Consciousness is a strange thing, and science doesn’t fully understand it. But psychologists know that reality manifests itself to us through the filter of the conscious and subconscious minds. So by changing how you think, you can change how the world feels. But to change your external reality, you need action. So combining a new mindset with action will shift your reality in a powerful way.
What Does “Shift Reality” Really Mean?
Think about your day-to-day reality. Is it living up to your expectations? Are you spending time doing the things you want to do, or do you waste hours doing things you’re not proud of? Do you need to shift reality this year?
A reality shift is more than a new years resolution. It’s a fundamental change in your life. After a reality shift, you won’t be the same person you were and won’t live the same way either.
There are different ways to achieve a reality shift.
- Change the way you feel
- Change what you do
- Change who you spend time with
- Change the way you react
Some of these reality shifts are internal, and some are external. Some involve changing the way you think or feel; others involve changing your job or life or perhaps starting a new hobby or leisure activity.
How to Create a Quick Reality Shift
Since Freud and Jung, people have understood the power of the subconscious mind, but in recent decades, people have created ways to use the subconscious mind to manifest positive results.
Law of Attraction
Some people swear by the law of attraction, while others say it’s all fantasy. The truth is a little more complicated, however.
The law of attraction states that “like attracts like.” So positive thoughts attract positivity, and negative thoughts attract negativity.
We know that two people can be in the same situation, such as waiting in a long line, yet have different experiences. One could complain
- “This is a complete waste of time!”
While the person next to him could be thinking
- “I’m glad to be standing in here, it’s cold outside!”
How we think can definitely affect how we experience reality, but can it change reality itself? Yes and no.
You can’t think about money and expect a cartload of 100-dollar bills to appear, but you can use the law of attraction to make money.
By spending regular time thinking about making money, you will start to consider the different ways to actually do it. Then, when opportunities come along, you’ll be much more likely to recognize them and be motivated to work hard enough to make the thought a reality.
The crux is this. The law of attraction will create an internal reality shift, making an external one easier. So what do you want? Start asking the universe for it.
Positive Affirmations
Positive affirmations are an excellent reality-shifting method. The habit of repeating phrases you want the subconscious mind to adopt engrains them in the subconscious. Then they become part of who you are. Usually, these mantras are about how you think, feel, or act. Here are some examples:
- I work hard even when I feel tired
- I enjoy being productive
- I’m a positive person
- I make my life better every day
Create your own affirmations for areas you want to improve, and in the language you usually use. Then, when you’re in a relaxed state, repeat them to yourself regularly, and pay attention to any changes you notice.
Start by saying each affirmation ten times, twice daily for a month.
Mindfulness and Meditation
If you don’t know how to meditate, you are missing out on many benefits of meditation. It’s not only a relaxation method or a way to help you fall asleep. Practicing meditation can alter your state of consciousness and change your current reality for the better.
You don’t need to become a Buddhist or sit in the lotus posture like a Zen Buddhist monk to understand the power of meditation. Apps like Headspace offer guided meditation sessions you can try at home.
Or try the most basic form of meditative state sitting meditation like this:
- Find somewhere you won’t be interrupted.
- Sit silently and close your eyes.
- Allow yourself not to focus on anything.
- When thoughts appear, let them, but don’t dwell on them. Just let them come and go.
- Become aware of your whole being and the space it occupies without thinking.
Though simple, meditating like this is very challenging, and at first, you may find yourself unable to stop your mind from talking to you, aim for a minute or two and slowly build it up to 30 minutes. When you can silence your mind for extended periods, you’ll notice that reality starts to drop away, and you’ll feel transformed when your alarm sounds.
Visualization
Visualization has powerful effects on the mind. The brain finds it difficult to differentiate reality from something visualized. Athletes have used visualization to heal injuries and make physical progress without moving.
If you’re a sprinter, sit quietly somewhere and see yourself in the starting blocks, feel the track on your fingertips, and run the whole race in your mind when you hear the pistol shot. Then, when you cross the finish line, you might notice your heart is beating fast.
Studies have shown that you can make progress like this without ever leaving your seat. The brain practices and improves firing the same neurons you’ll use when you race for real.
So if you want to become more confident, you can visualize yourself being confident in the situations you’ll need it. Make your visualization practice part of your daily life, and you will see a change in your external world.
Binaural Beats
Binaural beats are a popular way to increase creativity and productivity with an instant effect.
Binaural beats are a type of music you listen to with headphones, a slightly different frequency is played to each ear, causing the brain to fill in the gap. Some say this mental work encourages creativity and other positive cognitive benefits.
Many studies look at how effective binaural beats are for concentration, studying, reducing anxiety, and increasing creativity. However, while some studies have shown positive effects, there is no scientific consensus.
Try it for yourself, and if it works for you, great. If not, try something else. You can find binaural beats on any music platform. Check out Youtube to find some good examples.
Knowing what kind of reality shift you should employ and where to start is challenging, but by going through these steps, you’ll be able to enter a new life in 2023.
A Reality-Shifting Method to Create Lasting Change
To make lasting changes in your life, changing the way you think and feel is a good start, but ultimately you need action to drive the changes in the external world; you have to do something. Follow this process over three or more months, and you won’t recognize your reality anymore.
Step One: Figure Out Who You Are and What You Want
Don’t skip this step! It’s tempting to think, “I know who I am, and I know what I want to change.” But there is always a little more to uncover. Otherwise, you would have already made the changes.
Start by doing a brain dump. Get everything in your head on paper where it will be easier to analyze. Then, you only need one question to help you.
- What don’t you like about your current reality?
Step Two: Ask Yourself Why
Look at your answer to question one. Then, ask yourself why you allow this in your day-to-day reality.
So if you answered, “I don’t like my job.” Why do you do a job you hate?
The answer is not “to earn money.” You could make money doing a job you love too. The answer might be:
- You don’t have the right education or qualifications to get the job you want
- You don’t feel you deserve the job you want
- You don’t know what job you would like
The why is the reality shift you need to make. It’s the cause of the problem.
Step Three: How to Change Your Life
Come up with a plan to tackle the root of the problem. If you do this, the problem will solve itself.
Once you know the problem, the solution is usually obvious.
- If you don’t know what job you want, research online for jobs related to your personality type and skill set.
- If you lack confidence, start going to the gym or find opportunities to get on stage (e.g., local drama, dance, or comedy club.)
- If you let people mistreat you, you must assert yourself or find new friends.
Whatever your problem’s root, explore one way to turn it around. Next, all you need to do is take action.
Step Four: Take Action
Discovering problems and solutions is straightforward, but implementing them takes effort and consistency.
Turning your life around isn’t going to happen in a day, and trying to solve your issues in a day won’t work either. Like when you start lifting weights, you need to gradually increase the workload over time.
- Have an endpoint in mind
- Work on it every day
- Do more this week than last week
These three rules will create more change in your life than you can imagine. So let’s look at them one by one.
Have an End Point in Mind
You’ve heard life coaches and gurus like Tony Robbins or Jim Rohn talk about goal setting and its transformative power, but few people take the time to set an objective they can achieve.
Wanting to be rich, change jobs, or speak another language are nice ideas, but they aren’t goals yet. They need a little more clarification. Using the SMART framework is a helpful way to make your goals more achievable. SMART stands for:
- Specific
- Specify the job you want or the language and fluency level
- Measurable
- Is there a way to know when you have accomplished the goal?
- Achievable
- Don’t be unrealistic
- Relevant
- It needs to solve your problem
- Time Sensitive
- Give yourself some urgency
Work on It Every Day
Once you have your goal, you need to commit to it. But what does committing to it mean? It means working on it every day.
At first, it may be hard to get started. However, the third rule below will make it easier.
But you must commit to working daily on your reality shift to achieve results. Why? Taking one day off each week won’t result in considerable missed work. It’s more of a mind shift.
Reality is your every day, so a reality shift needs to be every day too.
When you take days off, you tell yourself that taking a day off is OK. Then when you’re sick, your mind will convince you to take an extra day because you’ve already told it that a day off is OK. Then when you feel tired one day, your mind will say, “take another day off.” Eventually, you’ll take days off whenever you don’t want to work or feel lazy, and your reality shift won’t happen.
By committing to work on your goal every day, you are telling yourself that something about you has fundamentally changed, and whether you’re sick, it’s your birthday, or you’re on vacation, you’re going to get to work on your new life.
Do More This Week Than Last Week
You’ll be enthusiastic and motivated when you start working on this project. So naturally, you’ll want to spend all day improving your situation. But the newness will wear off fast. After three days of working 5 hours a day, you’ll become mentally fatigued, and your output will drop, or you may even give up.
Instead, start slow, really slow. For the first week, pick one task to complete each day, it might only take five minutes, but it’s all movement in the right direction. Then, Next week aim for 20 minutes or 30 minutes each day.
You will build up your stamina this way and the habit of working on it every day. You’ll quickly find yourself able to work three or more hours each day without feeling fatigued. When you can maintain this output for months, your reality will shift.
Look Back at This Moment in a Year
If you follow any of this advice and try to shift your reality this year, look back and see how far you’ve come. The person you’ve become won’t recognize the person you once were. That’s when you’ll know you’ve shifted your reality.
