We are all familiar with the saying “Be careful what you ask for, you might just get it.” But what about: be specific about what you ask for or you might get the wrong thing?

For example, you don’t go into a restaurant and ask for a salad and assume that it will have the toppings and dressing that you like on it. And if you ask for a salad and get a generic boring salad instead of the spinach salad with roasted beets and warm goat cheese that you later realize was what you really wanted, you can’t blame them for bringing you a generic dish when you didn’t clearly ask for what you want. Even if you ask for what you want and they can’t make it, there is bound to be a restaurant that can.

This semi obvious wisdom in the salad metaphor translates to more profound scenarios such as manifesting the right apartment, shoes, partner, or job. Although in these cases, we don’t have a waiter taking our order, instead we are engaging (consciously or unconsciously) with whatever invisible forces move behind the scenes to make things happen. Many prefer to call this force God, or a variation thereof, and though it may sound somewhat vague, overused, or new agey, I’m going to refer to this great force beyond us as ‘the Universe’.

I am not necessarily just another proponent of the “Secret” philosophy that we can command cars and careers and money from the Universe and it must comply if we do it right. There is some selfishness in this spin on Universal law that I am a bit uncomfortable with. Yet the principles of manifestation seem to be pretty consistent across the many philosophies that proclaim them. These principles involve clarifying your desire, really asking for it, and then combining faith, gratitude and action till it comes to be.

I have had so many experiential confirmations of how easeful manifestation can be that now specificity is mandatory. So when it is time to manifest a new home, I write down the key features that my new home needs to have, from closet size to feel to price and place it on my wall or altar during my search. I still do all the work to find a place, but each time I have done this, I have magically found the place that matched my list.

So let’s take this principle into the realm of jobs. Jobs and money tend to be a place that many of us experience a frustration or a lack of easeful manifestation of just the right situation. But being a career coach in a recession time, I can’t oversimplify the matter by saying that it’s only a question of ask and you shall receive. There are limitations due to the socio-economic design of our modern society, and then there are limitations due to the scope of our own thinking. Yet specificity is still key here in manifesting a good fitting job. Just like our lunch dish, we don’t go to a company and ask for “a” job, we apply for a specific job and in some cases it doesn’t exist and we have to create it. (which will need to be the topic of a future blog post)

The specificity principle is not just applicable for manifesting, it is also a key for marketing. If you put out an ad saying Nice Massage available, you will get a fraction of the response then if I say Therapeutic Massage specializing in low back injuries or neck and shoulder pain from desk jobs. That is why everyone is saying niche niche niche. In the overwhelming array of options, you won’t hit a target unless you are aimed, and your target audience will not find you unless you hone in directly on them and their aims.

We need to have clarity in order to have this level of precision, and we have to be diligently curious and honest with ourselves to get that clarity. We have to ask ourselves over and over again, “What do I really want to be or to do?” What am I really good at? What is my biggest issue and what support do I need to solve it? What do I really want or really need right now?  What can I offer that will help others and feel fulfilling?

If it is clarity you want, then ask the Universe for the specific clarity that you need, and be willing to do the work to find it. Journaling, bouncing thoughts off best friends, or hiring a coach can all help you hone in on the correct target. If you already know what you want then challenge yourself to get really specific and put it on paper and ask the Universe for exactly that. If it is meant to be, it will be. And if you ask for it specifically, so much greater are the chances that your cherished desire will indeed be realized.

Cheers to your Clear and Easeful Manifestations,

Audette Sophia