Do you believe that you can create your own reality? That your focus in this world determines your experience of that world? That there is more to everything out there than what most people see on the surface? In the Vibe Shifters Tribe last week, I posted an excerpt from “Auguries of Innocence”, a poem by William Blake:
To me, this part of the poem is all about perception and the idea that we see depends on what we are looking for. In the discussion group, I said that two people looking at the same thing can see something completely different, and I asked the tribe members how we can shift our perception when we don’t like what we see.
One of our tribe members posted an interesting comment and she said:
Life really is delicious.. but maybe we really have to realize, know and embrace this and truly stop looking at others and what they say and not focus on all the calamity but the good stuff that… happens every day, but we instead respond with “yeah but”. Perhaps we should stop using that phrase and no matter what is seen, ignore it and go beyond it to what we want to see.
And I thought this was rather brilliant. I agree with her completely – I think we should all drop the “yeah but” from our vocabularies. “Yeah but” is looking for reasons to stay in the darkness rather than looking for reasons to expand the light. It’s looking for all the reasons why something can’t be, rather than focusing on all the reasons why it can be.
Your expectations create your own reality
It’s an indicator of where your focus in life happens to be. Your focus determines your expectations. And your expectations determine your reality. What we focus on is what expands. So do you focus on what you want to see and build and experience in life, or do you focus on all the reasons why you think you can’t do any of those things? Have you programmed yourself to look for the possibilities and opportunities that are all around you? Or are you running on auto-pilot and always thinking about your “yeah, but”s?
So many people have wonderful dreams and goals that they want for themselves. They allow themselves to get all fired up and excited about those dreams for a little bit… and then, for some reason, before they even get started on them, they just let them fizzle out with a defeated “yeah, but…”, and that tends to be the end of it.
“I’d like to go back to school, but…”, “I’d like to write a book, but…”, “I’d like to lose weight, but…”, “I’d like to exercise more, but…” and then they never even get started, or they completely give up at the first sign of an obstacle.
If they had only kept going and actually started taking action – if they had only focused on the worlds of possibility before them – they could have done it. But they let the voices of doubt and negativity take over, instead.
Your reality is what you choose to create. Just because someone else says it’s not possible, or wasn’t able to do it themselves, does not mean that you will also fail. Look beyond the surface and start seeing things differently. See the world that exists within a single grain of sand, and you will start to understand why you absolutely can create your own reality. Believe that you can do all the things that you want to do. Reject the possible reality of the “yeah, but” (it’s only one possibility) and choose to substitute your own.
photo credit: pixabay.com cc (modified by me)
This was really lovely, Nathalie. It is true and the point is to keep going no matter what, even if something is taking too long or whatnot. I love one of your quotes, that we might was well spend out time doing what we love and at some point, eventually, we will get there. I just never understood everyone’s rush to do things. What are they rushing for? Then they reach a point of boredom and that is not something we should experience, according to masters, if we are living or life mindfully and deliberately.
I began practicing hugging my internal self when someone says something not so nice, a phenomenon which decreased recently. I also like what another tribe member said, just give them love, as it is better to put that out there than hate. But really, why does it matter what they say? Nothing is written in stone and words are only that, an uttered opinion. Even though Don Miguel Ruiz says we should honor our words and what is uttered, they way people are these days, their words do not even count, as they are constantly in flux. The universe has the last say, so the only thing we can really do is move on to what we want. And as for being embarrassed by failure, well, I think we are more praised for trying and staying on track, are we not?
Thanks, A. The thing to keep in mind is that the whole concept of something taking too long usually comes from the outside — from other people, or from our own fears about what other people might say or think. I think we rush out of fear — fear that we’re going to miss out on something, or fear that we’re not living up to some sort of outside standard. The quote you’re thinking of, I believe, is the one from Earl Nightingale: “Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway. We might just as well put that passing time to good use.” Definitely one of my favourite quotes, too!
Did you ever wonder if the reason the outside not-so-nice comments decreased is because you’re started hugging yourself and letting yourself know that such things don’t matter? You’ve shifted your energy surrounding those types experiences — you’re fearing them less, which means you’re less focused on them, which means you attract fewer of such experiences into your life. Well done. 🙂
Yes, that is the quote and I totally agree. People will make you accountable for procrastinating and will blatantly tell you that if you are procrastinating, then you do not want it. Well, this can go both ways. If your instinct gives you signals not to proceed with something and it turns out that you dodged a bullet, then great, the procrastination came in handy and worked in your favor and served you. If, however, you need time to prepare for something for which you need to feel good about before proceeding, then how can you possibly be held accountable for the time elapsed, when you really needed to tune your frequency? In time, the frequency will raise and you will feel good enough to proceed. Perhaps people around you will give up on you and you will be left with those who only believed in you in the first place? Isn’t this better then? I think it all works out, either way. You end up where you belong, doing the thing you want with the people on the same vibrational frequency, which works out to serve you.
So, maybe society makes too big a deal about this procrastination business. If you are not harming anyone, then why forced into something you are not ready for and not a match to? This is the question that comes up for me.
True enough. The only thing to be aware of with procrastination, though, is that it is sometimes a mask for fear — fear that is preventing you from doing what you need to do to move yourself to the next level of your dream. Deal with the fear, and the procrastination tends to evaporate. And on the flip side, dealing with the procrastination can help you work through the fear. You do what is that you’re keeping yourself from doing and you realize it wasn’t as bad as you were afraid it was going to be. It’s a two-way street and it’s all connected. At some point the discomfort of being stuck in place becomes worse than the potential discomfort of pushing yourself forward… and then you have to leap.
I tend to find this statement coming out of the mouths of people who watch allot of T.V and spend allot of time looking at cellphones for no reason just to mindlessly entertain themselves.
So maybe its best to cut out the negative programming that comes with T.V and unnecessary Smart phone usage.
Could be a simple thing that changes your life for the better
Hello Erik, welcome to Vibe Shifting, and thanks so much for commenting. 🙂
Cutting out the negative programming in all areas of our lives is always a great way to start shifting our energy. So much of what the media focuses on is negative — it’s that “if it bleeds, it leads” mentality that showcases the absolute worst elements of human nature 24/7. I completely agree that tuning all of that out and focusing on what we want to see more of in the world is definitely the way to go.