Quantum physics is more than a century old; yet, people's eyes still glaze over when they first hear of its strange ways. In the sub-microscopic world of elementary energy particles, the universe acts very differently from the one we know in our physical world.
As it turns out, the quantum world actually reveals the true nature of the universe, while what we see on the physical level is a carefully-created illusion. For example, at any point in time, life presents an array of infinite possibilities. When you make a decision as to what to do next, then - only then - does your immediate future become a reality instead of just another possibility. Then, and only then, does the next step in your history get written.
In quantum physics, energetic particles, such as photons of light, only become particles of energy when you focus your attention upon them. Until then, they remain as fields of influence which radiate waves of energy, not particles. These waves of energy, rather than traveling as particles directly from A to B, spread out as waves that explore all possible paths before them.
Energy particles live in a world of possibilities, waiting to be made manifest by a conscious decision from someone, somewhere. In a conscious universe, any form of attention, even that of a passive observer, manifests actual particles from the waves of potential.
As a human, you were born to manifest a life from infinite possibilities. At each step along the way, you create history by deciding which possibility to explore and working your way through that action. You choose and create the experience from the potential and make it manifest.
The quantum world gets even stranger when you find that, in its natural, unmanifested state, it is free from the constraints of time and space. Electrons routinely affect their own future, and even their own past. Quantum physicists even had to include "negative time" (traveling into the past) in their equations in order to include the time travel which is exhibited at the quantum level.
Now, if the quantum world is the real world, the one from which our stable reality is constructed, then what does this mean for our possibilities? It certainly means that we have infinite choices for the future. The burning question is, how will the different choices turn out?
People in research projects have used hypnosis to access deeper states of consciousness. In these deeper states of awareness, they have examined their own future possibilities based on their present-day options. The amazing thing is that these future paths are just as real to the exploring consciousness as the person's daily reality. It's as though all paths already exist, quantum physics-style, as an array of possibilities that are very real, just not yet manifested.
For example, in hypnotherapist Brian Weiss's book, "Same Soul, Many Bodies," a patient who was convinced that suicide was his only real option was progressed - moved forward in time - to see how his suicide would turn out. He expected to find that the suicide would provide the desired relief from his crushing business problems. Instead, he saw how much grief he would have caused his wife and children. Worse still, he saw that his family members would take the blame for his death upon themselves, feeling that they should have somehow helped him and prevented such a tragedy.
Then, he was progressed into a future where he had decided against suicide and, instead, faced up to his crisis of personal failure. Instead of being shunned by his family and friends, as he had expected, he saw them helping him to work through the crisis and recover his standing in the business world. As his consciousness moved through this alternative life, he saw the effects of following the sense of newfound joy that he had allowed into his life. In the light of such possibilities, his intended suicide was no longer a viable option and he chose the path towards joy.
I find it fascinating that alternate futures exist in such detail, in such vivid reality, for each person. Not only do they exist as possibilities, they seem as real as if the person had already lived them. Those who view these alternate futures are not making them up. In the above example, the person considering suicide was so depressed about himself that he thought his family would say "Good riddance" when he was gone; he could not have made up the scenes of the alternative futures that he saw under hypnosis. Instead, people who see these future alternatives often learn from situations that they never could have imagined.
In a universe created by Infinite Being, each one of us has, by design, infinite possibilities. The question is, what could you do today that will make your tomorrow even better than it would have been? Following your innermost joy means that you are using this inbuilt compass that points unfailingly towards greater fulfillment in life.