'Active' optimists live longer, happier lives. Here's how to become one

Abstract

Through a process of ‘manifestation’ or ‘manifesting’, if you devote time to imagining that you already have what you want and even feeling grateful, as if you already have it, then “you will attract everything that you require,” Bryne wrote. Byrne cites an early 20th-century book on getting rich as among her influences, while the roots of manifestation go back at least as far as the late 19th-century New Thought movement, which placed an emphasis on the power of the human mind to influence external events. Today, Byrne is far from the only guru advocating manifestation. On TikTok you’ll find countless manifesting-related videos clocking up billions of views collectively, promising the viewer health, wealth and happiness simply based on visualisation and positive thinking. A cursory trawl of YouTube returns dozens of videos purporting to show how to manifest cash, dream jobs and even dream dates – for instance, by repeating mantras or affirmations that you’re already wealthy or dressing as if you’re wealthy, as a way to send wealth vibes to the cosmos in the hope it’ll give you wealth in return.