A Journaling Exercise

According to various manifestation principles, you should write down want you want, create a sentence beginning with the words, “I want…” and write out your desire, in the present tense.

You’ve been doing this for a long time now.

You write down your ‘I want’ statements daily.

You repeat them, these statements, every chance you get.

You have affirmations affirming this is what you want.

But nothing is happening.

Why is that?

Because, deep down, you have no idea if this is what you want or why you want this thing. 

Or maybe you don’t actually want this but someone told you this is what you should want, so now you are trying to manifest that because it is what you should do and should want and should have.

What can you do about this?

How do you fix this?

You have to start with your why.

Why do you want whatever it is?  Or if this thing is something told you you should want, why should you want it?  Why are you trying to get it/achieve it/etc.?

Sometimes the answer comes to us easily.  I want to earn a higher income/get a better paying job because I need to move out of this small space and into a larger space.

Why do you want that?

I need more space for my home because I need an area for my office, for my kids, for my dogs, for a roomful of guinea pigs.  I need more money because I need a medical procedure that I have to pay off.  I have debts that I want to pay off so that I have more money to enjoy my life. I want to adopt a pet and that requires more room so the pet can be happy and healthy.

Well, why do you want a pet?  I am lonely.  I am used to having a dog around and I miss having one.  I grew up with cats and now that I am no longer xyz, I can have a cat of my own.

The journaling exercise is simple.

Write down your ‘I want’ statement.

Then ask yourself why. 

Why do you want this?  Why is this good for you? 

Then write.  Write for as long as you feel you need to write.

Read over what you wrote.

Then, ask yourself why about what you just wrote. 

I want a new house.

Why?

This one is falling apart around my head.  I want somewhere I can feel safe.

Why?

Because I am afraid of getting sick from mold, or the ceiling falling in, or the pipes breaking.

Why?

Because pipes broke in the house when I was a child and caused all sorts of havoc.

Why does that mean it will happen again?

Why do you think xyz?

Why does the havoc of your childhood mean you want a new house now?

Why don’t you fix up the house you are currently in?

Keep questioning yourself, over and over and over, until you have exhausted yourself.

Now, set that aside.

Maybe you set that exercise aside for an hour, maybe for a day, maybe for a week.  Maybe longer.  Whatever feels right for you.

While you are off living your life and doing whatever, your subconscious is at work.  Your subconscious is processing your wants and your whys.  It is figuring out if this is really want you want or if you want something else that you didn’t consciously think of or admit to or even know you might want at all.

So, you have waited a bit.

However long it takes you to come back is fine.

Don’t reread what you wrote before.

Start the exercise again.

Write out your I want statement again.

Before you do anything else, how does that statement feel to you?

Does it resonate with you, deep inside your bones?

Or does it bring up anxiety, random bits of doubt, fear, pain, anything?

Now, once you have sensed into your body and felt its reaction, begin the exercise again.

Why do you want xyz?

Keep asking why?

Afterward, compare the two exercises.

Have your answers to the why questions changed?  Have they brought anything up?

Do you feel more sure about what you want—or less sure?

If you end up feeling more sure than you were before, start writing your I want statement out again.  Start writing your affirmations that you will achieve this desire.

Know and believe that now, now, the Universe is willing to provide you with your desire.  You and the Universe are now aligned.

Does this mean you will instantly manifest your want?

No.

Divine Timing is still a thing.  However, it might happen lightning fast.  Maybe it will take a few months, or a couple of years.  If this is truly what your heart and mind desire, without reservation, it will happen.

Believe it will.

But remember, it all has to be grounded in why you want what you want.

If someone tells you ‘you should’, and it doesn’t actually resonate with you, then that is a nope, you should not, from the Universe and from your own subconscious.