Manifest Your Success in 2022

Here we are, almost two weeks into the new year (happy new year!).  Many of us have been enthusiastically implementing our list of resolutions with an attitude of hope and renewed optimism.  If only we could maintain this level of optimism throughout the year instead of letting our resolutions die along with January, right?  Imagine what we could collectively achieve.

Something that always surprises me is when people refer to a positive outcome as “just a placebo effect.”  A placebo effect is actually a mind-bending, astonishing phenomenon!  A placebo effect is typically defined as a positive effect achieved when the mind believes the body is receiving an input, but in reality is not.  You’ve probably heard about studies in which people are split into groups, with some receiving a medication, some receiving a placebo, and some receiving nothing at all, and the findings reveal that a clinically significant percentage of those receiving the placebo, but believed they were receiving the real thing, had the same positive outcome as those who took the actual medication.  This is absolutely amazing!  It’s proof of mind over matter—that our brains are our superpower.  One we too often fail to harness.

There is a 2017 documentary called Heal, which is an exploration of the power of our thoughts, beliefs, and emotions on our health and healing.  There is one story I remember well, because it blew me away.  It was a story of a man who broke his back and was told my doctors he would never walk again, let alone resume cycling, which was his passion.  Instead of accepting this prognosis, he spent hours every day imagining in vivid detail his vertebrae healing, fusing back together.  After a few months, not only could he walk again, but he was back on his bike.  There was no medical explanation for his recovery.  He is an example of the mind creating a physical outcome without any physical input.  Heal is full of other amazing and inspiring stories, so if you haven’t already watched every single documentary and movie during Covid, you should check it out.

So what does this all have to do with resolutions?  Well, maybe this year we take a different approach.  Maybe this is the year of manifestation.  Instead of just ticking off our January resolution to-do list, maybe we also spend some time—every day—visualizing our success come the end of 2022.  If your resolution is to get fit, spend 30 seconds every day imagining what you will look and feel like in the best shape of your life a year from now.  If it’s to meditate, imagine yourself flourishing in that transcendent, peaceful place.  If it’s to get a new job, imagine yourself thriving in the career of your dreams.  Though it’s often dismissed as “woo-woo,” the power of manifestation is real, even if it not fully understood.  Perhaps the power stems from being a positive person, attracting more opportunities and positive people and energy.  Perhaps it’s because our behaviors follow our attitude—motivated behavior follows optimism, whereas lethargy and negativity beget lethargy and negativity.  Check out this Psychology Today article for more insight into the science behind manifestation. 

Whatever the mechanism is that underlies the placebo effect, the mind’s ability to effectuate physical change, and the inherent power we possess to manifest goodness into the world and into our lives, it doesn’t really matter.  What matters is that the mechanism does exist, and we need to start believing in ourselves and the absolute miracles we are.  We need to flood ourselves with gratitude every day, treating our physical bodies with the respect they deserve and our minds with the positivity and compassion we bestow on others but often fail to bestow upon ourselves. 

I love something that Gandhi said, which is that we should never let anyone walk through our minds with dirty feet.  And I think this should extend to ourselves—we, too, should stop muddying our minds with self-doubt and negative self-talk. 

You are a miracle.  Spend this year believing that.  Manifest that.  Flood the universe with your positive thoughts. And maybe you won’t achieve every goal with perfection, maybe your resolve will falter, but the truth is that nothing but good can come from believing you will prevail.

You got this.