Why Manifesting Can Work Here’s the science behind it

If you can imagine what you want, do you believe that the Universe will eventually give it to you? Well, James R. Doty, MD, a neurosurgeon and founder and director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford University, believes in the power of manifestation as evidenced by the title of his recently published book, The Magic of the Mind: The Neuroscience of Manifestation and How It Changes Everything. Manifesting is when you make your dreams and goals a reality by first presenting them and believing that you can achieve them. But in the book, Doty wrote something that might sound discouraging at first: The universe doesn’t give a damn about you.

Now, Doty is not the official spokesperson for the Universe. So what the Universe actually thinks of you may be up for debate. But Doty’s point is that manifestation is not about waiting for some kind of being or force to give you what you want. In one conversation, he pointed out to me, “While manifestation has been associated with Woo Woo and pseudoscience, there is science behind manifestation.” Doty added: “So many people give their free rein to the external things they produce.” Instead, he said, “Faith can actually change things. The most powerful is the power you need to change things.”

He gave the example of “value tagging,” which allows your brain to better rank all the things you see every day. Think about how many things go in and out of your brain every minute, hour, and day. There is no way your brain can treat all these things with equal value. For example, when you’re crossing a street, your brain’s first priority is probably not knowing the names of all the competitors on the road. Bachelor. Instead, you should notice the big truck hitting you.

Therefore, your brain must have filters in place to determine what deserves your attention at any given moment. Your brain can actually label those things deemed worthy of your awareness, while letting the less important things flow by unnoticed. So if you tell your brain what you want—what you really want, in the words of the Spice Girls—your brain can then label any information that’s relevant in any way as valuable. This means that you consciously and unconsciously label or assign a higher value to that information.

Say, for example, you’ve already imagined yourself to be the world’s best fruitcake baker one day. Well, your brain may end up labeling anything that matches this vision so that it is more visible. So you may be more likely to see someone at a party who may ostensibly be a lawyer but actually have a passion for fruitcake or engage in a conversation about what to do with 14,325 bags of spare flour. These in turn can lead to, shall we say, very fruitful opportunities that others might have missed and later in retrospect make it seem like it was easy as pie to realize your vision.

Doty described it as being like a bloodhound, how if you know what you want, you and your senses can cut through the noise around you and find the right parts. “We are who we are because of the sensory input we receive,” he said. “We’re only able to process about 50 to 100 things at a time. Labeling value is the ability to put your intentions into your subconscious and create the synchronicity that then allows you to have the greatest likelihood of manifesting something.”

Then there is the power of faith itself. The whole placebo effect shows that believing in something can change your physiology. So maybe believing in a vision of the future can help you work a lot harder, get you through the pain of overcoming obstacles, improve your senses and thinking, and generally change you into a person who has more likely to fulfill that vision. Doty talked about how Tibetan monks have been able to modulate their feelings and how magnetic resonance imaging has shown changes in metabolism when people change their thinking.

Doty cautioned that it can matter what exactly you’re after. Pursuing a selfish vision that is all about you may not be the same as pursuing a vision that benefits many more people. He shared details of his past, which began with him growing up without much material. He then progressed to become a neurosurgeon and eventually became part of the whole dot.com boom and bust of the late 1990s in Silicon Valley. “The narrative is that if you succeed, that equates to happiness,” Doty explained. “Before, I had no awareness and knowledge. Before I lost millions in the dot.com crash, I had everything, a Ferrari, a Porsche, a BMW, flying in private jets, all my friends telling me how wonderful my life was.” However, he added: “I realized I was focusing on the wrong things. It was to do things that filled my ego and not to be of service.”

He eventually realized that this was a false story. Instead of seeking external affirmation and validation, it was more important to be of service and establish meaningful relationships. “If it’s all about you, you’re not going to be happy,” he said.

Doty suggested that if your future vision is more altruistic, more helpful to others, then you may have a better chance of achieving it. He noted all the positive physiological effects of taking a more generous and giving approach to life such as the release of oxytocin, activation of the parasympathetic nervous system, lower blood pressure, increased immune system and lower stress output. hormones. All of these can help you function more optimally and thus, sound, sound, sound, better achieve what you want to achieve. “When you look at the world through a different lens, it can be quite powerful,” Doty said.

Plus, when it’s not just about you, others can more easily step in to help you achieve your vision. After all, if you say, “I want to be really rich and live in that nice apartment over there,” how many people are going to say, “OK, whatever you want, you’ll help me?” Contrast that with you saying, “Here’s how I want to make the world better.” The latter will probably get a lot more takers to help you out afterwards.

In the end, unless the Universe has some kind of press conference or writes a memoir, no one will know exactly what the Universe wants and thinks about you. But if you’re self-centered, you can be pretty sure what others will think of you.