At any given time, there is an infinite number of things you can focus on. So we should always choose what to focus our attention to, carefully.

Successful people consciously choose to focus on success. Those who are mad in love focus on love. Those who suffer from depression tend to focus on dark things. And so on.

It turns out, your focus determines your reality. And because your focus is limited, once you focus on the positive, the negative automatically shrinks.

Keep reading…

Your focus and your reality are finite

I feel the average person isn’t aware of how limited their resources are. Examples:

  • Wasting money as if they had an infinite amount of it
  • Wasting time as if their life was never going to end
  • Wasting energy as if they were hyperactive athletes
  • Focusing on too many things at once

Now, that’s not to say our potential is limited. As human beings, our potential is basically limitless.

However, the same is not true for our resources — time, money, energy, and focus.

I mean, perhaps if you’re among the wealthiest people on the planet, you don’t really have to worry about money. But that’s about it.

We all get 24 hours in a day and a certain amount of energy — limited time and limited energy and willpower.

Similarly, our focus (what we focus on at once and the way we perceive the external world) is also limited.

But that’s actually a good thing. Here’s why…

Your focus determines your reality

Multitasking doesn’t work. Your mind cannot focus on two things at once. And to be fair, even if it was possible, you’d still be better off focusing on just one thing at a time.

Our focus and concentration at any given moment is limited, and I like to imagine it as a circle, or a pie chart divided into slices.

Now, here’s where it gets fascinating: because your focus is limited, and because you have the power to shift your focus and concentrate on what matters to you…

If you focus long enough, and with enough intensity, on a certain “slice”, that slice grows until it makes up the biggest percentage of the circle. And that’s your reality.

What happens to you (your reality) is mostly what you choose to direct your focus on. Change your focus and you change your reality.

Another way to look at it is, you can only experience, or feel, or perceive, a certain quantity or number of things at the same time.

Shift your focus so you can only perceive, say, positive thoughts and images, and naturally that’s going to lead to a more positive reality.

Your focus creates (and changes) what’s real

It gets even more interesting if you apply the same concept to healing and fighting your inner demons and negative thoughts in general.

Say there is a negative thought or thought pattern you tend to dwell on too frequently, and that makes up, say, a fifth of the “circle” (your focus).

As we’ve seen, your focus is limited, and can be imagined as a pie chart. Now, the overall sum of the slices of the chart will always be 100 percent of the chart.

If you have a slice making up 60 percent of it, and a second slice making up 40 percent of it, that’s it — you can’t fit any more.

Though apparently too abstract to be applied to our own mind, it is very similar.

Meaning: if we consciously and deliberately choose to focus on something that makes up a large enough percentage of our focus (and therefore our reality), the other slices tend to gradually disappear.

So in the example above, the negative thoughts making up a fifth of the circle shrink; they become smaller and smaller until they disappear.

Learn to shift your focus

So here’s the take-home message:

Since your focus determines your reality, and since your focus is always finite, you can change your reality by simply focusing on something with great intensity.

It’s a bit like focusing your sight on a certain detail, color, or depth. Though there is such a thing as peripheral vision, you will see what you focus on. And that will be your reality.

Think of a certain color for a few seconds, then have a look around your room or environment. You’ll predominantly notice that exact color, or similar shades.

Well, it works exactly the same with your focus in general!

Actively and consciously choose what to focus on, then focus on it with great intensity.

It will change your reality.