Manifesting an Abundant Life in the New Year
Have you heard of the recent trend of manifesting? It became popular on social media in 2020, and its popularity has been increasing ever since!
Manifesting is basically rewiring your brain to use it as a powerful tool to accomplish your goals. If that sounds like something you could easily apply to your own life, then keep reading. This post is for you!
And here’s the part we love most: manifesting isn’t just for solo goals. When you and your spouse point your intentions at the same dream, it becomes one of the most powerful things you can do for your marriage. So in this post, we’ll show you how to manifest your best year yet—together.
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Table of Contents
What Is Manifesting?
You’ve probably heard the phrase “manifest it!” at least once. But what exactly does that mean, and what is manifesting?
To put it simply, manifesting is the hope of bringing something good into existence by putting positive thoughts and aspirations into the universe.
Manifesting has been a popular practice in recent years, but did you know that it can be traced back as early as the 1800s? In my opinion, manifesting must work if it has been practiced for over 200 years!
Of course, manifesting doesn’t mean that you should leave everything up to the universe. The reality is that you need to put in the hard work, rather than expecting the universe to reward you because you asked. Good things come to us because we work hard and we do our best!
In the article “I’m a Neuroscientist: Here’s Why I Believe in the Power of Manifestation,” Julia Ries begins by saying, “It’s not about asking the universe to reward you; it’s about rewiring your brain to reward itself.”
How to Manifest the Right Way
Manifesting, when done correctly, can be a powerful tool in your life.
In the article mentioned above, James R. Doty, MD says, “Manifesting, from a neuroscience perspective, is about rewiring your brain so it’s primed to subconsciously seek out something you want or the steps you need to take to reach a certain goal. When you spend a lot of time thinking about an intention, you end up convincing yourself it’s within reach. You change your mindset and, along the way, create and strengthen neural pathways that motivate your brain to make your dream come true.”
This is what I’d like to focus on throughout the rest of this post, but if you’re interested in learning more about the neuroscience behind manifesting, then I highly suggest reading the full article, as well as Dr. Doty’s book Mind Magic: The Neuroscience of Manifestation and How It Changes Everything.
5 Steps for Proper Manifesting
1. Come up with clear goals and intentions. The more specific you are, the better!
2. Put those goals and intentions out into the universe. This can be done by talking to a close friend or family member, saying a prayer, creating a vision board (Pinterest is great for that!), or writing them down in a notebook specifically for manifesting.
3. Come up with a plan for accomplishing these goals. Again, the more specific, the better! Writing down your plan is probably the best option for this step since writing things down can help us remember things better (true story!). AND, you’ll be able to access and/or edit your plan more easily. You could also keep a note on your phone or computer.
4. Think about the goals and the plan often. Thinking about these two things will be a sort of exercise for your brain. This exercise will help prime your brain to subconsciously seek out the things that will help you accomplish your goals, even when you aren’t necessarily focused on the goal at the time.
5. Put your plan into action, and don’t allow roadblocks to discourage you! Discouragement can be a powerful tool, too. Do your best to keep a positive attitude as you move forward with your plan, and if anything gets in your way, remind yourself that sometimes we can’t control what happens to us, but we can choose how we react to it. If this goal is truly important to you, you’ll find a way!
A Real-Life Example: Manifesting a Stronger Marriage
The best part? These same five steps work beautifully when the goal is your marriage. Let’s walk through them with a goal a lot of couples share: you’ve drifted into roommate mode, and your intention this year is to reconnect with a real weekly date night.
- 1. Get specific. Not just “spend more time together,” but “one intentional date night every week, just the two of us.” Clear goals are easier for your brain—and your calendar—to act on.
- 2. Say it out loud, together. Talk about it as a couple, tell a couple of friends, and put it on a shared vision board or the fridge. Naming it to each other makes it real and keeps you both accountable.
- 3. Make a plan. Pick the night, line up a sitter or a solid bedtime routine, keep a running list of date ideas, and set a small monthly budget. Write it down somewhere you’ll both see it.
- 4. Keep it top of mind. When you both think about this goal often, your brains start noticing opportunities—a new restaurant, a free Friday, a fun at-home idea—that nudge you toward it.
- 5. Take action and keep going. Book the first date this week. And when a busy season threatens to derail you (it will), reschedule instead of canceling. Progress beats perfection.
Do that, and by this time next year you won’t just be hoping for a closer marriage—you’ll have built one, one date at a time. That’s what manifesting with your spouse really is: shared intention plus consistent action.
Manifesting a Stronger Marriage This Year
The same five steps work beautifully when your goal is your marriage — and doing it together makes it even more powerful. Try it as a couple: name a clear intention for your relationship this year (weekly date nights, less phone time at dinner, a big trip just the two of you, or simply arguing better). Say it out loud to each other, and put it on a shared vision board if you like. Make a specific plan — get the date nights on the calendar, set a budget, decide who does what. Talk about it often, the way you would any shared dream, so both of your brains start noticing little opportunities to move toward it. Then act on it, and don’t let a rough week throw you off course. When two people are pointed at the same goal, you’re not just manifesting — you’re building the marriage you both want, on purpose.
Need a starting point? Browse our at-home date night ideas or the 30-Day Love Challenge, our guide to rekindling the spark, or our communication tips to turn this year’s intention into action.
Key Takeaways
While manifesting may seem like an easy way to be rewarded with the things you desire by simply shouting it to the universe, this isn’t the case. Manifesting can play a vital role in changing the way your brain thinks, which in turn, can help you better accomplish your goals. Manifestation can also help you take accountability for your dreams and the life you desire by being more direct and strategic about the actions you take to achieve them and your daily habits and behaviors.
It’s important to remember that hard work, determination, positivity, and hope are the only ways to truly get what you want out of this life.
As you step into a new year with fresh goals, keep in mind that YOU are in charge of how your year goes. Of course, things happen to us even when it isn’t our fault. That’s life, and sometimes that’s a tough pill to swallow! But in the end, we choose how we react to situations (as unfair as they are)… and when it comes to manifesting our goals, it comes down to choosing to put in the hard work and stay the course despite our circumstances.
I am manifesting that we are all blessed with a happy, healthy, thriving year ahead! Happy New Year!
Manifesting & Marriage FAQs
Yes — when you understand manifesting as intention plus action (not magic). By setting a clear goal for your relationship, saying it out loud together, making a plan, keeping it top of mind, and consistently acting on it, you and your spouse can absolutely build a closer, stronger marriage this year.
Manifesting is the practice of bringing a goal to life by combining focused, positive intention with real effort. From a neuroscience perspective, thinking often about a clear goal primes your brain to notice opportunities and take steps toward it — but you still have to do the work.
Name a shared intention for your marriage, say it out loud to each other (a shared vision board helps), make a specific plan with dates and a budget, think about it often, and take consistent action. Pointing both of you at the same goal makes it far more powerful than going it alone.
It works when it’s grounded in action rather than wishful thinking. Research on goal-setting and the brain shows that clearly defining and regularly focusing on a goal helps you pursue it more effectively. Manifesting fails when people expect results without effort — and succeeds when intention is paired with hard work.
Great couple goals include a weekly date night, less phone time at dinner, a trip just the two of you, learning to argue more kindly, praying or reflecting together, or a shared fitness or savings goal. Pick one clear, specific intention and build a simple plan around it together.
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