Manifestation is the art of intentionally bringing what you want into reality. Oftentimes people manifest greater peace and happiness into their lives, along with other things like successful careers and thriving relationships. Manifesting begins with changing your mindset about the opportunities in your life by visualizing details of your dream life and actually expecting those details to become true for your life.
The practice of manifesting is often disregarded as impossible and labeled pseudoscience.
Taking a deeper look at the psychology of manifesting, however, can demonstrate why more and more psychologists and scientists are beginning to get behind the use of visualization and manifestation.
It all starts with our mindset
One reason why manifestation is gaining support from the scientific community is strong correlation between belief and behavior. We are far more likely to work towards a goal if we actually believe that the goal is attainable. It all starts with our mindset.
Research done by Dr. Carol Dweck, Ph.d. Psychologist and author of “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” demonstrated that having a “growth” mindset can have a positive impact on the general way you live your life. She taught that people can grow and adapt and learn new skills to succeed. She also taught that having a growth mindset can make you more resilient to difficulties and adaptive to challenges.
Our expectations become our reality
The self-fulfilling prophecy effect is another scientific explanation for the success of manifestation.
We often conform to the beliefs we have about ourselves and act according to how we expect ourselves to act.
This is a natural process, but by consciously changing what beliefs and expectations we have about ourselves, we can essentially hijack the process and change our path to achieve more. Therefore, our expectations become our reality.
Confirmation bias
We also naturally collect evidence to support our understanding of the world, so we are more likely to collect evidence in favor of our potential if we first change our beliefs about our potential.
This confirmation bias helps propel us, using our own actions, towards our desired outcomes.
So how do I get started?
- The first thing you need to do is decide what you want to manifest. Take time to really think about what you want out of your life, then commit to that reality.
- Once you decide what you want, write it down. Studies have demonstrated that you are significantly more likely to achieve your goals if you first write them down.
- Decide what limiting beliefs need to go. Once you have taken time to ponder about the possibilities for your life, take a moment to reflect upon how you need to view yourself in order to get there. Do you need to believe you can really make a difference? Do you need to believe you are capable of unlimited success or truly worthy of being loved?
- Regularly use visualization and positive affirmations to bring to pass your manifested reality. Regularly meditate on your new beliefs to entirely reprogram your subconscious and conscious brain. Use visualization techniques to vividly imagine the details of your dream life. What does it feel like to walk around your dream home? What does it look like to work at your dream job?
Tools for Manifesting
Try using a positive affirmation app like Selfpause to write down, record, and listen to what you need to believe about yourself to change your life.
Use Selfpause to write down and meditate on your own affirmations, or choose from an extensive library of pre-recorded affirmation sessions to begin changing your mindset- and your life- today.
