Secondary Blog. Mostly shifting related stuff. Can't follow or like, but stalking from main, don't worry ^-^
He/they
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Artist irl.
Not so proud writer of Genshin fanfiction inspired by chinese novels.
Sometimes I actually put effort into writing my posts ^-^"
Not a native english speaker, but trying my best T-T
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Main DRs:
Ateez/JJK /LaDS/Tokyo Ghoul/XLOV/Genshin
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Everything I post is my personal opinion
Normally I am not a guy that vents a lot online. I send my rants to friends in the middle of the night, so this is gonna be a word salad most likely. Idk, deal with it or not.
Lately I have seen some posts and comments in passing (mostly off this site, so put the pitchfork down, not accusing anyone) that I cannot read as anything but victim blaming with glitter on top. Probably not intentional? But I don't care really, it still carries that vibe and it feels gross.
Let me be clear if anyone needs to hear it for one reason or another:
You did not cause your own abuse.
You did not manifest your assault.
You did not attract your shitty parents, your bullying or your warzone.
And no, you did not deserve any of that. Don't let anyone dress cruelty up as spirituality and convince you otherwise.
A child didn't manifest their parents hitting it by having "low vibrations and thoughts".
Refugees did not manifest bombs.
Cancer patients did not manifest their illness. Just like people with chronic illness and pain didn't manifest it.
If someone says "I want to permashift or shift in general because I was abused my whole life and just want to be happy" and your response is "well, you manifested it :)" or "well, you chose this life :)" with some fuckass heart smiley behind it, you sound exactly like the people who ask "what were you wearing?". You just changed it to "well, what were your vibrations and thoughts?"
Yes, inner state affects perception. No, that does not mean your trauma is your fault.
You are responsible for how you react to things. And even when you react badly, you still deserve grace.
I believe in shifting, because I have shifted.
I believe your intention matters.
I do not believe a child manifested their own abuse.
I do not believe refugees manifested war.
And if you feel privileged enough to walk around telling traumatized people they asked for it?
Maybe keep that shit to yourself and actually look at what you are saying. Even if you believe they manifested it, it costs you nothing to shut up or simply say "I am sorry this happened".
Let’s pretend I didn’t ghost y’all since last year, alright? ^-^"
Here’s a chunky post. Grab snacks, or just skip ahead to the end if you’re impatient.
Lots of folks are really devoted to visualizing their DR, but honestly, I’ve just realized that’s only half the story and kind of the weaker half, too. What actually matters is proprioception. Bless you.
In plain terms, proprioception is your built-in “where the fuck am I now?” sense.
That thing that lets you poke your own nose, eyes closed, without somehow smacking yourself in the face.
And I’d bet this thing is what could really help people shift. Without needing to visualize (a treat for my friends with aphantasia).
Visualization? It’s fine. Think of it as concept art, cool for vibes, inspiration, and motivation mostly.
But proprioception is feeling like you are somewhere vs. watching a movie about being somewhere.
Consider dreams for a second. They’re often weirdly fuzzy and disconnected, but you still know you’re somewhere else, not because the visuals are spot-on, but because you physically feel placed. You sense your weight, your orientation, where your limbs are.
Proprioception’s doing the really heavy lifting, while your brain is kinda busy generating random visual nonsense.
Still, everyone always seems to default to “visualize harder!”
Like, no? Not needed?
Sight’s just one sense, and honestly, it isn’t even in the top 2 of the most reliable ones.
Ask someone who’s blind if their world feels less solid or real just because they can’t see. (Actually, don’t bother them, but you get the idea.)
Visuals aren’t the full story. What you see isn’t even that real. Light hits the retinas, sends some electric signals, and your brain makes a guess:
“Yep, that’s green.”
But is it really? Or is “green” just your brain interpreting data and someone else sees something completely different?
Like the “the dress is blue & black/ no the dress is white & gold” situation. Both versions are correct and true, since their brain guessed the color based on the signal it got.
So my wild guess is that you don’t need crystal-clear mental images of your DR. At all.
Everything you see IRL is already just a very convincing and accurate guess.
We live in a culture that worships visuals, screens, selfies, “pics or it didn’t happen.”
When someone says “feel yourself in your DR,” our brain instantly translates that to “see myself there” and people start straining, trying to produce images while totally ignoring their actual sense of presence.
It’s like someone tells you to listen and you just stare harder at the speakers.
Then you get people thinking they can’t shift because the images aren’t clear enough (aphantasia again) when their sense of location is actually the one screaming, “We’re in CR!” but, well, they’ve been told to ignore it. Kinda.
Now, philosophical tangent.
Your brain doesn’t “know” reality. It gets inputs and makes guesses.
Sight? That’s light hitting retinas.
Sound? That’s vibrations.
Touch? Pressure.
The brain pieces these together as well as it can to go: “Okay, I’m in a room. Probably.”
Proprioception is the anchor. It’s telling your brain: “I’m here, facing this way, arms here, legs there. That was something hard, probably a wall I ran into.”
When you dream, the signals get scrambled.
When you dissociate, things feel fuzzy.
When you’re drunk, goodbye spatial awareness.
See the pattern?
Feeling “real” boils down to proprioception.
Vision? Easy to fool with optical illusions, hallucinations, VR headsets, whatever.
Proprioception? Not as easy, but doable.
So shifting is very likely not about tricking your eyes. It’s probably just convincing your brain you’re somewhere else and to finally update the fucking data stream because the previous one sucks ass.
Another wild part: your brain doesn’t have a body. It’s got a map of a body.
A simulation basically, constantly updated by electrical gossip from joints and muscles.
It’s like a controlled hallucination of where you are and it usually matches reality, but doesn’t have to.
“Where you are” isn’t fixed, it just tends to feel that way, since we are kinda conditioned to assume we are our body.
Every time you shift, you would simply be updating the way your brain interprets the data it gets.
New data stream, new location.
Your brain already flips between dream body and waking body every night, which are totally different maps, but both work.
If it’s that easy to switch… maybe switching to your DR body is just as easy?
Kind of a trip, melted my brain a tiny bit.
Also: you’re not even “in” your brain, really. You’re more like consciousness floating in the void, getting live updates from your meat suit?
Your whole sense of self is your brain’s best guess, all for survival.
We’re piloting a body with rather questionable software (brain piloting a meatsuit, anyone?).
Of course shifting works. The whole system is held together with tape and perception. Just retape the wires or something like that.
How to use the sense of location for shifting:
Body Scan - Don’t just notice tension. Really feel it.
“My shoulders are here, relative to my hips, taking up this much space.”
Map yourself. See how location is something you’re creating.
Phantom Limb Play - Puppeteer method anyone???
Move limbs without actually moving. Imagine extras, tail, wings, whatever works. Don’t try to see them. Just sense their weight, movement, momentum when they move.
Blind Navigation - Move around your DR with eyes closed. Don’t rely on visuals. Feel the distance you have left before running into a wall, the floor beneath you, objects, the whole room. Know your place without ever needing to look.
Some neuroscience stuff for further read (peer-reviewed/mainstream neuroscience):
On Reality as a Guess: Check out Anil Seth’s “Being You” or his TED talk on Controlled Hallucinations.
On Body Ownership: Look up the “Rubber Hand Illusion” and “Proprioceptive Drift.”
On Spatial Awareness: Search for “Peripersonal Space Multisensory Integration.”
Olaf Blanke Full Body Illusion: Full body illusions and out of body experiences
Thomas Metzinger: The Ego Tunnel: philosopher/neuroscientist who argues there is no "self," only a "transparent mental model" of a self.
Vestibular-Somatosensory Interference: technical term for when your balance and touch sense gets confused, leading to the feeling of floating or a limb changing shape or form.
If you've been in shifting spaces for any amount of time, you've definitely heard people preaching about "letting go" and "doing nothing" and "just allow it to happen".
And like, on paper it sounds stupidly easy, right? You just lie down and... exist? Groundbreaking stuff.
Except there's this tiny, annoying little voice in your head going something like "NO, WAIT, DO SOMETHING OR WE ARE WASTING OUR TIME, YOU ABSOLUTE WALNUT" and suddenly you're throwing affirmations around like you're at a motivational speaker convention aiming for first place, muttering your DR name like it's a password you want to make sure to not forget, doing literally anything to feel like you're being productive. Because god forbid we just do... nothing.
There's this saying in my language that basically means "from nothing comes nothing". Like if you're unemployed and do nothing about it, shocking revelation, you're still unemployed. Can't ride a bike? Do nothing? Congrats, still can't ride a bike. Revolutionary logic.
But when it comes to shifting, doing nothing is actually one of the best things you can do. Wild, somehow. And before you throw your shoe after me, I do not mean sitting there vibrating with anxiety while hoping really really hard.
I mean actually allowing something to happen instead of white knuckling your way through it like the control freak we both know you are.
Like, think of it this way:
Doing:
Trying to lift yourself off the ground by pulling on your own shirt. Spoiler: physics say no, you just look like an idiot.
Allowing:
Finally notice you've been standing in a pool this whole time, stopping all that dramatic flailing, and just... floating. Because the water's literally doing all the work. You're welcome, I guess.
Some Steps (because sometimes we need a manual for everything)
Decide what you want.
Most people want to shift, obviously, duh, but honestly try starting smaller maybe. Babysteps. Before you do anything, just tell yourself what you're aiming for. Something like "I want to feel connected to my DR self" or something like that.
That's it. You put the address in the GPS. Look at you go!
Let the autopilot take over
Your subconscious is basically a self-driving car at this point. Your job is to just sit there and observe what's happening. That's it. I know, super hard, huh?
When you start to feel stuff, resist the urge to immediately poke at it like it's some cursed science project. Don't try to make it stronger, don't try to decode what it means. Just notice it.
You feel floaty? Think "neat"
Your arms and legs go numb? Think "cool".
When you get the itch to do something (because ofc you will), just tell yourself "Thanks brain, but I'm actually fine just watching right now". Pat yourself on the head if that helps.
Shifting happens (at least in my experience and opinion, you might disagree and that's totally fine, I am not your life coach or shit), when your subconscious finishes the trip you told it to take, while you are just sitting back like a passenger who finally learned to shut up and trust the driver.
We tend to freak out about doing nothing because we think we are the ones powering the whole operation. We are not.
We're just the consciousness along for the ride, and honestly, that's okay. All we gotta do is set where we want to go and then get out of our own way.
So, do nothing. But on purpose. I believe in you or whatever you want to hear ^-^
I keep seeing a lot of posts boiling down to the good old advice of "just decide", "just do it", "just believe".
And I get it. Really.
But I also sometimes think we're yelling at a kid who's crying over a math problem they've bombed ten times already.
We're standing in front of them, going "God, it's so easy, you literally just take 5 and add 5!", getting more and more pissed, because obviously the answer is 10. It is right there. 5+5. Basic stuff.
But for that poor, weeping kid? It's not that easy or obvious. They've been trying forever, they are confused as fucking hell, probably wondering what the fuck is wrong with them. And us getting louder and louder about how simple it is, that's not doing anything except making it worse (as someone with dyscalculia, getting told and yelled at about how easy and logical math is wasn't helpful).
Belief is a bit similar. Sometimes you just cannot force yourself to believe something, no matter how hard you are trying.
I could spend all day telling myself I am actually a sentient baguette with ham and cheese, but the mirror would still be like "nah" and I would still believe the mirror.
Kinda tragic.
With shifting, the added thing is that we're basically relying a lot on other people's word for it. And after running into a few liars, taking some wrong turns with methods that go nowhere for us and spending years trying without getting anywhere, constantly asking "how?" and hearing "just do it!" back, belief gets really fucking hard.
Cherry on top and added DLC: we've been nearly all raised on "this is the only reality, Hogwarts/anime/you becoming an idol isn't real". That is really deep programming and hard to shake off overnight.
But I scraped together some tips that either helped me or some friends. Enjoy, I guess.
--Stop treating your attempts like a pass/fail--
Most of us have this all or nothing thing going on with shifting. Either we shift or we don't. Wake up here? Meeep, failed. Keep failing? Must mean we suck at this, and then we see people say you need special genes or a spiritual gift and while we know this is bullshit, that special little asshole inside our head goes "maybe?" every 5 minutes and surely if that is true we are never ever ever under those selected few, right? (It is bullshit, don't believe people telling you that stuff).
instead of this approach, we try something else. We are now using methods and shifting attempts to collect data. We do our method and later, we think about what happened.
Was your mind quieter and your body more relaxed when you only concentrated on one sensation instead of trying to visualize everything at once? Cool, that is useful.
You caught yourself thinking "I can't do this!" three times but managed to pull your focus back onto shifting? Success!
Butterflies in your stomach thinking about your S/O? Yeay, that matters!
All of this shit counts towards figuring out shifting for yourself. And it means you are neither failing, nor a failure. It also stops the depressing "I failed again" loop we torture ourselves with.
--Just ask yourself "What if?"--
If you just can't force yourself to feel confident about shifting (and honestly a lot of people can't, don't be embarrassed by that), stop forcing it. You're just gonna create more resistance for yourself.
Ask yourself a few soft questions. Just a tiny, curious, "but what if?".
"What if I could actually shift to my DR right now?"
"What if next time I open my eyes, I'm home?"
"What if letting go is actually that easy and safe?".
Those questions can be weirdly powerful. It moves around the constant "I can't do this" voice like water and opens up some space for possibility, without demanding that you are 100% certain about anything.
--Think of shifting as something that's gonna happen, not something you are trying to make happen--
Honestly, most of us cannot force ourselves to shift. We can be in bed all we want, clenching our cheeks until we shit diamonds for a week while saying "shift now!", most of the time, it leads to nothing.
What we can do is work on feeling like shifting is something that's gonna happen some day, even if it isn't right now, next week or even next year.
When you are watching something from your DR or reading about it, instead of dramatically sighing, looking out the window and saying "ugh, I wish I was there", try something like "Oh hey, that is basically a really cool preview of my future! I'm gonna be there, doesn't matter how long it takes. Just gonna chill and trust that it's coming."
Sounds small, but moves your butt from feeling like you're missing something to feeling like you're just waiting for something that is already yours. Wanting to knowing, stuff like that.
I’m on year 5 trying to shift & I’ve been thinking about the inevitably of shifting. If everyone shifts with different methods, esp ppl who don’t even try to shift the night they do, do you think there’s a degree of randomness to it? Most people who shift talk about how they didn’t feel any different the times they shift vs the times they don’t. That’s equally frustrating to me, someone who’s been trying for years, bc why hasn’t the random attempt worked for me yet? Does that mean I don’t even need to try new methods bc one night anything could essentially work? Do I just have to keep trying and hope a random night is THE night? I tell myself every attempt that it is “the” attempt but nothing…. I believe in myself, I don’t obsess over my attempts, I correct my doubts.. but this has been sticking with me.
Your ask was sent in 2 parts, so I slapped the screenshot onto the post ^-^
Five years is a really long time, it's totally understandable if there is a special kind of bone-deep frustration about that.
And, given how the community has been over the past 5 years, it probably feels like navigating an entire maze of conflicting advice, watching what feels like everyone and their dog stumble into their desired reality while you are still, well, here.
No one would bat an eye if you threw a manifestation journal against a wall at that point tbh.
"Do I just decide it's mine and go about my day, (...) or should I be spending my time trying new methods for myself?"
Why not both? They are not as mutually exclusive as some people make them seem. You can decide for yourself that you are a shifter (for me "only" shifter feels more natural as calling myself a master shifter, but everyone is different with that) and harness that feeling throughout the day or whenever you need it, while also trying out a bunch of different methods to see how they work for you.
It's like an artist trying a different approach to drawing something just to see how they like that new method.
But since we are currently doing something that feels a bit like running on a hamster wheel mentally, we can try something radical for one month.
Your new goal is not to shift.
(I can feel you glaring through the screen, hear me out).
I don't mean to tell you to give up, and it is entirely possible to shift during that month, the options are wide open still.
It's more of a strategic retreat and a new approach.
And, what is one more month in the face of five years or the potential eternity you can spend in your DR? A drop in an ocean.
The plan is to stop treating your brain as if it is a broken appliance you have to somehow fix before you can shift. Instead the plan is to approach your shifting attempts like a curious scientist studying a fascinating specimen (that is you. You are the specimen).
Next time you try a method that resonated with you, don't approach it with the grim determination of "Shifting Attempt Nr. 9,034, THIS is it. It has to be". That is a pretty good way to feed into the known pattern of trying hard = tensing up = force = waking up in CR.
Instead, just observe with curiosity what happens.
"I wonder what it feels like to visualize my DR from a place of total ease, without the need to shift?"
"What will my brain do if I count slowly without needing a single thing to happen?"
Your only job is to observe what happens and what makes you feel aligned with your DR, so you can use those observations for your shifting attempts later.
The moment you feel the familiar strain, that urge to push, to affirm, to force yourself forward through any means, ease off. With intention.
We are not here to conquer shit, we are here to understand ourselves better and how to align.
This also breaks the awful loop mentioned above.
"I correct my doubts"
I know it is a common advice, but if I am being honest, fighting your doubts or correcting them by counter-affirming sometimes turns into a civil war inside your head. One part of you is screaming "We can do it! We will do it!" and the other screams back "We can't! This is bullshit!". The doubting part tends to get louder the more you fight it.
Try listening to your doubts instead. Ask yourself "What part of me is doubting right now? What are we actually worried about? What are we trying to protect ourselves from?"
Doubt isn't really your enemy. Most of the time it's simply a part of you that tries to protect you from something and needs to feel acknowledge and reassured. When you listen, you stop the internal fight and most of the time make peace and put yourself at ease. And with the thousands of thoughts we have per day it must be exhausting to try and monitor them all the time to correct anything popping up.
The Random Shifting
I also noticed the "random" shifting stories or the ones where people shift after giving up. Can feel and look like they just pulled some cosmic lottery ticket. I don't think it's random. I think on those nights, the people accidentally stumbled into a state of allowing instead of forcing. The energy between those two is completely different. Allowing knows no struggle, it's not grasping for something. It's simply receiving.
What shifters, imo, should focus on more is changing the nature of what they are doing.
It's to stop looking for a magical method that will work for them (like I said, trying methods is still a-okay, but it isn't the method making one shift). Things get easier when you try to harmonize with yourself and it makes it easier to reach the state of allowing and alignment.
Imagine it like you've been standing in a river for five years, your muscles are screaming because you are trying to push the entire current upstream. You are exhausted because that is now how rivers normally work.
The solution isn't really to push harder, it also isn't to try and suddenly let go, faceplant into the water and praying you will somehow float, most of the time we are still too tense.
The answer is to stop pushing, gradually. Muscle by muscle, learning how the water feels when you're not fighting it. The river knows how to reach the ocean if you stop steering it.
Find the state where any method, or none at all, can work for you at any point. The goal of a method is not to shift you, but help you reach that state of alignment and allowing ^-^
And treat yourself with the same compassion and kindness you would show a friend that has been trying so hard for years.
“The river has always known the way. You need only remember that you are the river.”
I am not quite sure how to word this, since I don’t want this post to feel like empty advice. Bear with me for a minute (⌒▽⌒)♡
If I am being honest, if sheer force of will could shift everyone to their DRs, this community would have long dissolved and everyone would have found their way home to the reality they yearn for.
Most of us have been in the community for years. Your script is carved into your heart, you could recite it in your dreams on the fly.
You have repeated affirmations so much that they have become smooth like river stones, their meaning feeling hollow. You’ve collected more methods than a library has books.
And of course you know your desired reality. You could probably paint every shadow, beam of light, each detail with such clarity that it feels more vivid than this current reality.
And still, the door to your DR remains closed, as if someone is preventing you from getting there.
Maybe you catch fragments of your DR, a thread of light from underneath the door, a glimpse of what you want when you peer through the keyhole, but the door itself will not open, no matter with how much force you push.
The more you wrestle and fight with the lock, jamming the key in with increasing force, the more it feels like the key and lock become inseparable, melted together by the very effort of your struggle.
I think that one of the biggest obstacles for some shifters isn’t the lack of effort or trying in general, but rather too much force behind them trying.
Effort itself isn’t the enemy, but when effort turns into force and trying becomes choking what you try to hold, the way forward can become harder.
You try to visualize, but you try to force yourself to see everything in perfect, vivid detail, insisting that it has to engage every sense you have.
You feel a connection to your DR and immediately lunge after it, forcing your awareness forward.
You sense a doubt come up and immediately shove it down with both hands, giving it more power and trying too hard to fight it down.
Consciousness, in my opinion, in its truest nature resembles a block of uncarved stone. It simply is, it’s whole, it’s pure. Before it’s shaped by labels like “here” and “there”, “DR self” and “CR self”, it simply is. Your awareness, when untouched by these things, knows no borders and exists without burdens and without somewhere to belong. It has infinite possibilities and can be shaped into anything (hello void state).
Maybe shifting is less about building elaborate bridges between realities and more about returning to the point where our awareness holds onto nothing and is free to wander wherever it wants.
When people speak about effortless shifting, I don’t think they say to not use methods or effort, but they rather talk about the goal of the act of shifting feeling as natural as breathing, because you are so aligned with it.
Have a mindset like water, that’s easier than labeling it a "positive" or “negative” mindset. Don’t just go with the flow, be the flow in itself and the flow in most cases is neutral.
Similar to our awareness, water just purely exists. It flows where it wants to and if an obstacle appears, in case of shifting maybe a limiting belief hardened over the years or a bit of doubt and fear, it doesn’t just stop and cry about the bad fortune. It also doesn’t bang its head against the obstacle in rage, exhausting itself by trying to shatter it.
It simply looks for a way around. Not by force, but by understanding and recognizing that there is a softer way forward.
And with time, water can shape the obstacle into something different. Not through violence, but thought persistent and gentle effort.
There is a small, but probably important difference between forcing something into existence, and allowing something to come from within yourself naturally.
The more practical approach:
If you have doubts, don’t fight them head on with affirmations and give them power that way that can anchor you more to your CR. Acknowledge that doubts are there and let them pass while you continue despite the doubts.
When you visualize and the image isn’t clear or your senses are not involved, don’t force yourself to feel or see clearly. Turn your attention to the feeling itself, the safety and warmth of being home and belonging somewhere.
Details will come afterwards.
Instead of fighting your mind every step on the way, go with its flow and align yourself with it. It will carry you home sooner or later.
(Based very loosely on Wu Wei and Daoism for anyone curios to research further)
If you listen to subliminals (for shifting or anything else really), here's one tip I like to always share in case people don't know about it/never tried it before:
Don't just listen passively, try to actually feel what you want.
You want to be beautiful? Listen and feel like you already are drop dead gorgeous.
You want to be loved and cherished? Listen and try to feel like you are loved and cherished.
You want to shift? Listen and try to feel like you are already home and in your happy place.
It's basically the state of having while getting affirmations thrown at your subconscious, always feels like it makes subs work better ^-^
And it's okay if you can't feel it 100%. Even 20% or a flicker is enough ☆⌒ヽ(*'､^*)chu
pause did u shift to aot? thinking of shifting there once I can deal with the gore in my jjk dr so im prepared.....
Yeah, but it was years ago and I bailed pretty fast... kinda wish I stuck it out instead xD
I became aware in my room, took a minute to collect myself, and basically immediately heard Levi absolutely ripping into someone next door for what I think was some near catastrophic fuck-up. Sat there for a bit because listening was kinda amusing, ngl, before I thought about titans.
They are pretty badass in the anime, manga and games, funny looking murder giants, but when I kinda realized there are actually 5 to 60 meter tall humanoid giants out to turn you into a snack, I noped out and decided to shift back.
To be fair, that was during some weird time where a bunch of people started questioning if scripts are actually foolproof and it did cause me to doubt if me simply writing down "not titan snack material" is enough of a life insurance.
Now I know that shifting is based on assumptions and intend, if you shift believing you're safe you are safe and blah blah blah, but back then I didn't want to test it really.
For the gore thing: if your DR self is used to it, you'll probably be fine. Especially after being in your DR for a while.
I've got this weird thing where I need to acclimatize when I shift, so if I had stayed longer, the titans would have probably felt more like something I was used to dealing with my entire DR life ^-^" Probably varies for people, I have read about others immediately being accustomed to their DRs.
If you are curious: I used the "Attack On Titan Shifting Hypnosis" by Melody Pond on YouTube and some random rain ambience for after the video. Melody also has a general shifting hypnosis video I can recommend.
Yes, even you. I said it.
And before you start with the good old “but it has been 5 years….” or “well, ackshaully, not everyone can….”, save your breath. Or fingers.
I don’t care, I think everyone can shift.
Let me use a metaphor that isn’t “if I can shift, you can shift” (because those never helped me). Drawing.
Aside from some rare physical limitations, most people can grab a pencil and draw a line across a piece of paper, a wall, a napkin, or whatever.
Is your little line going to be displayed in the Louvre? Very likely not. But it is something you drew. You drew something, you did it, congrats.
Just because there is another person who can draw a photorealistic portrait within 10 minutes doesn’t mean you can’t draw. Just because they learned drawing faster than you did doesn’t mean you can’t draw.
You are simply in a different part of your art journey.
It’s the same with shifting. You can do it. Maybe you won’t shift on your first try like someone else did. Maybe it will take you three tries, five, a hundred.
But as long as you have some kind of awareness, you can shift; the capability is there. The door is open, but you just have no clue how to go through it.
If you want my opinion, a lot of people struggle with self-listening. It feels easier to follow the shitty drawn map from someone else than to figure out the way yourself.
Even in the art community, you have people who will say, “A real artist ALWAYS starts with a thumbnail sketch, then uses the box method for the big sketch, followed by clean lineart, flat colors, the background…” blah blah.
Because art is more tangible than shifting, more people roll their eyes at the “this is THE method” take. Because we can see insanely talented artist not giving a shit about those rules and just do their own thing and still produce masterpieces.
Shifting once again is the same, in some way. The only difference is that people are more inclined to latch onto a method from someone. Because “they shifted and said their method would work guaranteed!”.
Maybe “just assume” isn’t doing shit for you, but a guided meditation gets your awareness to move its ass. Listening to yourself and what works for you is more important than what someone else tells you to do.
The whole issue isn’t that you can’t shift. It’s simply that you haven’t found out what works for you.
Back in my Attack on Titan days, I used a longer version of self hypnosis. It worked surprisingly well until I stopped doing it for whatever reason.
I decided to share a shorter version, but can’t guarantee that it will work for you.
What Even Is Self Hypnosis?
According to the those clinical sites I skimmed over to find more about the topic (and got flashbanged by a white page every few minutes, thanks for not having dark mode), it boils down to putting yourself into a deep trance, which you can use to change behaviors, thoughts and feelings you don’t like.
Apparently that trance-like state can bypass your usual screaming and blocking thoughts (imagine skipping your conscious thoughts and immediately go to the subconscious).
Most people use it for weight loss, kicking smoking habits and/or to help with anxiety.
But we shifters can also use it for, guess what, shifting and maybe beating the shit out of those nagging thoughts a la “this is impossible. You’re too stupid for this, you don’t deserve it”.
How To Do It
The first step is always to find a spot where you won’t be interrupted by your roommate, cat or the crushing weight of life expectations.
Doesn’t matter if you sit up or lie down, just find a position where you have the chance to relax. In case that silence makes your brain itch funnily, throw on some calm subliminals or ambient music.
Once you are in a comfy spot, set one simple intention about what your goal is.
Maybe avoid “I MUST SHIFT RIGHT NOW OR I’LL PERISH”, because that is just setting you up for anxiety. We are here to chill, not panic.
Try something like “My intention is to feel connected to my desired reality” or “I’m gonna tell myself to chill the fuck out about shifting”.
The second step is to close your eyes and take a few, deep breaths. In through the nose, out the mouth, just like all those guided meditations tell you to do.
Now scan your body for any tension. Start at your head and work your way down to the toes (or start at the toes and go up to your head, whatever really). Check if you are clenching your jaw, are your shoulders pulled up, anything like that? We tend to not notice being tense after a while.
Tense each muscle group intentionally for a hot second, before relaxing completely. Feel the difference, embrace having the consistency of a wet noodle for once.
Step number 3 is basically to relax even further (wow).
I won’t make you count down or to 100, because I myself get lost once I hit 30. Just use 10 and tell yourself that with every number, you are sinking deeper and relax further.
Just fucking do that, count, try to feel yourself actually relaxing. Take it slow, we are not in a race here.
Last step: once you feel heavy and relaxed, give your subconscious a simple command. Don’t wish or hope for what you want, state it like a fact.
“I am home”, “I am aware of my DR”, “Shifting is piss easy for me”.
Don’t just parrot those words, actually feel what you mean by saying them. What would “home” feel like for you?
If you are trying to shift at that moment, just let go afterwards and let yourself drift off.
If you are using it for belief stuff, count from like 1 to 10 and tell yourself you’ll become aware again feeling calm, happy and whatever.
Bottom Line
Keep it simple, this doesn’t need to be perfect. You don’t need to start over if you forgot to relax your left buttcheek, nobody gives a shit.
Idk, just be kind to yourself and don’t overthink it. Be the wet noodle you were meant to be ₍^. .^₎Ⳋ
I always say I will lock in regarding shifting, but I don't because I am lazy, right? Right. No big deal.
But I swear to all that is holy, my hairdresser just fucked up my hair so badly it should count as a crime against humanity. I look like I lost a fight against a lawn mower.
"I'm not even sure if extensions could fix it" - kind of bad (not that they would want to come anywhere near whatever the fuck my hair is right now).
And suddenly I am locked in more than ever. Every cell of my existence is laser-focused on shifting somewhere where my hair looks at least acceptable.
So, pro tip, fuck up your hair, it will make you focused like nothing else (jk). Wish me luck. And send a large hat (╥﹏╥)
I'm killing some time between getting my ass handed to me in 2v8 DBD matches, so don't expect a dissertation from me lol
Having a doubt free mind is probably the dream. But probably as likely as finding two matching socks in the laundry.
And most people (not all, I do see you few other people), got their doubt free mindset after they either shifted or found proof for themselves that confirmed shifting for them. Being confident is way easier if you've proven something to yourself already.
You don't need to be perfectly doubt free to shift or manifest anything.
Think about it like boarding a plane. You can still fly to another country even if you want to puke in a circle when thinking about heights and flying.
Your fear isn't going to stop the plane from working, it's just keeping you away from boarding and makes stuff more dramatic than it needs to be.
Doubt works practically the same way. It's not a brick wall blocking your process, more like an annoying kid in the backseat constantly asking "are we there yet?" every few minutes.
And come on, isn't it exhausting to constantly try and monitor your thoughts? As if we wouldn't find more doubts that way than there actually are.
Just remind yourself why you are trying to shift if the question of "ugh, what if shifting is fake?" comes up. Any reason is enough, really.
I will not sit here and pretend I didn’t absolutely lose my shit over my attempt at upgrading my PC. Nearly fried the poor thing and, surprise motherfucker, lost every saved password known to mankind T_T
Couldn’t even remember which of my 34 fucking emails I used for this Tumblr account.
Well, I figured it out, I’m your problem again. Yeay ＼(＾▽＾)／
Whatever, don’t care, not the point.
Do y’all remember that ages ago I made a post titled something like “Expecting To Wake Up In Your CR”?
After another late night spiral after a shitty day, I kinda stumbled over a linked culprit. Routine.
Question, did you ever hear of the Pavlovian Response? No? Lucky for you, I will spare you the google search (you’re welcome).
Speaking in basic terms, it’s classical conditioning, a fancy term for “your brain learns to associate thing A with thing B to the point it becomes automatic and instinctive".
Example: if you ring a bell every time you feed a dog, eventually the dog will start drooling at the sound of the bell alone. Because bell = food. No food? Still drools when the dog hears the bell.
You can apply the same to shifting. Over time, we basically trained ourselves to associate our shifting method with not shifting. Stupid, right?
You did your method, every little step and shit? Cool, but you still wake up here again. Because that method = waking up in CR.
It’s not some weird curse bestowed upon you like some scammers claim, it’s just fucking routine and your brain following what it has learned to assume and expect.
That little fucker is sitting there watching you do your method and goes “Ah yes, this is the part where I want to shift, imagine to shift and then proceed to not go there. Lovely!”.
The good thing is we can break classical conditioning, just like most stupid habits we have.
In our classic dog and bell scenario, you would just keep ringing the bell without giving any kind of food or treat, and eventually the dog stops drooling because the bell has become meaningless again. Problem solved, dog sad, science wins. Wohoo
But since shifting (of course) is a subjective nightmare, it doesn't exactly follow the same rules. If we applied the dog logic here, we would just shift. Sounds easy, right? Except we haven't and we cannot really guarantee a shift.
So that whole notion is spectacularly unhelpful.
This will sound stupid, but it can help, hear me out: before doing something you cannot fail, like opening a door, drinking water or taking a bite of food, speedrun your method. No, don't dramatically fall to the floor like a fish on dry land please, but quickly rush through your affirmations, take a second to visualize your DR, and immediately do the thing you wanted to do.
The whole goal of this shit is to get your brain from method -> disappointment to method -> something will always happen.
At the moment we have to loop of method -> nothing happens -> CR again. We want method -> something happens -> success.
A few years back (like 2019ish?), some folks pointed out that there is a possibility that our brains stop trusting intentions because we're all chronic liars to ourselves ("I'll start my homework right after school" -> suddenly it's midnight and we still watch cat videos; "I only play for five more minutes" -> suddenly it's an hour later).
Their fix was to train their brain to associate intention with instant action again. Like saying "I intend to drink something" and chug water immediately after, no waffling, no doubts.
It's the same idea basically. If you tie your method to something that always happens, you're teaching your brain that method -> action, instead of method -> big nothing.
Can't promise it will work overnight or is the solution for you, but maybe worth a try.
I already ranted about the topic before in some half-cooked and half-assed post in the middle of the night about a month ago, but three sentences and (probably) some random emoji don't feel like enough.
Every now and then, while I'm mindlessly scrolling through manifestation spaces and getting shifting content thrown at me from Reddit, I stumble across something I would call the Word Brigade.
The type of people who act like the words "if", "try" or "I will" are something akin to loaded guns held point blank against their third eye. Like, calm down, maybe? Chill.
Dunno how, but apparently if you are not saying full conviction "I am already there" and instead use "When I am there", your entire shifting journey will implode. Or manifestations.
Okay. Sure. Suuuuure (￢ ￢)
Before someone now swings their fingers to call me dumbfucking stupid in the comments: yes, I get that a lot of those "don't use the weak words!!!" posts come from a well meaning place. They're trying to help and want to push people into the "living in the end" mindset. Cute, supportive even. Great ^-^
But it isn't about those people, it's about those who take this really fucking serious, serious enough to actually snap at people for using these words. Or telling new shifters that they can't use these words and then wonder why said newbies suddenly burst into tears when they catch themselves saying "a bad word".
Yes, I've seen people genuinely feel guilty over saying "I'll try to shift tonight" as if they just spit on their subliminals and wiped their ass with their script.
Is this really what we should be feeling over a fucking word?
Put in perspective: you are out here calling yourself a god, an infinite being of divine energy, a conscious fucking architect of reality itself or whatever the fuck really... and at the same fucking time you're trying to sell me that soft-ass words like "try" are enough to blow up the entire shifting journey you are on?
Be serious, that logic isn't really giving logic.
This is actually giving me flashbacks to the golden era of shifttok when people were like "Don't say don't in your script or you'll manifest the opposite!!!".
Like, huh???
You mean if I write "I don't have acne and I won't get acne" and I shift, my DR self will have the worst acne known to mankind because I said "don't" and "won't"? Huh?
"Omg, don't script to have clear skin or you will be invisible/your skin will be see-through" came after or alongside that, like, make it make sense? Your subconscious isn't stupid nor allergic to negative words. It can handle you saying "try" or "don't".
I kinda thought we collectively evolved past being afraid of certain words, but apparently we just gave it a rebrand. Perfect.
Yes, affirmations are cool, words matter. I know.
But what I barely see mentioned is the stupid fucking fact that what makes those words so powerful is the intention and belief behind them. That is what is making affirmations work. Words are there to articulate what you intention is or what belief you want to have.
If you are cooking and your food tasted like burnt ass, it's probably because you burnt it, not because you used paprika instead of garlic.
If words alone, on their very own, are that powerful, most people in the community would have already shifted instead of being here and still saying "I am already there" for the fifth month in a row now.
They haven't. Why?
Because they found another thing to overcomplicate shifting with, because apparently nothing can be easy σ(￣、￣〃)
~ “You've thought of it, but haven't done it.
That's the same as not having thought of it at all.” ~
I’m back and this time hopefully with fewer grammatical crimes. Autocorrect failed me on my last post and I still get heartburn thinking about it T_T
Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled programming.
Over the last few days, I’ve been digging through some really ancient shifting posts, think 2018 to early 2021 era.
You know, back when the community was largely on Amino, side-eyeing the growing waves of shifters on TikTok.
Ah yes, the misinformation, the bold faced liars and the weird “Gen Z is faking mental disorders” compilation videos we got thrown into. What a time to be alive (don’t bring it back, seriously).
But what stood out to me reading those old posts was that people talked a lot about feeling.
Nah, I’m not talking about symptoms like the weird itchy feeling during the raven method, or your limbs twitching because they’ve suddenly got their own agenda.
I mean emotions.
That dull, aching longing in your chest when you imagine hugging your favorite DR person for the first time.
That soft exhale when you realize you are finally there, you made it. When your mind finally stops fighting for a moment and everything just clicks.
Doesn’t that feeling sound magical? And wasn’t longing the whole point when we started this journey?
But as I kept reading, moving from one year to another, that emotional core slowly faded out. Got buried underneath the chorus of “you need nothing to shift”.
Which yeah, technically true, fine. You don’t need emotions. Or a method. Or a script.
You also don’t need to season your chicken. Doesn’t mean I’m gonna sit there smiling while you serve me bland, boiled sadness if I could have fried chicken instead.
I’m not out here saying you should have a mental breakdown during every attempt, that would be a bit much.
What I am saying is that in the race to make shifting faster, cleaner, more efficient, a lot of people dropped the soul of the whole thing on the way. Somewhere between the fifth “failed” attempt and the 10.000 affirmations a day grind, shifting turned a bit mechanical.
The DR that once made those shifters light up? Dull, numb. Just another thing to do to cross off the list for today.
Motivation was outsourced to other shifters' success stories, the connection to the DR got lost. And honestly, that thought kinda sucks. Because, at least for me, the feeling part was always so important.
Let me throw another question at you:
If anxiety can anchor you to your CR, make you freeze, spiraling, doubting, why wouldn’t love do the opposite?
If dread can make you feel stuck, why can’t joy pull you forward?
What if wanting to shift “too much” is actually just your personal compass?
Almost every shifting method tells you to detach from your current reality, forget your body, ignore the noise, dissolve your surroundings.
Cool, great. But detaching from something without feeling attached to something else (aside from the void, but you would be kinda attached to the idea of the void, wouldn’t you?) feels like floating in limbo. No direction or destination.
Back in those days, emotions were called the bridge between letting go of here and being where you want to be.
And now a lot of shifting content reads plainly like a puzzle solving guide.
Say these affirmations, use that method, breathe this way under that moonphase and guess your dog's star sign if it had been born 3.4 months earlier. Don’t use this app to feel connected to your DR or you won’t shift!
It’s cold, mechanical.
Shifting isn’t really a logic problem, we’re not out here trying to break the firewall of the multiverse theoretically. We’re just trying to be in a place that feels more like home.
Not quite sure what else to say, but maybe it’s worth a shot trying to feel your way into your DR again.
Not much you can screw up with that, right?
Manifesting Physical Stuff Feels Easy, Shifting Feels Hard
Yeah, I admit I kinda vanished on y’all for 2 weeks. My bad. Life decided to kick me into a new job and I’m trying to survive on monster energy drinks and vibes. And I kinda fell into the rabbithole that is XLOV and just had to create a DR script (no template in sight, so if ya need one, hit me up. I’m actually quite generous when I’m sleep deprived).
Anyway, you’re not here for a life update from poor little Mochi.
I had another one of those 4am epiphany about why it feels super easy for me to manifest stupid material crap, but shifting feels like sprinting through a locked door head first.
I tend to use manifestation for weird crap no one else would waste that many braincells on.
Like gacha pulls, or money for in-game cosmetics.
Why do I use manifestation for stuff like that? Because it works.
And why does it work? Because I know it will work, no matter what. That’s it. That’s my secret.
There’s always a fallback, a system, something like a breadcrumb trail. Like, if I pull on a banner in Genshin long enough, the game is legally required to cough up a 5 star character I want.
If I don’t get it early, I still know I will get it down the line.
This knowledge makes it super easy to just tell the universe to hurry it up a bit and move on.
Stupid example: I lost my yearly 50/50 to Keqing. Again (C1 now, totally didn’t need that. Thanks RNG). But I actually wanted Shenhe for my Freminet Shatter team. And there is no way I am grinding for another 90 pulls from nowhere, I already did my time with Wriothesley - C6R1 gang, we suffer loud and proud.
So I sat down and told myself: “I get Shenhe in 25 pulls max”. And boom, got her at 24.
Boom, look at that, done. I didn’t sit there, doubting and biting my nails and making sure I wouldn’t think “When I get her…”, “If I get her…” in case that would screw me up.
Nah, I just knew I would get her, no matter what. And that knowing was what carried everything.
Same energy for my Dehya pulls. I heard she might actually be decent for my Lyney team, so I told myself I would get her next. Standard banner odds be damned.
Got her promptly at 11.
Again without hoping and begging and affirming. Just with knowing “this will happen” and going with the flow.
Even aside from gacha: I wanted the Rize skin for Kaneki in Dead by Daylight, I knew I had some fun money coming my way at the beginning of the month. But I wanted the skin now, because I am an impatient little fuck.
So I sat down, knowing I would get money for the skin one way or another, and had the extra money a few hours later. Bought the skin, boom, done. Next problem please.
Why does shifting don’t feel that easy for a lot of people?
Simply said: no pity system.
You don’t have a progress bar. No “five more tries and you’re there!”, no blinking red banner telling you your next attempt is guaranteed to work.
And this absence of structure or guarantee is brutal for people like me, people who cling to their routines and need reassurance.
What happens? We start doubting, maybe even spiral a bit. Wonder if we are actually manifesting or if we are just going crazy and hoping for the impossible.
We can say “I’ll shift, I already have shifted” a thousand times, but if our subconscious doesn’t believe it, we get a good old 404 error.
That’s where building your own pity system comes into play.
It can help if you build a framework your brain can lean on if doubt sets in or you feel down from not shifting yet.
Write a progress log, even if nothing is happening.
Keep track of stuff you do around shifting. “Tried method X, gave me xy symptoms, visualized DR breakfast and smelled toast, vibed aggressively with my DR self in mind and felt connected and happy, wrote affirmations with fingers covered in spicy chips dust”.
Treat it as your pull history, like signs you are on the way to soft pity.
It doesn’t really matter what you do, what stupid little ritual you come up with, what matters is that your brain thinks “oh, this means we are shifting again, this is safe, this is working”. (because YOU decided it will work, not because someone else told you it will work. Your reality, not theirs. Your LoA, not theirs).
The more you can convince yourself that there is a clear path to your goal, the easier it is to walk that path.
TL;DR:
Manifesting dumb little stuff (like gacha pulls or cosmetic skins) is easy because there is structure and you know it’ll work eventually. You have pity, progress, fallbacks. That kind of certainty soothes your brain and lets things happen without self sabotaging.
Shifting doesn’t have that built in structure, no pull history, no “5 more tries until DR”. For some people that leads to the stupid little doubt spiral at 5am.
So what do we do?
Create our own little fake pity system. Make rituals, logs, track symptoms, no matter how small and stupid they look.
Give your mind a clear path to walk so it can shut up about doubt.
You don’t need proof, you need something your subconscious believes in and our brains love structures. Go figure.
Reality bends to your primary thought system.
(If you were here before I spotted all the spelling errors, you didn't saw them, k? T-T)
