Manifesting is popular but some experts say it has a dark side

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4 days ago

When Oprah Winfrey first read the Alice Walker novel The Colour Purple, she became obsessed with it.
Speaking to Larry King on his talk show in 2009, she explained how she was cast in the 1985 Steven Spielberg film.
"I ate, slept, thought all the time about The Colour Purple … when I moved to Chicago, I got a call asking me to audition [for the] movie, I had never gotten a call like that in my life from anybody," she says.
Despite that stroke of luck, Winfrey was convinced she hadn't got the role.
"I'm singing, praying and crying, and a woman comes out to me and says there is a phone call for me … It was [director] Steven Spielberg saying he wanted to see me in his office in California tomorrow."
Oprah was offered her dream role playing Sofia in the film, which went on to be a box-office hit.
Winfrey's interview on Larry King was about the self-help book she endorsed, The Secret, which had exploded in popularity at the time.
Written by Australian author Rhonda Byrne, the book claimed to help readers harness the laws of attraction — essentially the belief that thought alone could help you get what you want.
It's been nearly 20 years since the book was published, and the practice of manifestation and positive thinking continues to gain popularity across cultures.
It can involve methods like being clear and intentional about your goals and practising rituals to help bring those goals into reality.
The rituals are varied, but can include journalling, vocalising mantras, practising positive self-talk and creating vision boards.
Manifesting is also big business with self-help professionals, like Mel Robbins and Gabrielle Bernstein, releasing countless books, podcasts and international speaking tours on how to do it.
In a 2022 podcast episode about manifestation, Robbins claims the form of manifesting she promotes is "backed by neuroscience" and isn't just wishful thinking.
"It is a tool that you are going to use precisely, intentionally, systematically with purpose, because you use manifesting to rewire your mind … to help you do the work to achieve your dreams."
There's no denying that manifestation is popular, and the way that individuals use it in their own lives can be varied.
But is there a dark side to the practice?
Winfrey's public endorsement of The Secret on her widely watched show helped boost the book's popularity, but it was not without criticism.
For example, when Kim Tinkham appeared on the show in 2007, she told Winfrey she was so moved by The Secret that she was going to forego cancer treatment, against her doctor's advice.
Winfrey tried to talk her out of this, clarifying that she didn't think this was the message to take away from the book.
Tinkham died in 2010.
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When discussing the book on King's show, Winfrey wanted to clarify her endorsement of The Secret, saying that the mistake it made was that it "tried to let that be the answer to all questions." She added: "The law of attraction is just one law, there are many laws working in the world".
Laura D'Olimpio is an associate professor from the University of Birmingham and says she believes manifestation stops many people from learning.
"I see manifesting as a form of wishful thinking and therefore, in my mind, it's an intellectual vice, because it's a way of thinking that interrupts our attainment of knowledge," she tells ABC Radio National's Future Tense.
D'Olimpio claims that manifesting promotes self-centredness — and self-blame if it doesn't work.
"The thing that strikes me about manifesting is that it really narrows down just on 'what I want'," she says.
This approach worries her.
Manifesting, like many self-help concepts, comes with rituals.
One is the 369 manifestation method, which went viral on social media in 2021, and includes the act of writing down what you want to manifest three times in the morning, six times in the afternoon and nine times at night.
D'Olimpio says rituals like the 369 method promote obsessive and compulsive thinking.
"It seems to really encourage that obsessive ritual of trying to make this belief come into reality through the power of thought," she says.
Along with Winfrey, celebrities including Ariana Grande, and Dua Lipa, have credited manifestation as one of the reasons for their success.
For example, when Lipa headlined Glastonbury last year, she told the crowd, "I've written this moment down and wished for it and dreamt it and worked so hard".
While it's a romanticised way to frame your dreams coming true, D'Olimpio has concerns that manifestation is a "closed theory", meaning that if it doesn't work, we won't know about it.
"[Those that practise are] pointing to the outcome that they want to say, 'See, I'm right in manifesting'. But that's a form of confirmation bias," she says.
"When it doesn't come about, they often say, 'Oh, well, it wasn't in my higher good or my best interest' … So you can't falsify it, which means that they're not deterred by instances where it doesn't come true."
People turn to manifestation for a variety of reasons, and many do so in the hope that they can maintain a positive mindset and attract good things.
And in recent years, it can feel like remaining optimistic is increasingly hard to achieve.
People are grappling with the impacts of climate change, an increase in natural disasters and global conflicts, most notably Israel's war in Gaza.
Humans need optimism to move forward, but there can be confusion about what that means, says author Sumit Paul-Choudhury.
"Being positive about the future doesn't necessarily mean that you have to think that everything is fine and will turn out to be fine," he says.
While thinking optimistically can be a segue into engaging with self-help materials that promote manifesting, Paul-Choudhury says people should aim for dispositional optimism instead.
"It is this general approach to life in which you think that there are solutions to your problems and that there are always opportunities ahead," he says.
"You're generally always believing that there are ways forward that seem to be associated with better outcomes."
Paul-Choudhury says those who aim for this type of optimism and mindset are more likely to live happier lives.
"People who rank reasonably strongly with that kind of optimism seem to live for longer."
While D'Olimpio acknowledges there are valid concerns about manifestation, she doesn't want it to be viewed as criticism of optimism.
She says there is an important role for optimism in our society, and that "manifesting distorts that positive thinking into thinking that thought alone can create reality".
"I'm hoping that with education and other ways of opening up people's thinking, they can see that [manifesting] is a distorted version of positive thinking and very self-focused rather than community-based."