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The idea that we are the creators of our experience is presented so often that it has become almost cliche. Thus, the concept often gets ignored, as people feel that they’ve heard it all before.
We may believe it on some level, but feel we haven’t had enough evidence or experiences to back it up. But perhaps it isn’t lack of proof that’s preventing us from believing. Maybe we already have all the proof we need, but we don’t yet have enough flexibility in our belief structures, or we aren’t bringing enough curiosity and awareness to our experience, in order to shift our beliefs in a significant way.
Many want to believe that we are the creators of our experience, but we have conditioned ways of seeing the world that don’t support this idea. We think we need much more evidence if we’re going to believe something as “crazy” as that, and we have experiences that seem to prove that the opposite is true. Experiences that cause us to say, “Why would I ever choose that! I must not be creating this.” Or, “I want this, but I’m getting that. If I’m really creating my reality, why aren’t I getting what I want?”
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But what we often fail to consider—what we may not yet believe or have context for—is that much of what we are choosing to experience is not being created consciously.
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From our egoic mind’s perspective, we often aren’t getting what we want. What we desire seems to be lacking, and we appear to be victims. But what we often fail to consider—what we may not yet believe or have context for—is that much of what we are choosing to experience is not being created consciously. There may be parts of us that are co-creating this experience with us in ways, and for reasons, we are largely unaware of. And from their expanded perspective, these parts of us may not agree with what we think we want.
One reason expanded parts of us may disagree with our egoic mind is that, often times, from our limited, physically-focused perspective, what we think we want is influenced by associations or misguided beliefs. Therefore, it’s not actually what we want from an expanded point of view. Perhaps our wise, non-physical being knows this and feels that pursuing certain desires is a distraction from what we are here to explore, express and learn from.
Other times, our egoic desire may be in alignment with our expanded perspective, but we aren’t getting what we want for a different reason: We have limiting beliefs that make us think we’re not worthy or capable of receiving what we want. It’s our beliefs that are limiting us from accessing our creative powers. (But we may be unaware of how to access these powers for a very good reason. If we knew too much too soon, this experience may become largely irrelevant.)
Perhaps we already have more than enough evidence to believe that we’re creating this reality. Perhaps we already know this to be true—we already feel this truth in our body—but it’s difficult to trust this feeling because it’s mixed with doubt and resistance due to our contradicting beliefs and perspectives that are out of alignment with the expanded truth of our inner being. (But if you’re feeling inspired as you read this to shift these beliefs, the time may be right for you to do so.)
In order to shift our beliefs, we must open ourselves to the possibility of other points of view that may contradict our current perspectives.
Seemingly contradictory points of view don’t necessarily have to replace our old ones. They can run parallel to our current beliefs, allowing them to appear less threatening to our egoic mind, and therefore easier to experiment with, because they are simply presenting us with options for different points of view to choose from, leading to less internal resistance. And over time, as we give ourselves more permission to consider new perspectives, some of them may integrate with our current beliefs or begin to feel more true for us than our old, “outdated” points of view.
One way to help give ourselves permission to open up to the possibility of new perspectives is to reflect on how we already have some buy-in. How we already have, to some degree, accepted some possibilities that contradict what our mind is telling us can’t be true.
Here are five examples of ways in which we may already know we’re creating our own reality. Examples that invite perspectives that may contradict and run parallel to our current beliefs:
1. The Placebo Effect
The placebo effect is perhaps the most widely accepted and obvious example of how our beliefs create our reality. It is the phenomenon in which patients are told that they are receiving medicine, but are actually given sugar pills, or “placebos.” Study after study has shown that those who believe they are receiving treatment that will heal them are the ones that most consistently recover. This suggests that the largest factor in healing is the belief that the treatment will be effective.
What happens when we apply this idea to all of life? If we imagine that perhaps the greatest factor in something being effective is that we believe it will be? This doesn’t necessarily mean that people will jump off of buildings and be able to fly because they believe they will, as there are still universal laws, such as gravity, to consider, but we may find that we have much more power to create our reality than we realize. (Some claim that even universal laws can be transcended by the power of belief.)
2. Hypochondria
Just as the placebo effect can cause our belief in healing to create healing, hypochondria can cause our belief in our lack of health to create this experience. Hypochondria is an “anxiety disorder” in which people believe they are or may become, seriously ill, without what would be considered by medical professionals to be relevant reasons for believing this. Often times, this self-diagnosis can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. People literally worry themselves into poor health by imagining that they are, or will soon be, in poor health. They create this to be their reality by believing it will be so.
3. Synchronicities
Have you ever experienced a series of events that seem to line up so perfectly that you question if they can really be acts of pure coincidence? Perhaps you think of someone, and seconds later you receive a text message from them. Or you’ve got something on your mind, and it seems as if everywhere you go and everywhere you look, people are talking about it. Or maybe you’re feeling like a change is necessary and wondering what’s next for you, and a perfect opportunity suddenly drops into your lap. Events such as these are often referred to as synchronicities.
In these moments, it seems as if the universe is conspiring in our favor, and is perhaps not so random after all. And we begin to wonder if we may somehow be calling in experiences, just at the opportune moment.
4. Lucid Dreaming
Have you ever become aware that you are dreaming while still within a dream? This is the phenomenon known as lucid dreaming.
This experience is sometimes accompanied by an ability to control the dream. Shortly after learning about lucid dreaming, I found myself in one and decided to test this out. I was able to will myself to fly, and to command all the squirrels and other creatures in the ground to come to the surface. I woke up to my creative power within the dream!
Since then I have had many other lucid dreaming experiences, but I have yet to experience the creative powers I “awakened” to during that dream. I once again seem to be subject to whatever is happening around me, rather than being the one creating the experience. But it only took one experience to forever remind me that I have creative control within my dream. I’m just not aware of how to access it consciously.
Perhaps the same is true of this reality.
We imagine that this world is “real,” and the dream world is not, but perhaps these two worlds are not as different as we imagine them to be. Perhaps we have the ability to wake up in this realm as well, and to create our own reality, as we are able to do in that realm. This may seem like a stretch, but what do we really know about dreams? Do we really know what the differences are between the dream world and our waking life?
And how do we know which one is real? Perhaps they both are. Perhaps neither.
What does it even mean for a world to be “real”?
5. The Double-Slit Experiment
Perhaps the most famous experiment in Quantum Physics is the Double-Slit Experiment. In this investigation, electron particles were shot between two slits in a board. When an observer was present, the electrons formed two lines on the wall beyond the board, indicating that they went through one slit or the other each time. When the observer was removed, the particles formed multiple lines on the wall, or an “interference pattern.”
The conclusion quantum physicists drew from this is that instead of choosing one slit or the other, the particle became both potentials, went through both slits, and interfered with itself, as colliding waves would do, causing it to bounce off of itself and spread in different directions.
Without an observer, the electron particle became both potentials, rather than one or the other. Without a witnessing presence to create one reality or the other, only possibility existed. This implies that our reality would exist only as potential energy without us here to observe and shape the energy into form, and that the act of observation is the process of creation.
Perhaps we don’t need more examples that we create our own reality to believe it. Perhaps we simply need to allow for new possibilities, rather than letting our conditioned mind convince us of its stubborn perspective that this is not possible.
If we are truly open and curious, this may happen organically. We may begin to feel drawn to books and articles similar to this one, videos about philosophy, spirituality, or quantum physics, and experiences and conversations that inspire us to discuss and explore our discoveries and learn more. And as we evolve in this direction, we may begin “waking up” to the dream we’ve been living in and become lucid dreamers.
If you’re not feeling curious as you read this, the information may not be relevant for you at this time. But if you’ve read this far, perhaps it is, and whatever resistance you’re feeling is due to negative associations and limiting beliefs. And perhaps this is a wonderful opportunity to notice these beliefs and to begin to consider whether or not they’re serving you in aligning with the truth of your inner being.
Once we begin “waking up,” once we begin accessing “deeper truths” of this reality, and of existence itself, our life may change dramatically. Slowly at first, and exponentially accelerating over time.
And that change can start at any moment.
Perhaps it’s already underway.
A version of this post was originally posted on TroyCohen.Wordpress.com and is republished here with permission from the author.
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Photo credit: Pixabay
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The post You Are the Creator of Your Reality . . . and You Already Know It appeared first on The Good Men Project.