Did you know that your body contains systems engineered to help you manifest your desires?
Miraculous biological functions running 24/7 are dedicated to creating the reality you desire.
You can learn how to use these systems to your advantage to become higher achieving and more successful.
When you name it – you’ll claim it
The first function is known as “reticular activation.” Reticular activation is a process which screens what we see and ferrets out the particular data we’re interested in or focused upon with the precision of a heat seeking missile.
The process of reticular activation keeps us from experiencing sensory overload by sifting and sorting through the 70 thousand thoughts and millions of visual images we’re bombarded with each day. It allows only those images and thoughts germane to what we’re focused upon to enter our conscious awareness.
Why we see the same make car everywhere when we buy a new car
Through the process of reticular activation your mind, now focused on your new car, zeroes in on that car for as long as you sustain that high level of interest and excitement over your purchase. After a couple days – as your interest declines your brain will stop focusing in on the car, and you’ll stop seeing it as often.
This process takes place thousands of times each day and is faster than a Google search – and you can make it work for you to increase your level of success in any area of your life!
Ever heard these expressions? What you see is what you get? Or, Seek and ye shall find? When you begin to look for something in your environment – you’re more likely to find it. Which is exactly how you put reticular activation to work for you.
You trigger reticular activation with focus. The more you desire and focus on a goal the more the process of reticular activation will screen out things that don’t pertain to your goal and target things in your environment that support your goal. You literally become “single-minded.”
Be careful what you wish for
Reticular activation makes the advice to “focus on what you want and not what you don’t want in your life” even more cogent. The process of reticular activation doesn’t discriminate based on whether what we’re focused upon is something that’s good for us or not, it just targets what we focus on, and as a result we see and then experience more of that.
The second biological function that can heighten your success is Expectancy
Scientists have found that expectations speed up conscious recognition.
When researchers showed study participants dots on a screen that slowly changed to form symbols it took them longer to recognize what each symbol was, as compared to when they were shown the dots forming symbols a second time. The brain recognized the pattern that was forming much more quickly the second time because the participants now had an expectation of what the symbol would turn out to be.
If you desire to create certain circumstance in your life and have a belief that it can manifest – you’ll see results faster if you also have an “expectation” about the outcome.
To prime the expectancy pump you must be clear about what you want and have an idea of what the result will look like. This way your brain will recognize the result you’re looking for more quickly when it sees it.
So how can you put these two biological success secrets to work in your life to manifest abundance and harness the law of attraction?
Follow these 5 tips to get you on your way to creating your best life:
1. Decide on your goals. Create a list of what you’d like to manifest in your life. The list crystallizes your focus which activates the RA system. Studies have shown that people who write down their goals achieve them and manifest abundance in much higher percentages than those who don’t.
2. Get educated about your goal. Read books on the topic of your goal. Learn as much as you can about the many ways this goal can manifest in your life. The more you know the more expectancy you build. Your mind will more readily identify the signs if it has been primed with what to look for. This will also keep your enthusiasm and expectations high which will continue to stimulate the reticular activation process. By feeling a strong emotion like positivity about your goal you’ll activate one of most powerful law of attraction secrets which works hand in hand with RA and “expectancy.”
3. Practice creative visualization. Sit quietly for a 5 or 10 minutes each day and create a “mental movie” where you see yourself living the live you’ve been dreaming of and achieving the goals on your list. Make the movie very detailed. Feel the joy and elation as if it were real and – as if it were happening in the present moment. Creative visualization fosters expectancy and stimulates reticular activation.
4. Repeat affirmations. Learn to create positive affirmations about what you’re working to achieve. Make sure they’re stated in the present tense. Repeat your affirmation several times during the day to stimulate reticular activation. For excellent information on creating affirmations read Louise Hay’s classic: How To Heal Your Life, or her new book: Experience Your Good Now – you’ll find both in the side bar.
5. Create a treasure map, or vision board for your goals. Rip out pages of magazines whenever you see something that resonates with your goals. The pages can contain words or photos or pictures. Once you’ve amassed a nice collection you can arrange and glue them on a large piece of poster board. Keep it where you can see it. The treasure map will stimulate both expectancy and RA.
For more details about creating a vision board, or what I call a treasure map visit my friend Evelyn Lim from Abundance Tapestry. She offers extensive and detailed tips about creating a Vision Board.
Knowing how these two biological genies work and how to put them in high gear will speed up the manifestation process of your goals and desires. They also work hand in hand with your intuition. The more you focus on your desire the more likely you are to receive intuitive guidance about it and to experience synchronicity in your life. Synchronous events are meaningful coincidences that occur such as meeting the right person, or being given something you needed at the right time.
One last word of caution about your biological genies. Your word, or thought is their command. Even the little self deprecating jokes we make about ourselves can derail all our positive efforts, so be wary of not only what you focus on, but what you say. (Ande Waggoner from Up From Splat! has a fabulous video about self-deprecating humor that caused me to have an Aha moment of my own).
These five steps will help you rev up your expectancy and reticular activation by keeping you focused on what you do want in your life. Good luck!
Have you ever heard of reticular activation or expectancy? Have you used any of the techniques mentioned in the tips? How could you apply these tips to create your best life?
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P.S. I’m not only a blogger but an author. Check out my Intuition Development books. Click here.
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This is how I feel about my new relationship. That I saw clearly what I wanted. I named it and claimed it. And even when doubt crept in I believed.
Hi Rosemarie,
I love that you “named it and claimed it!” If we persist with more faith and belief – even our little nagging doubts cannot hold us back!
Affirmations are great. It’s a great way to establish a self blueprint. Used to navigate ourselves through life. Great post!
Hi Jonathan,
I agree affirmations are great at establishing a new blueprint.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the post.
Thanks so much for coming by and commenting.
I really appreciate your visit.
Angela, Another amazing and informative post. I love vision boards, and actually just finished writing a free Ebook about how to use a vision board for your book, which is available on my website. You always give us so much to think about!
Hi Charlotte,
Thank you for such a lovely compliment! Wow, a vision board for your book! Awesome. I’ve included things on my vision board about my book/writing, but never devoted one entirely to a book. Great idea! I’m going to go check it out. Thank you so much for sharing this with us here today too!
Angela,
I have a blue VW beetle that will be 12 years old in July. I still love it. I fell in love with them in the 60’s and when the new ones came out I was just out of grad school and bought myself one. And I still see them everywhere. I’d get another when this gives out but I’m hoping to have the courage to go carless.
Do bucket lists count in place of goals?
Hi Tess,
I’ve always loved the Beetle and wanted one, especially a convertible, but I never bought one because I always had to drive my parents around. When I was growing up my best friend’s older sister had one and I thought they were the coolest car ever! If you’re still seeing them everywhere then you must still have a level of excitement for the car that’s triggering the RA system. Going carless sounds great.
I think a bucket list counts for goals. Sure, why not? It’s a list of things you want to do.
THANKS for the reminders, as a manifestor myself, you know this stuff, and it works! But it’s sometimes hard to follow through. Like I have an image board, but it needs to be updated, so I dont’ look at it much for that reason…so your post is a reminder to actually do the steps.
Hi Kala,
I’m so glad this was a reminder for you to update your image board.
We all need reminders sometime.
Thank you so much for visiting. It’s a pleasure to see you.
Hi Angela,
I always look forward to your posts for all the insightful information and wisdom you provide. Today is no exception. Although I have been aware of the process, I did not know it was called reticular activation. But even without all the scientific discoveries to back it up, I know this process to be true intuitively. Whenever I am focused on something, I see opportunities and pitfalls which I would not have noticed before.
I love your 5 tips on how to create your best life. Being clear about a goal and educating yourself about it is very important. The moment you do so, you open up new horizons for yourself. Every time I have a new goal or wish to learn something new, I go out to purchase books on the subject so that I can read up on it at my own leisure.
The more I learn and know about something new, the easier it is for me to create visualizations about them to help me achieve my goals.
Thank you for sharing this lovely article! I love the reference to the genie too! 🙂
Irving the Vizier
Hi Irving,
I’m so glad you enjoyed the article. I think finding out about the science behind what we’re doing gives it much more validity.
If we feel the process of manifesting is real rather than “imagined” we will be more apt to have faith in the process and manifest more easily!
Angela, I love how you ferret out the science that backs up metaphysical concepts! I have heard of and used the knowledge of reticular activation and expectation, and I can attest to the power of both.
What I’ve discovered is that you must have, running through all the actions you mention here, the feeling of what you desire. I think that’s why the self deprecating laughter (thank you very much for the link to my post on that!!) is so important to be aware of.
It’s not what you’re saying in an affirmation and it’s not the picture on the vision board that attracts your desires. It’s the emotion that these things activate within you. That emotion has a vibrational frequency that acts like a suction device pulling things in. That’s why some people put up bulletin boards and have them up for years with no results. If, when you look at the photos, you feel heavy awareness of the lack of what you want, you aren’t in expectation; you’re in longing. And longing doesn’t create desires. Believe me, I’ve found that out the hard way. 😉
Hey Ande,
I was sure you would have heard about these things. Yes, I didn’t go into the emotional aspect very deeply here at all.
For sure though – we do have to vibrate at the level of the things we’re expecting to manifest and that occurs through the emotions.
I love how you differentiate between expectation and longing – excellent point. Thank you!
Yes, I can relate to finding things out the hard way too.
I love this! I never knew this phenomenon had an actual name. I know that it works! Lately, I’ve been changing the way I look at things and expecting abundance in my life. Every time I do this it’s amazing how fast the universe jumps into action. But it’s great to know that now I have a name to put with the actions.
Thanks Angela!
HI Betsy,
Yes, isn’t it cool to find out the science behind all of these anecdotal claims about the law of attraction?
I love that you’re “expecting abundance” and that the “Universe jumps into action.” Awesome!
You’re welcome – thanks so much for all your great support I really appreciate it Betsy.
I have heard about the rectacular activation. It’s part of what I share about the science behind a vision board. Reading the comments here makes me wonder why not more people know about this. It’s great that you’ve shared it here. Awesome article, by the way! You made things simple to understand and fun! I enjoyed how you’ve explained it. Also, thanks for the link love 🙂
Hi Evelyn,
I figured you would know about reticular activation. It makes sense that it would work with the vision boarding what I call “treasure map.”
To tell you the truth I only heard about reticular activation 3 years ago. I was fascinated by it but couldn’t find much info about it.
I’m glad you enjoyed the article! You’re welcome for the link too!
Hi Angela,
Very cool article. The power of expectation has really played a role in my life more recently. For me looking at these concepts as being similar to optimism is helpful as well. I always approach new opportunities with an optimistic outlook. When expecting the best, greater opportunities arise and I’m able to expand and see the bigger picture. Thanks for the 5 tips as well, those are great!
Thank so much Joe.
I’m glad you enjoyed the article.
I would equate it be optimistic as well. I’m an optimist as well.
I’m happy you found the five tips useful too.
Thank you so much for coming by and commenting too.
Wow Angela, there was so much here. Great stuff!! I’m not sure why, but I’ve never heard of nor read about reticular activation, but it makes complete and total sense, especially when you explained it regarding the things in life that we notice because that’s where are thoughts are.
You always make me think Angela. Thanks so much.
Marcus
Hi Marcus,
I’m so glad you got a lot of knew info from this post. The science behind how we do manifest our reality is the most fascinating aspect of the law of attraction for me. It makes rational rather than fantastical – something my logical mind prefers.
I’m glad I could make you think. Thank you so much for coming by and adding to the conversation here.
I’d never heard of reticular activation though I certainly have experienced it. Just never knew what to call it! Same with “expectancy”, really. Thanks for giving names and meanings to something I couldn’t previously articulate!
Do you think the blogging boot camp would be helpful for someone like me? I have a very small readership (approx. 200 subscribers) and would like to increase that number by at least 10x. Is the blogging boot camp helpful for someone like me who understands the importance of networking, blogging schedules, etc….? Or is it mostly for newbies?
Hi Lindsay,
I’m so glad you got a lot out of this post. Yes, it does help to have names for these things too doesn’t it? Sometimes I get a little tired of all the “voodoo” around the Law of Attraction. I prefer to understand the science behind it.
Thanks so much for visiting. It’s always a pleasure to chat with you!
I’ve never heard of Reticular Activation but it makes perfect sense!
My vision board(s)really keep me focused. I have two- one with pics of goals/things I want, and one with quotes,sayings and meaningful titles cut from magazines.
Have a great day!
Hi Carol,
I’m so glad you found this post useful to you! I love creating treasure maps. I’ve found that over the years nearly everything I’ve ever glued onto my map has materialized in my life! You have a great day too. So nice to see you!
Great advice as usual, Angela, and I appreciate the scientific approach you use. That appeals to me. I don’t know if I could ever give up self-deprecating humor, though. What would I have left? My genie may just have to work around that. 😛
Hi Anna,
Glad you enjoyed the post! I’m a research writer at heart so I love to find the science behind the anecdotal evidence.
Yeah, self-deprecating humor is a big part of my own language. I think it’s important to work on though. I believe it is masking my insecurities in some areas of my life – which is blocking me from manifesting 100 percent of the life I dream of having.
So, it’s time to say: “Off with her head,” to the self-deprecating humor for me!
Hi Angela,
I love the manifestation genie. Nothing moves faster than the speed of thoughts (even the speed of light). We will manifest whatever we are obsessed with… so we might as well have that Genie working for us. Magnificent obsessions and inspiring addictions put the wheels of manifestation in motion.
Hi Rob,
Ah, very good: We will manifest what we are obsessed with – so true.
“Magnificent obsessions and inspiring addictions put the wheels of manifestation in motion,” awesome!
Thanks so much for visiting and sharing these inspiring words with us!
I’m with you Rob, I love the manifesting Genie!
Angela, you give it everything you’ve got in every article – great work! I think of manifesting as making something “alive” within me. Once I feel it that way, it’s on the way!
Lori
P.S. I’m going to link to this in an article I’m working on!
Hi Lori,
Thanks so much for the lovely compliment Lori. It’s a pleasure to have you visit PBI.
Oh, wow! I love how you said that: I think of manifesting as something “alive” within me. That’s fabulous!
I have no doubt once you ‘feel’ it that way it’s on its way! What a terrific tip you’ve shared with us here today. Thank you.
Great – I’d love to have you link to the article too.
Angela,
I’ll certainly let you know. It’s still in the early stages, so I’m working it out!
I think I am the 200th person to Like you on facebook! Thanks for your Like, by the way!
Keep up the great work you do here!
Lori
Hi Lori,
Writing takes time. I completely understand! I’ll look forward to reading your article when it comes out
Were you lucky #200? Terrific! I appreciate and thank you for “liking” my page!
It was my pleasure “liking” yours too! Have super weekend! I’m on my way out the door for some fresh air and time away from the computer.
Angela
Hi Angela 🙂 Boy, the manifesting genie can be elusive at times. You can take her to dinner at her favourite restaurant and still end up sleeping on the couch. I agree with all your wonderful points, and I’d add, relax, and have faith. Hope you’re well, hugs 🙂
Hi Simon,
I agree! One minute you think you’re in an exclusive relationship and the next thing you know she’s moved on! Where the heck did she go?
Yes, absolutely – relaxing and having faith are so important. Thank you for bringing that up.
We need to go with the flow more at times when it would “appear” that nothing is happening toward manifesting our dreams. It’s during those times that seem so quiet and fruitless that things are probably coalescing beneath the surface – and that’s where our faith comes in. Keep the faith and your vision pointed in the direction of your dream and it will appear on the horizon when the time is right.
Thanks so much for visiting and commenting. Put the welcome mat back out for your genie – I believe she’s only taken a temporary vaca!