Your brain knows how to turn your vision into a reality.
Look around you right now and find things that are red. Isn’t it amazing how the red items just pop out when you’re looking for them?
You can thank the Reticular Activating System (RAS) for that. RAS is a bundle of nerves in your brainstem that filter out unnecessary information so that the important information gets through. This feature can be positive and negative.
Your RAS validates your beliefs by filtering the world through the parameters you give it. That’s how two people or two groups can essentially live in what feels like two different realities.
Your RAS can also reinforce negative beliefs you may have about yourself or the world. If you think you’re not good at something, your RAS will work to validate that belief and find examples.
Ideally, you proactively focus your RAS on what you really want. When you get clear about your goals and desires, your RAS will reveal the people, information, and opportunities that can help you achieve them. Bingo.
People often say to me that I have an uncanny ability to create what I want in my life. In truth, I actively focus on what I want to create, and have finely tuned my RAS. It works. It feels like a miracle sometimes.
I am very careful about my thoughts. If a negative thought comes to mind, I change it. I know how powerful the mind can be.
Two years ago, I got very clear that I wanted a place in the mountains. I did a lot of research, but I was open to the information that my RAS brought into view. My vision went from a hope to a mountain home in about five months.
If you’d like a process to get clear about what you want to create in your life, check out the planning section at the front of Living ROI: A Weekly Guide for Soulful Living journal.
A group of us are meeting every Friday afternoon to do weekly planning, which starts with reminding ourselves of our top goals. Sign up here if you’d like to get notified of those gatherings, which are free.
Your life is waiting. Go for it!
Barbara Fagan-Smith
CEO, ROI
Chief Catalyst, Living ROI
