Have you tried to manifest your dreams but struggle to understand how to actually get what you want?

Yeah. I know the feeling. 

Manifestation and law of attraction is tricky stuff. It sounds easy, and it is easy, but actually, it’s not easy. Know what I mean? 

There’s a process. A lot of faith involved. Trust too.
And specificity? Well that is key. 

Seems simple enough. Right? I thought so too. But I learned my lesson, and I’m sharing it here to help you avoid making the same mistake I did. 

Let’s take a walk down memory lane: November 2007. Mere weeks before one of my best friend’s wedding, I find the perfect dress, immediately highlighting the need for special shoes, and of course a matching purse. Of course. 

The catch? Short deadline and tight budget.
Ouch. Let the goal setting begin.

Just starting to discover the law of attraction, I was experimenting with manifestation. I’m a skeptic at heart; I like concrete advice. If the law of attraction really does work, let’s try it with shoes. Why not? Everyone loves shoes.

Naturally, I knew what I was looking for – something brown, super high, and sexy. Something understated but over the top. The kind of shoes I really only wear to weddings because what other destination is fancy enough for fancy shoes but requires little to no walking or standing? Exactly – weddings. 

So, I decided on a budget of $40 for both shoes and purse. It seemed just low enough to be pretty remarkable if possible. I stated the intention out loud to myself and my husband, thought about how great it would be to achieve, and kinda forgot about it. Then I went shopping. 

At first I found nothing. And I looked everywhere. Trust me. Eventually I continued my search on Ebay.

And then, it happened:
I found my shoes and they were exactly for me.

They were brown, high, sexy, and the style name – Judy. No kidding. Judy – my name. My exact size too. Oh and the price? $30 with shipping. The deadline was close – in fact, they arrived the last possible day before the wedding.
Who says I leave things to the last minute?! 

These $30 shoes left $10 for a purse. One day before to the wedding, right before the mall closed, on the slushiest winter day ever, I wandered into PayLess Shoes (where I never shop) for a last-minute purse search (because I was desperate). Something, anything, to match my dress and shoes. Puh-leaze.

Well – My manifested desire materialized. I got my wish!

There in the post-Christmas clearance rack at PayLess was the perfect little clutch in the exact pale blush beige colour to complement my brown and blush lace overlay dress and super high, super sexy brown Judy shoes.

Purse $6 + Shoes $30 = Mission Accomplished Under Budget.

Woohoo! The law of attraction does work!
Great! Super! Fantastic! ….Right?!

Well, sort of. I was super happy and proud about my finds. The morning of the wedding, I tried my shoes on for the second time. They seemed to fit great. I thought I would be ok. I was so wrong.

We arrived. We walked around. We celebrated. My feet began to ache. But that is normal for fancy shoes. It just means “have another drink.” So that’s how the night went. Despite much wine, I was in so much foot pain after 10 hours wearing the damn things that I wondered if I was permanently disfiguring myself. I had already decided while wearing the shoes that I would never wear the shoes again because it was such terrible punishment. It was bad.

Yes, they hit my goals. They were brown, super high, and super sexy. They fit my budget and they looked good with my dress. They even had my name! Perfect, right?

Wrong. I made one glaring omission in my request to the universe: I forgot to specify ‘comfortable’. I forgot to ask for shoes that would feel good.

Oops. My bad. 

The next day, I couldn’t even bend my feet to step into the shoes, let alone wear them again. So, I resold them on Ebay. I mentioned they were not comfortable but somehow, I still regained $23. So they ended up costing me $7 to wear once.
Not bad at all. Except that my feet were sore for a whole week.

Moral of the story? Specify exactly what you want! Know what you want! Super sexy, super high shoes are not necessarily super comfortable. In fact, they are almost never comfortable. 

If you ask for it, you may just get it! So make sure you’re asking for what you really, truly want. Vocalize your desires, be specific, and then let them be. 

Picture this: You’re in a restaurant. You’re hungry. The server comes to take your order. You ask for exactly what you want. And you wait. You wait some more. More time passes, and you begin to wonder if they have the bread to make your sandwich. Or the tomatoes for the salad. And what if they are out of olive oil or salt, or maybe their grill is too hot and will burn the sandwich or the coffee will be regular instead of decaf like you asked, so you know what, just cancel my order altogether and I’ll eat later.

Do you do that? I doubt it. I hope not!

You probably do this: You sit, you order what you want, you wait for it to arrive. You specify exactly what you want, and you trust that you will get it. You don’t question or second-guess whether it’s possible to order the thing you want to have. You just know that you’ve done your part and now it’s down to time and patience.

When your order arrives, it’s just as you want it. Or maybe it’s not. Either way, once you have the order it’s easy to change something that’s not working. Pick off the mushrooms. Add a little more salt. Worst case scenario – re-order something else.

You know what to do.
It is, after all, your order.

Much like your favourite meal, you have to be crystal clear and specific about your true desires to get what you really want in life. You have to know it when you see it so you can claim it. Or send it back.

Try that today. Place your order. Be specific.
Then exercise some patience. Give it time to cook a little. 

Stop obsessing about whether or not it’s possible to get what you ordered. Trust that you were able to communicate your desires, and have faith in the ones who are preparing your order. Let go of the need to control every outcome. 

Place one order, or place many orders. Do it from your heart. Trust you will be served and provided for. Be gracious in your approach and grateful in your response. Always say ‘thank you’. 

Customize it once you have it. Expand on it. Savour it. Enjoy! And know – it was meant for you the whole time. You made this. And you can always order another. 

♥