You’re in the right place if you…

• want to understand how failure is an illusion.

• tend to let your ego get in the way when you perceive your current situation as a failure.

• like reading blog posts from Mumbles & Things 😉

There are two different kinds of failure. There is the failure that comes through putting limits on your own abilities and the failure that arrives just before the success.

Limiting Yourself with Affirmation

When you hear the word failure there is certainly an unfavorable connotation attached to it. When you say, “I have failed,” it feels like the worst outcome you could get to. Many of us are conditioned to view failure in a negative light to the point that we often fear new experiences or ventures for fear of it. When you fail, your ego is the first to react. It often becomes defensive and takes action to protect yourself from this ever happening again. 

You may even take failures so personally that you allow them to enter your worldview as part of your personality: 

• “I am a failure,”

• “I'm not worthwhile,”

• “I'm inadequate,”

• “I'm incompetent,”

• “I'm inferior,”

• “I can't do anything right,”

• “I'm stupid,”

• “I'm hopeless,”

• “I'm a bad person.”

• “I can’t do this.”

All of these are affirmations. When you say things like this to yourself, you are affirming it to the universe. You are putting a limit on what you can achieve. Allowing failure to influence how you see yourself prevents you from taking the leaps of faith that is necessary to activate your magick as we discussed earlier.

Related: How do Affirmations Work?

But failure isn’t bad, negative, unfavorable, or unhelpful. What failure actually is, is an opportunity to grow, learn, and change. Failure leads to mastery. Let it be an opportunity to reflect on your role in the situation. What can you learn for next time? Have others succeeded before you? Did you fail, or did you just find a new way to not succeed?

Before you made an attempt toward achieving your dreams, this path had the potential to work. When you realize it didn’t aren’t you better off having tried?

“Normalize” making mistakes and having setbacks, and they will no longer have control over you. Ultimately, how you cope with the failure determines whether you will manifest your desires. Don’t retreat due to doubting your own abilities.

I want to expand on this idea of doubt a little now. We’re going to spend a lot of time talking about limiting beliefs (stay tuned!) but it applies to this idea of failure because many of our limiting beliefs are directly responsible for failures.

Many people get so fixated on something in particular that they want to manifest. Doubt is how you place a limit on the mechanics of how something will come to you. If you feel like you have a tough time getting out of your head, you may start to feel like you’re failing.

Whatever you are trying to manifest or create in your life, if you think too much about “the how,” you are limiting yourself and your dreams.

Thinking about the mechanics of how your stuff will manifest won’t benefit you, because the mechanics are, in essence, the magic. We humans cannot yet understand how the alignment happens, only that it does. We are unable to see the big picture.

Be careful not to sabotage your vibration and scare your desires away by wondering about how they can possibly come to you. Doing so, places limitations on the way things can manifest. 

Examples of these types of limiting beliefs are:

• Money only comes to me through my paycheck / inheritance / the lottery.

• I can’t be happy because of my weight / job / house / car / whatever.

• Only a millionaire could live in a house / own a car / go on a vacation like that.

But magic is mysterious. Your desires will arrive in mysterious ways.

Apparent Failure

There is another idea involved in the concept of failure and that’s apparent failure. This essentially means that there is no such thing as failure, only a test of your resolve.

Failure is a divine sign and can be looked at as a sign that success is just around the corner.

Begin to see failure as an illusion, by thanking it and using it to raise your vibration. Whenever you try something, failure can be seen as a test of your heart and your commitment to your dreams. If you give up, if you give into your ego, you turn away from the success that comes next.

Just as party poopers offer a contrasting viewpoint to what you want, failure offers a contrasting outcome of what you want. What’s on the other side of the doubt and the fear is the success.

The universe is incredibly organized so nothing happens by accident. Failure is not some random chaotic event. It is a perfectly timed illusion that you just need to see through.

There are countless reasons why your dreams may not appear exactly when or how you expect them to. You may not be ready emotionally, physically or spiritually. You may not live in the right location, you may not have the right job, you may not have met the right person. Any number of things may determine how your dreams enter your life. There is an order in the alignment of circumstances. And failure is a sign that there is still more alignment happening in the background. You just need to keep believing and trusting that it’s on it’s way. See the failure as a sign of more to come.

Sometimes when you aren’t specific, you create something that isn’t what you expected or wanted. You probably view this as failure and feel the frustration, anxiety, and disbelief associated with failure. If you remember that the universe delivers what you need at the perfect time in the perfect circumstances, you will realize that it is a stepping stone to the bigger picture. What you get, is aligned with where you are now. What is coming next is going to be bigger and better.

There is something else involved in manifesting that I was taught to say at the end of spells. Say, “this or something better,” or something along those lines as an intention. It’s not necessary, but sometimes we don’t know exactly what is possible for us. “This or something better” helps you to be okay with what shows up, even the unexpected or unwanted things.

And it’s important to be grateful for what comes to you, whatever it is. Because failure, or apparent failure, is part of the process The uncertainty of taking the leap of faith is a powerful teacher. There is so much potential behind taking the leap, failure or success and everything in between. Even if it doesn’t turn out the way you expect, it is divine and magickal and miraculous.

The key point to remember is apparent failure in our manifesting adventures happens when we’re not truly open to ALL possibilities. 

Three Key Points

So to sort of sum up what I’ve just said into three key points, this is why apparent failure is a test from the Universe…

1. Developing Mindfulness

Failure is a way to strengthen your trust in the Universe or the source of your power. It reminds you to surrender to the process and live in the moment. When you feel happy and content now, you let go of the outcome of what you want out of life. Because remember… it’s about the journey and not the destination.

2. Being Open to All Possibilities

Failure helps you to reflect on yourself and see how much you really want something to manifest. It helps you to be happy with what arrives even if it’s not what you expect. Remember this is the idea of “this or something better” that opens your vibration to receive what is right for where you are now.

3. Believing Beyond What you Can See

Failure reminds you that you are in flow because it is a sign of success. It gives you an example of what you don’t want as contrast and gives you a boost in the direction you desire. When you feel as if your manifesting intentions are failing, remember that it’s just a test to teach you how to believe beyond what you can see.

Related: Believing Without Seeing

All of your frustration, your doubts and your eagerness with the manifesting process is an opportunity for you to grow and expand. As you grow, stuff will appear.  Your job is to feel gratitude, no matter what appears. The more fabulous you feel, the faster The Universe delivers your goodies.

Continue your journey and share your experiences on the Mumbles and Things Facebook page.

There is a group on Facebook and it was made for you. It is a safe and supportive place for New Age* practitioners to gather and grow their personal power while encouraging one another.

If you are a newbie hoping to learn how to become a witch or are experienced and would like to learn from like-minded folks, this group is for you.

*Metaphysical, Pagan, New Age, Lightworkers, Energy Workers, Shamans, Wiccan, Neo-Pagan, Witches, Angel Workers, Healers, Psychics, Spiritualists, and so many others fall under the umbrella of "New Age."

Join the Community Group. 

Now it’s your turn! 

What does the word failure mean to you? Write about a time that failure resulted in growth or success in your life. Can you identify any limiting beliefs that could be holding you back? What are they?