Learning to love life by understanding how it works

A brief primer on quantum physics and manifestation

I’m in the middle of an incredible book—Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself, How to Lose Your Mind and Create a New One by Dr. Joe Dispenza. I learned about it by having lunch with a former colleague, with whom I reconnected because I was recently laid off. After lunch, I walked a half-block to Book Soup and purchased it. Some people say that things only arrive when you’re ready for them, and this book feels perfectly timed.

In it, Dispenza lays out the step-by-step logical linkage between our lived experience as humans on Earth and quantum physics, which is the scientific study of subatomic particles like electrons and their behavior. Neutonian physics assumed that energy and matter were separate entities, and much of our world was predetermined. The study of quantum physics, kick-started in part by debates between Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr, posits that matter (our tangible environment) is composed of energy at its smallest form (atoms).

I can’t coherently explain the many learnings and assumptions that quantum theory has given us—you’ll have to read the book or watch some videos about it—but the TLDR is that what exists in our minds and body and what exists in our experience are indeed linked. In fact they influence and reinforce each other through electromagnetic activity in the brain and body. Our thoughts are electrical while our feelings involve a sort of magnetic signature. Together, they can manifest almost anything.

This is the reason I believe so many people embrace mindfulness, meditation, and mental exercise in order to influence (manifest) their desired outcomes. Rather than taking random, fear-based action or sticking to familiar “mental maps”, hoping and wishing for positive outcomes, they embrace growth and expansion through focusing their minds and bodies on the unknown and uncharted, and taking inspired action.

As Dispenza puts it, thinking, feeling, and doing the same begets the same results—this seems pretty straightforward. In order to achieve change, one must change how they think, feel, and move in life. I can attest to this, as my spiritual, energetic practice has grown steadily over the past several years, and I feel more “tapped in” than ever before.

Once I tapped into my mind and body, incredible alignment began to appear in my existence. Conversations, run-ins, coincidences, and parallel epiphanies between me and my environment, including friends, family, and strangers have become more frequent. New and different opportunities present themselves and because I’ve already set the mental groundwork for newness, I’m less likely to shy away from exploring these new avenues.

I happened to mention to a friend that I was reading this great new book, and she was shocked to learn that it was written by the same author about whom she’d discussed just the day before with a different friend. As it turns out, Dr. Dispenza is also featured in the recent documentary Source, It’s Within You.

Once you accept that your thoughts produce tangible results, you’ll recognize them as cooperative serendipity between you and an unseen universal energy rather than random coincidences. I believe in entropy, chaos, and randomness, but only as a result of fear, hate, and things like numbing, overconsumption, and violence.

For years I felt as though life happened to me and I lived in victimhood, a lot. This state of being created both a sense of helplessness and a constant desire to grasp for control. Frustrated, I constantly felt as though I had no say over the circumstances of my life.

I started with journaling and yoga. After that became regular and intentional, I followed it by learning how to meditate (still a work in progress) and giving specific gratitude each morning for the things I appreciate and want more of in life. I’ve even learned how to give gratitude for things that haven’t happened yet in order to match my energy to that which I desire.

Those practices have culminated with the conscious choice to trust, have faith, and seek knowledge rather than control. They’ve engendered an attitude of gentle awareness and a wholesome and genuine love of life—a mindset that’s new to me. Not joy and not happiness, but a grounding satisfaction that if I keep my mind open and attitude loving, the world truly is a block of clay waiting to be molded.

Because we are each one of several billion people trying to share space and work together on Earth, contrasting experiences are bound to occur, no matter how strongly we focus on our individual preferred outcomes. Yet with this knowledge of how energy is directed with mental focus, it’s easier to experience contrast and return to center without feeling so swayed by external circumstances.

We can create the life we want. Incredible, unthinkable things are possible. But to do so, we have to wrangle our brains to focus on the ideal rather than the present, physical environment.

If you’re a seeker like I am, and thirst to make meaning out of our chaotic and often frightening world, I highly suggest the book. Though I’m not finished with it, the first few chapters have already inspired me to fall more in love with life, now that I understand a bit more about how it works.