Science Time: How We Filter Reality

When people talk about "manifesting" or "attracting" what they want, they're often describing a very real neurological process, though perhaps not in the way they imagine.

Rather than mysterious forces at work, it's largely about how our brain's remarkable filtering system - the Reticular Activating System - shapes our experience of reality.

Think of your RAS as a highly sophisticated spotlight operator. Out of the millions of stimuli you could notice at any moment, it decides what gets lit up in your conscious awareness. This function was — and still is — crucial for survival. It helped our ancestors scan their environment for what was safe, risky, or potentially rewarding for meeting their basic needs, with a minimum of energy spent in information processing.

And it still does that today — just in much subtler, more complex ways.

How Our Reticular Activating System (RAS) Shapes Our Experience

At any given moment, your brain is bombarded with millions of sensory inputs. To avoid total overwhelm, your Reticular Activating System (RAS) acts like a smart filter — it decides what gets through to your conscious awareness and what stays in the background.

This filtering isn’t emotional or personal — it’s practical. It’s about preserving energy and helping your brain focus only on information it deems relevant to your current goals, concerns, or interests.

For example:

• If you're thinking of buying a specific car, you'll suddenly start seeing that exact model everywhere.

• If you're considering having a baby, you might notice strollers, pregnant bellies, or baby clothes more than usual.

• If you’re learning a new word, you may suddenly hear it in multiple conversations.

The information was always there — your RAS just wasn’t highlighting it until your attention told it, “this matters now.”

This selective spotlight is incredibly helpful. It keeps you from processing every bit of data around you and instead tunes your focus toward what your brain thinks is most important.

But here’s where it gets more complex — and more personal.

The RAS doesn’t just filter based on what you're consciously thinking about.

It’s also influenced by your emotional history, your beliefs about what’s possible, and your nervous system’s learned expectations about safety and threat — especially when it comes to getting your core needs met (like love, belonging, worth, or autonomy).

By design, the RAS scans for both opportunities and threats. But when you hold limiting beliefs — for example, “I’m not lovable,” “People always try to control me,” or “It’s dangerous to be seen” — your RAS tilts toward threat detection.

Why? Because if your nervous system has learned that a certain need is rarely or inconsistently met, it becomes hypersensitive to anything that might jeopardize that need even further. Your brain would rather keep you safe from disappointment than risk scanning for fulfillment that feels emotionally out of reach.

So instead of spotlighting chances for connection, growth, or nourishment, your RAS focuses on:

• Signs of withdrawal rather than signals of warmth

• What could go wrong rather than what could go right

• Tiny cues of rejection rather than moments of genuine acceptance

It’s not that the opportunities don’t exist — it’s that your filter is tuned to prioritize survival over expansion.

In other words, your RAS isn’t just a neutral filter — it’s shaped by the emotional logic of your past. And when your nervous system expects threat more than nourishment, it will spotlight potential danger while letting potential nourishment fade into the background.

The Invisible Barrier: How the RAS Filters Out What We Don't Believe Is Available to Us

The natural consequence is that our RAS doesn’t just highlight what we believe in or expect... it also filters out what we don’t believe is possible, available, or relevant to us.

In other words, your brain may actively screen out people, opportunities, and experiences simply because they don’t align with your internal blueprint of what life is “supposed” to look like for you.

This isn’t about conscious choice — it’s an unconscious filter built from your past experiences, conditioning, and the beliefs you've absorbed over time.

• If you’ve internalized the belief that deep connection is rare, your RAS may not spotlight people who are available for connection.

• If success feels like something that happens to “other people,” your RAS might filter out resources, encouragement, or chances that could help you grow.

• If you don’t expect support, you may literally not notice offers of help, kindness, or collaboration.

• If you carry the belief that you’re not deserving of love, success, or connection, your RAS might literally overlook signs of acceptance, opportunities for growth, or supportive people.

It’s not that these things don’t exist — it’s that your brain’s filter doesn’t mark them as relevant. They don’t fit the story you’ve been taught to expect, so they don’t make it through the gate.

This creates a kind of paradox:

🧠 You can only notice what your brain believes is possible… but your brain only learns what’s possible by noticing it.

The key is realizing that your internal filter isn’t fixed — it’s been trained by your past, and it can be retrained by your present.

The Self-Reinforcing Loop — Especially When the RAS Favors Threat Detection

This entire system creates a self-perpetuating loop — one that becomes especially strong when your RAS is tilted more toward threat detection than opportunity recognition.

Once a belief about yourself, others, or the world takes hold, your RAS begins actively scanning for anything that confirms it and filters out anything that would challenge it. And the more emotionally charged or survival-relevant that belief is (especially around needs like love, safety, or belonging), the more strongly the RAS defends it.

This creates a self-perpetuating loop:

• Your nervous system, shaped by past experiences, defines what feels safe, risky, or rewarding

• Limiting beliefs develop around what’s possible, what’s dangerous, or what you deserve

• Your RAS filters your reality through those beliefs — highlighting what confirms them, and filtering out what contradicts them

• You become more aware of threats or disappointments than of opportunities or nourishment

• Your lived experience then reinforces the original belief — not because it's “true,” but because it's all your system is letting you see

This is how someone can move through life surrounded by opportunities for love, support, growth, or ease — and not experience any of it. Not because it’s absent, but because their internal filter isn't calibrated to let it in.

It’s a painful irony:You’re not just seeing your reality — you’re seeing your reality through the lens of your past.

That’s why re-training your attention — through intention, repetition, and emotional resonance — is so powerful. You’re not fabricating a new reality out of thin air. You’re making visible what was always there, but previously hidden behind a filter you didn’t know existed.

Breaking the loop doesn’t mean denying risks. It means gradually updating your internal signals of what’s possible and safe, so your RAS can begin filtering for nourishment, not just danger.

So, how can we train our RAS more intentionally?

Understanding this system offers a powerful opportunity: rather than being passive recipients of whatever our brain believes it should spotlight, we can consciously participate in shaping its focus.

This isn’t about forcing positive thinking or pretending challenges don’t exist — it’s about training your brain’s filtering system to better serve your present needs and values, instead of outdated survival patterns.

Think of it like adjusting the settings on a sophisticated camera. You’re gradually teaching your RAS to become more sensitive to certain kinds of information — connection, possibility, support — while letting less helpful signals fade into the background.

For example, if you've been habitually scanning for signs of rejection in social situations, you can train your brain to also notice subtle signs of warmth, acceptance, or resonance.

And the magic is in the consistency.

Each time you consciously direct your attention to something nourishing — whether it's opportunities for growth, moments of connection, or evidence of your own resilience — you're telling your RAS:

👉 “This is important. Keep showing me more of this.”

Over time, your brain becomes more fluent in noticing the life-giving aspects of your experience — not because they just appeared, but because you finally let them in.

1. Clarify your goals The RAS responds best to specificity. Vague intentions like “be happier” won’t shift much. But something like “notice three signs of connection today” gives it a clear directive.

2. Use affirmations with feeling Don’t just repeat words — feel into them. Statements like “I am capable of growth” gain traction when paired with even a tiny sense of emotional resonance.

3. Visualize desired outcomes — with a backward path Visualization isn’t just about seeing the end result — it’s about mapping the path that leads there. Start by imagining where you want to be, then mentally trace the steps backward: What would the moment just before that look like? And the one before that? This creates a sequence of intermediate steps your brain can begin to recognize in real life. Your RAS will be more likely to spotlight opportunities, resources, or people that help you move from where you are to where you’re going, because it now has a clearer sense of how to get there.

4. Ask better questions Your RAS listens to the questions you ask. Instead of “Why does this always happen to me?”, try “What might be trying to shift here?” or “What’s one supportive thing I could notice today?”

5. Affirm gently but clearly: “This matters. Show me more.” You don’t need to believe in magic — just in your ability to influence what your brain registers as important.

6. Celebrate the tiniest shifts Your RAS won’t change overnight. But each time you notice a micro-moment of support, ease, or alignment — and mark it as meaningful — you’re changing the filter.

The key isn’t to manufacture something that isn’t there.

It’s to become aware of what’s always been there — but was filtered out by a brain trying to protect you based on outdated rules.

You’re not bending the universe to your will.You’re simply changing the lens through which you see, and learning to trust that this new lens will reveal opportunities, connections, and resources that were hidden in plain sight.

This is what true agency looks like:

🧠 Choosing what your mind amplifies.