Can your thoughts change the trajectory of your life? | members only

Is the universe like the genie in a bottle awaiting my every command? My Instagram feed would have me believe so. My kids think I’m crazy — addicted even — but I’m fascinated with the steady

stream of reels about how to manifest the life of my dreams. Reel after reel serves up some version of the power of positive thinking. Willie Nelson warns against worry: “Every negative

thought you have releases poison into your system.” TikTok influencers proselytize the “Lucky Girl” attitude to trigger an avalanche of good fortune. Even Oprah offers a hack to help me

reach my highest human potential: “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that, because the world needs people who have come alive.”

  ​Manifestation is the belief that one can attract success by using positive self-talk and visualization, or acting as if goals have already been achieved. Some, like Oprah, claim that

manifestation is a legitimate practice for personal growth and fulfilling dreams. However, no scientific evidence exists that people can mind-meld their way into a new reality.  I am no

stranger to pain. I watched the man I loved slip away to alcoholism, and I raised our children alone after he died nine years ago, when they were 9 and 11. I know from personal experience

that you can’t “think away” a child’s ADHD, depression, anxiety or learning differences — or hospitalizations and surgeries due to skateboarding accidents. But I also know that the quality

of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts, and happiness is an inside job. When it comes to squeezing as much joy out of life as possible, why not be open to the possibility of

manifesting to super-boost the work I’m willing to put in anyway? Oprah’s question of what makes me come alive is a good one. Just shy of 60, I’m a recent empty nester between careers. My

third act is beckoning. But what do I truly want, and where do I start? Haven’t a clue. The all-knowing Instagram algorithm had author Martha Beck recommend the book: _What You Want Wants

You_ by Suzanne Eder. I download it on Audible and listen to it nonstop as I drive back and forth from Washington, D.C. , to New Jersey to move my son into his college dorm. Courtesy

Suzanne Eder Eder’s essential point is that desire is a direct path to our authentic selves and purpose. The universe supports our desires because we are all part of a larger, interconnected

flow governed by the highest power — love. Love (or God, the universe, Source Energy, the genie or whatever you want to call it) wants us to be happy. Well, if it were that easy, wouldn’t

we manifest the end of wars, famine and disease? Still, the idea that the world is on our side is comforting. And if that placebo puts me on steadier ground to face challenges and experience

joy whenever it cruises by, that’s a win. Eder mentions living in Wilmington, Delaware, just as I’m whizzing past her exit sign after dropping my son at college. I note the coincidence.