what makes a successful attempt?

and here's where i think the real nuance comes in. we typically define a successful attempt as fully shifting your awareness and grounding yourself in your dr. but i'm here to change your perspective on what a successful attempt actually is. there is no such thing as a failed shifting attempt. the moment you decide to lay down, whether it's a wake method or a sleep method and you set that intention to shift, the shifting experience begins immediately. in that moment, you are already connecting with dr self. you are already doing everything right. the second you set the intention and engage your intentions on shifting, the shift is happening and unraveling. you are literally shifting, whether you believe it or not (thus you can shift with doubts). just like anyone else you see online, anyone you follow, anyone whose experiences you hear about, when you decide to set that intention spiritually, the shift occurs. because it's your power and your decision.

these factors aren't what's making your attempts fail. they're not signs that nothing is working or that you're doing something wrong. they're just muddy. static on the line, not a broken signal. because the moment you genuinely choose to shift, it's already happening. it's not conditional. it doesn't sometimes work and sometimes not, the intention itself sets it in motion, it wants to happen. your dr is reaching out. the process is already in motion. what these factors do is potentially cloud that connection. doubt, perfectionism, symptom-chasing, passive hoping none of them cancel the shift. they just make it a bit fuzzy to receive. they pull your focus away from something that's already unfolding and redirect it toward noise. so the attempt was never the problem. the connection was always there. it's just about learning to stop getting in your own way long enough to actually meet it.

okay, so why do i not shift then?

now, there are a number of reasons possibly why, even though you've set the intention and your spiritual self is already aligning with your dr you may not fully ground or fully shift your awareness to the point of opening your eyes in your desired reality. quick reminder: this is all based on my own personal research and my own journey, and what i've been able to piece together from that. i hope it resonates with you, it certainly resonates for me but shifting is such an individual experience, and that's always worth keeping in mind.

1. you do not truly want to shift. this can manifest as seeing shifting as a burden, lack of passion, drive or even lack of mental clarity and decisions. (6 swords, 10 wands, 2 swords)

this might be a brutal take, and possibly a frustrating one to hear, especially if you've been attempting to shift for months or even years. but i genuinely think it's something a lot of us need to sit with. when you attempt over and over to the point of frustration, when you feel like you're seeing no results, shifting starts to feel like a chore. and at that point, rather than actually accepting the version of your dr self that's already reaching out to you, you start waiting, passively hoping that something external will just carry you there without your decision, that's the trap. you have to actively choose to set the intention. i know that sounds harder than it is, but it's so much simpler than we make it. you have to decide to shift. and part of that decision is releasing the grip — letting go of the frustration, the pressure, the worries, the sense that this is something you're obligated to perform rather than something you simply can do. you feel like "ugh, i've been going at this for years let me just lay down and try and hope i get there, or hope something happens."

what does this look like?

take sleep methods, for example. when you fall asleep hoping you'll wake up in your dr, yes — the intention is technically there. but what you're really seeking in that moment is the relief of sleep itself. you're seeking the release from the stress and frustration that shifting has accumulated for you and the hope that something will sway in. so subconsciously, that's exactly what you get. you fall asleep, you withdraw from the worry, but you don't shift. you just sleep. the withdrawal happened without the crossing.

this can also show up in wake methods. you might go into an attempt feeling genuinely driven and passionate, and that's real. but if subconsciously there's doubt, uncertainty, discomfort, or quiet fear sitting underneath all of that, it creates invisible barriers. ones that don't actually exist, but feel just as solid.

listen to your intuition, if today feels right then allow it but don't force it assume no progress and then beat yourself down when in reality you weren't fully interesed.

2. you think nothing is happening or nothing is working.

this can manifest as believing no symptoms=no shift, or believing you're still here, or over-analysing. (4 cups, 5 cups, page swords)

as someone who's a perfectionist and analytical, this one hits close to home. we've been conditioned to believe that a successful attempt has to come with symptoms, that you should feel your room shifting, feel something changing, feel something. and so when you go into an attempt, you start monitoring. checking. measuring. and the moment you do that, you've pulled your attention away from the one thing that actually matters, accepting your dr self and the reality that's already reaching out to you. chasing proof is what makes you miss it. you get so focused on finding evidence that something is working that you become completely blind to the shift itself. and the irony is that shifting can feel like absolutely nothing. you can set the intention and shift immediately, no symptoms, no sensations, no dramatic transition. so stop grading your attempt. stop asking yourself "is this working? what am i doing wrong? why can't i feel anything?" — because every time you ask that question, you're turning away from your dr reality, not toward it. instead, affirm where you are. trust it. believe it without needing it to prove itself to you first. the shift isn't something you can monitor your way into, it's something you allow.

3. you give up too early.

this can manifest as getting bored or believing that because you've been attempting for a certain time period, "nothing must be working" (6 swords, 8 cups, 5 cups)

this one ties directly into my awake girlies, but it can apply to asleep too! shifting can feel like nothing. so you can be mid-attempt, fully in it, and genuinely believe that nothing is happening, and that's where the ego steps in. it convinces you to stop. to open your eyes. to give up. but what was actually happening beneath that stillness is that you were shifting. your dr self was reaching out, and you were aligning with it. the moment you open your eyes and give up, your subconscious snaps back. it can't leave you suspended between realities, so it anchors you back here, and it feels like nothing ever happened. but it did. you were already leaving. that's why so many people feel like they've never made progress, when in reality they've been close over and over again. every time they got too in their head, every time the doubt got loud enough, they opened their eyes and unknowingly pulled themselves back. it's not easy, because sometimes attempts may take longer than feels bearable. but a lot of the time, giving up early isn't a failed attempt, it's a interrupted one. the shift was there. you just didn't stay long enough to land. trust your own ability. trust that it's working even when it feels like silence. sometimes there are no symptoms, no sensations, just a quiet click and suddenly you're there.

okay so what can i do to successfully shift?

i know this might start to sound repetitive and is said a lot in the community, but it's worth saying again. every single one of these factors: the lack of passion, the over-analysis, giving up too early, none of them are real restrictions. they're things we create, and then we believe in them so hard that they become walls. when you don't have the passion, the choice to shift is still there. but instead of receiving it openly, you're carrying it like a burden. when you're overanalyzing, the opportunity is right in front of you, your dr self is literally reaching out, but you're more preoccupied with whether you're doing it correctly than with what's actually being offered to you. and when you give up too early, you could be seconds away. genuinely. and then you open your eyes and snap back, and it feels like proof that nothing was happening. but it wasn't proof of failure, it was you leaving right before the finish line. these feelings are valid. it makes complete sense that this process feels defeating when you don't understand what's happening underneath it. but that's exactly the point. what feels like a wall is just static. the shift itself was never the problem.

why does shifting feel difficult, shouldn't it be easy?

shifting is as easy as breathing, simple in concept, but the receiving of it is where it gets complicated. the moment you set the intention, it's already happening. that part is effortless. but what's happening in your subconscious on any given day can quietly interfere without you even knowing why, and because you can't always pinpoint the cause, it builds frustration. and frustration builds cycles. and cycles are why some people spend years in the same pattern, putting in effort, hoping something lands, but unknowingly repeating the same blocks over and over. the shift is always reaching out to you. your job isn't to force it, it's to receive it. to choose it. to actually want it without conditions or expectations clouding the line. you have free will. you have the power to make that choice. but the moment you forget that, or the moment you start placing expectations on how it should feel or look, that connection gets muddy. and that's really the whole thing.

letting go, staying passionate, trying things out, affirming, owning your power, releasing other people's expectations or advice and seeking your own journey, trusting your intuition, and not letting a pity party get to your head, that's genuinely all it takes.

(p.s. even after you've shifted before (lol), attempts can still feel incomplete sometimes. and that's not failure, it might just be that you're anxious about an exam the next day, or uncomfortable, or there's too much noise in your head to fully let go. but if you can genuinely internalise the belief that it's always there, always available, always working a difficult attempt stops feeling like a dead end and starts feeling like a waypoint. that shift in perspective alone makes you more open, and being more open is half of it. i also think this is why accidental shifts happen. in those moments, people aren't carrying expectations. they fall asleep subconsciously open to receiving the shift rather than desperately hoping it'll come to them. that distinction is everything.

there's a lot happening beneath the surface with shifting that we can't always see or measure. but the comfort is in knowing it's always in motion. it's always working.