The human brain has been evolving for centuries, making the mind the most powerful asset of our species. Beyond just mental cognition, the brain is strong in the sense that it can make us believe in things that haven’t come true yet. Think about the “fake it til you make it” mindset and how people believe that acting like you can do something can lead to your ability to do it. This very mindset is why people say that just believing you can do something is half the battle itself. 

In some spiritual communities, this mindset is linked to manifesting—a process of visualizing what you want in order to make it become a reality. The law of attraction, widely known as the belief that positive or negative thoughts bring positive or negative experiences into a person's life, is another philosophical system people refer to when trying to bring certain energies into their lives. When people manifest, it can often become part of their daily meditation. They sit down to clear their mind, only thinking about an image or feeling of what they want from their day. By visualizing these desires, then affirming and recognizing them as real, they can bring their desires to fruition through manifesting. 

This may all sound a bit too magical, but there are real psychological links to manifestation. Sometimes, believing in something really does make it happen—but not all on its own. According to Norman Vincent Peale’s book The Power of Positive Thinking, assuming control over your reality works because a person’s confidence in their abilities is strengthened by an internal belief that they can achieve a goal. If someone wants to finish a project by a deadline, putting mindful energy toward that intention and taking time to visualize and recognize it as feasible will already begin the process that leads to success. Now, as the person begins to work toward their goal, they’ll have more confidence that it will be completed. Therefore, when the project is finished in time, the manifesting will have worked and intention will be reality. 

Laura Justen, a local small business owner in Boston and self-described witch, manifests daily. She manifests to help her business of selling handmade jewelry and candles, and also to achieve personal goals. Manifesting works for her because having faith that something can happen makes it into a realistic goal in her mind. For skeptics of manifesting, Justen explains that there’s a level of the placebo effect to it. “It comes from the intention of saying ‘I am doing this thing for this reason, and so it shall be.’ It’s all about having confidence in yourself, which can be really hard sometimes.” 

This ties into the “fake it til you make it” mentality. The psychology behind this mindset is the same as the psychology behind manifesting, both being drawn from a root of confidence and action toward an intention. When manifesting a good day, or a positive interaction with someone, keeping the very thought of that in your mind will still have an effect. Saying “I will have a good day” already gives you a more positive outlook.

“When I first heard about manifestation I was a bit skeptical,” says Patty Tamayo, a freshman political communications student at Emerson College. “I had heard about the law of attraction, but I still was unconvinced because I’ve thought of things I want before and haven’t gotten them. Then I heard the best way to manifest is to think about one thing you really want, and then realize that what you want is the feeling you’re going to get from that thing. Don’t get too attached to a certain outcome. That’s how I’ve done it and it’s worked.” 

Tamayo gives the example of wanting a million dollars. She says to think about how getting a million dollars feels, focusing on being economically stable and able to buy anything. Instead of saying ‘I want a million dollars,’ focus on the feeling of stability and confidence that a million dollars brings. 

Tamayo says she used manifestation to get housing at Emerson. As an international student who was accepted into the college later than most of her peers, she didn’t know if she would have on-campus housing. Though this was distressing, Tamayo believed she would get whatever was best for her, and the next day she got an email saying she was placed in a dorm.

“The Universe doesn’t want you to be so attached to a certain thing,” Tamayo says. “It just wants you to flow with it, but using your feelings and general concepts about what you want can make it bring you good things.”