Manifestation Is Real, but Only if You Believe It Is

This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "Manifest" by Roxie Nafousi. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.

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Is manifestation a real thing? Can you really materialize your dreams into reality through thought alone?

Manifestation is real, but only if you believe it is. If you don’t fully believe in the process of manifestation—trusting that the universe will reward your positive efforts—your efforts are doomed to failure.

Here’s why having faith is crucial for manifestation to work.

Is Manifestation a Real Thing?

According to Roxie Nafousi, the author of Manifest, having faith in the process is one of the most crucial principles for successful manifestation. This is because your beliefs about reality shape your reality.

Having faith in the manifestation process requires you to believe that everything in life happens when and how it’s meant to, and that everything is leading you toward a higher purpose. Nafousi explains that manifestation is real, but it isn’t a smooth and straight path to your desires. You’ll face obstacles and surprises along the way, but you must maintain your belief that things will fall into place, you’ll reach the end of the path, and you’ll achieve your desires.

(Shortform note: Nafousi argues that having faith is the final puzzle piece for effective manifestation specifically. However, experts explain that having faith—not just in the universe, but in humanity, yourself, your values, your loved ones, and so on—is an important component of living a happy life in general and building resilience against trauma and negativity. Without faith, you’re likely to feel lost or directionless in life, doubt your abilities and past decisions, and feel doubtful or foolish about your beliefs. Ultimately, losing your faith will make you feel unhappy, which, as a low-vibration emotion, will sabotage the manifestation process.)

Nafousi makes two main recommendations for staying on course and keeping the faith:

1. Don’t settle. When we find something close to our desire, we often trick ourselves into thinking it’s our best option. Nafousi argues that this is a test of the universe—if you give up and settle, you’ll never reach your highest potential. Don’t stop working toward your goal until you’ve achieved everything you desire—“good enough” is not enough.

2. Overcome disappointment by finding the silver lining. Everything happens for a reason, so find that reason. For example, maybe your relationship didn’t work out because you need independence to become the highest, most confident version of yourself.

The Downsides of Having Faith

Is it healthy to follow Nafousi’s recommendations here and always have faith that things will work out for the best? Other experts and psychologists suggest not.

If you follow Nafousi’s first recommendation to avoid settling and instead keep the faith that something better will come along, you might take extraordinary opportunities for granted and reject them because you’re waiting for something perfect that doesn’t exist. For example, you might end a positive and loving relationship because you think your perfect partner is a painter while your current partner is a writer, and you have faith you’ll find your painter eventually. However, in reality, you might be squandering a relationship with an amazing person who makes you feel happy and fulfilled because you’re waiting for something “better.”

Similarly, if you follow Nafousi’s second recommendation to find the silver lining in everything and have faith that things will always work out for the best, you might develop an unrealistically positive view of reality. This phenomenon, called the “optimism bias,” may trigger inappropriate responses to dangerous or sensitive situations and ultimately harm yourself or others. For example, you might remain passive in a dangerous situation like an oncoming hurricane, thinking everything will work out fine due to your faith in the universe. In reality, you must take measures to protect yourself and your loved ones.

Ultimately, having faith and staying positive arguably aren’t entirely bad or harmful practices—just make sure that you’re being realistic and not following your faith blindly.

Manifestation Is Real, but Only if You Believe It Is