The 3 Stages Where Your Manifestations Get Stuck (And How To Move Forward)

I was trapped in Stage 2 at the pull-up bar. Here’s the single question that built the bridge to Stage 3.

Photo by Aleksandr Barsukov on Unsplash

First published on Medium

Let’s get straight to it.

This work — the real work of shifting your identity to change your reality — isn’t about more information.

You already know what to do.

But knowing and being are two different worlds.

And most people get trapped in the gap between them.

I see it all the time. From my own journey and from guiding our community, people who understand the law get stuck in one of three places.

See which one sounds familiar.

Stage 1: You understand the concept, but your 3D world hasn’t budged.

You’ve read Neville Goddard’s book The Power of Awareness (affiliate link to book). You get the “feeling is the secret” part.

But when you look at your bank account, your relationships, or your fitness level… it feels like you’re staring at proof that the law doesn’t work for you.

You’re waiting for the outside to change to prove the inside shift is real.

What you need isn’t another teaching. You need a “halfway pull-up.”

Stage 2: You’re doing the practices, but from the old identity.

You visualize. You affirm. You script.

But you’re doing it as the person who lacks the thing, trying to get it. There’s a subtle strain, a quiet desperation in the background. It feels like spiritual homework, not embodied truth.

This is why it feels fragile. You’re building the new identity on the shaky foundation of the old one.

What you need is to stop the old story before it starts.

Stage 3: You have moments of breakthrough, but you can’t sustain the state.

You’ve had glimpses. A flash of perfect confidence. A day where money flowed easily. A workout where you felt unstoppable.

But then life happens, and you snap back to the old default. It feels like trying to hold a new pose that your muscles keep forgetting.

What’s missing isn’t belief. It’s a daily repetition so simple that failure is impossible.

Then, naturally, the sky is the limit.

I was in Stage 2 just the other day.

Standing under the pull-up bar, my coach asked me to try. My mind instantly served up the inner talk of the old identity:

“I can’t do a pull-up yet.”

I was about to retreat. To confirm the old story.

But my coach simply said,

“From what I’ve seen, you’re closer than you think.”

His words didn’t give me strength. They reminded me of the identity I’d been practicing in my mind for months: the athlete.

I pulled myself higher than ever before.

That “halfway pull-up” wasn’t the final goal. It was the 3D proof my subconscious needed to lock in the new story. It was the bridge between Stage 2 and Stage 3.

This is the entire game:

Find your “halfway pull-up.”

For our writing, it was hitting “publish” daily. That action could only come from the identity “I am an abundant author,” not from “I am a wanna-be writer.”

That one shift changed everything.

Wherever you are, your next step is to identify and complete your very next “halfway pull-up.”

Not the full manifestation. Just the one, small, physical action that only the new version of you would confidently take.

Do that, and you’ve given the 3D its first instruction to conform.

Your “Halfway Pull-Up” This Week

The theory is simple. The practice is where freedom is won.

Your mission is to finish this sentence:

“This week, the new version of me will…”

Make it so small that it’s effortless.

“…write one paragraph before checking email.”
“…schedule 15 minutes of quiet for visualization.”
“…say no to one thing that drains my energy.”

Just name it. That’s the first pull.

Extra-credit for lasting change: Write it in the comments below. Declare it. This public commitment is a powerful act of self-assumption. It tells your subconscious you’re serious, and it lets us celebrate your start.

Where This Goes Next

A single “halfway pull-up” creates momentum. But true identity shift requires a practice — a supportive space where your new self is reflected back to you daily, and where the old stories lose their power.

That’s why we built Shift Your Identity (SYI), our free Skool community.

It’s not another course. It’s a living workshop where we:

• Name & celebrate our weekly “pull-ups.”

• Troubleshoot the old stories when they surface.

• Practice the “feeling-first” method together in real-time.

If you’re ready to move from reading about the shift to embodying it alongside others on the same path, you are welcome.

→ Click here to join Shift Your Identity for free.

Make the shift inwardly,
Cristof (and Sophia)
The mirror of life is bound to conform.

The Gym Lesson That Unlocked My Manifestations (And How To Do It Yourself)

My coach called me out on my biggest limiting assumption. What happened next taught me the real secret behind Neville Goddard’s “Truth That Sets You Free.”

Photo by Anastase Maragos on Unsplash

First published on Medium

I stood in front of the pull-up bar, feeling a familiar knot of fear and shame in my stomach.

My coach had just asked me to see how far I’d come. My mind instantly screamed the old story: “No, I can’t really do any pull-ups yet.”

I was about to retreat, to shrink back into the identity of “someone who can’t do a pull-up.” It was a comfortable, if painful, story. It was my assumption, and I was its slave.

But my coach saw a different story. He looked at me and said, “From what I’ve seen you do, you are much closer. Just try to get as far as you can.”

His words were a key. They didn’t give me new strength; they unlocked a strength that was already there, buried under a pile of limiting assumptions.

I grabbed the bar. I pulled. And for the first time, my chin moved almost halfway to the bar. It wasn’t the full pull-up, but it was a quantum leap. In that moment, I wasn’t “trying.” I was being — an athlete who was capable, powerful, and on the verge of a breakthrough.

That day at the gym was a perfect, physical demonstration of a psychological truth I’d been studying for years. It was a living example of chapter 5 from Neville Goddard’s book The Power of Awareness (affiliate link to book) Sophia had been teaching on a TikTok Live just days before.

Neville writes,

“Since your life is determined by your assumptions, you are forced to recognize the fact that you are either a slave to your assumptions or their master.”

In that moment of fear, I was a slave. But my coach’s words reminded me of the identity I had the power to master.

The Identity I Practice in the Dark

You see, for three months, I had been doing a very specific mental practice. While my physical body couldn’t do a pull-up or a handstand, my mind was already an athlete who could.

Every night before bed, I would close my eyes and say the affirmation:

“I am an athlete who can do pull-ups and walk on hands.”

I wouldn’t just say the words. I would let the visual form naturally in my mind’s eye — seeing my hands grip the bar, feeling the muscle engagement, experiencing the triumph of the full motion. And then, most crucially, I would tap into the feeling: the confidence, the pride, the pure joy of having that skill.

Sometimes, I used the 369 method: saying the affirmation with feeling three times in the morning, six times in the afternoon, and nine times before sleep. This wasn’t about begging the universe; it was about impressing my own subconscious with a new, dominant story.

The result? The 3D reality is catching up. I can now hold a handstand against the wall for over 20 seconds. And that “halfway pull-up” was a direct download from the identity I’d been practicing in my mind.

From the Gym to Your Greatest Goals

This isn’t just about pull-ups. This is the master key to manifesting anything.

I’ve applied this exact same formula to my work as a writer. For a long time, the identity of the “wanna-be writer” came with baggage: overthinking, fear of publishing, and playing small.

So, I started practicing a new identity:

“I am a financially abundant author.”

When I say this affirmation, I feel a wave of peace and joy in my head and chest. It’s not a feeling of frantic desire, but of a satisfied state of wish fulfilled.

This new identity inspired tangible actions the “wanna-be writer” would never have taken:

1. Writing and publishing consistently, without overthinking. The abundant author knows their voice has value and doesn’t get bogged down in perfectionism.

2. Submitting articles to bigger publications. The abundant author plays a bigger game because they know they belong there.

The 3D hasn’t caught up to the full vision of financial abundance yet. But it is responding. Our Medium channel just hit 100 followers — a milestone worth celebrating! Our income from the platform has noticeably increased. These are the “halfway pull-ups” in my author journey, proving the technique is working.

Your Practical Takeaway: Feel It First

The most important takeaway from all of this is simple, yet profound:

To have what you want, you must first become the person who has it.

And the key to that shift isn’t just thinking or visualizing — it’s feeling.

We don’t want the new car, the perfect relationship, or the thriving business for the object itself. We want it for the feeling we believe it will give us: security, love, freedom, joy, peace.

The revolutionary secret is this: you don’t have to wait. You can generate that feeling now.

• Want financial abundance? Don’t just visualize stacks of cash. Step into the feeling of peace and security that abundance brings. Feel it in your body. Let it calm your mind.

• Want a loving relationship? Don’t just imagine a person. Generate the feeling of being cherished and understood right now, in your heart.

• Want better health? Connect with the feeling of vitality and gratitude for a body that is whole and well.

When you live from the feeling of the wish fulfilled, you naturally start to think, act, and make decisions as that person. The 3D world has no choice but to rearrange itself to match your inner state.

This is Neville’s “Truth That Sets You Free.” You are not a passive victim of your circumstances. You are the author of your assumptions, and the master of your identity. Your only limit is your uncontrolled imagination.

So, what’s the “pull-up” in your life? What story have you been a slave to?

It’s time to become its master.

Ready to master your assumptions and shift your identity alongside a supportive community? We dive deeper into these practices daily in our free Skool community, “Shift Your Identity” (SYI). Join us and others who are consciously creating their reality. Click here to join Shift Your Identity for free.

The One Sentence That Fixed My Broken Chair (& Rewired My Reality)

Neville Goddard was right: “An assumption, though false, if persisted in, will harden into fact.” Here’s how we proved it in a movie theater.

Photo by Dan Meyers on Unsplash

First published on Medium

It was supposed to be a perfect, cozy afternoon.

We were at a fancy theater, the kind with big, electric recliners and seat warmers. It was Sophia’s birthday treat. She kicked back her chair, turned on the heat, and sighed with contentment.

I pressed the button on my chair. Nothing.
I tried again. Still nothing. No recline, no warmth.

The old me would have felt a flash of frustration. Of course my chair is broken. Typical. This always happens to me. That narrative was ready to roll, an automatic script written by a lifetime of conditioning.

But the new me — the one who has been immersed in Neville Goddard’s teachings and the power of assumption — paused.

This wasn’t just a broken chair. It was a test. And it was about to become one of the clearest, most mundane-yet-magical proofs of a life-changing principle we’ve ever experienced.

The Secret Ingredient Your Manifestation is Missing

In his book The Power of Awareness (affiliate link to book), Neville Goddard delivers a line so potent it can feel like a secret code for the universe:

“An assumption, though false, if persisted in, will harden into fact.”

Let’s look at that in detail, starting with the dictionary: an assumption is something you accept as true without proof. Most of us are constantly assuming based on the “proof” our senses provide — the broken chair, the empty bank account, the silent phone. We are, as Neville teaches, merely reflecting our current, often unexamined, assumptions.

The radical work is to assume the wish fulfilled without any external evidence.

But here’s the part we often gloss over: it’s not about the wish. It’s about the feeling of the wish fulfilled.

Meaning: feeling as if we already have what we want; not to be confused with “fake it until you make it” or other forms of “day-dreaming”.

This is where most of us get stuck. We visualize the new car, we affirm the perfect partner, but we’re still feeling the anxiety of not having it. We’re putting lipstick on the mirror and wondering why our own face doesn’t change.

The 3D world is the mirror. We are the source. To change the reflection, we must change the source first.

As Michael Jackson sang:

I’m starting with the man in the mirror
I’m asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make a change

How I Applied This to a Cold, Upright Chair

So, back in the theater. The “proof” was clear: a broken chair.

My desire was also clear: a wonderfully relaxing and connected afternoon with my wife.

The old story would have been to fixate on the broken mechanism, letting it sour the entire experience. The new story? I chose to accept my desire as already fulfilled.

I didn’t try to “believe” the chair was fixed. That would have felt like a lie. Instead, I focused on the feeling of my wish fulfilled.

What does a “wonderful, relaxing afternoon” feel like?

It feels like peace. It feels like joy. It feels like ease and lightness.

So, I let go. I leaned back as best I could, propped my feet up on our bag, and turned my attention to the love-of-my-life company I was with and the movie we were about to see. I consciously dwelled in the feelings of peace and joy. I accepted that, regardless of the chair’s mechanics, my afternoon was already perfect. I persisted in that feeling-state.

Sophia, radiating the same energy, didn’t try to “fix” me or the situation. She was in her own state of fulfillment.

I had completely let go of the how. The “how” was the universe’s department. My department was to stay in the feeling.

The Word That Bridged the Realities

A little while later, toward the end of the previews and just before the movie started, I got up to use the restroom. When I returned, Sophia, without a second thought, intuitively said:

“Try it again. It is working now.”

She hadn’t touched the controls. She hadn’t flagged down a manager. She simply spoke from that place of aligned intuition, from the state of the wish fulfilled.

The old me would have scoffed. “I already tried, it’s broken.” But the new me, the one bathing in the feeling of a perfect afternoon, was open. I was in a state of allowing.

I smiled. “Okay, I’ll try.”

I pressed the button. The chair whirred to life, reclining smoothly. I pressed the heat button. A comforting warmth spread through the seat.

To my utmost, gleeful sense of wonder, the 3D reality had caught up. The assumption — the feeling of a perfect, relaxed afternoon — had hardened into fact.

A Practical Takeaway: The Feeling-First Framework

This isn’t about magic movie theater chairs (although the movie we saw was all about magic). It’s about the fundamental blueprint of creation.

1. Identify the Core Feeling: What do you really want? Strip away the object or situation. If you want a new car, is it for the feeling of freedom? Security? Success? If you want a partner, is it for the feeling of connection? Love? Belonging? Start with the feeling. For us, it’s a deep sense of ease and peace. What is it for you?

2. Assume the Feeling Now: The moment a contradictory “3D fact” arises (a broken chair, a rejected pitch, a negative bank statement), pause. Don’t argue with the fact, don’t deny it either. Instead, drop into your body and summon the feeling of your wish fulfilled. Breathe into it. For just 10 seconds, let the feeling of peace, or joy, or abundance be more real than the external circumstance. This is the “work.”

3. Let Go of the “How”: Your job is to be the person who is already experiencing that feeling. The universe’s job is to arrange the details. Trust that intuitive nudges — like Sophia’s words — will arrive at the perfect time, guiding your actions.

4. Mind Your Inner (and Outer) Speech: Your internal monologue must support your new feeling-state. Then, when you speak, let it come from that aligned place. Your words are the first vibrations of your new reality. Make them count.

The world will tell you to change your circumstances to change your feelings. We’re here to suggest the opposite, more powerful path: Change your feeling to change your circumstances.

Don’t get me wrong — sometimes a broken chair is just a broken chair, and you should call a technician. But the feeling of frustration and powerlessness? That’s the real glitch in the system. And the repair for that doesn’t require a tool belt; it requires a conscious return to the feeling of the wish fulfilled.

The ultimate fix wasn’t for the chair’s wiring, but for my state of being.

If this concept resonated with you and you’d like to go deeper with a community of like-minded people, you are welcome to join our free Skool community, Shift Your Identity (SYI). We continue these conversations there every day.

Your Circumstances Are The Echo, Not The Voice

How a broken movie theater chair taught me to stop fixing the reflection and start changing the source.

Photo by Elisa Photography on Unsplash

First published on Medium

Let’s get straight to the point.

Most of us use manifestation like a remote control, pointed at the universe, desperately clicking the button and wondering why nothing changes.

We think the power is in the clicking. In the effort.

But what if you’ve been focusing on the wrong thing entirely?

I had a moment of pure clarity about this recently, in a movie theater of all places.

My electric recliner was broken. No recline, no heat.

The old me would have spiraled into frustration (or pretended that I didn’t need recline or heat anyway). But I’ve learned that the “3D world” — the broken chair, the empty bank account — is just a mirror. It’s the last place to look for solutions.

The real work happens before the mirror changes.

Neville Goddard, in his book The Power of Awareness (affiliate link to book) called it the ultimate secret:

“An assumption, though false, if persisted in, will harden into fact.”

This means your most important job is to feel the wish fulfilled now, not later.

In that theater, I gave up trying to “fix” the chair in my mind. Instead, I focused on the feeling of my wish fulfilled: a perfectly relaxed, joyful afternoon with my wife.

I soaked in the feelings of peace and connection as if it were already true.

I let go of the how.

And then, my wife Sophia, from a place of pure, aligned intuition, turned to me and spoke seven words that shifted reality:

“Try it again. It is working now.”

I pressed the button. The chair came to life and moved into the desired recline.

The 3D reality had simply caught up.

The chair was never broken. My connection to my own power was.

This is the shift. Moving from trying to make something happen to allowing yourself to be the person it has already happened for.

Your circumstances don’t need your attention. Your state of being does.

When you make the shift inwardly, the mirror of life is bound to conform.

In alignment,
Cristof

A Mattress, $22k, and A Liberating Truth

Why Manifesting Often Fails — And the Identity Shift That Makes It Work

Photo by Sergey Shmidt on Unsplash

First published on Medium

For five weeks, my neighbor’s old mattress festered on her lawn.

It became the backdrop to my life. I’d see it while taking out the trash — a sodden, decaying monument to… something.

Irresponsibility? Laziness?

I (Sophia) didn’t know, but I knew I was judging it. I’d feel a pang of irritation when I saw the neighborhood kids jumping on it, a potential health hazard. I’d sigh, thinking, “Why doesn’t she just deal with it?”

My frustration grew with each passing day. I was stuck in a story I hated, and I’d cast my neighbor as the villain.

Then, while immersed in Neville Goddard’s influential book The Power of Awareness (affiliate link to book), a sentence stopped me cold:

“This great discovery of cause reveals that good or bad, man is actually the arbiter of his own fate… and that it is his concept of himself that determines the world in which he lives.”

Arbiter of my own fate. The words landed not as an empowering affirmation, but as a confronting truth. If I was the arbiter, the cause, then this mattress wasn’t just happening to me. My reality was mirroring something back to me.

I looked around my own apartment. And there it was: in the cupboard, four dusty paper bags filled with old college memorabilia and clutter from three moves ago. Ignored. Unattended. A mess I was refusing to deal with.

The parallel was undeniable. The neighbor’s junk outside my apartment was a perfect reflection of my clutter inside.

The old me would have either not done anything and continued to brood in her anger or, eventually, marched over and asked her, with barely concealed annoyance, to handle her mess.

That would be trying to rearrange the furniture in a burning house.

The new me, the one tentatively embracing this “arbiter” idea, knew the only door was inside my own mind.

I didn’t just clean the clutter. I became a person who lives in a clean, orderly, and attended-to environment. I handled my bags. I sorted, I discarded, I created space. I wasn’t just cleaning; I was embodying a new concept of myself: I am the kind of person who resolves things promptly.

The next day, the mattress was gone.

Now, you might call it a coincidence. But after five weeks of stagnation, the timing was… interesting. It was my first tiny, tangible proof. The universe wasn’t punishing me; it was showing me how the mechanism works.

This lesson became crucial when I started applying these principles to my business. I learned to manifest money, but I hadn’t yet learned to manifest a state of being.

I once visualized and “manifested” a $22,000 month. And it worked! The money came in. But the how was a nightmare. The projects attached to that income required three grueling months of non-stop, high-stress work to deliver. I got the number, but I lost my peace. I got the what, but not the who. I was still the identity of someone who hustles and struggles for abundance.

I was using the law of assumption to change the scenery, but I was still the same anxious character in the play.

Neville Goddard and the Buddha, in their own languages, point to the same solution:

Stop trying to change the reflection. Change the face in the mirror.

This is the shift from manifestation to Identity Shifting.

It’s the difference between:

• Manifesting a specific income and becoming the person who is in harmonious financial flow.

• Visualizing a perfect partner and embodying the state of being already loved and understood.

• Affirming “I am abundant” and feeling the natural, quiet joy of the wish fulfilled.

This is where Neville’s “State of the Wish Fulfilled” meets the Buddha’s Brahmaviharas — the divine abodes of loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. These aren’t complicated rituals. They are mind-states. When you dwell in the feeling of love, compassion, or peace, you are, by definition, not dwelling in lack, fear, or frustration. The light naturally drowns out the darkness.

You are assuming a new identity.

The One Practice to Start With Today

This might sound like a massive undertaking. It’s not. It’s a practice, like learning the piano. Every minute counts. Every note matters.

Don’t try to track and purify every “bad karma” seed at once. You’ll exhaust yourself.

Start here: Anchor yourself in a single, wholesome mind-state for five minutes a day.

1. Sit quietly. Close your eyes.

2. Choose one: Loving-kindness (May I be happy. May I be safe. May I be healthy. May I live with ease.) or simply the feeling of deep, quiet peace.

3. Feel it. Don’t just say the words. Generate the sensation in your chest. Let it warm you. Imagine your wish is already fulfilled — not as a frantic craving, but as a present-moment reality. What does that feel like? That’s your new state.

4. Dwell there. For five minutes, that feeling is your entire world. You are not someone wanting peace; you are peace.

In this state, you are naturally purifying old seeds and sowing new, powerful ones. You are shifting your identity from the inside out. From this place, action becomes inspired, aligned, and effortless — whether it’s cleaning your clutter or building a business.

The world doesn’t change when you chase a different reflection. It changes when you have the courage to become the person for whom that reflection is natural. You are the arbiter. And that is the most liberating truth you will ever embrace.

Ready to fully embody your new identity?

This is the work we do every day in our free Skool community, Shift Your Identity (SYI). It’s a space where we move beyond theory and into practice, supporting each other as we consciously choose and become the people we are meant to be.

If you’re ready to stop hustling against the current and start flowing with it, we’d be honored to have you.

→ Join the FREE Shift Your Identity (SYI) Community Here

The 3 Stages of Getting Unstuck (And How to Move Through Them)

If you’ve tried manifesting but nothing changed, you’re likely in one of these phases. Here’s the map to find your way out.

Photo by Quino Al on Unsplash

First published on Medium

Let’s get straight to the heart of it.

You’ve tried visualizing. You’ve tried the affirmations. Maybe you’ve even built a vision board.

But the results you want still feel just out of reach.

What if the problem isn’t your effort, but your entire approach?

For years, I believed the same story you probably did: Work hard, do the things, and then you’ll become the person with the results.

It’s the “Action-First” model. And it’s a trap that keeps you in a cycle of striving and imposter syndrome.

But something shifted for us.

We discovered that real transformation — the kind that brings opportunities to your doorstep — doesn’t start with action.

It starts with identity.

And from my own journey, I see most people get stuck in one of three places on this path. See which one feels familiar.

Stage 1: You’re stuck in the “doing” loop.

You’re hustling. You’re putting in the hours. You’re following all the “how-to” advice.

But you’re doing it from the identity of someone who doesn’t have the results. It feels like pushing a boulder uphill.

What you need isn’t another action plan. It’s a new identity from which inspired action can naturally flow.

Stage 2: You’re “faking it,” but you don’t “feel it.”

You’re saying the words, but your inner self is screaming, “This isn’t true!”

It feels like a lie because your subconscious is highly integral. It rejects what it sees as false.

What you need isn’t better affirmations. You need a way to genuinely feel the state of the wish fulfilled, so your mind accepts it as a new truth.

Stage 3: You have moments of clarity, but they don’t last.

You get a glimpse of what’s possible, but the old story, the old feelings, creep back in.

Your growth feels fragile. The 3D world’s evidence is still too loud.

What you need isn’t more motivation. You need a structured practice to continually abide in your new identity, until the outside world has no choice but to conform.

Wherever you are, the shift is the same: You must stop ‘faking it until you make it’, and start feeling it before you make it.

This isn’t a theory. It’s how we landed a teaching gig in a 5-minute state of flow, without hustling for it.

We simply abided in the identity of “being teachers” for a couple of weeks. We connected with the feeling of ease, authority, and service. Then, the opportunity appeared. It was a natural, almost expected next step.

The action was a joyful effect, not a strenuous cause.

This is the core of what we teach.

By the way, we created our Shift Your Identity community and the Power of Awareness course (for Premium community members) specifically for someone like you.

I don’t just say that to be inspiring.

I say it because we were right where you are, not long ago. We built the system we needed.

As always, remember:

Make the shift inwardly, the mirror of life is bound to conform.

Sophia & Cristof

Stop Hustling, Start Abiding: The Easiest Path to What You Want

How a simple change in our daily mental practice led to a real-world opportunity in just two weeks

Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash

First published on Medium

I clicked ‘submit’ on the teaching application in a state of pure, light-filled flow.

It had only taken five minutes. There was no hesitation, no second-guessing, no imposter syndrome. Just two days later, Cristof and I were in a meeting with the community center program director, not to plead our case, but to decide on dates and pricing for our class.

This wasn’t the result of grinding out ridiculous work hours. It was the natural outcome of a practice we’d been doing for weeks: we stopped faking it until we made it, and started feeling it before we made it.

The Trap of the “Action-First” Model

We’re all taught the same script from childhood: work hard, study hard, do the things, and then — maybe — you’ll become the person who has the results.

Want to be a successful writer? Write for 100 days straight.
Want to be financially abundant? Work 80-hour weeks and save 50% of your income.
Want to be a teacher? Get the education, then the degree, then the position.

The actions come first, the identity follows. It’s a life of striving, and for many, a life of perpetual struggle. The imposter syndrome thrives here because you’re always reaching for an identity that feels outside of you.

But what if we have it backward?

The Download That Changed Everything

Less than a week before the kickoff call for our community, we had a moment of clarity. The real, transformational work isn’t in the action. The action is a byproduct. The first step is the identity.

You don’t just get good grades; you are an excellent student.
You don’t just earn a lot of money; you are a financially abundant person.
You don’t just teach a class; you are a teacher.

For us, the desired identity was clear: “I AM a person who knows identity shifting inside out, applies it in his/her own life with ease, and teaches it successfully to others so they can transform their lives.”

This wasn’t a lie we told ourselves. It was a state we chose to inhabit.

The Practice: “Abiding” in the Wish Fulfilled

So how do you move from “doing until you are” to being the excellent student, financially abundant person, or confident teacher? You don’t just affirm it once. You abide in it.

For a couple of weeks, several times a day, we would consciously drop into the “state of the wish fulfilled.” We used the “I AM” mantra above not as a desperate plea, but as a gentle reminder of our true, chosen state.

We weren’t visualizing a specific classroom or students. We were simply connecting with the feeling of already being the capable, knowledgeable, generous teachers we knew we were. The feeling of ease. The feeling of natural authority. The feeling of service.

This is the crucial difference. Manifesting isn’t about craving a future thing. It’s about experiencing the ultimate result of that thing — the feeling — right now, in your mind. Because even when you get the Lamborghini, the experience of joy and abundance still happens in your mind. Why wait?

When the 3D World Catches Up

This is where the magic happens. When you are truly abiding in that new identity, inspired action finds you. It feels like flow, not force.

The email from the community center? It didn’t feel like a shocking coincidence. It felt like a natural, almost expected invitation from a universe that had simply matched our internal frequency. Seeing the “Program Instructor Application” link wasn’t a surprise; it was an obvious next step. The energy was divine, intuitive, and effortless. No thinking, only doing from a state of being.

The action was a joyful effect, not a strenuous cause.

Your Turn: How to Find Your “I AM”

If you’re feeling stuck in an identity that no longer serves you, here is the simple, practical first step:

1. Identify the “Stuck” Identity: Get brutally honest. “I am a struggling freelancer.” “I am an unpublished writer.” “I am someone who is always broke.”

2. Define the Desired Identity: What is the opposite, fulfilled version? Not just having something, but being someone. “I am a sought-after expert in my field.” “I am an author whose words impact thousands.” “I am a financially abundant person.”

It might take a few iterations to get it right. That’s okay. The key is to find the identity that, if you truly felt it was your reality, would make the craving for the external thing simply… dissolve.

The Beautiful Paradox of Non-Attachment

Now, you might be wondering: “Isn’t this just creating a new form of craving?” This is where the Buddha’s teachings beautifully align.

The practice isn’t to cling to the specific outcome nor the feeling. We didn’t need to teach at that specific community center. We just dwelled in the identity of being teachers and left the specifics up to the universe.

Feel the feeling, but be unattached to the form it takes. The feeling itself is also a tool. Use it, and let it go when it no longer serves you. This is the path of true freedom — shaping your reality without being enslaved by your desires.

The more you practice dwelling in this state, the more natural it feels. And the more natural it feels, the faster your outside reality will catch up, often in ways more creative and wonderful than you could have planned.

If this resonated with you and you’re tired of the hustle, we invite you to join our free Shift Your Identity (SYI) community. It’s a space where we explore these concepts daily, share wins, and support each other in moving from struggle to flow. For those ready to go deeper, our Premium membership includes our Power of Awareness course and, most importantly, weekly live “I AM” calls where we practice getting into and abiding in the “state of the wish fulfilled” together.

Your new identity is waiting for you to claim it.

The Manifesting Mistake That Keeps You Stuck in the Hustle

How I learned to stop rearranging the furniture in a burning house and finally build a new foundation.

Photo by Ian on Unsplash

First published on Medium

Let’s get straight to the heart of it.

The path to a life of freedom and abundance isn’t about doing more. In fact, that’s the very thing keeping most people stuck.

But something tells me you already sense that.

You’ve probably visualized, journaled, and set big goals… but the feeling of “hustle” is still there. The alignment you’re seeking feels just out of reach.

If that’s true, you might be making the same mistake I made for years.

You’re trying to manifest goals instead of shifting your identity.

I learned this the hard way. I was a six-figure freelancer, completely burned out. My calendar was packed, but my soul was empty.

I was, what I now call, “rearranging the furniture in a burning house.”

I was so focused on sending one more email, tweaking one more design — the actions — that I ignored the roaring flames of my own misalignment. The house (my old identity) was on fire, and I was worried about the couch.

My wake-up call came during Hurricane Helene. Being evacuated from my home made the metaphor devastatingly clear: you can’t save a house that’s being consumed. You have to get out and find a new foundation.

In that pause, a teaching from Neville Goddard’s book The Power of Awareness (affiliate link to book) finally clicked:

“Manifesting is experiencing the results of the concepts of yourself in the world.”

It’s not about getting things. It’s about becoming the person for whom those things are natural.

I had to step out of the smoke and into a new identity. I stopped asking, “How do I make more money?” and started asking:

“Who am I if I am already a financially abundant and generous teacher?”

This isn’t “acting as if.” It’s feeling as if.

And when I made that shift, everything changed. Opportunities aligned with that new identity started to appear — like teaching locally and building our free online community — without the exhausting chase.

If you’re ready to stop hustling and start being, the way out is simpler than you think.

Your first step is to ask yourself one powerful question:

“What is the feeling I am truly seeking from my goal? And who is the ‘I Am’ person that already embodies it?”

Find that feeling. Slip into that identity for just five minutes (or even just five seconds for beginners) today. Let it be your inner soundtrack.

The rest will begin to unfold, intuitively.

We built our free Skool community, Shift Your Identity (SYI), as a sanctuary for this exact work. A place to put out your fires and build a new foundation, together.

If you’re ready to step into your new identity, join us here.
→ simpleandaligned.com/syi

As always, remember:

You are the conscious creator of your reality. Now, let’s create from a place of being, not striving.

With love and alignment,
Sophia (and Cristof)

I “Tricked” Myself Into Winning 3 Prizes in a Single Raffle

Here’s the simple identity shift I used — rooted in Neville Goddard’s teachings — that you can apply to manifest anything.

Photo by Jake Ingle on Unsplash

First published on Medium

I (Cristof) sat on a hard gym bench, watching my chances of winning a raffle slip away.

The first prize was called. Not my number.
The second. Not my number.
The third and fourth. Nothing.

My shoulders began to slump. A familiar, apologetic story started playing in my mind: “It’s okay, you never win these things anyway. Just be happy for the others. Don’t get your hopes up.”

I was, in that moment, perfectly embodying the identity of Someone Who Doesn’t Win.

And the universe was complying.

But I’ve been doing this inner work for a while. I recognized the old story as it was happening. This wasn’t who I am anymore. So, right there in the noisy gym, I initiated a deliberate identity shift. I decided to step out of “Someone Who Doesn’t Win” and into “A Winner.”

I sat up straight. I put a genuine smile on my face. I started applauding the other winners with sincere joy, as if I were a champion who knew my turn was coming. I didn’t just act like a winner; I felt like one. I allowed myself to feel the satisfaction and excitement of having already won.

The very next drawing? My number was called.

I won a gift card. I was thrilled, but an old pattern emerged. When my number was called again in the next round, I felt a pang of hesitation. “Should I really be this happy? People might think I’m greedy.” The old identity was fighting to pull me back.

I consciously reaffirmed my new state. “I have shifted. I am a winner. Winners get to celebrate.” I stood up, raised my arms, and joyfully accepted my second prize.

By the end of the night, I had won three times.

Now, in the grand scheme, a few ice cream gift cards are trivial. But the lesson was profound: Your external world is nothing more than a lagging indicator of your internal identity. When I identified as a loser, I got loss. The moment I shifted to identifying as a winner, I started winning. It worked immediately.

This experience cemented a truth I knew from Neville Goddard. In his book, The Power of Awareness (affiliate link to book), he taught that:

“The truth that sets you free is that you can experience in imagination what you desire to experience in reality. And by maintaining this experience in imagination, your desire will become an actuality.”

But it was just yesterday that the final piece clicked into place. We were relaxing at home and watching the movie Coach Carter (affiliate link to movie). Samuel L. Jackson, as the coach, tells his team:

“The losing stops now. Starting today, you will play like winners, act like winners, and most importantly, you will be winners… winning in here is the key to winning out there.”

It hit me. That’s it. That’s the entire philosophy in one powerful, cinematic statement.

Most people hear that and think “in here” means the basketball court. But I finally saw it with perfect clarity.

“Winning in here” isn’t about a court. It’s about the inner court of your mind. It’s the identity you assume before the external result shows up. My gym story was a tiny, perfect example of winning in here (my mind) to win out there (the raffle).

The Simple Method for Shifting Your Identity

We spend so much time rearranging the furniture in a burning house — trying to fix external circumstances without addressing the internal fire of our own self-concept. The real work is within. If you want to create a lasting change, start by consciously shifting your identity. Here’s the practical, two-step method, that Sophia explains like this:

Step 1: Get Absurdly Clear on What You Want & Who You Must Be to Have It

You can’t build a house without a blueprint. Most people are vague. “I want more money.” “I want a better relationship.” This is useless to your subconscious mind.

Get specific. “I want to earn $10,000 per month from my creative work, with ease and joy.”

Now, here’s the crucial pivot most people miss: What is the identity of the person who already has that?

The person earning $10k/month with ease isn’t frantic or desperate. They are confident, focused, and see themselves as a high-value creator. They are a winner in their field.

Your desire isn’t just for the thing; it’s for the state of being that the thing implies. Define that state. Is it “a winner,” “a bestselling author,” “a magnetic partner,” “a debt-free person”?

Step 2: Make Your Future Dream a Present Fact Through Feeling

This is where you move from theory to practice. You must “assume the feeling of the wish fulfilled,” as Neville says.

The word “assumption” is key. The dictionary gives two definitions that are perfectly aligned for our purpose:

1. A thing that is accepted as true or as certain to happen, without proof.

2. The action of taking on power or responsibility.

You must accept as true, without any proof from the 3D world, that you are already that person. And in doing so, you take on the power and responsibility of that new identity.

How do you do this? In your imagination.

Let’s say your desire is to be a bestselling author. Don’t just visualize holding the book. That’s a step, but it’s not the pinnacle.

Instead, enter a scene that would imply your desire is fulfilled. Imagine reading a heartfelt email from a reader, telling you how your book changed their life. Feel the warmth in your chest. See the words on the screen. Hear your own grateful, happy sigh. Live in that feeling.

Do this not as a daydream of the future, but as a reliving of a present fact. This isn’t “someday.” This is now.

As Neville puts it:

“By desiring to be other than what you are, you can create an ideal of the person you want to be and assume that you are already that person. If this assumption is persisted in until it becomes your dominant feeling, the attainment of your ideal is inevitable.”

Your only job is to persist. When the old reality (the “losing streak”) shows up, ignore it. It’s just echo. When doubt creeps in, gently return to the feeling of your wish fulfilled.

Stop trying to build a new you from the outside in. It’s exhausting. Instead, make the shift. Decide who you are now, and let your outer world catch up to that truth. “Win in here,” and watch, almost as a passive observer, as your reality has no choice but to reflect your new identity back to you.

Ready to make your shift? This is exactly what we explore in our free Skool community, Shift Your Identity (SYI). It’s a space where we dive deeper into these principles, support each other’s journeys, and practice the art of conscious creation together. If this article resonated with you, you already belong. Click here to join our free SYI community today.

Your Brain Is Angry. It’s Time to Feed It a Cookie.

How a bizarre lesson from Rainn Wilson and Gandhi is saving my creative soul.

Photo by Vyshnavi Bisani on Unsplash

You know the feeling.

You’re cruising along, your mind buzzing with a new article idea or a solution to a client’s problem. You’re happy. The creative flow is humming.

Then, it happens. Someone cuts you off in traffic, their middle finger a stark punctuation to their anger. Or, an email pings in — a terse, unkind message from a collaborator or client.

In a flash, the flow is gone. Replaced by a hot, sharp anger.

This was my (Cristof) default state. My internal monologue would kick in, a cocktail of self-righteous judgment and cynical ridicule: “I’m such a good driver. I went at the speed limit. What a jerk. And for what? We’re both just going to end up at the same red light anyway.”

It felt justified. It felt normal. But I never stopped to calculate the real cost.

That anger wasn’t just a passing emotion. It was a toxin. It would seep into my body, making my knees tense, my shoulders tight, and my stomach churn. With a sick body and a mind buzzing with negativity, I couldn’t create. I couldn’t write. I’d try to sit down at my desk, but the words wouldn’t come. If I had to produce work, it was subpar, forced, and misaligned. The entire cycle would then spiral into frustration and self-doubt.

It was costing me my peace, my productivity, and my power.

The turning point came from an unexpected place: Rainn Wilson’s book, Soul Boom (affiliate link). In it, he writes:

“We all know someone who is rude, selfish, unkind, toxic. We do our best to avoid people like this. But what if we tried instead to consciously find one good quality about that person? For instance, what if they are a total jerk in every way but have great hygiene and always smell like freshly baked chocolate chip cookies? When I’m able to consciously focus on the good quality of a person, not only is my day better but my relationship with that person improves. And eventually, other good qualities are revealed to me that I might not have taken the time to see previously.

In other words, focus on the cookies. and don’t focus on the negative.”

He then quotes Gandhi, one of the grand masters of humility:

“I look only to the good qualities of men. Not being faultless myself, I won’t presume to probe into the faults of others.”

“Focus on the cookies.” The phrase stopped me. It was so simple, so visual, so… absurd. But it pointed to a profound truth I had been missing.

For all my life, I thought the solution was to simply stop being angry. To suppress it. To let it go. But you can’t reliably power down a reaction with willpower alone. The real shift, I discovered, isn’t about managing your reactions.

It’s about shifting your identity.

The Person Who Finds the Cookies

I realized that “focusing on the cookies” wasn’t a behavior hack. It was an identity. I had to stop trying to be less angry and start becoming the kind of person who, by their very nature, doesn’t get derailed by external circumstances.

I asked myself: Who would I have to become for a rude driver or a difficult email to not be an issue at all?

The answer painted a clear picture. This version of me is:

1. Self-Reflecting: They look inward before casting outward judgment.

2. Unaffected by Circumstances: They don’t take their emotional cues from other people’s bad behavior.

3. Compassionate: They operate from a default assumption of goodness, or at the very least, a default assumption that everyone is fighting a hard battle.

This is the core of manifestation and identity shifting. You don’t wait until you feel like that person to act. You act as if you are that person, and the feelings follow.

When the world gets loud, this identity whispers:

“I am not taking my cues from current circumstances. These circumstances are only the result of my past mind states. My current mind state produces my future circumstances. And I’m not letting anybody decide over my mind states. Every thought counts. Every thought matters.”

Your 30-Second Identity Shift Drill

This isn’t just philosophy. It’s a practical drill you can use the very next time you’re triggered. It takes less than 30 seconds and has two simple steps.

The moment you feel that hot surge of judgmental anger, pause. Take one breath, and repeat this twofold mantra to yourself:

1. Step One: Detach. Say: “I do not take cues from my circumstances.”
   This is the emergency brake. It stops the mental train from hurtling down the familiar track of rage and ridicule. It reclaims your sovereignty.

2. Step Two: Shift. Ask: “Who do I have to become for whom this wouldn’t be an issue at all?”
   This is the rocket fuel. It instantly moves you from a state of reaction to a state of creation. You are no longer a victim of the event; you are the conscious architect of your response. You are putting on the cloak of your highest self.

Then, and only then, look for the cookie. Maybe it’s the fact their car is impeccably clean. (And only decent people keep their cars clean, right?) Maybe it’s Sophia’s wonderful method of assuming their loved one is giving birth and they need to rush to the hospital. (Since we’re the ones dictating our mental narrative, we might as well make it a good one.)

The “cookie” is the proof that your identity shift is working.

The Ripple Effect on Your Creative Life

When you become the person who finds the cookies, you aren’t just being nice. You are engaging in the most strategic act of self-preservation a creator, solopreneur, freelancer, or really anyone can do.

You are protecting your most valuable asset: your aligned, creative energy. You are ensuring that a single moment of external chaos doesn’t derail your entire day’s work. You are, quite literally, building the future you want by consciously choosing the mind state that will create it.

Every thought counts. Every thought matters. So choose to find the cookie. Your peace, your power, and your next breakthrough depend on it.

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