How to use manifestation when you are struggling

* Transcript created by AI – may contain errors or omissions from original podcast audio

 You may be familiar with the concept of manifestation, but from my experience using manifestation as a tool for creation, it can feel a lot easier to be manifesting when things are already going pretty well in your life. In today’s episode of the podcast, I want to talk to you about how you can be manifesting even when you are in a space of struggle and things feel hard. Today’s episode is going to be a goodie, so make sure you stick around.

 I really wanted to talk about this topic because I first learned about the concept of, of manifestation and mindset about maybe six years ago. And from my own experience, it’s a lot easier to be using these tools when things are flowing really well for you when life is going well, when you’re already kicking goal after goal after goal, and you’re wanting to step into the next level.

But sometimes in business and life, we go through periods of struggles of stagnation, and I think it’s really important to talk about how you can use these tools if you’re feeling pretty crappy, like if it doesn’t feel like things are going your way, can you still be actually manifesting?

Before we dive into that further, I think a great place to start is actually recognizing the, with curiosity, the concept of manifestation and the underpinning concept of privilege that sits within manifestation. I spoke to one of my coaches about this because, you know, when there’s so much going on in the world, so much heaviness, conflict, when you know, there are people literally fighting for their lives and you’re wanting to create more things, it can be a real uncomfortable situation. And I had a conversation with my coach about this because who am I to be desiring more when there are people who aren’t even safe. You know, I don’t have all the answers to this. But one of the things that my coach did say to me is that she truly believes that people can be manifesting even from you know, a difficult or a challenging space. And she shared with me that she actually has some clients in, you know, in, in war torn countries, in really crappy life or death situations. She’s teaching them the tools of manifestation, how they can be using their mindset and of course, action to try and create more positive outcomes.

But before we go deeper into this, I guess I just wanted to recognize that inherent privilege that comes with this conversation around manifestation, and also to acknowledge and recognize that there is potential that you can be creating no matter how low the base is that you are starting from.

So let’s talk a little bit about the concept of mindset and manifestation. So I’m not one of those coaches that believes that you just think positive, think about whatever the thing is that you want, the dream car, and it will come and land in your lap. I believe that manifestation is part of the energetic frequency of creation, and a big part of that is your mindset.

Is how you think about things is how you feel about things and how that then affects the actions that you take, which then of course has an effect on your ability to create them on your ability to build those things that you want in your life. See, if you were in a state or a space of. I don’t deserve those things. Those things aren’t possible. You’re not even going to crack open your mind to think that that is something that is available for you. And because you don’t believe it’s a possibility, you’re not going to be taking actions. Or steps towards its creation, and this can be in any area of your life. It doesn’t just have to be around material possessions.

Let’s just say that you are wanting to attract a life partner, attract your soulmate. But if you inherently don’t believe that. It’s possible to find someone to have a happy relationship with, or perhaps you believe it’s possible for other people, but not for you. If that’s your deep hell belief, how do you think that you are going to be showing up to the dating world? You’re going to be showing up from a place of this is impossible. You’re probably going to be subconsciously pushing people away. Or perhaps you might be attracting people who You deep down know that you’re not going to have a lasting and happy relationship with see how what you were thinking, your belief system actually starts to create the outcomes, even if you don’t intend for it to. And this is the thing with manifestation. A lot of times our mindset, our subconscious beliefs are actually influencing how we are showing up. And it kind of becomes a bit of a, a self fulfilling prophecy.

I am if you don’t know the backstory, I’m an Australian and I’m in a state called Queensland in the country of Australia. And there is a big football competition that happens every year between two States, between the state of Queensland and the state of New South Wales in a game, a football game called NRL, and it’s called the state of origin. And it’s a bit of a tradition in the Wood household to watch it. I’ve been watching this, this series since I was a little kid. My family watched it growing up and now in my household with my children, we watch it every year as well. And it’s always a bit of a tense time because I’m from Queensland. My husband is from the other state, New South Wales, and my kids, arguably, I believe one of them was born in New South Wales. One was definitely born and raised in Queensland, but they both think that they are from the team of New South Wales. Anyway, sorry, I’ve gone on off on a whole segue there. But in our house, you know, this competition goes on and it’s always Queensland versus New South Wales, me versus hubby and the kids in this competition. The reason why this is important and relevant to this conversation is because in last night’s game, my team Queensland wins a good lot of the time. They’re a very, very strong team and they won the first game in the series. However, in last night’s game, the second game in the series, they lost dismally. In fact, it has been, it was a record breaking state of origin game to New South Wales.

And why is this important to mindset and manifestation? Because just a few weeks earlier, Queensland, my team had won. So same team, right? But what happened in this second game was that New South Wales scored quite early into the game. And They scored and then they scored again. And what I saw unfold on the screen was that the mindset of both teams shifted based on what was unfolding. New South Wales had a couple of quick wins and they were like, God damn, we are on fire. They were playing the best they have played. They were like, we have a real shot at this. We’re going to smash this. And Queensland, on the other hand their confidence was kncocked. And they suddenly started thinking, we’re not going to win this game. And so guess what happened? They started making silly mistakes. They were not playing their best football and they ended up losing the game cause their head just wasn’t in it. They were in a cycle of self doubt of self sabotage. And the other team were in a cycle of, we’re the best, we’re going to win this. And that’s what they created.

Now, the reason why I wanted to explain the background or the context is because, you know, I truly believe that Queensland is a really strong, if not the stronger team. But what happened was that they got stuck in the cycle. They weren’t in a winning mindset. And this is what happens with us a lot of the time. We’re wanting to create something in our lives but we fall into negative patterns into negative thoughts and negative beliefs, and subconsciously, this is what we are starting to create in our life.

It’s a lot easier to keep on winning when business is going well, because you’re like, God damn, I’m on fire. How do you think you show up to calls with a client? When everyone’s saying yes to you, when you’re making so much money that you don’t even care. Do you guys remember that feeling, you know, that feeling? Where you’re like, I don’t even care if this client says no, literally doesn’t matter to me. And then other times where you’re like, I have to get this deal or this client, or I’m not going to be able to afford my groceries this week. See how the energy that’s behind it can become a self fulfilling prophecy.

Here’s the thing. If I was coaching my team last night. I would have come in and I’d say, forget about the scoreboard, forget about the past. You can create the future despite what is going on for you, despite what the scoreboard says, get your head in the game, concentrate on doing the things that you need to do. And whether or not that would have led to them winning, I truly believe it would have had a positive influence on the outcome that they were able to create.

So if you were stuck, if you were in a pattern where you’re struggling or whatever area of life you wanting to create, isn’t going to plan. Can you allow yourself to park that? And focus on the future. To be leaning into the possibility expansion, pretend you’re in your winning season and show up that way right now. And I’m going to share something that’s almost a bit of a conflicting advice to that because I think that it’s also relevant to this discussion, which is, I also think that you should acknowledge those struggles.

As much as I’m saying, you know, focus on the future, all of that, I don’t want you to pretend that those tough things aren’t going on for you because manifestation isn’t just about la la la life’s perfect all the time. You can say, you know what, things have been really tough for me and this has been really hard. And I have struggled with this thing, whatever it might be, however, you don’t need to stay stuck in that. You can acknowledge that pain without saying, this is my destiny. This is what I’m stuck with. If that makes sense.

Let me share an example a couple of years ago, a little over two years ago, I was in a major car accident. I suffered a significant whiplash injury and I was in a really, really bad place. I’m going to be honest, I used to think that whiplash was one of those injuries. I’m like, yeah, that just sounds like, you know, someone hasn’t even really hurt themselves. If you have ever experienced a severe whiplash injury, you will know how incredibly painful it is because your neck, you use your head for everything and your neck muscles are actually connected all through to all different parts of your body as well. I actually started losing function in my hands, I couldn’t hold a knife, I couldn’t open jars, I couldn’t do things because it’s all connected. The reason I’m sharing this is because at the three month mark, I went and saw a pain specialist. I was a wreck guys. I was on around the clock pain medication. I was just crying constantly. As someone who’s an energizer bunny, a doer, a problem solver like me, I was in this cycle of, this just sucks. And I went and saw this pain specialist and guess what the pain specialist said to me. He said Clare, I want to be honest with you, where you are at right now is probably where you’re going to stay for the rest of your life. What we see at the three month mark is, is generally where people tend to stay. And I was like, what the actual, I can’t live my life like this. And he’s like, you’ll, you’ll get used to the pain. You’ll learn to live with it. But where you’re at, the physical limitations that you’ve got right now is probably where you’re going to stay.

Now I could have taken that. And said, this is my path, this is my destiny. And I refuse to, I refuse to accept that that was how my life was going to be. And while I know that I will never have a full recovery you know, I still have limitations on what I can do, what I can do with my neck back pain, neck pain, all of those things. However, I have had vast improvements since then, because I refuse to accept that that was where I was going to stay. And that in turn led me to do things differently. I sought out working with trainers. I have been, if you follow me on Instagram, you will know that I’m on a mission for my body to be in the best shape that it can be. I’m training, I’m lifting weights. I’m doing so much that I didn’t think would be possible. And again, this isn’t me being Pollyanna, just think positive. I totally recognize and acknowledge my limitations the, the struggle that I went through, but also said, Hey, I’m going to create a different path. And I was really, really firm on creating the best possible outcomes.

So here’s what I want you to do. If you were struggling right now and you’re wanting to create new outcomes. Firstly, acknowledge that pain. I’m stuck. I’m struggling. Like this is real. I don’t want to say everything’s perfect in my business and life. If it’s not, you can say, Hey, this has been kind of crappy. And also this isn’t my future. This is not my future. I’ve got things that I want to do, and I really do believe it’s possible for me.

So we can say, I know that that’s there, but also I’m going to focus on the future. So how do you actually do that? Here’s a great starting place. Firstly, be mindful of your thoughts, what you were thinking, your thoughts become your beliefs. They become that program that’s on autopilot and something that I have been in a real limitation of lately. It is around anxiety. And what I found is that those thoughts I kept waking up thinking, I’m not going to be anxious today. How bad is it going to be? Am I going to be on the couch? Is my anxiety going to be crippling today? And guess what happens the more that you think about anxiety, it kind of becomes a self fulfilling prophecy, right? Catch those thoughts. If you were thinking all the time, I don’t deserve to grow my business. I’m never going to grow it. This is not possible for me. Can you catch that thought? And try and grab it and reframe it because the more that we are saying these things on autopilot, the more that we’re programming our belief system. And the more that we are actually creating those outcomes.

The next thing to be mindful of is your environment, your physical environment. You know what? A lot of times, I’m sure you’ve heard the term nepo babies, which means like, people that have grown up with privilege, be it around wealth or particularly the term nepo babies used in Hollywood for children of actors who then go on to create their own acting careers, that inherent privilege. And the reason why I believe that a lot of wealthy children create wealth themselves is because it was so normalized for them. To be in wealth. And this is why I want you to be really mindful of your environment. Like be mindful of the people that you’re around. If you’re hanging out with a bunch of people who are on struggle street, we know there’s been studies around this, that on average, you earn the average of the five people you spend the most time with, you know, how can you be in the energy of abundance? How can you uplevel your environment? And, you know, maybe you can’t be living in a five star hotel. I know that I’m not at the stage at this point where that’s my world, but how can I make What I do have around me, as expansive and abundant as possible. And sometimes this doesn’t even mean spending money.

So for example one of the big things for me, when I’m surrounded by clutter, my mind feels cluttered. I know that I’m not showing up in my best energetic state. So sometimes it might be as simple as a little tidy up, like wipe down your desk. You know, Anything around you just start to notice the things around you and see the impact that they have on your energetic state. So just start to be really mindful of that. Maybe your computer screens cracked. And every time you look at it, you think, Oh, I hate my computer and you’re looking at it all day. Maybe your regrowth needs to be done. And every time you look in the mirror, you think, Oh gosh, I just don’t feel great about myself.

How can you be really mindful of your environment and start to create a more positive and abundant environment around you on the topic of energy? Start to notice your energy suckers. And things that elevate your energy. So for me, I’m going to be honest. I am, I don’t know why I am addicted to checking the news. Like I would check it at least five times a day. And I used to spend hours going down rabbit warrens, like reading about things that were going on about tragedies. It would become really consuming for me. I’d be like, Oh my gosh, these poor people, this is going on for them. News is created to get you addicted to it. Right? And so one of the things that I’ve had to do, I’ve had to block a lot of websites so that I can only read news headlines. I still go and check the headlines, but now I can’t spend hours just down these rabbit warrens reading news because it’s really unhelpful for me.

Lately, I’ve been doing a real social media detox as well, because I found that it became a really toxic pattern for me. I’d either be looking at negative stuff. Or I’d be looking at other people going, why are they doing so well? And I, you know, why am I not a multimillionaire yet? And so I’ve really had to limit my amount of time that I’m spending on social media and start to focus more on me and my energetic state.

So take a moment, think about your energy expanders and your energy suckers.

Who are the people, you know, in real life or online that you watch, follow, that you go, Oh my gosh, I feel so inspired and excited when I watch their content. And who are the people that just leave you feeling kind of crap? And how can you start to spend more and more time in an expansive energetic state and less time around those Debbie downers and things that make you have a Debbie downer effect as well.

The next thing. So first of all, let’s think about creating this space and this environment of beauty and abundance and expansion. Then I want you to think about spend some time in this… What do you actually really want?

When’s the last time you did a vision board or updated your vision board? When’s the last time you wrote out your goals? Without judgment. It’s really easy for us to judge ourselves, I know that I do this and it’s one of the things that I work on a lot. I think, who am I to want to, you know, build a, a massive big mansion when I already have a waterfront home? Who am I to want to upgrade my, my wedding ring? When I’ve already got a beautiful ring that I once dreamt of. But you’re allowed to have big dreams. You’re allowed to have desires. So spend some time playing in that space. What do you want? If anything was possible, what would you be creating in your life?

And also think about the, why, why do you want that thing? What do you think it’s going to create in you? If you say, I want to weigh this much, what do you think it’s going to do for you? Is it, it’s probably a feeling that you’re wanting to create. It’s probably less about the, the weight or the body or whatever it’s more about like, I want to feel confident. If it’s around money, like, why do you want that as a financial freedom, is it to feel more confident, more secure? Is it to be able to help other people? What’s the why behind it? Get clear on that too. And then focus in on that feeling.

This is where I spend a lot of my visualization and time. I imagine how it’s going to feel when the day, when my dream house is built and I’m there opening the front door. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve visualized it. Front door is going to be this massive, big, beautiful wooden front door. And I see myself opening it up, being like, Hey, come in, this is my home, this is what I dreamt of and I’ve created it. Really think about that feeling. Think about the feeling when you don’t have any debt anymore. Think about the feeling when your business is hitting the $5, 000, the $10, 000, $50, 000 months. Think about the feeling when your relationship is back on track and you feel connected and desired and loved, and supported. Whatever it is that you’re wanting to create, think about that feeling and start, start to visualize what that’s going to feel like, start to feel that feeling now.

Next… and this one’s a hard one, particularly if you’re in that state, like I spoke about before, where you were struggling and you’re in a state of struggle, fear. Like, it can be really, really hard to do this, but I want you to try and work on it anyway, is the state of gratitude.

How can you find things every day to be grateful for? And that’s not, let’s pretend that that hard thing isn’t going on. It’s not that, but it’s how can you start to focus on the little things?

Let me share before I just went outside and I sat there and had some quiet time and I looked down at it was actually a weed. I’m going to be honest, but it was a weed with this beautiful purple flower on it. I just sat there and looked at this flower just in awe and I imagined, imagine I had terminal cancer and, you know, imagine that this was some of my last days on the earth and I looked down at this beautiful flower. I just, this is such a beautiful world. I am so grateful to be alive right now. And I just sat in that energy and that space. Sometimes I use this with my kids when they’re driving me nuts, which they are a lot lately. I look at their little faces and I think I dreamt of having a kid and look at you, your little freckles on your sandy face, your big brown eyes, your energy, the fact that you have so, so much energy, like imagine what it would be like if you weren’t so energetic. I’m really grateful that you’re smart and inquisitive and just try and look for the special moments amongst the challenges. Practice gratitude. The more that you are grateful, firstly, the happier you’ll be because you’re focusing in on those things, but also actually the faster that you will start to attract the things that you desire.

And this leads me to the last thing, which is action. Start to take steps forward. So many people say they want the thing, but aren’t taking the steps to get towards the thing. They’re like, Oh, I want to have the dream body and it’s like, are you eating healthy? And are you working out? I mean, maybe you are, but you know, that’s a good first step. Like, are you taking the things to start to create the outcome? I know a lot of my single friends and they talk about finding someone. I’m like, dude, what are you doing? You’re not on the apps. You’re not going out. You’re not cracking open the potential for those things to happen.

Sometimes when my goal seems super far away, it feels easy to stop taking the steps forward because it just feels a little bit helpless. But that’s the complete opposite to what I believe you need to be doing. It doesn’t mean that you need to go and put down a deposit on a house that you can’t afford, but just keep walking through the open homes. Keep taking the steps, the actions towards it. That is the secret to creation is it’s like, just keep taking one small step forward. Honestly, that’s sort of how momentum builds by just doing that one next thing. That is ultimately how you start to create your goals.

So hopefully this has given you some inspiration to get your manifestation mojo back on track. If you’re feeling a little bit meh. If you’re struggling at the moment, hopefully there’s some things in here that will help to get you back on the path for creation.

If you’ve enjoyed today’s episode of the podcast, please share it with any family, friends, biz friends that you think may benefit from this or share it on your socials and make sure you tag me so I can pop on in and say, thank you. I really, really appreciate you listening to my podcast every week. It really is my privilege to be a Talking to you. And I really do appreciate your time.

Have a beautiful and abundant week. And I hope that this has helped you to step from struggle street back into a state of flow.

* Transcript created by AI – may contain errors or omissions from original podcast audio