Manifest Your Wishes in 2012
Noelle Oxenhandler, begins her book The Wishing Year, with “It is, in itself, an ancient wish: the wish that a wish makes something happen.” From our earliest years on we are wish makers, hoping our wishes come true while blowing out the candles on our birthday cake.
During January of every year I create a manifestation collage. This is a wish making ritual I began several years ago as a part of my coach training, and one I ask my coaching clients to do as a part of their goal setting process. Compared to the left brain activity of setting goals and objectives, making a collage ramps up the creative side—your right brain. The activity is quite simple, and I find as have my clients, has the power to uncover both our known and unknown wishes.
There are several ways to make the collage; everyone seems to find the way that fits them best. I begin by drawing several bamboo stalks curving and crossing in various directions across a large piece of white hard-stock paper. Each stalk represents one of life’s various roles: family, personal growth, health, relationships, fun, work, spiritual, etc. I place photographs, photos torn from magazines, words, etc. on the stalks to express my wishes for the role and the people it represents.
I continue this annual activity because nearly all of the wishes I made that first year came true. This made me a believer in the process of wishes come true if you ask for them, and so each year I make a new collage. I display my collage in a place where I see it regularly and I wait for my wishes to come true. Early in the summer I take an inventory to see where I stand at the mid-way point.
I always place magazine photos that speak to me, but have no particular meaning, on the collage. These are the “I don’t know what I’m wishing for, but I hope they come true” wishes. And, these are the ones that surprise me the most. One year I glued on two pictures of people in gardens. One of a man in a large sunhat bending over his plantings. This had no meaning to me at the time. The other of a woman holding a young girl’s hand as they stood next to a garden. This one I selected to remind me to contribute to my community. That year I ended up having a plot in a community garden next to the Girl Scouts’ plot. I didn’t go looking for this garden, it found me. My friend Jim told me he was spearheading an effort to build a garden for groups in the community on the land where a furniture factory and the GM parking lot used to be. His office building was on the land, which was bought and turned from a brown field into a green space by the developer. The first time I saw the space allocated for the community garden I looked at a barren field of pebbled brown dirt. Jim felt this field of dirt was “just begging” for a community garden “this could be broccoli he said to convince me to get involved with the project. I signed on. While helping Jim the day the gardened opened, it became clear we needed a plot for folks who weren’t part of a community group, but wanted to get in on the fun. I agreed to take responsibility for the plot. We called it the Folk Garden. Every time I picked up the hose to water my garden I thought of the picture on my manifestation board and this unconscious wish took aim and came true.
If you are a bit skeptical and haven’t made a wish, I mean a real heartfelt wish, I suggest you read The Wishing Year. You may change your mind. Follow that up with making your 2012 Manifestation Board. Best wishing!
Dr. Anne Power has over twenty-five years of experience coaching leaders, providing organizational consulting and leadership development, and teaching adults. She is an International Coach Federation Professional Certified Coach and a Hudson Institute of Santa Barbara certified coach. Examples of current client coaching projects include: AmRest Holdings SE, the largest independent restaurant operator in Central and Eastern Europe, developing and implementing a Coaching Skills for Managers initiative in over 600 restaurants. Prairie Lakes Hospital System, developing a coaching culture across the hospital system.