Bri Clark the "belle" of Boise: manifest dreams

Get Off You’re Butt and Start Manifesting your Dreams.

By Jonna Ivin

In 2006 the movie The Secret was released on DVD and people were buzzing with excitement over the idea that anyone was capable of manifesting their wishes and desires. The biggest key was to believe that it was already true, that you already had love, prosperity, good health and anything else your heart desired. All you had to do was believe it to be true and it would be. Sounds easy, right? So why was it so hard?

It was in the believing part that I failed miserably. Sure I could cut out pictures from magazines and glue them to a vision board and as a writer I was an expert at focusing on every pretend detail of my storybook made-up life. The color of the walls in my future kitchen, or the way my future husband’s dimples always make me smile, nothing was left to chance. It was laid out perfectly in my mind. Too bad I never thought it would actually happen.

For years, I read books, took classes and did everything I could think of to try and force The Secret to work in my life. As I sat in numerous mediation and visioning groups, I’d repeat silently, “I am surrounded by love. The man of my dreams loves me.” Unfortunately that nagging voice of reason in the back of my mind would rudely follow with, “Except, I am going home alone to an empty house.” Affirmations declaring my endless prosperity were swiftly dismissed with my thoughts of, “If I’m so prosperous why is my phone about to be cut off?” I couldn’t manifest jack-diddly-squat.

Then in 2008, Hurricane Ike hit the coast of Texas and my life would never be the same. I volunteered for the Red Cross having no idea I was on my way to manifesting the biggest dream of my life. When I arrived in Beaumont, Texas I met a man. He was a 20 year veteran with the Army Special Forces and after knowing him for a short time, and eventually falling in love I heard a whispering of intuition that I was going to write a book about him. Finally the The Secret had paid off and I had manifested the man of my dreams. Not only was he the love of my life, but I was also following my dream of becoming a writer. I’d manifested two dreams for the price of one.

I could never have foreseen the road my life would take with this man, or where I would end up as a result. Never in my wildest dreams did I think this Cali girl would move to the swamps of Louisiana and the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas or that my dream man would turn out to be my worst nightmare. Eventually I did leave the south and this man behind to head to the Pacific Northwest where I eventually wrote my memoir Will Love For Crumbs. It was not the book I thought I would be writing. It was much better.

When I sat down to begin the writing process it was the first time in my life I wasn’t pushing and struggling to try to make something happen. I just knew. I just believed without a doubt that I would finish writing and publish this book. How it would happen or when it would happen didn’t matter. All I knew was that it would happen no matter what.

Finally, after all these years I understood what it meant to manifest. It wasn’t about how hard I could pray, or the thousands of times I repeated the same mantra. It was about seeing the goal in front of me and each day taking one step closer to achieving it. Even when I didn’t know what I was doing or what I would do next, I kept it simple. One task at a time was all it took and yes, the Universe rose up and supported my dream.

I finally understood that there were two components to manifesting your dreams; believing it was possible and getting off your butt to do something about it. One cannot exist without the other. Affirmations, prayer, meditation and positive thinking keep you focused on the right path. Effort and work keeps you moving forward.

Jonna Ivin currently lives in Vancouver, Washington. She is busy working on the film adaptation of her memoir and editing Loving For Crumbs - An Anthology.

An audio book version of Will Love For Crumbs will be released in the summer/fall 2012