The idea of “effortlessly” manifesting money is certainly appealing, isn’t it? The word “effortless” has been dancing around in my brain for the last two weeks. For about ten days out of those two weeks, I swatted the word away as non-sensical. After all, we do have to be active participants in the process of manifesting money! Action is required, right?
I finally checked in with my Guide team about this idea of “effortlessness.” Is “effortless” money-manifesting truly a possibility?
As it turns out, there is a difference between “action” and “effort.” Action is indeed required for any act of manifestation. That’s because action is what grounds energy into this physical experience. If we wish to change our physical experience – including manifesting money and changing our financial circumstances – action is required.
We can’t help but be in action at all times – it is how we express ourselves as physical Beings. Action is a natural outflow of our energy into the world. Even if our actions don’t look particularly active, like breathing and sleeping … they are nonetheless actions. They can be witnessed by others in the physical world.
Action is a natural expression of our Being – the “doing-ness” that expresses our Divine nature while we are in this physical experience. Taking action, then, means doing what is aligned with our authentic self-expression. Action is “doing” from the inside out.
That doesn’t mean action doesn’t take energy. Of course we still have to peel ourselves off the couch to take authentic action! Nor does it mean that we are always comfortable taking action, because authentic self-expression into this physical world can be scary! Shining our authentic Selves into the world can leave us feeling naked, exposed … but when we step into action, we discover that what we first feared is actually entirely natural to us.
Effort, on the other hand, is “doing” based on external factors. Effort is acting on “should.”  Effort is calculated action, justified and rationalized by the mind. It is action based on how we might be perceived by others. It is action that is attached to outcomes, rather than action for the sake of authentic self-expression.
The difference between action and effort is subtle, to be sure. There’s a couple of ways to tell the difference:
- When we take action, the reason for that action reveals itself within the doing itself. When we make an effort, on the other hand, the reason for taking action exists first.
- When we are in action, we feel uncompromisingly like ourselves. Even if we are nervous or uncomfortable, taking action allows us to feel whole. In contrast, effort creates inner separation. There is a part of ourselves that feels compromised, left out, or unacknowledged.
On the surface, the two can look exactly the same. This article has been spooking around in my head for a while, and writing it down feels like the natural thing to do. I teach, I share, I write … it’s who I am and therefore this is what I do.
Of course, I could just as easily turn blogging into an effort, “shoulding” myself into posting because of a self-imposed schedule or because some “expert” once told me I “should” blog once a week.
It’s not difficult to see that true abundance cannot come from effort. Because effort is based on external factors, actions based in effort are not connected to our inner, infinite Source. Effort upholds a source of power outside of ourselves, something other than ourselves that determines our doing … even if that power is just society or collective consciousness. Effort cannot, therefore, manifest money. Sure, we can “earn” money through effort. But that’s not the same thing, is it?
Action, on the other hand, flows outward into the world from our infinite, Divine nature and cannot create anything BUT abundance … because the Divine IS infinitely abundant. Action is an essential ingredient to manifesting money.
So … what are YOU doing? Action or effort?
Blessings,
Andrea

{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Great article as always, Andrea
Seems “authenticity” is at the root of everything worthwhile. Perhaps effort isn’t required but the discomfort itself can’t be the payoff either. Not much use in swimming upstream all your life to be authentic, only to die having swum upstream all your life without finding the headwaters. Unless of course our life plan was to include being taught the meaning of misery.
Thanks, Kate!
Interesting take, Michael. Discomfort is definitely NOT the “payoff”. It’s just what happens when we do something different. Authentic action may seem uncomfortable, but when we’re in the middle of it we actually feel GOOD. And then we get abundant results to boot. In the end, authentic action is about the joy of self-expression, without attachment to an end result.
I actually think we’ve been so conditioned towards effort and endless “self-improvement” that ease and authenticity actually feels like swimming upstream, although it’s the most natural thing in the world.
Blessings,
Andrea
I can agree w/ the blogging effort 100%. Taking a step back from blogging to focus on my actions vs efforts helped realign me with my purpose for blogging in the first place!! Life/business/situations began to flow ‘effortlessly’!! I love it!
And thanks for reiterating “effort cannot, therefore, manifest money”!!! If we can grasp that, it’s pretty much smooth sailing (or at least smoother sailing!).
Spiritual Peace and Many Blessings,
Jessica
I believe that it is possible to manifest efortlessly even without taking any action but it does not apply to all of our intentions as some of them cannot be granted without some effort from our side.
Aaah, I think manifesting effortlessly without taking any action is a bit of an illusion. Sometimes the actions we’ve ALREADY taken have set us up for manifestation to occur and then – tadah! – the energetic pieces seem to fall into place without us doing anything further. Sometimes the actions we’ve taken years ago just needed a fourth- or fifth-dimensional shift in energy to make manifestation happen … and so it seems we “didn’t have to do anything.”
Hi Andrea, Can this apple to creating good health and energy? this article makes so much sense to me. Thanks for sharing your ideas. I do feel like I am making the effort in my actions and it doesn’t feel easy, just the opposite, very difficult – making myself do it because I feel it’s the only way to create my health and well-being – and advice from outside sources. For example, being adjusted by my chiropractor once a week, going to the gym once a week so my chiropractor helps me in weight training to strengthen the area of weakness where I have pain, and he wants me to stay on a strict diet to help as well, which seems impossible. I’m not sure how to take action effortlessly. Or if I am taking the right action – it seems these are actions that would support my health, yet I’ve been doing it for a year and though I have felt some good results at times, I still have more days of not feeling well than days of feeling healthy. I would love to hear any insights or advice you may have. Warmly, Joyce
Aaah, Joyce, my first rule is always to ask: “Is it working?” If you’ve been taking action for a YEAR without getting the consistent results you want … well, that seems to me like it’s not working!
Ask yourself this: Are you taking action? Or are you “making yourself do something” and “working hard”? There’s a difference! Action and struggle are not the same thing. Struggle inevitably attracts more struggle.
I’m in no way telling you to ignore medical advice here, but I think in the end, results and inner wisdom speak for themselves …