Looking to elevate your life for the upcoming year (or any time you’re feeling down)? You’ve probably heard people talking about manifestation, and despite the fact that this practice is grounded in your mindset and spirituality, it has far more scientific backing than you might think. To help you finally get a full understanding, we tapped a neuroscientist for her insights. Read on for our full guide to manifestation, from what the term actually means to how to best use the practice to attract your goals and desires.

What Is Manifestation?

“Manifestation is bringing into reality the outcomes you desire,” says neuroscientist and author Tara Swart, MD. “It happens when you combine strong intentions (feelings and beliefs) with sufficient action to make a desired outcome real.”

Far from magical thinking, Swart argues the law of attraction is scientifically sound and totally accessible: “The law of attraction is strongly connected to us aligning all of our brain power,” she says. “It describes the way that we can create the relationships, situations and material things that come into our lives as a direct consequence of the way we think and our subconscious beliefs. We ‘manifest’ them by focusing on them, visualizing them becoming true, and directing our energy towards them through our actions.” Translation? It’s about clarity of intention, and mindfully working towards your intentions, rather than simply waiting for the universe to perform a random act of kindness.

This reframing of manifestation not only sounds more realistic than the vague, spell-casting preconception I had in my head, but also feels more empowering. I tend to take credit for my missteps, while my successes are random flukes. Knowing that I can be responsible for “luck” boosts my self-worth and gives me a sense of control that I’ve found lacking in my day-to-day life. “Manifesting is merely another way of saying we ‘make something happen,’” Swart adds. “Instead of loading this word with spontaneous happenings, we should consider it as a directed, purposeful connection between our intention and the actions that we take.”

Taking a New Approach

I’ll be the first to admit that I have an inconsistent relationship with the intersection of spirituality and wellness. I received my first tarot deck at age nine, know all my friends’ birth charts, and make a yearly pilgrimage to Tucson’s National Gem and Mineral Show to stock up on crystals. At the same time, I’m critical of neo-spirituality’s history of whitewashing, cultural appropriation, and attributing systemic injustice to personal failings or lack of faith. Plus, at the end of the day, I trust science. I aim for a balanced spiritual practice, in which I’m open to the powers of intuition and divine mystery without sacrificing critical thinking. So when I heard about Swart’s work, I was immediately intrigued.

Swart focuses on how the brain processes and prioritizes information, and how we can train our brains to attract what we want, from a thoroughly scientific perspective. It’s manifestation without snake oil, spiritual bypassing, or culturally appropriative neo-spirituality. It sounds too good to be true, but thanks to her action-focused approach, it just may be possible.

Finding Clarity in Your Intentions

Swart says that one reason we struggle with intention clarity is information overload. “One of the topics I discuss in my book, The Source, is manifestation and the two physiological processes ‘selective attention’ and ‘value tagging’ that go on in the brain simultaneously,” she tells us. “Understanding and accepting that we are all blocking huge amounts of information and choosing to focus on other information is crucial to the power of manifestation: You can’t manifest what you don’t consciously notice. Thus, we need to actively direct our brain to move away from prioritizing these unconscious biases and be more flexible and courageous about pushing ourselves towards our goals and choices.”

For example, Swart suggests writing down the qualities that you want in a partner, then revisiting the list frequently. That way, instead of gravitating towards romantic matches who fall into old, unfulfilling relationship models, you’ll be more likely to filter out matches that don’t fit your needs, and make time for those that do.

What Is Value Tagging?

“[Value tagging] is the importance your brain assigns to every piece of information and [how your brain orders information] based on importance,” Swart says. “There are logical and emotional elements.” In short, the choices we make can rely on logic (stocking up on items at the grocery store to save money) or emotion (shouldering a hefty delivery fee because I’ve had a crummy day).

As such, Swart suggests true manifestation requires a mix of logic and intuition, and the ability to recognize when our choices are motivated by feelings that actually work against our values. “People tend to struggle with emotional tagging because this has to do with our levels of ‘social safety,’” she notes.

Our brains can sometimes trick us into thinking we can’t have something that actually is possible, and it’s important to recognize and subvert this pattern when it happens. “For example, if someone has just been through a breakup or has been single for a long time and their biological clock has been ticking, their value tagging system may paradoxically become biased against looking for a companion or having children,” Swart says. “They may think they’ve lived alone for too long to share their space, or their career and social life supersedes a relationship and thus won’t be alert to the opportunity. Simply put, when you allow your brain to be conscious of and focus on what you want in life, the raised awareness will work in your favor to automatically bring opportunities.”

Why Mindfulness Reprograms Your Brain

Retraining your neural pathways can be daunting even in the best of times. Spiritual and emotional growth must contend with needs like safety, security, and reconciling collective trauma. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and unable to find time for a dedicated spiritual practice, but Swart points out that we don’t need to spend extensive time—or any money—on neuroplasticity. In fact, the method she recommends is tried and true: All you need is a few minutes and a brain.

As Swart indicates, research has shown through brain scans that people who use mindfulness meditation experience significant neuroplastic changes. “Commit to devoting a few minutes a day to meditate,” she says. “This can give you a new clarity of perspective on what and who are your real priorities in life, supporting your ‘higher level’ brain regulation and improving your resilience, making you more considered and balanced in your approach.”

Create an Action Board

In addition to mindfulness, Swart recommends a craft to call in your best life: “An action board is a great way to start [manifesting],” she says. “This is a collage that represents everything you aspire to.”

Note the emphasis on action—this isn’t your summer camp vision board or Pinterest deep dive. “When you create your action board, you are identifying your innermost dreams and representing them pictorially,” Swart says. “More than this, you will also use the board to take action to make the dreams a reality. While it may feel a little strange, compared to a traditional list, creating an action board will have more impact on your brain and future behavior.”

The Final Takeaway

Manifestation is much more accessible and science-backed than it sounds: It’s simply a way of intentionally focusing your mindset and actions on the things you desire. When you’re able to recognize your brain’s inherent biases as well as the qualities that align with whatever you want to manifest, you can literally reprogram your neural pathways. While actually manifesting something does require action, that much-hyped mindset aspect is important and effective: When you get specific about your goals and make the effort to visualize what you want, it’s easier to recognize the subconscious manifestation you’re already doing and do any necessary reframing.

Swart’s work suggests that because our brains are visual creatures, imagery can help us identify opportunities on a subconscious level, so we’re making decisions that serve our intentions before we realize we’re doing it. Ultimately, strengthening our neural networks to support the kind of life we want to live may not only be realistic—it sounds downright fun.