You’re Manifesting 24/7 (Just Not How Instagram Thinks)

Scroll through Instagram long enough and you’ll see the line: “Neuroscientists say you’re manifesting 24/7 whether you want to or not.” Sounds profound, doesn’t it? Like the universe is a giant Amazon warehouse and your every stray thought is another Prime order hurtling toward your door.

But here’s the problem: neuroscientists don’t say that. What they actually say is far less mystical and far more annoying, your brain is basically a prediction machine that never switches off. It’s not manifesting your dream villa; it’s just trying to make sure you don’t walk face-first into a lamppost.

Your brain runs on predictive processing. It’s constantly guessing what’s about to happen, then comparing those guesses to reality. You think you see the world as it is? Wrong. You see the world as your brain expects it to be, with occasional corrections when the evidence is too overwhelming to ignore. Think of it as reality with a dodgy subtitles track.

That’s why you notice certain things and not others. Buy a red car and suddenly every road looks like a Ferrari parade. No, the universe isn’t rewarding your purchase, your brain just updated its filters. It highlights what feels important, and blanks the rest. It’s less “law of attraction,” more “spam filter with trust issues.”

And here’s where the “manifesting” myth gets its hook. What you believe shapes how you act. If you expect to fail, you hesitate. If you expect to win, you take the swing. Confidence nudges behaviour, behaviour nudges outcomes, and suddenly it looks like you conjured success out of thin air. In reality, it’s just cause and effect, but far less sexy to post about with a sunset background.

So yes, in a roundabout way you are manifesting 24/7. Not because the cosmos is your personal wish-granting butler, but because your brain is quietly scripting the version of reality you get to live in. The catch is that it doesn’t stop. Every anxious thought, every assumption, every expectation, they’re all little edits to the film reel you’re stuck starring in.

Yes, you’re manifesting all the time. But not yachts, soulmates, or beachfront villas. You’re manifesting the reality your brain keeps insisting is true, for better or worse. Which means the real question isn’t whether manifesting works. It’s whether you actually like what you’ve been manifesting so far.