Can You Manifest a Dream Into a Reality?

Could the secret to success be as simple as buying a necklace?

Four years ago, I met up with friends for dinner. Through the course of natural conversation, one of my friends from Los Angeles mentioned that she was wearing a necklace with the initial of her dream book on it to “manifest” the writing and publication of said book. She hoped that the act of treating the book as if it already existed as a treasured object would help it come into being. My first reaction as a trained mental health professional? To balk at this.

But by that time next year, she had written, edited, and published that book. And me? I’ve come around on manifestation. At first glance, manifestation seems like something for only a certain type of social media influencer- a young, carefree, creative type with a green juice in hand. However, years of working in the mental health field and using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with countless clients have shown me that these two might be closer than I initially thought.

What is Manifestation?

According to well-known speaker, Gabby Bernstein, manifestation is “cultivating the experience of what it is that you want to feel — and then living and believing in that experience so that you can allow it to come into form”. This can look different ways for different people, such as: it can be a physical item (like the necklace I encountered before), it can be a prayer, a visualization, a dream board, or a journaling practice. The idea essentially boils down to: you put energy into your goal in some form and, over time, that energy brings the desired outcome into existence.

What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is an extensively researched and utilized form of talk therapy. CBT has shown to be effective in treating anxiety disorders, eating disorders, anger management problems, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorders, addictions, and more. CBT is based on the core principle that our problems are based on unhelpful ways of thinking and behaving. The easiest way to understand CBT is to look at the CBT Triangle:

CBT essentially states that our thoughts can create our reality. For example, let’s take a turn around the triangle: let’s say there’s a client, Kayla, who wants to improve her mental and physical health by walking 30 minutes a day. Kayla thinks to herself “I will never be able to walk 30 minutes a day!”. She then identifies that this thought makes her feel discouraged, frustrated, sad, disappointed, and embarrassed. To handle these uncomfortable feelings, her behavior might then be: to avoid going on walks, to turn to unhelpful coping skills (i.e. spending hours scrolling social media), or to snap at her coworker. Therapists use CBT to work within this model to restructure the way a person thinks, feels, and behaves over time. Change the thought, change the behavior.

The Connection Between Manifestation and CBT

After looking closely at both of these techniques, CBT and manifestation are both based on the principle that our thoughts can create our reality. Manifestation is a tool touted for bringing what you want into existence. CBT is a therapeutic tool used to help someone reframe the way they look at and move in the world to have a more authentic, psychologically healthy lived experience. Like CBT, manifestation focuses on regular practices to increase helpful thoughts towards a goal- whether that goal is to take something away (i.e. “I want to feel less anxious”) or to add something (i.e. “I want to build a family”). Whether intentional or not, manifestation and CBT draw on a lot of the same psychological principles

Of course there are some differences: my graduate school program certainly did not recommend manifestation for people experiencing mental illness. There are some problems that require professional help beyond what you can do at home: trauma, mental illness that severely impacts daily living, and addictive behaviors (be it food or alcohol). But for simpler life change goals like walking more, building a family, starting a blog, or de-stressing? Manifestation and its practices could help. Both CBT and manifestation rely on tools like journaling, mindfulness, and support from others to create lasting change in someone’s life.

So my apologies to that writer from Los Angeles- she was on to something. You don’t need to drink celery juice to bring about lasting change, but a totem to remind you to go after your goals? It might just work after all.

#Manifestation #MentalHealth #CBT #helpfulthoughts

Works Cited

1. Bernstein, Gabby, et al. “The Do's and Don'ts of Manifesting: What Is Manifesting (and What Isn't?).” Gabby Bernstein, 13 July 2020, gabbybernstein.com/dos-donts-manifesting/

2. “Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.” InformedHealth.org [Internet]., U.S. National Library of Medicine, 8 Sept. 2016, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK279297/.

3. Hofmann, Stefan G., et al. “The Efficacy of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: A Review of Meta-Analyses.” Cognitive Therapy and Research, vol. 36, no. 5, 2012, pp. 427–440., doi:10.1007/s10608-012-9476-1.