Manifest More Time

On any random given day, the following is likely to have come out of my mouth at some point if not multiple times.

• “I don’t have enough time.”
• “Where has the day gone?!”
• “I have so much to do.”
• “I am so busy.”

When I did a search online on how to manifest more time, a couple results gave strict instructions to stop saying those things and to say the opposite, even if I did not feel what I was saying was true. Here are the things I am going to train myself to say moving forward instead:

• “I have SO much free time.”
• “I have all the time I need to finish everything I want to do.”
• “I have so much time I don’t know what to do with myself.”

Another result I came across said to focus on the feeling of calm of having all the time needed to accomplish everything I want to do, instead of focusing on the anxiety and stress that comes with the lack of time mentality. I think of this as imagining how I am when on a relaxing tropical vacation, where my only goals of the day are to get food, lounge by the water, and enjoy whatever the day may bring. That ultimate leisure vibe, where my mind and body feels at peace is the feeling I am striving for.

Because I believe in the Law of Attraction and Law of Assumption, I found an answer posted 5 years ago on Quora by Angelina Jordan, who helps people shift their limiting self-beliefs. She says:

“Speaking as someone who has manifested an abundance of free time for myself, and as someone who has studied, practiced, and taught about the Law of Attraction for 12 years, here is what you do, in a nutshell. I know it looks like a long answer, but it’s just two easy steps (along with lots of explaining 🙂 ).

Carve out a small amount of time for yourself, first thing in the morning. I don’t care if you are only able to get off to yourself for 5 minutes, just do it.

Ok, so once you first wake up, acknowledge the fact that today is a brand new day, and that you have a clean slate. Get up, get out of bed, and get your blood moving a little bit. And by that, I mean, get up and go to the restroom, or brush your teeth, etc. DON’T start thinking about what you have to do today, or what was left undone from yesterday. Next, sit down in a comfortable position (or lay down, if you know you won’t fall back to sleep), put in your headphones, and play some gentle meditation-type music that you find enjoyable (there’s plenty on you tube). Or if you prefer, you can choose a guided meditation, or simply sit in silence.

Remember, 5 minutes is enough if that’s all you have right now. Set an alarm if you are concerned about falling asleep. The most important aspect of this exercise is your breathing. Slowly breathe in, then slowly breathe out. To keep it simple, you can aim for an 8 count breath. 4 counts in, 4 counts out, or 3 counts in, 5 counts out… It really doesn’t matter, as long as you are aware of taking slow, deliberate breaths.

Now that you know the “what” of step 1, here is the “why”:
Doing a short meditation first thing in the morning, after your body and mind are alert and awake (but before you’ve gotten the wheels turning, so to speak) accomplishes two important things.

First, you are connecting to the deepest, wisest part of yourself. The part of yourself that knows how to guide you to the most time-effective way of accomplishing anything and everything. Your intuition.
If you open up a pathway to that part of yourself, even if it’s just for 5 minutes a day, you will notice that you’ll get little hunches throughout the day to “do it this way, instead of that way”, or to make any number of small (or not so small) time-saving decisions.

Second, you say you want more time in the day. Well, the funny thing about the law of attraction is that it seems to “reward” people who already have what they want. The reason is that it sort of acts as a mirror and reflects back to you how you already feel. So if you feel like there’s not enough time, the universe won’t argue, it will show you that you don’t have enough time. Therefore, this little 5 minutes of quieting your mind, is you practicing the feeling of having more time for yourself. As you start feeling like you have more time to breathe (literally), life starts to open up and give you more evidence that you have more time.

What in your life is going well right now? Who and what do you really, truly like? Pick something easy.
After your mini-mental vacation described above, you now want to train yourself not to jump into habitual patterns of thought. Chances are, those old thoughts are about things that need to get done. If you’re spending your mental focus (yes, I consider it currency) on the “stuff you need to do” at some point in the future, when that stuff is not even in front of you yet, you’re calling forth MORE stuff that you’ll eventually “need to do”.

Focus on what needs to be done when it’s in front of your face and actually demands your focus, not during your mental free time. See what I did there? You’re taking a shower? Mental free time. You’re eating? Mental free time. Driving to work? Mental free time. You want to AMPLIFY the feeling of free time!

So now what are you going to do with all of this new-found mental free time??

What you want to do is choose thoughts that are light, easy, and good-feeling. How does the hot water feel on your skin as you shower? Let yourself bask a bit in this small pleasure. Does music get you fired up? Enjoy it while you’re getting ready for your day. Who in your life is just so awesome and so easy to love? Hint: they may or may not have fur on them, haha :). Let the thoughts of them wash over you. How does the fresh air feel on your skin when you first step outside? How does it smell? Let’s say you’re driving to work. Pass any beautiful scenery? How does your coffee taste? Is it just the way you like it? Awesome!

I know these little thoughts and points of focus don’t seem important at first glance. They may seem downright silly. But this is what you’re REALLY doing:
You are saying to the Universe- Look how free and expansive my time is! Look at how many little moments I have to enjoy!!

You know how the Universe responds??
It “says”- Why, you’re absolutely right!! Here’s some more!

THAT is how you do it.“

Luckily I have a Withings Scanwatch that has a Breathe mode which provides both visual and tactile guidance to focus on breathing between 1 to 5 minutes, with the option to select from 4 to 9 breaths per minute, so that I can take the time to do it anywhere I am with ease. I really appreciate how quick and easy it is to take time to breathe and help me get into the mindset of having more time in the day by making time for myself to focus on my existence by breathing. Please feel free to check out my Withings Breathe Mode post for details on exactly how this watch function works. I also have a Withings Scanwatch Review post that discusses all the other features of the watch.

The hardest part for me with taking 5 minutes before starting work, aside from actually taking those 5 minutes, is trying to keep my mind from thinking of all the different things that are on my to do list for the day. I am so used to rolling out of bed and going straight to my desk with all the work problems already running through my head. For years I have started work in my pajamas, hair and teeth not even brushed to get my laptop booted up and email opened so I can see how many new emails came since I logged off the day before. It was not uncommon for me to wait until I got through any urgent emails before going back to the bathroom to get ready for the day.

Changing my bad habits is not easy, but something I am striving to do with my blood pressure being high in the mornings because I start my day off feeling very anxious and stressed about all the things I need to do at work, in addition to all the personal things I want to accomplish at the end of the day. Lately, with all my personal goals and desires to focus on my creativity, especially with writing, I have added so much more to my to do list than I ever have before, inadvertently putting a lot more pressure on myself, even though the act of writing itself is very pleasurable. I hope this is one habit that I will be able to successfully form and I’d be very interested to see if it results in manifesting more time for myself.