In 2007, Cynthia Stafford was an account executive at a tech company. At home, she was raising her deceased brother’s five children after his death in a motor accident. Cynthia had been playing the lottery two or three times per month for several years. All this time, she had been visualizing herself winning a $112 million jackpot using the law of attraction for a couple of years by picturing herself holding the winning check for that amount on a regular basis.
She explains that she did not pick the number 112 completely randomly. She chose 11 because she was born in November and added the number 2. In May 2007, she won the Mega Millions jackpot. Her win? $112 million.
In an interview with ABC News, Cynthia said, “I knew I would win. I read a book called ‘The Power of Your Subconscious Mind.’ It’s about your belief, what you believe in strongly will manifest.”
Cynthia opted for the lump sum amount, which after taxes, came to around $45 million. After sharing some of her winnings with her brother and father, she bought a new home and car from her and her children. She then set out to fulfill her dream and founded a film production company called Queen Nefertari Productions. In an interview with The Wrap, Cynthia said:
“I love stories, and I love to see how people view the world,” she said. “I remember watching movies at home with my dad and saying, ‘What if we did this? If we had the money, could we?’ And I would always say, ‘Yeah, we will one day.’ “And now I’m in that one day, and I am really having fun with it.”
Over the years, Queen Nefertari Productions produced four films, The Brass Teapot, Holla II, The Polish Bar, and The Inheritance. Her other philanthropic efforts include the Natural Resources Defense Council, UNICEF, The Geffen Playhouse, Changing Africa Through Education, and The Interface Foundation.
Today, Cynthia still holds strongly to her belief in the power of belief. She has published a book called Seeing: How to Visualize Your Way to Success. She also runs the personal training service, Visualize With Me, for people who want to learn how to manifest a positive life using the laws of attraction. Cynthia offers live, one-on-one, monthly, or one-time sessions via Zoom or phone to help others gain access to the laws of attraction and visualization.
During the sessions, Cynthia shares how to get clear of your desire, whether it’s for love, health, or wealth. She also explains how to use the laws of attraction to bring your desires to reality by properly visualizing them as if they were already manifested.
All you need to tap into manifesting through visualization, according to Cynthia, is to "be open-minded to learning about the Law of Attraction and Visualization" and to have an “eager desire to see your best life become your reality.”
Understanding the law of attraction and manifestation
The law of attraction is a way of thinking that maintains that positive thoughts and visualization can bring positive outcomes into your life. It’s based on the understanding that thoughts have a form of energy that attracts like energies. According to this philosophy, positive thinking can bring good health, money, and positive relationships and the beauty of it is that anyone can do it; you just have to know how.
How the law of attraction works
According to the law of attraction, everything in your current life, from your job and your home to your partner and friends are consequences of your own thoughts and ideas. This is what is known as manifesting. Your experiences are attracted to you because the law of attracting is responding to thoughts you have put out there (even the negative ones.)
In theory, the process for manifesting is simple. As you focus on a particular thing or person, your thought energy creates a vibration that draws it or them into your life. In order for this to work, you must be conscious of your thoughts as you are focusing on them in the present.
Tips for practicing manifestation
Here are some common methods often used to manifest using the law of attraction:
Take time to meditate
Mediating for 10–20 minutes each day can help clarify your desires and ground you. Find a comfortable place to sit or lie down and clear your mind of all those niggling thoughts that sneak in and disrupt your calmness. If you’re new to meditation you can use a phone app to help you calm your breathing and focus your mind.
Use your meditation time to focus on any recurring patterns in your life and take a few minutes to think about your reactions to them. Also, take note of any limiting or negative thoughts you may have been having. Think about new and positive ways you can express your feelings about yourself and how much better these will make you feel.
Make the most of visualization
Here are some visualization techniques you can try:
- Create a vision board: Take a large piece of cardboard and paste pictures of positive things that you want to come into your life on it. For example, a picture of a new car or dream home, a $100 bill, a vacation to an exotic location, or the career you’ve always wanted.
- Develop a mind map: This is a good exercise to use if you are stuck with your visualization. Sit down with a blank piece of paper and write out the core areas of your life where you would like to see positive change. For example, health, career, relationships, finances, and love. Connect each area to a list of the main changes you want to happen. Be as detailed as you can. Then write a journal about your life as though these things have already happened, visualizing them as you do so.
- Take photographs: The key to manifestation is the ability to open your mind to new possibilities. A great way to activate your creative imagination is to snap a few photos of yourself with your dream. For example, visit your dream home and photograph yourself there or photoshop a picture of yourself in your desired holiday destination.
- Play out your vision: This is a fun technique for manifestation. Imagine what you want and make your ideas as clear and detailed as possible. Now imagine it as part of your everyday life. For example, if you are trying to manifest a new home, walk around your current home but imagine you are in your dream space. Picture the décor and new furniture. As you are enacting your vision, feel the excitement and gratitude for the manifestation as though it is actually happening to you.
Keep a journal
Journaling can really help you focus your thoughts. It can also reinforce what you wish to manifest in your reality. If you’re stuck, here are some manifestation prompts to help you:
- What aspects of yourself do you love most?
- What does success look like to you?
- How do you most want to impact your world?
- Where would your dream home be?
- Where would you most like to travel to?
- If you had financial freedom, what would you be doing?
- How does your dream life look?
Set your manifestation goals
Having a clear definition of your manifestation goals is key to your manifestation practice. Make a list of them, but when you write them down, do it in the past tense as though they have already happened. Also, make a note of how they benefited your life and how thankful you are. There are three types of goals to assist with manifestation:
Process goals: Process goals are the simplest and most short-term goals. You can use these to manifest absolutely anything. They can also involve daily and weekly steps that lead to bigger breakthrough goals. You can set out process goals and break them down into easy-to-follow steps to get quick results.
Breakthrough goals: Breakthrough goals involve your biggest dreams, the ones that get you feeling inspired. The first step is knowing why you want to attain these goals. Make a list of the positive outcomes; the more you have, the stronger your desire to follow through.
Results goals: This type of goal stems from breakthrough goals. For example, if your breakthrough goal is that you want a new car, in your results goal you would put a time limit or specific date on it.
Use daily affirmations
Once you have familiarized yourself with your desires and goals, and you can visualize the changes you really want to manifest, you can begin using daily affirmations. You can record them and play them to yourself, write them down on sticky notes, and leave them in places where you will see them often or set them to pop up on your computer. Here are some examples:
- Good things are coming my way today.
- My dreams easily manifest into reality.
- I am a magnet to my goals.
- I am attracting into my life all the things I desire.
- I am living in my dream home in a wonderful neighborhood.
- I am achieving my dreams here and how.
When you begin tuning into the law of attraction to manifest positivity in your life you can increase your chances that things may change for the better. It may not make you a lottery winner, but what have you got to lose?
