“You must see your goals clearly and specifically before you can set out for them. Hold them in your mind until they become second nature.”
~Les Brown, Author & Motivational Speaker
It seems like everyone is trying their hand at intentional manifestation these days. And I couldn’t be happier to hear it. Because, as we practice at focusing our intent for optimum manifestation, we each become more aware of the negative messages that we are sending out in our daily lives. And, in so doing, we tend to lessen the number of those messages that we are broadcasting, which can only result in the evolution of a more positive world.
What isn’t positive, however, is the frustration that many of us can often feel when we work to manifest something and it doesn’t seem to turn out properly. Try as we might it seems that the focus of our intent on one positive thing, long enough to bring it into manifestation for ourself, is something that we just cannot achieve.
Many people determine, prematurely, that the power of intention simply doesn’t work or, that their own thoughts are too hopelessly negative to allow them to use this power. But this is not necessarily the truth.
We live in an externalizing society. We are taught to believe that all that we could or should be doing to better ourselves is something outside of ourself. Thus the internal and natural abilities which are involved in intentional manifestation, the imaginative and visualization skills we need to employ, have not been properly nurtured or developed in our lives.
In developing the skill of focusing our visualizations on our intent, and seeing it as real, we can become more and more gifted at the actual manifestation of our deepest desires.
Here is a Visualization Focusing Exercise that you can practice at to strengthen these abilities:
First, choose a solid object that is about the size of your hand, but not bigger than you can hold in your hand. Make sure that the object doesn’t have too many colors or too many sharp angles or jagged edges. *The classic item used in this type of exercise is an apple.
Next, sit comfortably, as if you were preparing to meditate. Hold the object in both hands and stare at it. Examine it and how it feels in your hands. Look at its different attributes and slowly turn it, touching and observing the look and feel of all of its sides.
Continue memorizing its features. Feel its weight, its texture. Observe any nicks in its surface and how the light reflects off of, or casts shadows, upon it. Sit with it for as long as you feel necessary to really know what holding it looks and feels like.
Now, set the object down on a table or the floor in front of you. Place it so that you can clearly see it but cannot touch it. While looking at the object, place your hands in the same position that they would be in if your were holding the item.
Here you begin to visualize (ie. pretend or imagine) that you ARE still holding the item. Feel its weight, see its color and shape in your hands. Allow yourself to imagine running your hands over its surface. Feel its texture against your skin.
You may close your eyes, if the “feeling” sensation is easier for you. Or keep them open, if the “seeing” sensation is easier for you. DO NOT mistake looking at the actual object in front of you for actually visualizing it in your hands. You may glance at it in front of you but the point is to SEE and/or FEEL it still in your hands.
You can sit with this exercise for as long as you like until you feel some measure of success. And you can begin again by picking up the object and following these same steps as often as you like. Don’t give up, your ability will improve with time and frequency of practice.
Use the same object every time, or change objects when you wish, the choice is yours. Changing objects may make it more difficult but some people like a challenge. 
Once you succeed and are comfortable with your ability to feel or see the object still in your hands for a long while after setting it down, you can then move to setting it out of sight and trying to achieve the same level of visualization.
After you get really good at it, keep practicing at further distances. Sit with the object in the morning before leaving the house and then try the visualization while on your lunch break at work.
Then, once you master a simple, hand-sized object, you can try your hand at smaller objects, like keys and buttons, or more jagged and complicated objects, such as a banana, a wrench, a Rubiks cube or a dvd case. Maybe you will be able to sit on a motorcycle or a bicycle and then use your visualization abilities to recreate that sensation long after you finish your ride.
This process can and will lead you to being able to stand in an empty field and see that dream home being built, or stand on a stage and feel the 20,000 people cheering for you.
Focus on developing your hidden skills and strengthening your belief in your powers of imagination and intention. If you want it, you will get there!
