunny summer days, wind in my hair and a feeling of connected love with my family. It is also an art to recognize the manifested wish when it arrives at your doorstep.

I have fallen into this trap many times, asking for what I thought I wanted instead of focusing on the actual essence of things. Once I wished for money to be able to travel abroad and attend a yoga training. But in fact what I wanted was a teacher in my life to show me how to grow and develop in my yoga practice. That was the essence of my desire, joy of learning and growth, and through that a deeper level of self expression. Well, I didn’t receive the money, but I did receive what I was asking for.

Recognizing your answers when they arrive

I got a first class yoga teacher to come to our little humble beach resort for a month to teach our guests (and me). This was a teacher that had taught the A-list stars on private, exclusive resorts. A teacher that I would never have been able to afford on my own. But a teacher who ‘somehow’ (thank you Universe) felt that she needed to give back and spend her Christmas break teaching for free. But it took me weeks of having private daily practice with her before I realized that this, indeed, was everything I had asked for. It just didn’t come in the package I had thought of.

And my friends, it rarely does.

We usually can imagine one or two ways of our desire to travel to us, and mostly those are relatively common, boring ways. The Universe on the other hand delights us with infinite ways of receiving gifts, all we have to do is be open for these variable ways, and recognizing them when we receive them.

So next time you go about your manifesting business, be sure to dig deep enough to find the essence of what you are looking for.