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Manifestation for skeptics.

Writer's picture: Sam StoneSam Stone

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manifestation for skeptics

If you have not come across this concept by now, then have you actually been living under a rock? Manifestation has been trending for years now, and there does not appear to be signs of it going away. I must admit, it has taken a long time for me to fully comprehend what it is and how to go about doing it for myself, because it seems so woo-woo, right? I can't be the only person who struggles to get on board with this idea that if we believe something is already ours, then it will present itself?


If you have entertained the idea that you can manifest the things that you desire, to find that it has not worked for you, you are not alone! It sounds like a type of magical thinking. We can clinically identify magical thinking when someone holds themselves responsible for something that has happened, or is yet to happen, just because they thought about it. For example, we see this a lot in people who have obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and other anxiety disorders. I recently worked with someone who felt guilty and responsible for their child’s abuser passing away, because they wished that they would just disappear. The abuser’s death was not suspicious at all, and logically, the person knew that it was not their fault.


But with this idea of the “law of attraction”, suddenly we are meant to believe that we are responsible for the good things that happen in our lives, simply because we have thought about them with strong feelings of gratitude? The danger here, is that when our manifestations do not happen, we gaslight ourselves into believing that it was because we did not believe hard enough, we did not love ourselves enough, we did not find ourselves worthy enough, we were not grateful enough, we did not do all the right things in exactly the prescribed sequence. We are in danger of putting ourselves on another hamster wheel. Buying into the latest cultural narrative, which keeps us accountable as individuals for things that are not within our control.


When learning about manifestation for yourself, I urge you to be mindful of the possibility that this could just be another toxic thing that can be exploited and commodified, like in diet culture, rather than it being your fault that you have not been able to manifest anything yet.


I recently read about Dr. Tara Swart’s perspective on manifesting and I absorbed all the information like a sponge. This was refreshing because it has been really hard to get through some of the material on manifesting, what with all the eye rolling. Dr. Tara Swart is a neuroscientist and I am into that, being a CBT therapist. The people I work with will often give feedback that they appreciate a scientific perspective and explanation of some of the things they are going through, because it helps them to understand and normalize their experiences. I tend to agree, as if I don’t understand something, I like to find the research behind it and link it to things I do understand.


In her book, The Source, Swart (2019) cuts through the bullshit of what actually makes it possible to manifest. This is great because what I find really irritating about the manifestation bandwagon is that there seems to be just not quite enough information for you to fully comprehend. It gives you just enough, just to keep you hanging on, like a slot machine in a casino.


Swart (2019) first offers an exercise, suggesting that there are a bunch of different parts to ourselves that we must integrate more consistently. Do you ever find yourself feeling conflicted, like a part of you feels one way, but another part is pulling you in a different direction? Learning more about the different parts of yourself is going to be the first step in learning how to get them to communicate with each other, so that they can work together and integrate.


What does integration of the self have to do with manifesting?


Let me ask you this. What has gotten in the way of manifesting your desires up until now? Chances are, there are parts of you that get in the way of you.


This makes sense in an evolutionary perspective because the nervous system interprets change as a threat, so it does whatever possible to keep you in the current situation.


For example, lets say your desire to increase your income is equally as powerful as your self doubt. Every time you try to think of ways to increase your income, your self doubt chimes in, and it becomes too difficult to concentrate on it for too long, just like a mental tug of war that becomes physically draining.


If you could work on integrating these two sides to you, and bringing in the other four aspects listed below, your ability to move forward with your desires according to what matters to you the most will be strengthened, and getting to where you want to be will happen with ease.


Here is what you do.


  • On a spider diagram or in a list, or a table, label in the words; Emotions, Physicality, Intuition, Motivation, Logic and Creativity.


  • Call to mind three scenarios where you have had to draw upon your maximum brain power, such as making a big decision, or dealing with a crisis.


  • Either write about these parts of you, in their involvement in each scenario, or rate out of 100 as to how effectively you employed each of them. See if you can identify any patterns, as this might suggest that your brain might be overusing or under-using different parts of you.


I decided to use three scenarios which have been difficult for me and are directly related to what I hope for myself. That meant that the scenarios were not "high stakes" ones, and did not necessarily use all of my brain power, but they were important to me nonetheless.


This exercise was personally super insightful to me and I have already implemented strategies to further integrate the different parts to me, with good effect! Whether or not any manifestations happen is something I could check in with you all with in another post, but it has definitely put me in a better trajectory towards me achieving my goals. There are more exercises in the final chapters to help bridge the gap between the current time and your goals.


What I like about Swart’s (2019) work here, is that it offers simple, practical and true information, that will have a positive impact on your mental health. It does not rely on your blind faith and has nothing to do with spiritual bypassing. It is evidence based, grounded in science and therefore feels authentic. You can buy The Source here if you want to.


References


Farrell, N. (2023). What Is Magical Thinking OCD? https://www.treatmyocd.com/blog/what-is-magical-thinking-ocd


Harold, L. (2023). Magical Thinking in Generalized Anxiety Disorder. https://www.verywellmind.com/magical-thinking-in-generalized-anxiety-disorder-4151291


Swart, T. (2019). The Source. Harper Collins Publishers.

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I respectfully acknowledge that I am a settler on the unceded and ancestral territory of the syilx people, and I accept my responsibility to humbly educate myself and act for the advancement of decolonization on these lands. 

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