To ask if you believe in manifestation?

[Thewal]

I watched ‘The Secret’ today. It seemed to be mostly waffle with some random quotes thrown in, but from what I can gather it suggests that positive thinking and asking for things from the universe is what leads to ‘success’ and essentially getting what you want.

So I’d love to hear if you have ever manifested something into reality? How did you do it and how long did it take? Do you believe in it? And does the banishing of negative thoughts ever stress you out?

I just want to know what day to day life is like for people who practice this and if people have actually had something happen they put down to it?

It's just the power of prayer rebranded.

So no. I don't believe in it. Anything that comes to be that I've wished for is coincidental.

@themothergoose

I most certainly do not do those things-

I don’t need to have a life plan on a grand scale (beyond the day to day stuff)- I enjoy just seeing what life turns up.

I have never uttered a single affirmation- they are so unnecessary as to be meaningless.

I don’t push myself to ‘achieve’ things every day- there is no need, I’m grand as I am.

I don’t engage in toxic positivity, congratulate myself if I meet nice people or blame myself if I happen to meet some dickheads. I don’t have any issue with having some bad/unpositive feeling days- that is the unavoidable human condition. It’s healthy.

The outcome of my life is ongoing, as is everyone’s- you don’t follow this step by step plan to reach an ‘objectively successful life and then stop- that isn’t how the world works.

I’ve got a happy marriage, secure home, happy kid, money in the bank and good friends- I’m also a survivor of SA, chronically ill, and disable- none of it, good or bad is due to any kind of magical thinking or the universe rewarding me or withholding reward.

And if you don’t know that peddling ‘manifestation’ rubbish is a brilliant money spinner for unscrupulous people who take advantage of vulnerable people, then I suggest you go and find out about it before your naïveté becomes painful.

It’s total Confirmation bias.

”manifest” something and it happens? “See it works!”

”manifest” something and it doesn’t happen? Oh well you didn’t manifest hard enough, try harder tomorrow.

Before I'd ever heard of manifestation I'd noticed from a young age that people created their own little world around them. Their own lives, their own worlds reflected them as a person. Obviously there are things that just happen no matter how wonderful you are (cancer, tragedy, infertility etc) but generally I could look at everyone I know and see how they had come to live the lives they were living.
So I can certainly see how manifestation as a result of positive thinking can work.
However, I think some people can take it too far. I have a friend who sees manifestation as her sending out a plee to the universe and the universe responding. There are several things she plans to manifest for herself that just seem impossible to me.

My friend believes in all of that. She believes she manifested her baby by making a mood board and doing affirmations every day and willing it to happen. It was her first pregnancy and everything ran smoothly. At the same time I had just suffered my 5th missed miscarriage and had to listen to her bang on about her stupid little baby collage she did which apparently magicked her a healthy baby.

Of course people create their own worlds to some extent.

That isn’t the result of manifesting, positive thinking or negative thinking- it’s the result of the decisions people have made in the circumstances they exist within.

I met someone who thought this. I was struck by how lazy a thought process it is. Her thinking was that those illnesses were a manifestation of the person’s evil behaviour or something.

Yes I agree but it goes further than just the decisions they make. It relates to their personalities, their outlook on life, how they treat other people etc.

This is largely true even without calling it a manifestation.

That quote about being the average of the 5 people you are around the most and the crabs in a bucket saying.

You hang out with lazy, druggie, slackers the chances of you becoming like that is fairly high.

If you decide you've had enough of the drugs, slacking life and decide to go to school and get a career, you simply won't be able to stay around these people as they'll try to pull you back into the bucket with them or they'll shun you for suddenly being too good for them.

That's just how life and social networks work.

@alwaysmovingforwards .

I just meant that positive people are luckier than average and a lot of things go their way .

No. It's irrational.

It's rubbish. I manifested a pony for 14 years as a child - wished for one, begged for one, tried to negotiate for one... never got one.

Just like how Santa brings the best presents to the kids with rich parents.

Imho, it's an example of confirmation bias. I used to follow 1 lady who was into the loa, till I realised she just tended to gloss over the parts of her life that hadnt gone to plan and only focused on the good bits "the universe" had given her.

Some people feel a need for control and have trouble accepting the random, sometimes cruel nature of life. It helps them to feel that they can believe in something that might give them the power to change things.

I think this kind of thinking is very pervasive, but can be quite harsh. As someone with infertility, I read a recent thread where a woman was struggling to get pregnant and was having issues with her partner. Cue loads of "the universe is trying to tell you something" and "you haven't got pregnant because the universe doesn't want you to have a baby with this man."

As if the universe is some kind of moral contraceptive force withholding pregnancy till you're in the "right" relationship. If that were true, there would be no divorced/ separated parents. But people ignore this logic in favour of their bias.

No-one on the thread batted an eyelid at these comments. Which is why I think this kind of thinking is more pervasive than a lot of ppl realise. I also remember a recent poster with cancer asking people not to comment that unkind people getting cancer was "karma" which she'd seen on a couple of recent threads. 😞

No, because given the logic of manifestation they wouldn’t will for such things to happen to them. They wouldn’t for example create a dream board (or whatever it’s called) that included the death of their parents.

But when the doctor says 'you have cancer' wouldn't they 'will' themselves to be well?

But loads of people believe in ‘karma’, is t that just the same thought process?

Manifestation doesn't work like that though.
If you are "begging and pleading" then it is seen as a lack. Which in turn can create more lack.
In order for something to manifest you have to imagine that you already have it.
This isn't necessarily "woo" as it enables more positive outcomes from your actions.

So if I go round acting like I'm married to Henry Cavill I will in fact end up married to Henry Cavill?

In your dreams maybe!

But surely if I imagined I already had say, lots of money, then I would spend like I did and be in a lot of trouble? Or if I imagined that I had my dream job and just rocked up there, I would never get it? Or moved into my dream house that I didn’t own and was already occupied? You can’t act like you have something you don’t have in the real world?

It's not quite as simplistic as that!
I'd suggest reading some literature on the subject as it's a large topic to cover.
I believe I have manifested stuff. Now that's not to say that there is a little voice inside my head calling out manifestation as bollocks!
What's the harm though? And I'm enjoying the process whilst having a comfortable life. 😊

But that's how you're describing it. If you decide it's happening for you and you live like it's true then by default I (and every woman alive) is currently married to Henry Cavill...

I think there's something in it, in that it helps you focus on your goal - not in a magical way though.

BUT I hate the way everyone involved in this talks about 'abundance' like it's just a code word for rich but it's not spiritual enough to ask for money so you have to rephrase it. It drives me mad!

Try it. Then invite us all to the wedding.

However that does beg the question as to what happens if we all start trying to manifest him.

I sincerely hope that none of you bitches is trying to manifest Keanu Reeves.