Highest Self Podcast 459: What You’re Missing About Manifestation What It’s Actually All About with Cassandra Bodzak

 

If you go on social media and look up #manifestation, you would guess it’s about designer bags, expensive shoes, lavish cars, private jets and exclusive vacations. While those things can be great if you want them.. That is NOT what manifestation is actually about. And the reason why most manifestations don’t even work is because people don’t understand the core concept.

In this episode, we get real. We talk about what is missing in the manifestation conversation, what manifestation is truly about, and bringing the spirituality back into manifestation so we can manifest what truly matters.

In this episode, I sit with one of my besties + Manifestation through Meditation Author Cassandra Bodzak for another jam-packed episode on the truth about manifestation. Her episode 389: How To Manifest Anything (that is in alignment) is the #1 most downloaded episode on Highest Self Podcast history so I know you’re going to love it.

You are a creatrix so far beyond the material possessions. Let’s manifest a healed world.

Connect with Cassandra at www.cassandrabodzak.com

Tune into our most downloaded episode: 389: How To Manifesting Anything (that is in alignment) here: https://iamsahararose.com/single-post…

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If you’re feeling the call to embody more ease, flow, creativity and joy from a cellular level – my Free Embodiment Practice is meant for you: https://iamsahararose.com/embodiment

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Transcript

Episode #459: What You’re Missing About Manifestation – What It’s Actually All About

By Sahara Rose

[00:11] Sahara

Namaste, it’s Sahara Rose and welcome back to The Highest Self Podcast, a place where we discuss what makes You, Your Soul’s Highest Evolvement.

[00:20] Sahara

If it’s your first time listening, welcome! This Podcast is all about taking spirituality and making it modern, grounded, real, relatable, fun, because life is too short to take it super seriously! 

And if you’re here all the time, you are going to adore this Episode because the guest that I have on today’s Podcast is actually my number one most downloaded ever, Highest Self Podcast guest!

So, this guest is Cassandra Bodzak! And if you’ve heard her on Episode 389, How To Manifest Anything That Is In Alignment, you know a bit about her story and the fact that we are actually best friends! And we’ve been friends for 6 years now and we have many different types of conversations around just the online space, and manifestation, and spirituality, and business, and how these things have really become interconnected in some beautiful ways and also in some more shadowy aspects.

[01:21] Sahara

And in this conversation, we talk about what people are often missing in the manifestation space. The manifestation hashtag, if you look it up online, you’re going to see luxury cars, and handbags, and Bora Bora vacations, and private jets, and is that actually what manifestation is about? 

And we really, each, just share from our own experience, what does manifestation really mean to us and what does spirituality really mean to us, and are we using spiritual terms like manifestation to actually just continue materialism? And it’s just taken on a new jargon, but it’s the exact same thing. And, at the same time, wanting to have nice things, it’s not a bad thing, wanting to have luxuries and treat yourself well and having a life of ease. So, we really talk about that balance, you know, it’s not about selling all your belongings and becoming a monk or a nun, and it’s also not about just using spirituality to get things, and finding our own middle ground.

[02:26] Sahara

So, this is a really rich and dynamic conversation, and one that I feel needs to be had more in the spirituality and manifestation space because we just see things online and we don’t get to dissect and talk about them, and that’s really what we do in today’s conversation. 

[02:42] Sahara

So, without further ado, let’s welcome Cassandra to The Highest Self Podcast. 

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[02:47] Advertisement 

And before we get started, I have an announcement for you! 

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So, if you’re interested, head over to iamsahararose.com/embodiment and you can find that link in the show notes and download the practice. 

Without further ado, let’s get into this week’s Episode!

[04:16] End of Advertisement

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[04:17] Interview

[04:17] Sahara

Welcome back, Cassandra, to The Highest Self Podcast, it’s so good to have you here! 

[04:21] Cassandra

It’s good to be here! 

[04:23] Sahara

The first question I’d love to ask you again is, what makes you your highest self? 

[04:27] Cassandra

What makes me my highest self is tapping into the truth of my being, and the way I do that is through my meditation practice. So, connecting to that divine inside of me is what makes me be my highest self in my life.

[04:43] Sahara

So amazing! Like, sometimes we just have a moment that we remember and it brings us back to our greater understanding, our highest selves, which is really what this Podcast is about.

And we’ve been going through our own experience in the past, I mean, we’re always talking about this, but I’ll just share, being very vulnerable here on the Podcast, but Cassandra, here, one of my best friends is the number one most downloaded Episode on the Podcast, which is amazing! And we love her here! So, in the 5-year, like, the number one most downloaded, so I’m like “Cassandra, your Episode did so well, we’ve got to do another manifestation one”, so I was like how to manifest your partner and your home, like, those are the two things that people really want, right? And we do have amazing stories on that and we have manifested that, and it is important to have an aligned partner, and it is important to have an aligned home, and it is important to make money, and it is important to, all of the things, but that’s not what spirituality or manifestation is really about. Right before recording this, I kind of had a come to Jesus moment and you’re like “Yes” of like no, this is what, also, people get lost in, in the manifestation space, that’s it’s just turned into a spiritual jargon that we use on materialism and consumerism and getting more.

And I feel like we’re losing sight of what spirituality is really all about. So, I wanted to talk with you about this on the Podcast, because we do manifest and we do the rituals, and I believe that manifestation truly works when it’s of service to the greater whole.

[06:16] Cassandra

Absolutely, and it’s even beyond that, it’s also like, it’s about connecting back to our truest self, it’s about connecting to our highest self. And it’s funny because, you know, when you brought this up, I was like “Oh, I love talking about this!” This has been a big fortune of some of the podcasts I did around the book. And the reason I even wrote my book “Manifesting Through Meditation” was in a way a comment on how this, kind of, manifestation has, kind of, gotten diluted, I feel like, in pop culture, we’ll call it (social media world), it’s because it’s gotten so far away from its spiritual origins and gotten into this, like, energy of, like “Oh, more money, more clients, more bigger homes, flashier trips, more Chanel bags, more whatever”, it’s gotten into this, you know, thing. But actually, how it began is that the, we incarnated here to remember the truth of who we are and to help as many other people through that remembrance in ourselves, we open up other people to the remembrance to themselves, because when someone’s connected to the truth of who they are, it’s almost like we recognize each other, again, for, like, the essence of our being. And the essence of our being is a divine creator, right? We are, whatever you call your higher power, we all are pieces. Like, if the higher power is the sun, we’re all rays, right? And so, we’re all connected and the essence of that higher power, Source, God, whatever name you want to give it, is divine creator energy. 

And so, we’re like little babies to sparkly objects when we hear the word manifestation because there is that part of our soul that’s like “Oh yeah, yeah! Oh my gosh, I am a creator! I can, you know, turn my thoughts into things, I can, you know, shift my reality and my perception!”, we have these tools.

And I think part of why we incarnate is to remember who we are while being in physical form. And so, there’s something about manifestation that’s completely central to the spiritual awakening journey, but it starts, and that was, kind of, the craziest thing is like, the craziest thing about me writing the book “Manifesting Through Meditation”, and I think part of the reason why the podcast that we did together, where we go through all the different four steps, blew up is because the first step is the one that’s the most important and it’s the one that no one does. And the first step is plugging in to your divine source, it’s connecting to your truest self, connecting to your highest self, as you would call it, right? It’s like, there’s a bunch of different languages we can use for the same experience, but it’s plugging into the truth of your being at the core of it. And from that space, then we are divine creators, it’s our natural energy. 

And so, I think manifesting in and of itself in its truest form is actually incredibly spiritual where it gets, kind of, out of the loop, is when we are focusing, kind of, too much, I think, on the material aspects of what’s going on and forgetting that the core of manifesting, right, is to raise your vibration, raise your frequency, get into that state. Because your highest frequency, your highest vibration, is remembering that you are creation energy, that you are Source, that you are divine, right.

And so, when we get to that, then all of a sudden, like, stuff happens in our life, for sure, but what’s even better than whatever the “stuff happening in our life is” is that, for anyone that’s ever had that experience, it’s like Nirvana, right? When you plug into that, you’re so happy, you don’t need anything. 

When I’m like a, listen, both of us, we do our practices, we do our rituals, all this stuff, we’re still humans. And so, I don’t walk around like Jesus or whatever, all the time, I’m still human but prioritizing that feeling. The more I prioritize that feeling, the more I plug into that feeling, I find that the more I’m plugged into the truth of who I am, the more aware I am of being a divine creator, the more aware I am about, literally, like, it’s kind of, it’s become cliché now, but we were talking about, kind of, being the light, we’re all light, we’re all shining, is the less that you actually even care so much about these external things and the more that kind of flows effortlessly.

[11:26] Sahara

One hundred percent! I think that’s totally it! We see the shiny objects and we’re like “Wait, if I can manifest my dream house, if I can manifest six figures, if I can manifest this, then that means I can create my own reality”, and it’s almost like the things that we’re reaching for are the things that the media show us as examples of success and happiness. So, we realize that we are divine creatrixes of our own reality, but then the thing that we reach for is, like, below the first branch, you know. It’s like we think it’s like “Oh, so, if I can create my own reality, I’ll have a Chanel bag”, and it’s like no, that’s not what we can use those powers for, those are also made by child slaves in China and they put a brand on it, like, there’s nothing actually, inherently, valuable about these things but our media.

So, it’s almost like we take, we have these, like, openings of spiritual understanding, which is a progression, I’m so glad that manifestation and crystals are in the forefront, but then we don’t go all the way of like “Oh, what is the reality that I actually want to create beyond the Chanel bag, beyond the private jet trips to the Maldives, beyond these?” 

And then I think we are in such a social media world that then when we see someone having these things, we think “Well, that must be the pinnacle of manifestation”, “That must be the pinnacle of success, therefore, my version of it should look like that”. I mean, maybe instead of a Chanel bag for you, it looks like a Rolex watch, or for you it looks like something else, but it’s like, it’s still a material possession that is only valuable because of the marketing that has been done around it, that isn’t actually changing, it’s just your perception of the story you’ve created around yourself by having these things. 

So, it’s like, let’s go beyond that into what is inherently valuable, what is inherently abundant? To me, it’s like, let’s make a planet that everyone has access to food, that is truly abundance, let’s live a world that – and I think people don’t talk about this online, but in the coaching space, we talk about this behind closed doors all the time, but it’s like, a lot of the people that you see that are talking about having this and that, they’re not truly living in alignment with their Dharma, they’re not truly sharing their soul purpose, they’re just sharing those things because they also think that’s what other people want. So, it’s this, like, self-fulfilling prophecy of everyone is just, kind of, like, faking it till they make it, making it be truly experiencing joy, and none of them are, so then it’s a six figure a month, a seven figure a month, an eight figure, nine figure, and then it’s just who’s making more, let me copy what they’re doing because they must have it all figured out, but that person isn’t even looking at their own life feeling like “Am I actually known for my thoughts or am I just known for the money that I make?”, and is that really what people want to emulate? 

[14:16] Cassandra

What it becomes actually is, it’s filling, what I would call, filling a God-sized hole, right? It’s like you’re filling a God-sized hole with money, you’re filling a God-sized hole with things. You know, some women do it with having different lovers, there’s like, you do it with food, you could do it with anything, right, and it’s like “I’ve got to get the new car, I’ve got to get the next bag, I’ve got to get the private jet”, and it’s like, there’ll always be another thing because you’re not actually filling the hole, right?

And the problem with that is that the more you’ll get, the more you’ll want, because the more you realize, the more you get the next car, it doesn’t fill the hole; you need a fancier car, that’s still is not going to fill the hole, because the hole never had anything to do with the car or the Chanel bag, or the house, or whatever, it had to do with your relationship with God, your relationship with Source, your relationship with your higher self, the divine inside of you and your soul. And so, we feel depleted because we’re not doing the thing in alignment, we’re not following what our soul is called here to do, express how it’s called here to do. And so, then we try to fill it with these other things that we think are shiny, fun objects. 

And I would venture to say that, like, all those things can be neutral, right? Let’s say all those material objects are neutral and you can either, and it’s from that space of neutrality that you can intermingle with them, right? 

So, for instance, if you feel like having the car, the Chanel bag or the six figure a month, or whatever, makes you more worthy, right, then there is the hint that you’re filling a hole that will never be filled by a material possession because your worthiness can only be found in your connection to the divine and your connection to your higher self, your source, right, in your, that, spiritual life, and so…

But if you have that connection to your spiritual life, if you feel filled up, then you don’t need any of that, right? And so, that almost becomes like sprinkles on the cake, right? It becomes this like fun thing, there’s no attachment to it, there’s not like “Oh, that’s a pretty pink dress, I’m going to wear the pretty pink dress because I’m feeling bright and I want that pretty pink dress”, it’s not “I’m not feeling bright so I’m going to put the pretty pink dress on and hope the dress is going to make me feel bright”, it’s “I’m already feeling that way”. And so, therefore, what happens in there, there’s a level of discernment that happens, right? Because then you realize “Okay, well, all these people I’m seeing on social media…”, I don’t know why Chanel just came up today, but sorry, I have nothing specifically, I have nothing against Chanel. But then you start realizing like, actually, there’s a bunch of different designer bags, if you want to have a nice bag, right? And maybe, like, there are some designers like, let’s say Chloe, Chloe is another designer, you don’t see that as much on Instagram let’s say, but then, when you’re in that place of being filled up and you go and you want to buy a purse, you’re a woman and sometimes we want to carry a purse, then you can just look at it from that place of being like “Okay, what purse is pretty, that I resonate with, that I want to carry my things, my wallet or whatever, right?” And it’s a different relationship because you’re not buying that purse to say something about yourself, you’re not like “Oh, I need that Chanel purse so that everyone knows I’m abundant, right, and so I feel abundant”, because that Chanel purse is not going to do that. If you don’t feel abundant, you will just feel not abundant with the Chanel purse. And then you can go and buy whatever pink, purple, blue, whatever bag you want that is just fun and you’re like whatever about, because you know that that bag has nothing to do with you, right, and that you’re worthy if you have 70 bags or if you’re worthy if you had no bags.

I think one of the things that I have found that has, kind of, simultaneously happened as I’ve done more of the spiritual inner work. Like, I’m someone that likes, I like nice things, I like quality things, I like well-made things, I have a certain esthetic, I like beige, neutral things, gold, but what happens is, when you need less and when you are getting things, it is from that place of like “I’m getting this because it’s really beautiful, it’s really beautiful”, or if it’s like clothing, like this turtle neck I’m wearing, it’s really soft, and you’re getting it from this completely different space, it’s not to define some level of worth, right? And so, I think what’s happening is that, we’re confused this material life examples, right, for actual genuine fulfilment and happiness. And it doesn’t mean that you don’t get to have, like we talked about, you get to have the house, you get to have the partner, you get to have whatever car, clothes, whatever the thing is, trips, but when it comes from that place that I actually feel like going back to the reincarnate here, to remember that we’re the divine creators, remember that we actually are powerful creators, we’re not victims and we have that ability to manifest things and call things into reality, and it’s kind of like this remembrance of the truth of who we are while we’re here, and we can create impact with it. And then, what happens is, part of our, I believe, part of our soul’s journey is that we get to play with things in the physical, we get to crave different experiences. Like, I think both of our souls, to different places, but our souls have had very strong, like, travel cravings, right? And I think that’s part of our soul’s journey. We came here, and my soul wanted to experience, like, traveling to these different parts of France or what not, going on these different pilgrimages and stuff. And then, that can be, like, from that like really genuine soul desired place and not from this place of like, I would still do all the things that I do if no one ever saw it on Instagram. And I think that’s another thing to ask yourself, is like, the things that you’re manifesting are the things that you desire if no one would ever know that you had it, if you just got the satisfaction of whatever that experience was, would that be enough? 

[21:03] Sahara

You know, it’s so funny because I watching this TikTok today saying that festivals have become a staging of having fun, of people go to the festival, they’re not actually having fun, they go even to the party and the events, and they’re going there to create content.

[21:22] Cassandra

Oh my God!

[21:23] Sahara

How sad is that, that even travel and the things that are – you know, I’ve seen these famous travel bloggers and they are, like, fighting, but then they get the perfect picture so you think they’re having the most romantic time in this hot air balloon in Morocco, but they actually had the worst trip ever. So, we have created this social media culture that we’re living for content rather than living for ourselves, so we think that me having an XYZ bag or XYZ mastermind or XYZ fill in the blank, whatever it looks like for you, will look good on social media and that will make, essentially, people then pay money to me, and it’s like this cycle that we’re in until we awaken out of. 

And yes, just like you said, you can have all the things, but truthfully, I think what we desire is the freedom, you know, the freedom to be ourselves, the freedom to be able to travel and experience a new culture and eat the delicious crepes in France or you know, foods around the world. And to me, that’s what true abundance is about, like, for me to have the choice to “Do I actually want to be working this job or not?”, “Do I actually want to be in this situation? If my bag is heavy, is it going to, like, make or break me if I pay the extra bag free?”, like, little moments like this are when abundance start to show up, “Oh wow, I can take a taxi rather than taking a public bus. I can stay in the nice hotel rather than staying in the cheap one with no AC”, and that’s why I understand. And, even, I was there, if I can just have abundance, and I think abundance, we’re afraid of using the word money, if I could just have enough money then I will then have those things, but then where we get lost is, there’s the next level and the next level and it’s never-ending. 

And I see so many people even enter into the coaching world of like “I just want to replace my corporate job and come and be able to help people”, and then once they do that, well “I just need to reach my six figure a year”, “Now I need to reach my six figure”, “Now I need to reach this”, “Now I need to reach that”, and it’s like, we live in a capitalistic society that there’s always going to be more to grow and they’ve designed it that way that, as soon as you’re rich enough to afford the Rolex, there’s Audemars Piguet, and there’s another brand and another brand, and it’ll just never end until you awaken out of it.

And I can understand someone listening today, “Well, easy for you guys to say, you guys already have careers and I don’t have that so I just need to be focused on making the money”, but the thing is, it’s like, if you don’t awaken out of that trap in the creation of it, you will create a cage for yourself that you’ll never be able to leave, and no amount of money will be enough to buy you that key, to get you back the freedom that you even created this all for. 

[24:04] Cassandra

Yeah, absolutely! And I do think it’s, it’s interesting that the money thing is an interesting situation, and I have a somewhat controversial belief around this because I do believe that, sometimes, while we’re on our spiritual journey, while we’re figuring things out, while we’re figuring out what that thing is that we want to share with the world. And I do think, and I think that we both share this in the way that you can create an impact, you can be a light in the world, without that not necessarily being your profession, right?

And while it’s, like, amazing, when they can overlap, and they do overlap, I think, sometimes, having something that’s able to take care of your basic needs, right, – if we think about Maslow’s hierarchy, hierarchy of needs, like, you need to be able to take care of your basic needs, you need to be able to pay for your rent, pay for your food, what not, and if that’s not taken care of, then it’s hard to ascend the pyramid and to get into that spiritual enlightenment, and into get to that space where you’re plugging, because you get into this – it’s almost like there’s such momentum towards scarcity in that. So, I do think, sometimes, for manifesting and for your spiritual path, one of the self-loving acts you can do for yourself is just have some way of paying the bills, just get, even if it’s like a basic thing, doesn’t have to be fancy, doesn’t have to be, you know, bells and whistles sparkly, and you don’t need to confuse it for your higher career, you don’t need to confuse it. 

The way I often tell people to think about it is, think about that as a VC, like an investment in your future career so that you can get to that place where you’re, like, plugging in, and you can do this when you’re broke too, you can do this from that place of having no money. But it can be harder if you have some of those basic needs that are not being met, right? So, we can, kind of, take care of those basic needs and it gives you a little bit of that, it gives you that leg up to be able to then plug in and to then start to, creatively, thinking “Where can I serve? Where can I give?”, and have that originate from that place. Because I think what we’re seeing more and more of is, is instead of, I call them, well, actually I don’t call them, Steven Pressfield has this great book, he has two great books “The War of Art” and “Turning Pro”, and both of them about following your soul’s journey, and he calls them shadow careers.

And so, like, the shadow career is like the career of someone, let’s say, someone wants to leave their 9-5, become a coach, and they desperately want to coach people on how to be more conscious parents, right? But they don’t know how to make money coaching people on being conscious parents, so they coach people on how to manage their finances. And so, they’ve, kind of, like, created this career that’s just, like, it’s in the right direction but not quite the thing because they went to the low-hanging fruit because they wanted to just do the thing that would make money.

[27:11] Sahara

Yeah.

[27:11] Cassandra

Right? And so, I think, in that moment, we can purify things by having what I call the VC fund going, that creates that baseline so that you can have the space to really go for, you know, let’s say that conscious parenting coaching role, and you have that space to figure it out and do it really in alignment and really authentically, and not immediately pivot towards something that’s just going to make you money.

[27:45] Sahara

Totally! And we need that variety, like, that is why Source designed us to have unique gifts. Each and every one of us, in our fullest expression, is naturally a solution for a world’s problem, so that person who recognized within themselves “I would love to be a conscious parenting coach”, like, yes, that is your code, that is what you’re here to share, you are here to be that lighthouse, but then yeah, maybe at the beginning, someone may have said “Oh, I have to get paid to get coached on how to be a parent? No way, I’m not doing that!” and maybe 20 other people said similar things “I don’t have the money”, or “That would be good to know but I’m not going to pay for that”, so now you’ve created a story that no one is going to pay for a conscious parent coach, but people will pay on how to manage their finances or how to make six figures online or whatever the thing is, then you convince yourself “Well, I guess that’s what I’m going to do because that’s what people are going to pay money for and I don’t want to go back to where I was”. And while that makes sense, and maybe it is a moment in time that you do do that until you can get yourself off of your own feet, but don’t lose sight of your purpose, don’t lose sight of what you actually – I see all of these people, they have these beautiful awakening moments of like “I’m here to be the solution to the world’s problem in this unique texture, and way, and essence, and flavor”, and then when they try it and there’s some resistance, they’re like “Oh, so I guess I’m going to just become a business coach”, not that there’s anything wrong with being a business coach, but do you genuinely want to be that business coach or are you just doing it because you believe that’s what people will pay for?

[29:18] Cassandra

Because at the end of the day, what is all this for is because we want to feel happy, we want to feel fulfilled, we want to feel lit up, and when do we feel those things? We feel those things when we’re on a mission, we feel all those things when we’re aligned, we feel all those things when we’re plugged in and connected. 

And so, anything that we do is an offshoot of that, right? And so, there’s no – I tell this even on teaching an entrepreneurship class at UCONN right now, and I was giving the kids a talk because they were starting to feel like “Oh, was it, like, bad if I end up accepting a job opportunity or something, because I’m such a die-hard entrepreneur?”, and I was like “It’s only…”, first of all I was like “Nothing is bad, but it’s about that conversation with yourself”, because for me, I know that I wouldn’t be in alignment, but if you get an awesome opportunity at a really cool company that really lights you up and you’re really stoked about the people you’re going to work with and the projects you’re going to work on, then maybe that’s the next aligned step for you, great, right? But if you’re choosing it from that place of fear, if you’re like “Oh, this is just, it’s just more steady, it’s just more, right”, what happens is, it’s like anything – just going back to that whole thing, we have to start from that place of wholeness, we have to start from that place of power where we already have everything, so we need nothing, right? And from that space, it’s like, if we’re going to make a decision from a place of lack, a place of fear, fear of “I need to do this to make money”, you’re only cheating yourself, right? Because everybody else can think, I mean, people could think you have the coolest job, people could think you’re slaying as a whatever, six figure business coach or whatever it is that you’re doing, but you have to be with you every day, you are living inside of that. And what happens is, if you’re not in alignment, then that hole gets bigger, that, like, God-size hole, that divine-size hole gets bigger, and that’s what ends up happening is that you’re like “Oh, reaching here for the private jet to fill it; reaching here for the new bag to fill it; reaching here for the fake Instagram friends to fill it”, right, and you’re like pulling all these things to try to fill this hole just because you’re doing something that’s not in alignment with what your soul came here to do. And so, the reason you’re feeling funky is because your natural intuitive guidance is trying to say “Hey buddy, wrong way”, like “Okay, we tried this path, not the right path! Let’s make a change”. And for whatever reason, like we do, we ignore it because we’re scared, we ignore it because of money, we ignore it because what will society think, right? What will society think if I give up my high-paying gig and then decide to be a gardener in Costa Rica? It’s like, okay, well, society lifts up the Elon Musks of the world, the Jeff Bezos of the work, or whatever, and these people that are, you know, making all this money. And here’s the thing, it’s like, there’s nothing inherently bad or good in the sense of, like you were saying, each person has their own individual piece to play, their own individual part and they all serve, but where things get messed up is when we’re not playing our piece, right? And that’s how we can do it, and that’s how we can do it through manifesting, right, is getting back to that – you know, we talked about on the other podcast, the first step is plugging in, so you making decisions from a place of wholeness and abundance and the truth of who you are. And then, the second step is connecting to your soul’s authentic desires and not what society is telling you and not what Instagram is telling you, and not what’s cool right now. 

And I think that’s a really good, kind of, test for yourself, sometimes, is like, you know, social media is one of those things where you can use it as a barometer for where you’re at with that. Can you look at things on social media and say “Wow, that’s, like, really, like, good for that person, you now, and also totally not for me?” 

I see, I remember when the pandemic started and I saw some people moving to Costa Rica, buying this land and starting eco farms or whatever, you know, and I can look at that and be like “Wow, that is so cool”, and not me, right? And like, so much respect for them, that their journey and their path, and that looks badass and also, like, not, right?. I can look at someone driving, you know, someone I follow just bought a red Porsche or something like that, and I was like “Cool, whatever! I have no desire to get that Porsche”, right? And it’s like, in those moments, being able to say “Okay, well, I can see all these things going on and I can connect back with my soul and my truth and say what’s my next step, what’s the thing that I feel connected to that’s part of my soul’s journey?” Honestly, you want to go, like, think about, like, babies and marriage, right? It’s like everyone, you know, we have this societal thing that’s like clap, clap, clap, and you know, not that those aren’t beautiful things, they’re beautiful things, and also, they’re things that are not going to be for everyone.

And so, I think it’s when we get to that place of being able to celebrate everyone for whatever they’re doing, and hopes and prayers that they’re living their authentic truth, but then come back to our authentic truth and ask ourselves “Well, what are we really manifesting, because it’s part of our soul’s expression and our soul’s path in this lifetime, and what are we manifesting because of how it’s going to look to other people?” 

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[37:17] Sahara

Yeah! And what keeps coming up for me in my mind is, like, we are stewards of money and there’s different levels of stewardship that your soul may desire in this lifetime. Like, some souls, like Elon Musk, have obviously a desire to be stewards of huge sums of money because the solutions of the world’s problems that they are here to solve are on a very, very large scale, right? It’s about power-using energy, etc., so that’s why his soul had that track, not saying he’s a good or bad person, but had that track of “We need to acquire large sums of money”. Other people I know too, they’re like “I’m here to help create more female millionaires, that’s what activates me because we need to have women in the executive space”, and that’s what their soul mission is about. And that’s all beautiful, and it’s needed, and the question that I have for the listener is, what is your version of true success? Do you want to be stewards of these giant…? What steward do you want to be? Some people just want to be a steward for their plot of land in Costa Rica and taking care of the passion flowers and the fruit trees, and that feels like ultimate stewardship. For some people, they want to be stewards of money that’s spent in the non-profit sphere, into different organizations and causes. For some people, they want to steward what small wellness start-ups are being funded. For some people, they want to be stewards for health technology. There are so many different ways that we can be a steward for not just money, but energy, right? 

So, I think different people, like, in this spiritual teaching that I love called The Michael Teachings, there are cardinal and ordinal souls, and the cardinal souls are here to really reach a lot of people that no matter what, their souls are designed to be, like, activated by being in front of large groups of people, they tend to go on social media, and then there are more ordinal souls that are really activated by 1:1, grass roots, connection. And the thing is, on social media, we just see the people, the soul types who are activated by talking to large groups of people and being stewards for large amounts of money.

Even for myself, like, I probably have a larger desire for these than a lot of people listening to this Podcast right now, they might be like “You go, Sahara, there’s no way I would want to manage an institute”, you know, for some people that might seem like a lot, even compared to our friends. I probably have more of that capacity than most, but then I see other people that I’m like “Yeah, I totally wouldn’t want to do that”. So, it really does come with having the self-reflection practices and noticing when things feel a little bit off and following that thread, because that thing that always feels a little bit off and a little bit off, you stuff inside and stuff inside, when you actually listen to that, there may be a whole Pandora’s box of you living out of alignment with your true version of success. And when you’re honest with yourself, yes, at the beginning there can be conflict, at the beginning there can be confrontation, at the beginning it may be like shit. I’ve paved this road my whole entire life and I don’t want to walk on it anymore, but your true fulfillment will only happen when you’re honest with yourself.

[40:24] Cassandra

Absolutely! And I think that that’s a really good point, like, it’s true, like, where we celebrate certain types of impact in this world. And, you know, one of the things that me and my dad talk about this – and so, my dad was brought up very catholic, he is like the very good catholic boy, and we were talking about, when I started my business and I was doing all this stuff and I was like “I’m changing the world, dad, and I’m making an impact and I’m helping people and all this stuff”, and I was like “Dad, like…”, you know, my dad works a job his whole life to support our family, it was like literally a rockstar dad, great dad, but I never really felt like he had a mission, I never felt like he was purpose-driven. And I always thought it was so interesting because he’s spiritual, right, and so I asked him about it, and I was like “What do you feel like your purpose or your mission was, or what not, in this life?”, and he always tells me two things, he says, one, “I knew that one of my purposes was to be a father for you and your brother, I was very clear that that was a big part, even before I had kids, before I met your mom, I knew that that was a part of my journey”, and then I felt so much fulfillment. I remember my dad called me on his, like, 55th birthday, I got him concert tickets, I sent him and my brother to this, like, rock concert in Ontario, in the city. And he called me up afterwards and he was like crying, so to speak, he was like “If anything happens to me, I just want you to know that I fulfilled what I needed to do. You and your brother are great and I’m good, I’m good, I completed the mission”. And the other thing he said to me is that, he’s like “I also feel like my purpose wasn’t just one thing, it was like a bunch of little things”. He was like “I’d like to think that there – my dad is the kind of person that will literally see someone struggling with a bag and run and pick it up. He’ll see someone, he’ll walk you up – he’s just a helper, he’s like that person. And he’s like that to so many people and I was like, and to strangers, and he always feels like “I just hope that maybe one of those little things I did, turned around someone’s day”, right.

And I remember the first time when he told me that, it was like, my whole brain exploded, because I’m so not like that, on so many levels, right? I’m so big picture, I’m so, like, I need to create this whole ripple effect and this whole thing, and I couldn’t fathom feeling like it, it’s just different, but when it opened me up to it, and I think what you’re getting at, which is so important, is that we all have different things, and not everyone, and I love that, I love that about my dad, that he is clear that that was part of his journey, and he has no errors or desires to do any of the stuff I do, or ever did, right? 

And I think the more we can ask ourselves that question, like you said, of “What is success to me? What is…?” You know, one of the questions I ask people, instead of how much money they want to make, I ask them what kind of life they want to live? Tell me what your life looks like? Tell me what your day-to-day looks like? Tell me, do you go on trips with your family? Do you have a yard where your kids can play? Do you live walking distance to a park? Whatever it is, tell me about your life, what does your life look like? Because, often times, people attack themselves with this idea that they need some sort of money or they need some sort of title or whatever it is, but our life is how we spend our days, right? At the end of our life, it’s how we spent our days, it’s not what we got in our bank account. And so, if what we have in our bank account can serve our days, great; if that can help buy organic food for you to put on the table, fantastic; if that can help provide, you know, a tutor for your kid to help them with math, amazing; if that can help provide you some, you know, an assistant, so you can spend more time painting or what not, great! But what is the life that you want to manifest? What is the day that you want to manifest? You know, that, to me, that’s the clincher, and that’s what we want, and that’s, often, the craziest thing, is when we get clear on that.

I have this meditation, I’ll give you the link to it, I think it’s divinely design your life, it’s a free meditation, and it just walks you through your dream day. Like, what is tour dream day? Because, often times, you can have at least 90% of that dream day today, it’s like, if you want to be out in nature more, yeah. So, maybe right now, you don’t live in the middle of the Amazon jungle or whatever, but if part of that craving is being able to with trees every day, then, like, go find a park or tree in your neighborhood that you can, like, visit every day, and, like, tune into and say hi, or whatever you want to do; you want to lay on the grass, you want to be by a body of water, find a river, or a lake, or ocean, depending on where you are and make a weekly trip there. There’s so much, actually, that we can call in, and then that bigger manifestation will happen, will unfold organically. If you make that a priority and that’s just a part of your life, then what happens, often, it just unfolds.

And I think that’s another thing I wanted to hit on, that you just talked about, that’s really important. When you talk about these different levels of stewardship, well, I also think, even as you’re looking to ascend levels of stewardship, it starts with the first level of stewardship, right? Like, I know both of us have talked about this, we were life coaches for everyone in our life before we were life coaches professionally, we were the person that people come to for healthy advice, and then it became more spirituality, and then it grows and it grows and it grows. And it also starts from, I think, you know, sometimes right now, people try to start at the top, they want to jump straight to that, like I” have this massive stewardship, I just want the massive stewardship”, but the question is, are you being a good steward of where you’re at right now? You know, are you being a good steward of the money you have right now? Are you being a good steward of the impact you have right now? Because you have impact, you have impact right now, you have impact being in community, you have in your family, you have impact with your friend group, you have impact, there’s 50 people that follow you on Instagram, you have impact. And so, are you being a good steward of that? And if you’re being a good steward of that, then more will come, if that’s part of the path? And then you be a good steward of that next level, and then more will come if that’s part of that. 

And that’s how things, also, naturally manifest, because what’s happening, again, for those of you who listened to our first Episode, that last, fourth, step is quantum embodiment. And what quantum embodiment essentially is, is like, are you being as good of a steward of your 50 people as you would be of 50.000, right? Because if you’re showing up to say “I want to be a leader, I want to be a light, I want to be making an impact in whatever lane you want to make an impact on”, you want to revolutionize the world by going eco-friendly, start with your home, start with talking to your family members about getting them to do more eco-friendly in different ways, start with talking to your local coffee shop about getting them to get rid of plastic or whatever, right? It’s like, and when we start with that level, but instead you’re like “Well, I just want a million people to follow me on my eco-friendly blog”.

[48:34] Sahara

Which is just the ego wanting that.

[48:36] Cassandra

Which is just the ego wanting that, and so, it’s not rewarded, right? And so, it’s like, but if you start making that impact in your community, little by little by little by little, it happens, it grows and it blossoms because you are being a good steward at every level.

[48:52] Sahara

Totally! How can you have a million followers if you’re not even being present to the 150 followers that you have now? If you’re resentful and like “Why are these people DM-ing me and annoying me all the time?”, it’s like, okay, the Universe is like “Obviously she can’t handle 150 followers, so let’s not give her more because that’s going to be too overwhelming”, because we can manifest anything but there’s the blocks in the way.

So, I know, especially when it comes to social media growth and when I had to overcome for myself was, on one hand I said “I want to reach more people”, but the other hand, I was so afraid of haters and people not liking me. So, if I have this block of “I cannot stand, it will break me apart if people don’t like me and write me comments to me, or write even stories about me, I can’t handle that”, so the Universe is like “Okay, let’s stop the growth right here”. 

So, every time I notice, like, energetically, when I overcome, whether it’s fear of haters, fear of being seen, fear of saying the wrong thing, when I’m able to let go of those fears, it actually allows me to then be a steward of greater amounts of people. 

And the same thing with money, if we’re afraid of “Oh my God, I can’t handle myself with money, I’ve maxed out all my credit cards already”, so, Universe is like “You can’t handle more”, or “I make the worst business decisions”, Universe is like “Okay, let’s make sure not to grow your business because you’re having a tough time where you are”, so, it’s how are you right now with what is available for you, which, by the way, is more than it ever has been before, you already have been letting go of these different beliefs and here’s where you are right now, so are you willing, or even desiring, maybe your genuine desire is to be the most present person for these 150 people, and you’re sure that you probably don’t want more because you don’t want to deal with potential haters, and that’s also fair, and you can choose that, but wherever you are, be there, don’t quiver, don’t want one thing but actually be afraid of what comes – because everything has a package. 

I think it was Yoda or someone said “With grater responsibility comes greater impact”, or something like that, and it’s true, it’s like, okay, if you want to have $10m a year, that comes with a lot more responsibility, do you know about financial planning, do you know about tax, do you know how to, you know, XYZ, that comes with that? And not to scare people, but it’s just more people following you, okay, do you want to be that person; every time there’s a global event, people are going to be coming to you, “What’s your opinion on this? Why didn’t you post about that? Why aren’t you talking about this issue?”, that just comes in the box and no box is perfect, so which box are you going to choose?

[51:29] Cassandra

Absolutely! I love that! And I think that’s so true, and it is about being, 1) honoring that, like, success is, at the end of the day, being happy and fulfilled with your day and your life, that’s all it is. It’s not a number, it’s not a number of followers, not money in the bank, it’s not items that you own, it’s are you happy and fulfilled at the end of the day, right? And so much of that is, it’s you being a good steward of what you have today, you honoring of what you have today, you being in that space. 

And again, I think that really does, it comes with a discernment of you being in alignment, because here’s the thing, when you’re in alignment, you do the thing because you feel called to do it, right? You do the thing because you feel called to do it.

When I started my blog, back in the day, the food blog, right, I literally just did it because it made me happy to record these awful YouTube videos of me making cupcakes. It made me happy, and I was going through a really hard time with my brother, and I was genuinely sad about what was going on with his health, and that was something that I literally did just to entertain myself, like a kid would play with a doll, that’s what I did. And I also did it because I knew how much pain I had been in trying to find food I could eat, and so, I was like 

“Hey, if one other girl is out there, looking at this video, and figures out how to make healthy vegan brownies that she can actually eat, and she hasn’t had brownies in like 3 years because of food allergies, win!” And she’s not going to care that I did it in one take and that I’m not that great, you know, the camera angle, she’s just going to be happy that I showed her how to get this recipe done, right? 

And it was through doing that, that literally my Instagram started growing, my blog started growing, people started reaching out to me, the producers at ABC found me, it was, I didn’t have any, like, grand ambitions of taking over vegan cooking or I had no grand ambitions of even, at that time, doing like a book or tv show, or anything, honestly, I was like, this is something I love. And I didn’t even see it as a possibility to make money on it, honestly. But I was like “This is what I want to do, this is what I want to contribute”, and at the end of the day, I felt more fulfilled having recorded and posted it on a YouTube video, it made me feel a little bit happier, like I’d done something that day that was giving something to the world. 

And so, I think that when we get back to that feeling and kind of circling all the way back to how we started this conversation and the intersection of the spirituality and the manifesting conversation, is that, it correlates, I think, our spiritual path with realizing that there is a higher plan that we don’t always know. We are not all-knowing in and of our human selves, but we are connected to a divine that has a higher intelligence. 

And so, realizing that if we stay on alignment, if we stay on our path, on a day-to-day basis, if we plug in on a day-to-day basis and we follow those intuitive nudges and we listen to what lights us up and we do our best to navigate alignment, that’s not our plan to micromanage the larger picture. And that, sometimes, it can be even better than we ever imagined, it can turn out to be because we just take those micro-aligned actions and we’re manifesting, we are, we’re manifesting. But we’re manifesting in alignment with the divine, right? So, we’re doing our little part of following our intuitive actions, saying “Oh, that’s in alignment, that’s not in alignment”, and we’re navigating ourselves as we move through things, but realizing that there’s also this, there’s a divine intelligence around us that has a plan even bigger than us. It’s giving us divine inspiration, it’s giving us guidance, and so, you may think that “Oh, the way I get to share this with the world as a book” and at times like “No, I’ve got way better things for her. She’s actually going to do a speaking tour because that’s what her gift is, she has a great throat chakra and she’s really going to be able to transform people by speaking, in a way that wouldn’t really even do the same in a book”, or like “No, that person’s really great working 1:1, she’s going to create massive impact working 1:1 with all those people”, and it’s, like, trusting that we’ll get our divine assignment, we will be placed, and it will feel good and it will be in alignment, and it will be even be better than what our, kind of, smaller human influenced brain, by everything else, feels like it has to be.

[56:17] Sahara

Yes! And in “Discover Your Dharma”, I write about how, when you’re living in alignment with your Dharma, you experience Kriya, which is that feeling of divine flow where you are almost taking the back seat and the Universe has the driving wheel, and you are just trusting that it will take you places that you can’t even imagine with your human mind because, like “Who am I to think that I know better for me, than the Universe? The thing that created me! It is an intelligence beyond me that not even the top scientists will ever understand. Why are we here? How do we have consciousness? What is consciousness?”, these are questions far beyond the human understanding, so who am I to think “Oh, I should live here and have that boyfriend and that job, and that this”. It’s like, I have no idea, truthfully, what is in my highest good and I believe true manifestation comes when you are being of service to the highest good. And even those things that you want, how can you relate them to the highest good? Because the Universe wants what’s best for the expansion of the Universe, and it is inherently neutral, it wants to grow. The Universe is always growing, if you look at quantum physics, we’re like quadrupling in time, space and reality at any moment in time, it’s beyond our comprehension. 

So, each and every one of us is a spectrum of the Universe in human form, we’re all here to expand and grow. 

And I remember hearing this story of “Well, why is there so much of evil in the world? If the Universe wants what’s good, why is there so much evil in the world?”, and it’s like, imagine the entire world was this just desert of nothingness, it’s just a desert, it’s neutral, but each and every one of us, we have a water bucket and seeds, and we can plant our own oasis. So, I don’t know why the world is a desert, but I can make my own oasis and I can water it, and I can grow it, and I can invite you to my oasis, and I can come to your oasis, and every single person can create their own oasis, they can create their own vibration of what heaven on earth looks like for them.  

So, the question is not “Oh, well, why is there so much evil in the world?”, it’s like, why do we have the capacity to create good? Like, no other animal can do that. Dogs, cats, they can’t be like “I’m really choosing to create good in the world”, they’re just being, whereas humans, we can, we can tangibly be of service. And I think that’s really what’s missing in the spiritual conversation of how is what you are manifesting of service?

So, even if you are manifesting a home, how is me, being comfortable in my home and feeling grounded, going to allow me to be of service to channel the books that I’m here to channel, or the 1:1 coaching, or being of service to my organization or whatever way, it helps me stabilize my root chakra, so I can then do this thing. Me being in partnership, it allows me to feel loved and nurtured and fulfilled and met emotionally, which, I can channel my love into the pre-school that I want to create or whatever else it is that you want to do.

So, I think, whatever it is you want to manifest, my practice is always “How is this of the greatest good?” and I feel like the more I can see that, the more I can make it less about me and more about the entire planet.

Even with Deepak Chopra, when I met him, I was like “If this is for the highest good, let it work”, and it was because him writing the Forward of my book, allowed more people to have trust in Ayurveda, and more people to heal their health problems, which gives them more energy to raise the vibration of the planet. So, I really think being of service is that missing link. 

[59:48] Cassandra

And just to also bring it down to a micro level where like the macro, it’s like, okay, how – one of the exercises that I love giving people is blessing people all day. Not like, you don’t have to be like one of those people that I go up to someone, especially now, Covid time, don’t touch anyone, guys, unless you are friends with them, but like, just walking through.

When I lived in New York, a practice I would love to do in the morning, when I was walking to get my green juice, I would literally just less all the people, like in my head, I would just be like “A blessing on you and a blessing on you. I hope you have a great day, I hope your heart is at peace, I hope…”, and that’s like a micro form of that, of even thinking like “Okay, well, how is this like my home? It’s a blessing on my children, it’s a blessing on me, it’s a blessing on my pets, it’s a blessing on anybody that walks into these walls. My home can be a blessing on the community, if I’m a good steward of my home; my home can be a blessing to everyone who ever visits me; it can be a space where people come in here and they’re blessed, they feel loved, they feel safe; in that moment, I know that, in these walls, I can provide them peace and serenity. A blessing can be you making dinner for your partner, this is like a blessing on them, like “I’m going to make this beautiful dinner for my partner and my kids, or my friends, or whatever”. And being in that spirit, it’s really, it’s funny because right before this call, I had a client and we were talking about how when you’re working on your money stuff, one of the best things you can do is just pay it forward. So, whenever you feel like a little – one of the things I like to do, because I worked both as a barista and I worked as a waitress when I was younger, I give big tips and I love that because I know how much those people are making and I know most of them are hustling to do something else while they’re working those jobs, so I love to, like, you know, throw an extra $20 at the barista or tip the same size as whatever my bill was at a restaurant, or what not, and just give a blessing like “I acknowledge you, I see you showing up”. And I think there’s so many little ways we can make blessings in a person’s day.

I remember I was broke as a joke, I was on food stamps when I first moved into the city, and I’m, like, barely affording this little closet of a room, and it was Thanksgiving, and I used my food stamps to buy, like, turkey and cranberry and wholewheat bread or whatever, and I made these turkey sandwiches and I gave them out to all the homeless people in the neighborhood. And I didn’t have a lot, but I felt like the richest girl in the world that day, because I was able to give a blessing. And at that point, I couldn’t make a big donation, like, now I donate to wellness in the schools, I donate to places, but I don’t have two coins to rub together for that, so, I was like “This is what I do have. I know I’m going to get a good, nice meal, because I actually get to go home with my family and eat for Thanksgiving, but I can use this to give others”. And I think that’s also how we get to manifest. One of the biggest lessons in a course in miracles is what you think is missing from the table is that what you’re not serving up, right? And so, we feel like we’re missing something if we’re not feeling loved enough, if we’re not feeling abundant enough, if we’re not feeling blessed enough or whatever that is. It’s an opportunity for us to give, it’s an opportunity for us to say “Okay, how can I give love if I’m not feeling that love and how can I give something that’s abundant even if I’m not feeling abundant?”, because we all have something to give. And sometimes, even if you don’t have the money or the things to make sandwiches or what not, sometimes it’s as simple as holding a door open for someone at the store or smiling at someone, saying hi to a senior citizen that you see grocery shopping and just acknowledging them because you don’t know how much interaction they get with other people or what not. 

We have so many ways to give blessings and the magic of giving the blessing is that it brings us back to the truth of who we are, we remember that we’re an infinite divine creation, source, that we are loved, that we are abundant, so we, inherently, are abundant, in who just we are. The very essence of our being is abundant because it’s infinite possibilities, it’s endless love. And so, we always have something to give because we always have so, we are love, so we always have love to give, we always have blessings to give. And even if it’s saying a silent prayer or silent blessing for someone you see on the street, do that for five people after you listen to this Podcast and come tell us how you feel, and come tell us what manifests, because when you start feeling that way, then, like, you’re not even trying to manifest stuff, and blessings come back to you because that’s just how the universe works. You align with being the giver of blessings and you will also align with being the receiver of blessings.

[1:05:12] Sahara  

So true! I remember, as a kid, after watching Aladdin, I thought I had three wishes, and I remember I would see someone who was handicapped, I’m like “Okay, God, I’m going to give them one of my wishes”, then I would see another one and I was like “Okay, I need one more wish to give this person, one more wish to give that person”. And every time, too, every time I see a person with disabilities, I’m blessing and blessing them, and now I have endless number of blessings to give. But it’s so inherent in children that we can feel even the power of that, like the power of a small interaction, even, also, with our own family members.

Sometimes, too, I forget, me calling my mom is genuinely the highlight of her day, her week, like, her month maybe, and it’s like, we forget, just texting a friend, being like “You’re doing amazing! Let me know how you are, how can I support you?” I think we so forget all of the little ways that we can be of service, that it feels like this far away thing.

I remember, before I also started to make money, I still lived at my grandma’s place, but I heard about this organization Cambodian Children’s Fund, and you can sponsor a child, and it was like $75 a month or something, which, that was, like, hard for me to continuously make and I was like “You know what, I’m going to do it!” And that allowed me to step up into my abundance, so I was like “No matter what, I need to make this payment because I cannot let this girl not go to school”, and it made me step up into wow, that feeling of being like your service, your gifts, being of values to other people as well. And then that became my new normal, and then as soon as I could pay for one, I paid for another and another, I have 10 of then now. And it’s amazing because every single time I uplevel, it allows me to be of service, and also to the people I want to give a voice to, to those that we have no interaction with, in parts of the world that they don’t have computers, in parts of the world that they still are starving, in parts of the world that there is no grocery store to go to, they’re in food deserts. And I think, sometimes we get so disconnected from that, even though it’s 1/3 of the planet is still having a hard time feeding themselves and goes to – like, it’s a huge percentage, that only when we travel, do we sometimes see that, that I think that’s sometimes – like, I want to see people, I manifested, like, putting toilets in this village that didn’t have any and they’d have to walk to these latrines a million miles away. I want to manifest world peace between Ukraine and Russia, I want to manifest, you know, all of these things that I believe, truly as spiritual beings, which we all are, let’s put our focuses towards something that can truly create a better world for all of us.

[1:07:52] Cassandra

Yeah, absolutely! Because that’s inherently abundance, that’s like what real abundance is. And the thing is, is when you’re focused on helping others, the Universe is such, in a way, we all are energetically work, as is as such, and you will be provided for, you will be taken care of. The more that you focus on serving and blessing and giving, and “How can I show up within my means, with what my resources, with what my gifts are right now, with blessing?”, even if it’s praying for people every day. You pray, you pray enough for a certain group of people, or you pray enough for a certain – I like to say you pray for little girls over the world that are, you know, struggling – you’ll be guided, you’ll get divine inspiration, you’ll get creative ideas of like, you won’t even realize it and all of a sudden there’ll be something that comes across your Instagram about and you’re like “Oh, great, let me look into that”, or you’ll see something in your local church or your grocery store, and it’s like “Oh, there’s a collection for canned goods” or whatever, and it’s like, things will start illuminating in your path, even if you just start with “How can you use me?”

I had this beautiful prayer to start every day with, like “How can I be of service today?” And the way the world works and, kind of, what the foundation of this whole Law of Attraction thing, is like, you attract what you are. So, if you are the very essence of abundance, you will also experience that abundance. If you’re always from that space of “How can be of service? How can I be giving?”, you will be taken care of, right?

And the beautiful part of it, it goes back to what you were saying with Kriya, I love that, is that, you’re in such a flow that it just happens, it’s not like, you’re not white-knuckling, you’re not forcing it, it’s almost like your energy is flowing in this way, in whatever unique way, you’re meant to… And here’s the thing, like, look, I made sandwiches for the homeless people around 65th street in my 20s, that wasn’t like, I was meant to start the turkey sandwich coalition or what not, right? I mean, I’m vegan, I didn’t even eat turkey at the time, I thought it was this festive Thanksgiving thing to do for these… So, that wasn’t, my destiny wasn’t to make the turkey sandwich coalition for homeless people in New York City or anything like that, but that was still path of my path, because that taught me about abundance. So, we don’t even need to translate everything into it being – it’s like every little step gets to be its own little step, right? And it’s teaching and it’s helping us attune with that truth of who we are, that next level frequency, that frequency of getting ourselves out of lack and getting into abundance, right? And when we’re in abundance and the decisions we make stem from that place of abundance, right? And so, then we’ll be able, we’ll be more, we’ll be in our right mind, so to speak. We’re not in our right mind when we’re thinking in lack, we’re not in our right mind when we’re disconnected from the source and the abundance of our truth of who we are. 

And so, once we just get into our right mind, and this also just like a hack to get into your right mind, like, be of service, you’re in your right mind, right? It’s that simple! Literally, go bless a few people and, like, you’re in a different frequency, already. And from that space, then all of a sudden you have to make a decision for your business, you have to make a decision about your budget, you have to make a decision about whatever it is you’re doing, you get to make it from your right mind, right? And then all those little right-minded decisions fall up. We’re not meant to, we’re not here to, like, struggle for our things, right? We’re not here to be part of the struggle, but we learn sometimes through struggle, for sure, right? It helps clarify us, it helps us get into alignment, it helps plug us back in and remember to use our tools and plug into the divine. But the more that we do this, the more that we focus on this, the more we focus on how we can, you know, give the blessings, then the more that we align with the frequency of that vibration that we have a lot to give, right? And then the more things effortlessly flow, you know.

[1:12:39] Sahara

Uh-huh, it’s about that trust, and it’s so big! That’s really the missing link because we are conditioned from our families, our schools, like “There’s no one you can trust, have a back-up plan!” And you know, in the 3D level, like, yes, have your savings, for sure, have those things. But I remember, you know, when I was 23 years old and I was not sure if I would be able to live my purpose or not, and talking to my shamanic teacher Malaika, I’m like “Aren’t you afraid of being homeless? I’m so afraid! What if I just don’t make money living my Dharma?”, and she was like, and she’s like a shaman, DJ, plants trees around the world with, like, women’s placenta, she’s a completely free spirit, and she’s like “Look, I have never once in my life not had a place to sleep. Whether it’s a friend’s place, whether it’s being invited because millionaires want to be around my vibration and they invite me to stay in their homes”, and like, right now, she’s on a yacht ship with this millionaire’s, billionaire’s club, because they just like her, and she’s like “I actually end up in the best places in the world, that even if I worked my entire life, I wouldn’t be able to afford because people just want to be around my energy and my energy just attracts it”. And it was so out of this world for me because I had never met anyone living like that before, but now I’ve seen many people in this sphere. 

Our friend Daniella Gil, the Akashic Record reader, same thing, she’s like living in this mansion in Hawaii, living here, and just like invited to stay in these places just because of her energy, she’s just in the vortex. And you know, that’s not going to be everyone’s path. Like, for myself, I’d rather just have my own home, personally, but it showed me that you can trust that you truly living in your gifts is going to provide for you in ways that you can’t even understand. And that fear of like “What if I become homeless?”, if you actually take some time to talk to homeless people, which I have done, most of them lost their path at some point, they let go of their dreams, they let go of their purpose, and it spiraled into mental health issues and not knowing themselves. So, it’s not like “Oh, they tried to live their Dharma and it failed and now they’re homeless”, it was just another path of also not living your Dharma, that ended up this way.

And I think it’s important to know that because it’s this big boogeyman in the back of our minds of “I might end up homeless”, and it’s like, as long as you are living in alignment with your Dharma, your gifts, in co-creation with the Universe, you will always be supported!” 

[1:15:11] Cassandra

Absolutely! And I think, you know, just the example of, there’s so many different ways that things can manifest. So, it’s like, you can manifest, I think both of us experienced manifestations, like, we manifested money to pay for the thing that we wanted, or whatever, that we were in that flow. So, we bought our, you know, I bought my home, you paid for your apartment, but there’s also ways of manifesting where we’ve, like, manifested trips that we didn’t have to pay for, where we manifested experiences that we didn’t have to pay for. And that’s why it’s so important to, like, to loosen your hand from the idea of you know how everything has to, kind of, fall in line. It’s like, who knows, if you have a vision of yourself on a boat or whatever, that’s like your vision of you being on a boat, like, maybe you buy that boat, maybe that’s someone else’s boat, maybe someone loaned you their boat, maybe you get invited on a boat, like, there’s so many different ways that that vision can come into reality, and they’re all equally abundant, right? Some people would even debate that it’s like more abundant to be living on a boat that you didn’t have to pay for it, right? You know, there’s so many different ways it can happen. And I think when you are in trust, and I think trust is the biggest thing, because trust is what allows you to keep, I think trust and devotion go hand-in-hand, right? And it’s like devotion to the higher calling and trust in your higher self and also trust in you, right?

I remember I also has a homeless fear, and one of the things that healed it was actually going down the line of all the different things that would have to happen for me to end up homeless. And I realized that there were so many points, like, first, I was living by myself at the time, so it was like, well, the first thing I would go is live with roommates, and the second thing would happen, maybe I would have to live with a friend or a family member, go down the line, how many things would have to happen. And you realize that you actually have to have some trust in yourself too, trust in the divine that one, if you’re following the thing that lights you up, you will be provided and things will happen, you know, more magical ways than you can imagine; two, trust in yourself that you have enough devotion to that calling, to do what it takes to hold that space. And, like, for me, a lot of that path, I knew, when I started out, that I was in, I went to school for acting and I think that actually prepared me for entrepreneurship, because I knew that my trick to be able to do my creative calling was going to be able to be like “Okay, I just need to wait tables or work at my assistant job or whatever it is, in devotion to my calling, right?” And this is in devotion to my calling because it gives me the freedom to keep going after this calling and let it evolve and let it grow and trust that it will. And then, like, so, it’s that both, it’s like trusting that there all different ways that this could work out, and maybe you end up manifesting a sweet deal where you have a living situation where you don’t have to pay rent and you live with the family member while you’re getting your business going, or you manifest, you know, a sweet part-time gig that’s like fun and easy that you can just, like, enjoy.

Even when I was working those jobs in devotion to my higher calling, when I was waiting tables, for instance, I didn’t enjoy waiting tables, it wasn’t like I loved waiting tables, but I would go in every day and I would bless everybody that I waited on. And I would bless them with my energy, no matter how I felt about the fact that I had to wait tables, I knew it wasn’t like my Dharma or whatever, you know, I was just like “I’m here, I’m here and this is providing for me to follow my higher calling, so I’m just going to bless everyone”, and it made me so magnetic. I feel like I only had that waitressing job for a few months because I would, I mean, everybody loved me, it was crazy, and my manager was like “You’re just like from another planet”, and I got so many auditions, I booked so many gigs, that eventually my manager called me up and said “We love you and you’ll always have a job here, but you’re always filming so I don’t feel like you really need this job anymore”, you know, and I was like “You’re right”. I literally even manifested the most loving exit to that job, right? 

And so, it’s just, you know, it’s trust and devotion to that, whatever that vision is that you have for your life, whatever the impact you want to make or what that path looks like or how that path unfolds, being able to trust that process and be in devotion and to following that alignment and following that higher calling. And I think the more that you lean in that, that’s like, that’s the only thing that expedites the process, because you stop resisting it and you just, like, surrender to where you are, and are the blessing, and are of service, right where you are. And then, all of a sudden, the Universe, God, your higher power is like “Okay, she’s got it, let’s go!” 

[1:20:25] Sahara

Yes! Show up fully, wherever you are! Show up like you are auditioning for that dream role at your waitressing job! Show up like you are the CEO at the company, at your assistant job! Show up like you have a million followers to your 150, and that’s really how you manifest!

[1:20:42] Cassandra

Absolutely! 

[1:20:43] Sahara

Yes! So many goodies in this conversation! I’m so glad we took it this angle because it’s just, like, we need some real real. And I think that people are just afraid of talking about this other angle because, you know, everyone wants to talk about what’s fun and, like, how to manifest the fun things, and look, we do talk about that too.

[1:21:02] Cassandra

Absolutely!

[1:21:03] Sahara

If you don’t dive deeper into your why, it’s all really going to be meaningless. So, thank you so much for sharing all of your wisdom with us today, we’re definitely going to have you back on.

So, if you loved this Episode, guys, share it, this is just the ultimate way of us raising the vibration of the planet together. So, share this Episode, share with us what your biggest takeaway is, tag both of us, @iamsahararose and @cassandrabodzak.

And Cassandra, where can listeners connect with you further?

[1:21:29] Cassandra

Yeah! If you loved what we were talking about and want to dive deeper into meditating for manifestation, you totally check out my book, it’s available wherever books are sold, and I’m on Instagram @cassandrabodzak, my website cassandrabodzak.com and my podcast is called Divine Downloads. 

And if you are interested in starting a meditation practice to help you connect deeper to that source and get that intuitive guidance and find that alignment while increasing your magnetism, then I have a 40-day guided meditation journey called Amplify, that you can check out, that I would recommend as a good starting point. 

[1:22:07] Sahara

Well, thank you so much, again, for being back on the Podcast! You are a fan favorite! 

[1:22:13] Cassandra

Thank you for having me! This was so fun! And an important conversation!

[1:22:17] Sahara

Yes! And listeners, let us know what else you would love for us to do a podcast on, we love riffing about all the things! 

[1:22:22] Cassandra

All the things! 

[1:22:23] Sahara

And share this Episode and be like “Also, I request an Episode about whatever it is”, we’re here to be of service to you! 

[1:22:30] Cassandra

Absolutely! 

[1:22:31] Sahara

Yay!

[1:22:32] End of Interview

_________________________________________________________________ 

[1:22:33] Sahara

I feel so deeply nourished by that conversation. It’s so important for us to openly discuss these things that we see online, that we never really get to dissect and break down and share our own opinions around. And I think having healthy dialogue around these things is how we’re going to get come to our own awareness.

[1:22:53] Sahara

So, I hope being part of this conversation, being our third person, the fly on the wall, was eye-opening for you. I hope it sparked your own realizations and I’m curious to know what they were, so share this Episode on Instagram if it resonated with you, tag me and tag Cassandra, and we’re super excited to hear your feedback and hear how it resonated. Let’s leave some comments over on the Instagram post where I share this Episode and have a discussion, and share with people who listen to this Podcast as well, and we could actually each share our takeaways from this.

[1:23:26] Sahara

And of course, this conversation is not the end all, be all, there’s still so much more to be said. And I think we need to talk about this as a collective, so head over to my Instagram, @iamsahararose you’ll see the post all about this, you’ll see the video clip, comment over there, and if you loved this Episode, you want to share it, I would love for you to tag it and I would love for you to leave a review.

So, please, share a review with me if you’re listening to this on iTunes, and take a screenshot of that review, so I can send you a free gift as my thank you. You can email that free gift over to [email protected], take a screenshot of your review and I will send you a free gift of my unreleased book “Eat Right For Your Mind-Body Type”, which is a deep Ayurveda book all about eating right for your Dosha.

So, again, take a screenshot of your review and send it to [email protected] and I will send you over my free E-book!

[1:24:25] Sahara

I hope you loved this conversation, share it with people that you think it may resonate with and I’ll see you in the next one. Namaste!                             

Episode #459: What You’re Missing About Manifestation – What It’s Actually All About

    By Sahara Rose

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