What is Manifestation and Why People Practice It: A Comprehensive Guide

Manifestation is a process in which you turn your dreams and desires into reality using your thoughts, emotions, feelings, and beliefs. It means focusing the energy of your mind on a specific thing to attract it.

In simple terms, manifestation doesn’t mean that you will have this or that. It means living the life you want to reach in your thoughts or dreams. And those things motivate you to move forward.

“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.”

— Theodore Roosevelt

What is Manifestation?

Manifestation is something you want in your life, and you are clear about it, imagining it. When you think about it deep down, you know you can achieve this, and you have positive thoughts that inspire you to take action and work hard to achieve it.

Thoughts can come true if you put in some effort and hard work with belief to achieve the goal that you have. There are various methods for manifestation.

What Manifesting Isn’t

Let me tell you what manifesting isn’t. It is not merely thinking about thoughts and then hoping that they come true. Thoughts become things only when your thoughts inspire you to take the actions to get those things; that’s where manifesting comes in.

Manifesting is preparing your mind, body, and spirit to help you take the actions to get those things. 

Manifesting is like training to get what you want, socializing your mind, preparing your mind, and rehearsing your mind to help you take the steps before you take the steps so that you can get what you want.

Proper Use of Manifesting

When you use manifesting properly, what you do is remove the obstacles of self-doubt, resistance, being cautious, focusing on tiny minutiae, and feeling blank and overwhelmed. 

You remove all that, you retrain your mind, and you retrain your nervous system, and you retrain your spirit to help you get the things that you want in life, and when you manifest properly, what it does is inspire you to take the actions that lead you to what you want.

How Manifestation Works

Some people think manifestation is a mystical woo-woo thing. Tap three times, vibrate for five minutes, and do this and all will come true. you think it’s a mystical manifestation. 

Manifestation is just saying to get something that you want in your life, you manifested it, anything you got in your life you achieved in your life, you manifested it that’s simple that’s how I see it.

If you want to manifest something, you have to start with the foundation, for manifestation is always the present moment, not the future.

Jesus explained it in one sentence: Whenever you pray for something, believe that you have received it, and it will be given to you.

Now, the key is that he did not say believe that you will receive it because that puts it into the future. He said when you pray for something, in other words when you want something, believe that you have received it.

Step-by-Step Manifestation Guide

Manifestation is a kind of process of bringing something into reality with intention, imagination, trust, and positive thinking about it, and taking action towards it.

1. Clarity

clarity is a crucial part of manifestation.  Manifestation starts with setting clear goals, like what I want in my life and what I want to achieve.

This way, you will be clear about what you want to manifest. Manifesting is declaring what you want.

• For example, “I am committed to creating financial freedom in my life.”

Once you declare what you want, manifesting is about taking action and empowering yourself to get it.

2. Visualization

Visualization is the next step after gaining clarity about your goal or what you want to achieve. Imagine yourself that you have achieved that goal, achieved that thing that you want to achieve.

This way, you will feel happy; That thought will inspire you to take action and do hard work to achieve that goal.

Unfortunately, most people don’t use their imagination constructively; Instead, they use their imagination destructively and imagine what they don’t want. We have to consciously and deliberately imagine what we want.

If we sit down with a pen and paper and ask ourselves, “What do I want?” and write it down, then make a written description of it in the present tense, writing causes thinking.

Thinking creates an image, and you get these images going, and you build a vision in your mind.

• Tip: Write your goals in the present tense. This helps create a mental picture of success.

3. Trust and Positive Thinking

Stay positive about your goal; you must have faith in your ability to achieve it. Even if things don’t go exactly as you think, believe that it’s all happening for a reason.

When you let go of wanting things to turn out a certain way, it frees up your energy to do what you need to do.

With a positive attitude and faith in the Universe, we can face challenges and move past fear. We trust that we’re headed in the right direction and that our efforts are bringing us closer to our dreams.

When we mix positive thinking with taking action, amazing things can happen. Trusting the process is a big part of making our dreams come true and reaching our full potential.

• Mindset: “I believe that everything happens for a reason, and I am on the right path.”

4. Energy and Vibration

Everything in the universe has a vibrational frequency, every thought, emotion, and object. 

We’re spiritual beings; spirit flows to and through us and will do anything for us, whatever we ask; it will give us, and we’re asking in thoughts.

So what we want to do is take a look at what we have been thinking, and take a look at your results. You’ll know what you are thinking; that’s how you can tell the frequency you’re on.

Frequency is vibration, and vibration is feeling. When you feel bad, what you’re saying is, “I’m not in a good mood.” Conscious awareness of vibration is referred to as feelings.

So, I think the way to understand the frequency and the vibrations you are operating on is by the results you are getting.

If you are continually having problems in all areas of your life, you are on the wrong vibration, and we can change it.

If you look at the vibrational frequency chart, it clearly states that you have lower vibrations or negative vibrations.

This means that if you ever feel fear, jealousy, shame, guilt, or any of these negative vibrations, these things will not stop you from manifesting.

This is what people misinterpret; you continue to manifest, but you manifest that low vibration because you’re tuned into that frequency at that time.

Everything you think, everything you speak, everything you script, everything you visualize, everything you act upon — you need to become very intense with those emotions.

You feel them in every cell of your body, and once you become the vibrational frequency of the thing you want to attract, the universe will deliver your parcel in no time.

• Key Insight: Monitor your emotions as they are a reflection of your current vibration.

5. Action

Manifestation isn’t just about clarity, imagination, and staying positive about your goal; it also involves taking inspired action toward your goal.

There should be a lot of opportunities; you should take action and grab those opportunities to achieve your goal.

Too many times, we sit around, we wait, we hope, we dream, we affirm, we pray, and we meditate. We do all that is important; it is part of the process.

But at a certain point, the opportunity shows up, and if you don’t act, you end up sitting without anything.

“The best way to predict your future is to create it.”

— Abraham Lincoln

Clarity + write it down + Visualize + Have faith + Take action

Science  behind manifestation 

Every time I hear the sort of woo statements about the secret or manifesting or intention, all of that captures a fundamental principle of the way that our neurology works, which is that the prefrontal cortex, as a rule-setting but flexible machine tapping into the dopamine system, can adopt new rules for reward release in the brain.

There’s only one reward system; there’s also the serotonin system, but the dopamine system is the major currency of reward. So much so that, for instance, everyone knows that food is rewarding.

We anticipate food; we eat a delicious steak or something, and we feel rewarded.

However, if you are somebody who can attach thoughts such as fasting is good for me, I’m going to do intermittent fasting, or I’m not going to eat those foods, and therefore, I’m going to attach my thinking to the rewards that will come with better health, better aesthetics, etc.

The dopamine system responds. It’s not just a belief in a narrative; it’s a real response. What starts to happen is that people start to enjoy the foods that they are restricting themselves to more.

There are beautiful data on this from the laboratory at Stanford: if you believe a food is nutritious and good for you, it has a better impact on your physiology. Of course, there are rules of physiology and nutrition that still apply.

You can’t tell yourself that the garbage is good for us, but there’s a significant scaling up of the positive response that’s associated with dopamine and hormonal cascades. Similarly, if one adopts a sort of Carol Dweck’s growth mindset approach.

It’s not about receiving the reward; the more strain I feel, the more effort I put in, and the closer I’m getting to my goal. Over time, this will become a rewarding state. Even though it’s important to have higher and lofty goals, the dopamine system is incredible because it is depletable, yet renewable and self-amplifying.

What I mean by that is, let’s say that I’m somebody who doesn’t know what I’m working toward; I don’t have a specific goal or question. By completing even what seemed like menial tasks, such as making myself a cup of coffee, drinking it, cleaning up, completely drying the cup, and putting it back in the cupboard.

What happens is that even if you make that seemingly trivial goal—the goal, in addition to making the kitchen look nicer—completes a circuit.

It closes the dopaminergic circuit, and when dopamine is released, it will be, maybe not to the same extent as publishing a novel, but to some extent, dopamine amplifies our ability to think into the future, to make additional plans that are unrelated to what you just did, and it increases confidence and energy.

Why? Well, for the following reason: we all think about caloric energy, but most people are never taught. And if I had 10 things I could teach people, one of them would be about adrenaline and epinephrine.

They are neural energy; it’s your ability to get up and go. It’s the thing that makes you jittery when you’re a little nervous, but it’s also what allows you to move forward, to go out for a run, to pursue any goal, cognitive or physical, etc.

Epinephrine, which is also adrenaline, and those are the same thing, is literally manufactured from the molecule dopamine.

If you look at the biochemical cascade, it is dopamine that is converted into adrenaline, which is the basis of all energy, all neural energy — including thinking.

If one is not in a place of being able to set their goal on a particular lofty goal, such as a graduate degree, a book, etc., yet, the way one gets to that is by completing things in their immediate environment.

Completion of even trivial tasks like putting away a cup will give you more dopamine, which would give you more adrenaline.

In this analogy, whether one finds themselves back on their heels, flat-footed, or forward with their center of mass, regardless of their starting point, let’s say, when feeling depressed, being back on one’s heels can tilt you forward a little bit.

And that’s a question of what you think of and what you do with it. Therefore, cognitive appraisal is critical because the prefrontal cortex plays a crucial role in establishing which of these loops gets repeated.

The cognitive appraisal is critical. I’m somebody who can get things done, even if they’re small.

Is manifestation real?

The concept of manifestation is subjective and can vary depending on individual beliefs and perspectives.

For some people, manifestation is a process through which we can achieve goals by harnessing positivity, faith, intention, and imagination.

When one is clear about their goal and imagines that they have already achieved it, while maintaining faith in its realization, it inspires them to take action toward achieving those goals.

Others may view it as a psychological phenomenon, where the belief in achieving a goal and maintaining positive thoughts can lead to increased motivation, ultimately resulting in the desired outcome.

Why People Practice Manifestation

People practice manifestation to:

• Achieve personal and professional goals
• Develop a positive mindset
• Overcome self-doubt and limiting beliefs
• Feel more in control of their destiny
• Experience greater clarity and focus

Common Mistakes in Manifestation

1. Lack of Clarity

Vague goals lead to vague results. Be specific about what you want to manifest.

2. Focusing on Negative Thoughts

Many people unintentionally manifest negative outcomes by focusing on what they don’t want instead of what they do want.

3. Not Taking Action

Visualization and positive thinking are only half the battle. Action is a crucial component of manifestation.

4. Obsessing Over Instant Results

Patience is key. Obsessing over immediate outcomes creates resistance, which can block your progress.

How to Manifest Correctly

This manifestation depends on the assumptions and beliefs we make. So, the sooner one impresses these assumptions on their subconscious mind, the sooner their work will be done. 

Once you have impressed your subconscious mind, no one can stop you from achieving your goals. It must be a manifesto. We may think we consciously control most of our actions, but in reality, it is our subconscious mind that guides us.

That’s why the subconscious mind plays a significant role in our lives. Whatever methods we use – affirmations, scripting, visualization – are simply meant to program the subconscious mind and nothing else.

The easier, more effortless, and natural you make this process, the sooner you attain it. The sooner our subconscious mind attracts things.

You should understand it like this: when we remember a very beautiful memory in the present, how we feel is very natural because it leaves a deep impression on our subconscious mind, bringing all the related emotions into the present. 

Its impact is powerful. Your manifestation should be as easy and natural as a memory – it has happened, it is my reality.

Making it easy means there is no resistance. When there is no resistance, things manifest quickly. Faith also plays a significant role in your manifestation; only those who trust this process will be able to manifest. 

However, a common mistake people make is starting but abandoning it midway. Why? Because of excessive obsession, desiring instant results. Your obsession creates resistance, preventing manifestation.

When transitioning from an old belief system to a new one, it takes time, and that’s okay. Trust the process, do not give up.

Shift your focus repeatedly from old beliefs like “I am undeserving, unimportant, unworthy” to new beliefs like “I am important, worthy, deserving of all happiness.”

It may take time to shift, depending on the strength of your conditioning. But once you pass this transition period, you will see everything happening automatically for you.

Manifest Your Dreams Quote:

“Ask for what you want and be prepared to get it.”

— Maya Angelou

“Your whole life is a manifestation of the thoughts that go on in your head.”

— Lisa Nichols

“Dream big, start small, act now.”

— Robin Sharma

“What we think, we become.”

— Buddha

Olivia

My goal with this blog is to share my knowledge and experience with manifestation to inspire people on their own path to personal growth. Here, you’ll find practical tips, methods, and how-tos—all aimed at helping you harness the incredible power of manifestation in your life.