Meditation Techniques by Woodland Hills Therapist Tiffany Shelton

– Tiffany is a holistic psychotherapist providing counseling in Woodland Hills (West Valley), as psychological assistant supervised by Jenn Samstag, PsyD, PSY26050. She specializes in women’s empowerment related to self-esteem, self-confidence, and relationship issues. Her writing, public speaking, and teaching endeavors are dedicated to helping others elevate consciousness using mindfulness and meditation techniques and well-being. Email Tiffany at TiffanySheltonTherapist@gmail.com for more information on therapy, consultation, or presenting or click HERE 

Road Map to Goal Setting and Manifestation

I believe one of the greatest meditation techniques is Manifestation, which focused on using contemplative thought and action to achieve a goal. Growing up as an avid believer in the Bible, I always lived a life that corresponded with ask and you shall receive. Adding on to this philosophy as a young adult I read books like The Secret by Rhonda Bryne and A New Earth by Eckhart Tollee, which further solidified my manifestation process. Over the years I have created a personalized process of manifestation and goal setting that I have ritualized with the New Year along with mini check-ins throughout the year. I believe that every person has to find their own practice of manifestation, but my hope in sharing my process is to inspire a more thorough process for you to help you further manifest your hopes and dreams. Using this method my life has unfolded in limitless and profoundly fulfilling ways, only limited by my ability to believe in my own worthiness and hard work.

Here is my step-by-step process of goal setting and manifestation each New Year.

1. Start with Gratitude

All teachings that preach the route to greatness and getting what you want heavily stress the ability to first acknowledge and appreciate what you already have. Manifestation isn’t about filling an empty well, but continuing to transform your greatness in ways that align with your evolving desires. I always start my process with detailing in full what I am grateful for in a letter to God. If you are not a spiritual person, write your letter to the universe or to your Higher self. Whoever you wish to express your gratitude to, the key is to do it in a way that speaks to how abundant your life is already. After all if you can’t see what you already have, why should you be trusted to behold, see, and appreciate new blessings.

2. Reach for the Moon

Many motivational speakers, like Les Brown, live by the notion, “Reach for the moon. Even if you miss you’ll land among the stars.” Psychology research supports this notion but also adds that those macro larger than life goals must be accompanied by micro goals that you can work towards daily to get there. When I was a therapist working in evidence based practice, (therapy based on science and mandates scientific measurements of progress) we used an acronym that is very helpful when making micro-goals, SMART. It stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. For instance if your major goal is to write a book, a SMART mini goal would be to write 1,000 words per day according to Nathan Barry, as it is specific (write), measurable (1,000 words), attainable and realistic (1,000 words is a realistic daily goal) and timely (per day). Another example of a major goal is to take that dream vacation to another country. This is an example that may require multiple SMART mini goals like 1) Save $300 per month, 2) Reduce dining out at restaurants to 2x/month, and 3) Find 1 stream of extra income in the next 3 months. So remember to dream big, but don’t forget to plan the reality of getting there. This is detailed more in the article, 5 Scientific Ways to Build Habits That Stick.

3. But Why?

In order to make sure you maintain these micro goals described in step 3, it’s important to know how to make new habits stick. The most prevalent information from research on getting new habits to stick details the importance of keeping in mind the “Why?” behind each goal. It is crucial to remind yourself why you want something in order to make the necessary changes to achieve this new goal. And similar to our SMART micro goals, the “why?” or desired outcome of achieving our goals must also be specific and measurable. For instance if you have a goal to become a dedicated and aerobatic yogi with a mini goal of practicing daily, unless you have processed why you want to achieve this goal and what you will gain from doing so, science says it will be very difficult to maintain the habit of daily practice. Instead research tells us that we should constantly keep in mind what is motivating us to achieve a dream, especially on days when we are feeling unmotivated. For this example, it would be helpful for one to keep in mind the WHY? behind their yoga goal, like increasing moments of peace by 200% in my life or doubling my well-being and happiness and ability to cope.

4. Envisioning

Okay, okay, now you can make that vision board. Philosophies like The Secret, taught the incredible importance of being able to envision your manifestation in your mind’s eye. Ever heard the phrase, “I’ll believe it when I see it”. Well as described in step 5 below, belief is a key factor of manifestation and seeing our success in our mind’s eye can help solidify our beliefs.

5. Faith in Advance

Believing in yourself and your dreams is another crucial factor of manifestation. Your life will only expand within the limits of what you believe you deserve and can achieve. This is not to say that life doesn’t hand us hardship despite our beliefs, however without faith we would never persevere and survive through life’s storm. So have sincere faith that what you are inviting into your life will happen, and have gratitude for your blessings before you receive them. Similar to step one, we can only experience blessings we are aware of and gratitude is a sure fire way to bring awareness to the abundance that is coming your way.

6. Divine Alignment

Finally as a completing step, I recommend aligning your goals with your Higher Power or your Higher Self. This can be done a number of ways including meditation, mindfulness exercises like yoga, guided visualization, or prayer dedicated to your goals. If we use the analogy of mind, body, and spirit to represent completeness, thinking about our goals and visualizing them can be seen as the MIND, detailing the tangible hard work to reach our goals can be seen as BODY (or substance), and aligning these goals with your inner soul and power can be seen as SPIRIT which therefore completes the process of manifestation.

I hope this guide helps you manifest your rightful destiny and please let me know any ways you have personalized this process for yourself.

– Tiffany is a holistic psychotherapist providing counseling in Woodland Hills (West Valley), as psychological assistant supervised by Jenn Samstag, PsyD, PSY26050. She specializes in women’s empowerment related to self-esteem, self-confidence, and relationship issues. Her writing, public speaking, and teaching endeavors are dedicated to helping others elevate consciousness using mindfulness and meditation techniques and well-being. Email Tiffany at TiffanySheltonTherapist@gmail.com for more information on therapy, consultation, or presenting or click HERE