Ooops! Did I just manifest this?

What is manifestation and where did it come from?

Jazmin anderson STAFF WRITER

What if you were told that you could achieve your wildest dreams just by pretending you already accomplished them? The act of manifestation is built upon this core belief.

Manifestation was brought into mainstream media by Rhonda Byrne in 2006 when she published her bestselling book, The Secret. The basic idea is that positive thoughts attract positive things to happen and the best way of attracting something is by asking for it, believing in it, and, in the end, either forgetting that you ever asked for it, or acting as if you already have what you wanted.

Almost a decade after the book was published, its lessons resurfaced on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic. On TikTok, there is a large community built around manifesting where creators share their tips. One of these creators is Laura Galebe, who explained the concept of the “Lucky Girl Syndrome,” which is a currently popular manifestation technique, in one of her viral TikTok videos. According to Vox.com, manifesting can be a set of complicated rules or something simple such as repeating positive affirmations in your head depending on personal preference.

Senior Tabytha Deleon shared some of the methods she uses to manifest.

“I like saying it in my head, or doing a little thing in the morning in the mirror, like reaffirming it to myself in the mirror before I do something; so if I want a performance to go well, I’ll talk about that,” said Deleon.

Just like the methods for manifesting, what one can manifest also varies. It can be something massive or something that is quite little. However, a question that many might struggle with is how to get started.

Senior Cooper Lee had some advice for beginners on the topic.

“I definitely think reinforcing in your mind is easy. It’s just an easy thing you could do like really quick, but I think just telling yourself that it’s going to happen. I think it just subconsciously makes you make decisions that will cause it to happen,” said Lee.

Surprisingly, the actual activities associated with manifesting come easily and naturally to most people. What the majority finds trouble with however, is letting go and living in the end result part of the process. The concept of doing the two things at the same time can cause a bit of confusion.

The idea is that one has to first imagine what they would be doing and what kind of traits and skills they would have if they already had the things they wanted. Then, they have to incorporate some of those activities on a smaller scale and start developing those traits and skills.

While working on those things, many even forget about their original purpose because they enjoy the process so much.

Forgetting about the original purpose of one’s actions works out well, because constantly thinking about what one wants makes it seem like they don’t actually have that thing.

While many believe in manifestation and practice it regularly, there are also those who are skeptical about it.

Deleon and Lee both offered their thoughts for those who are questioning whether manifestation is legit or not.

“I think whether it works or not, believing that it does for you, I think it helps your mindset,” Lee said. Deleon went on to share her view.

“If you want to believe in it, you’ll look into it and then you’ll just learn if it is for you, but regardless, people are going to see a bad side in manifestation. Some people believe if you want something you gotta get something bad out of the universe back. Like, you gotta give something up to get it. I think you just really have to stop believing in the false media and like the general perspective,” Deleon said.

Manifestation of one’s goals can be started whenever a person is open to it.

Junior Miles Chamberlain spoke not only about manifesting, but the impact of believing in your goals.

“I think that if you don’t believe in it [manifesting] spiritually, then it can just help drive you to your goals. If you do, then you can believe in the spirituality of manifestation. People don’t realize they’re doing it when they’re doing it,” said Chamberlain.