What can I say? Manifestation works, and not always how you expect. In fact, it works best if you don’t try to expect how an intention will be fulfilled.

This summer, my husband Steve and I manifested a pontoon boat. This is how it happened, along with some lessons you can learn from our little manifestation miracle.

Steve and I are lucky to be able to spend time every summer at our small cottage on a body of water. We’re one of the few people who largely operate “manually” in the water — i.e. using our kayaks or canoe. However, a few years ago when I was nursing a shoulder injury, we bought a used aluminum fishing boat with an 8-horsepower motor. The motor was always a bit flaky, but the boat served our purposes for many years.

Last year, our 8-hp motor finally gave up the ghost. So this summer, we had to make a decision. Do we buy a new motor? Do we abandon motorized boating entirely? Or do we enter the world of the pontoon boat, the preferred water vehicle for “older folks” like us, now in our mid-60s? Steve and I spent some time in contemplation and discussion and decided to try and find a used pontoon boat. After all, my shoulder just can’t deal with the pull cord on an outboard motor anymore, and getting in and out of a fishing boat wasn’t getting any easier either.

Next, we decided to try and use manifestation on the issue. One of my favorite New Thought teachers, Neville Goddard, recommends the following:

1) Visualize a scenario in which you already have what you want. Make it as vivid and complete as you can, especially the emotions you are experiencing.

2) Do not try to imagine or think about how this scenario is going to be achieved. Just keep visualizing being within it and your enjoyment of it.

In order to manifest our pontoon boat, we first discussed our target visualization and performed it together by describing it out loud. In it, we have our pontoon boat in time for our son Izaak’s arrival from Australia two weeks later. We have a sign I’ve created for the boat that says “RuLaToon”. (We joke-name some of our possessions with an initial “RuLa” — since my last name is Lansky and Steve’s last name begins with “Ru”.) In our scenario, we bring Izaak down to the water and enjoy his surprise at seeing the RuLaToon. We then motor around our body of water in it, having a great time.

Of course, it was still pretty hard for us not to think about how this might be achieved. The next day, Steve started calling around to see where we could buy a used pontoon boat. However, it turned out that a) they were much more expensive than we had anticipated; and b) they weren’t generally available until the end of the summer season, when people were more prone to sell them.

That evening we had dinner with friends and asked them how much they paid to store their pontoon boat each winter. That too was a bit more pricey than we had anticipated. So at this point, we were pretty doubtful we would be able to manifest a pontoon boat. But in my mind, I kept visualizing the little RuLaToon sign I would paint and what it would look like.

So how did it happen?

The next day we happened to see these same friends at a local event. They came up to us and said: “We’ve decided to share our pontoon boat with you!” What?? We never imagined this happening at all. In fact, we’ve never heard of people sharing boats on our body of water.

We agreed and Steve and I came up with a routine that enabled our friends to have their pontoon boat at their dock whenever they were around (which was only every other weekend or so). We would retrieve it after they left and return it to them before they returned. We were thrilled because this arrangement was also very “eco” and in alignment with the principle of sharing instead of buying. Our friends were happy because we improved the boat significantly by repairing and cleaning it. Although the RuLaToon also has some motor issues (it’s at least 20 years old), we’ve agreed to pay for tuneups in the future.

Of course, I also managed to paint my RuLaToon sign in time for Izaak’s arrival. And boy was he surprised when we took him down to the water! The RuLaToon truly added a new and wonderful dimension to our summer at the cottage.

So what can we learn from this manifestation experience?

1) Only visualize your state after your wish is already fulfilled.Try to focus especially on your happy emotions.

2) It’s quite helpful to visualize details, like the existence of the “RuLaToon” sign, what it looks like, bringing Izaak down to see the RuLaToon and his happy surprise.

3) Try not to limit your manifestation by thinking about how it will be achieved. Doing so can block it from happening, because you’re not only narrowing the possibilities, but possibly adding in your own doubtfulness into the process.

4) It’s also helpful to practice manifesting things that you believe could happen. For example, having a pontoon boat was definitely in the realm of “possibility” for us. The more impossible something seems to you, the more doubt you will introduce into the process, which serves as a blocking force.

5) Also try to remove emotional blockages. For example, during our discussions about the boat situation, I had to try to remove some emotional negativity I had about having a pontoon boat. Remember that emotional negativity about a goal may be subconscious, so it’s really important to be honest with yourself and dig deep. For example, many (if not most) people have some negative feelings about financial or relationship goals. These feelings need to be faced and released if you want to manifest more easily.

I hope you enjoyed this little miracle from my own life! And don’t forget to read all about how manifestation might actually work in my book Active Consciousness. In my experience, hearing other people’s manifestation stories and experiencing one or two of your own minor miracles helps to bring them more easily into your own life.