Ever notice how impossibly difficult it is to attain something you believe is lacking in your life?

Look at all the people who work two jobs, both jobs paying minimum wage, trying to get some money. It doesn't work!

What's going on here?

The metaphysical idea of the "Mental Equivalent" provides the answer.

Emmet Fox said: "Whatever enters into your life is but the material expression of some belief in your own mind."

Fox is telling us that material appearances are caused by our mental beliefs.

Most of us go off track with our manifestations because we think we live in a material world. We think we create by doing stuff. That's a false assumption, and it can't lead us to the truth.

We live in a mental world, and the beliefs in our mind cause the world that manifests around us.

When a desire feels impossible to attain, when nothing you try works, when it seems that other people can have it but you can't, there is one likely cause: your mind has no appropriate beliefs to attract what you desire.

Building a new set of beliefs to manifest your desire is called creating a Mental Equivalent.

After my divorce in 1995 I did not believe I could have a good relationship. My Mental Equivalent at that time was "I can't have a life partner." I didn't date often, and when I did date it was disastrous. How could dating be anything but awful with a Mental Equivalent like that?

Since 2003 I've been in a delicious relationship. It needn't have taken that long to manifest it. The turnaround began the moment I realized that the beliefs I held about relationships were the CAUSE of my not attracting a good one.

Your beliefs are the ONLY cause of what you're living.

To create a new Mental Equivalent, envision your deepest heart's desire about the subject at hand -- money, love, health, self-expression etc. -- and take a snapshot in your mind of yourself experiencing that end result.

Hold that snapshot in your thoughts. Imagine it as your reality. Add sound and emotion to the mental picture, and think about it throughout the day. Know that your Mental Equivalent is a powerful magnet drawing to you what you envision.

When you have your Mental Equivalent firmly in your mind, you are destined to live it in your material world.