How to Manifest Positivity for the Best Year Yet

You’ve probably heard about manifestation or the law of attraction before, but does positivity and asking the universe for something actually make it come true? Well, some say that if you put the desire out into the universe with a positive attitude, it will appear. But this doesn’t happen out of thin air. Learning how to manifest positivity in the new year takes a combination of characteristics including imagination, motivation, problem-solving, goal setting, patience, mindfulness, determination, emotional attunement, and action.

How to Create More Positive Vibes in Your Life

Manifestation starts with awareness of our own thoughts, feelings, emotions, beliefs, and values, and how each of those impacts our experiences and actions.

Alter Negative Self-Talk

Sometimes, you might have days where you are constantly talking down to yourself or picking apart your flaws. That’s okay, we’re all human and it happens. It’s when the negative self-talk becomes a pattern, that it can start affecting your general attitude and outlook on life. For example, let’s say you’re nervous about going on a first date. If you find yourself saying, “They won’t like me” or “They will think I’m weird,” you are criticizing yourself before the date even happens.

To change this, first look at why you might be feeling this way and acknowledge it. Think of your inner critic as a separate being and challenge it. Ask yourself if the lies it feeds you are really true (most likely false!). Reframe your thoughts into more positive ones. In this case, you could say to yourself, “I’m an amazing and fun person. This date will go great.” Remember, at the end of the day, our thoughts hold the key to personal success and growth.

Create a Vision Board

You must truly believe for anything positive to happen – so if you are stumped on how to manifest positivity or don’t feel confident enough yet, make space for those optimistic thoughts by using visualization tools like a vision board.

Vision boards are powerful tools that can serve as a daily reminder to focus on being happy and reaching your goals. Think about who you want to be in the new year or the qualities and skills you want to pick up. First, you’ll need a sturdy piece of cardboard or poster board. Flip through magazines and cut out images, colors, or phrases that speak to you and arrange them on your board. If you are working on a creative project such as a book or art piece, choose shades of red and purple which are calming colors. Blue can be a sign of optimism. Don’t clutter your board and make it overwhelming. Once you’re happy with how you arranged the different pictures, glue them down. Then look at your board each morning and recite your goals to yourself and start taking action!

Practice Gratitude

Although you may hear the word gratitude a lot around the Thanksgiving season, it’s not something we should practice just once a year. Rather, gratitude is something that should be part of our daily lives. Gratitude is the state of satisfaction and acknowledgment of all that you have and all that you are. Of course, it is possible to be satisfied with your life but still want to manifest more. If you feel that you’re lacking gratitude, start by writing down everything you’re thankful for. Rather than dwell on your mistakes or shortcomings, focus on your achievements no matter how big or small. When you are proud of the small wins in your life, you gain more self-confidence and patience. Gratitude teaches you that you are enough, and you don’t need to rush success.

Recite Daily Affirmations

Research has shown that reciting positive affirmations can give you the strength you need to pull yourself out of hard situations and move forward. Affirmations are different for everyone. You might resonate most with a statement that celebrates a positive trait or choice you’ve made recently. Some examples could be “I choose peace,” “I am enough,” or “This situation is difficult, but I have the skills and abilities to get through it.” Write down such phrases on post-it notes and stick them on your bathroom mirror to give you a boost of self-confidence as you get ready in the morning and before you go to sleep.

Positivity can become a problem when you start denying the difficulties in your life and ignoring your negative feelings. Also known as toxic positivity, this mindset of always “looking on the bright side” can make you feel ashamed and lonely for having any troubling emotions. Always being optimistic about hardships can make you invalidate your own feelings and experiences and harm you in the long run.

Have a Morning Routine

Your morning can set the tone for how the rest of the day will go. From the moment our alarm goes off in the morning, we are rushing around trying to complete tasks before we head out the door. Carve out a few extra minutes each day and do something that helps you relax. Perhaps it’s sitting outside or in a quiet room reading a book and drinking tea. Maybe you’d rather do a quick guided breathing exercise. You can also buy an adult coloring book and color for five minutes. Of course, these small rituals may change and that’s okay – as long as you are doing something that makes you happy. Before you go to sleep, think about what you want to accomplish when you wake up and start the day off with a positive attitude!

Importance of Setting SMART Goals

Learning how to manifest positivity in the new year is great, but to really see a change, you should consider setting goals as well. Erin O’Neil LCSW shares that a valuable starting point can be to use SMART goals. SMART is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time Sensitive. It is a process of breaking an idea into smaller steps that can lead to its achievement:

S = Specific.

Being specific about a goal means being able to answer the who, what, where, and why of what you want. Who does this include? What is it exactly? Where do you have to be to achieve it? Why do you want it? If you want to manifest a healthier physical body, then what does this look like to you? Does it mean you will be stronger? Maybe it means you will reach a goal weight or that you will be able to run a 5K for the first time. Remember, it’s hard to manifest what you want when the vision isn’t clear in the first place.

M = Measurable.

Being able to measure a goal means you will know how you are going to achieve it and when you’ve accomplished it. Staying with the example of a healthier you, making it measurable means answering the question, “How will I know that I’m healthier?” Is it by weighing in at certain intervals? Regular checkups with the doctor? Being able to measure progress helps us stay in an action-oriented state and motivates us to keep going.

A = Achievable/Attainable.

Really examining whether your goal is achievable is an important part of making it personal and answers the question, “How will I achieve this goal?” It outlines and specifies the actions, steps, and milestones necessary to reach your goal, increasing the likelihood of success.

R = Relevant.

Making sure your goal or desire is relevant means considering your environment, opportunities, and constraints. If we want to be physically healthy, and our vision of healthy looks like becoming the next model for Gucci as the manifestation of that goal, is that really attainable? This does not mean that the goal to be physically healthy is out of reach, it just means that the specifics of how you view that goal being achieved may need some alteration.

T = Time Sensitive or Time-Bound.

Giving yourself a timeline to achieve a goal may increase the likelihood that you will act. Even if you don’t manifest your desire in the time allotted for yourself, if you’ve been following this process, you’re likely to be closer to achieving it than you would be if your timeline was open-ended.

The fastest and easiest way to manifest anything is going to look different for everyone. But you will not get what you want by standing still, metaphorically speaking. You need to start moving — visualize and dream, make decisions, establish your goal, and outline the steps it will take to achieve that goal. Then go and get it.