When I saw her last week after months of our last catchup, I was shocked. She had become unrecognizable shedding off all her extra weights. She again said it was all achieved through “Manifestation”
Have you ever heard or read about manifestation? It's the idea that we can attract and manifest the things we want in our lives through positive thinking and visualization. Some people swear by manifestation, claiming that it's helped them to achieve their goals and manifest their desires while others think it as mere wishful thinking and laugh at it like I did after hearing my cousin. But is there any scientific evidence to support this idea?
Research on manifestation is limited, but there are a few studies that suggest that it may have some basis in real life. Psychologists at the University of Cologne found that participants who visualized achieving their goals showed greater brain activity in the prefrontal cortex which is that part of brain responsible for planning, decision-making, and goal setting. This suggests that visualization can activate the same neural pathways as actually experiencing success and may help to program our brains to achieve our goals. Similarly, as per the study published in the Journal of Positive Psychology, those who wrote about their future goals for just 20 minutes a day for four days in a row were more likely to achieve than those who didn’t write.
In her book “The Universe Has Your Back”, the author Gabby Bernstein shares her own story of using manifestation to overcome addiction, heal from trauma, and build a successful career. Bernstein believes that by focusing on positive thoughts and visualizing the outcomes she wants, she's been able to attract those things into her life. Similarly, world famous TV host, Oprah Winfrey has also shared in her interviews that manifestation along with hard word and dedication has make one of the most successful personality in Television Industry. These are few real-life examples suggesting that Manifestation works!
It is important to note is that Manifestation is not a magic bullet to attract success in the life. It requires hard work, immense effort, dedication, and willingness to act towards our goals along with visualization and positive thinking. By harnessing the power of positive thinking and visualization, we can program our brains to work towards our goals and increase our chances of success.
So, how can we practice manifestation in our daily lives? Various studies have shown the following steps to practice manifestation:
1. Clarify your goals: Start by identifying what you want to achieve and write them down. Your goals need to be specific and measurable. For example: My cousin had clear goals that she would reach to “Small “ size in 6 months.
2. Visualize your desired outcomes: Visualize the picture of already achieving your goals and experience the emotions associated with that success. For example, my cousin imagined how beautiful she would feel in her old clothes of “Small” size.
3. Practice Positive Affirmations: By repeating regularly the positive affirmations such as “I can become healthier and stronger”, “ I am capable to achieve my goals” , "I am worthy of love and success,", you increase self-confidence and program your brains for success. In my cousin’s case she wrote in a diary every night before sleep that she would be successful in losing weight to fit in small sized clothes.
4. Take action: The most important step is to break down your goals into manageable steps and take action towards achieving them each day. For example, in my cousin’s case ,she exercised for 30 minutes every day and stopped eating junk food and sugar.
Therefore, our thoughts, beliefs, and actions aligned together with our goals can attract positive opportunities and success into our lives. Whether we want to achieve career success, improve our health, or find happiness, manifestation can help us get there. So , let’s practice it daily to live the life of our dreams!
