The Weekly Reframe: The Science Behind Manifestation - Understanding Your Brain's RAS and Negativity Bias

Supporting you to free your mind so you can live from your heart!

“You’ve got to be open to the energy. If you can open your heart to the energy - that great love energy of the creation of this entire universe - good things will happen to you. But you’ve gotta believe. You’ve gotta believe in the goodness. You have to open your heart to the energy. You can’t be afraid… We’re all riders on the storm.”

— Ray Manzarek

What Is the Reticular Activating System (RAS)? How Your Brain Creates Your Reality

By Jessie Schoen, Life Coach & Mindset Mentor

A Universal Spiritual Principle Meets Neuroscience

A shout-out to my fiancé, Tom, for this week's quote! We were watching a YouTube interview with Ray Manzarek, and when he started saying these words we both stopped in our tracks and turned toward each other. Tom said, "That's what you're going to write about this week." And he was correct. I always appreciate his feedback and interest in my writing. And a special thanks to my Dad, who edits these pieces every week! It truly takes a village and I am so grateful for their support.

The Ray Manzarek Quote That Changed Everything

"If you open your heart to the great love energy of the creation of this entire universe, good things will happen to you."
— Ray Manzarek, keyboardist of The Doors

Ray was the keyboardist and father figure in the very famous band, The Doors, in the 1960s and 70s. This quote is so important because he's speaking to a universal spiritual principle, one that, when understood and practiced, can change your life.

The way he expresses it might sound a little "out there," so I wanted to translate what he's pointing to spiritually into scientific terms, specifically through the lens of neuroscience.

What Is the Reticular Activating System (RAS)?

Deep in the brainstem sits something called the Reticular Activating System, or RAS. It's the pattern-matching gatekeeper of our attention and awareness, constantly sorting through millions of bits of sensory data and deciding what makes it into consciousness.

How the RAS Works: Your Brain's Attention Filter

The RAS listens for internal priority signals, clues from the higher brain that are based on:

Goals: Whatever you've been thinking about, visualizing, or rehearsing. Repetition strengthens those neural pathways, teaching the RAS that these patterns matter.

Survival: Anything resembling threat or opportunity (sounds, faces, movement, tone) gets automatic entry. That's ancient evolutionary wiring.

Emotion: Charged feelings like fear, desire, love, or shame get flagged by the amygdala and moved to the front of the line.

In simple terms, the RAS responds to what your inner world tells it is important. It's like turning a radio dial. Your focus, emotions, and beliefs set the frequency, and your RAS amplifies what matches it.

The Red Car Phenomenon: How Your Brain Filters Reality

A concrete example of this: you decide to buy a red car, and suddenly red cars appear everywhere. They were always there; now your brain is attuned to notice them.

This is the RAS in action. It's not magic. It's neuroscience.

What Does This Have to Do with Ray's Quote? Everything.

Ray was clearly tuned to "the great love energy of the creation of this entire universe." His attention was focused on love and goodness, and he lived from that frequency. It's no surprise that good things happened to him. His brain was trained to look for and recognize them.

The RAS ensures we get more of what we focus on and believe.

The Negativity Bias: Your Brain's Ancient Survival Mechanism

But there's another part of the brain that works together with the RAS: the negativity bias, which is located in the amygdala.

Why Your Brain Scans for Problems

The negativity bias evolved to keep us alive by scanning for danger. One hundred thousand years ago it was scanning for predators; now it scans for disapproval, conflict, or bad news. It still alerts the RAS to anything that feels vaguely unsafe, and the RAS takes the negativity bias signals very seriously.

When we let this bias run the show, we subconsciously filter for what's wrong, lacking, or messy. And when we do that consistently, our RAS keeps delivering more of it.

The Good News: You Can Retrain Your Brain

The good news is, the opposite is just as true.

When you intentionally direct your focus toward what's working (your progress, your growth, the people who support you, the small moments of beauty, the small wins), you teach your brain to highlight more of that.

You open your heart, as Ray said, to "the great love energy of the creation of this entire universe."

How to Train Your RAS to Notice Good Things

That's when the goodness finds you. It's already there. You are training your brain to notice it and focus on it. After a while, this new focus supports you to create "good things" in your life.

This is the neuroscience behind manifestation, gratitude practices, and positive psychology. It's not wishful thinking. It's rewiring your brain's attention filter.

Your Invitation: Reflection Prompts to Retrain Your RAS

This weekend I invite you into a gentle reflection by picking one of these questions that sticks out to you to focus on:

Reflection Prompts for Training Your Attention

What has your mind been scanning for lately, problems or possibilities?

Notice your default filter. Are you tuned to what's wrong, or what's working?

If your RAS amplifies what matters to you, what frequency do you want to set today?

What do you want your brain to look for? Love? Opportunity? Beauty? Growth?

Where in your life could you "open your heart to the energy" instead of bracing against it?

Where are you resisting or contracting when you could be receiving?

Think of one small example of goodness that showed up this week. How might you train your awareness to spot more like it?

Practice noticing. The more you see it, the more your RAS will deliver it.

When you catch yourself tightening in fear or doubt, what helps you remember the "great love energy" Ray was talking about?

What brings you back to trust, openness, and possibility?

Step By Step,

Jessie Schoen
Life Coach & Mindset Mentor
www.jessieschoencoaching.com

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Reticular Activating System (RAS)?

The Reticular Activating System (RAS) is a bundle of nerves in your brainstem that acts as the gatekeeper of your attention and awareness. It filters millions of bits of sensory data every second and decides what makes it into your conscious awareness based on what it believes is important to you: your goals, emotions, and survival needs.

How does the RAS determine what you notice?

Your RAS listens for internal priority signals from your higher brain based on three factors: (1) Goals, whatever you've been thinking about, visualizing, or rehearsing repeatedly, (2) Survival, anything resembling threat or opportunity, and (3) Emotion, feelings flagged by the amygdala like fear, desire, love, or shame. Your focus, beliefs, and emotions essentially "tune" your RAS like a radio dial.

What is the red car phenomenon?

The red car phenomenon is a common example of the RAS in action. When you decide to buy a red car, you suddenly notice red cars everywhere. They were always there, but now your brain is attuned to notice them because your RAS has been signaled that red cars are important. This demonstrates how your brain filters reality based on what you focus on.

What is the negativity bias and how does it affect the RAS?

The negativity bias is an evolutionary survival mechanism located in the amygdala that scans your environment for danger, threats, or problems. It evolved to keep us alive by detecting predators; today it scans for disapproval, conflict, or bad news. When the negativity bias detects something potentially unsafe, it alerts the RAS, which takes these signals very seriously and prioritizes them in your awareness.

Can you retrain your brain to focus on positive things?

Yes. When you intentionally direct your focus toward what's working (your progress, growth, supportive relationships, moments of beauty, and small wins), you teach your RAS to highlight more of that. This is the neuroscience behind manifestation, gratitude practices, and positive psychology. Repetition strengthens these neural pathways, gradually retraining your brain's attention filter.

What is the science behind manifestation?

The science behind manifestation involves the RAS (Reticular Activating System) and neuroplasticity. When you consistently focus on specific goals, visualize outcomes, and attach emotion to desires, you train your RAS to filter reality for opportunities, resources, and synchronicities aligned with those goals. You're not creating reality from nothing. You're training your brain to notice what was always there but previously filtered out.

How do I stop my negativity bias from running my life?

To work with your negativity bias: (1) Recognize it's a protective mechanism, not a character flaw, (2) Consciously redirect your attention when you catch yourself scanning for problems, (3) Practice intentional focus on what's working through gratitude or reflection, (4) Work with a coach to build new neural pathways, and (5) Be patient. Rewiring takes repetition and time, but it is absolutely possible.

What does "open your heart to the energy of the universe" mean scientifically?

Scientifically, "opening your heart to the energy of the universe" means choosing to tune your RAS toward openness, possibility, love, and abundance rather than fear, scarcity, and threat. It's about consciously setting your brain's attention filter to notice goodness, synchronicity, and support. When you do this consistently, you literally train your brain to deliver more experiences that match that frequency.

How long does it take to retrain your RAS?

Retraining your RAS requires consistent repetition to build new neural pathways, typically 30 to 90 days of daily practice. This could include gratitude journaling, visualization, mindfulness, coaching, or intentional focus exercises. The more emotionally charged and repetitive your new focus, the faster your RAS adapts. Coaching accelerates this process by providing accountability, tools, and support.

Ready to retrain your brain and create more of what you want in life? Book your free clarity call →