I was a first-time bride at forty-four. I often joke that I “forgot to get married,” but the truth is I was very busy making every mistake in the book when it came to love. The good news is that while my love life sucked, I had discovered very powerful techniques for manifesting a magnificent career and had built a very successful business.

Early one morning, at the age of forty-three, I decided it was time to finally get serious about finding my soulmate. I made a list of everything I had ever learned about manifestation, psychology, spirituality, and the Law of Attraction. I worked on my intentions until they became crystal clear, while I simultaneously cleared out the clutter in my house and in my heart. I learned and invented techniques, rituals, visualizations, and prayers that helped me prepare my body, mind, spirit, and home for an amazing relationship. And it worked. Within six months, I attracted my husband Brian, who was and is everything I ever wished for. Actually, he has exceeded all of my desires and expectations.

People who have read my book The Soulmate Secret and are actively seeking to manifest the love of their life often ask me if I can share with them the secret to speeding up the process. They tell me they are tired of waiting, wishing, hoping, and yearning for the day The One will arrive.

“How much longer do I have to wait for my soulmate” is the biggest complaint I hear from so many single men and women.

While I do know and believe that we can consciously manifest the love of our life into our lives—I’ve done it, as have thousands of my students around the world—we don’t get to choose the speed at which it all comes together.

So while I can’t tell you when your soulmate will show up, here’s what I know for sure: finding true love is possible for anyone at any age.

Eleven Tips to Help You Manifest your Soulmate—In Perfect Divine Timing:

1. Believe It Will Happen

This wonderful Universe of ours is set up to deliver the people and things to us that are consistent with our beliefs. If you don’t believe you will ever find The One, then guess what, you probably won’t. So, believing and knowing that your soulmate is out there is the most important part of the formula. If you learn to believe that The One is not only out there but is ALSO LOOKING FOR YOU, then true love can be yours.

2. Fall in Love with Yourself

Know that you are lovable. Find ways each day to nourish yourself with love, appreciation, positive thoughts, and tenderness. Begin to care for yourself as if you are the most important person in the world. You deserve your own love and affection. When you fall in love with yourself, the whole world mirrors that love back to you.

Oscar Wilde said it best, “To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.”

3. Make Space for your Beloved

Eliminating physical clutter from your life is one of the fastest ways to increase the in-flow of new positive energy. At the same time, you also want to create physical space for your soon-to-arrive beloved. Make sure to clear some space in your closet and keep the nightstand on your soulmate’s side of the bed empty so that when she arrives, she can fill it with her own personal items. Remember the old saying, “Nature abhors a vacuum?” It applies here. Create space so the Universe can deliver your soulmate into a home that welcomes her (even if you never plan to have your soulmate live with you in your space, it’s essential to do this).

4. Heal your Heart

Past hurts will prevent you from magnetizing big love. You may not realize it, but resenting people or being unwilling to forgive them actually binds you to them. Make a list of the ex-lovers with whom you are still harboring grudges or resentment. Write each one a detailed letter expressing your upset. Give yourself permission to go full out, as you will never mail these letters. Then, write a second letter from your ex-love’s point of view. Then read all of the letters out loud to yourself with the intention of allowing any remaining animosity to dissipate. When we heal the scars of our past, we open the door to a more fulfilling future.

5. Map out your Desires

Write a list of the most important qualities your soulmate will possess. Then take your list and create a “vision map”—a collage that becomes a visual representation of your romantic future. It really works! We know of one forty-something single man who quickly manifested his soulmate this way. After he created his vision map, he took a photograph of it and made it the wallpaper on his laptop and his cell phone. Dozens of times each day he focused on his “vision,” and voila, within a few months he met the love of his life.

6. Be the Loving Person You Are

Find ways to express more love to everyone in your life. The Universe is always mirroring back to us. The more loving you feel, the more you become magnetically attractive to love.

7. Live your Soulmate Truth Every Day

Live in the knowingness that you are in a loving, committed relationship. Big love is possible for anyone of any age if you are willing to become a magnet for love. To do this, begin “living as if,” which means your actions follow your beliefs. For instance, you might buy birthday or “I Love You Just Because” greeting cards that you will give them someday. Or, you will get tickets to concerts or plays you will attend with them. And if you are really in the “knowingness,” you will begin talking to them (in your imagination) every day!

8. Create an Altar in the Relationship Corner of your Home

According to Feng Shui experts, the far right corner of your bedroom is considered the relationship area. To enliven this space, create a sacred altar. Items to place on the altar can include fresh flowers, a pair of pink or red candles, a pair of small swans or other animals that mate for life, and romantic photographs, icons, or statues that represent to you the image of love and family. You may also want to hang your “vision map” above your altar. Find time each day to spend a few minutes sitting in front of your altar saying a prayer of gratitude for your beloved’s swift arrival.

9. Listen to your Intuition and Take Action

It’s important to be on the lookout for synchronistic signs from the Universe or inspiring invitations that come out of the blue, which may lead you to your soulmate. Take action when these kinds of opportunities present themselves. Taking action may also mean joining an online dating service, enrolling in a scuba diving course, or simply sharing with trusted friends your desire to meet the love of your life.

10. Feel the Feelings of Being with your Soulmate

Prior to meeting Brian ten years ago, I had a daily ritual in which I would light several candles at sunset, put on my favorite CD of Gregorian chants, and sit in my big, cozy chair. With my eyes closed, I would drop into the feelings of having my soulmate in my life. I would experience those wonderful feelings in every part of my body, knowing that he was on the way. There were days when the thought that he was very late did cross my mind, but I would just let those thoughts go and get back into a state of grace, feeling and knowing that his arrival was assured.

11. Savor the Waiting

For those who are running out of patience, please remember: you can choose to allow yourself to feel desperate and alone, or you can choose to feel happy and blessed. One way to adopt the “happy and blessed” mindset is to understand the ancient Japanese aesthetic known as wabi sabi, which honors all things old, worn, weathered, imperfect, and impermanent. In fact, it seeks to find “beauty and perfection in the imperfections.” Rather than “enduring” the wait—and the perceived imperfection of being single—you can adopt a wabi sabi perspective and really enjoy your last days of being single. You can relish the journey and joyfully anticipate your soulmate’s arrival. One of the best ways to “savor the waiting” is to take yourself on “special dates,” doing things that most nourish and nurture YOU!

Think of it this way: when the seeds of a flower have been planted in the ground and the first leaves begin to sprout, the gardener does not tug on the leaves every day to make the plant grow faster. He trusts that Mother Nature will play her role and then, when the time is right, the flower will blossom. Like a gardener, you have planted a seed and invited love to unfold in your life.

Here’s what I know for sure: The Soulmate Secret works. It works for every one of every age. It just requires that you invest a little time, energy, intention, and attention. Isn’t spending the rest of your life with the love of your life worth that investment?

Arielle Ford has spent the past twenty-five years living and promoting consciousness through all forms of media. She is the author eight books, including the international bestseller The Soulmate Secret: Manifest the Love of Your Life with the Law of Attraction. If you’re ready for more love, fun, harmony, and passion in all of your relationships, you can download the first chapter of her latest book, Wabi Sabi Love: The Ancient Art of Finding Perfect Love in Imperfect Relationships, for free at WabiSabiLove.com.

For more on Arielle please visit www.soulmatesecret.com.

*Photo by –Tico–.