How to Prove to Yourself that What you Focus on Expands

It’s been four decades since I read about the concept of “vaporizing clouds” in Richard Bach’s book, Illusions, The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah. Donald Shimoda teaches Bach to make clouds disappear or appear using the power of the mind. Indeed, our thoughts are creative. What you focus on expands. Stop placing your attention on it, and it disappears.

I’ve known about creative thought since my first reading of the book, which changed my life. However, I decided to experiment with the concept…and vaporizing clouds…last week.

While bike riding last week, I noticed a lone, puffy, little cloud hanging out over the Sandia Mountains. It reminded me of Bach and Shimoda vaporizing clouds. So, I thought I’d see if I could do it, too.

My Cloud-Vaporizing Experiment

I couldn’t stare at the cloud for any significant length of time and ride my bike without the risk of falling off, so I stared at it for about 20 seconds and set the intention that it would disappear. I then continued to ride and imagine a cloudless sky. My thought was, “The sky is blue.”

The next time I looked, the cloud had shrunken to half its size. And less than 10 minutes later, it was gone.

Was the cloud’s disappearance the result of a weather pattern or the power of my thoughts? I can’t say for sure. So, I continued my experiment.

My Cloud Creation Experiment

I decided to see if I could reverse the process and materialize a cloud. I looked at the mountains and imagined one puffy, little cloud floating above it, much like the one that had been there before. I intended, “I’ll see a cloud over the mountain,” then pedaled.

About 15 minutes later, I saw a puffy little cloud hanging right over the mountains.

Believe me or not, that was my experience.

What is Creative Thought?

Creative thought is the principle that our thoughts have the power to create “things” in the physical world. Simply stated, it’s the belief that our thoughts are creative; therefore, what you focus your thoughts on comes into being.

Science has proven that when you focus on something—even just a photon, it changes. This clearly demonstrates that our attention impacts whatever we focus upon.

If you don’t believe me, just check out the Double Slit experiment. The experiment showed—among other things—that photons behave differently when observed. This has caused many to believe that human consciousness—observation— might affect quantum mechanics.

What You Focus on Expands

So how does my cloud experiment pertain to you…or life…or achieving success, results, goals, or dreams? It has everything to do with creating anything and everything you desire—including your own transformation.

Let me explain…

Whatever you place your attention on is what you will see and experience more of. Your focus on it creates expansion.

• If you focus on your husband’s faults, they will get bigger, and you will notice them more often.
• If you focus on the red Ferrari you dream of owning, you will see them everywhere. (You might even own one at some point.)
• If you focus on your inability to make decisions, you will continue finding it challenging to make a choice.
• If you focus on getting a new job, you will discover new employment opportunities.
• If you focus on being overweight, you will continue to be overweight—despite the diet and exercise plans you participate in.

The more you focus on anything…wanted or unwanted, the more of that you have. Your thoughts and attention attract it into your experience. And my cloud experiment proves the validity of this concept.

What You Don’t Focus on Disappears

Here’s another way my cloud experiment impact you. It proves that what you don’t focus on disappears.

I forgot about the second cloud I created for the last 10 minutes of my bike ride. Instead, my attention moved to the bunnies, lizards, cacti, and houses I passed and to what I had to do when I got home. The second cloud was gone when I looked up and toward the Sandia Mountains again. My lack of attention vaporized it.

And that’s another aspect of creative thought—what you don’t focus attention on disappears. I’m not talking about ignoring something that is there. I am talking about totally dismissing it. That’s when it disappears.

Ignoring something is like a child who wants a parent to stop lecturing him, so he looks away and says, “Nah, nah, nah…I don’t hear you!” His focus is still on the parent to some extent; at least, he knows the parent is there and talking, but he pretends he doesn’t know this.

Dismissing is that same child deciding not to pay attention to the parent and turning his attention to a game on his cell phone. While playing that game, his focus is 100% on the game. And he no longer hears his parent’s voice or sees his parent. It’s as if the parent has disappeared.

So, when you dismiss something from your life, you will no longer notice it…and it will eventually disappear.

Creative Thought Experiment

Don’t believe me? Try it.

Identify something you don’t want in your life that you pay a lot of attention to. Perhaps it’s a job you hate, an annoying person, or your inability to stick to your diet. Then, take your attention away. Stop focusing on that thing, person, or behavior.

And watch it become smaller and then disappear. It may not happen overnight, but it will happen.

I have a client who is focused on how her sister treats her. In our coaching sessions, we discussed that her perception of her sister’s behavior might be the problem. This shifted her focus from “my sister doesn’t treat me like an adult” to “I am responsible for my interpretations of my sister’s behavior.”

Low and behold, her sister began a conversation that indicated she saw her as an adult. She even asked her to give her son some advice.

What changed? My client’s focus. She started thinking differently about her sister. And that changed the relationship she created with her sibling. She focused on the possibility that her sister could see her differently, and that thought expanded into reality.

Focus on what You Want to Create

Of course, a focus on what you want to create increases your chances of creating it. For instance, if you are unhappy with your income level, stop looking at the low balance in your bank account. That focus—coupled with your feeling of lack—just perpetuates your low bank balance. Instead, focus on the money you deposit into your bank account, the penny you find on the street, or your gratitude for your home and job. That will create more of the same.

So, what do you want to create? What are your desires? Put attention on those things, and watch how your thoughts create them.

Don’t give up! This can take some time, especially if you have already put many negative thoughts into the world.

Create from Having not Lacking

If you decide to experiment with creative thought and think your efforts are not working, look at your life. Whatever you think about most is what you have in your experience or circumstances. You may not believe it’s true…but if you get really, really honest with yourself, you’ll realize that you have what you think about!

And, if you think your experiments were failures, you likely tried to create them from a place of lack. And that’s a broken strategy.

All you create from a place of lack is more lack. For example, if you focus on “I want more money,” you will continue wanting more money. You are setting the intention to want money not have money.

Instead, see your desire as already fulfilled or what you want already created. Imagine it exits right now—like the cloud over the mountains.

The Importance of Certainty

If you are unsuccessful at creating what you desire, you might lack certainty. You must believe 100% that your thoughts are creative. If you possess doubt, you negate your efforts.

In fact, your uncertainty tells the Universe that you don’t believe thoughts are creative or you have the power to create anything—even a puffy, little cloud.

So suspend doubt for at least as long as you experiment with creative thoughts. Eventually, you’ll have proof. As the saying goes, “You’ll believe it when you see it.” But until then, practice this thought instead: “I believe it, so I see it.”

You may be dabbling in vaporizing or creating clouds…or circumstances, things, or even people…but “know” you can do it. Focus on that belief rather than on your doubt!

You are as powerful as your thoughts. So put your thoughts on something you want—even a cloud, see it as already existing, and watch it materialize. Or stop focusing on what you don’t want, and watch it disappear. Vaporize it like a cloud.

Have you experimented with the concept of thought being creative? Tell me in a comment below, and please share this post with a friend.

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Photo courtesy of Jordan Steranka.