The As-If Principle: The Single Most Important Manifesting Principle You Must Master
Alignment. Resonance. Embodiment. Identity Shifting.
You likely heard all or some of these concepts in regard to the Law of Attraction and manifesting. They all point to the most important thing to understand when trying to create any type of positive change in your life, and that is: all change in your life happens when you change who you are.
This is done through the “As-If” Principle.
What is the “As-If” Principle
Neville Goddard, a spiritual teacher, and author, popularized the As-If Principle in his teachings on manifestation. He believed that by imagining and feeling as if a desired outcome has already occurred, you will attract that outcome into your reality.
You will find some version of this principle in every personal development or spiritual growth teaching as a tool or mindset to accelerate goal achievement.
As-If is so powerful because it touches upon three of the most critical ingredients for successful manifesting:
- Resonance: You must energetically resonate with and embody your desired state.
- Positive expectancy: You must expect it’s going to happen with zero doubt.
- Self-belief: You must believe it is possible and that you are worthy to bring it into reality.
In his book “The Power of Awareness,” Goddard writes:
“Live your life in a sublime spirit of confidence and determination; disregard appearances, conditions, in fact all evidence of your senses that deny the fulfillment of your desire… Assume the feeling of the wish fulfilled and observe the route that your attention follows.”
This is the “gotcha” to manifesting and the Law of Attraction that trip most people up: We must learn to ignore our current circumstances, what we see with our eyes, and hear with our ears within our present reality, and go about our lives in the full conviction that we are already the person who achieved the outcome we are seeking to manifest.
Bonding With Your Future
Neuroscientist and author Joe Dispenza also extensively talks about the As-If Principle in his various books. He refers to it as “bonding with your future” — which is the habit of generating the emotions of love and joy while connecting with your future self through visualization and mental rehearsal.
In his various guided meditations, he often calls this “gratitude ahead of the actual event” — prompting his audience to try to feel grateful for something they desire that hasn’t happened yet.
Here are three quotes from his brilliant book “Breaking The Habit of Being Yourself” that capture the As-If Principle.
- “The key is to see your future as already done. To become so emotionally involved with that future — that you’re living in that future in the present moment.”
- “The more familiar you become with your new ideal of yourself, the more you’ll begin to think and act like that new self, and the more you think and act like that new self, the more you’ll become that new self.”
- “To change is to be greater than your environment, to be greater than the body, to be greater than the brain, and to be greater than time.”
Sounds a bit lofty, right?
Let’s face it — it’s not easy to completely ignore the current state of your life and act like you are high on life, sitting on top of a mountain and living your wildest dreams. However, while it is difficult to live 100% in alignment with your future desired state, 24 hours a day, every little bit counts. You are aiming for compounding interest here. Every day your job is to chip away little by little at the “old self” while slowly and methodically wiring in the “new self.”
Below are some tips on how to do this.
Tips To Employ The As-If Principle
1. Always focus on gratitude.
The ultimate state for acting “as if” is to feel genuinely grateful that your desire has manifested even though it is not made its way into your physical reality. (See Bonding With Your Future from Joe Dispenza above). This will be difficult to do at first. Instead, start by feeling grateful that you simply have this desire. See it as a blessing — something the Universe has infused in you to bring forth in the world.
Then try raising the volume on your feelings of gratitude by tuning into how grateful you would feel if your desire became true. How would that flavor of gratitude manifest in your body? How would you express it outwardly?
If you can connect with these feelings, this is where the magic lies. Every day seek to embody at least a tinge of these feelings of gratitude.
2. Focus on the emotions of the desire, and not the actual desire.
Keep in mind, at the end of the day, regardless of the desire, what we all really want is high-vibe emotions, feeling radiantly alive and joyous. Write down how it would feel to have your desire come true. Describe it in detail. Imagine the exact moment of achieving your desire. What would your reaction be? What would you feel in your body? What new emotional domain or state of being will come into your life as a result of manifesting your desire?
The purpose is to get clear on the desired feelings that your desire will bring you and work every day to familiarize yourself with those feelings.
3. Create a new identity.
The As-If Principle requires you to see yourself as an actor taking on new identities in life. To act “as if,” you must get past preconceived notions about who you are and shift away from the belief you’re this one-dimensional being with a personality set in stone. Instead, you must take on the mindset that there are many different “characters” living and breathing inside you, each representing all the incredible qualities you have been called to express throughout your lifetime.
Here are some questions to help you tap into the “actor” inside of you, so you can create a new identity that coincides with what you want to manifest.
If my desire came true and I truly was the person who manifested this outcome:
- How would I act?
- How would I think?
- How would I carry myself?
- What would I say to myself?
- How would I interact with others?
- What would my energy and attitude be?
- What would I look like? How would I dress?
Why is “as if” so powerful?
The As-If Principle is often used in cognitive-behavioral therapy as a way to reprogram the subconscious mind to create new beliefs and habits. By consistently acting, feeling, or thinking “as if” a desired belief or behavior is already true, you train your subconscious mind to accept that belief or behavior as the new norm.
Quite simply, it works because the mind cannot tell the difference between something vividly imagined and something real.
Essentially, the As-If Principle is about making a consistent effort of sending your brain the message that your desired future has already happened. The goal of “as if” is not just to “bond with your future” in your meditation practice. Instead, the point is to make your future desired state so familiar that your brain and body automatically default to those states as you go about your life.
The Art of Identity Shifting
Download my free mini eBook that will serve as your ultimate guide to becoming the person you desire to be with the life you desire to have.
You might also find these related pieces useful:
