Have we got the concept of manifestation all wrong?

For a lot of people, manifestation is the endpoint; however, that’s just the beginning. We attempt to decipher what manifestation entails and how you can get it right

The concept of manifestation sounds almost surreal. You think of a goal or something that you aspire to achieve in life and teleport your intentions into the wide universe, expecting wonders to transpire. While the act of manifestation has existed since forever, it became popular in 2006, when Australia-based writer Rhonda Byrne’s book, The Secret, which takes a deep plunge into the philosophy of the law of attraction, became a global bestseller in no time. Today, ‘manifest’ and ‘manifestation’ are nothing short of buzzwords, even amongst Gen-Z. Over 8 lakh and 9 lakh posts feature the hashtags #manifest and #manifestation respectively on Instagram. On TikTok, the hashtag #manifest is perpetually trending, garnering over 18.5 billion views. 

Based on the fundamental definition (read: popular consensus) of manifestation, a lot of people indulge in the act without comprehending what it really involves. For many, manifestation is where their relationship with a desire begins and that’s where it ends. However, that’s not actually how it works. The act of manifesting involves a balanced interplay between intention, energy and endeavour—the last one is a rather neglected aspect of the act. 

What does manifestation mean?

According to Sanshe Bhatia, numerologist and founder, House of Tarot, manifesting is simply putting out to the universe what you want and how you want it to be. “Over the years, I have started seeing manifestation as a way of life. They say everything happens twice, once in your head and the second time in reality. While growing up, I always heard people say you can’t change your destiny—what is meant to happen will happen. I am sure there are some predefined things we are all meant to learn, but I very strongly believe there is nothing in your life you can’t do or achieve simply by the power of thought, words and actions,” says Bhatia. “In simple terms, for anyone trying to understand manifestation, it is basically creating your own reality rather than letting life happen to you.”

For beauty editor Aparrna Gupta, manifestation is indeed a powerful tool to shift one’s energy and mindset from a state of negativity to positivity, fostering hope and curiosity for a better future. “By focusing on what can be controlled and letting go of what can’t, it helps align thoughts, emotions and actions towards desired outcomes. Manifestation also involves the idea of vibrations, where shifting to a higher energy state can bring about positive changes in one’s life.” Through these definitions, you can conclude that manifestation isn’t an act that endows immediate gratification; instead, it’s a practice that you commit to for the rest of your life, in anticipation of desires and aspirations to materialise. Angelina Lombardo, author of Spiritual Entrepreneur, says, “Manifesting is making everything you want to feel and experience a reality via your thoughts, actions, beliefs and emotions.” 

“Manifestation, to me, is the state of the universe conspiring to make things happen for you,” says Nidhi Pandya, a third-generation Ayurveda practitioner and holistic wellness coach. Her take on manifestation is rather interpretable: it is an added equation between intention, action and surrender. “What I mean is that you set a really strong intention, conduct an action towards that intention and then surrender and that’s a point where the universe conspires to make things happen because you’re so one with everything,” she shares. “It is intentional, but it also isn’t. You’re basically in your flow, you become one with that action, but you’re not calculating the outcome anymore.”

Are you missing the plot?

It’s easy for a ritual such as manifestation to make you indolent and delusional to an extent in the early stages of your association with it; you could unconsciously coax yourself into believing that simply manifesting something continuously could help you achieve it. However, that’s far from reality and may actually act as an obstruction. “One common misunderstanding about manifesting is the belief that it is a purely passive process, where you can simply wish for something and it will magically appear without any effort or action on your part. You can’t manifest good marks, for instance, you have to work for that,” says Gupta.

Along the same lines, Bhatia opines that people attach too much stress to their manifesting journey whereas you are supposed to enjoy the process instead. “You can’t stress out and keep timing your dreams. You need to have unparalleled faith that once you have put out your intention/desire to the universe, it will make it come true for you. It’ll happen in the best possible way at the best possible time. When you stress about things you want to achieve, you put out energies and frequencies of confusion because that’s not how the universe thinks you’d feel if your desires come true and most times that is why you end up delaying the process further for yourself.”

Can manifestation come with a side of toxic positivity?

Emma Halley, a spiritual wellness coach told Healthline, “There’s a massive culture of toxic positivity that has arisen as a result of the law of attraction trend. Some people have simplified the method to just forcing a positive mindset in any and all situations in order to manifest.” Getting emotionally and spiritually associated with the act of manifesting in a deeper sense and placing heavy bets on the power of manifestation can lead you to gaslighting yourself, leaving you with a perpetual crusade to feel motivated, happy and empowered, which is practically infeasible to a great extent.  

“Toxic positivity is the assumption, either by one’s self or others, that despite a person’s emotional pain or difficult situation, they should only have a positive mindset or—my pet peeve term—‘positive vibes’,” Dr Jaime Zuckerman, a clinical psychologist in Pennsylvania told Healthline. The ‘Lucky Girl Syndrome’ (manifestation that thrives purely on luck) that was trending on Instagram and TikTok in the recent past is just one example of toxic positivity. While telling yourself “whatever happens, happens for good” can be uplifting at times, disregarding what’s actually happening in your life by shoving it under such statements may not be most productive for your holistic well-being.

Is there a right way to manifest?

“Manifestation is not about wishful thinking alone; it involves goal-setting in many ways. It requires a combination of focused thoughts, emotions and aligned actions to create meaningful change,” says Gupta. Isha Punjabi, founder of Vishh, a company that sources Indian crafts directly from the artisans, has been manifesting even before she knew what that practice actually entailed. “I didn’t even know it was called manifestation until it began to trend a few years back. I started writing my goals (personal and professional) down when I was 15, but really put more thought and intention behind them when I turned 18.” 

While journaling her thoughts in her diary has been Punjabi’s go-to way of manifesting, Gupta has relied on vision boards ever since she befriended manifesting.“By creating a visual representation of my goals and desires on a vision board, I reinforce my intentions daily. Even when I can’t see a clear path to reach my goals, I maintain unwavering faith that they are achievable. This positive mindset and focused visualisation help me stay motivated and aligned with the possibilities of the future I wish to create.”

Pandya, on the other hand, completely zones out and enters a “state of manifestation” as she calls it to truly experience the act. “I manifest by getting into a state where I lose all sense of time and space. I lose sense of my current reality—where I live, what my name is. All I feel is just energy so I close my eyes after meditation. And when I’m in the sense, all I feel is flow—you actually feel a vibration and force through me, in every cell of my body, making it come about completely ruining my imagination, and then it just happens.”

Bhatia started manifesting three years ago when she was going through a rough patch in her life. “Call it beginner’s luck or anything, but I saw changes within the first 12 days itself. I started waking up happier, I saw things moving for me, opportunities started pouring in, I saw financial abundance and emotional security and my relationships improved,” shares the numerologist. Explaining her idea of a productive manifestation session, Bhatia says, “The most important thing to remember is to remain in a state of gratitude all the time—it creates energy frequencies that help us manifest greater things faster. I also enjoy manifesting with a group of people and following mindfulness techniques like EFT (emotional freedom technique) tapping, candle therapy, meditations, Feng Shui and vision boarding.”

Punjabi reinstates the significance of following a process which also includes doing the work required to make your goals a living reality. “I have a small diary where I write down (mostly just professional) goals. Sometimes just as a goal and sometimes like it’s already happened—both have worked for me. But, I follow it up with concrete steps and also keep thinking about it all day. It’s not something you can just write and forget; it’s not magic. It takes work. I also visualise (or daydream, as they call it) quite a bit; that helps in putting in the work to actually making things happen.”

The realisation of benefits…

… is almost never immediate with manifesting. “I was extremely lost on the career front and was struggling to make ends meet. Shortly after I started manifesting, I came across tarot cards and started reading them. It gave me a sense of purpose, direction and fulfilment that I had never felt before. After a few months, I started a company that sold kaftans called The Robe Store and Kareena Kapoor Khan became a customer within the first two months,” begins Bhatia, “I have healed some important relationships in my life that used to trigger points for me before. Manifesting has taught me to put the right kind of energy where it matters. I’ve seen great things happen to me and for me, since I started this journey, and that’s what manifesting does for everyone.” 

Pandya is of the opinion that manifesting equips you to become a better version of yourself; you begin to understand where you must and must not channelise your energy. “You learn to deal with the ups and the downs and the joys and the sorrows of life with the same surrender. To me, that has been the biggest benefit,” she concludes.

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