When your manifestation has finally come to fruition, you happily jump around like a three-year-old kid and start celebrating it. But hang on, there’s one thing you forget – thank the Universe after manifesting. Gratitude is integral to manifestation but a lot of people leave it behind when they have gotten what they want despite how easy yet important it is to be grateful.
Let’s delve into why we should practice gratitude towards the Universe after manifesting and our day-to-day life. Then we will go through 10 ways of expressing gratitude to the Universe which eventually help you live a happier life.
To express gratitude is to simply be in gratitude
We always think that to live the life we want, we have to follow this methodology. Start by having the thoughts, then do something about it, only we can become the person who deserves to live our dream life.
However, it is the opposite when we are trying to manifest and practice gratitude. We start with being grateful. It is just a flip switch in your mind to start looking around the people and things through the lens of appreciation. You notice the clean air when you wake up and the bright moon at night. The mosquitoes that fly around you while you’re writing do not upset you as much now and you have more compassion towards the annoying colleague in the office.
We allow gratitude to flow through us and help us to express our gratitude in various ways. It can be through a simple thank you, note, journal, meditation, etc. (we will cover the methods later). Now that we are carrying out actions aligned with gratitude, our minds get filled up with more grateful and positive thoughts.
As you can see, it is a total reverse but it is so much easier.
Be grateful even when what you want isn’t here yet
Regardless of whether you have manifested the life or the version of you that you want, you can always say thank you to the Universe. Our brain cannot differentiate imagination and reality which is why heartbreak is technically true because you could feel the pain in your heart when you think of something that truly saddens you.
By being in gratitude for what you have and what you are manifesting, you start to act like the person who is entitled to what you are manifesting. Diving timing is the moment when everything aligns and your manifestation comes true in the most unexpected yet beautiful way. Many people lose faith before the divine timing. If you want to level up your manifesting and make the law of attraction work for you, check out the book notes below.
Read more: Manifest: 7 Steps to Living Your Best Life – Book Review and Notes
Break the myth: Gratitude keeps you stagnant in life
Gratitude is a good virtue to have, but sometimes we just don’t want to be grateful. Why? It’s because of the thought that is fearful that if we were to be contented with what we have today, we would not strive to be better, achieve bigger goals, earn more, etc.
However, this perception that gratitude makes us sluggish is wrong. Dr. Paul Conti’s MD — a Standford and Harvard-trained psychiatrist said that agency and gratitude are the keys to mental health and happiness in this podcast. Agency in this context means behaving with intention. As he elaborated, difficulties and challenges wouldn’t be able to take away the enthusiasm for life from people who have agency and gratitude. A person who is full of life force is always ready to take actions aligned with his life purpose.
Amy Morin also stated that exchanging self-pity for gratitude is one of the characteristics that a mentally strong person possesses in her book “13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do”. One good example of this virtue is Marla Runyan. She expressed gratitude towards her vision impairment. She didn’t see it as a disaster that ruined her life, but as a gift that pushed her to become the first American woman to finish the 2002 New York Marathon with an astounding time of 2 hours, 27 minutes.
Gratitude is not the same as staying in your comfort zone, it is a way of living that helps you see the silver lining and gain confidence to rise beyond your daily challenges.
How to thank the Universe after manifesting by connecting with the Universe
A simple and genuine ‘thank you’
When you don’t have time, a simple “thank you” to the Universe from the bottom of your heart is enough. However, if you want to express gratitude further, maybe in a tangible way, don’t miss out on the methods below!
Meditate
“Breathe in and breathe out. Let the thoughts come and go.”
Meditation is the practice of spending time with yourself and the Universe in stillness. You can always start with just 5 minutes of meditation in the morning. Take the time to observe yourself and your surroundings. During meditation, you can ask any questions and connect with your higher self and the Universe.
Here are some affirmations you can practice to ground your gratitude and thankfulness:
- Thank you Universe for [incident], I am grateful.
- I’m so lucky today that [incident] happened to me.
- Thank you Universe for the lesson that you taught me today through [people/incident].
- Thank you Universe that I can [do something].
- Thank you Universe that I have [something].
Keep note that these are just templates that you can begin with to get your gratitude flowing. You can add your quirks to the affirmations. For example, mine sounded like this:
“Universe, I appreciate you that I lost my office access card today. As you know, I had been misplacing wallets, keys, passports, and cards this year, but thanks to you, I could always find them back. This time I lost my office access card completely but I only had to pay a little fee to get a new one. Thank you for reminding me to be more aware of my belongings, especially when I’m moving around. I’m grateful to learn the lesson by paying a small price.”
Keep saying as many affirmations as you want. The more you practice, the easier for you to find things to be grateful for in life, leading to a happier life.
How to thank the Universe after manifesting by writing
Other than connecting with the Universe through visualization, we can tell the Universe we are grateful for our lives and manifestation through writing.
Write a thank you letter
With the emergence of text messages and social media, we rarely write letters anymore. However, we cannot deny how touching it feels when we read a handwritten letter that the author has poured his heart into. If you want to pen down all your feelings and express gratitude in words, a letter is an excellent option.
This is an example of my thank you letter to the Universe.
Dear Universe,
I am grateful for the life that I have today. I have friends and family who have witnessed different versions of me as I grow. They truly cherish me and support me throughout my personal development journey. I’m grateful to have come across the first self-help book “The Mountain Is You”. I had read a couple more books and fortunately, they had expanded my horizons and motivated me to replace my unhealthy lifestyle with good habits and routines. Thank you for testing my faith. Even when I failed some of the tests, you protected me by removing people and things that no longer served me. Thank you for loving me unconditionally and helping me see my worth. Now that I’m a happier person doing what I love to do, I promise to share the joy and my journey with the public to help those in need.
Best,
Shan Yi
Gratitude journal
If you want an ongoing gratitude practice through writing, consider making a gratitude journal. There are a few gratitude journaling prompts that can help you get started. Remember to be specific and elaborate on them as much as possible till you are filled with gratitude from the bottom of your heart.
10 journaling prompts for gratitude:
- What privileges did you have since born?
- What was the best gift you received as a child?
- Write about an event in your life that changed it for the better.
- Who has loved you unconditionally?
- Write about a person you are grateful for, but sometimes take for granted.
- List 5 positive qualities of the first person you usually talk to each day.
- What was your best day ever?
- How have you grown in the past year?
- What book or movie are you grateful for? How did it impact you?
- What or who made you feel good this week?
List down 5 things to be grateful for every day
Out of the three ways of expressing gratitude through writing, this is the easiest. You can list them in your gratitude journal as well. Here are some of the ideas of things that you can be grateful for:
- Waking up to a partner or family beside you
- Nice weather
- Home-cooked food by your mum
- Catch up with your ex-colleagues
- Had a fun workout session
- Helped someone today
- Learned something from reading a book today
- Watched a good show
How to thank the Universe after manifesting by paying it forward
By paying it forward, you share the joy and help the Universe in realizing other people’s wishes. Although you shouldn’t be expecting anything in return, doesn’t it feel good to make someone’s day and perhaps save a bit of positive karma credit for yourself?
Volunteer to help a worthy cause
You can volunteer to help out part-time at an NGO, serve hungry people in a soup kitchen, or spend time with kids in an orphanage or with elderly residents in a nursing home. Meeting people from all walks of life and helping those who are not as privileged as you enrich your understanding of life. It reminds you to be grateful for what you already have.
Random act of kindness
Whether you help your colleague clean his mug, give the person on the street an extra bill, or just smile at a stranger today, doing a good deed can help bring more meaning to your day.
Other than people you meet day-to-day, you can reconnect with your childhood friend or someone else you haven’t spoken to in a long time. There might be some things you are grateful for them, or what you feel was left unsaid, maybe even an apology. Don’t put it off, send them a text or give them a call today. We never know what will happen tomorrow.
Heal our mother nature
You don’t need to become an environmentalist and protest in front of big corporations about global warming, animal testing, controversial weapons, and more. You can pick up plastic bags when you stroll at the beach, take care of a stray cat, or use less air conditioning in your bedroom.
Remember that every corner of the earth is a part of the Universe. Everything you do even the smallest gestures to help our planet will be noticed by the Universe.
How to thank the Universe after manifesting by taking good care of yourself
You are an expression of the Universe. How you treat yourself is also how you treat the Universe. Your relationship with others is a reflection of the relationship you have with yourself and the Universe. Learning to appreciate and love yourself just as you are at this moment is how you show your gratitude for this lifetime.
Be kind and compassionate to yourself. It’s all our first time living on the earth, so don’t beat yourself up. How I build my self-esteem and strengthen my self-worth is through reading books, working out regularly, practicing meditation, setting healthy boundaries, and only saying yes to things and people that bring out the good side of me. I no longer tolerate habits, people, and addictions that bog me down.
However, if you find yourself having uncontrollable self-deprecating thoughts and sabotaging yourself physically and mentally, please seek professional help before it is too late.
Living a mindful and intentional life is gratitude
It is important to thank the Universe after manifesting as well as in our day-to-day lives. As mentioned at the beginning of the post, we should simply be in gratitude to express thankfulness to the Universe. The easiest way to achieve this in our day-to-day lives is to live a mindful and intentional life.
When we are intentional about what we think and do with full awareness of our current presence and surroundings, we embody gratitude effortlessly. This in return gives us the ability to enjoy and be excited about our life every day.
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