Inquiry · “You Are Not Your Thoughts”
Noticing & Welcoming Reality Shifts
To strengthen an expectation of positive change by attending to, appreciating, and welcoming small ‘shifts,’ synchronicities, and signs as confirmation that your reality is responsive.
Welcoming reality shifts in 5 lines: Move through the day expecting good. When something shifts pleasantly — a found object, an odd coincidence, an easing — pause and feel real gratitude. Let it count as a friendly nudge, and jot it down. Keep the tone relaxed, not vigilant. Treat it as a wellbeing-and-attention habit, not proof of physics.
What it is
This is the receiving and noticing half of Cynthia Sue Larson’s work: a habit of paying attention to small “reality shifts,” synchronicities, and signs — and meeting them with appreciation — so that you live in an expectation of positive change.
Larson defines reality shifts as moments when “things appear, disappear, transform or transport,” or when time seems to change. Where the Quantum Jump is about choosing a preferred reality, this practice is about welcoming the evidence that reality is responsive — and using gratitude to reinforce the loop.
It belongs in inquiry shadow because the core move is a quality of attention and self-observation: watching what you notice, and how you interpret it.
The Method
Faithfully synthesised from Larson’s Quantum Jumps and Reality Shifters writing:
- Adopt an expectant, appreciative stance. Begin from “deep appreciation and reverence for the fullest sense of who you truly are.” Expect helpful shifts rather than scanning for problems.
- Watch for shifts and synchronicities. Notice when “something has seemingly shifted in some startling way” — a missing key reappearing somewhere you know you didn’t leave it, a door or building you don’t remember, an unlikely-timed coincidence, an unexpected easing of a situation.
- Pause and welcome it. Rather than dismissing it, stop and register it with genuine gratitude and a small inner “yes.” Larson treats appreciation as the operative feeling that keeps the connection to a preferred reality alive.
- Take it as confirmation. Let each noticed shift count as evidence that your reality is responsive and moving your way — reinforcing the expectation that more good is coming.
- Record them. Keep a short log or journal of shifts, synchronicities, and “wins.” Reviewing them builds a felt sense of a friendly, malleable world.
- Re-aim, don’t grasp. When nothing seems to shift, return to calm appreciation rather than anxious monitoring; relaxed expectancy, not vigilance, is the tone. (Sourcing note: “reality shifts,” and the appear/disappear/transform/transport definition are Larson’s, attributed. The protocol is a faithful synthesis of her published material; quotes are short and verbatim.)
Source & Lineage
Cynthia Sue Larson founded RealityShifters in the late 1990s and wrote Reality Shifts (1999) before Quantum Jumps (2013); she was the first president of the International Mandela Effect Conference.
This practice echoes the New Thought tradition of “holding the optimistic thought” and the Jungian-flavoured attention to synchronicity (Life Is a Dream), framed through her reality-shift lens.
Common refinements
Mistaking the feeling for proof. Noticing a “shift” confirms your attention and mood, not that physics changed. Enjoy it without over-claiming.
- Anxious sign-hunting. Scanning compulsively for confirmation breeds superstition and unease. Keep the tone relaxed and grateful.
- Ignoring the misses. Honest journaling includes the times nothing shifted; this guards against runaway confirmation bias.
- Outsourcing judgement to “signs.” Never let a perceived sign override evidence, expert advice, or common sense.
- Stopping at noticing. Pair it with the active Quantum Jump and real action — observation alone is not a plan.