XO, MU by Melissa Urban

XO, MU by Melissa Urban

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XO, MU by Melissa Urban
XO, MU by Melissa Urban
XOMU: Making "Lucky Girl syndrome" even more effective
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XOMU: Making "Lucky Girl syndrome" even more effective

The one thing this TikTok manifestation trend is missing

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Melissa Urban
Apr 03, 2023
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XO, MU by Melissa Urban
XO, MU by Melissa Urban
XOMU: Making "Lucky Girl syndrome" even more effective
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Welcome to the new look of XO, MU! Poke around the site and you’ll find a LOT of bonus content once you upgrade to a paid subscription, like narrated posts, subscriber-only chats, bonus articles, and my new advice column.

If you’re on TikTok, you can't escape Lucky Girl syndrome (which I’m rebranding as “Lucky Person syndrome,” because it’s available to everyone). I’ve watched dozens of people sharing stories of how “lucky” they’ve become since they started manifesting it with phrases of affirmation:

  • Things are always working out for me

  • The odds are in my favor

  • I am so lucky

  • Great things happen to me unexpectedly 

  • I know good things are coming to me

Positive affirmations (positive phrases or statements that we repeat to ourselves, like “I think I can”) are nothing new, and neither is manifestation (the act or practice of bringing something into your life through belief, like “money is drawn to me”). The idea is that by thinking positively, you’ll send the right kind of energy into the universe and make good things  come back to you. 

These practices say if you wake up every morning and tell the mirror, “That job is already mine,” you can energetically manifest the job offer. And if you spend enough time thinking (and really believing) “things are always working out for me,” maybe they just will.

I’ve written about the good, bad, and ugly of manifestation before, and I don’t have a regular manifestation practice myself, but there was something about this “Lucky Person” take that stuck with me. It was simple, general enough to apply to a variety of scenarios, and not overly toxic in its positivity. It had real potential, but there was still something about it that bothered me; something I sensed was missing. 

I found the missing piece in science.

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