just like magic

DISCLAIMER: so everyone in the shifting/loass community has a different take on how the whole thing actually works. after a lot of pondering, this is my take. you don't have to agree <3. we all have different perspectives and that is beautiful. whatever works for you, works for you. this is just me rambling about my experience and what makes sense to me and my beliefs. (sort of) long post alert!!

according to neuroscientist Patrick Cavanagh, "we're not seeing reality. we're seeing a story that's being created for us".

our thoughts, if we think them over and over, and assign truth to them, become beliefs.

beliefs create a cognitive lens through which we interpret the events of our world and this can shape our perception of reality.

by changing our beliefs, we can change our perception of reality and create a new experience.

it isn’t about what happens only, but about how we perceive the world; our values, what truly matters to us, our self imposed limits, the way we see ourselves; our assumptions about ourselves, our limits, and about what we can do.

we don’t see the world as it is, but as we are. our concepts, our ideas of possible/impossible (most of which was taught to us, not something we ourselves came to a conclusion based on our own lives), our traumas, the people we surround ourselves with - all of these aspects shape our assumptions.

when I started changing my assumptions, my limiting beliefs; when I TOOK CONTROL and created my rules for myself - that’s when I started to become who I wanted to be.

Although science has yet to prove the 3D manifesting effect of the Law of Assumption, the “act as if” manifestation technique we so very often read about and practice does have some research support as a cognitive-behavioral intervention.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) has long been a cornerstone of modern psychology and psychotherapy, offering individuals practical tools to understand and improve their mental well-being. "Act As If" has emerged as a powerful and transformative intervention technique.

"Act As If" is a behavioral strategy that encourages individuals to consciously adopt the mindset and behaviors of the person they aspire to become, even when faced with self-doubt or challenging circumstances. Whether you're seeking to enhance your self-esteem, overcome obstacles, or simply better understand the inner workings of your mind, the "Act As If" approach can be a valuable addition to your mental health toolkit.

🎀 Why "Act As If" Works (in psychology, anyway)

At its core, the "Act As If" technique is a cognitive-behavioral strategy designed to encourage individuals to adopt the mindset and behaviors of the person they want to be. It is rooted in several core principles that guide its implementation. "Act As If" requires individuals to consciously act as though they have already achieved their goals, even when they may doubt their abilities or face daunting challenges. This helps build self-confidence and creates a self-fulfilling prophecy, where the mind and body work in tandem to manifest positive change.

The theoretical underpinnings of "Act As If" are deeply intertwined with self-perception theory - people infer their own attitudes, emotions, and abilities by observing their own behaviors. In the context of "Act As If," this means that by consistently engaging in the behaviors associated with their goals, individuals can alter their self-perception, ultimately reinforcing their self-belief.

🎥🎲 The Role of Role-Playing

By immersing oneself in the character of the person they want to become, individuals can better understand and internalize the attitudes and behaviors required for success. Role-playing provides a practical and hands-on approach to "Act As If," allowing individuals to experiment with different mindsets and behaviors and assess their impact on their self-perception and real-life outcomes.

We often engage in "self-sabotage," acting ineffectively despite knowing better ways of handling difficult situations. There are many reasons for this, and one is our dysfunctional, automatic thoughts. Thoughts like "I won't succeed no matter how hard I try" or "I can't do this" can hinder our actual abilities to do something well.

For example: you believe you are too overweight to go to the gym and not feel bad about yourself, or you don't believe you can actually lose the weight you need. When you let these kinds of thoughts influence your behavior, you might find yourself avoiding situations you find intimidating for thinking they're not for someone like you, or believing it's a lost cause. "Acting as if" can help alter these dysfunctional thoughts. Instead of engaging with these thoughts, "acting as if" might have you engaged in all of the activities someone who believed they could succeed would engage in: for instance, making an appointment with a personal trainer, which would result in more accountability, a better ability to perform exercises correctly, and a more rewarding experience overall. If you were out of shape before, "acting as if" can help you get in shape sooner.

The catch in the "act as if" technique is that we can use it even if we are 100% sold on our dysfunctional automatic thoughts. We don't have to wait until our thoughts change to step into the role we'd prefer. We instead step into the role, which can result in our thoughts changing more quickly and more permanently. Better yet, we don't have to wait for the law to kick in before we get what we want.

🧸👩🏻‍🏫Steps for "Acting As If"

💭Step 1: Identify the automatic thought or dysfunctional belief that is getting in your way.

🔄Step 2: Identify all of the things you would do if you believed the exact opposite of that thought to be successful in your goal.

🎭Step 3: Rehearse those behaviors: Act as if. Literally role-play. You can do it talking to yourself when you are alone, you can do it in your head during mindless moments of the day; you can even do it with your eyes closed, laying in bed, and visualize yourself engaging in those behaviors. The point is to be familiar enough with the behaviors that you can use them without thinking about them too much.

🎬Step 4: "Act as if" some more. Rehearse the behaviors some more. Maybe get more creative (start dressing up as the person you want to be, make a journal of all the things that happened on your role playing day, don't feel stupid - no one has to know anyway!)

💁🏻‍♀️Step 5: Engage in the behaviors you rehearsed. Each time a dysfunctional thought comes to mind, smile at it, and continue as planned.

I am a philosophy enthusiast, specially when it comes to the field of Metaphysics. I consider myself somewhat of an existentialist, and I enjoy reading a lot of Sartre. In several philosophical movements and schools of thought there is an idea about how imagination has a crucial role in our individual understanding, perceptions and assumptions of ourselves, the world and the Universe.

Barthes wrote Camera Lucida in homage to Jean-Paul Sartre’s L’Imaginaire, in which Sartre discusses what the existence of imagination shows about the nature of human consciousness. His conclusion is that because the imaginary process relies on intentionality, the world is constituted not from the outside into our consciousness, but rather we constitute the world based on our intentions toward it (Falkner, 2014).

Yogācāra is one of the philosophical backgrounds of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition. Its doctrine is summarized in the term vijṇapti-mātra, “nothing but cognition only” which also known as “Consciousness Only” or “Mind Only”. This school advocates the existence of the consciousness and cognitive object. An object that we think we see is an illusion according to Yogācāra School. This illusion is due to our habits. These habits come from our minds. This is for our habitual conditioning that we see that things as real and in different ways. In other words, only the subjective aspect (darsanabhaga) is real, not the objective aspect (nimittabhaga). The object world is merely the transformation of our consciousness (vijnanaparinama) (Barua, 2019).

Barua gives the example of "an itinerant ascetic, an amorous person and a dog, all catch sight of a woman, but they all have three different notions. The ascetic looks upon her as a mere carcass (made up of the five aggregates), the voluptuary or sensualist takes her to be an object of amorous delight while the dog takes her to be something eatable" (Barua, 2019), or a caregiver.

In other words, an object appears in different forms according to the conditioned, subjective state of mind.

Bottomline is, in my humble opinion of course: we perceive the world not as it is, but as we are. Since imagination (that we call the 4D) relies on intentionality, we must free our minds from the way we were conditioned if we want to see changes in our perceptions. And that the way things seem to you (your 3D) is not inherently what they are, but only your perception of what they are.

(Take Control - Kodaline / click the image for the Spotify link of the song)

References Barua, M. (2019). The Doctrine of Perception in Buddhism. The Journal of International Association of Buddhist Universities (JIABU), 12(1), 276–282. Retrieved from https://so06.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/Jiabu/article/view/216911

"You have never stood this close to where you want to be." Ghost - Witch Image

From the first time I listened to the song "Witch Image" by my favorite band, Ghost (formerly known as Ghost B.C.), this verse in particular, out of the song context, became an affirmation for me. I made this on Canva for it. ❤

(this might burst the loass bubble; ghesties please don't be mean ok? love you all)

Two images to inspire you today. Remember: your thoughts control your mind and your emotions, if you're not ok right now, you have all the tools to change it inside yourself! Whether it be meditation, journaling, engaging in a hobby, scripting, reading your affirmations, listening to music that matches your intent or that makes you feel better, drinking a cup of coffee or eating your favorite chocolate to release dopamine, dancing, singing, playing a game, learning something new, etc.!

And if your 3D is giving you a hard time and not showing you what you want yet, tell it to GO FUCK ITSELF cause THE 3D IS BULLSHIT and it is bound to your 4D, which is YOUR ACTUAL REALITY. remember: you are always inside your mind, your mind is always inside of you. THAT is your home. keep it clean!

i used to read these tweets/tumblr posts with affirmations like "my sp can't stop thinking about me. my sp is crazy about me. my sp can't live without me" and i would just skip it. i thought, "my sp is a celebrity! he doesn't even know who I am yet, how can he be crazy about me?!" and last night I realized something: this is the wishing/waiting mentality.

you see, what I failed to remember about the law up until yesterday was that: time is illusion. if creation is done, therefore, my assumption is already real, he is already mine. if you take this from a chronological point of view, "I'll affirm these kinds of things when I meet him", you're basically telling your brain you don't know him. and if that is your thought, and you keep thinking like this ("i don't know him yet, i don't know him yet"), you will never meet him. because your brain will simply externalize that: "she doesn't know him. she's never met him", and THIS will be your reality: of not knowing him. Period.

that is, until you change your assumptions, of course.

if your desire is to be with your sp, and you already assumed "I'm dating my sp", you IGNORE THE 3D. you're already dating your sp the moment you assumed that. so if you're waiting for him to show up on your 3D to start making affirmations about your relationship, that means you don't believe this is real in the 4D. and if you don't believe, if you don't assume it's real, guess what? it really isn't.