“Manifesting”

It is important to know that we are “manifesting” all the time. Every thought and prolonged emotional state we experience, and we are anchored to, affects our reality in some way. 

The formula for manifesting what you actually want is: 

ASK + ALIGN + ALLOW + ACCEPT

The whole point of this blog post is to explore how we can affect our reality, how we can “manifest” better outcomes in our lives, and how we can live more grounded and well rounded lives. 

In the coming moments, as you read this post, I’ll take you on a short trip where we’ll touch base on the neuroscience behind manifesting, and the metaphysical research behind it too. Then I’ll give a short explanation of the above formula, and I hope you can use it to your advantage. 

Now, there are Universal Laws that govern us all, and the ones that are commonly referred to in regards to manifesting are these: 

The Law of Attraction, that states that like attracts like. Your dominant thoughts, emotions, and beliefs magnetise matching physical realities into your life.

The Law of Vibration, that states that everything in the universe is energy vibrating as specific frequencies. Your internal state determines your vibrational frequency, which then matches with external experiences.

The Law of Cause and Effect, which means that Your thoughts and actions are the causes that naturally produce your physical circumstances as the effects.

Let’s get scientific here for a moment. There is no direct scientific evidence that validates these above-mentioned Universal Laws as literal mechanisms for manipulating our reality, and manifesting our desires into reality. Unfortunately, mainstream science widely considers the Law of Attraction and its counterparts to be pseudoscience. 

However, manifestation looks much more credible when we translate its mystical vocabulary into established neuroscience and psychology. We can “woo-woo”, so to speak, without being “off with the fairies”. 

Blending our spiritual mindset, using the Universal Laws as guiding tools, and engaging with concrete protocols of neuroscience creates a highly effective strategy for personal growth.

The Universal Laws provide the overarching intention and vision, while neuroplasticity supplies the actual mechanics to build the physical neural pathways that drive change.

While it is the status quo in mainstream science that thoughts do not emit magical magnetic waves that rewrite physics, our mind radically reshapes our personal reality through documented biological processes. 

It is good to understand that research into the frequency of thoughts and emotional states is divided into two entirely separate domains. One is peer-reviewed neuroscience which measures actual electrical brain waves. The other one is metaphysical or alternative research, which assigns symbolic or holistic frequency values to emotions. 

And it is important to understand this, because it gives a more complete picture of where we are at in our understanding as human beings in regards to the frequency or vibration of our thoughts and emotional states. 

So, let’s take a quick look at the first approach to this, the peer-reviewed neuroscience or brainwave oscillation, also known as neural oscillations. This refers to the rhythmic, repetitive patterns of electrical activity generated by the central nervous system, which originates from the synchronous firing of large groups of neurons communicating with each other; these electrical charges coordinate information transfer across different brain regions. 

In peer-reviewed neuroscience, thoughts and emotions are measured using Electroencephalography, commonly known as EEG. The electrical signals between large groups of  neurons are called brainwaves, and they are  measured in Hertz. 

What science has proven is that our brain shifts electrical frequency based on our cognitive and emotional states. 

Now, let’s take a look at the other side of the coin, the metaphysical and alternative research side, because in the spiritual and manifestation community, "frequency" does not refer to EEG brainwaves, instead, it refers to an energetic or consciousness scale. 

And since I am very much in awe of David R. Hawkins, who spent over 20 years using applied kinesiology (muscle-testing responses) to calibrate the energy fields of various human emotions, and talked about his findings, in detail, in his book Power vs. Force. 

I’ll use his extensive research as a reference again. I have done so in the past, as I’ve recorded a short exploration into “Living In Our Own Personal “Heaven” or “Hell” where I used the emotional spiral as a reference. The emotional spiral is based on Dr. Hawkins’ work. 

Next, let’s take a look at the real neuroscience behind manifestation.

What spiritual practices call "manifesting," neuroscience and psychology explains through a few primary mechanisms:

• The Reticular Activating System or RAS 

Now, the RAS is a network of neurons in our brainstem acting as a gatekeeper for information. Our brain is bombarded with millions of bits of data every second and the Reticular Activating System filters out what it deems useless and highlights what we focus on. So, our RAS will suddenly alert us to opportunities, resources, or connections that were always there, but previously ignored.

• Neuroplasticity. 

We understand that the brain is malleable, and by deliberately repeating positive affirmations, using mental rehearsal, and gratitude practices we can physically rewire our neural pathways.

Basically, if we expect bad things to happen, our brain actively seeks out evidence to prove us right. Our  actions primed by our mental processes therefore create our reality. 

And then there is: 

• Confirmation Bias, Self-Fulfilling Prophecies, The Placebo effect and expectancy 

We know that the placebo effect demonstrates that a strong belief in an outcome can cause real physiological and psychological changes. This applied to manifestation, believing a goal is inevitable can lower our "risk aversion," making us more likely to take the required action steps to achieve it. 

In short, while the Universal Laws aren't scientific facts, the mindset they encourage often works because it aligns our internal focus with our external actions and expectations. 

Now, with all that said, let’s get back to the formula, the key to manifesting what you actually want. 

ASK - Ask yourself a couple of important questions, like: What do I really want? What do I want to achieve? What do I want to have/experience? Who do I want to become? 

Journaling prompts are helpful in this process. A goals “dumping list” is also great, so you can get specific with your goals later, then make an action plan. It is also important to know that sometimes we get in our way, so to speak, and before we can get to our real desires we need to “bridge the gap” between an old belief about attaining something we want and the new belief that supports that goal, but more on that later, in another blog post.

ALIGN - We must make sure that our internal processes are in alignment with the goal we wish to achieve, with the reality we wish to manifest. And in essence this part of the formula is very much about our practices and our habits. We must align ourselves. 

ALLOW - We have to let go of the need of wanting to control every outcome. The only thing we can have control over is ourselves. So our focus must be on establishing habits and systems, and sticking to them. Control over our processes, our thoughts, feelings, and behaviour is our focus. Priming ourselves to the fact that a positive outcome is inevitable, and letting everything else unfold for us is how we “allow”. Our reality will change, people around us might change as well, some might go to be replaced with a new connection, and so on. 

ACCEPT - We can only receive fully if we can accept all of the wonderful things we are working towards. If we have mental and emotional blockages and we cannot receive them then it makes the process slower and less effective. Growing in our capacity to anticipate and accept the best possible outcomes is a vital part of the formula. 

It is as simple as that. We are fully capable of manifesting wonderful results and outcomes in our lives. But it is a process, and it takes work. There is no silver bullet solution to manifesting quickly and effortlessly.  And just how much work is required for us to achieve our goals and manifest wonderful things for ourselves will be different for each of us. But it is possible.

We have neuroscience and psychology to back that. We have metaphysical and alternative research to back that. We have a variety of tools to help us along the way. “Manifesting” isn’t magic, we are doing it all the time. And if we aren’t happy with the results of the outcome of our so-called "manifestation" perhaps we should take a good look at our internal processes and our formula for manifesting. 

I hope this clears up a few things and that you find some peace and empowerment in my words. 

Personally, I do believe in miracles and unexpected positive turns, I believe in the concept of Deus ex machina, where an unsolvable conflict or crisis is suddenly resolved by an unexpected or unlikely occurrence. Absolutely. 

I also believe that we should always leave room for “magic” to happen. 

But I firmly believe that our actions and internal processes pave the way, and unless something is faithed in our lives we are responsible for the outcomes. That we can indeed affect our own lives in a positive, sustainable and impactful way.