If you had met me five years ago,
you probably wouldn’t have bet on me becoming a “manifestation success story.” You wouldn’t have called me a vision board girlie or the type who writes daily affirmations with gold metallic Gelly Roll pens while sipping tea and visualizing her dream job.
Nope.
You’d have met a woman who had spent a long time in the shadows—a woman who knew jail cells better than bedrooms, who survived addiction the way some people survive war, who couldn’t make ends meet no matter how many times she tried to rebuild.
You’d have met someone who believed in chaos, not consciousness. Someone who believed in consequences, not the power of manifestation. Someone who believed the system always won—and girls like me always lost.
And honestly?
I believed that too.
Until one day… something cracked open.
What cracked open wasn’t enlightenment. It wasn’t divine intervention. It wasn’t a spiritual awakening wrapped in angel numbers and incense.
It was exhaustion.
Bone-deep, marrow-deep exhaustion.
The kind you can’t shake off with sleep or therapy or a green juice.
It was this sudden, violent realization that I had lived the same day for twenty years…
and called it a life.
I had survived overdoses.
I had survived lengthy and repeated prison bids.
I had survived a system that treated me like a problem to be contained instead of a person to be helped.
I had survived so much that surviving wasn’t impressive anymore — it was automatic.
What cracked open was the tiny, terrifying thought:
“What if I wasn’t born to suffer?”
And that question alone had the power to rearrange my timeline.
The Day My Life Split into “Before” and “After”
It didn’t happen during a perfect sunrise meditation or while journaling about my ideal relationship.
It didn’t happen on a beach in San Diego while manifesting my dream car.
It didn’t happen during a spiritual retreat surrounded by sage and sound bowls.
It happened during a phone call.
A phone call that punched a hole through my entire identity.
A phone call that made me realize I was going to lose everything—including myself.
A phone call that became the beginning of my most unexpected spiritual awakening.
In that moment, I did something so out of character it still feels like a glitch in the Matrix:
I opened YouTube and typed:
“Why do I keep ruining my life?”
And that is exactly how the Universe tricked me into watching my first law-of-attraction success story video.
Aaron Doughty popped up.
Then Abraham Hicks.
Then Dr. Joe Dispenza.
I rolled my eyes so hard they almost traveled into another dimension.
But those videos kept coming.
And something in me—some tiny, forgotten, buried part—was curious enough to listen.
The Experiment That Changed Everything
Before the experiment, I didn’t know anything about neuroscience, subconscious programming, or identity reconstruction. I didn’t know trauma could shape your “default energetic signature.” I didn’t know the brain literally filters your reality based on what it believes you deserve.
I didn’t know manifestation wasn’t magic — it was pattern interruption.
All I knew was:
if I didn’t intervene on my own mind, no one else was coming.
This wasn’t self-improvement. This was self-preservation, which I was an old pro at.
I wasn’t trying to “raise my vibration.”
I was trying to not die.
I was trying to escape the gravity of a life that felt
pre-scripted and inescapable. And the craziest part? The Universe didn’t wait for me to be healed, enlightened, or perfect. The moment I tried — it tried too. People always ask me:
“What was the best way you finally got sober?”
“Which rehab worked?”
“Did you follow a program?”
Nope.
I did something way stranger. Way simpler. Way more powerful.
I treated the Law of Attraction like a science experiment. I told myself:
If my thoughts are REALLY that powerful… then I’m going to test it. For 30 days. No excuses.
No perfection.
No pressure.
No pretending to be spiritual. Just—What happens if I change my thoughts for one month?
Spoiler:
It ended my addiction.
But I didn’t know that yet.
Day One: The Rule That Shifted My Entire Reality
I started with the tiniest, dumbest rule:
👉 I will not let a single negative thought go unchecked.
Not “I’ll think positive.”
Not “I’ll manifest joy.”
Just:
When I think of something that feels like defeat?
I will immediately replace it.
The power of your thoughts is wild.
Your subconscious mind doesn’t argue—it obeys.
So when you repeat a new belief long enough, that belief becomes your new identity.
And an identity shift is the root of EVERY manifestation success story ever told.
Here’s the thing nobody tells you:
Changing thoughts isn’t cute.
It isn’t trendy. It isn’t aesthetically pleasing. It’s not lighting a candle and whispering affirmations into the ether.
It is war with the part of your brain that thinks it’s protecting you.
Your subconscious is loyal — even when it’s loyal to your destruction.
It keeps you in familiar pain because unfamiliar peace feels threatening.
So when I started challenging those beliefs, my brain fought back hard:
“You’re lying.”
“You’re delusional.”
“You’re setting yourself up for another fall.”
“You don’t deserve better.”
But every time I replaced those thoughts, something strange happened:
My nervous system softened.
My chest loosened.
My anxiety quieted.
My fear wasn’t running the show.
My doom wasn’t in charge.
For the first time in decades, my mind wasn’t attacking me — it was listening.
So for the first time in my entire life, I became conscious of what I was thinking:
- “I’ll always go back to jail.” → What if I don’t?
- “I’ll never stay clean.” → What if I can?
- “Life will always be hard.” → What if it doesn’t have to be?
- “I’m doomed.” → What if I’m not?
And honestly?
It felt like BS at first.
Like lying.
Like pretending.
But something happened on Day 6 that completely freaked me out…
The First Manifestation Hit Me Like A Miracle
After less than a week of challenging my limiting beliefs, I got the strangest intuitive hit:
“Flush the drugs.”
I wasn’t ready.
I wasn’t stable.
I wasn’t healed.
I wasn’t anyone’s inspirational blog post.
But I listened to that nudge—the most random, illogical, powerful nudge I had ever felt.
And that choice—one single specific intention—rewired my entire destiny.
It was the moment my conscious manifestations began.
And here’s the wildest part:
After I let go… everything I needed began showing up.
Like…
- Cheaper apartments
• Safer living situations
• Support I had never received
• A safer roof over my head
• A chance to build a new family
• A new house that felt like a dream
• Financial security I had NEVER known
The Universe moved faster than I ever had.
What nobody prepares you for is how unsettling positive change can feel when you’ve only ever known chaos.
I didn’t know how to receive support.
I didn’t know how to accept stability.
I didn’t know what to do with a life that wasn’t collapsing.
For the first few weeks, I kept waiting for the rug to be pulled out from under me — because that was the pattern. That was the identity. That was home.
But the Universe wasn’t testing me.
It was rerouting me.
And every time I allowed myself to believe the support was real, another blessing appeared.
It was a cascade effect:
One small shift in my thoughts started a landslide in my life.
My First Real Mindset Shift
You know that famous Abraham Hicks line?
“You are the creator of your own reality.”
The part I never expected was how much manifestation had nothing to do with manifesting…
and everything to do with identity detox. (See Box Below.)
Here’s the truth:
I didn’t just have limiting beliefs.
I had inherited beliefs.
Generational beliefs.
System-imposed beliefs.
Trauma-coded beliefs.
Beliefs passed down like cursed heirlooms.
Beliefs like:
“Women like us don’t get out.”
“Addicts don’t become mothers.”
“People with records don’t get houses.”
“Once you’re in the system, you stay in it.”
“Your future is a rerun of your past.”
No affirmation could fix that.
What fixed it was the decision to become someone I had never met before:
A Sam who wasn’t defined by pain.
A Sam who wasn’t defined by court dates.
A Sam who wasn’t defined by survival.
A Sam who was allowed to want more.
That identity shift wasn’t cute.
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It was violent.
It was disorienting.
It was grief-filled.
It was rebirth.
But it changed everything.
I used to think that was fake spiritual Pinterest fluff.
But when you’ve ruined your own life enough times, the truth hits differently:
If my thoughts helped create the hell I lived in…
Maybe they could create something else, too.
The power of the Law of Attraction wasn’t just a concept—
it was a lifeline.
I realized:
👉 Every time I expected jail, I manifested jail.
👉 Every time I expected loss, I manifested loss.
👉 Every time I thought life was against me, it was.
It isn’t easy to admit to yourself that you had no one to blame but yourself for your lifetime of pain and suffering.
And that’s when I made the boldest decision of my life:
I was going to manifest a completely different identity.
A completely different life.
A completely different future.
Not someday.
Not when I was ready.
Not when I healed.
Right now.
My First Real Mindset Shift
My Meditation Altar
This was the first time I understood the power of emotions in manifestation.
3. Meditation Altar/Vision Board Hybrid
Not a pretty Pinterest aesthetic.
I created a travel meditation altar, which evolved into a special room that held my meditation altar when I purchased my home. I added things that matter to me, like crystals, feathers, herbs, and petals. I added images of things I want in life and pictures of the things that currently matter to me. If you want to check it out, check out my blog post, Transform Your Practice: Crafting the Perfect Meditation Altar to see my personal meditation altar.
4. Gratitude
After living the life I have lived and spending most of it without even basic human rights, one thing I can do with a smile is gratitude.
I didn’t say “thank you” like a saint.
I said it like a fighter.
After every meditation session and before bed, tears would fill my eyes thinking about my lowest points in jail to my beautiful home and children. Gratitude is easy for me.
One grateful thought at a time, I dug myself out of hell.
5. Kindness
Everything I did and do, I did my very best to do it with the most kindness and positivity I could muster, even on the hard days.
Bonus: Aligned Action
The manifestation process isn’t just magic—it’s movement.
So every single day, I took one small, real-world action that matched my new identity:
- Keep an open mind, ALWAYS
- Drinking water and “intentionating” it
- Journaling
- Throwing things out
- Cleaning my space
- Showing up
- Trying
- Not quitting
- Small choices
- Life-changing outcomes.
What I learned is that manifestation isn’t about asking the Universe for things.
It’s about becoming someone who can hold them without self-destructing.
Manifestation is nervous-system work.
Identity work.
Behavioral work.
Shadow work.
Embodiment work.
It’s the micro-decisions you make when no one’s watching…
and the micro-beliefs that whisper when you’re alone.
Every tiny action was a stitch in the new reality I was building.
Every tiny thought was a vote for the person I wanted to become.
Every tiny habit was a brick in the foundation of a life that finally felt like mine.
(aka: the reason this manifestation success story exists)
These next five choices weren’t cute, aesthetic, “let’s write in a planner” moments.
They were survival.
They were my action steps.
They were how I built a brand-new life using nothing but belief, repetition, and discipline.
1. Daily Affirmations
I recorded myself saying the things I did NOT believe yet.
I played them every morning like medicine.
2. Visualization/Emotionalization
I didn’t picture a new life… Because I wasn’t able to. I suffer from Aphantasia (blind mind’s eye). When I close my eyes, I see nothing but black, BUT I do what I do and adapt and adjust.
I made “visualization” into what I call “emotionalization”. I made it all about the feels. How does Sam feel her life is lived in abundance of all things positive?
I felt the feels of myself experiencing it.
The Moment I Knew the Universe Was Listening
Every manifestation success story has that one moment — that “holy sh*t” moment — where the Universe doesn’t just whisper…
it performs.
For me, that moment came in the shape of a purple-and-red butterfly.
And trust me, this part of the story is so wild that even now, years later, I still get chills telling it.
Here’s the truth:
I didn’t jump timelines because I was spiritually gifted.
I didn’t get clean because I had supernatural discipline.
I didn’t recover because I was “strong.”
I recovered because I made a single, life-altering decision:
I decided to keep an open mind — no matter what.
I told myself:
“Everything I’ve done up to this point has gotten me nowhere.
So maybe… just maybe… the things I’ve dismissed my whole life are the things that might save it.”
That mindset — that refusal to judge anything until I tried it — became the foundation of my entire transformation.
And the Universe wasted no time testing it.
The Sign That Started It All
When Pat (my kids’ dad) first started dipping his toes into manifestation, he didn’t believe in any of it.
Not the thoughts-create-reality thing.
Not the Universe-has-your-back thing.
Definitely not the signs thing.
He was another person who thought I was crazy. I wasn’t.
So one night — almost sarcastically — I convinced him to humor me as ask the universe for a sign. I had him say out loud:
“If what Sam believes to be real is real, I want the Universe to show me a purple and red butterfly in the next 72 hours.”
He chose his sign.
Not a monarch.
Not a yellow swallowtail.
Not something common.
A purple. And red. Butterfly.
Something that shouldn’t exist. Anywhere, or so I thought.
He expected nothing, but I knew. This wasn’t the first time around for me. Not even close.
Early the very next morning… the exact butterfly he asked for showed up — hand-drawn by my niece (see actual picture below), sitting at the VERY top of his Facebook feed. The Universe had pinned it there just for him, just like I said would happen.
He gave me an excited call. We laughed — not because it was funny, but because it was undeniable.
He believed.
It didn’t just feel like a sign.
It felt like a wink for me and for him- a confirmation:
“Yes. You’re on the right track. Keep going.”
AND THEN IT STARTED HAPPENING TO MY CLIENTS — ALL OF THEM
Over the years, I began sharing this story with clients who were struggling — people who felt lost, hopeless, disconnected, or ready to give up.
Every time, I said the same thing:
“Ask for a sign that seems impossible.
Then keep your mind open long enough for it to appear.”
I would tell them about Pat’s sign and how it appeared.
After I told them, every one of them chose the same sign.
But here’s where it gets crazy:
Every client who asked for the purple-and-
red butterfly
…got it.
Different forms.
Different moments.
Different contexts.
Drawings.
Stickers.
Art on a stranger’s sweatshirt.
A painting in a thrift store.
A random image online.
A child’s crayon scribble.
A tattoo someone posted.
A butterfly-themed product in a shop.
Every.
Single.
Time.
No coincidence behaves that consistently.
The Universe doesn’t repeat itself unless it’s trying to get your attention.
AND THEN… THE REAL BUTTERFLY FOUND ME
This part… this part makes the hair on my arms stand up even now.
Months after watching these signs unfold for everyone else, something happened that felt like a full-circle blessing:
I found a REAL purple-and-red butterfly.
Alive.
Fragile.
Vibrating with that delicate magic only nature holds. Except it wasn’t in nature at all. It was trapped in the clinic’s entryway, where I worked. I normally would have never noticed it on the floor.
It shouldn’t have existed.
Not in those colors.
Not in that pattern.
Not in that moment.
But there it was — in my hands. I picked it up to admire it and get a video.
I held it like the Universe had handed me proof.
Not metaphorical proof.
Living proof.
I released it back into the world.
Because the sign wasn’t meant to stay with me.
It was meant to move through me.
It was meant to be shared.
To inspire.
To land in the lives of people who needed it next.
I watched it flutter out of my palms and into the air like a tiny messenger carrying the energy of every person who had ever whispered, “Universe, show me a sign of good faith.” After showing all of my clients, friends, and family the magic and power the Universe holds, I know this was a wink and a thank you directly from the Universe.
And I swear to God — the air shifted around me.
It felt like permission.
It felt like a partnership.
It felt like a promise:
“When you stay open, I stay open.”
THE REAL LESSON OF THE BUTTERFLY
Here’s what I know now:
Most people don’t fail because manifestation doesn’t work.
They fail because their minds are already closed before the Universe gets a chance to answer.
My recovery didn’t start with discipline.
It didn’t start with willpower.
It didn’t start with rehab.
It started with a single belief:
“What if I’m wrong about everything I’ve decided isn’t real?”
My entire life changed because I was willing to question my own certainty.
That’s the real magic of manifestation:
Not the signs.
Not the synchronicities.
Not even the desires.
It’s the willingness to stay open long enough to receive what you asked for.
The butterfly didn’t just prove manifestation works.
It proved I work —
when I stop blocking the very miracles I’m begging for.
The Day I "Emotionalized" A House
My House Before We Moved In ⤵️
I emotionalized a new house.
Not someday—NOW.
Not for other people—ME.
Not as a fantasy—AS A FACT.
And guess what?
We purchased a home that is now worth more than 350k.
I worked hard and got our 400 and 450 credit scores up to 700 and 720.
I found stability.
I manifested financial security.
I rebuilt our lives from nothing but consciousness. Around two and a half years before I got my house, I was living in a homeless shelter because I had to get away from where I was selling drugs. If I went from a homeless shelter to a home, anyone can.
This wasn’t a miracle.
Unless I did manage to jump timelines, because that’s what it seemed like.
Either way, it was proof.
Proof that your subconscious mind holds the keys to every locked door you’ve ever stood in front of.
The wildest part?
Even after the house, even after the financial stability, even after the safety… my brain still tried to convince me it was temporary. It still does.
Because abundance is not just a financial shift — it’s a psychological one.
And when you come from scarcity, abundance feels unsafe. Especially when you come from scarcity, but then you sold drugs for your entire adult life. Scarcity and easy money. It confuses and sends mixed signals.
So I had to teach my nervous system that stability wasn’t a trap.
That safety wasn’t a trick, and that money could be easy and attained legally.
That not all good things were setups for future punishment.
This is the part of manifestation nobody talks about:
Receiving is harder than manifesting.
I still struggle with it and sometimes feel blocked, but no matter what, it is a much better place to be all around. I have witnessed real and true magic before my eyes. I wouldn’t give up this spiritual part of my journey for anything. Truly transformational. I can’t wait to see what the Universe has in store for me next.
Why Am I Sharing This Again Now?
Because someone out there is where I used to be:
- feeling hopeless
- feeling broken
- feeling stuck
- feeling unworthy
- feeling like life is something that happens to you
And I need you to hear this:
You are one thought,
one shift,
one tiny decision
away from rewriting EVERYTHING.
I’m not special.
I’m not chosen.
I have ZERO willpower.
I’m not the lucky one.
I am simply someone who kept an open mind and tested the Universe…
…and the Universe answered.
This is not motivation.
This is not theory.
This is not a pretty social media quote.
This is the truth:
If I can do it,
you can do it.
If I can change everything,
you can change everything.
If I can become a manifestation success story,
you can become one too.
I’m telling you this because nobody ever explains the part where you reinvented yourself so dramatically that you barely recognize the woman you used to be.
Nobody talks about the emotional whiplash of becoming someone you weren’t raised to be.
Nobody talks about the grief of outgrowing your old identity.
The guilt of surviving what others didn’t.
The loneliness of healing.
The strangeness of peace.
But I am.
Because it’s real.
Because it matters.
Because it’s part of the journey.
And because you deserve someone who’s not just teaching manifestation…
but living proof of what it can do when everything else has failed you.
Join My Community
Because someone out there is where I used to be:
- feeling hopeless
- feeling broken
- feeling stuck
- feeling unworthy
- feeling like life is something that happens to you
And I need you to hear this:
You are one thought,
one shift,
one tiny decision
away from rewriting EVERYTHING.
I’m not special.
I’m not chosen.
I have ZERO willpower.
I’m not the lucky one.
I am simply someone who kept an open mind and tested the Universe…
…and the Universe answered.
This is not motivation.
This is not theory.
This is not a pretty social media quote.
This is the truth:
If I can do it,
you can do it.
If I can change everything,
you can change everything.
If I can become a manifestation success story,
you can become one too.
I’m telling you this because nobody ever explains the part where you reinvented yourself so dramatically that you barely recognize the woman you used to be.
Nobody talks about the emotional whiplash of becoming someone you weren’t raised to be.
Nobody talks about the grief of outgrowing your old identity.
The guilt of surviving what others didn’t.
The loneliness of healing.
The strangeness of peace.
But I am.
Because it’s real.
Because it matters.
Because it’s part of the journey.
And because you deserve someone who’s not just teaching manifestation…
but living proof of what it can do when everything else has failed you.
If This Post…
If this post resonated with you or you would like to add or share something, please do so in the comments below. You know I love to hear from you. You could also support my work by liking, sharing, commenting, subscribing, following, and registering to join our free-of-charge, supportive, all-inclusive, judgment-free, meet-you-where-your-at online community where teachers learn. Learners teach all while
working together to #provethemallwrong and #showthemwhatwecando. In our support forums, you can give or receive support all on the same day. This community is for all of us who are more progressors, less perfectors. Addiction is not a prerequisite. All are welcome. This is a new, growing community, so please be patient. If there are any issues, please contact me at [email protected]m
Post Off Quote
“There is nothing that you cannot be, do or have; and we want to assist you in achieving that. But we love where you are right now, even if you do not, because we understand how joyful the journey to where you want to go will be.”
-Abraham Hicks
Post Off Affirmation
I am a magnet for miracles. My energy is a powerful, clear signal that effortlessly draws to me everything that is for my highest good. I release what was, I receive what is, and I am in perfect, joyful alignment with the abundant flow of the universe.
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