Do you believe in manifestation?

A group of friends and I were at my place one night when my best friend candidly asked mid-discussion, 

“Do you believe in manifestation? I think you don’t as much?” 

I took a millisecond pause and answered, 

“I do! But what the human cannot achieve, that’s when manifestation takes place.” 

Manifestation is probably the crying mantra of this generation. 

It’s the modern version of simply believing. 

It’s declaring your desires to the Universe and entrusting that the right will come to you. 

Feeling lost? Manifest that what’s meant for you will align with your life. 

Think something’s impossible? Manifest and it will become possible. 

Manifestation is so magical, so mysterious, so romantic — and that’s exactly what makes it attractive. 

You can even say that manifestation masks itself as a form of humility. The individual admits that not everything is of one’s control and that things beyond knowledge and human capacity must be surrendered. 

Despite all its allure, why was I skeptical with manifestation?

My initial aversion was hinged on the fact that I was more a realist. Manifestation felt overly zealous and positive, borderline a reek of privilege. Manifestation felt like an easy excuse for non-action and laziness and at times, overused as a scapegoat for indecisiveness.  

The more I pondered on it, the more I understood where the hesitation lied — manifestation doesn’t stand as one of my core beliefs. 

Fundamental to every person are their core beliefs. Core beliefs make us who we are. They are building blocks that form our identity. They are things we learnt, mostly when we were young. 

Manifestation felt in conflict with one core belief I stand for — hard work. Hard work for me is a personality trait that makes an individual capable no matter the outcome, whether good or bad. Though realistically speaking, hard work doesn’t necessarily equate to desirable results. Working hard doesn’t guarantee contentment nor happiness. Naturally I found myself incorporating manifestation in parallel with hard work and saw how it was something necessary to the situations in my life.

The thing we tend to forget is that core beliefs aren’t set in stone. We’re not one-dimensional. A core belief that stood strong in our early years may not work out anymore at present. They can change, recalibrate, and adjust as we go through life.

At the same time, welcoming a new value doesn’t mean the removal of an existing core belief. It's expanding our current portfolio so it can adjust to who we are becoming. It's revisiting the things we believe in to assess if it's still something we stand for. 

We can unlearn core beliefs if it doesn’t serve us anymore and we can learn new ones if it makes us into a better person. Unlearning core beliefs actually takes a lot more conscious effort because it means facing the person who we are at present and identifying which things are of importance in our lives. 

Manifestation allows me to trust in myself more. It serves as my reminder of the limitations of the human mind. It urges me to believe that the hard work I put in will eventually take me to where I need to be. 

Ultimately, the human still has the pivotal role to plant the foundation in order for manifestation to unfold. What the human cannot achieve, that’s when manifestation takes place. 

Though for the record — core beliefs aren’t manifested. They’re decided upon.