Your Thoughts Create Your Reality

     What kind of life do you believe is possible for yourself? Does it always feel like the world is working against you? You should know that your perception will determine your life far more than you could ever think is possible. Your thoughts truly do create your reality, but it all starts with what you choose to think at this moment. 

      I am a firm believer in science; no other force has done more good for humanity than our technological progress brought on by studying the world through logic and reason. So, when I tell you that your thoughts determine your reality, I am not only coming from a purely cause and effect rationality, nor am I just spouting feel good spiritual slogans without any basis in fact. There is a growing realization by the top physicists in the world that our perception is not just a casual observer of our reality, but that it actually helps to shape it

     Scientific studies have been showing for years that at the subatomic level, particles behave in a different way than the rules of physics on a larger scale would have them. The study of these particles is known as quantum mechanics. The most fascinating discovery that they have made is that these particles seem to act differently whether they are studied or not. Through experimentation they have determined that the particles that make up every bit of matter and energy in the known universe will act one way if they are observed, and a different way if they are not. These particles are in multiple places at once and our minds determine which state they are in. This means that our conscious perception is determining the reality that we are living in!

     I am definitely simplifying several decades of research by the world’s top physicists into a couple of paragraphs, but the results of the science is clear; our perception is not just an audience member of our universe, it also plays a role in creating it.

     What does our brains ability to affect the position of subatomic particles have to do with your life? I believe that these scientific discoveries are the first steps in us discovering just how powerful our thoughts can be. Everything in the known universe is made of these subatomic particles, and our observations are determining how they behave. Does this mean we should be able to make objects float around the room with our minds or that if we concentrate hard enough that we will suddenly be in a mansion made of gold? Maybe not, but what you have to remember is that not only is this reality being simultaneously observed and created by all of us, but that there are also many other forces at play that we have yet to fully understand.

     So what’s the point? If I can’t be an X-Men or have a Scrooge McDuck money pit what is the point of knowing that my brain helps to shape my reality? If you knew that every thought you have will slightly change the world around you, don’t you think you should choose to see the world as a better place? Maybe if we choose to think positively we can slowly create a world that reflects that energy. Even if you can’t see the value of our role in helping to shape the world around us one subatomic particle at a time, there are several, more relatable, ways in which you can determine your life just by the thoughts you choose to have.

     A belief is an electrochemical construct in your brain that has been built by trillions of thoughts. This pathway of firing neurons is slowly shaped and reinforced by every thought that blasts through your mind. If you have been told something your whole life, these repetitious thoughts have created a framework upon which your perception lies. When you are told something that does not fit within this framework, you reject it as being a falsehood. This is the basis of all learning and is obviously an incredibly important function of the brain, but it can also be an extremely damaging process.

     If you have been told your whole life that you aren’t smart enough, not strong enough, not beautiful enough, or not likeable enough, you will believe these things because you have embedded those beliefs over and over again until that is your idea of reality. Those feelings of inadequacy are repeated in your own thoughts and fired off a thousand times a day, year in, year out. So when you suddenly try to tell yourself, “I can accomplish this!” the thought will fire up and crash right out of that framework. Your brain will see it as an intruder, a falsehood, and it will respond to you without remorse, “No, you can’t, you’re not good enough.”

     Have you ever decided, “I need to start thinking positively!” You found yourself doing a great job arguing with that voice inside your head and just when you thought you were gaining self-confidence and were going to be successful, something bad happens. You fail at something and all of those happy, feel good thoughts come crashing down, your brain mockingly saying “I told you so.” This is because that framework was built over years. It is a strong web of negativity, reinforced by trillions of electrical pathways in your brain. Any deviation from this pathway will be seen as wrong, it could even see these thoughts as threatening to your very survival. When positivity doesn’t work and you let the negative thoughts come rushing back in, that framework is strengthened even more intensely because it has seen what happens when you deviate from the path.

     “Well, Matt, if those positive thoughts don’t instantly create positive outcomes then it seems like your perception isn’t doing anything to your reality. Even when I tried to think positively, I still failed.” Yes, and as long as that framework exists, every slight failure will seem like a complete vindication of your negativity. The negative will continue to outweigh the positive, and you will continue to create a negative reality as well as construct your brain to expect a negative reality. Until you think positively no matter what situation you are in, no matter how much you suffer, no matter how convincing that negative voice in your head can be, you will continue to lose.

     That framework was built over years, it may take just as long to tear it down and build a new one. Stay strong, repeat those positive thoughts every day, ESPECIALLY when you are having a bad day or experience a failure. Never give up arguing with that voice until it slowly dies away, the branches of electrical pathways fading out from disuse while your brain slowly builds a belief network of positivity. Once that happens the voice in your head will be a positive uplifting one. Be prepared, it will even argue with you when you are having a bad day and you try to tell it to shut up.

     Okay, so maybe neurobiology was only slightly more relatable than quantum physics, but there is another irrefutable way in which your thoughts determine your reality. Do you know someone who always seem to have things going right for them? They seem to just have the world poured into their laps, and you can’t help but feel the creeping sensation of envy as you scroll through their accomplishments. How can they always be so happy? Why can’t my life be so perfect?

     First of all, their life isn’t a fairy tale, and you need to remember that we can never truly see the struggles someone else is going through. But there is a connection between that happiness and their success, and it may not be in the way that you think.

     When you are optimistic, you take chances because you believe that the outcome will be a positive one. A pessimistic person might not apply for that job, or introduce themselves to that pretty stranger, or start that small business against the odds. I can’t tell you the amount of times that I have met someone who is so stuck on the idea that life doesn’t go their way that they refuse to even try to make things better for themselves. When you believe you can do something, you will take every extra step, push the extra mile and continue to push where a negative person would have given up and concluded that it was hopeless. As Henry Ford once said “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right.”

    
      Stop thinking that life is just something that happens to you, that you have no control over the world you live in. Science has proven that the fabric of reality bends upon your perception! The voice in your head and your outlook on life are based on the thoughts you choose to make every second. The choices you make and the success you create are dependent on being positive and never giving up hope. In so many ways your thoughts are creating the reality in which you live. Choose to have positive thoughts. Choose to believe in a better, more successful life filled with endless possibilities. Choose to be happy. If you truly understood the power of your mind, why would you choose any differently?