Manifesting is about choosing your beliefs about yourself and your life and then letting the new beliefs shape your reality; praying is the bridge between you and external entities that may bring positive changes in your reality.
Both manifesting and praying help you direct your focus on what you want in your life, but in two fundamentally different ways.
And that’s what this post is about. Enjoy!
There are no miracles for those that have no faith in them.
Proverb
Manifestation in a nutshell
Everything you can see, touch, and hear in the material world first originates in the invisible world.
Sounds a bit too abstract? Think of thoughts. Every single item you see around you was once a thought, an idea.
Similarly, you can think of your current circumstance as the result of millions of decisions, and those decisions were shaped by your thoughts and feelings.
Manifestation is about creating the type of mindset that is aligned with your goals and dreams — so you can manifest them in the real world.
It’s about choosing the most exact, most accurate, most efficient state of mind, the one that’s going to guide you toward your ambitions.
That’s why clarity is a key element of manifestation: you first need to be clear about what you want to then get it.
Once you have determined what you want (most people never actually take the time to do so), then you want to ask: what is the state of being, the mood, the mindset that’s going to get me there?
You can imagine your reality as a series of lines, or paths. Only some of those paths lead to success — what you want to manifest. Manifestation helps you choose the best path.
In other words: who do you need to become to achieve and/or experience the reality that you are dreaming of?
Prayer in a nutshell
Traditionally, prayer has been a form of invocation to connect with a higher entity or deity; we see it in most religions.
However, you don’t have to be religious or identify with any religion in particular to pray.
Much like meditation and contemplation, as well as many other spiritual practices, the experience of prayer is very subjective.
Psychologically, prayer can be defined as a way to access parts of your mind you normally wouldn’t be able to get information from.
For example, you may pray to find the strength to deal with a certain issue in your life, or find a solution, or see some breakthrough in your life.
What if that willpower, that solution, that breakthrough were already in you? The mind is powerful — just by asking and directing your focus you can notice little miracles in your life.
And in spirituality, prayer can be used to not only access altered states of consciousness, but also and most importantly go beyond the mind and anything that’s tangible.
As a spiritual or religious practice, prayer is the bridge or link between you and, for example, a spirit, or your ancestors, or some kind of higher power or order.
Manifesting vs praying: how do they compare?
- Both practices require you to pause, increase your focus, and then direct it toward something — be it your own ambition/dreams, or the higher self, or a spirit guide
- Because of this, both manifestation and prayer are usually intense, meditative, distraction-free experiences; peace, silence, and focus are what allow such experience
- Both can be considered spiritual practices, and both exist in many religions (though they may be called with a different name, and as we’ve seen you don’t have to be religious to pray or manifest)
- Both manifesting and praying require faith, that is, a strong belief in something that may not be instantly accessible, that may not be perceived (e.g. entities, your future, your goals)
Manifesting vs praying: four differences
- Typically, prayer isn’t just directed focus, but a form of dialogue or connection between you and the person or entity you address your prayer to; no such thing in manifesting
- Though both practices are fundamentally based on faith and belief, in prayer faith is directed externally (e.g. to a higher power), whereas in manifestation it is directed to the subject — you
- Prayer is usually about surrendering to some type of higher intelligence that is separated from you; manifesting is more about working on your own power to change your reality
- This suggests that although both practices can be powerful, prayer would be the most powerful as it gives you access to something way more resourceful and “intelligent” than you will ever be
Tips to manifest and pray
- Get crystal clear on what you want
- Remove all distractions; focus in silence
- Make it a habit e.g. part of your routine
- Notice and note down changes in your life
- Suspend judgment; don’t let thoughts get in the way
- Never pray/manifest in a fearful or negative state
- Be faithful, that is, believe in the practice
