The reality is we find what we expect to find. Without fail. Every time. And those expectations and consequent “evidence” are a result of what we believe about ourselves and the world around us. Period.
It’s as simple (albeit elusive) as that.
To understand a bit more clearly why we find what we are looking for, we also need to talk about the most sophisticated search engine ever created: your reticular activating system (RAS), which connects the brainstem to the cerebral cortex. The RAS is that part of the brain that is responsible for matching our thoughts, beliefs, and expectations to the environment around us.
The RAS always finds what we are expecting to find: the information and circumstances that correspond to our dominant thoughts, questions, and beliefs. It sorts through extraordinary amounts of data and filters through to our conscious awareness only that which matches our specific search requirements. Since our sensory receptors are exposed to a gargantuan amount of stimuli every day, this fundamental function of the mind is essentially keeping us sane. Without it, we would experience a complete sensory overload and be entirely unable to operate in any conceivably “normal” way.
Unfortunately, however, if not understood and consciously directed, this part of the brain
often finds the answers to questions we don’t want answered. Why do I always procrastinate?
How come I just can’t lose the extra weight? What are all the things I don’t like about this person/place/situation? With questions like these, we are misdirecting and misusing this phenomenally powerful tool that is available to all of us.
Again, we are either being lazy and allowing unconscious beliefs to inform these questions, or we are consciously directing this part of our brain.
Which will you choose? To be unaware of the questions you’re asking, or to ask way better questions, like: What do I enjoy about this person/place/situation? How can I shine brighter? How can I free the way for love?
The quality of your questions determines the quality of your results in life. So, what version of yourself and others do you wish to find?
TAKING YOUR POWER BACK
The modern mystic and author Neville Goddard talked of the power of belief thus: “We are all born with an infinite power, against which no earthly force is of the slightest significance.” Henry Ford put it even more directly with: “Whether you believe it or not, you’re right.” In other words… You don’t attract what you want. You attract what you believe about yourself and the world.
And the questions you’re asking (consciously and unconsciously) are a mere reflection of those beliefs and of where you are choosing to place your trust.
When you consciously choose what you want to believe, you are also shaping truth, or reality, as you will perceive and experience it. When you hold that decided truth with conviction and ask questions based on that conviction, then reality bends to display that belief. Your actions will also begin to align with that belief and generate the momentum that shapes form or matter (like the chair).
Know that you can only do what you are. That is to say, the “doing” happens through you as a result of who you believe yourself to be. When you have arranged the concept of yourself in a certain pattern (beliefs), your actions will demonstrate that concept in the physical.
This is akin to the phenomenon of magnetism—when particles are arranged in a random, mixed formation, there is no magnetic charge, whereas when a number of the same particles face in a single direction, the substance is a magnet. Hence, magnetism, just like who you are becoming, is not created but rather displayed. The potential exists, as do myriad other probability outcomes, simultaneously.
Now, before we step into the next chapter, THANK YOU for reading this far. What it indicates to me is that you are ready to reclaim your attention and direct it toward beliefs that empower rather than disempower you. This means that you are in a very small percentage of the world population at the moment of this writing. I congratulate everything it took for you to get here, and I invite you to dive much deeper with me in the chapters that follow.
For now, officially grant yourself permission to believe… especially in yourself and in your power to shape a new reality and the most exciting expression of you. And if believing means changing your mind about a lot of stuff, we’ll cover how to do that now.
