By Sara Ghanawi | Staff Writer

With the start of a new year comes the flooding of social media platforms with content about manifesting your dream year and life goals. Chances are you’ve already came across vision boards, tarot cards, affirmation journals, lucky girl syndrome videos, or any media that ruminates about how you can make anything you desire come true through the power of manifestation. You may have also been introduced to this term through the famous book and documentary The Secret and the so-called law of attraction. In case you still haven’t caught up with what manifestation is, it is the process of using thoughts, feelings, and beliefs to bring something into your tangible reality.

Manifestation has strong mystic connotations that make it sound like a pseudoscience or some sort of witchcraft, with some people using phrases like “channeling your energy into the universe.” Contrary to popular belief, manifestation actually has scientific and psychological underpinnings that explain how it works.

All manifestation really says is what every other self-help book has been saying for a while: changing your mindset will change your life.

To start with, numerous researchers have repeatedly shown that having a growth mindset helps you achieve your dreams and goals. Dr. Carol Dweck’s research demonstrated that people who believe they can do something were actually more likely to successfully do it. This is due to the strong correlation between beliefs and behavior; people are more likely to work towards a goal if they deeply believe that they can achieve it.

Importantly, it opposes what the law of attraction proposes as manifestation – a “wish it, get it” type of thing. Research showed that beliefs lead the person to develop certain constructive behaviors, thought patterns, and habits that help in reaching their goals. Dreams don’t naturally come true by the magic of the universe or just by you thinking about them. Manifestation entails habitual action towards the goals with positive emotions and strong willpower.

However, at the core of it all, our thoughts are the main game changer. Research demonstrates that our mind tends to confirm our expectations, whether positive or negative. This is a cognitive bias known as ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’. The main idea of this bias is that our expectations become our reality. This is helpful because by changing the beliefs and expectations we have about ourselves; we’ll be able to hijack the process to feasibly achieve our dreams. If you expect yourself to be a gym enthusiast, you’ll find yourself fitting time for the gym regardless of your busy schedules.

This cognitive bias, however, has a downside known as ‘negativity bias’. Not only do positive expectations manifest into our reality, but negative ones do too. If we wake up in the morning with bad expectations about our day, our brain is going to interpret neural circumstances negatively. If, for example, you arrive to class just to get informed that the class is cancelled, there are two ways to interpret this series of events. On a day with a negative outlook, you’d interpret it as a waste of time and energy. On the day with a positive outlook, you’d see this as an opportunity to catch up on work or hangout with friends.

This explains manifestation in the sense that if you look for good, you’ll most probably find it. Research suggests that people who have joyful and optimistic attitudes tend to hop on more opportunities and have better social relations. One study even showed that people who were more optimistic were 40% more likely to get promoted in a job compared to their pessimist coworkers.

Manifestation can similarly be explained by another cognitive bias – ‘confirmation bias’. People naturally look for evidence that confirm their beliefs and expectations. Thus, if you believe that your crush likes you back, you will tend to collect small gestures, like their random glance at you, as signs that confirm your belief.

In addition to that, neuroscience takes its turn in explaining manifestation through ‘neuroplasticity’. Our nervous system constantly deals with our thoughts and feelings, matching our inner state to the reality we’re living in.  Dr. Joe Vitale says that this can be explained by the power of our subconscious mind in the neural networks of our brainstem called the reticular activating system (RAS). Visual and verbal repetitions of what you desire, which are components of manifestation, increase the neural pathways in your brain aiding you to succeed with your intentions. The RAS can be programmed to subconsciously find what we command it to and what we desire. Instead of the famous “energy flows where attention goes”, I’d say “manifestation ameliorates where neural circuits duplicate”. In other words, if you focus on positive feelings, habits, and thoughts, your brain will create new neural circuits that are much more efficient than the ones you don’t focus on.

Clearly, cognitive psychology and neuroscience can explain manifestation in a myriad of ways. Maybe, after all, manifesting your dream life isn’t as impossible and far-fetched as you thought it was. Examine your thought patterns, change them to work in your favor, take the necessary actions towards your goal, and naturally see your heart’s deepest desires come true.