Over the last few years, I’ve sat in the moments where I thought: I don’t know how to have this kind of faith. Am I crazy to want this? Can this really, I mean really, come true, especially in those times when manifestation doesn’t work?
Now obviously (if you read today’s blog title) know I’m using the word manifestation as a focus of our chat today. But for me, the word is really about exceeding and pushing the boundaries of what faith can do.
No idea is too crazy.
Where there is a will, there is a way.
If you have an idea, chances are you’ll see it in your reality someday.
Maybe it seems cliche, but I could go on and on.
Let’s be clear though: we are not here to dispute whether or not manifestation doesn’t work.
The science. The proof. The things you may think you need to know – that information all exists if you look hard enough (or use the right keywords in your search).
But what I really want to talk about today is what the F do you do when you “know” it works, but you (the human version who has a unique path and way of doing life) can’t seem to get it to apply to get results in your world.
We’ve got a lot to talk about, so buckle up, buttercup, and settle in. Let’s talk about what to do when manifestation works differently for you.
Manifestation Doesn’t Work? Here’s What You’ve Tried and Why
Investing $$$ In A Course Doesn’t Guarantee It Will Work
I never considered what would change in me when I realized manifestation was true. When the idea of living a life beyond what I once would have even dared to imagine was presented to me, I had no idea what to do.
To know that I, for all my flaws and mistakes, had some say or power in my ultimate truth.
That creating a reality that was not just replicated from what I had seen but from the space of my deepest desires was more than just a wild dream.
I didn’t need to know how. I just needed to know I could.
And as someone who has spent a majority of her life feeling powerless, learning that felt like turning a match into a giant flame. I no longer felt powerless or alone in my journey in the world.
But what I didn’t realize, and what took me SO much time, is that even when manifestation doesn’t work, the results always come down to you.
you who is the mirror of her inner reality. you who is suddenly faced with intimately (and potentially painfully) knowing & loving you.
A Mini-Overview Of My Previous Course Investments Plus A Review
Money Mentality Makeover
I think one of the best things about this one for me has always been that it’s taught me to think in a different way. Amanda is amazing at challenging my brain. But I spent so long thinking that I HAD to do it her way (not because she says you do but because I simply wanted it to be true).
I, like so many, found comfort in a path already laid. But manifestation doesn’t work when it’s just about following someone else’s path; it’s about expanding the paths you can take and the paths you now know you have the power to create.
But in my attempts to apply every technique (without other very needed things), I ultimately caused myself more pain. More on the other needed things in a moment.
Over the last 5 years, I’ve invested in quite a few of her online spaces, and they always seem to ultimately do me good. I may not do everything she says to do or “feel” the same way.
feelings are a very tricky space because we don’t all experience them the same way
But I know when I step into her world, whatever needs to come through will come through.
And honestly, the reliability of a safe space that exists that isn’t built on the right or only way to do something has given me freedom that I’d previously never known. And while that sounds scary if you’re someone who is afraid to fail in life, it’s necessary to ultimately succeed in this life.
Manifestation Babe Academy
I hate to be the person who says “this didn’t work for me”. Because really, it was never about the learning. I didn’t need to learn more, I need to feel more. And MBA was just the mirror that showed me this.
It’s been about 9 months since I enrolled, and while it’s not something I’m likely to finish anytime soon, I know that should I need knowledge from this space, I’ll have access in the future.
What I did get, in the most divinely timed way, was the people I needed. A new safe space.
I say this to say sometimes you invest the money and it’s not about the course in any way. It’s about having a space for the answers to come in a concrete way, and maybe you needed action to solidify what you already know.
MBA encourages you to create accountability groups offline. And mine just so happened to be filled with women who were walking through a very specific and heavily emotional time in our lives.
We needed that safe space, and manifestation doesn’t work until you create the space and conditions to allow it—and Manifestation Babe Academy was the thing that paved the way for it (and many more things).
All Of This To Say
If you’ve found yourself here and think, I just need another course to understand this. I just need someone to show me the way. The answers you seek are seeking you – but letting them come through is probably going to happen in a different way. More on how to do that in a moment.
Define Your Version Of Faith (Or Knowing When The Work Is Done)
If someone would have told me this a long flipping time ago, we wouldn’t have this blog post. But it would have been a crap ton easier.
So let’s talk about what it means to define your version of faith. For me, faith kicks in when I know the work is done. The big foundational work. There will still be micro tweaks that come up and opportunities to remind myself what life looks like now that the work is done.
But really, it’s the moment I step out of doubt and fully let myself live in belief. People often say embody but that always feels like trying it on to me. When I can move from embodiment to living it, I know that I’ve made a massive shift in my world—even when manifestation doesn’t work at first.
How Do You Know When Manifestation Doesn’t Work and the Work Is Done?
Them: “when I can’t imagine it any other way”.
Me: Nope, sorry. I’m an overthinker and writer. I can always imagine it another way.
Them: Or when you no longer care if it comes through.
Me: Listen Linda, if I didn’t care, we wouldn’t be here. That’s also not good.
But my favorite, and the one I’ve defined for myself as it now gets to come through, is when I no longer feel like I have something to prove.
When I no longer find myself needing someone to “believe” it for me, is when I finally accept it as truth.
Oftentimes, it mentally looks like me thinking “if I told someone else about this, could I get them to believe me”. And if I’m still thinking that, I know I haven’t accepted this as my truth.
However, when it shifts to I no longer need someone else to believe me, this simply gets to be my truth. That’s when I know it starts to come through.
You Were Always Going To Have To Figure It Out For You
I think we forget this. I forget this. But growing up in church as a kid, can you imagine that you only received thoughts and ideas on this big, somewhat intangible thing from only one place or person?
Like your entire life, you only learned about God one way.
And you never considered, maybe He had more to teach you. Maybe He wanted you to see him in a different way.
We put a lot of power in manifestation teachers, and we forget that we really have to do it OUR way. They can help break the shackles of traditional thinking. But they are meant to be a reflective space, not the ultimate way.
Your way is meant to be unique because you have to learn how to exercise faith in a flexible way. Which means you really never escape the version of this where manifestation doesn’t work until you discover how it works for you.
Learn How To Be Your Own Safe Space
When I started this journey, the idea of this was foreign to me. I had zero concept of what it meant to have a safe space.
Safe space (def): the place where you go when you don’t know where to go, the place that lets you take a breath, the place you go when it all feels like too much
I’d also say this is the place you go when the doubts feel like too much.
Of course, you’ll have more than one safe space.
Your safe space will likely change as you do the mental and emotional work of manifesting. But sometimes it looks like people, hobbies, reading or watching TV, scrolling endlessly, etc.
Chances are before, when you wanted to make a change, you reached for one of these safe spaces because it’s easier for your brain. I still do this as a means of manifesting but it becomes a part of the work to recognize what your brain and body believe make you safe and to potentially find another way.
My safe spaces have changed a lot as I’ve recognized my need for greater emotional support. Yours will likely change to.
But if you’re stuck in a pattern of using a safe space you’ve outgrown, you make it harder for your manifestation doesn’t work to come through. Essentially, you’re almost but not quite living your work.
More on how to make yourself a safe space for yourself in a moment.
Why Mindset Alone Isn’t Enough
As much as I’d love to rely on affirmations for change, more is required. The places where we truly want manifestation to work often don’t “just happen.” When manifestation doesn’t work, it usually signals deeper emotional or mental work is needed.
Our thoughts are tied to physical responses and chemical patterns, so reshaping them doesn’t always happen just because we want it to. Releasing old pain, processing trauma, and facing emotions we’ve avoided is a necessary—and often painful—part of the process.
Real change comes from doing the work. We must change if we want our results to change. For a long time, I believed I could think my way into feeling better. I searched for all the moments blocking my manifestations, only to realize it wasn’t just limiting beliefs—it was unresolved trauma I was forcing myself through.
Now I ask myself: is this necessary? Do I really need to process this emotion or thought? Just because I think about it doesn’t mean I need to deal with it.
When the answer is yes, I ask: how can I do this gently, without causing more pain? Do I need help or another perspective? What is truly trying to come through?
I have a process for this in the Self Love Reset, how I get my mind and body aligned to allow the hard things to come through, especially in moments when manifestation doesn’t work.
You Can’t Outsource Being Yourself
There’s a post going live on Instagram later today about how we peel back the layers where we “tried”.
But let me preview it by saying this to you.
It’s absolutely practical and logical to look into the world for answers that are already available that could solve your problem. And why shouldn’t you?
Except what often happens is that in our search for validating our desires (or making sure it’s okay and feels safe to do it “this way”), you stop remembering how to be you.
And I get that it’s hard. You can come up with a million reasons for why that girl/person/random human in the world gets SO easily to have the thing you want that “feel obvious” to you.
You see it and you understand why it might work for them, but not you.
Maybe it sounds something like: of course she has it because she’s skinny and blonde. Or maybe it’s: well, she already has money, so it’s easier for her to receive more.
But in the subtlety of those observations, you’re telling your subconscious everything you believe is “wrong” about you.
Here’s the thing, though: you don’t need to be some other girl. You really don’t. You just need you to figure out how to love and be okay with you.
Knowing Your Human Design Can Change EVERYTHING
I, as a projector, manifest from a neutral space. So when someone tells me to hype it up or I have to “feel a certain way”. My body feels DRAINED. There are lots of nuances to being a projector, so I wouldn’t assume if you are that it’s exactly the same.
But my specific type with all its quirks means that I operate best from a neutral and lightly elevated space.
Meaning I vibe best in the middle with a dash of happiness, joy, laughter, and gratitude.
I tend to be a swiffer for emotions and other people’s energy in any given space. So it’s ultimately my job to check in with myself every day and make sure what I’m feeling is mine to actually feel – not something I just picked up from someone.
But that isn’t something that is essential to every human design (that I know of). However, I think we all can see how we often neglect our own needs in pursuit of our hopes.
Our idea of a concrete reality is based on a blueprint without all of the info. To live happily, we honor our unique design, making it easier to pursue big dreams and thrive in the world.
There are tests online you can take to learn yours and resources that can help you start to see where maybe you’re doing things the wrong way.
Accepting and changing this was profound for me. 1000% recommend looking into this if you don’t already know.
Learn Your Body’s Needs
There are a few things that I think, if I had understood them sooner, would have helped me tremendously. So if you’ve got a journal, start with the following:
Do I know how my body tells me what it needs? Do I know how to listen to the signs anymore?
Do I know how to listen when my body signals we’re addressing trauma, not just limiting beliefs?
Do I know how to acknowledge when my body is saying enough is enough?
Do I know what it feels like when I’m not leaning towards misalignment but making a home in it?
Part of what I teach you in Self Love Reset is how to identify these needs and your body’s unique response. Because chances are, the world has required you to always stay “on.” And maybe you’ve never experienced the difference, so you don’t know how to even assess what’s wrong.
Thinking Isn’t the Same as Feeling
Have you seen the Tiktok’s of the girls going to therapy, but because they overanalyze everything, the therapist turns them away?
If this sounds like you, I can almost guarantee THIS is the hard part of manifesting a new reality. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said, “I don’t want to feel all the feelings anymore”.
Many millennials grew up with parents who didn’t know how to handle feelings, and those parents grew up with parents shaped by war.
I can imagine why feelings didn’t seem necessary when the reality was simply war.
As a generation loving therapy and healing, we’re also learning how our bodies and minds store emotions. We’ve come to recognize that sometimes you can’t simply ignore feelings.
Our bodies and minds store our experiences and often carry the pain of those who came before us.
Ultimately, feelings aren’t the same as thinking. But we lean into the thinking because it gives us a sense of control.
Part of why I designed Self Love Reset was from a need to find a way to feel feelings that felt too hard to explore. I know that as busy humans, it’s not always convenient to deal with things you’d rather ignore. However, learning how to provide safe spaces and intentional boundaries can help you when you reach the point of say, “I can no longer pretend everything is okay anymore.”
Manifestation Doesn’t Work? Remember, It Starts With You
The bottom line though: It’s okay if manifestation works differently for you. It’s okay that maybe up until this moment you didn’t know how or if you’d ever “get this to work”. Maybe it isn’t as simple as saying “well if I had thousands to spend on this coach or course. . .” because really what you needed all along was YOU.
You have to show up. You have to be you. You have to look at yourself in every crevice and dark corner and say I believe this part of me gets to be loved. And then you show up as her.
Wherever this finds you today, I’m sending you a loving (virtual) hug. Until next time. Xoxo, Savvy
