Psychologist and neuroscientist Dr Sabina Brennan separates the myths from the science of manifesting a better life. Listen back above.
Does 'manifesting' really work, or is it delusional to think that visualising your life goals can make them happen? According to neuroscientist and psychologist Dr Sabina Brennan, it’s a bit from column A and a bit from column B.
Brennan has been speaking to Oliver Callan about her new book, The Neuroscience of Manifesting and explaining how some manifesting practices are based on sound science, while others are not – and how to tell the difference.
Self-help techniques like manifesting and visualisation are often dismissed as "woo" or pseudo-science by scientists and academics. This reputation is sometimes deserved, Brennan says, and there are versions of manifesting and visualisation that can over-promise:
"One of the biggest misconceptions is that manifesting is wishful thinking; where you just visualise what you want and then sit back and wait for it to happen."
A more active approach can yield results, Brennan says. Many athletes prepare for competitions by visualising themselves performing with skill, speed and perfect accuracy. Brenna says this mental effort stimulates the same part of the brain as practicing, say, your golf swing. When matched with intense physical training, the mental training can pay dividends.
Likewise, manifesting shares some traits with cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). In fact, Brennan says, they are not that far apart:
"The idea with CBT is that your thoughts and your perceptions influence your behaviour and your reality. And fundamentally, that’s what manifesting says, is that if you consciously control your thinking and your acting, you can influence your reality and your future."
Brennan says that so much of our behaviour is unconscious – we are led by instincts wired into the brain. These are primed to recognise negative stimuli - as a survival mechanism:
"We are already primed to the negative, because negative things could be dangerous."
Techniques like CBT and manifesting can consciously introduce positive thought patterns, which gradually influence how we see the world and help us focus on what we are trying to achieve:
"If you have clarity about what you want in life; what goal you want to manifest, you’re giving your brain a very clear message that this is what is important and relevant to me."
The brain is bombarded with more messages from the environment than it can process, so it has to filter many of them out. By manifesting a particular outcome, you help to tweak the filter in favour of your goal, Brennan says:
"So your brain has a clear message now, what to filter in. Essentially it activates the salience network in your brain."
Brennan gave an example from her own life - her husband suggested they buy a particular brand of car. Over the next few days, she spotted that same make and model everywhere she looked. Brennan's new focus on the brand of car didn’t make the cars appear; thinking about it had changed the filter in her brain so she noticed that kind of car more often.
There are three steps to a successful visualisation, according to Brennan:
1. Think clearly – Is this job/car/house/handbag really what you want? Why do you want it?
2. Imagine the steps you need to take to achieve it.
3. Follow the plan of action you have visualised.
Clarity of thought is an essential part of the process, Brennan says. Driving a Porsche may seem like a great idea, but is it really what you want? Sometimes the visualisation process can save you from goals that don’t align with who you really are, Brennan says:
"Really manifesting is all about values. Because if you strip away all those things and keep ‘Why do you want that?’; ultimately, you come to the answer: ‘Because I want to be happy,’ and you think that’s going to make you happy."
The manifesting that's likely to work is active, not passive; and it’s grounded in reality. It's the opposite of sitting back and hoping everything will just come to you if you think long and hard enough about it:
"We have to develop discipline and focused attention and that’s hard. So manifesting is not easy. It’s not sitting back. It’s hard work That focussed attention is what brings things into your life, not attraction."
Dr Brennan talks more about the importance of self-compassion in manifesting good outcomes for your life in the full interview. Listen back above.
The Neuroscience of Manifesting by Dr Sabina Brennan is out now, published by Orion Spring
