So, how do you manifest?
Without the vision board. The real, true, deep manifestation process. Here it is.
I fear I cannot give you the shortcut. I fear what I am going to tell you is going to sound too complicated to many and it is not going to fit at all into the pilates princess programming we have seen recently on socials. I fear I cannot give you the version that tells you to just get a cute journal and write a bit about your dreams and then overnight, really, overnight, everything will come true because you just have to positive-think your way to your goals.
But I have some good news. The kind of manifestation process that I am about to tell you will be absolutely mind-blowing and bring you to the mundane magic in ways you never thought were possible. It will be about timing that is so flawlessly perfect you could not have planned it. Even if you had tried to, it would not have worked out the same way.
I will give you an example for timing.
Actually, I have so many, but this is one of my favorite ones. For my whole life until turning 30, I was so sad that I never had the chance to go to the US. I cannot tell you why, but I had always felt so drawn to New York. I watched everyone leave to some cool high school exchange program, come back with the Hollister sweaters we didn’t have in Germany when I was a teenager, and later, when I studied International American Studies, I signed up with a sinking heart when I heard that one semester could be taken in the US. I knew everyone was going to go and I wasn’t because there was no way I would be able to afford it. No matter what scholarship program I signed up for, the prizes I won for language competitions and the extracurricular activities I signed up for — like the mock United Nations club with a potential paid visit to New York — I always made it to the penultimate stage. I never “made it fully.”
Okay and then … and then the most magical thing ever happened. And so unexpectedly. At the beginning of 2024, I wrote in my journal that I wanted to go to New York City that year. I had no idea how and nothing pointed towards it, to be honest. I spent the beginning of the year in Mexico City, hit by one earthquake after another and I was so anxious I knew I had to move back to the center of Mexico where I’d lived before. I did, and it broke my heart because I thought Mexico City would become the city where I finally could meet the right people to make it to where I wanted to go. I returned, and I bought a horse, then had to move houses and … that was quite a lot of expenses, to be honest. It just wasn’t on my radar to plan a trip to New York City “just like that.”
The year was hard, it asked for quite a lot of growth to manage a house and a horse and still grow my business. Some summer days were some of the saddest I had lived. I can see it in pictures — I looked like a ghost, I think.
But that’s what makes timing so wonderful. You never know when your life is going to change. And you keep manifesting — you keep creating, you keep building, you keep believing. You keep healing. You keep becoming a new version of you. Growth isn’t pretty and that’s why I feel I am disappointing some of the manifestation gurus out there. It’s not just sitting there on your pretty yoga mat repeating affirmations. You literally have to stop being who you thought you were to become a version of you who can connect with what is yours.
In that sad summer of mine, I noticed that I lost so much hair from the stress and started addressing it. I took such good care of how I ate and how I felt when I was eating or preparing food. Now, looking back, I know this was the step I needed to take to clear out the last tiny remains of healing my connection to food. I needed to enjoy food to be ready for the next stage. There was no way I would actually be ready for what was waiting for me if there was still a part of me who was too concerned about what she’d eaten that day, or didn’t eat properly.
Once summer turned into fall and I was about to turn 30, just a few days before my birthday, I was sitting in a coffee shop and I got a message on Instagram that would change everything. I cannot explain how I felt this intuitive nudge so strongly in that moment and hadn’t felt it before … there would have been many moments before to feel it, but it had never happened until that very moment when I wanted to work on my new book and was theoretically too busy to reply. But my heart said: Keep responding. So I did.
And three weeks later, I was sitting on a plane to New York City. The first time I was ever going to New York City would become the one that marked the beginning of my own favorite love story. And that beginning is now … my 6th book. Meet Me In New York City — On the Miracle of Finding Love.
That’s what I mean when I mention timing in manifestation. It’s all going to be so perfect, but that can only happen when you work on being your truest self.
And that, really, is the secret. Instead of making a vision board only, instead of doing affirmations only, instead of being in this energy of “I want this and I need this now!”, you focus on the energy of “This is who I am.”
The energy of This is who I am is so much stronger because it speaks of genuine confidence and deservingness. A strong combination for attracting the right opportunities and letting them find you.
A lot on manifestation always circles around — How can I make this happen?
When really, it is about — How can I let this happen?
The actual homework is showing up as your truest self. Getting rid of what’s not you. Stop clinging on to old identities. Stop clinging on to old narratives. Remember who you were before the world taught you how to be in order to be successful, loved, etc. …
The whole “trick” about manifestation is to connect with your essence. And that isn’t pretty. That isn’t the cute journal or the fancy vision board. That’s the deep, deep work that I refer to as healing.
Connecting with your essence means being courageous enough to just walk your path and care about what you want to create, more than about what other people might think. Connecting with your essence means allowing yourself to be “nerdy,” or “weird,” or non-mainstream, or pursue passions that are “so uncool.” (Also, who said that?)
So, how do you connect with your essence?
I use my own method and concept. I believe that every human being steps onto this planet with a unique set of Inner Colors. Your homework in this life is to connect with this unique set of Inner Colors and share these on your own canvas called Life. Painting your own version of success.
What happens often is that we do the “paint by numbers” approach and just copy what we think other people expect us to paint. We adapt to color palettes and try to convince ourselves that we can paint something that’s just so trendy and cool. Guess what? Everyone has their own unique set of Inner Colors. Even if you tried to, you couldn’t copy the painting of someone else. And vice versa: someone else could never copy you. Every human being has their very own unique Inner Colors.
That’s why it doesn’t make sense to follow anyone else’s blueprint. As soon as any coach tells you “THIS is EXACTLY what you have to do…”, I’d be suspicious. A good coach helps you find your own answers and won’t force you to follow exactly what worked for them.
You have your own unique Inner Colors. Work with that and trust yourself enough to find the right answers at the right time. That’s where intuition comes in, by the way … listen to what feels true to you.
Your Inner Colors is really a simple list of 3–10 words that describe your core characteristics, your priorities, values, and everything you are when you don’t have to be anyone or anything. I have put together a catalogue of questions that helps you define your own Inner Colors and guides you through the whole exercise, so that at the end of it, you have your list of 3–10 words. You can write those on post-its, take the list with you in your wallet, make it your new wallpaper, or simply scribble these into your journal. Keep them present.
Your list of Inner Colors is going to be your inner guidance system. Your compass. Each decision that you’ll take, reflect it back with your Inner Colors. Does it allow you to bring in who you are? Yay, go for it. Does it ask you to hide parts of yourself? Hm, that may not be your best option.
You design your life decision by decision. If you bring your Inner Colors into at least most of your decisions, then you inevitably create a life that feels like your own. You make sure that you bring your essence into what you’re building. It’s really that simple.
It’s simple, but not always easy.
The part that’s a bit harder — at least in the beginning — is to prioritize yourself. To put your own Inner Colors first. To not negotiate your well-being. To create something that’s yours no matter how other people like that or don’t. To set boundaries, to step up for your Inner Colors and to be so fiercely protective of what matters to you.
We don’t learn that. We learn the opposite: to be “humble” and, basically, people-pleasing. To “be a good person” apparently means to entirely forget about yourself. I will challenge that: to be a good person means to serve with your joy. And your joy is a natural consequence of painting your own version of success with your own Inner Colors.
The amazing part about working with your Inner Colors is that you can bring this into each area of life. How do you want to invest and manage your money? What feels true to you? What helps you to keep sharing your Inner Colors? Bring your list into your money management.
You want to manifest love? Well, make a list of your perfect partner. And reflect that list back with your Inner Colors.
You want to manifest success? Well, make a list of what success means to you. And reflect that list back with your Inner Colors.
That’s how journaling helps you manifest your dreams. You make sure that whatever you create reflects and respects your essence. It really is as simple as that — but the path to walk won’t always be so easy. I will tell you right now, no, it won’t be easy, because it asks you to unlearn a lot of what you thought was the only way to “make it to success.”
Trust me, you’ll be so wildly successful… but it’ll look different from what you thought it had to look like. Every human being has their own version of success. Now, find your own version of it and then make decisions that bring you closer to exactly that.
That’s what I built my membership for. ❤️ Helping you create your own version of success. And of course, you’ll find the course Journaling & Inner Colors there. :) Until the end of June, you can still get 40% off with the code BIRTHDAY40. I’d say, check it out yourself — here you get to The Atelier.
Have the best time journaling, creating & manifesting!
So much Love, Ariane