I was just listening to an Abraham CD and it reminded me that one step before the manifestation is the feeling.  We often point our efforts toward the manifestation.  We want the car, or the relationship, or the body condition, right?  So we visualize and affirm and use all our nifty tools to manifest the life condition that we want.

That’s all great, but it’s like putting together a jigsaw puzzle that’s missing half the pieces.  It’s harder than it needs to be while you’re working on it, and when it’s done, it’s a big disappointment.

So what is the alternative?  Focus your efforts on achieving the feeling you would have if that desire were joyfully fulfilled.  Focus on the feeling rather than the manifestation.

In that way, there is joy in the journey, and when you get there, it is even better than you expected.

It basically comes down to placing your relationship with your self and your Source above any other relationship.

My Most Important Relationship Is With My Source… There is no relationship of greater importance to achieve than the relationship between you, in your physical body, right here and now, and the Soul/Source/God from which you have come. If you tend to that relationship, first and foremost, you will then, and only then, have the stable footing to proceed into other relationships. Your relationship with your own body; your relationship with money; your relationship with your parents, children, grandchildren, the people you work with, your government, your world . . . will all fall swiftly and easily into alignment once you tend to this fundamental, primary relationship first.
— Abraham-Hicks