If you want to manifest your life goals but have zero energy, it’s all about the gentle nudges.

I consider myself a seasoned seer and believer in magic and all things mystical, not because I know all or can “see” all, but because I’ve learned to keep a beginner’s mind with me at all times.

I wasn’t always like this. I did think, in a very ego-filled sense, that I could pick out the messages everywhere and wouldn’t miss a beat. After getting knocked on my ass a few times, I learned how to really listen to the universe.

I recently moved to a new city. Rather, it is a city I lived in before and I moved back into after a few years away. I was a different person and subsequently saw the city differently as well. So it made sense to me that this city I thought I knew, felt very new to me.

I moved back riding high, excited that I would have all the time and space to live my creative life thanks to the developments that had occurred to bring me and my partner back. This was our manifestation. We had executed our parts of the divine equation over time and were reaping the benefits.

I was ready for my quantum leap.

My way of finding discipline and creating a routine that worked well for me had been honed in the months, year, before and had built up all that potential energy that would kick into gear and propel me forward now that I could devote my whole self to my writing, my business.

I struggled in my new apartment. I worried that I’d missed my launch window. I had no energy, no motivation. I finally had all this time and couldn’t find it in me to do anything with it. I blamed perimenopause and my changing hormones.

This was all in the first week of moving, mind you. Patience has always been my sticking point and probably the greatest lesson I will have to learn this lifetime.

I let myself slow down. I let myself acknowledge I was exhausted. It had been a month of packing, two moves, and unpacking. There was stress that the two cats were NOT getting along and were scary sometimes with their hissing and full-on offensives. And all through that, I was having hot flashes and mood swings and sleeping terribly and erratically.

There was all the newness surrounding us. New routines. New job. New smells, new sounds, new sleeping patterns. I just gave in. Even with all my “knowing”, it felt like giving up. I battled with that feeling of weakness. I felt shame. Hadn’t I manifested all of this into being and now I’m just wasting it?

Then came the gentle nudge. You probably know it, even if you haven’t named it. I was unpacking pictures that needed to find a place on the wall and I kept thinking about the Locks that are just across the street from our apartment.

I would think about them, unpack some more and concentrate on finding where a picture would live, and the thought would make itself known again.

Before I was done collapsing the box I had unpacked, I knew that I would get cleaned up and go to the Locks.

I also knew that this was not an idle thought. I knew I was being guided there. AND, I knew that the reason would be revealed to me once I was there.

I finished up, got dressed in real clothes (living in pajamas all day was my habit for the week), and headed over.

The sun warmed a smile to my face. I naturally took deeper breaths as I walked and let myself feel more content and settled. All would be well. I didn’t know how or why yet, but I knew relief was around the corner.

Leaning against the metal barriers next to the Locks, the magic unfolded. I watched the boats line up from the freshwater bay side, mooring themselves in place inside. The bell rang, ordering us to move out of the way of the closing gates and the heavy lock doors closed.

With a gurgle that turned into a roar, the water inside the closed lock released out into the Puget Sound. I watched the boats sink lower and lower in their locked embrace.

The people on board slowly let out their lines, ensuring they always had just enough slack for the lines to extend the newly created distance and also remain as taut as they needed to be to keep them safely in place.

As wild and churning as the water was outside the door, inside the door it was calm and gentle. The pace was easy. Each boat filled with people working together with patience.

Once the level of the locks reached that of the Sound, the doors were opened and each boat, in turn, unmoored and slowly motored away, continuing on their journeys.

More boats were entering the Locks from the salt water side to come back home to their berths. I did the same. I turned around to walk home with the clarity I needed.

That abstract moment that had no rational connection to my own situation made all the difference. It spoke to me in the exact ways I needed to hear to give me solace and help me move forward on my path with all the intention and power I needed.

Transitions take time. You need that time to find your new level. There’s nothing you can do to hurry it along and in that pause, you are still moving forward on your journey.

My launch window was still ahead of me. All I had to do was pause, do the work that was required in that pause only, and let the transition occur naturally.

Learning to manifest from a place of rest, not hustle, is the antidote to standard exhausting manifestation routines that abound out there.

I believe I have perimenopause to thank for this shift.

When I take a step back and see objectively all that happened, it was because I was forced to slow down by the changes in my body that I was able to alter my perspective and let in this new leveled-up version of knowing, seeing, and believing.

I am empowered even more to keep turning all that I think I know into the wisdom that manifests actual, tangible change in my daily life.

My (perimeno)pauses are rich with insight. I finally get why the godmothers, grandmothers, crones, bent-over-old ladies in fairy tales are not at all hurried. They have divined the way to get to the fairy tale ending.

It’s probably why all of our bodies give in to gravity just a little bit more during this phase too!

It’s not about hustle. Grounded movement, weighty with import and magical conversation—that’s when the real magic wand is gifted to you. Forget the princess, I want to be the crone!

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If you are excited to learn more how to harness your new magical powers of manifestation, my free field guide starts you out on the journey using the hot flash as your way in. If you ground the chaos in and down, you truly start to feel powerful. Email me if you want to talk more about it, too! I read every message. (nicolina [at] thefoolsbag [dot] com)