In 2006, the concept of the law of attraction gained renewed exposure with the release of the film The Secret (2006) which was then developed into a book of the same title in the same year.
[23] A modernized version of the law of attraction is known as manifestation, which refers to various self-help strategies that can purportedly make an individual's wishes come true by mentally visualizing them.
"[29] In early 2023 AARP explained that "The newest self-help craze, lucky girl syndrome is Gen Z's spin on books like The Power of Positive Thinking, The Secret and Manifest Your Destiny: The Nine Spiritual Principles for Getting Everything You Want.
This year's version, however, puts the emphasis on luck and consistently reminding yourself that the universe is conspiring to make good things happen for you because you are a lucky person.
[31] A January 2023 article in CNET explained that "thousands of people across TikTok have posted videos about how this manifestation strategy has changed their lives, bringing them new opportunities they never expected.
"[32] Also in January 2023, Today.com reported that "Different manifestation techniques are taking over TikTok, and "lucky girl syndrome" is the latest way people claim to achieve the life they desire."
It also said that "Videos detailing the power of positive thinking have amassed millions of views on TikTok, and manifestation experts seem to approve."
Its most recent makeover is something rather ominously called "lucky girl syndrome..." The article also reported that "What lucky girl syndrome – and The Secret, and the 'law of attraction', or the 'law of assumption', and prosperity gospel, and any of the other branches of this kind of New Age thinking – really amounts to, though, is 'manifesting', or the practice of repeatedly writing or saying declarative statements in the hopes that they will soon become true."
"[34] Attempting to explain the attraction of lucky girl syndrome, Parents interviewed an LCSW therapist for teens and their families on the subject who opined that "It makes us feel like we're in control of our lives.
"[35] The Conversation warned of the negative side of lucky girl syndrome, saying that what most videos on the topic suggest is "that what you put out to the universe is what you will get in return.
"[36] Also regarding negative consequences, Harper's Bazaar warned that lucky girl syndrome has much in common with toxic positivity and that "If you try it, and it doesn't work for you, it could become yet another stick to beat yourself with.
"[37] Proponents believe that the law of attraction is always in operation and that it brings to each person the conditions and experiences that they predominantly think about, or which they desire or expect.
Charles Haanel wrote in The Master Key System (1912): The law of attraction will certainly and unerringly bring to you the conditions, environment, and experiences in life, corresponding with your habitual, characteristic, predominant mental attitude.
[39]In her 2006 documentary, The Secret, Rhonda Byrne emphasized thinking about what each person wants to obtain, but also to infuse the thought with the maximum possible amount of emotion.
While there are personal testimonies that claim that methods based on The Secret and the law of attraction have worked for them, a number of skeptics have criticized Byrne's film and book.
The 2006 film and the subsequent book[59] use interviews with New Thought authors and speakers to explain the principles of the proposed metaphysical law that one can attract anything that one thinks about consistently.
Writing for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, Mary Carmichael and Ben Radford wrote that "neither the film nor the book has any basis in scientific reality", and that its premise contains "an ugly flipside: if you have an accident or disease, it's your fault".
[60] Others have questioned the references to modern scientific theory, and have maintained, for example, that the law of attraction misrepresents the electrical activity of brainwaves.
[61] Victor Stenger and Leon Lederman were critical of attempts to use quantum mysticism to bridge any unexplained or seemingly implausible effects, believing these to be traits of modern pseudoscience.