The Magical Word “Manifest” – Is It Hooey Or True?

But there is something very powerful about believing in yourself and believing that what you want can, in fact come true. The difference between believing this versus believing in passively “manifesting” things or events, is in your attitude, your perception, and your action.

My own experience starting Women At Woodstock is an example. I was lonely. I’d moved across the country from the community where I’d lived and raised my children for 23 years. I was in my 50’s, working at home, and trying to establish my footing in a social group in which my soon-to-be husband’s ex-wife had been well-liked. Let’s be nice and say that this was a challenge.  I went to parties and heard all about other women’s trips, children, grandchildren, jobs, and all the great escapades they’d shared during earlier times – and not one woman ever asked me who I was, what I did, or even if I had children. I could “manifest” new friendships all I liked and I’ll tell ya, nothing was happening.

Did I say I was lonely? I longed to meet other women who would feel it was worth their time to get to know me,  and who would be on the same quest I was on – to not only enjoy my friends and family and my memories, but to get back to who I really am, to expand my life, to tap into my creativity, to pursue a dream.

My saving grace was my group of writing clients – creative, entrepreneurial women from all over the country for whom I designed websites and ghost-wrote their blogs and web content. We were friendly. Our business calls often spilled over into personal stuff. I began wishing that I could get together with all of them, in one place.

Then I started thinking, “Why not?”

I started mentioning this idea of a gathering of women like them, and to a woman they all exclaimed, “Do it! You should do it!”

So I just simply decided that I would – with no experience whatsoever in arranging venues, menus, speakers, workshops, event marketing – any of it.

From that idea, Women At Woodstock was born five years ago. And now, I’m part of a wonderful group of interesting, compassionate, creative women who’ve been gathering at Women At Woodstock every year since 2012.

In a sense, you could say that I “manifested” Women At Woodstock because I believed – with no basis in experience or training – that it could happen.

But I didn’t believe it would happen without any effort on my part. Once I chose to believe that it could happen, I found myself attuned to any bits of information that could help me make it happen. I planned, I talked with other women, and I put in a lot of work. And unlike my usual way of doing things, I also accepted much advice and many offers of help. Women At Woodstock came to be not because I simply decided to believe it would, but because I opened myself up to receive the help that I needed as I worked to make it happen. Passively “manifesting” things in your life? Hooey. Manifesting by believing and then accepting and then doing? Yes, true. You “manifest” because you make the truth happen.

Which brings me to the first workshop I’ve secured for Women At Woodstock 2017 – “Opening to Receive.” I’m very excited about it because I think this is the missing link in so many of our lives. We wish, we plan, we work hard, and we think that’s all we need to succeed. Hard work and determination, right?  Accepting and receiving the abundance of advice and help that might be offered to us? No, we don’t do that. Why? Because women – especially women in our generation – have been indoctrinated to believe that this is the way we should be.

I’m also excited because Selina Maitreya – who attended Women At Woodstock 2016 and so generously shared information and offers of help to others during the last-day Mastermind Session – will be leading this workshop. As a wise teacher of Practical Spirituality, Selina is a master of both giving and receiving. Those who met Selina last fall experienced her power and her compassion when she spoke. We’re in for something monumental on the first morning of Women At Woodstock 2017 when she teaches what she knows.  Here is Selina’s upcoming workshop, in her own words:

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The universal law of flow calls for us to give and to show up to receive. You may be the worlds’ best giver but do you truly know how to receive? Most women would answer: “I’m a giver and I’m the last person I give to.”

It’s not surprising.  As women, we have been trained for centuries to put others before ourselves.

When we do not receive we block the natural “flow  of abundance.”

Crazy as it sounds, the act of receiving is a practice. We need to prepare ourselves on many different levels in order to truly receive from others and from the universe.

The goal of this workshop is to provide attendees with the opportunity to identify an area in their life where they are blocking the flow and to provide them with practices and exercises that they can use to let the flow free, long after the session is over.

Our session starts with a brief teaching and goes directly into  experiential practices, and ends with a group discussion and Q&A.

Each participant will:

Each participant will receive three digital audio files following the workshop, each of which will be a guided meditation that can be used to further shift her energy from a one-way flow outward (giving but not receiving) into a two-way natural flow of giving and receiving. There is abundance in all of our lives, but blocked from us, being held away; this workshop will guide us to open the flow of abundance into into our lives.

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