How Intentions Manifest by Steve Pavlina

How Intentions ManifestJune 3rd, 2006 by Steve Pavlina Email this article to a friend

This is a description of the general pattern I experience in manifesting intentions.

Creating the intention

First, I get clear about what I want to manifest. Through meditation I put myself into a

very relaxed state of mind, and I implant my new intention by concentrating on it for at

least 60 seconds. The meditation is nothing complicated; I usually just do a few minutes

of deep breathing and progressive muscle relaxation.

I imagine my intention visually, so in my mind’s eye, I picture what my life will be

like once the intention has already manifested. I inject a lot of positive emotion into

these visualizations as well. If I can’t create strong positive emotions, then I know

there’s no real desire. In that case I’ll either drop or alter the intention. Intentions

without desire have very little power to manifest. If I don’t really, really, really want it,

there’s no point in intending it. For example, intending a big screen TV for myself

doesn’t work because I just don’t care enough about that sort of thing.

Alpha reflection

Usually within 24-72 hours of putting out a new intention, I experience the alpha

reflection. I receive validation that the intention has taken hold. Normally this takes the

form of a very noticeable synchronicity. Sometimes the synchronicity is part of

manifesting the results; other times it just seems to be an acknowledgement that the

intention was received. Many Million Dollar Experiment participants report alpha

reflections within the first couple days of joining, like finding some extra money on the

ground.

Last week I put out the intention to double my monthly income. A couple days later, an

article I wrote last year got an unexpected link from a major media outlet, which sent me

How Intentions Manifest http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2006/06/how-intentions-manifest/

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tons of new traffic. In one day I received almost $300 in donations, not to mention a

significant boost in ad revenue (more than double my daily average). This temporary

boost was congruent with my original intention, and it’s a good example of an alpha

reflection. The intention didn’t actually manifest yet — it’s simply the universe’s way of

saying, “Thanks, got it!”

Interestingly, I’ve noticed that the more I trust and expect my intentions to manifest, the

weaker the alpha reflections are (in terms of their magnitude). I think this is partly

because I’ve grown so accustomed to working with intention-manifestation that I

don’t need to be beaten over the head with validation anymore. I’m just able to trust

it. I still see the alpha reflections, but they aren’t normally as jolting. I don’t recall

putting out an intention this year and not seeing a clear alpha reflection within a week, so

I’m pretty sure it’s always there when the intention is properly formed. Recently I’ve

put out over a dozen new intentions, and I enjoyed seeing all the creative winks from the

universe to acknowledge their receipt.

Calm before the storm

The alpha reflection dies down pretty quickly, and then there’s a lull that can last

anywhere from several days to several weeks. This period used to frustrate me because I

thought my intentions had totally fizzled, and I know it frustrates many Million Dollar

Experiment participants too — lots of people give up during this time. Big mistake!

This is just the calm before the storm. It’s also the period where it’s most crucial to

continue holding the intention and to carefully avoid putting out conflicting intentions. If

I start harboring thoughts like, “Why isn’t this working?” or “I wonder if this will work,”

I kill the intention. I must know it will work. Sometimes I kill intentions on purpose

during this time when I realize I don’t really want them or if I think of something better

to intend. It took me years of practice to develop the mental discipline to control my

thoughts well enough to stay focused on what I want and not allow myself the luxury of

contemplating what I don’t want. I’m nowhere near perfect, but I’m finally halfway

decent at this now, and it makes a signficant difference.

Beta reflection


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As I continue to hold the intention and faithfully expect its manifestation, I eventually

experience the beta reflection. Typically this begins more than a week after the intention

is first formed. Whereas the alpha reflection is just an acknowledgement that the

intention has been received, the beta reflection is the substantial beginning of the real

manifestation.

The beta reflection is much longer, stronger, and slower than the alpha reflection.

Imagine a thunderstorm. If the alpha reflection is a lightning flash, the beta reflection is

the rolling thunder that arrives much later. Both originated with the same event, but they

reach you at different times.

The beta reflection generally arrives in three forms: ideas, opportunities, and resources.

First, I experience a noticeable surge in ideas related to my original intention. These

ideas may come in the form of spontaneous inspiration, or they may arrive through other

people. For example, I might get a new optimization idea that takes only 20 minutes to

implement and instantly boosts my income. Sometimes a good idea is all I need to

manifest what I want, so I can carry it to completion on my own. But if the intention is

big enough, then ideas and direct action won’t be enough by themselves.

The beta reflection also brings new opportunities. Often these seem to come out of

nowhere. Someone I don’t even know may bring me a juicy opportunity related to my

intention, even though I haven’t told anyone about it yet.

Lastly, the beta reflection brings new resources, which may include information, people,

money, etc. Whatever is required to manifest the intention eventually comes into my

life. Often I’ll experience three or more random people recommending the same book to

me on the same day, and that book will just happen to contain exactly the answers I need

to manifest my intention.

It’s still important to continue holding the intention during the beta reflection, but it’s not

as difficult as during the pre-beta lull because now you have some genuine momentum.

It doesn’t require as much faith to see that the intention is starting to manifest — even

the logical mind is able to see it coming together. The main thing is to keep your logical


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mind from screwing it up by trying to control the process too much.

Depending on the complexity of the intention, the beta reflection can last for months

or years. In fact, I believe our overall results in life can be interpreted as the long-term

summation of our beta reflections from a lifetime of intentions. Whatever you imagine

with enough energy will eventually manifest. If your thoughts are clear and focused,

you’ll manifest your desires relatively quickly and easily. If your thoughts are jumbled

and chaotic, you’ll manifest a seemingly random and haphazard life for yourself.

Manifestation

With the expansion of the beta reflection, the ultimate manifestation comes together in a

fairly straightforward manner. Usually there’s some form of direct action involved, but

the actions that follow are smooth, flowing, and easy. No tedium or struggle is required.

The universe does 80-90% of the work. The final combination of ideas, opportunities,

and resources are high leverage, making it possible to achieve fantastic results with a

minimal investment of time and energy.

About five years ago, this intention-manifestation process was just a curiosity to me. I

remember when I first noticed, “Wow, I can create synchronicities!” I got really good at

creating alpha reflections, but that was it — no betas. At first I was frustrated because I

couldn’t manage to stay focused on my desires long enough. I kept falling back into old

thought patterns and inadvertently killed my best intentions within a matter of days,

sometimes within a matter of hours. I’d think about building my business and then worry

about how I was going to manage it. I’d think about improving my marriage and then

have thoughts about breaking up. I’d think about moving to a nicer home and later

imagine renewing my existing lease. No results but the status quo. I found

it incredibly frustrating to be betrayed by my own thoughts.

One of the keys for me was to fully accept that staying focused on my desires was

absolutely critical, not optional. Regardless of whether I think the universe is objective

or subjective, I know that my dominant thoughts are the key determinants of my results

in life. My thoughts control my decisions, and my decisions over time control my


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results. When I really understood that, I assumed a new level of responsibility for every

thought that went through my mind. I decided to take conscious control of my thoughts

no matter what. I saw that I could no longer afford to have my mind haphazardly

dwelling on things I didn’t want.

Lately I’ve developed a tremendous respect for the power of intention. As I keep

experimenting with it, I see abundant evidence that something very powerful is

happening behind the scenes. I’m achieving my goals more easily than ever before. I’m

doing more meditation and thinking and taking a lot less direct action. I do what feels

most natural to me, and it just seems to work out perfectly. I allow the universe to

handle most of the details while I focus on the high-level outcomes.

I will surely continue experimenting with the power of intention. Presently I

spend about 30 minutes a day just holding my intentions and letting them swirl around in

my imagination. Then I sit back and watch my external reality shift little by little to

come into alignment with these intentions. The cumulative effect still blows me away.

If I’m right about where this is heading, we should witness some enormously positive

changes in my life over the next several years. I don’t know how long these beta

reflections will take to fully unfold, but I’m certainly looking forward to finding out.

Use SMOG, not MOSG

When I was first learning to drive a car, my drivers education teacher taught me the

acronym SMOG, which stands for Signal, Mirror, Over the shoulder, Go. It’s the order

of actions to perform when changing lanes on the highway. Note that the first action is

to signal your intention to change lanes. Of course, what do most people do? In practice

they follow something like MOSG: Mirror, Over the shoulder, Signal, Go. They

first determine whether or not they can change lanes by looking for an opening. If

there’s no opening, they wait. They speed up or slow down to find a spot. They’re

afraid that if they signal first when there’s no opening, they’ll look like a dolt because no

one will let them in. But the truth is that even if there isn’t an opening, many drivers will

allow you an opening if you signal first. If you don’t signal, the only way they can

tell you want to change lanes is via telepathy. The longer you signal, even when there’s


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no opening at first, the more pressure you build in the other drivers to let you in.

This is a great analogy for how intention-manifestation works. You have to signal

(intend) first. Sometimes if you look before signaling, there just won’t be an opening.

But signal anyway, and you’ll create the very opening you seek.

For example, if you want a new relationship, let the universe know what you want.

Signal! Don’t check your mirrors first to see if there’s someone available in the next

lane. You’ll miss way too many wonderful opportunities that way.

Don’t give up!

It requires significant mental discipline to manifest both the alpha and the

beta reflections of your intentions. Without the ability to stay mentally focused on what

you want, noisy and conflicting mental chatter will destroy your best intentions before

they have a chance to take root. It may take years of practice to develop the ability to

stay focused on what you want. But the time is going to pass anyway, so you might as

well put it to good use. I’ve even found it helpful to simply intend to get better at

manifesting. Don’t give up!

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18 Responses to “How Intentions Manifest”


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Lazy Success Says:June 6th, 2006 at 11:00 am

Personal Manifesting Explained

You hear about manifesting principles everywhere you turn these days.

Today I’ll let Steve Pavlina (“Personal Development for Smart People”) give a

personal account of how he experiences it in his own life.

Check it out, it’s an well-written,…

Energise for Life: Health, Nutrition, Detox and Energy » Why I am

about to post my goals for the EFL Blog… Says:June 7th, 2006 at 6:29 pm

[...] Firstly, Steve Pavlina’s post on manifestations has reminded me of how powerful

and inspiring this concept can be. [...]

Moose » Blog Archive » The Art of Manifesting Success Says:September 13th, 2006 at 1:12 pm

[...] One of the coolest dudes on the web, Mr Steve Pavlina, writes: [...]

“Personal Development for Smart People” at Bland to Bliss! Says:October 6th, 2006 at 1:17 pm

[...] Ever heard of Steve Pavlina? He’s got a great post on “How Intentions

Manifest” that he wrote back in June of this year. I’ve read and listened to heaps of

theories on how to create your reality, but this has got to be one of the best I’ve ever

heard. The explanation begins with a description of how he creates his intention,

moves through a series of detailed topics, and ends with a pep talk to keep going. I

learned a lot about what I’m doing and not doing that might be getting in my way in

some circumstances. For instance, he talks about the initial signal, the “alpha

reflection,” from the Universe that your message has been received. But after that,

there’s a lull where most people begin to wonder if things will really work out. [...]

Blogosphere « Comedy and Humor Blog Says:October 14th, 2006 at 6:42 am

[...] My main goal here is to make this into a fully-functioning website. I just need

the traffic. Once I get the traffic, I can do it. There is no sense in making a website

that no one will go to. The whole point of making a site is so people will get to see

the real me. See what I’m about, what I think about, how I go about my day. So I


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am going to challenge myself here. I challenge myself to make at least one post

every day of great quality, not just quantity. I challenge myself to do something for

the next 30 days to market my site, but not in a superficial way. I challenge myself

to become a super-blogger and use methods that I have learned to boost traffic on

my blog. And finally, I challenge myself to tell people I know about my blog, who

will most likely refer other people here. These are the things I intend to do I’m

getting more traffic every day. That is what I soley and fully want to happen. [...]

Greg Cerveny » Blog Archive » Intention Manifestation Practice Says:October 31st, 2006 at 11:25 am

[...] manifestation and this practice, check out this article by Steve Pavlina. Like this

post? Digg ItDelicious [...]

Gifts from Blogging and Intentions | Working Blogger Says:November 17th, 2006 at 4:59 pm

[...] And then a little twist, because I’ve really been feeling the power of setting my

intentions lately. I haven’t actually started focusing on any intentions related to

blogging yet, so there’s no time like now. [...]

Manifesting Intentions Without Resistance Says:November 20th, 2006 at 7:04 am

[...] Suppose you set a positive intention, focus your energy on its manifestation for

the highest good of all, see the promising alpha reflection, and then watch your

results completely stagnate. Why did your intention fail to manifest as quickly as

you desired? [...]

How Do You Know You’ve Made The Right Choice? - Spirituality

Applied to Life - Balanced Life Center Says:March 1st, 2007 at 7:52 pm

[...] I use this litmus test when I’m really confused. I don’t look for it either. I just

stumble upon the confirmations. That way I don’t end up seeing signs everywhere I

turn. They just show up. I realize that this runs counter to the look-for-the-alpha-

reflection camp, but I find that I can conjure an alpha reflection out of air. What’s

more difficult, is for me to orchestrate 3 independent, spontaneous nods. [...]

abhinav.tv » Help us raise funds, Aditya needs your help! Says:May 25th, 2007 at 10:41 am


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[...] Pray to God. Please, everyone pray to God with your hearts open and a deepest

desire asking god to return Aditya’s father health back. And give us all the strength

and faith so we can help each other out. Read this, I think this process will help. [...]

Living Differently » Blog Archive » Update on the Law of Attraction

Skeptics Experiment Says:June 13th, 2007 at 2:51 pm

[...] So what happened next? Nothing – that’s what. No money down the back of the

sofa, no bank errors in my favour, no lotto wins, no mysterious inheritances. Does

this mean it’s all a load of rubbish? Or have I strayed from the programme? Is my

skepticism to blame? Or was it all coincidence? Over at Steve Pavlina’s site, he

suggests that his experiences with the law of attraction is that his “intentions” are

“manifested” in 2 distinct phases – which he calls alpha and beta (very scientific, or

very biblical – depending on your perspective.) [...]

Visualizing Your Way to Success Says:July 30th, 2007 at 1:32 am

[...] Some people call this Intention Manifestation, or The Secret. I’ll have a really

long post about what I think of those later. But for now, I can objectively say that

visualizing helps. [...]

Season of Shadows Blog » Blog Archive » Items Materializing from Thin

Air Says:December 27th, 2007 at 4:09 pm

[...] I don’t think the value of the coins was significant in terms of the amount, but

rather it was more symbolic in terms of signifying an upswing in overall financial

abundance. I read a post a while back titled: How Intentions Manifest at

http://www.stevepavlina.com where Steve discussed the Universe’s ability to give

him validating signals he calls Alpha Reflections. When an intention he set forth has

been received and taken hold he encounters a synchronistic experience which is

directly related to his recent intentions. I believe my experiences were similar to this

but in an extremely mystical way. These pennies were rolled and “handed” to me to

indicate my intentions for monetary abundance had been received and taken hold.

[...]

Items Materializing from Thin Air | Wind of the Soul Says:June 13th, 2008 at 6:23 pm

[...] terms of signifying an upswing in overall financial abundance. I read a post a


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while back titled: How Intentions Manifest at http://www.stevepavlina.com where

Steve discussed the Universe’s ability to give him validating [...]

How to Earn Your First Love Dollar Says:July 16th, 2008 at 3:26 pm

[...] when you hold this intention, something will come up within the next few days. I

usually see an alpha reflection for my intentions within about 48 hours. In this case

my alpha reflection already happened in the [...]

Alpha Reflections and an aha moment Says:July 17th, 2008 at 3:42 am

[...] name) and then there’s what he calls the beta reflection, where the ideas etc start

coming. Ting! The lightbulb just went on. I’ve been taking the beta reflection for

the manifestation, believing that was the extent [...]

Hello! Who are you!? No really. | Rumbelow (rŭm’-bĭ-lō): A combination

of meaningless syllables Says:July 21st, 2008 at 6:50 am

[...] and have no ingrained interest in. I have read briefly the posts about the Law of

Attraction, and Manifestation of Intentions. I probably avoid these, though, mainly

because as a Buddhist, I care less for how to attain my [...]

Physical vs. Non-Physical Reality Says:September 10th, 2008 at 11:46 am

[...] excited, your intention has already been received and acknowledged. You don’t

even need an alpha reflection because this part is instantaneous. Just know that it

works. But the part that seems to take time [...]

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How Intentions Manifest by Steve Pavlina

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