Manifestation is a hot topic. Ever since books like “The Secret” and “The Law of Attraction” boomed in popularity, the topic has been difficult to ignore. So, what is manifestation, how do you achieve it, and what evidence is there for it?
Manifestation is the practice of requesting, believing in and bringing about your desires. Similar psychological approaches hold scientific truths about the power of belief to change reality.
When discussing manifestation, you must understand the difference between its literal, spiritual, and scientific meanings. From there, you can develop your own manifestation plan and learn techniques to make it successful. Keep reading to learn all this and more!
Manifestation: Literal Definition
The Cambridge Dictionary defines manifestation as “a sign of something existing or happening” and “a sign showing the existence of a particular condition.” In other words, manifestation alerts you that some thought, emotion, or idea exists. It reveals meaning beneath the surface.
Manifestation is the appearance of something tangible coming from something intangible. You can think of manifestation as the physical outcome of ideas, thoughts, or emotions. From this standpoint, you can analyze the subject of manifestation from both scientific and spiritual perspectives.
Manifestation: Scientific & Spiritual Meaning
In popular psychology, manifestation means creating the life you desire using visualization. Unfortunately, many consider this concept to be pseudoscience. However, promotors of this practice do not claim it’s like waving a magic wand.
Indeed, manifestation uses mental and spiritual techniques like visualization, positive thinking, and making requests of the universe. However, believing and desiring are just one portion of this practice. Manifestation requires action.
A closely related practice in psychology is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or CBT. Using CBT, patients manipulate their thoughts and beliefs. They focus on changing behaviors to regain control over their lives or bring about positive life changes.
Can you see how the two principles are closely related? Therefore, there is a scientific meaning behind manifestation. The idea that you can change your life by changing your psyche and behaviors is a powerful one.
Is There Scientific Evidence Behind Manifestation?
If you examine the spiritual definition of manifestation found in books like “The Secret,” you’ll find no scientific evidence for the practice. However, closely related mental tools such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy are scientifically backed. Other similar science-based principles exist that offer support for the idea of manifestation.
1. Growth Mindset
American psychologist Carol Dweck performed research about her mindset theory, showing that a person’s beliefs affect their success. Neuroscience demonstrates that you can improve brain plasticity and neural connections by changing your thoughts and behavior. Believing that you control your brain power leads to higher levels of motivation and achievement.
Dr. Dweck studied the effects of a fixed mindset vs. a growth mindset on students. Based on her findings from numerous studies, students with growth mindsets welcomed challenges, persevered despite failures, understood that effort is required to achieve mastery and accepted constructive criticism well. These positive thoughts helped them achieve more than students with constricting, fixed mindsets.
Essentially, a growth mindset manifests achievement, and a fixed mindset manifests failure. By changing your mindset, you have the power to change what you manifest. Famously, Will Smith promotes using the power of a resilient, fearless mindset to become successful.
“Fear is not real. It is a product of thoughts you create. Do not misunderstand me. Danger is very real. But fear is a choice.”
– Will Smith
2. Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
The notion of self-fulfilling prophecy is also known as the interpersonal expectancy effect. In short, it means that you get what you expect. Your beliefs and expectations about someone else’s behavior ultimately manifest the expected behavior.
It’s a psychological theory that researchers have studied many times. You can see this theory in the placebo effect, which means that people given fake treatments believe it’s real and encounter the same outcome as those given real treatments. In a self-imposed self-fulfilling prophecy, your expectations directly affect your actions, leading you to bring about those expectations.
Importantly, a self-fulfilling prophecy can be either positive or negative. If your false expectations are negative, the result will be negative. If your false expectations are positive, the result will be positive.
3. Confirmation Bias
Confirmation bias is another scientific theory concerning the effects of your beliefs. In confirmation bias, your ideas, thoughts, and research all confirm your pre-existing beliefs. This confirmation happens despite information that proves you wrong, displaying the power of belief.
Even if you read the information that directly contradicts your beliefs, you interpret it in a way that you believe upholds your beliefs. You also recall and support information that confirms your beliefs. Famously, scientists experience confirmation bias by researching and presenting evidence for their theories rather than focusing on information that disproves their theories.
4. Visualization Meditation
Many scientific studies show that meditation has profound short-term and long-term effects on our behavior and mental state. It relates to manifestation because both techniques require focused mental activity. In visualization meditation, the patient imagines vivid images that affect the brain’s emotional centers.
Visualization meditation has shown measurable results influencing the autonomic nervous system, immune system, heart and breathing rates, and blood pressure. All of these physiological changes come from the power of mental visualization.
How Does Manifestation Work?
You can analyze the four psychologically and scientifically based theories above to explain how manifestation works. It revolves around the power of the mind. Our beliefs, thoughts, and ideas, whether positive or negative, impact our reality.
You’re more likely to excel if you have a positive, growth mindset about your classwork or professional work. If you expect the best from your teammates or colleagues, you’ll treat them better, and they’ll act better according to your positive expectations. If you visualize a balanced, healthy lifestyle, your body will respond in turn, and you’ll be more motivated to reach your health goals.
Practical Steps Of Manifestation
So, using those psychological principles, you can create a manifestation plan. Remember, this isn’t about waving a wand and expecting a new life to appear. Manifestation is just as methodical and intentional as the scientific method.
1. Gain Clarity
Undoubtedly, you’d be happy if your life improved overall. But your manifestation plan needs more detail and more specificity. You need to narrow down your top two or three objectives and desires.
Do you have specific health goals? Are your desires based on your relationship or love life? Is your professional life or business in desperate need of an overhaul?
This first step is crucial. Do not move on until you’ve gained clarity about your desire(s). Consider spending time quietly reflecting on your life and what your true desires are.
If you struggle to sit still and focus your mind on these topics, consider using guided meditation. Use online resources to find one that helps you focus on what you want and need. If you’re a hands-on learner, get creative and create a physical or digital vision board.
If you have a trusted friend or therapist, speak with them about your desires. Outside perspectives might help you gain clarity on what you need to manifest. As you build clarity, keep an open mind without judgment of the things you want.
2. Overcome Fear
Remember those theories of confirmation bias, self-fulfilling prophecies, and mindset? They’ll come into play as you clarify what you want to manifest. If you have preexisting limiting beliefs or a stubbornly fixed mindset, you may not be able to visualize what you want because you never thought it possible.
So, this second step is all about reframing that negative, fear-based mindset. You must excavate those fears. Dig into the recesses of your mind to find out what your limiting beliefs are
Only then can you learn how to overcome those fears. You must be firm yet kind to yourself as you deal with these unwanted anxieties. Be curious about your fears, and you’ll find accepting and removing them easier.
3. Confirm Your Choice
Once you’ve gained clarity and overcome your fears in a kind, curious, nonjudgmental way, you can move on to the third step. By now, you should feel a sense of clarity about what you want to manifest. So, put it to the test.
Start taking actions that will lead to the outcome you desire and make a tangible plan on how you can get there. As you take baby steps to achieve your desired outcome, notice how it feels. Trust your intuition.
Do you feel as though you’re moving in the right direction? Do those baby steps bring fulfillment and enjoyment into your life? Are you still excited about your desire?
As time goes on, if your desire is the right fit for you, your attraction to it won’t fade. If you find it fading, return to the first two steps and correct your course. Essentially, you’re using the scientific method in your manifestation approach:
Scientific Method of Manifestation
- Observe and Inquire (Gain Clarity On Your Desire)
- Form a Hypothesis (Establish What You Will Manifest)
- Test Your Idea (Manifest)
- Analyze the Result and Rewrite the Hypothesis (Reconsider Your Desire and Correct Your Course)
Remain flexible as you move through these steps. Adaptability is the key to manifestation. Also, your desires may fluctuate over time as you mature, meet new people, and have new experiences.
4. Receive
The final step is to receive what you’ve desired. Depending on your objective, manifesting may take weeks or years, so be patient. However, always be ready and open to receiving all the good the world and your community have to offer.
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Examples Of Manifestation
There’s one classic example of manifestation you may already know. Actor Jim Carrey famously wrote himself a $10 million check and later earned those $10 million on the movie Dumb and Dumber. Since then, Carrey has preached the principle of manifestation.
“I wrote myself a check for $10 million for ‘acting services rendered’…”
– Jim Carrey
Oprah Winfrey is another huge promoter of manifestation. Among other stories, she’s shared how she manifested her role in the movie The Color Purple. You can hear her discussing the Law of Attraction in many interviews.
“The way you think creates reality for yourself.”
– Oprah Winfrey
Science vs. Spirituality Of Manifestation
From a spiritual approach, manifestation involves prayer and believing that the universe will deliver your desire. Spiritual manifestation is what you find in books like “The Secret,” and takes a more mystical stance on the process. In spiritual practice, manifestation is more about faith, belief, and hope than action, planning, and systematic processes.
However, your firm beliefs and desires are essential to the process. As you’ve seen, similar psychological theories back up this idea. So, science isn’t necessarily at odds with manifestation, it just fills in the gaps in our understanding.
But the most important question to ask is what these ideas mean for you. You can use both the spiritual and scientific ideas of manifestation to help you achieve the outcomes you desire. If you believe in a higher power that can help you manifest your goals, then use that as you take action.
What’s more, you can use the scientific method to come to your own conclusions about the power manifestation has over your life. If you can change your beliefs, thoughts, and actions for the better, then what’s the harm? Make your life better in any healthy way that you can.
How Does Energy Affect Manifestation?
Using energy to help the manifestation process is part of the spiritual approach. The idea of positive energy attracting more positive energy is based on metaphysical beliefs and has yet to be proven scientifically. However, if a person believes they can manipulate their own energy to gain clarity or attract positive things, it can help them take the proper actions required to manifest real outcomes.
Certainly, more scientific research is necessary to determine how “good vibes” influence the manifestation process and affect reality. However, there have already been some studies that show a correlation between positive thinking and a healthy immune system. As time goes on, we’ll likely discover more about how positive energy affects the body and mind.
Use Manifestation For Your Needs
As you’re reading this, you may have already come up with a few ideas of desires you’d like to manifest. But you need to be honest with yourself when you come up with these desires. Are you going after them for the right reasons?
For instance, maybe you really want a shiny new Range Rover. You feel like you deserve it, and it will make your life better. But it’s important to ask yourself why you want it.
Perhaps by asking yourself why you want it, you’ll realize that you want to use it to show off to your father, who disapproves of the lifestyle you’ve chosen. You want to prove someone wrong or uphold a certain image so people stop looking down on you. Maybe you realize you just want more wealth and success because you’re in a twisted competition with your neighbor or friend.
Obviously, if those are your reasons, then you don’t really need the Range Rover. So, don’t manifest it. Instead, you might consider manifesting a stronger sense of self-worth and cultivating more positive relationships.
See, now you’re figuring out what you need and avoiding blindly asking for what you want. When you really get to the root of your desires, you’ll find that they are truly your needs. They are things you deserve, not out of greed, but out of birthright.
How Do You Ensure Manifestation Aligns With Your Values?
Now that you understand the need to dig deep and find the root of your desires, you can analyze how your values align with those desires. Let’s take the Range Rover example. Say you discover that you actually want to manifest greater self-worth and positive, loving relationships instead of the Range Rover.
Now, you can ask yourself how the desires of self-worth and good relationships align with your values. If they do, you know your request is honorable, and you’ll be motivated to achieve those outcomes. When your manifestation plan aligns with your values, you set yourself up for success.
When your values align with your manifestation desires, you’ll also find it easier to be patient. You can trust that you’re on the right path and that every little action toward your goals is also aligned with your values. Therefore, you find more fulfillment in your daily life.
Visualizing Manifestation
Visualize the desires you have. This process will get you excited about your goals and help you find ways to reach them. When you see yourself with the reality you desire, you’ll expect it and be more likely to manifest it.
As you visualize, don’t just use imagery. Think of what smells, sounds, or tastes your desired reality has. What does it feel like emotionally to achieve your goals?
Who are you impacting when you receive your manifestation? Who are you thanking? How are you treating yourself?
If it helps, you can even write out what you’re visualizing. Draw it or paint it. Create it in any way you can.
Visualize every detail of your desired reality, so you know what to expect. On that note, you can reset your course if you visualize your reality and discover it isn’t sitting right with you. Your visualization should be fully in tune with your needs and values.
Supporting Manifestation
Remember, manifestation doesn’t involve a magic wand. So, consider the actions you must take to begin drawing your desired reality closer to you. What’s your plan of action?
You already have your belief in yourself down. You’re clear on what you need. All that’s left to do is start working toward the goal, talking about your goal, and taking baby steps.
Support your manifestation plan using any tool possible. As you start acting toward your desire, you’ll notice more doors opening. As you open yourself to receiving your desire, you will foster a growth mindset and truly believe that you have the power to reach your goals.
Manifestation is a series of well-placed, small steps in the right direction. You’ll accumulate the knowledge, skills, and network you need as you go along the path. Slow and steady will win the manifestation race.
What Is Dynamic Manifestation?
By now, you have a solid understanding that manifestation is a process. That process is not rigid. It’s vibrant, ever-changing, and constantly evolving. Manifestation is not static; it’s dynamic.
If you’ve created your manifestation plan, be prepared to change it. Unexpected doors of opportunity may open that change your path. Recognize that changes in your plan aren’t failures; they’re successes.
So, be prepared to pivot on your manifestation journey. Expand your perspective constantly. Adopt that flexible, positive growth mindset, and you won’t go wrong.
Final Thoughts
Are you ready to manifest your heart’s deepest desires? Remember, start by clarifying your intentions and releasing your mind of limiting beliefs and fears. Once you’ve confirmed your desires, take action, starting with baby steps to manifest them and be flexible.
You’ll undoubtedly learn much about yourself, your values, and your true desires and place in the world as you move along your manifestation journey. So, set aside the get-rich-quick schemes and dive into the power of manifestation. You’re in good company!
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