3 Approaches to Releasing Resistance To Manifest What You Want

The concept of manifestation, consciously creating your reality, often feels empowering, yet can lead to feelings of frustration if desires seem just out of reach. The culprit? Resistance – an internal friction that acts as an energetic barrier, hindering the natural flow between intention and realization. When resistance takes hold, goals or desires can feel distant, progress can become sluggish, and the entire process can feel challenging.

The Core Question: How can you effectively identify and dissolve this internal resistance to harmonize with the inherent flow of manifestation?

In this blog post, you’ll learn three science-backed approaches to releasing resistance for manifestation success.

Understanding Resistance: The Hidden Physiological and Psychological Block

Resistance isn't some mystical force; it's rooted in psychological and physiological responses to thoughts, beliefs, and emotions, particularly those that contradict your sense of worthiness or the attainability of your desires. It manifests in various ways:

• Doubt ("Can I really have this?"): This isn't just a fleeting thought; it can trigger a cascade of neural activity associated with uncertainty and threat. Our brains are wired for self-preservation, and if a desire feels too far outside our perceived reality, the doubt response can kick in, creating a neurological "brake" on our belief.

• Fear ("What if it doesn't work?"): Fear activates the amygdala, the brain's emotional center, leading to the release of stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. This physiological state primes us for a fight-or-flight response, hardly conducive to the open and receptive state needed for manifestation.

• Outcome Attachment ("It must happen THIS way"): This rigidity stems from our brain's desire for predictability and control. When we cling tightly to a specific outcome, we limit the infinite possibilities the universe might present, creating internal tension when reality deviates from our expectations. This can lead to frustration and a feeling of being stuck.

• Emotional Overwhelm (Frustration/Impatience): Chronic negative emotions like frustration and impatience can create a state of physiological stress, impacting our nervous system and overall well-being. This heightened state of arousal makes it difficult to access the calm and focused energy often associated with successful manifestation.

Science Note: Research in psychoneuroimmunology has demonstrated the intricate link between our emotional states and our physiology. For instance, studies have shown that suppressed emotions can lead to increased sympathetic nervous system activity, elevated levels of inflammatory markers, and a weakened immune response [1]. This physiological stress reinforces internal resistance, making it harder to maintain the positive emotional state conducive to manifestation. Furthermore, cognitive dissonance theory highlights the discomfort individuals can feel when holding conflicting beliefs or when there is a mismatch between an individual's beliefs and actions, which can manifest as resistance towards desires.[2]

Instead of fostering an open, optimistic, and receptive mindset—crucial for recognizing opportunities, synchronicities, and taking inspired action—resistance acts to slow down your ability to move forward and align with your desired reality. The essence of manifestation lies not in forceful control but in gentle allowance. To achieve this, consciously releasing resistance and cultivating a state of openness and trust is useful.

Three Steps to Releasing Resistance To Manifest What You Want

There are three powerful ways to dissolve resistance and return to the ease and flow of manifestation. These methods help you shift from contraction to expansion, allowing your energy, mind, and body to align with what you want effortlessly.

1. The Power of Conscious Choice: Decide to Drop the Resistance

Decisions are powerful catalysts for internal transformation. They are catalysts for neurobiological change. At any moment, you have the agency to consciously choose to release negatively charged emotions, reactions, or self-limiting interpretations that are creating or fueling inteneral internalresistance.

Why it Works: Neuroplasticity and Cognitive Restructuring. Our brains are remarkably adaptable, a phenomenon known as neuroplasticity [3]. Every decision to shift your focus and release a negative thought or feeling initiates a rewiring process in your neural pathways. By consciously choosing a different response, you weaken the neural connections associated with resistance and strengthen those linked to acceptance and ease. This aligns with principles of cognitive restructuring, a therapeutic technique that involves identifying and challenging negative thought patterns to promote more adaptive thinking [4].

A simple yet profound practice to harness this power involves asking yourself:

• "Can I gently let go of this feeling/thought right now?"

• "Am I willing to release this resistance, even if just a little bit?"

• "What would it feel like in my body and mind to experience ease and flow instead of this struggle?"

By repeatedly engaging with these questions, you actively engage your prefrontal cortex, the brain region associated with conscious decision-making and emotional regulation [5]. This conscious engagement helps to downregulate the emotional centers associated with resistance, allowing energy to move more freely.

2. The Transformative Practice of Allowing: Welcome and Allow the Emotion Without Judgment

Often, resistance persists because of instinctual tendencies to suppress, ignore, or fight negative emotions. This avoidance, however, can paradoxically amplify their intensity and prolong their stay. A more effective approach, supported by mindfulness research, is to welcome the emotion, reaction, or interpretation without identifying with it or judging its presence.

Why it Works: Emotional Processing and Mindfulness. Emotions are transient physiological and psychological states that have a natural rise and fall. When emotions are resisted, this natural cycle is interrupted, causing them to become prolonged in our system. Mindfulness practices, which emphasize non-judgmental awareness of the present moment, have been shown to facilitate emotional processing and regulation [6]. By creating a "spacious field of awareness" around whatever arises within you, you allow the emotion to unfold and dissipate naturally, without the added layer of resistance.

A powerful practice rooted in mindfulness principles involves gently stating:

• "I notice this feeling, and I allow it to be here."

• "I acknowledge this sensation without judgment or the need to change it right now."

• "I recognize that I am the awareness in which this feeling arises and eventually dissolves; I am not solely defined by this feeling."

When you cultivate this non-reactive awareness, resistance loses its foothold. The energy bound up in fighting the emotion is freed, allowing your overall energy to realign with a state of ease and receptivity. this spaciousness, resistance loses its grip, and your energy realigns with ease.

3. The Wisdom Within: Dive Into the Emotion and Explore Its Message

Instead of viewing uncomfortable emotions as experiences to resist, consider approaching them with a sense of open curiosity. Every emotion, even those that feel negative, carries valuable information about your internal landscape—your underlying beliefs, unmet needs, and habitual patterns of thinking. When you explore resistance with an objective and inquisitive mindset, its charged energy naturally begins to dissipate.

Why it Works: Cognitive Appraisal and Emotional Regulation. Our emotional responses are often shaped by our cognitive appraisals, the way we interpret and evaluate events [7]. By approaching emotions with curiosity, we can begin to understand the underlying thoughts and beliefs that are fueling them. This process of conscious inquiry allows us to re-evaluate these appraisals, potentially leading to a shift in our emotional response. Furthermore, exploring emotions with curiosity fosters a sense of psychological safety, reducing the need for defensive resistance [8].

Engage in this introspective process by asking yourself:

• "What specific sensations am I noticing in my body right now?"

• "What thoughts or beliefs seem to be associated with this feeling?"

• "What might this emotion be trying to communicate about my needs or values?"

• "Is the belief fueling this resistance still serving my well-being and my desired manifestations, or is it time to gently release it?"

By leaning into your emotional experience with mindful awareness and a genuine desire to understand its message, you gain profound insights that empower you to reframe limiting thoughts, shift your energetic state, and realign with your manifestation goals from a place of greater self-awareness and understanding.

Embracing Ease and Flow: The Natural State of Manifestation

Releasing resistance is not just a technique; it's the key to unlocking the inherent ease and flow of manifestation. When you consciously choose to drop, gently welcome, and curiously explore your resistance, you initiate a powerful shift from a state of internal struggle to one of harmonious alignment. As you cultivate this practice:

• Synchronicities often increase: When your internal energy is less constricted, you become more attuned to subtle cues and opportunities in your environment.

• Inspired actions feel natural and effortless: You move forward not from a place of force, but from a genuine inner prompting.

• Manifested results can often exceed your initial expectations: By releasing your rigid attachment to specific outcomes, you open yourself to the infinite possibilities of the universe.

Remember, true manifestation isn't about exerting forceful control over reality; it's about creating internal alignment and allowing the natural unfolding of your desires. As you diligently clear the internal obstacles of resistance and cultivate unwavering trust in the process, you'll witness the universe responding in ways that may surprise and delight you. The more consistently you integrate these science-informed techniques into your daily life, the more predictably and gracefully your intentions will manifest. Stay open, remain aware, and marvel at the fluid unfolding of your deepest desires.

References:

[1] Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K., McGuire, L., Robles, T. F., & Glaser, R. (2002). Emotions, morbidity, and mortality: new directions from psychoneuroimmunology. Biological psychiatry, 52(6), 537-542.

[2] Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford University Press.

[3] Draganski, B., Gaser, C., Busch, V., Schuierer, G., Bogdahn, U., & May, A. (2004). Neuroplasticity: changes in grey matter induced by training. Nature, 427(6972), 311-312.   

[4] Beck, J. S. (2011). Cognitive behavior therapy: Basics and beyond. Guilford press.

[5] Davidson, R. J., Putnam, K. M., & Larson, C. L. (2000). Dysfunction in neural circuitry subserving regulation of negative affect: a possible neurobiological substrate for vulnerability to affective disorders. Psychological science, 11(1), 22-26.

[6] Kabat-Zinn, J. (1990). Full catastrophe living: Using the wisdom of your body and mind to face stress, pain, and illness. Delta.

[7] Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. Springer publishing company.   

[8] Gilbert, P. (2014). The compassionate mind: A new approach to life's challenges. New Harbinger Publications.

About Kidest OM

Kidest OM is a personal development and manifestation author and teacher with indispensable books and online courses designed to help you attract and manifest what you want. Her books include "Anything You Want" and "Nothing in the Way: Clearing the Paths to Success & Fulfilment" which are available globally in eBook, print, and audiobook on her website and through online book retailers. You can also find more inspiration and motivation from Kidest on her social media channels!